Christ, Christmas and Coca Cola

I don't normally write in response to news or editorials because I normally don't get access to any news magazines until months later. But Anna Quindlen had an interesting point in her Jan 2 column in Newsweek.

One idea she touched on was that it is ridiculous to think that a religion that has lasted 2000 years is somehow at risk if it isn't acknowledged in an advertisement at OfficeMax. Actually I'd rather not have WalMart use "Merry Christmas" to sell plastic Santas or toys or loads of junk. I'd much rather have McDonalds sell us special holliday shakes and local bars have holiday specials. Does tooth rotting cans of Coke really need nativity-visiting polar bears on them? Does that really lead to a greater spiritual understanding - even by a postmodern definition?

Keeping Christ's name sacred has value. There's something to be said for the people who holiday is know Him being the ones who share His name. Wasn't that what "thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain" all about? Keep it separate and sacred. I know that some would take the view that any publicity is good publicty but does the King of Kings need greater name recognition or just greater understanding of what His name means?

10 Days in December

Now that most of the Christmas festivities are over I'm just beginning to process (mourn?) the loss of a city I was falling in love with and in. To let you know what we went through I offer an abbreviated day by day account of the last few days we spent there. Or at least as best as I can remember it.

December 8 - Called in by Immigration where we were informed that we had until Christmas to leave the country. Applied for exit visas (basically asking for permission to leave a country we were told we had to leave). Began looking for plane tickets out but could only find tickets to Dubai for the 21st. Began informing friends about our departure. Told the University I would be unable to complete the semester's courses. Started packing. Started organizing an everything must go garage sale. Didn't sleep much and wonder what I may have said on people's blogs during my 3 am surf.

December 9 - Continued packing and organizing the sale. Paid for and picked up our exit visas. Had our resident permits taken from us. Packed up my office at the University. Began to let our local friends know about our departure. Friend found us tickets all the way to the US - only three days earlier than even our 21st tickets. Met with several early shopper friends as we loaded our carport with all our household furnishings. Ate lots of our saved-up treats like bacon and chocolate chip cookie dough - often at the same time.

December 10 - Were nearly overwhelmed at our garage sale with people waiting half an hour before we opened the gates. Most of the puzzles were opened and destroyed. Lots of theft but ended up selling almost everything we put out in the three hours of the sale. Realized how much we hadn't put out for the sale. Turned away people for the rest of the day wanting to know if we had anything left or if we would be willing to give them things we no longer had. Sold a few thousand dollars worth of things. Moved into a furnished place with at least some of our remaining possessions. Were fed a wonderful Indian meal just when we needed to be cared for.

December 11 - Spent our last Sunday at the international church. Began saying goodbyes, often to people we didn't know. Double checked with our landlord's son that he had told his mother we'd be moving out. I began outlining a sermon for that night's service. I had not told Amanda I'd be speaking that night for fear that she might talk some sense into what I was planning to say.
Amanda (noticing that Jonathan has his Bible open while surrounded by unpacked
laundry): What are you doing with your Bible out? Are you preaching tonight or
something? (Snicker, snicker)
Jonathan (having not told Amanda he'd be preaching one last time): Er...yeah. I am.

Spoke on Esther and "For such a time is this..." at the int'l church. Only got in a little trouble for mentioning that we had been thrown out of the country. More goodbyes.

December 12 - 14 - More packing. Dividing things into "must keep," "forgot to sell" and "who would pay money for this?" piles. Think we can get things home in only 11 pieces of luggage. Prepare for sale #2 - this time a couple of tables at a group sale with the international school on Thursday. Begin the more formal visits with friends to say goodbye and accept small gifts. Giving away books and teaching materials. Trying to come to terms with saying goodbye to W., our houseworker who became family. Attempting to keep Atticus' room warm enough to fight off the cold he's suffering through. Spending some time at the university to let the seniors know what will happen with their final projects. Gave my rendition of Roger's "You've wasted four years" speech to my Public Speaking students. Met a former student's fiance and gave my blessing on their marriage. Think I may still know where my Palm Pilot is. Know I can't find my sanity.

December 15 - Was double-parked and still got boxed in while trying to sell a computer monitor. Stuck for 40 minutes. Continued to clear out old house. While doing so I ran into our landlord. It turns out that her son never did tell her we were moving out. I think the empty boxes may have clued her into it but not entirely sure. Ended up having to show her the door after she sat down in the hallway and watched me pile things into Dave's pickup.

Took two carloads of unsold items to the international school's sale. We were the main attraction. Sold everything including a beautiful bench that meant a lot to us (sorry Matt). Now down to junk and the items we'll try and pack.

December 16 - Finally able to see some of the furniture in our temporary dwelling. Have pretty much decided to take an extra bag with us rather than have it shipped later. Handed back the keys to our old house now that everything is cleared out.

Said my final goodbyes at the University. One of which will be the subject of a future blog. Sad to meet with the Dept. head one last time. Finally crashing from a week long adrenaline rush.

Met one last time with Son - godly Indian who prayed with us. Other visitors stopped by to say goodbye.

Went to a Christmas/farewell party at a friend's house. Said goodbye to good people. I hope Emily likes "Thirteen Things About Ed Carpolotti". I hope her parents (Dad is a Presb. Theological prof.) don't disown us for putting "Blue Like Jazz" in her hands. We'll miss AN's 50th anniversary of her arrival in Africa. Wonder how long some of those there will remain. This was really the first time I started processing that some of these people I will never see again.

December 17 - Day of departure. On the way to taking bags to be weighed at the grain market got a flat tire. Layed in the dirt to change it. Got all bags within a pound or more under weight. Found a closet of dress clothes that still needed packing. Went to find zip ties to secure bags. Lots of visitors saying goodbye.

All the power in the city goes out with three hours before we need to leave.

Had to stop off at Department Head's house one last time. Picked up a gift from the department and a letter of rec.

Packing up the last few bits for the carry-ons. Trying not to leave anything important behind (we left Amanda's pregnant wedding ring and a wireless card for the computer). Took a shower in the dark as visitors continued to stop by. Loaded up the trucks with bags. Counted garage sales money.

Thankfully only a couple of friends met us at the airport. Steve helped us move our bags to the terminal. After only some confusion over how to put luggage tags on rubbermaid containers and what to do with the stroller, we get on the plane just before midnight.

December 18 - Arrive at O'Hare only to find that our tickets to Bloomington are for Monday, a day later. Get most of our bags through customs. See Mohammed Ali and realize that he had probably been on our plane from Germany. Rearrange tickets so we can arrive Sunday rather than Monday night. Get Gretchen to make sure someone can meet us.

Crashed out at my parents' new house.

So if we ignored your email that week or didn't send you a Christmas card, that's why.

Back in the US

Friends,

So we've made it back to the US with almost all of our luggage and sanity intact. We're still missing a suitcase, two bags, a $200 stroller and any real sense of where we currently are living. I'll go back to the airport this morning and see about the bags. Hopefully going there in daylight might help the more geographic problems.

Atticus, it must be said, was just amazing. He had his squirmy moments on the planes but really didn't have much in terms of tantrums. He didn't run away at the airports and despite throwing up on Nana as we waited for our bags at our final destination, was a gem.

Now the tasks before us include renting a car for the next few days, setting up our cells so you all can call us, getting those remaining bags, and, oh yeah, Christmas.
We'll look at relocating after the new year so if anybody knows of an available (cheap) house and has a need for us to be near them, let us know.

I'm thinking Kevin Moon party sometime in February.

Jonathan

And the hits just keep on comin'

I've really come to terms with leaving but I feel a bit guilty for the reason. If you know where we live, do a news search. Entire organizations are being split based on nationality. Tensions are rising. Police seem to have gone home but Tuesday and Wednesday things were a bit tense. Diplomats are not allowed to leave the city

It's a bit like realizing you don't have enough money to supersize and then you see the homeless guy outside.

Our plans now are to be home for Christmas then take some down time in New Orleans in January to figure out where God wants us. (Yes, I see the irony in being kicked out of a country only to leave for a hurricane disaster area. But it is a step up.)

Oh, a plug for Tina Lowry. I bet if enough people bug her, she'll post one of those pregnant belly pics. Now if only Phil Stowers or Sheri Storer would start blogging...

Three million people can't be wrong

So we're leaving. It’s official. We’re out. Or at least it looks like we will be within a week or so.

Our meeting on Thursday was short and to the point. The gov’t wants us out by Christmas. No explanation was given. No, we can’t know which gov’t office gave the order. No, you can’t have an extension through the New Year or until the semester ends. And yes, you’ll need to pay for the exit visas and a departure tax at the airport.

On the plus side, we at first thought we’d have to be stuck in Dubai for a while and try to find a way home from there but now it appears that we’ll be able to fly from here to Frankfurt and then home. Even with a delay or two, we’ll definitely be home for Christmas.

The negative is that we now have a total of 8 days to close up things here.

Our gate opens in five and a half hours for our garage sale and I still haven’t priced my tools.

Could the last one to leave the country...

Please turn off the lights?

It’s Wednesday which must mean we got our weekly call from Immigration. Tomorrow at 8 am (an hour earlier than the two previous meetings) we will sit in a room that probably is not really the office of the man asking the questions. We will tell them the truth and then get frustrated when they can’t understand what a check is or why Amanda doesn’t work. This time they didn’t even pretend that it was because of my poor handwriting.

This, along with some recent int’l developments, confirms that the garage sale we’re having this weekend is the right thing to do. Maybe tomorrow we’ll have a better idea of just how much we need to try and sell.

During my freshman year at Eastern, I got in the habit of simply not sleeping on Sunday nights throughout speech season. We’d normally get back too late on Sunday and since we missed our Friday classes I’d need to play catch-up. Now I’m getting in the same habit only on Wednesdays only I spend my time reading and reflecting and wanting to sleep.

Keep us in your thoughts.

A Victim of Prophecy???

I remember in college hearing someone (maybe Pete H. or Jason Hel. or one of the Johns) tell me about an encounter he had with someone who knew all sorts of things about him that this person shouldn’t have known. I don’t remember details but I do remember coming away from the conversation skeptical. At the time, I think I could have accepted supernatural acts of healing, vague glimpses of the future, or even the odd David Copperfield miracle but that particular act wouldn’t qualify.

In the last few years, I have come to accept that the Spirit does more than offer nudges in the right direction. While the voice isn’t loud yet, I have no doubt that it does speak when I’m in the right place and listen.

So several months ago when Tor and his wife, two internationals I’ve known since arriving, told Amanda and I that they’d had visions about us, I listened openly but with some of that past hesitation. In the visions, it was clear that Amanda and I would be having this problem with Immigration. In Tor’s version, it included another international friend. Ignoring the obvious fact that everyone has problems with Immigration sometimes, it does bring up an interesting dilemma.

If it is a true prophecy, what should my response be? What can I do about? Nothing. Neither of the two people were given the discernment to offer a direction for Amanda or I. Does the vision mean that we should pack up now? Not from what they said. Does it mean we should move or stop doing what we’re doing or distance ourselves from our friends? No. Did it really offer anything in terms of guidance? Not really.

So we continue to be light and salt. We attempt to be good stewards and be prepared without being led by fear. We use the wisdom we have been given and continue on with life. We listen. We try and take the opportunities presented. We try and grow and learn.

I guess that’s all any of us can do anyway.