Tuesday, June 15, 2010
New Blog Address!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Way to Proverbs 31
[over skype] She settled back into the armchair in her bedroom and listened to her sweet boyfriend tell her about pranks and then about several boys in his cabin whom he had been blessed to help lead to faith in Christ that weekend and other who had come to him for help in relationships. His eyes truly shone, though his face was serious, when he told her about their fruitful conversations. “I don’t know why these boys all came to me, but I was so blessed to have been used in that way,” he said.
Courtney smiled at his sincerity. “I think God’s gifted you with a quiet and wise spirit that those boys trust. He gets so much glory through your work because you give all praise to Him and teach those boys to do the same.” She suspected from his gentle weariness that not only had he kept late middle-school camp hours but that he had also gotten up early to pray for each of those boys every day.
Guest Blogger: Geoffrey Chaucer
May 20, 1420
“Stupid Frenchmen,” I muttered to myself as I walked down the dusty road in the blazing stupid French sun. Well... if truth be told, it was possible if you’re of a narrow mind to blame me for losing all my clothes. I was, after all, the one gambling. But I give the truth in scope- and anyway, they were the ones who made me lose. I had a winning streak last week. Got back my trousers, my shirt, even my jacket. My boots I didn’t win, which is why I was gambling today. The brokers only laugh at me. I have a reputation all over the Continent as an unlucky, broke gambler. I think they just like seeing me without the benefit of clothing.
But a few minutes after walking down the dusty road lamenting the dirt in the creases behind my knees and in my elbows and everywhere else imaginable, I ran into some men who did not look very French. They looked like Englishmen, actually, except the one with the carrot- colored hair who was yelling to his liege that his didn’t give a witch’s teeth (about something), it was his turn.
“Fine, fine,” the blonde man grumbled, dismounting from his horse. Odd, I thought, most lords would have set him in the dirt by now. Witch’s teeth, indeed. Oh well, I told myself with a grin, if he’s not a knight, I can certainly have some fun with him.
“Morning,” I said brightly, patting the massive horse’s shoulder. The blonde man paused in mid- dismount.
“Why, sir,” he said after a second, “What are you doing?”
I chuckled to myself. “Ah, trudging.”
Blank look.
“You know, trudging? To trudge? To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man with nothing left except to simply soldier on.”
More blank looks.
“Were you robbed?”
I laughed. “Interesting question, actually. Yes, and at the same time a huge, resounding no. It’s more of a sort of involuntary vow of poverty, really. But you know at the same time, trudging represents pride; pride, resolve and faith in the good Lord Almighty- please, Christ, rescue me from my contribula- ah!” I held my toes up to my mouth to pull and spit out the splinter I had stepped on. The knight-impostor and his two men watched me implacably.
“Who are ye?” the third man, a tall, fat one, asked.
I told them, of course, that I was the Lily Among the Thorns, Geoffrey Chaucer, the writer. They just stared at me, implacably as ever, and when I asked them who they were, the blonde knight man said bluffly, “Well, I am, um, Sir Ulrich Von Lichtenstein of Gelderland,and these are my faithful squires Delves of Dodgington-” this was the fat one- “And Falhurst, of Cruin.”
I held out my hand, squinting against the sun. “Right, and I’m Sir Richard the Lionheart. Pleased to meet you. No wait, I’m Charlemange. No, Saint John the Baptist-”
“Hold your tongue, sir, or lose it.” Sir Ulrich held a dagger in my face so close that I backed up at sat on the grass growing along the road’s edge, grinning. “Now you see, that I do believe, Sir Ulrich.”
Ulrich, in the process of sheathing the weapon, pointed it back at me briefly. “Thank you.”
Feeling rather confident in my tongue’s safety again, I explained to the sheltered Gelderlanders what it is that I do, telling them I could write whatever they wanted, from creeds, edicts, warrants, patents of nobility...
“Did you say patents of nobility?”
Bingo, Geoff. You were right. “Yes, that’s right, I did.”
This caused some little consternation between masters Falhurst, Delves, and Ulrich, as to whether or not they ought to trust me. Ah, Geoff, I told myself, the fat one and the impostor are not stupid as you thought. Good, myself replied, you hate Frenchman.
“Wat,” Ulrich said to Falhurst, “Tell him what will happen to him if he betrays us.”
“And be nice,” Delves added firmly. I looked expectantly at Master Wat Falhurst, who ambled over, muttering in his cockney accent, “Nice, nice.” He knelt down in front of me and said passionately, “Betray us, and I will fong you till your insides are out, your entrails become your extrails. I will wring all the... angstmff.... pain! Lots of pain!”
By now I was laughing, and swore I would indeed remember the promised fonging and never betray Lord Ulrich. The happy result was clothes, a half loaf of penny bread from the morning’s street vendors, and an hour’s ride on the pseudo- knight’s horse. As we continued down the road towards Rouen, I learned how it was that William Thatcher had come to be Sir Ulrich Von Lichtenstein, and Wat and Roland to be Falhurst and Delves.
It was still an hour before I dared ask Wat what a fonging was.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Reflections on Amsterdam
The smell lingered in my nose for hours after I washed it off my skin, the suggestion of marijuana, dust, and cheap beer picked up along the cobblestone streets of Amsterdam’s red light district. I had only been in the city for one day, but what I had seen made me hate Amsterdam. I struggled for days with how to respond to the challenges of such a dark and sinful neighborhood.
The next evening, after mulling over the flagrant sin and desperation of the district while spending time with the Dutch youth of the my friends’ church, I sat at the open second-story door of their home outside the city, watching a storm roll in. I could feel the rain and thunder coming. I waited in anticipation, hoping the storm would be a catharsis for dealing with Amsterdam and the red light district. I still didn’t know how to feel about it, how to think, how to pray.
To my surprise, it had been hard to feel anything while I was there except disgust at the tourists, often middle-aged couples pushing baby carriages past theaters, windows and sex shops. I couldn’t fathom how they could enjoy the display of an inhumane trade that I, as a young woman, could hardly comprehend.
The rain started suddenly, pattering on the flat Dutch roofs that stretched down to the shlote (little canal) where the ducklings hid. I sat with my Bible and notebook open on my lap; I would start to process Amsterdam soon, but I paused to enjoy Nieuw Vennep. I love the Dutch countryside. I would be happy to stay forever if I could move my friends and family there. The way I felt about the countryside made it harder to comprehend the city less than an hour away, where girls sold themselves to cheap buyers and YWAMers prayed constantly for them all to be set free. I prayed for a softened heart, that God would teach me to allow myself to be brokenhearted for others, to offer up their sin and my judgement to Him and take His love in return.
Just then the other couple who lived in the house drove up from a weeklong holiday to England. I shouted, “Welcome home!” then laughed at myself. Me, watching the storm from their rooftop, welcoming them to their own home when I had been in the country a week. But that’s the way God works, growing love and passion in the middle of much need.