Searching for Answers PART 2

For the first half of this story click here.

I still don't have all the answers.  I think this life is about continuing to search for the answers, to search  for the ways Christ would have us interact with our world. As I have reflected and prayed about the Roma situation, God has given me the peace to do what I can.  Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the needs I see.  But Christ does not want us overwhelmed, he wants us to join him and let him use us.  The past weeks several opportunities have been presented to us that will allow us to help the Roma and do it within the framework of our company.  In the fall we will be offering some language classes as well as job training for this community.  We hope to give them skills to help them improve their lives. We will be doing this alongside some like minded individuals here in Belgrade.  The great part is our connection to the village is through the Roma church so Jesus will be front and center.
This week I have tried to figure out the balance between being a giver of aid (just providing needs) and being a giver of life (introducing people to Jesus).  I think we can do both, not only can we, but we are commanded to.  After Jesus fed the 5000 he taught them.  We have to use that as our model, and I think that is the answer I (maybe we) are searching for:  Be Jesus (as much as sinners can be) and look to him as our model.  If we do that we will be doing what's good, and whats right

Searching for Answers PART 1

Knowing the Roma village exists, and going there are two different things.  Seeing the Roma around town begging and entering their homes, two different things.  Praying for the poor and standing amongst them, two different things.  God knows me well and knows I can easily be on the fringe and ignore what I know exists under the surface.  This past week God moved me from the fringe and shocked me.  He left me with a ton of questions, no answers and pursuing him for the answers. Sit down, kick your feet up and read part one of my little story

 I saw hopelessness, fear, and poverty in such amounts as I had never experienced.  K and I, along with some college volunteers visited a Roma (gypsy) village near our house.  This is a settlement of over 2000 people in the middle of a European capital situated 200 yards from the newest apartments in Belgrade (some units costing over half million dollars to buy).  It was the poorest place I have ever been.  I know that poorer places exist in the world, but this was sort of surreal, it was so close to so much wealth, but it could have been a million miles away.  We took this little trip with the pastor of the Roma church here in Belgrade to minister to this community and meet some basic needs (mostly passing out clothes, blankets and some toys). 

We entered the village and immediately our senses were in overdrive.  The houses are cardboard and whatever can be found.  Kids - in various state of dress- and stray dogs are running everywhere.  There is an overwhelming sense of hopelessness hanging in the air.  I asked a man what they did to make money.  They collect paper and cardboard (from the dumpster) and sell it to recyclers for about five cents a pound.  They beg, wash car windows on the street corner, and pretty much collect anything from a dumpster they may be able to sell. Visually it is overwhleming.  But there are sounds and smells that are so new and different I can't describe them.   There are no bathrooms or kitchens, they share a common cooking space and a common hole.   I could write for hours describing what I saw but words can't convey the heaviness of real poverty. 

We were able to enter several homes and meet some families.  A few houses had electricity, they had tapped into the tram lines running on the hill above the village so they had lights.  The houses without lights were just dark and cave like. The floors are dirt, and the only furnishings were blankets and old matresses on the ground to sleep on.   We met one man whose wife had left him and he was raising three young kids on his own.  The kids could not attend school so they went with him all day to collect paper.  We met a 17 year old girl who had been married since she was 13 and had a baby.  Most of the kids don't have a chance to got to school, the help their parents work.   We met little girls the age of K and M that were the happiest kids in the world because we gave them old Marti gras beads.  We met countless people whose only thoughts were what they could do now to get through that day.

After visiting for a while, the pastor selected a few families to come out to my van and receive some of the clothes we had come to donate.  As soon as the first bag was distributed, a few families turned into a couple of hundred people.  We tried our best to get something to everyone.  There were so many kids with no clothes- literally, I was crushed with guilt for all we had sitting at home. 

If you know me well, you know I am pretty low on the compassion and mercy scale but I left "bellville" with a heavy heart.  As I looked at these families I placed my self there with my kids and wife and was over come with a sense of despair and hopelessness..... how do we help this situation?  I could pass out clothes and food for weeks, and not make a dent in the poverty.....

K was pretty overwhelmed. I had some idea of what we were walking into, she had no idea. Her eyes were big as saucers. She was a great translator and talked to some of the kids, but mostly she was trying to process the assault on her senses.   Her only question when we got in the car was "Dad, whats it like in the winter, how do they stay warm when it snows?"  I had no answer.  I drove home asking myself "What do they do when it gets cold?" The rest of the afternoon K was pretty quiet, even solemn.  I think she was and is on her own search for answers.  This was her first expereince with the "least of these' and I am praying it impacts her heart in a mighty way.  Click here to read K's perspective 

I know the easy answer is that we can give them Jesus, he is the provider and living water,  and I agree.  But I can't explain the meeter of all needs when none of your needs are met.   Christ over and over calls us to the least of these.   I have been pooring over Mathew 25 this week.  These are Christ's words from verse 35-40:  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'  "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'  "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' This has been killing me this week, as I looked into these faces, I was looking at Jesus.  These words were what I saw; hungry, thirsty, needy.  So the question for me, is how do I meet the need and be more then just a hand out.  I think its clear in the scripture above that we are commanded to meet the earthly need.  But I do want these people to know that there is Christ and he will meet all needs more abundantly then I ever could.  
Keep checking back as I tell the second half of the story, and Christ leads me to the befingoof some answers.  

This is the "street" we walked down to meet people

Passing out clothes, before the crowd swarmed

TEN years come and gone so fast?

This is the last blog I will write with K as a nine year old.  When your kids hit double digits it sure makes you feel old.  I can't beleive that ten years ago today myself, Jen's Dad and her Grandfather were cutting a tree down in the backyard of our home in Waco.  A few hours later we were in the hospital fixing to start the adventure of a lifetime. (Raising K is an adventure!).  Ten years later we've seen first steps, heard first words, dropped her off at kindergarten, lead the eagles in cheers, seen Hannah Montana live in concert.  We've been blessed to see her come to faith in Christ and watch her grow in her faith. We have gotten on a plane and left all that is familiar and watched her be strong.  We've dropped her off at Serbian school with no language, and watched her become an amazing speaker.  I can't wait to find out what we will watch her do over the next ten years.  Happy Birthday K and we love you.

Transportation Envy

Suffering from PTE (Public Transportation Envy) in Berlin

If you have been following us long you know that the first year we were in Belgrade it was all public transportation all the time.  Lets just say the PT system here leaves something to be desired.  Although we are seeing improvements, its got a long way to go.  Visiting Western Europe always gives me public transportation envy (PTE) and Berlin was no exception.  Unfortunately there is no cure for this terrible condition.  All the stops are clearly marked. There are signs telling you how long till then next whatever arrives.   The train, subway, bus etc. tells you the next stop.  All the vehicles have maps plastered all over them.  For about $8 you can ride any mode, anywhere, all day.  I was able to see a ton of Berlin all because I could get anywhere.  The best thing was, it was so simple I did not even have to know German!  The big trains from city to city were amazing and that is the way to travel.    Here are some pics.

Platform for the regional train out of Berlin

Berlin Station, one of the largest in Europe

I know my train will be there in 2 minutes!

Look at that super clean tram

Between Freedom and Tyranny

just a little warning as you leave west Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie

The Topography of Terror with the wall in the Background

Last week I got to go to Berlin and see the sights.  For a guy that used to teach History this was like the gold mine.  I basically had about 12 hours to see the sights.  We hit the major ones (Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg gate, etc...).  As I stood at Checkpoint Charlie (CC)looking at the brick in the road that used to be the Berlin Wall, I could not help think that a few feet across and a few feet up completed seperated the free from the oppressed.  About 500 meters from CC was an exhibit called the Topography of Terror.  It was an audio and picture exhibit tracing the rise of Hitler and the policy's of the SS.  It was built on the old SS heaquarters where they detained and tortured people.  It was pretty sobering.  To walk the streets of Berlin and move freely from East to West was just strange, knowing less then 25 years ago, this was not possible.  We were able to visit the CC museum which was mostly an exhibition of ways people came up to escape East Berlin to the west.  Let me tell you tyrrany and oppression breed creativity.  It was amazing what people came up with.  False bottoms in cars, creating fake uniforms and documents, one man made homemade zip line seats to get his family over the wall.  Growing up in America we just have no idea the links people will go to to to get what we take for granted.  It made me more appreciative and thankful for what God had given me.

Soccer: A Novices Prospective

This past week I had the pleasure? honor? torture? to attend the USA vs. THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF NORTH KOREA (ironic name for arguably the least free most brutal country in the world) in the Women's World Cup.   Of the 22,000 people at the game I was quite sure I was the only one that was not a fan of soccer.  To get past my dislike for soccer I spent a week prepping and viewing this game for what it was, an epic struggle between Communism and Democracy.  In my mind this was 1980 USA VS USSR.  Now the game had some significance for me.
Seeing as the finer points of the game (apparently their are many) are lost on me I thought I would share my thoughts of the game retro diary style:

5:00 Walking through Dresden toward the stadium, it was easy to find because everyone else in the city was walking that way.  Just follow the crowd.


5:15 An hour before kick off (Is that what they call it because they really don't kick the ball as much as pat it backwards to a teammate).  The teams take the field to warm up.  As an old coach I thought I would use this time to scout the teams.  Here is what I observed:
1.  The  USA coach is Swedish and wearing shorts and a tshirt to help warm the team up - the Korean coach looks like a banker (a communist banker at that) - ADVANTAGE DEMOCRACY
2.  For warm ups the USA has the coach, 5 athletic men, and about 15 girls giving out Gatorade, helping the team get ready.  the Koreans have 2 Guys and a banker - ADVANTAGE DEMOCRACY
3.  America is a melting pot and the team represented that well ethnically, the Koreans looked like clones(same hair, same size etc) its hared to find your girl when they all look alike - ADVANTAGE COMMUNISM
4. The USA women are big and strong, Koreans little and quick.  I felt the USA was going to get physical and bludgeon the little Koreans  - ADVANTAGE DEMOCRACY
5.  The American team looked loose and ready to go.  The Koreans not so much.  Very serious, no smiling (of course when you live under a crazy dictator, not so much to smile about.  I think most of the Korean team was preoccupied plotting their defection to the west) - ADVANTAGE DEMOCRACY
So with warm ups coming to a close I felt like this would be all USA, I predicted the score to be 11-2 USA (that's a typical soccer score right)

6:00 The teams take the field, and stand next to their national flags.  For a guy living overseas I love seeing the stars and stripes and then that me and about 10000 Americans (although 9999 of them were soccer fans so that lessens their collective americaness) belting out the Star Spangled banner!  Great moment.

6:03 Communist anthem, remarkably no one in our section knew the words

6:05 Starting lineups introduced, Kim is a popular name in the DPR and the German referees get the loudest applause.  Seriously the 12,000 Germans went nuts for the hometown refs.

6:08 Pat off and the game is under way.... seeing how the first half (47 minutes) was incredibly boring I'll use this space to discuss soccer. I was completely lost as to when to boo or cheer, who knew kicking the ball out of bounds was good?  Soccer people like to talk about how tough a game soccer is and how physical it is but any time the possessor of the ball gets touched the crowd goes nuts screaming for a foul or penalty or whatever you call an infraction.  So soccer people, either its a physical game and we let a little pushing and shoving go on or its a sissy game and we get a foul called on every touch - decide now!  On this point, I will say that when the women fall or get tripped they don't act like they lost a limb like the men, they hop up and keep playing, good job girls.  I was really disappointed when the ball gets kicked into the crowd (referred to my all night as a foul ball) that you could not keep the ball.  I told my dad I was keeping it if they kicked it to me.  Other then this not to much to learn here, try to advance the ball and kick past the goalie (by the way keeper is apparently the correct term) and score.  For 47 minutes this did not happen, mostly someone was kicking the ball out of bounds.

6:55 Halftime

7:15 Second half begins, much more exciting.  Both teams realize a tie is not good and begin attacking more and kicking the ball out of bounds less.  Again the Americans are still playing pretty relaxed and you can sense some nerves from the Koreans.

7:22 America almost scores, the ball bounces high off the crossbar, crowd is seriously let down.

7:26 GOOOOOOOAL!!!!! USA USA USA USA chants feel the stadium as our girls get on the board first (strangely enough the stadium did not have a scoreboard you saw the score on the live feed on the tv).  Great pass across the field and a header in the net.  Instantly you could feel the energy shift to Americas side.  Thousands of men were let down as no American players slid across the field shirtless.

7:40 GOOOOOOOAL!!!!! USA USA USA.... on a rebound (i guess that's what you call it) we kick one in to take a 2-0 (nil if you speak soccer) lead.  I wrote in my notebook, game over.  The communist were done, it was just like when the wall started being chipped away, you knew there was no comeback here.

8:00 GAME OVER... WHAT???? there is extra time, arbitrarily determined by the ref. that's crazy!  so we have two more minutes to play

8:01 GOOOOOAL!!!!! USA USA USA...... WHAT??? the ref has waved off the goal without explanation.  Refs have way to much power (the real reason I think some of her old East Germaness felt sorry for the Koreans)

8:02  GAME OVER, for real this time.
          DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, USA 2
          communism                                     0

As we walk out of the stadium I'm humming Eye of the Tiger and pretty excited about what I just got to witness.  Will I become a soccer fan soon, doubtful.  Well I continue to follow the American team through this tournament, of course.  Am I grateful to my dad for giving me this experience, you bet.
USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA