Quotable Friday, Vol. 30 November 28, 2008

From Surprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis:

“[...] the very nature of Joy makes nonsense of our common distinction between having and wanting.  There, to have is to want and to want is to have.  Thus, the very moment when I longed to be so stabbed again, was itself again such a stabbing.”

And when God and His Joy didn’t show up the way Lewis expected:

“[...] being an idolator and a formalist, I insisted that He ought to appear in the temple I had built Him, not knowing that He cares only for temples building and not at all for temples built.”

How often do I do this?  God does something, draws near in a certain way, and…Joy!  But almost immediately I begin to build a temple for the experience, desperately wanting it to come again, in just the same way (but maybe stronger).  I often make the “first and deadly error”, as Lewis puts it, of turning from the object to the state of mind that the object brings; from God to the thrill of His nearness.  I try to build an ark or a tabernacle so He will stay there, so I can somehow tether his presence like a kite, anchor it like a ship.

But Lewis points out that this is in vain; He’s only interested in the “temple building.”  He’s moved on again, so quickly, leaped over to the next cold statue to breathe life into it.  Staying behind and trying to find Him where He was is fruitless – it’s attempting to find warmth from a fire that is now merely ashes.  Once He leaves and moves on, there is no longer anything special about that place; it’s cold and dead.  Lewis compares it to the women seeking the risen Jesus at the tomb.  The angel says to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, He is risen.”  And that’s how it is with God – we have to keep chasing Him, moving where and when He moves.  It’s like the Israelites in the wilderness, always at the ready to break up camp the moment Yahweh advanced.  We must realize that He doesn’t fly on to the next place without us or to get away from us, but to keep us moving…there’s so much to do and so much to see; we’re always going further up and further in!

Be Ye Thankful November 27, 2008

Hmm.  So it’s Thanksgiving.  Just another day around here at Grimerud.  The sun rises around 8 am, sets around 3:30pm and everyone goes about their lives.  I’m trying REALLY hard not to be depressed about the fact that I am missing Thanksgiving for the second year in a row.  Blah, it’s such a bummer!  Everyone here has been saying, “Hey, can’t you just make some turkey or something?”  But it’s not about the food…it’s about the people, and about the feel in the air, and about seeing my dog waddle around at the end of the day trying to keep herself from falling into a food coma.  Good times.  BUT.  I’m totally thankful for a lot of things.  You know, the usual…friends and family and my health and the fact that I have always had everything I needed.  I’m also thankful that I’m here in Norway (okay, maybe not this exact day, but for the most part) and I’m thankful that God is so generous and decided to make my dreams of seeing the world come true.

Last night I was complaining to my mentor that I didn’t know what to do once this DTS is over in the spring time.  I have a big basket of options and I’m not sure if I should just close my eyes, stick my hand in, and pick one or if I should lay them all out on the table and make some pro/con lists.  Or ask God to dissolve all but one.  That would be cool.  But when I was whining to Heather, I remembered something I heard Erwin McManus say in a podcast a couple weeks ago.  He was speaking to people in this exact situation, people who feel like they have a lot of options for their future and just can’t decide.  Erwin said to be thankful.   How many people, women especially, are born into a world without any options?  It’s a sobering and humbling thought.

So I am thankful.  I’m thankful that my life is a colorful assortment of adventures and experiences and gifts, that God’s beauty and love chase me down wherever I go on this green earth.  I’m so thankful I’m coming to know a God who does these things, and doesn’t give up on me when I act like a spoiled brat every other day.

Psalm 23 (The Message)

 

Psalm 23

A David Psalm

 1-3 God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. 
   You have bedded me down in lush meadows, 
      you find me quiet pools to drink from. 
   True to your word, 
      you let me catch my breath 
      and send me in the right direction. 

 4 Even when the way goes through 
      Death Valley, 
   I’m not afraid 
      when you walk at my side. 
   Your trusty shepherd’s crook 
      makes me feel secure. 

 5 You serve me a six-course dinner 
      right in front of my enemies. 
   You revive my drooping head; 
      my cup brims with blessing. 

 6 Your beauty and love chase after me 
      every day of my life. 
   I’m back home in the house of God 
      for the rest of my life.

OMG November 26, 2008

Dude.  So I’m in a friend’s room tonight with some people, and one guy is talking about his friend who accidentally ate dog on his pizza while in Thailand.  When the “eww-ing” died down, I said, “Hey, my uncle just told me that when he was here in Norway, he ate horse!” Instead of more “ews” as I expected, everyone just acted like that was the most normal thing in the world.  And then, get this: they said the sausage we eat here is made from horse!  Yeah, the smoky-flavored, almost black sausage they serve us every Friday night with our weekly rice porridge, the sausage that I LOVE with the rice porridge I LOVE…is horse.  Like I said, OMG.*

It made me feel really weird inside, all prickly between the shoulder blades.

Anyway, I’m over it.  But hey, if you’re super interested in Norway, I found this really cool blog called “My Little Norway” by an Australian woman who moved here with her Norwegian husband.  They live in the far north, above the Arctic circle…so she is WAY more hardcore than I am.  In the past week I’ve eaten deer and reindeer for the first time…and found out that I’ve been eating horse every Friday for the past three months.  So I don’t know where it goes from there…maybe in the North they’re eating polar bears…or Santa’s elves!  I’m really missing Thanksgiving right now…turkey.  Just good old turkey, man.

*Just a note for my Norwegian readers…in case you didn’t know, eating horse is pretty much taboo in the States.  It’s right up there with dog.

A Boyfriend Would Come in Handy Right About Now… November 25, 2008

I want to see this movie so much!  Here’s the trailer…if you can watch it in Hi-Def, do.  It’s starring these two beautiful people, Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, and it’s by the same director as Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrman).  Hello!  It’s going to be so good!  And Oprah loved it.  And I REALLY want to see it in the theater…or the cinema, I think that’s what they call it here.  The cinematography looks amazing, and I have a feeling it just won’t be as cool in a few months on my laptop or on the tiny screen in front of me on the airplane.  

Plus, you already know how much I loved going to the movies cinema (I’m sorry, cinema just sounds cooler).  So hey, if you’ve got a few extra days off this Christmas, come visit me in Norway and we can go see Australia together.  Not like I have a bunch of plans or anything *self-pitying sigh*.  Dammit, when is teleportation going to become a real form of travel?

The Lucky One November 23, 2008

My sister’s wedding was AMAZING.  She was beautiful, the wedding was beautiful, everything went well, they didn’t run out of food…what else do you want from a wedding, right?  And that moment, when all of us girls were in the back of the church waiting to walk down the aisle, holding our bouquets and looking over our shoulders at Sarah who was practically hyperventilating with happiness…that moment I was happier than I can remember being in a long time.  There’s just something about watching a dream come true for someone you love so much.  

Oh, and at the reception, my sister Rachel gave a toast in the form of an original rap.  It was amazing.  I’m not quite as much of a performer as Rachel, but I wrote a little poem for Sarah for my toast.  She’s always said she’s unlucky…we even joked about how we had the “Moyal Curse” on our lives, causing all those little things to go wrong.  But after seeing life breathed into her dreams these past two years as she’s fallen in love with Daniel, I think her luck has begun to change.  That’s what this poem is about:

Confessions of a Californian Foodie November 21, 2008

So you all know that I’m a bit of a foodie, right?  I think my Norwegian friends actually find it quite strange and amusing.  Whatever, it runs in the family!  Anyway, considering my love of food, it’s only natural that when anticipating my trip home to California for my sister’s wedding, I was not only excited about spending time with family and friends and basking in the weather that makes Southern California paradise, I was pretty much just as pumped about all the good food I would eat while I was there.  And, as my friend Jackson advised, I did not waste a single meal.  Or a single opportunity to go to Starbucks.  On the way home from the airport my mom and I stopped at the neighborhood Starbs, or Buckies, whatever you like to call it, and I spent 20 minutes discovering all their new merchandise, drinks, sandwiches, and pastries.  I was enthralled.  And to hear English spoken on top of all of it…sigh.  What a homecoming.

Well, I had this bright idea to take a picture of every single meal I ate while I was in Cali, but that got a little boring and also, I forgot too many times.  I was on vacation, you guys.  I was busy with things a little more interesting than my dear little Eeper.  But I did take a lot, so here are some of them, along with their descriptions.  Californians, you are lucky dogs.  Norwegians and others…I’m sorry.  Try not to salivate on your keyboard. (Pictures after the jump).

Revisited November 19, 2008

“We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it?

It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.

I want to repeat one word for you:

Leave.

Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn’t it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don’t worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed.”

“Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.”

Donald Miller,

Through Painted Deserts

Well, I did leave.  Twice.  Actually, three times now.  I went to Australia, then I came back.  Then I went to Norway, came back for my sister’s wedding, and the left again.  And yes, these are some of the best things I’ve ever done.  Everything Donald Miller said was true.  I have never been alone, I have changed, and everything is always there when I get back.  But he was also right when he said that when you came back, you’d love home again for all different reasons.  When I came back for Sarah’s wedding, I loved being home.  I love being in Norway, but I really loved being home.  Does this mean that I’m done traveling for a while?  Honestly, I don’t know.  I don’t know what I’m doing after this DTS anymore than I knew what I would be doing after Australia…and look, here I am in Europe!  So next year, I might be in Valencia, or Jerusalem, or Boston, or South Africa, or Paris… But I think, if God wants me to have a “home” now, I’ll be ready for it.

Seriously? November 11, 2008

Apparently, my friends read this.  I keep running into people and often, their parting words are something like, “And hey, I read your blog, so I keep up on what’s happening with you.”

Surprising…especially since only about 4 people comment here.  I’m so glad you all are reading this, but…show me some love people!  

P.S. Yes, my trip home is going well…except that I’m ridiculously tired.  Catching up with people takes a lot of energy!  But I’m soaking up sun and the English language, and eating some really good food (more on that later).

The Great Reward November 5, 2008

I tagged this post as a “rant” because that desribes my attitude right now…but I won’t let loose in a real rant…self-censorship sucks, but that’s life, man.

One more day of outreach, and then one day of traveling, and then home to Grimerud for one day.

Then my great reward on Sunday – going home.

I am looking forward to:

1. Eating fresh, healthy food (read: NOT bread and NOT cheese).

2. Not being responsible for anyone but myself.

3. And of course, seeing people that I love. A lot.

V-town here I come!

Quotable Friday, Vol. 29 (Road Trip Ed.) November 4, 2008

“The challenge to the missionary does not come on the line that people are difficult to get saved, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, that there is a wedge of callous indifference; but along the line of his own personal relationship to Jesus Christ.  ‘Believe ye that I am able to do this?’ Our Lord puts that question steadily, it faces us in every individual case we meet.  The one great challenge is – do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit?  Am I wise enough in God’s sight, and foolish enough according tot he world, to bank on what Jesus Christ has said [...], which is the only call for a missionary, [namely], boundless confidence in Christ Jesus?”

Oswald Chambers,

My Utmost For His Highest

It’s amazing how quickly one loses perspective in this race we’re running.  This week, I’m leading an outreach for a week on the West coast of Norway.  Today I was confronted with my own fear of what people will think when we get home if we don’t have an exultant success story from the week’s outreach.  Because that puts a LOT of pressure on my shoulders, as the leader.  It’s funny, because all I really need to do is believe that Jesus can do what He says He can – that God is who He says He is.  And that’s where the last part of this quote comes in and really rings true…because if I really believe these things, my thoughts behavior will naturally and gradually change, leading to more reckless gambling of my life on the promises He’s made, and inevitably, more foolishness in the world’s sight.

With that in mind, we’ll see how our last two days of outreach go…