adventures in internet quizzes

Your IQ Is 120

Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

well, that was fun.

Adventures in Sufism

Last night we went to the citadel (fortified by Saladin to fend off the Crusaders, but never actually needed because they were fended off in Palestine). It's huge and amazing and well preserved. It is also where the Sufi Dancers (Whirling Dervishes) "perform" their prayers three nights a week, for an audience. It was AMAZING. The music was awesome, the dancers were great, and the whirling dervishes could whirl forever. The first one (who came on about 40 minutes into the evening) whirled solo (with some surrounding dancers/drummers) for 30 minutes without even thinking about stopping in spite of coughing. After he was done there was a musical interlude, then three dervishes came out and whirled together for about half an hour. It was very cool.
Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam, kind of like the mystics of medieval Catholicism. The Whirling Dervishes are, I think, a sect within Sufism and they use whirling as a way to work themselves into a trance and thus a deeper meditation, which brings them closer to God. It felt kind of weird to watch this as a performance, and then to applaud at the end, but it was amazing and beautiful, so I did. And I did so with only a small amount of shame at being a witness to something like this. Here are some pics, and there are more in my yahoo photos (link on the left sidebar).




~~~~~~

In other news, I hope you are all thinking about ways to help Katrina victims. It is such a huge disaster that it's all over the news here too, and I've been reading the NY Times coverage. I am appalled at the way the situation has been handled, and especially with the news (news to me, anyway) that funding for the levee system to be finished was pulled in order to fund the war in Iraq. UGH!

Also in other news, I heard that a few hours ago Chief Justice Rehnquist died. This makes me sad on so many levels, from his family's grieving to the pain he was in and the lengths he went to to try to heal, to the fact that there are now two vacancies on the Supreme Court and an imbecile president in charge of filling them. I hope this goes better than I think it will.

Now I am hungry, and Jason just walked in with a sandwich that made me extremely jealous. I'm going to eat now. And to try to stay clean. ha!

adventures in boxed beverages

This week we have done a lot! We've been to the grocery (a western supermarket, sadly, because our local grocer is on vacation until monday), ridden the Metro (the mass transit train system, partly above and partly below ground), visited Care With Love (an organization that cares for children with cancer, that trains home health care workers, and a variety of other things...one of the volunteers (Jay) is going to be working there this year) to attend a graduation ceremony for the home health training program, taken a felucca (boat) ride on the Nile, had several fabulous meals, and started Arabic class.

For this post, I first want to share with you how grocery stores work. They look just like ours, except almost all the product packaging is in Arabic. Duh. Luckily, the back side is often in English or French, so I'm doing okay with that so far. Beverages here (juice, milk, etc) mostly come in hermetically sealed boxes. I purchased a box of mango juice and a box of milk. When I went to open them in the morning so I could have breakfast, here's what happened:





I pulled the plastic tab. The milk one broke and I had to cut a hole in the top with a knife. The mango juice plastic opening came completely off, leaving me with just the hole in the box, which I am now covering with the plastic tab when it's in the fridge. Great. It was a fantastic introduction to the ingenuity and flexibility needed to live in another country!

mango juice

Mango Juice might be my new favorite beverage. Since Dr. Pepper isn't distributing in Egypt yet, I'm having to drink other things. Milk comes in a box and doesn't need to be refrigerated, which creeps me out, so juice it is! I had a box of mango juice installed in my fridge when I arrived, and this afternoon we stopped as a group at a juice stand down the road where they literally blend up mango with a little water and serve it up to you in a real glass, right there on the road! Without the water, it definitely would have been a soft solid mass in the cup. It was FANTASTIC. The girl who talked to us about Egypt last week was right--you've never tasted a mango until you've come here. So good.

We have visited some of our neighborhood (Ghamra) and we've found our way to the place to print photos and the suuk where they sell fruits and vegetables, all perfectly fresh and in season, literally trucked in early in the morning from the delta region and sold during the day. crazy!

The pollution here is visible, which is a little disturbing, and at the moment it's quite warm. It's probably about 90+ degrees, but the humidity is reasonable so it's quite manageable to be outside. Our flats all have air conditioning, so being in my apartment is pretty cool, literally and figuratively!

I have a bit of a head cold, which is frustrating, but hopefully it will clear up soon and I won't be begging for cough drops or kleenex anymore!!

Let's see...is there anything else to say? Today we visited with the General Secretary of the Synod of the Nile Schools, who also is (or was?) the President of the Protestant Churches in Egypt, and something else too. He had a lot of titles. He had interesting things to say about politics and Islam and Christianity, so that was intriguing. Basically, Christians want Mubarak to stay because he doesn't oppress Christians. The other candidates would all, supposedly, make Egypt an Islamic state, including Shari'a law, which would make it exremely difficult to be a Christian here. Here's hoping that doesn't happen! While I'm not sure that Mubarak is the best choice, at least with him we'll be allowed to stay! The elections are September 7, just a week away. Good times!

While visiting with Mr. school-president man (whose name completely escapes me at this moment) we also had a chance to experience some Middle Eastern hospitality. All 9 of us were invited to take a seat in his office, and were offered a variety of beverages. We all opted for lemonade, which was pretty good. He also answered lots of questions we had, which was great. We were probably there for about 45 minutes with him!

Well, many of you have heard already, but Dawson Hall here offers some extremely nice accomodations, especially when you consider where some of our fellow YAVs are living in other countries (with host families, in the desert, etc). Each flat has a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. My living room is essentially the size of a living room and dining room. It's furnished with a couch, chair, coffee table, small kitchen table (in the "dining room") and two chairs, bed, dresser, closet, bathroom drawers (the plastic kind that I love--a three-drawer unit), and kitchen utensils and dishes. I am glad that I brought my measuring cups and spoons, though. Our stoves are butagas, which means we turn on the tank, then light a match, then turn on the burner and light it. This morning I thought I might burn my hair so I freaked and turned it off on accident the first time, but I succeeded on my second try and managed to boil the kettle for some tea. Thank goodness! I'm so glad I packed peppermint tea because it's just what my nose and throat (not to mention my taste buds) needed this morning.

I think that's about enough for now. Tonight we are headed out for dinner at a restaurant on or near the Nile, which is very exciting. (Last night we were welcomed with pizza and ice cream, which was fantastic after 15 hours of travelling!!) Tomorrow afternoon we begin language lessons! Send us some happy thoughts and prayers, because Arabic is quite challenging and supposedly our teachers are very demanding. :-)

I have posted pictures of Dawson Hall on my photo site, the link to which is to the left there. Enjoy!

chicago

i love chicago. too bad orientation means that i can't really hang out here. anyway, orientation is kind of long but i'm sure it's important. plus there are lots of fun people. good times. i haven't touched my egypt bags, so i must have packed well. thank goodness! if i had to open those, i think it would be very bad. anyway, we have sporadic internet access. i'll try to post again before we actually fly out. we leave monday at 11:30, and we fly away at 3:45pm. yay!

ttfn....

bye, atlanta!

we are off. two hours after our planned departure, but we are packed and ready to go. so we're off on the long drive. no posting until we get into internet land again, approximately 2555.16 miles from here. happy new week!
peace

Getting Your Feet Wet

Getting Your Feet Wet
Matthew 14.22-33
CNCP
August 7 2005

Have you ever had one of those experiences where something is so uncanny, so perfect, so appropriate that you just know that there’s something or someone behind it? That’s the experience I’ve had with this text this week. This text is the perfect story for this, my last Sunday here with you before leaving for a year as a missionary in Egypt. I know we’ve all heard this story a million times before and we’re always being told that it’s about taking risks to follow Jesus, or making a leap of faith, or stepping out of our comfort zone. But I have something just a little bit different in mind this week.

Some of you may remember that about four months ago Jason and I took a trip to Louisville, Kentucky, to participate in a long weekend retreat for potential Young Adult Volunteers. During this weekend about 50 young adults between the ages of 19 and 30 came together to study, pray, and explore whether a year of mission work was for them, and if so where they were called to go. There were people who’d just graduated from college or who were about to, people who were planning to go to seminary when they came back, people who were looking for a change, people who were interested in doing something good while they figure out what to do with their lives, and all kinds of other motives and interests and backgrounds and gifts. There were site directors of a dozen countries and US sites—from Hollywood to India to Kenya to Thailand to Guatemala and everywhere in between. It was really a chance for us to just get our feet wet in the program—to meet people, find out information, and be in community for a short while with other people we might be living with later in the year. All weekend we talked, we listened, we met and chatted and ate and prayed. We worshipped twice a day, and the text we used for each of those 6 services was this very text—the story of Peter walking on the water. We heard this story 6 times, we heard it preached on 6 times, we heard what felt like every aspect of the story—from the part where Jesus takes some time out to pray and rest even though there’s a ton of work to do, to the part where Jesus walks on the water, to the part where Peter walks on the water, to the part where Peter sinks and Jesus apparently rebukes him, to the part where all the disciples worship Jesus because they finally figure it out just at the last minute. I feel like I have heard every sermon on this text that I might ever preach, and all in one weekend. When we weren’t in worship, we were often talking about this story and what we were thinking or feeling about it. The entire discernment weekend was saturated with this story of Jesus, Peter, and the other disciples and their modes of travel. So when it appeared in the lectionary for the Sunday I was scheduled to preach my last sermon before heading off to actually be a young adult volunteer, I found the coincidence too much to bear. Except, of course, I don’t believe in coincidence, so it must be providence. Clearly there is a reason that I’m supposed to bring this story to you all this morning.

Can you imagine the scene that Matthew describes? Jesus sends the disciples on ahead in the boat, and since they’d tried earlier to get Jesus to send the crowd away, they were probably delighted to get away from the crowd and have some peace and quiet. No one asked Jesus how he was planning on catching up with them, no one argued, no one even batted an eye. Now, the Sea of Galilee is not very wide—at its widest point it is 8 miles across. From the place where the feeding of the 5,000 happened up to Genessaret, the location for the next story, is basically due north, probably about 5 or 6 miles. You can see across from one side to the other. It must have been really windy, because by the time Jesus decides to join them, he can see that they’re out in the middle of the lake even after several hours. Remember, this is a boat half full of fishermen—they know how to move a boat, even in a storm. And these fishermen were straining at the oars, according to Mark’s version of this story. So when Jesus comes along, leisurely strolling by, apparently on the surface of the water, imagine what that must have looked like. The disciples have been up all night bailing water out, trying to keep the waves from swamping the boat, rowing against a strong wind, and making no progress. They’ve just had news that John the Baptist was beheaded—bad news for their own little group. And now, in the dark of the very early morning, they see this figure coming toward them, clothes billowing out behind him, face pale in the faint moonlight, hair whipping about. Between stress, fatigue, anxiety, and the impossibility of the situation, of course they were afraid! They scream, probably with the scream of a teenager in terror, and Jesus says “do not be afraid.”

Have you ever noticed that whenever the phrase “do not be afraid” comes up in the Bible, it’s always at the moment when people have every right to be completely terrified? Hagar thinks her son is going to die in the desert heat and she begins to hear voices. Moses sees a bush that’s burning up but isn’t burning up. The people of Israel come up against an army ten times their size. Jeremiah takes daily threats to his life, even from the king. Mary meets a so-called-angel that mysteriously appears in her kitchen. The disciples see a vision of Elijah and Moses with Jesus on a mountain and everyone is glowing. The members of the early church see their brothers and sisters stoned and burned to death for proclaiming Jesus as Lord. These are all pretty good reasons to be afraid, and yet every time God says “do not be afraid.” What? I spend plenty of my time being afraid for much less than this. And now I’m headed out to a place where everyone keeps telling me to be careful, often implying that I should be afraid of the people, of the situation, of some unknown thing. And that’s really what we’re afraid of, isn’t it? We’re afraid of the unknown. We as a congregation are afraid—because we don’t know what’s going to happen next, where we’ll be in a year or five years, whether new people will come or everyone here will get a new burst of energy or whether young families will move in to the new townhomes across the street. We as a nation are afraid because there are people in the world who aren’t like us. The people in those Bible stories were afraid of the unknown—what would happen when that army marched on the Israelites, whether Jeremiah would be killed or not, what this angel might require or what seeing God face-to-face might do to a person. Now, intellectually we all know that what we really fear is the unknown, and we know that the unknown thing usually turns out not to be very frightening at all—sometimes it’s even pleasant or rewarding!—but we are still afraid to move toward it, to get our feet wet in that unknown and risk getting in over our heads. So perhaps, in this light, “do not be afraid” makes some sense after all. Perhaps that is Jesus’ way of telling the disciples in the boat that he is not the unknown, but is someone they know and love and trust. Perhaps the phrase “do not be afraid” is almost a form of identification, a way for God to say “hey, it’s me! Not a stranger, but a friend.”

Once the disciples have heard this declaration, this identification, of their friend and Lord, Peter asks what seems like a silly question to me. He says “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Now, if it was a ghost, wouldn’t the ghost also say, “come” just as Jesus does? Granted, the ghost would assume that Peter would sink, but why not? It doesn’t seem like a very good test. However, you may remember the phrase from First John: “test the spirits to see whether they are of God.” Maybe Peter was confirming that it was his friend and, somehow, also displaying his trust that what Jesus commands is possible. In any case, Jesus orders Peter out of the boat, and the exhausted and frightened Peter obeys. Somehow he defies all logic, gravity, laws of physics, and everything else and manages to step out onto a non-solid surface that is heaving and spraying and swirling all around him. Maybe it was magic, maybe it’s a metaphor for stepping from comfort into chaos, maybe it somehow really happened, but in any case, the story tells us that Peter began to walk toward Jesus—and THEN he noticed the wind? Uh, no, he knew about the wind, he’d been in a boat, straining to make headway, desperately trying to keep the boat afloat against the waves. He hadn’t been comfortable in the boat to begin with—he had been anxious, bone-tired, soaked to the skin, and most likely decidedly uncomfortable. He knew what was outside the boat. He knew he might get even wetter, that it might not work…but he also knew that if Jesus called him out of the boat then it must be worth it. And he chose to get out of the boat and try his luck at walking on the water because that’s where Jesus was. He was more comfortable being close to Jesus than being on a solid surface. He was willing to get his feet wet in order to be close to the Lord he knew. And yes, he became afraid, and he began to sink—he may have even been in over his head—but with God all things are possible and Jesus held him up. Remember from Psalm 139—at the edge of the sea, in the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven, even there your right hand shall hold me fast. Or the psalm for today, Psalm 23—even in the depths of fear, sinking into the middle of the very symbol of chaos, Peter was comforted by the Shepherd. Oh yes, Peter knew what he was getting into, and he was afraid of what might happen, but his friend and Lord came through for him, just as he always had and always will. Jesus is Lord even of the elements and of the laws of nature, as we see so often in the gospels, and he was not about to let Peter fall. Jesus walked Peter back to the boat, to the stunned disciples who by now had probably forgotten to bail or row because they were busy staring open mouthed at Peter, and the wind stopped when they were all together again, and the disciples worshipped him—because what else could they do? There is no other response than awe and praise when something so completely bizarre happens, much as there is no other response than following when you are called.

In that moment, the moment where Peter stepped out of the boat, I think he got a little glimpse of what it must be like to be in the Kingdom of God. To be more comfortable being close to Jesus than being on solid ground, to do something strangely impossible, to so closely obey the command of the Lord, to forget the worldly rules and follow a new set of kingdom rules. I must admit that I’m not quite in the same place Peter was. When I was in a boat on the Sea of Galilee in the broad daylight when the wind and water were calm, we joked about who would prove their faith by stepping out—and neither I nor anyone else was willing to do so. And I will definitely be careful when I’m in Egypt—I don’t plan on going places alone at night, going anywhere with random people I just met at a coffee shop, or doing anything silly. Because it seems to us that what Peter did was really kind of silly, kind of bizarre, kind of rash and thoughtless. But in a way I think that’s kind of what we do at church, especially on days like today. We come together to proclaim something impossible has happened and is happening—that God became human, that a human being died and was resurrected, that being in community matters, that water, bread, and wine mean something beyond what they look like, feel like, or taste like. Every time we come to this table we act kind of silly, claiming that eating specific foods together in a specific place in a specific way brings us closer together, creates and re-creates the Body of Christ, feeds us with God’s own body and blood—that it is life-giving in both physical and spiritual ways. It doesn’t make sense, it isn’t always comfortable, and it makes us the subject of ridicule sometimes. And yet we do it; week after week millions of people around the world enact the same ritual we will enact here today, they eat bread and drink wine, they say the same words and they believe that in doing so we are all made brothers and sisters—even with people we don’t know or like, even with people we are afraid of, even with the one we call Lord. This immensely silly and seemingly impossible thing that we do, though, is like getting our feet wet in the Kingdom. We believe that we come closer to Jesus in this ritual, in this symbol, in this act of communion. And so we leave the solid ground that is strangely uncomfortable and we enter into something different, something swirling and mysterious, something holy. And we find that there is comfort there, even amidst the challenge, even in that place of uncertainty that is the place where Jesus often is.

Today I invite you to listen for Jesus calling your name, and to step out of the boat, which is not a comfortable place, not the place where we are at home, and step into the holy place where Jesus is and you can truly be at home. Go ahead and be silly! Get your feet wet here at the table, and keep them wet out in the world that God calls us to live in and to serve. Amen.

penguins

March of the Penguins made me cry. more than once.

last one!

i am serving my last on call shift at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. Thank goodness.

I will be having many lasts coming up. Strangely, this seems to be a theme throughout the years of my blog. In the beginning it was the last days of college or the last days of Chicago. Recently it's been the last days of seminary. Now we're in the last days of Atlanta and nearly into the last days of the US (for a year, anyway). Good times.

SO: tonight is my last duty shift. tomorrow is my last haircut here. Sunday is my last Sunday at CNC and probably my last preaching gig in a while. Next Thursday is my last day of CPE. Next Friday is my last day in my apartment. Next Saturday is my last day in Atlanta. Are you keeping up with all that? Just wondering. I'm not sure I am. I have so much to do. And it's impossible to do it here at the hospital. I am trying to work on the bulletin and my sermon, but we'll see. anyway...

happy wednesday!

because Calvin is not attractive...

I've decided (with some mildly bitter prompting from patrick) to update my blog. here's what's going on in my life, and possibly some commentary on world events (if i have time before lunch).

1. i've continued the packing. it's moving along. slowly.
2. i've bought egypt-appropriate clothes. and sorted my other clothes into taking, storing, and donating.
3. i've interrupted my reading of the required books to re-read Blue Like Jazz.
4. i've spent all the money i have, and then some.
5. the "president" made a recess appointment of john bolton, which wasn't very smart. duh.
6. the king of saudi arabia died and the new king is young, reform-minded, supposedly, and i think he's western educated but i can't remember. i'm having some trouble keeping the royal families of saudi arabia and jordan distinct in my mind.
7. i'm preaching this sunday, on Peter walking on the water. (Matthew 14.22-33)
8. i got my shots for egypt yesterday. they were (still are) very painful and also very expensive. good thing i get reimbursed for those.
9. my mom is still sick.
10. my cousin max weighs over seven pounds now--he's about the size of a real baby!
11. i'm trying to figure out if we really can drive 38 hours and 32 minutes in three days without falling asleep and getting ourselves (and others) killed.
12. i haven't made the bulletin for this sunday yet. it's communion sunday, too. the only thing i know (beyond the text, obviously) is that we're going to sing "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" (Psalm 23 to ST. COLUMBA, i think it's number 181 or 151 or something like that in the hymnal, but i'm not looking at a hymnal right now so i'm not sure).
13. i am very very very hungry right now. hopefully lunch will be very soon.
14. that's all for today. hopefully this post has pushed john calvin's not so attractive face down the page enough to make certain people happy. :-)

fun theologian quiz

true to my presbyterian form...

You scored as John Calvin. Much of what is now called Calvinism had more to do with his followers than Calvin himself, and so you may or may not be committed to TULIP, though God's sovereignty is all important. John Calvin 93% J?Moltmann 73% Friedrich Schleiermacher 67% Paul Tillich 53% Anselm 53% Karl Barth 47% Martin Luther 47% Charles Finney 40% Jonathan Edwards 20% Augustine 20% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

hahahahahahaha!!!! and oy.

this 911 call is why more people should be vegetarian. how many actual crimes were put on hold at the 911 call center because this woman wanted dead cow?

funny!

I found a post about this on a random website. it's hilarious--test it out!

The dialectizer.

also, check out the new link to the left for StoryCorp. NPR plays some of these stories and they have made me cry so often--sweet, sad, funny, fantastic, etc. you can listen to stories on the website. great.

cool

so you know how up there in the right hand corner of the page there's a button that says "next blog"? I recommend that you push it and read some of the other blogs that are around. Some very thoughtful, some hilarious, some not-yet-really-started, but all fun to look at. spend some time on the internet, people!!!

finally!

PyroManiac appears to be a blog written by an evangelical who thinks. I'm so glad to find that such a thing exists! He is insightful in his commenting on Christianity in our culture, and has WONDERFUL things to say about harry potter from the evangelical perspective. thank goodness for people like this that make me think the world might be worth it after all.

Harry Potter VI

finished...and...

WHAT?????????

My friend Noell thinks there's a plan where evil man (not you-know-who) is now uniquely positioned to be of help. i agree but am not convinced that he isn't evil. so there.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED??? ugh. When is the next book due out?

packing II

I have started.
i need more boxes.
target, here I come, looking for the plastic bins that will keep the mold and bugs away and protect my books from floods!

packing

well, i haven't really started yet. BUT: my packing list arrived today, so I guess it's time to get a move on. I need to pack up my apartment before I can pack for Egypt, after all! So--tonight it is. the Books begin to go in the boxes tonight. the packing list says there are "hundreds" of books in Dawson Hall, the place I'll be living. I only hope that's true. :-)

i'm so ronery...

this past two weeks i've been pretty lonely. jason's been away getting his stuff on ebay or going to florida for the shuttle launch that wasn't, i haven't had much of a social life because the hospital's been so tiring, and none of my friends have been available by phone. granted, i have things to do (write fundraising letters, pack apartment, prepare for sunday (I'm preaching), etc etc etc) but it's hard for an axtrovert like me to spend every evening at home alone. thankfully, my evenings alone will soon be (temporarily, at least) ended, as jason is supposed to return tonight from florida and maybe we will hang out. that would be nice.

i can't wait to be around someone again. someone not from/in the hospital.

yay.

chapstick and new job

Labello is the best kind of chapstick. it's so light and smooth, it makes your lips so happy....yeah. unfortunately, you can't just go out to the store and buy it--at least not most stores. should you want to try this out for yourself, try lipmedic. they ship anywhere. it's great. i just stocked up for egypt.

In other news, i received the information about the jobs I'll have in Egypt. Are you ready for this?

At the Ramses College for Girls in Cairo, I will be the:
1. English Chaplain
2. Lower Primary (K-3) storytelling and english enrichment activities
3. library person

These jobs are very me. Hopefully "chaplain" at a girls school and chaplain at a hospital are NOT the same job!! I guess we'll find out when I arrive, won't we?

Pretty soon I'll be starting my fundraising campaign (since I still have $6500 to go). It is highly likely that I'll post my fundraising plea here--probably more than once! If you would like to help me out, or if you know someone or have family members that might be able to help even a little, please please please send me an email!!!

so..that's the news for now. good times!