The Best Christmas Yet!

The Best Christmas Yet!

Today was Christmas, 2013.  I have spent the day at Steffani's parents' home, her grandparents' home and then caught a movie in the afternoon with some dear friends of ours.  For me, though, I received the best gift of all last night.  Allow me to explain.

Stef had told me she needed to kick me out of the house for a couple hours so she could finish working on my present.  I decided to take the opportunity to invite her father to dinner.  We had a wonderful dinner and I had one of the best steaks I've had in a long time.  We talked about a variety of subjects, ranging from the government deficit to my plans for the new year.

After I talked about my plans for Myanmar in the new year, he asked where Stef fit into that picture.  I laughed and he said, "Well, out with it." I responded by asking for permission for his daughter's hand in marriage.  He talked about the importance of commitment and faithfulness and how he believes the man actually should sacrifice more in the relationship than the woman.  I happen to agree with that if the man is supposed to love His wife as Christ loves the church.  He talked for a while, to the point where I wondered if he was going to answer yes or no.  At long last, he said I had his and his wife's blessing to ask their daughter for her hand in marriage.  I said thank you and as a result received the best Christmas gift I've ever received.

We got back and before we came in the house I thanked him again and he gave me a handshake and a hug which I appreciated.  He followed it up this morning during his prayer before opening presents by saying thanks for all his family and the newest member, if he plays his cards right.  We all chuckled at that.  

After we had been back at the house for a while last night and everyone else was watching the movie, I decided to pay Steffani a visit.  I walked into her bedroom and informed her I had some good news and some bad news.  She wanted me to start with the good news.  Then I said to her, "Well, the good news is I had a really nice steak dinner with your father.  The bad news is he said no."  I somehow pulled off a straight face because she totally bought it.  After I finished laughing and she had punched me in the gut I told her that he had really said yes in case she hadn't picked up on that yet.

Everyone exchanged gifts this morning and Stef's niece and nephew made quite a haul, which is how it should be.  Stef's parents and siblings were quite generous and gave me some of my favorite gifts, money and gift cards.  Stef made a really cool patchwork thing with an overlay of the world and gave me a few other presents as well.  I gave her a Tissot watch and some other things as well.  I gave her dad and brothers some knives I had picked up in Myanmar and her mom a shoulder bag I picked up there as well.  I got her sister-in-law an amazon gift card and their kids just a couple of small items.

After we paid a visit to her grandparents' home and exchanged gifts with her extended family, we went and saw Anchorman 2 with our friends Matt and Elisha and his brother and sister-in-law.  If you liked Anchorman you will love Anchorman 2 and we had a truly wonderful time at the theater with our friends.  Tonight we went for a walk with her parents' 6 month old pup named Jojo downtown.  He's a really good pup and made me wish my parents would get another dog.

While I was away from my own family for Christmas and did miss them a little bit, I have to say this was by far my favorite Christmas yet.  I spent time with my future family and got permission to marry the woman of my dreams.  Life certainly has its ups and downs and you can only count on change being the one consistent thing in your life outside of God.  Right now, though, I feel like the luckiest man on the planet.  Now it's just a matter of talking Stef into a pearl ring and we'll be on our way.  If you're close to either of us try and keep November and December open as we're going to aim for a wedding date next year at Siesta Beach in Sarasota!

1st Book of American Christianity, Chapter 1

First allow me to explain the purpose of this post and ones that will probably follow.  This will be satire aimed at what I see as the majority of American Christians and what they believe.  That being said, within American Christianity there are countless stripes and colors and to try and generalize it as a whole will be undoubtedly inadequate and not representative of the whole, that would be impossible.  I must also acknowledge that the majority I see is largely what comes across my Facebook feed, listen to on podcasts espousing Christian principles and see in the general media as well as previous experiences having grown up in the church.  In addition, even within what I perceive as the majority many individuals are divided on many of the things I will be discussing.  The purpose of these posts will be to challenge certain beliefs inherit to the American Christian landscape and ideally even start a dialogue.  I welcome all comments and am more than willing to listen.  These are simply my opinions and I realize different people have different interpretations of the Bible.  I have never been to seminary or even spent a semester at a Christian college so I gladly acknowledge my lack of training and education on some of these matters.  This is mostly from personal experience.  By the way, I am guilty of much of this thinking myself and am preaching to myself as much as anyone else.  With that being said, let's get started, shall we?

Chapter 1

Above all else, defend the rights of the middle and upper classes.  The rights of the majority are more important than the rights of the poor and needy and minority groups and should be defended as such.  History is written by the victors, but in America's case we are unbiased and can be fully trusted.  

Our nation is a Christian nation, we were founded as one and continue to be one though that is deteriorating.  Our founding fathers used the Bible to defend the Judeo-Christian worldview, the only right one, and this ultimately lead to our prosperity as a nation.  It was not, and I want to emphasize this, due to stealing land from natives as a result of what was called manifest destiny or free labor from enslaving Africans, both of which were defended by using the Bible.

The invisible hand as espoused by Adam Smith is in reality God's hand at work, this is plainly obvious.  Capitalism is the best way forward and is clearly Christ's vision for an economy.  Economic growth must be pursued at all costs.  We are commanded to rule the earth, much like we rule our children.  This means, in practice, that we care for the earth, just like our children, except in cases where it might diminish profits and/or growth.

We must pursue the American dream and encourage others to do so as well.  After all, broke people can't help people.  You must accumulate wealth in order to give to others.  Love your neighbor as yourself, but keep them at a safe distance.  The only neighbors you need to be concerned with are those in your physical neighborhood and in your church community.  They are the ones you are to love as yourself.  Quite frankly, the poor are poor for one reason, and one reason only - bad life choices.  We encourage you to give them your leftover clothes and donate to the local food bank.  Be sure while you are donating to the local food bank to protest against food stamps, it is the job of the church, not the government, to help people eat.

Hope for Haiti

This past week I went to Haiti with both my parents.  It was an amazing experience and one I won't soon forget.  This was my third time to Haiti and I have to say I learned more about the country this time than the other two times combined.  This was mainly due to the fact that I spent my time there with 2 missionaries, one of whom was Haitian and had lived in Haiti for his entire 53 year life.

Obviously, when you live somewhere for 53 years you know way more about it than an expat who has lived there for 3 years or less.  This man was an amazing man of God and I learned a tremendous amount from him and his American wife who has been down there for the past 20 years.  They have 3 wonderful children and I really connected well with the 2 younger ones naturally as I used to teach elementary education.

Where do I begin with what all I learned?  Perhaps I should start off by saying it can be quite paralyzing when you learn about all the problems a country has.  You naturally feel overwhelmed and like anything you do will just be a waste.  It also gives you a higher regard and respect for missionaries who have committed their lives to serving people in that type of country.

Haiti is an interesting place to say the least.  The pastor we met taught us so much about the country in such a short time.  We learned about how corrupt the government is and how you have to pay bribes to get anything through the ports, then you have to pay more bribes when you are on the road or they send you back even if you have the right paperwork.

He taught us how he has struggled with developing leaders.  They seem to get to a certain point and then hit a barrier.  I think he best put it when he said most Haitians are slaves waiting for masters.  People have developed a dependency mindset over the years and lack inner drive or motivation from years of depending on aid.

I was asked to preach on Sunday and gladly took the opportunity.  Haiti has an unemployment rate anywhere from 60-80% of the working age population.  I shared 6 passages on work and then posed the question what do you do about these passages about work when there is no work?  If you feed a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.  What if there's pond?  What if there's no opportunity?

I simply suggested you have to create your own job.  I saw a lot of blank stares as this was clearly a new teaching.  The pastor and missionary I stayed with had started some businesses in the past before they moved.  He's wanting to start some more businesses in the near future.  I preached twice on Sunday.  In the morning his wife translated and in the evening he translated.

His wife said he got fired up after I preached about work and decided to keep going along the same theme after I was finished.  So, while I got a lot of blank states perhaps I planted some seeds and I know I encouraged the pastor.  It also inspired me to follow after my dream of starting an entrepreneurship school down there someday.

As I was telling the youth group about my trip this past week, I emphasized the need for Jesus.  That's why I think Christian NGO's are so much more effective.  I also mentioned that when you share the gospel it has to be the entire gospel, not just fire insurance.  In Rwanda they had an 80% conversion rate to Christianity before the civil war took place.

People identified with their tribes more than with Jesus.  I preached that if you create a job for someone they are more likely to listen to you than to some preacher whom they don't know.  If you create jobs you effectively create a platform in which to share the gospel.

I also preached that Haiti will only change when Haitians take the initiative.  Change doesn't come from outside help, it comes from within.  This is true on a societal level as well as an individual level.  Jesus changes a person from the inside and then that person helps change their community from the inside.