Thinking About Parable

 As a team we recently read some parables created by a great woman of faith, Lillias Trotter.  (If you’d like to read some of her parables or learn more about her click here: Lillias Trotter

Arriving at retreat center

Lillias Trotter was writing to a different culture nearly a hundred years ago.  So, although the parables may not connect with us the way they might have connected to her target audience, it still got us thinking in new ways about the good news. The good news has infinite facets to connect to human hearts and address the equally infinite problems and needs we face.

It got us to thinking about what sorts of parables might speak to islanders.  Here is one we’ve been thinking about.  It is as of yet untested.  The time and place to use such a parable is as much a consideration as the parable itself.  But, perhaps, reading this parable will give you insights into island hearts, and maybe into your own heart as well.

The Parable of the 2 Phones:

What is the Kingdom of God like?  What can I compare it to?

    There once was a man who had two children, a boy and a girl, whom he loved very much.  When they were old enough, he sent them to school.  The school was far from their home so he gave them each a phone so that they could be in contact with him whenever they wanted.    

    The children thanked their father and went off to school.  At school the son, who was very obedient made a decision.  “Father gave me this phone.  I will charge it everyday, and I will always make sure it has enough credit.  In fact, I will put credit on it every day.  In fact,” he thought, “I will put credit on my phone 5 times a day!”  Then I will have so much credit on my phone.  Father will be so happy.” So every day the son kept the phone clean, charged and full of credit!  He put credit on 5 times a day!  His phone was full of credit!

Enjoying nature

  His sister was different.  Sometimes she forgot to charge her phone or to put credit on it.  But she loved to talk to her father, and nearly every day (except when she forgot to put credit on it), she would talk to her father.  This made her father very happy. Her father also told her many things. One day he told her.  “I have prepared a beautiful room for you.  Go to such and such a place and you will find a key.  Take the key and don’t lose it.”  The daughter did just as her father told her.
    Finally the children returned home from school.  There was their father, so happy to see them.  “Oh, my daughter,” the Father said, “It is so good to see you.  But I feel like I saw you yesterday because we talk so often,” he said laughing. “Do you have the key?”
“Yes Father,” she said, and went and opened the door to her beautiful new room.
    Then the son came to his Father and said, “Father, look.  Here is my phone, fully charged and full of credit—thousands of hours of credit!”
    “My son,” said the father, “Do you have the key?”
    “What key?” asked the son.
    “The key to your new room.  It is a truly wonderful room, but we haven’t spoken, and so I could not tell you how to find the key.   My son, you have been very foolish.  The phone, the charging, the credit is wasted, because you did not use the phone to call me.  You have wasted the gift I gave to you.  For the gift was not the phone, but my love.  You did not use the phone to speak with me and so all of your credit is worthless and now you will have to sleep outside on the ground.”  And the son wept bitterly for his foolishness.

Our island house without roof

PRAYERS ANSWERED


Thank you for praying for our daughter.  After a week of pain, she seems to be feeling better this week.  Our travels went smoothly and we are now at the retreat center.  We are so thankful for all the family and friends we’ve been able to spend time with this past week.  Two of our island sisters who have been having some serious health issues have learned that in neither case is it cancer and both have treatable conditions.  Rejoice with us in this positive diagnosis.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our team mate on the medical team will be moving into her new house next week.  The work on our house has started.  The ceilings/roof over our bedrooms have been completely removed.  Pray that the work will continue and that we will have a new roof on our house when we get back to the islands in September.  Pray that this time at the retreat center will be beneficial for our family—for our ability to rest, reflect, debrief and grow.  Pray that parables and other creative ways would help us to share the good news in ways that would touch the hearts of islanders.

Free to VBS

 He lifted his little arms above his head, clenched his fists, squinted his eyes and talked out of the side of his mouth.  “Feel my muscles,” he said, trying to look tough, but succeeding in looking exceedingly cute.  “My muscles are super strwong. I can even pick up my mwom.”

Tom on balloon animal duty

This week we had the joy of joining in the VBS at our church in the Boston area.  We had the fun and privilege to work with kindergartners and first graders.  Each day was filled with songs, lessons, crafts, games and snacks.  Not to mention many funny and cute interactions like the one above.  Ultimately, the goal of investing in kids’ lives and having fun while learning about the good news was accomplished.

As we were driving home from another fun-filled morning we started to speculate about what would it be like to have a VBS like that on the islands.  Island kids would be blown away.  The props, sets and materials for lessons, games and crafts. These are resources out of reach of most  islanders. At the same time, making crafts is not really part of island culture, so they might be puzzled by it.  We laughed to think what islanders might do with a crab made out of a clam shell, pipe cleaners and a couple of googily eyes.  

Then we thought about the way all the VBS kids knew how to line up nicely so they could move from one activity to another.  Island kids would probably have been wandering off in all directions!  There would probably be a lot more chaos on the islands.

But there is a much bigger challenge to doing a VBS on the islands.  Something we take for granted here in the US. Here the kids at VBS were coming from all over the neighborhood and from all different backgrounds, and they have the freedom to do so. Such freedoms don’t exist on our islands.

Our daughter and youngest son enjoying the Boston area

Just this past week, we read an article of islanders being arrested and imprisoned for practicing—a different form of the majority faith.  To be clear, it is the same faith just a different branch. According to the article, these people were not reaching out to others or inviting others to join them, they were simply practicing their beliefs openly, but in a private setting, when authorities came and started making arrests. This is the present reality on the islands.

Americans are known for loving freedom.  We take our freedom so seriously we become deeply offended when it is challenged even slightly.  A lot of our energy and political debate is used navigating around competing freedoms and deciding whose freedom is more valuable.    We take it for granted that driving through a town you may see a dozen different places of worship of all sorts of faith.  We take it for granted that anyone can explore and visit any of those places without fear of imprisonment or persecution.

The reality is that we aren’t planning on doing an American-style VBS on the islands (for lots of reasons). But we pray that one day islanders will have the freedom to have fun and hear about the good news without fear. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We were able to get an appointment for our daughter see a rheumatologist in Boston in August. We had a great time hanging out with kids and reconnecting with people this past week with more planned for this coming week. Our teammate says things are going well with the kids at orientation.  Our colleagues up on the plateau continue to have lot of sharing opportunities.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our daughter— she’s had a flare-up in her pain the past few days which is both painful and discouraging. There is a lot to do and lots of people to see while we are in the US- pray for us as we try to find the balance between time with extended family, friends, errands, and rest.  Continue to pray for the islands, for greater freedom, for courage despite dangers, and for hope, peace and love to abound.

Discovery and Discourse

There is an on-going debate out there among workers about the best way to help people learn the ways of God.  About 20 some odd years ago, some people came along saying that the old ways of doing things weren’t working very well.  If we want people to grow, they need to learn how to discover truths for themselves.  We need to give them the tools to discover and then let them explore and know the joy of discovery.  People got excited about this new strategy.  But then not long after that, there was a backlash that said, “Wait a minute, what about discourse?”  Through the ages people have learned quite well from a teacher, a rabbi, a master, who gives discourses, lectures, or sermons, sharing the knowledge and wisdom they have learned from careful study and experience.

Discovering new things at a museum

As can happen in debates, the dialogue degraded into accusations and mistrust.  Recently there have been calls for the complete rejection of one strategy or the other.  Depending on your preference, you are pushed to choose a side—one or the other.  But recent experiences have reminded us that so many quarrels of this nature offer a false choice.  We do not have to choose between one or the other.  The real strength is found in doing both wisely.

We are big fans of discovery.  There’s a lot to be said for it.  A good question can help a person to reflect on what they think and feel.  There is something exciting about discovering a truth or figuring something out on your own versus being handed the answer to you.  Things we have to work for, we tend to hold onto better.  People are just wired to find joy in discovery.  For the teacher, it feels more like walking alongside someone, listening to them, drawing them out.  It is interactive and powerful.  There’s nothing quite like seeing that “Ah-ha! I get it!” moment dawn on someone’s face.  Discovery is wonderful.

Discovering things in nature

Moreover, discovery is empowering.  A person who has learned how to discover truths for themselves does not always need a human teacher.  They have seen that they can depend upon the Spirit to give them insights and that is an important lesson.  Their confidence builds as they learn to look and see and discover for themselves.  

We’ve seen this on the islands.  As students discover things for themselves, the insights they have, not only into the Word, but into their own culture can be astounding and wonderful.  Insights we have not given them.  Like the recent insight of a sister who said, “In our culture, everything is transactional.  Everything you give in relationships is with the hope of what you will get.  That’s why it is so hard for us to accept grace.”  What a wonderful and powerful insight—made all the more beautiful in that it is coming from a cultural insider rather than an outsider.

But you need discourse too.  One of the first rebuttals to discovery is that many cultures do not have a tradition of discovery.  The teacher speaks, the students memorize the teacher’s words.  There is no place for questions or dialogue.  This is certainly the case on the islands.  And we have seen it.  In the beginning, discovery simply doesn’t work.  Islanders don’t know what to do with it.  They’ve never been exposed to it before.  For example, some softball questions we use to get discovery juices flowing fall flat on the islands.  When you ask someone, “What did you like about what we just read?”  The inevitable answer is “Everything.  It’s all great.”  We have heard this answer so many times, we have come to expect it.  It is the answer of someone who has been taught never to question, never to have original ideas.  It is as much flattery of the teacher as it is of the content.  How do we overcome this hurdle?  Discourse.  We need to model what we want others to do.

So we use discourse to model what we want them to do.  “What I like about what we just read is…”  And as we share our insights, we are showing them how to have insights of their own.  A wise teacher will probably keep their insights simple, accessible, and not draw in lots of outside sources (even if these things are informing the insight) so that we model something that the student can do.

Another rebuttal of discovery is, “How do we fix errors?  What if the insight someone has is wrong?”  Here both discovery and discourse can come into play.  A good questions can help guide us towards the truth: “Is that really what it says?”  But discourse is also helpful.  A good teacher can use the mistake as a jumping off point to share what is true.  There are times and places when background knowledge and study are important to correct understanding.  Discourse is the only way to add these important parts of learning.  

Recently we were reading the story of the Roman centurion who asks the teacher to heal his servant from a distance as he was not worthy to have him in his house.  My island friend thought the centurion was insulting the teacher at first.  To refuse someone to enter your home in island culture would be a sign of disrespect.  Naturally from an island perspective, this guy was insulting the teacher.  This is an example of when discourse is necessary.  I explained about the culture of that time, that in fact, the soldier was showing great respect for the teacher and the teacher’s culture which discouraged them from entering the house of a foreigner.  That this man of great power and authority, should lower himself to respect the culture of the people they have conquered, actually shows great respect and humility.

So, in our experience, we need both discovery and discourse. Discourse alone leaves people stagnating whenever they don’t have a teacher. Discovery alone can leave people with confusion and misunderstanding.  The real trick is not deciding between the two, it’s in balancing them and letting God move through both!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
 We had a wonderful week of vacation with Megan’s family and our flights went smoothly and well.  We hit the ground running and have already had some opportunities to connect with one of our fellowship families.  On the islands, cholera numbers are down to single digits!-Praise the Lord!  It looks like the epidemic is finally depleted, due in part to so many people getting to take the vaccine.  The search for a ferry boat to bring people between the islands is going well.  It sounds like they may have found a very good boat.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Right now on the islands, many Island teenagers are taking the BAC exam—the big end of high school exam that decides whether or not you can go on to further studies.  It is highly stressful and takes a full week.  Pray for all our friends and students taking the exam this year.  As we have hit the ground running in the US— pray that we would use and balance our time well and have good times of connection with friends, family and groups. We are helping with a VBS this week— pray that the kids in attendance would discover the good news for themselves this week! Pray for our colleagues on the islands as they see doors open and doors close for studying with islanders— may God lead them to open hearts. Pray for our teammate as she begins helping with a multi-week orientation for new workers— that both adults and kids would be well prepared for the challenges and lessons ahead of them.

That Changes Things

We make best-laid plans, but crises have a way of destroying plans.  It isn’t because the plans were bad or we aren’t good planners. Crises can come out of nowhere and can completely change things.

Sun breaking through on the islands

Serving on teams and being in leadership on the islands, we have lived through all kinds of crises. Some that impact the entire island, some an entire team, some that only impact one person directly. We’re talking natural disasters, medical emergencies, mental health emergencies, criminal acts, major interpersonal conflict, unrest, national instability, accidents, deaths and more.

Our priorities completely change when we are responding to a crisis. Our normal weekly priorities of school and emails and visits and chores are no longer important. Of course, we still have to eat and live, but new considerations are being made all the time.

Not letting the rain get us down

In crisis-mode, choices that we would normally not even consider can become the best decision under the new circumstances. Someone may normally not consider traveling by boat, but when a plane crash limits options and you need to leave the island, suddenly the boat is the way to go. We end up spending money in different ways— a high ticket price would normally have us changing our travel dates, but in a crisis, we pay to travel when we need to. We wouldn’t normally eat out very much, but when our time and energy is being taken by a crisis, the easy meal option wins out. Preferences take a back seat when choices are few.

Every year our organization has us make up a bunch of contingency plans. It’s where we try to anticipate the types of crises that we’d have on the islands and make plans for how we would respond to them. But even as we make these plans and see them as helpful, we know that when the specific crisis comes that we will have to re-evaluate.

Living in Africa has made us more adaptable. Some things that might have once felt like crisis—there’s no water today, there’s no electricity tonight, there’s no rice available in the shops—now can be felt as just annoyances or set backs instead of crises.  We’ve learned not to take things for granted. Just because a store says these are its hours, doesn’t mean it will be open today.  Just because we bought plane tickets for tomorrow, doesn’t mean we will fly tomorrow. Just because the government gave us visas easily this year, doesn’t mean they will next year.  But that doesn’t mean these things won’t happen.  We’ve learned to trust that we will find a way. We just need to wait for the new plan to emerge.

But even as we learn to adapt and to hold our plans loosely, crises are tiring. Crises change things. They disrupt our normal rhythms and balance. So far in 2024, we have seen natural disasters, medical emergencies, a cholera outbreak, deaths, a house break-in, unrest, plane crash, surprise diagnoses, and more. But the good thing is that even though crises change a lot of things, it doesn’t change the One we can rely on in those crises. The rest of 2024 will no doubt have more crises (both minor and major), but He is the unchanging one, our solid rock, our refuge in the storms.

Closing of the school year at kids' school

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our flights went smoothly and now we are enjoying a few days of vacation with family.  Kids finished their exams well, packed their bags and said goodbyes.  Things in Kenya seem to be more calm.  We are thankful that we were able to travel without any issues. It’s wonderful to be together as a family and to be with family.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our daughter seems to be doing better and she hasn’t had bad side effects from the medication.  She has some good days and some bad days.  Pray for her continued healing. Continue to pray for all the island workers in some kind of transition (there are many!). Pray for our colleagues, hoping to start a boat business) as they travel to visit possible boat makers this week. Pray for a family of new Kenyan workers to the islands who are ready to come to the islands, but they await new passports for some of their kids. They have been waiting for many months, but it is a process slowed by corruption and their unwillingness to pay bribes. Pray for God’s perfect timing and breakthrough in this standstill. Pray for women on the plateau of Clove Island that have shown interest in studying, that they might form a committed group led and sustained by islanders.

They're Getting So Big

 We spent the weekend with our two older kids at their boarding school. There are a number of things that we are very grateful about their school. One is all the quality adults that are pouring into our kids.

Looking at their new school yearbook

Another thing is that our kids get to be ‘normal’ with a community of peers. On the islands, they are the weird white kids— the only western kids, the only native English speakers in our city. Back in the US, they may look like lots of other kids but their lives have been so different that they feel different and aren’t easily understood. At their school, there are so many kids like them with similar life experiences. So they get to experience things like playing, making friends and going to school, without all the cross-cultural complications that happen both in the US and the islands.  It is an environment where they can try new things and spread their wings.

These new experiences are making them grow up before our eyes. They have been challenged and growing in their faiths. Both of them sharing their journeys with God a couple weeks ago in front of their school community. This past weekend there were various celebrations as the school year is coming to a close. We saw our kids dressed up and helping with different preparations. We see them making mature decisions about next year, whether whom to room with or what classes to take or what extra activities to sign up for.

Pie-making for school celebration

We are on our way back to the States and our kids are already anticipating meeting a bunch of people that they somewhat remember, and who will no doubt comment on how much they have grown and changed in the years since they saw them last. But that is just the surface.  What excites us is not the number of inches grown, but the life lessons learned and the ways they have been stretched and grown. It’s the number of adults at their school that pulled us aside to say how much they appreciate our kids and have enjoyed being with them. It’s seeing them lean on us less and lean on God more.

It is bittersweet to see our kids getting so big. We were around a number of young kids this weekend and we remember fondly those days when our kids had chubby cheeks and said the most adorable things, but mostly we’re excited to see the adults that they are growing into and how God will lead and use them.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We thankful for the chance to be with our kids this past weekend and get a taste of their lives at school. Our youngest son finished 5th grade in homeschool and did really well on the required annual standardized testing. The cholera cases have dropped dramatically and it is reported that almost 70% of Clove Islanders have now been vaccinated! Our daughter continued to see marked improvement in her symptoms throughout last week!

Celebrating finishing 5th grade homeschool

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for a couple working on the French Island— the wife started to go into premature labor (at 23 weeks)— pray for her and her baby’s health. Pray for our colleagues on the big island who are hoping to start a reliable boat service between islands— their business plans have had lots of stops and starts and things falling through— pray for a clear way forward from now on. Pray for our oldest kids as they have their final exams the next few days and have to pack up and clean their dorm. Pray for us as we travel this week. There are protests scheduled in Kenya for the day we are leaving— pray that protests would be peaceful and lead to just and good governance, but also pray that they would not interfere with our travels. Pray for our daughter that her condition and symptoms would not be negatively impacted by traveling.

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