Gone But Never Forgotten

Ten years ago today, I was a 13 year old military kid getting ready to fly out the next day because we were moving to New Jersey. We were at a friends house for dinner that night I remember seeing the tower and smoke on the tv. Our dads did not come home till around 11 that night because they had completely shut down the base and did on let anyone on or off. I don't think I realized the mass impact of what had happened and what this meant or the future. To me it just meant that we were not flying out the next and I could see my friends again. You see I had never lived in the states before and so I did not realize the effects of the terrorist acts on the United States and the world. Not only did the lives of Americans living in the United States change but the lives of those overseas changed too. The whole World was affected. I have often wondered what would have happened if we were meant to fly out the 11th instead of the 12th, but this is a question that will never be answered.

I thank those people on Flight 93 who risked their lives to save hundreds of people. I thank the firefighters, policemen, volunteers and doctors who searched, rescued and cared for survivors so that they would be able to live another day. I thank the soldiers who through all of this were affected most of all in their careers and who risked their lives daily after this event to protect this country and others. But above all, I thank the LORD for protecting the many who survived that day and most of all for sending his Son to die on the cross for us sinners, who because of HIM we may one day rejoice in heaven with many of those who died that day and in the years since at the feet of the Lord Almighty.

Memorial Day. Why Celebrate??

Do you know why you celebrate Memorial Day or is it just another holiday where you get an extended weekend, have a BBQ and hang out? Here is why we celebrate memorial day.

It all started in 1868 and was first known as Decoration Day because it was a day to honor the nation's Civil War dead by decorating their graves with flowers. Waterloo, N.Y. was declared as the birthplace of Memorial Day because they were one of the first to celebrate it and because they had made it an annual community-wide event where business were closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. Congress declared it a national holiday in 1971and was to be celebrated on the last Monday of May.

Have you ever wondered why people wear poppies on Memorial Day. It is because of Miona Michael and her reply to the poem "In Flanders Field" by John McCrae.

In Flanders Fields

John McCrae, 1915. 

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. 

This was her reply:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

She thought of the idea to wear a poppy on Memorial Day and began to sell them to her friends, family and co-workers, with the money going to servicemen and women in need. This tradition has since been carried over to France and other countries where the money raised helps war orphans and widows. 

Memorial Day is to celebrate the servicemen and women who have died fighting for our freedom and the freedom of others. This day is not just observed in America but in France as well. I attended a service today at the American Military Cemetery in St. Avold, France where more than 10,400 American Soldiers are buried. 10,400 buried outside of the United States and that is in one cemetery alone. Many of these soldiers do not have people/relatives who can easily come visit them and place flowers on their tomb. Seeing this sight today made me proud to be from a military family who chose to answer the call of their country to protect and defend. These are people that we should not be thankful to once a year but everyday as we go about in our freedom because if not for them we could be under another rule or country entirely. Not only should we remember the Americans but also the soldiers from other countries who allied together to help us and other nations retain their freedom from suppressive powers.    

So the next time you get an extended weekend for a holiday you might want to research the holiday and see what you are actually celebrating. The traditions of Memorial Day have often been forgotten so the next time you celebrate this day, purchase a couple flowers and place them on the tombs of buried soldiers in your area, fly a flag outside your house/apartment or take a moment of silence to remember those who gave their lives for you to live the way you do.

Operation Write Home

This is something that my heart has been set on doing for a while. Operation Write Home is a support group that makes cards for soldiers in the Middle East to write in and mail home to their families.  

Cards such as holiday cards, get well, I love you, thinking of you, miss you, happy birthday and so on. Not only do they make cards but YOU can make cards as well and send them in to be dispersed.

The reason this has been such a burden on my heart and mind the past couple of months is because my daddy was in Iraq and he used these cards to mail home. I would get a card from him almost every week and sometimes it was the highlight of my day.

I have wanted to make some cards and mail them to the troops because that card from mommy or daddy could maybe just make the day of another son or daughter. I haven't been able to start this venture because of school but I hope to begin soon.

 

Maybe even have a card making party one day. If you enjoy making cards and are creative then maybe this is an opportunity for you too. Let me know we might be able to get together. The website though has more information on the requirements of the cards and helpful links to help with ideas. Below are some sample images of cards I have received. 

Contemporary Plated Dessert

I just finished my second to last lab ever, Contemporary Plated Desserts and I loved it. The thing that I loved about the class is that we were given ingredients to work with that you wouldn't think would go in a dessert. We also had certain themes for each day where we had to use ingredients from that country in the dessert. This class gave me the opportunity to experiment and think outside the box, mixing flavors and textures.

Limitless

This trimester I am taking Psychology and we have recently begun talking about the brain, it's different internal regions and the receptors used to function. This has all been pretty interesting so when my roommate wanted to see Limitless yesterday I was all for it.
The story is about a normal down on his luck wannabe writer (Eddie) who is dealing with writer's block, his girlfriend just broke up with him and he runs into his ex-brother-in-law. His brother-in-law decides to help him out and gives him one pill called NZT that is supposed to help clear his mind. He takes it and all of a sudden is brain is working at 100% rather than 20%. (We can only access 20% of our brains) He is more aware, he thinks clearer, is smarter, more confident than any man alive, and everything that he has seen, read and heard is organized and instantly available to him. After the pill wears off he sees his brother-in-law again because he wants more. He bargains for more than he wants when he discovers his brother-in-law has been murdered and he takes his stash. He starts to rise to the top of financial world and draws the attention of top mogul Carl Van Loon, who sees Eddie as an asset and gives him the biggest merger, in the financial world, to head up. Along the way Eddie is being chased by hit men who want this drug and he has to keep taking it to elude them. Along the way he discovers that in order to stay alive he has to keep taking the drug or else he will slip into a coma and die.
Now I'm not going to give away the ending although I pretty much just outlined the whole movie but I just wanted to talk about the idea of this drug. The possibility of a drug that will let you access your whole brain is scary. I mean the thought of it is cool but when you think about it, it's dangerous.

First, it would be amazing to be smart, to not have to go to school anymore and to have full access to your brain, but there is a reason why we can't. God created us this way, he designed us and has a reason for why we can only access 20% of our brains. If we could all be the way Eddie was in the movie, would we need God? He wants to to rely fully on him but with a pill like NZT or natural full access to our brains would we become a world full of selfishness and idolatry, not that we aren't already, but would it be more intense than it is now? Would we idolize ourselves even more?

Secondly, there is a reason why we have a conscious and subconscious. This was one thing I noticed about the film. If our subconscious locks away memories that we suppress, then why when Eddie had full access to his brain, was he not shocked at all the things that he had suppressed for some reason because it was damaging or traumatizing? When people have remembered something that their brain has put away to never remember again, they usually have to go to therapy to get through it. With NZT would we all have to go to therapy or would we just suck it up and deal with it with the possibility of going insane? Were we created with a subconscious so that we would be able to function and fulfill the purpose that God has created us for; to glorify Him and to spread His word to all the nations.

What do you think? I think this is an interesting concept and makes one wonder.    

Russia 2010

I went to Russia again this Spring Break for the third time and I thought it was the best trip to date. This year the school supported each of the students half the cost of the trip, which covered the flights and visas. 72 hours before we were to leave for the trip we were told that there was a possibility the school was going to cancel the trip. 48 hours, Wednesday March 23rd, before our departure date our Campus Minister was told the school was pulling their support. This left us in a state of relief and confusion. We all thought we were not going to go on the trip and then after some conversation with the people at the International Mission Board it was decided that it was best for the witness of Christ and the local church that the students still go.

We all met that night at 10pm to discuss the options, the reason to still go and to pray hard. To be honest many of us were relieved the trip was canceled because it had been a stressful trimester and week with finals. Although we had a relief about the trip, we all agreed that we should still go and realized that if God wanted us to go on the trip he would raise the money we needed. We had to raise $5,200 in less than 24 hours.
The next day we took tests and contacted family members, friends and recent alumni to ask for their support. By the miraculous work of God we raised more than enough money and by 6pm that Thursday we had our airplane tickets.

The following day, Friday March 25th, we were on our way to Russia and excited to see the work that God would be doing there. We landed in Moscow fine and left for Zavolzh'ye Saturday evening. Seeing the people we had met the yeas before was exciting and brought us so much joy. It was amazing to see the work that the LORD had been doing at the Baptist church there to grow it and the people there with sharing the gospel. We went to four or five different schools this year, which gave us the opportunity to meet more students and build more relationships. We went to a teaching college in Gorodetts where we met students who were learning to be English teachers. Later that day we went to the Orthodox church in that same town and were given a tour of it. Orthodox is somewhere between Catholicism and Greek Orthodox. They believe that Mary is more forgiving and just than God and that is why they pray to her. They believe that if you touch certain pictures, icons, and the footprint of Mary (yes this was sewn into a pillow) then you will be healed. It was very sad and broke my heart for them. The tour guide really seemed to believe everything she was saying too.
We took part in an English competition at School No 15. The students were in groups by school and there was one American person in each group. The competition was to go around to the different stations and answer questions on English grammar, movies, food etc. The one thing that we Americans had to do was memorize all the names of the people in our group and their hobbies. It was a lot but I succeeded, as did many of us surprisingly :) While there we held an English Club at the church, where people from the church and surrounding community comes to learn English. However many people are turned away by the fact that it is held at a Baptist Church and are afraid of them or of becoming one of them. I am happy to say though that some of the people who have been attending the English Club have become Christians and members of the church. We went ice skating with the students on one of the days as well as a way to talk to them without the teachers around and to build relationships with them. Russians we were told do not usually talk about religion, politics and such things unless you have been friends for a couple years. This is why building relationships with the students and continuing them when we return to the United States is such a key aspect to what we are trying to accomplish and help the church there to do.

Our last day in Zavolzh'ye we were given a tour of the town by one of the English teachers and her students. This English teacher was the lady who had set up most of our visits to the different schools and had us over for dinner one night. She is also not a Christian and barely goes to the Orthodox church, but when she heard that there was a possibility the trip would be canceled, that was the first time she prayed. That evening we had a pizza party planned for the students to come and for us to enjoy time with them outside of the schools and in a more relaxed atmosphere. About 60 students came, which was amazing. Some of us were able to talk about what a Baptist was and clarify the fact that they do not drink the blood of their children. We did clarify that we were Christians during our conversations but not many students had questions or the topic was changed. Hopefully with the continued growth of relationships we will be able to knock down some of those walls. All in all it was a very productive week and thought to be the best trip so far.

We returned to Moscow on Friday morning, March 4th, and spent to days with one of the missionary families in Moscow. We spent the whole day with them learning about them, why they were there and ways we could help them in the future. We cooked for them as well. It was funny how it ended up. At one point all the women were in the kitchen cooking and the guys were in the living room talking. I had to laugh at it in my head but it was fun because we were able to talk to the wife and see her point of view on being a missionary in a foreign country as well as being a wife and mother. It was very encouraging and you could tell that they had been very blessed. We spent the next day relaxing and walking around an open air market. That Sunday we flew home on a very long flight.
If you have more questions about Russia feel free to come and talk to me or post a comment or send an e-mail. I would be more than happy to speak with you.
One thing I ask of you is that you would keep some prayers in mind and if you remember could you include them in your prayer times.
Prayer 
1. Baptist Church in Russia - that they would be encouraged and keep growing in the sharing of the gospel.

2. The relationships we have begun to build with students - that we would continue to build on them.

3. For the English teacher - that she would come to know Christ.

4. That we would take what we saw in Russia and apply it to our lives here. That we would take advantage of the fact that we live in a free society where we can talk about religion openly and people are willing to listen.


Thank you for all your prayers and support.

    

God works in mysterious ways

My sister finally made it back home safe and sound. While she was there she was able to see my dad a couple times. God is good.

While sitting in Mission Support School last week surrounded by other missionaries God sent to spread his gospel throughout the United States. While there I really did discover the meaning of the military being a small world. I discovered that one of the college ministers from Alabama, his wife, grew up in Germany for a couple years right where my family is now. I also found out that one of the missionary husbands in New Orleans is a chaplain in the National Guard. Well he was my dad's pastor in Iraq for 3 months. It's crazy how God brings all these people into our lives and while we may not know the reason for it then but we will one day.