The Voiceless

Today I have been pondering how to teach class without a voice. I barely even squeak today. Feel fine mostly otherwise.

But class... hmm... sign language is out of the question. I'll write on the board. Maybe play classroom telephone with the directions for school. Have kids read aloud. I think it would be kind of interesting to try to go through class without doing anything more than whispering.

Should I make it a rule that if I can't speak above a whisper then they shouldn't?
But then I couldn't hear them from the back of the classroom.

Maybe not the best long term solution... but it could be fun...

Quizzes are funnny!

Question: Which Barbarian tribe attacked India?
Correct Answer: The Huns

Bawan's Answer: The Hunks
Rozh's Answer: The Hunt

Orange

As the orange disk of the sun sunk below the mountains, the sky began to fade. When the color was finally gone all that was left before me was the bleak tan haze and the power lines and the dirty buildings and the garbage. When the sky is glorious, you hardly notice these things. It is almost as if they don’t exist because your whole focus is centered on the rainbow beauty before me.

There are many stories like this one. Peter walking on the water isn’t pulled down by the waves while he is looking at Jesus. We in our walk do not become hurt or angry if our focus is on the Lord instead of ourselves. In some ways it is the same in service. If you look at the person in front of you instead of the problem they bring to you, or the heartache they carry, then you love them and the burden is not as heavy. And when you have an amazing conversation with someone about the good news of Jesus Christ and you can hardly remember any of it because the focus wasn’t on you or the other person but on God and all the rest of it kind of disappears.

So I left you hanging...

The circus was fun. The acrobats were great. The bear was starved. And the lion tried to kill itself. All in all a good experience.

Since then, we've been doing something a bit more exciting. A lot of rappelling and taking our kids out to do it too. It's been a great experience coaxing kids off the cliff! And we've gotten some pretty neat pictures out of the deal too!

Lions and Tigers and Bears!

So, we're going to the Circus tonight. In Iraq. We'll see how that goes.

My New Favorite Book

I recently finished reading "A Severe Mercy" by Sheldon Vanuaken.

Wow.

I read some of the book on an Airplane over the Atlantic. The drone of the engines and the monotony of the travel was so distinctly contrasted to the fluid and poetic writing.

I cried for an hour in the little green yard of a church in Eastern Turkey. I wasn't upset or having an emotional breakdown... the book was so beautiful and so sad. It was carthartic in the truest sense. And yet as I continued over the next few pages I'd still get teary.

Finally at home I finished... having taken breaks to think through what he had said. The sadness was good, and the sadness had an ultimate good. The author didn't realize it at first, but later, walking through life he saw the purpose. 'How true' I thought.

The Poem My Sister Sent to Me

The Rival Poet

Billy Collins

The column of your book titles,

always introducing your latest one,

looms over me like Roman architecture.

It is longer than the name

of an Italian countess, longer

that this poem will probably be.

Etched on the head of a pin,

my own production would leave room for

The Lord's Prayer and many dancing angels.

No matter.

In my revenge daydream I am the one

poised on the marble staircase

high above the crowded ballroom.

A retainer in livery announces me

and the Contessa Maria Teresa Isabella

Veronica Multalire Eleganza de Bella Ferrari.

You are the one below

fidgeting in your rented tux

with some local Cindy hanging all over you.

Today

The sun is breaking through the rainclouds in that 'wow, how beautiful' sort of way. It's my last weekend with my family. My suitcases are too heavy. And I'd really rather be outside than tidy the living room and re-pack. But the sun is glorious.

Ta Da!

Finished the power point, now just need some polishing and practice. Hopefully we'll manage short and sweet (for the first time ever!).

Thinking a lot about the Christian and Muslim views of sin lately. In practice, they aren't that different sometimes. But comparing the Bible and the Koran, they are very different. Hmm... still thinking.

To Do:

1. Prepare slideshow for presentation on Tuesday.
Not feeling inspired.
Slow going.

Walmart and Journals

A terribly dangerous place... Walmart. It is full of wonderful things this time of year for teachers. And I am especially vulnerable because I have an awful affection for paper, blank books, pens, notebooks, and stickers. It must be a family trait because as we moved my sister into her new apartment, we discovered that she has a shelf almost entirely of journals. Some are full others are empty. I have a small rubbermaid bin of my full journals. I've been writing in journals since I was six. I haven't always been very faithful, but a good large portion of my life is well documented from inside my mixed up mind. It isn't a very balanced perspective, I'm sure, because I tend to write more when I am very frustrate, mad, or upset. And sometimes more when I'm very happy. But all that in between time (which is where I am most often) ends up a little more sparsely covered in the annals of my life. Now I just have to decide which blank book I'm going to take with me to the ME in case I fill up the one I am using now.