Mental Gush...

It has been a long day. And I had some great photos I wanted to upload. But everyone else in the city is on the internet right now so my pictures can't go through. Today was an unusually long day--I spent half an hour at home in between 7:30 am and 10:30 pm. A friend of mind just lost her mother and found out over e-mail. And yet, as I sit here in the dim glow of my computer and a few candles, I know overwhelmingly that God has been good to me. Who cares if you have electricity if you have been amazed at seeing the family of God international, intercultural, crossing all boundaries of race, age, language, culture, even distance. And I am in awe. It is a beautiful thing to be in awe of God. I would unreservedly recommend it to everyone.

From Matthew 3

Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

In keeping with repentance… What does this mean?

The command is there: Produce Fruit. My first assumption was that the fruit is supposed to be good fruit. But perhaps that is what the “in keeping with repentance” is there for. Jesus does converse on both good and bad fruit. It could then be describing the kind of fruit that is produced. A repentant heart will not produce bad fruit. So this is saying that we should produce not just any fruit but Good fruit.

In addition, I know that if keep short accounts with God and confess my sins as soon as I commit them then I am more productive. Perhaps the application of this verse includes both aspects: goodness and productiveness.

More on picnics!

My city from the hillside.
Our guard... a funny one. Elaborate food--essential for any picnic.

We eat good...

It is an amazing thing, cooking. The variety, the possibilities are so endless. It is even possible to make great dishes in places that don't have all the ingredients you are used to. It is even possible without box mixes and no canned tomatoes. Amazing things are possible. We eat Chinese food, Brazilian food, Mexican food, American food, Italian, Greek, Kurdish, and Arabic food. Wow! And then we also have things like the "poma-orange" see bottom picture. They combined oranges and pomagranate... not to amazing gustatorial success...but interesting to look at.

Picnics!

The essence of Kurdish culture is the picnic. While I have multitudes of pictures about many kinds of picnics and all their fun, I believe the result is always pretty much the same... as seen below...

Matthew 2

Matthew 2:11
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

What kind of faith must it have taken to see and child and worship him. I am pretty sure Joseph and Mary weren’t hanging out in a palace…it says house. Simeon and Anna in the temple had the same kind of faith so that when God showed them the child they responded openly. Not only were these wise men ready to display their faith, they had prepared for it and were ready for it. They brought gifts, albeit strange ones. As anyone who has studies Christmas much has heard about the meanings behind the three gifts. Gold is for kingship, incense is for priesthood, and myrrh is for burial. This is truly a unique combination and provides a basis for the whole of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus is our high priest, our king and king of the Jews, and he died. It is like Anna’s message to Mary—He will be great and a sword will pierce your own heart also. Greatness and lowness combined to be something greater than anyone had imagined.

Gold Shops

I have always preferred silver jewelry to gold. But here, gold is a sign of wealth and status. And the gold that they have here is stunning! They make jewelry out of just gold with little cuts and surfaces that is amazing! Here is one part of the bazaar full of gold shops.

Google allows you to travel to Paris for nearly free!

Follow these directions.

1) Go to google.com
2) Click "Maps".
3) Click on "Get Directions".
4) Type in from New York, New York to Paris, France.
5) Check out step 23.

[Stolen from Stephanie's Facebook because of the hilarity of it all!]

A Camel and a Penguin...

This is a picture of a journal I just HAD to buy!

My Very Own Brown Chandelier... Thingy

It is hideous. And yet...

There is something strangely appealing... Sometimes.

And you can do things with it... like look out the window!

The most common things...

The Eskimos have dozens of words for snow. Kurds have dozens of words for “maybe”.