11 year anniversary of a life-changing encounter

Tomorrow marks the 11 year anniversary of a life-changing encounter in my life. I was on a "Toussaint" (All Saints Day) weekend retreat with St. Michael's Church of Paris. This was my 4th w-e with St. Michaels and first one at this Catholic convent in LaPuye, a village near Poitiers and in the middle of France.

During the morning coffee break, Scottish friend Jim introduced me to this American who was new to France and St. Michaels. That young woman has now been my wife for 10+ years.

We never know from day to day if some "chance" meeting of someone will eventually become something that changes our destiny forever. This is one reason why consistently walking across rooms to people outside of our comfort zones is important to do.

Un indien dans la ville

Several years ago there was a French film titled "Un indien dans la ville" ("an indian in the city"). This morning the Belleville Church had a guest preacher named John Sujo. He is originally from India and was a successful businessman working in NYC in the Twin Towers. His life was spared on 9/11 and he now is a full-time preacher with a strong gifting for evangelism. His manner of sharing his testimony was compelling. He held back nothing and even gave a traditional evangelistic invitation at the end of his talk. At least 5 people responded at the service we attended.

I have several reflections to offer about this.

The first is that God is bringing in people from all around the world for the harvest here. Some of these are just short-term, like John. Others are coming for the longer term to live and minister here. Some are non-white, non-French-speaking like John, who preached in English and was translated into French. But one could sense John's heart for France.

The second is that there is a place here for straight evangelistic preaching. Certainly, this isn't the only method of spreading the seed and getting people to cross the line into commitment to follow Christ. But there is a time to challenge people to make a commitment.

I appreciated the chapter in Bill Hybels book about tools for sharing our faith. Right now I don't have a hard time being around preChristians. However, I have a hard time bringing up the issues of faith sometimes. I think that I err in the direction of not being assertive enough, at least with my words. May God give me discernment and boldness.

Do you speak Italian?

This afternoon I watched the kids while Nicole visited a friend who is convalescing this month due to some surgery. The interphone rang and I answered. Our interphone is very hard to hear in normal circumstances, let alone when 3 kids are making noise in the background. But I did catch a female voice saying something about Italian.

I ended up going downstairs to pick up our mail and see if it was important. There were 2 young women standing outside. I asked if it was them and they said it was yes. They thought from my name that I might be interested in Italian lessons.

After I explained that I wasn't Italian, nor interested in the lessons, they offered me a magazine in French. I recognized it as being the French equivalent of "The Watchtower," the journal of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

I definitely don't agree with some of the essentials of JW theology, particularly their view of who is Jesus. Nevertheless, what I read about Hybels book yesterday and today talked about trying to be as inclusive as possible when talking to people. This doesn't mean that we condone what they do or think. But we should treat them like fellow humans and look for points in common.

When I answered an a question that I was from the U.S., the trainer said that she had been riding on a Harley on the West Coast earlier this year. I asked if she made it to the Sturgis bike festival, an event I know through my S Dakotan wife.

In the past, I might have tried to quickly close the conversation. I didn't get into a long discussion, although I mentioned that I knew the Watchtower HQ was in NY. She mentioned that she would be going there later this year.

She thanked me for my kindness in coming to the front door of our building, as she couldn't understand what I was saying nor I her through the Interphone.

It is interesting that the JWs are using Italian lessons to get in contact with people. The Mormons offer language lessons as well. So do some of my colleagues.

Always Enough

A couple of my modern day heroes of the faith are Rolland and Heidi Baker. I got to hear them this past March and photograph them at a couple different events in Paris.

I'm currently reading their book Always Enough: God's Miraculous Provision Among the Poorest Children on Earth (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003). They have miraculously seen God provide hundreds of different times in different ways as they have taken in thousands of homeless children in Mozambique, one of the world's poorest countries.

I also got to read more of Bill Hybels' Just Walk Across the Room today while baby sitting Dawn when my wife was taking Joy to the hospital for a follow up exam. In what I read today, Hybels shows how God is enough to handle whatever different situations and conversations that develop.

As we work with a tight budget and a low financial support, it's good to see how powerful He. He is always enough

The Star Academy's 7th edition: Session 1

I had started to lose hope that the Star Academy would be on this season. During the last few years, it has become my favorite French program. In recent years, it has been broadcast live on Friday evenings from September until just before Christmas. As mid-October hit, I thought that maybe this year would be a year off of Star Ac.

But tonight it started up again. Woo hoo!

One reason why I love Star Ac is because it provides the opportunity for young French artists to develop their skills, become known, and hopefully start a career. It also helps me learn songs that young French people are listening to. Many of these songs are of Anglo-Saxon origin, which makes me think that there is really no pure "French style" of music. This year's "godmothers" of Star Ac are Australian Kyle Minogue and Quebecois Céline Dion.

I can't believe how talented this new class of 17 already is. Because of MySpace and similar sites, pretty much anyone can post their own music videos on the Internet their own music. Over half of this new class is 18 or younger. Yet they nearly all play the guitar and other instruments. Being able to sing is obligatory to get this far. Several of this new class has already indicated some family troubles growing up.

It struck me tonight how different my lifestyle is different than some of them. One 17 year old basically sleeps during the day and does her music at night. I'm not sure how much opportunity I will have to walk across the room to people like her. Perhaps attending the monthly jazz nights will help me expand in this area. Or perhaps my role will be to encourage those who are able to reach this group.

One of my hopes is to see God move mightily in touching this young generation of Parisien artists.

Back home from the E.R.

It's been quite a Monday for our family. Our 4 year old daughter Joy had a high temperature early in the morning, so we kept her home from school. I took our son David to school, then went to the baby swim class with our 20 month old Dawn. I met a man named Jean-Philippe and his first born son today, as well as spoke with the mother of Sarah, whom we met last year.

After I got back, Marie went to one of the schools that we're considering for David for next year and picked up the application form. I worked on filling out the form in French this afternoon.

Joy's temperature continued to go up and she looked pretty listless laying on the sofa. So Marie took her to a 3:00 p.m. appointment with our generalist doctor. Dr. C. thought it was a urinary tract infection and had them go to a lab for a urine test. When Dr. C. got the results, she called our house. The news wasn't good, as it appeared that the infection had spread into Joy's kidneys. She thought that Joy would need to stay over night in a local children's hospital for a treatment of a couple of different antibiotics via in IV tube.

Marie and I were quite thrown by the possibility of a hospital stay. For one thing, Marie has agreed to help pick up Maria, a classmate of Joy's whose mother can't pick her up after school because of work. So we had 4 kids in our apartment after school today.

When Marie called the childrens hospital and described the condition, the hospital thought that it wouldn't be necessary for them to stay overnight, but told them to come in as soon as possible for the treatment. But Marie packed an overnight back with books and clothes just in case.

They were at the E.R. about 5 hours. There were 2 different antibiotics that were given intravenously. They kicked in pretty quickly and Joy seemed to get more alert very quickly.

After the treatment, they did an ultrasound. It appears that there is no permanent damage in Joy's kidneys or bladder. So they got to come home.

There will be a nurse who will come the next 2 days to give intermuscular injections of antibiotics. Joy will have another appointment at the hospital on Thursday to analyze further the urine samples.

We're thankful for all the prayers and encouragment today. Marie's mom providentially called right when we were trying to figure out what to do this afternoon. She got people on the prayer chain at her church praying. Our across the hall neighbor rang the doorbell in the afternoon and was encouraging. So was Alex, who telephoned this evening after Marie and Joy had left for the hospital. These last two aren't yet Christians.

I think that how we followers of Jesus act when under stress will speak positively or negatively to the preChristians in our lives. Certainly not everything will be "praise Jesus" when difficulties come. But the Spirit can give a supernatural peace in the midst of the storms of life. This peace that passes understanding can point people to its source.

Sometimes we need to allow people to walk across the room to comfort and encourage us. This position of vulnerability can sometimes end up being a position of power.

Espace Evangile Reunion

During my 12 years in France, I have been part of 4 different churches. During the last 10 days, I've had convergence with 3 of these spiritual families. 2 of them (St. Michaels Anglican Church and l'Eglise Réformée de Belleville) were largely represented last weekend at Karen and Luc's wedding.

For 4 years (2003-7) I was part of Espace Evangile, a community based out of homes. I worked with a couple named Steve and Joy, as well as some other friends from around the world. Some strong friendships were developed during this time.

Saturday night Oct 20, there was a get together at a Paris restaurant organized around the visit of Alessandro & Ana Paula, a Brazilian couple who were part of Espace Evangile 1993-7. It was fun to see them, Steve & Joy, Sophie, and Agnès and her Austrian husband Bernd.

I hadn't seen A & AP or Agnes for many years, so they were surprised to hear about my having 3 children.

After dinner, we went to Steve & Joy's for coffee and dessert. They got out some photos from the past of our era together. It was encouraging to remember some other people and catch up. It reminded me of how God has used me in the lives of some of them, as well as how he used them in my life. While we don't get to see each other often, we still share a common bond from what we all lived together 10 years ago.

This sharing of life is an important component of a healthy faith community. It is a gift that we often don't appreciate when we're right in the middle of it.