Mr. Boh: say "thank you"

Dear Mr. Boh,*

The day is fast approaching when I will be back in the land of the philosophers. It will be good to share face to face! So that the most important does not get swamped by travel prep, however, I thought I would shoot off a few musings about my gratitude to the Divinity.

"Musing" by Jeff Moriber www.jeffmoriber.com

The other day I was once again flying and read a book review (Boh, you will not believe this) about a book on gratitude. They will certainly not translate that one in the language of the philosophers!
Yet, I am increasingly realizing that one of the most important things one can do in this existence, just as our parents taught us when we were little, is to say, “thank you!” So I would like to take the time to thank God—Father, Son and Spirit—for…

PROTECTION
Over the past five months my journeys have caused me to cover about 32000 kilometers (here they use miles = 20,000) journeying to and through the land of ecclesiastic plenty. I am a militant travel mode pluralist having taken buses, trains, 14 different planes, and driven 8 different types of cars.
All without accident or incident.
In the book of the Diety’s self-revelation, a lyrist who loved greatly the Divine One recorded a composition, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways… ‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.’” (Psalm 91:11)


Ah, but you may query, “What about the man you told me about on the phone just yesterday, the one you saw being pulled from a nasty car wreck by five emergency crew workers?!” Well, that could be me in the future, but I know that he has protected me in the past and say, “Merci beaucoup” to the God most high in the present.

PROVISION
Over the past five months, like many government and university workers do, I have been seeking funding for my work. Along the way, I met people who are unemployed, others who have taken pay cuts, while others have escaped the economic crisis unscathed, and yet others who have actually prospered through it!

Being underfunded, I have experienced a sweep of emotions. At times I wondered, “Will I be out of a job due to lack of funding?” I brushed against the angst of the unemployed, yet knew that God would provide; I just did not know how, what or when. I wondered if I would need to take a pay cut like my good friend, a salesman in Ohio. I realized that the Lord “gives and takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
At times I felt financially poor and began to count pennies (Boh, those are akin to our centimes). At other times I enjoyed the prosperity of fine dining and private swimming pools thanks to well-to-do friends.
But you know Boh, sometimes my pride felt assaulted by the generosity of these friends, even though they gave without proviso and with complete joy. You know how it is in our land (of the philosophers), when someone does something nice for you, they hold it over you or expect pay back. But I believe the Great Professor is teaching me a hard lesson, to be content in lack (or in my case what is comparative lack) and in abundance supplied by the generous.

“In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.” (Psalm 37:19)
“The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” (Psalm 34:10)

Thank you oh Great Provider! My attitudes have been refined by ordeal, and in spite of my heart’s dross, You have provided full funding and abundance to be enjoyed.

PEOPLE
I have saved the best for last. For the Father has given me traveling companions. My favorite companion, my wife, and I have interacted with countless people over the past five months. I remember…

• interacting with a school of teens passionate about studying Scripture (and wrestling with the book of Job)
• now being supported by a young church that was once only a dream. (My wife and I were part of a small group of enthusiastic people who discussed and prayed for that daughter church to be born.)
• six o’clock (oh Boh, things start Early here!) breakfast meetings with companion missioners to discuss a new church being started in the town of my birth.
• crying in despair on a friend’s shoulder.
• laughing around a summer campfire as we recited Monty Python quotes in turn.
• sitting in a hot tub with friends looking at the stars on a crisp cold evening.
• watching Penn State football games with fellow alumni (Boh, this is a land of paradox—they play “football” with their hands!)
• enjoying the blues with old friends played by old high school friends (Ah yes Boh, we are all aging n’est-ce pas?).
• being impressed by a tremendously busy friend who would drop what he was doing to take us to the airport… numerous times.
• praying with people to the One True God in the name of Christ Jesus through whom we have our fellowship-friendship-companionship.

You know Boh, there is much to be learned from the people of this land. In 1863 their great president, Abraham Lincoln, designated a day to give thanks to the Giver of all good gifts, the Creator, God Almighty. And so I wanted to slow down in order to say “Thank You” to him too.

I can’t wait to see you face to face,
Your friend


* Mr. Boh is a composite French friend who has recently become a Christian. While thoroughly fascinated with the person of Christ, he is completely unfamiliar with the evangelical subculture much of which seems very alien to him.

Mr. Boh: surprises

Well Boh, our time in this land of ecclesiastic plenty is coming to an end. We are looking forward to seeing you and our kids again (who are studying their lives away in the land of the philosophers).

In line with your request for me to share observations with you, I thought I would recount some reflections about the Deity.
TRUST I am learning to distinguish between trusting God for outcomes and trusting God himself. Without a specific promise I may or may not obtain a desired outcome. (E.g. I have no guarantee that he will build his church in a particular locality.) But God has proven himself faithful in specific promises. (E.g. “I will build my Church…” where and when he chooses.)

Where the rub comes is that the reigning ecclesiastic mindset claims (à la Job’s friends) that if we do mission God’s way it will always produce successful results. Jeremiah did things right, yet according to the standard of measurable results he would have been counted as a dismal failure.

Observation: my expectations are often askew, but God is nonetheless worthy of my trust. “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10

HOPE I used to hope for things to happen (and still do). But I feel like Frodo, who, when looking into the mirror of Galadriel is unable to discern what the visions mean or if they will indeed take place. Now, because my crystal ball yields enigmatic glimpses, I am learning to hope in God himself. And “He’ll take care of the rest.”
Observation: my desires are often improvident, but hope in my loving Father is a solid thing. “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.” Psalm 33:18

PRAYER I know there are many reasons for God’s times of apparent silence, but they are nonetheless destabilizing. “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Psalm 10:1

Then, at times, he moves with alacrity as though awakened from slumber (Ps. 78:65).

At other times prayer is akin to water dripping upon rock. Very efficacious, but not as fast acting as I would like.

Hmm, I guess I wish God were more predictable, but then I would miss out on his very cool surprises. I like surprises.

Well Boh, I must go. Can't wait to see you face to face in just a few weeks.

Contemplatively,
Your friend

A letter to Mr. Boh: living in the past

Bonjour Mr. Boh,

You asked me to send my observations and experiences throughout my journeys in the land of ecclesiastic plenty. Well, this letter is more my personal reflections on life and my purpose here in this foreign land, from which I came.

"Stranger in a strange land" by Mike Tracy (miketracy.net)

I go here, there, and everywhere sharing about Europe. Maybe it is pretentious or presumptuous, but I believe God wants to use me to:

* bring together 15 European Grace churches into a network, pooling resources to pursue the common vision of being on mission for Christ.

* create a European service / mission agency in order to send more and more and more Europeans from those churches on mission throughout Europe and beyond.

* create a humanitarian organization that will partner with the Fair Trade "Café du Monde" to do good in the world… in Jesus' name.
Ah, Boh, I've told you many times about a verse that inspires me greatly: "the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands" (Isaiah 32:8). So the vision is clear, but that doesn’t mean I see the path that will lead me to the above destinations.

In sharing this vision, I do not yet have stories of people saved, or even helped because these entities — network, agency, organization — do not yet exist. But that is why I am focusing on them, because they need to be created.

As the sage said, “but money is the answer for everything” (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Ah, Boh, in looking for funding I sometimes feel like Europe’s spiritual needs compete with Africa’s material needs for America's dollar. And who am I to tell people what to do with their money? That is truly between them and God. Africa’s need is great. Europe’s need is great, just in extremely different ways.

So will backers come forth? Financial backers yes, but I need to know that people are with me in prayer, on mission together on the Dark Continent that birthed the Enlightenment.

Ah, Boh, you are introspective so you will understand my self-interrogations. Questions are legion:

Have I been gone for so long that I no longer know how to present a message that makes sense to the people of this plausibility structure? Do I just need better marketing to capture my audience? Is God leading me into a different, more sustainable way of being on mission for him? Question engenders query.

Incessant introspection causes me to live the present badly, yet I believe that God still has good works for me to walk in. And I know that he wants to transform me. So instead of living under the financial Damocles sword of discovering new sources of financing, I am (again) learning to trust in the Father’s love and provision.

So, rather than erratic existence resulting from projection into an unpredictable future, I have been spending more time in the solid past, reviewing God’s historical faithfulness in my life. He really has taken care of my family without respite or pause. Ah, Boh, I remember when…

Old faithful

Well, Boh, thanks for listening to my ramblings, for caring and for praying. Hope to see you soon!

Warmly,
Your friend

Mr. Boh considers “truth with an attitude”

“Dear Mr. Boh…” that is an appropriate salutation for my close buddy, thought Mr. Boh’s friend.
You see, Mr. Boh(emian) lives in Europe where he is just discovering the person of Jesus; so he is looking at the church, familiar to you and me, from a fresh perspective.

Mr. Boh’s friend has gone on journey to the land of ecclesiastic plenty where things are not necessarily wrong, but often quite different from that to which he is accustomed. Friend of Boh continues his post card…

“… one thing that has struck me is that believers here in the land of ecclesiastic plenty talk about grace as good news, but the people around them perceive them as being harsh, bellicose and choleric. Why is this?


So in order to understand some of these dynamics, I picked up a book called, They Like Jesus but Not the Church. The author, Dan Kimball, writes about common (mis)perceptions of the church, “The church is an organized religion with a political agenda” and “is judgmental and negative,” among other things.


I mean really Mr. Boh, did the church family that you are now part of tell you that you needed to adopt a particular political orientation in order to follow Christ?!

It will reassure you that I recently saw on the front board of an evangelical church “Pray for President Obama — 1 Timothy 2:1-4”

[I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.]


So I guess at least some evangelicals are asking God to give the president wisdom and attempting to be at peace with him, a democrat (that is the leftist party here in the land of ecclesiastic plenty).
In his book, Kimball points out that evangelicals are known for what they are against rather than what they stand for. Even if this is a stereotype that does not at all represent what you and I believe or do, “when part of us misrepresents Jesus, we are all misrepresented. If part of us is misunderstood, we all are misunderstood,” he explains.

It seems to me that Paul and the other writers of the New Testament were very concerned about ethics within the church, yet evangelicals quoted by the media seem to be attempting to impose Christian morality on unbelievers.

Mr. Boh, think about it, how can people who do not know Christ be expected to live according to Biblical standards when they lack the power of the Holy Spirit?

I think that there is the danger of attitudinal worldliness among some believers. I admit to having met believers who seem to have adopted both the convictions (that is okay) and acerbic attitudes (not okay) sometimes heard on national news networks.

Whatever one’s Christian conviction may be, should it not be accompanied by love and be gracious toward people who do not follow Christ, whatever their position or lifestyle may be currently? In this way they would have a living example of the message that we preach — purity, grace, love, reconciliation and peace.

After all, Paul instructed Timothy to: “Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).
I guess what I am saying is that we believers want to present truth with an attitude… gentleness. An appropriate Christian approach is not presenting truth harshly or being graciously vapid, but sharing truth embodied in graciousness… "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

Well, Mr. Boh, I am out of room on this postcard. As I said before, there is much to think about in this strange land!

Your friend…"