SQJ Taipei

So today I mourn the loss of my last wisdom tooth.

Surprisingly the emotional pain isn’t as bad as the physical.

The top ones were fairly easy and not so painful… but the bottom teeth are a totally different story.

WOW. THIS. HURTS.

Apparently the lower jawbone (or is there only one jawbone?) is much more dense than the upper (or skull?) so it takes a lot more anesthesia to numb the area but apparently individuals can be more or less sensitive to certain kinds of anesthesia, too. The dentist added almost 2 doses before realizing that kind just wasn’t going to do the trick in any amount so she switched to another kind… injected some… and pulled the tooth straightaway with no pain at all.

Of course… now it is all wearing off and not feeling good… at all.

But the dentist is AWESOME and if you need a recommendation in the Taipei area… let me know. It is a husband wife clinic and they are in Xindian.

In other news…

…looks like I could use a bigger or a second hdd

Here’s one I keep putting off… but under my new policy… I’m just gonna put this up whether I have anything to say or not.

Tony Woodlief has a blog (Sand in the Gears) and he writes at World on the Web. I linked him before in this post and I always find his opinions thought provoking.

WAY BACK on April 15th I found this in my feedreader…

It kinda gives you a good idea of how Tony approaches this subject… he knows that taking youth on mission trips *must* be a good thing… but is it really worth it?

Here’s Tony’s article - Mission trip or summer vacation? - at World on the Web.

I have the same questions as Tony… I hate trying to figure out what to quote since I always end up wanting to quote almost everything so just go read it yourself… it will take 10-15 minutes to read the article and the comments - which are at least as good as the actual article and say many things that I agree with but probably won’t include in this post since I’m rambling and forgetful.

My Thoughts on Youth Trips

We have hosted many youth trips over the years… and we always wonder if it is worth it or not.

We LOVE hosting the groups. It is great fun for us (although it is also a lot of work) and we are refreshed by the energy that the groups bring to our lives and ministries. We genuinely enjoy talking with each person on each trip and we love to answer their questions about life, missions, Taiwan, parenting, whatever… face to face. We also like to think that we are doing something beneficial for the Kingdom.

But are we?

I don’t really know.

Facebook has helped us keep up with some of the more recent visitors… and it is clear that most are following Jesus and that a few are not. As for those who are not… I occasionally have some bouts with guilt as to whether something happened on their trip (or perhaps their direct contact with me!) that turned them off to Jesus. I hope not…

But even though most of the youth who visited here are Christians, the most important consideration is whether or not their trip here was of benefit to the Kingdom of God in some way and it is difficult (impossible?) to know how much a single mission trip affected a single individual’s life.

Woodlief draws attention to a recent study very much worth checking out…

We all want these trips to be meaningful and valuable, but unfortunately, research by Calvin College’s Kurt Ver Beek indicates that short-term mission trips don’t lead to greater subsequent involvement in the lives of those they are intended to help. Nor do short-term missions result in significantly greater giving by mission-trip participants or their host churches. (For links to Ver Beek’s research, and articles discussing it, click here.)

Our church is currently trying to find creative ways to help people with financial needs… since we meet in homes, we save a lot of money by not paying rent or having a pastoral staff… and that money can go directly to helping people… but when I do the math on the money involved to bring a group of youth over here (a recent trip cost at least US$30,000) I get absolutely giddy with how we might bless people with that money.

Of course… that would mean that people would give us the $$ instead of giving to the student’s trip and that probably wouldn’t happen. It also means that we are using lots of foreign money to establish things here and that has its own problems (and could be a topic of another post).

Although some of the kids that have come on trips to visit us have gone into missions (Kim and Josh and about 3 others that are in “creative access” countries), none of them are serving in Taiwan. Kim did serve here for several months, but each of them were planning on being missionaries before they came to Taiwan so their visit here didn’t lead them to Taiwan specifically OR to the mission field in general since they were already committed to *somewhere*.

Youth often return home to say “I was changed by this trip to XYZ country. In fact, I was probably changed more than the people I went there to help.”

It is definitely fair to say that statement is true very very very very nearly 100% of the time although that is not to say that the groups don’t help… they DO HELP… but really… the biggest changes occur in the youth coming from afar… not in the people here.

Bottom Line

When we consider the trips as a whole… as groups… it is probably impossible to know if “the Kingdom” has a net gain in missions interest/activity/passion from these trips or a loss. Is the financial cost worth it? We don’t know… I’d say we can’t know.

But when we look at the individuals we get to talk with… to train… to work alongside… to become friends with… we easily see positives all around.

If we were to make a policy that these groups could no longer come here and work with us for a time, I’d always wonder what relationships I might be missing out on! I’d miss the excitement and the challenges and opportunities… but it shouldn’t be about me.

As a team, for now… we’ll still consider taking groups on a case-by-case basis, which is what we’ve always done. Supporting church groups are always welcome as scheduling permits.

What I’d like to see

Local churches NEED to be involved. We know of some youth that seem to act like summer “mission trips” are an entitlement. They just pick where they want to go… with what organization… and send out letters advertising “the need” to their friends and family and church who dutifully give their $25 - $100 for the annual mission trip. It seems like no one ever talks to the kids about their reason for going… how they prayerfully came to the conclusion they should go to that country at that time. I think the local church needs to be responsible for the kids who go on these trips and should make sure there is a point to all of the expense and traveling and documentation and purchasing of cameras (to chronicle the trips), etc etc. There should be pre-trip training and post-trip debriefing. I know some organizations do these things… but THE LOCAL CHURCH is ultimately responsible for those in its circle of influence… the job can’t be pushed off to some para-church organization. I’d like to see more discernment all around, actually.

Tony Woodlief suggests calling these trips “Christian study abroad programs”.

[ducks]

It really would be more accurate wouldn’t it? We’ve already established that the youth “get more out of the trip” than the locals, right?

Woodlief closes with a series of questions that I think are worth asking…

So I’m wondering, what should our response be to the onslaught of youth missions this summer? What questions ought we to ask? Should we simply be thankful that young people are showing any interest in missions at all? Should we politely suggest that they can have experiences that are just as meaningful in our own inner cities, children’s hospitals, and poverty-racked rural areas? Should we pony up and keep our mouths shut? Am I a bad Christian for asking?

And my answers…

• make local churches the primary sending agencies
• how did God lead you to your conclusion that you should go to this country at this time? how have you been praying about this decision? what scriptures have played a big impact in this decision? how will you learn some of the language before you arrive? what sacrifices are you making to make this trip?
• yes!
• yes!
• ummm… not sure… maybe open mouth AND pony up under the right circumstances?
• no… but the amount of people who will say yes (or who will think yes but not say it) will be scary high

What are your answers? What are your questions? I’d really love to hear from some of you who have been part of group trips in the past. I hope I’ve made it clear that we are glad you came… we are thrilled to know every one of you… but we just wonder how these trips work out for you a few years down the road…

My goal was 40km.

Reaching that goal was seriously in doubt when, in my 2nd kilometer, I saw 2 dogs attacking a kitten. I have to admit that I really didn’t want to stop as I knew we couldn’t take another cat. We already have 1 which is probably twice as many as we should have.

However… I couldn’t just keep riding… so I stopped… scooped up the wet and injured and bleeding kitten (I estimate her about 4 weeks old) unzipped my belly bag… transferred my phone to my pocket… transferred the kitten to the bag… zipped the kitten in the bag… and took off again.

A little while later, I found a nice sunny spot and stopped to examine the kitten more closely and figure out what to do.

I decided that the kitten was totally freaked out… had some cuts… but was going to be OK. I couldn’t let it go, but I really wanted to get in 40km… so I slung my belly bag over my neck and under my shirt… put the kitten in the bag and then tucked in my shirt so the kitten would be against my chest and stomach and inside my shirt. This would keep her warm and hopefully make her feel safer. I think I was successful because I hardly heard a peep out of her the rest of the ride. I checked for movement with my hand on a few occasions to make sure she was alive.

Even though I had a cat in a bag hanging around my neck and it was very windy, I was able to make my 40km goal and be back in time to pick up my daughter from ballet. She was pretty surprised when I told her I had a kitten. We took her out of the bag and stopped for dinner, sharing some with the kitten of course.

We stopped by home to pick up my oldest son so he could see the kitten and come with us to our cat’s vet and see if he would take this kitten in - which he did - although he wasn’t totally excited about it since someone had dropped off a litter of kittens earlier in the day.

I don’t know what we would have done if he would not have taken her.

These were taken with my Sony Ericsson w200i which has a fairly poor camera but an absolutely sweet mp3 function which I put to good use almost daily.

Here she is…

If you start at the 中正橋 Yunghe side and ride for 20km towards Tucheng… you reach the end of the road. Here it is…

The stairs go up to a street.

I recommend this ride with or without a cat.

Although I’m old enough to feel old sometimes… like yesterday (after hoops and squash on Sunday)… and today (after 40k on the bike on Monday - with a cat)… I’m not probably old enough to know for sure that Ravi Zacharias is right about The Dying Art of Thinking, although I suspect that he is.

A person sitting at his desk and staring out of the window would never be assumed to be working. No! Thinking is not equated with work. Yet, had Newton under his tree, or Archimedes in his bathtub bought into that prejudice, some natural laws would still be up in the air, or buried under an immovable rock. Pascal’s Pensees, a work that has inspired millions, would have never been penned.

The Bible places supreme value in the thought life. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” Solomon wrote. Jesus asserted that sin’s gravity lay in the idea itself, not just the act. Paul admonished the church at Philippi to have the mind of Christ, and to the same people he wrote, “Whatever is true . . . pure . . . if there be any virtue . . . think on these things.”

As one who spends a lot of time sitting at my desk and staring out the window… I’m glad that at least somebody realizes that I might still be working!

It seems like a person is measured by how busy they are these days… has it always been like that? I doubt it.

Ravi suggests 3 things to remedy the situation… I couldn’t agree more with each one. These 3 suggestions are his, the comments are mine… although you’ll probably want to read Ravi’s comments too.

Study God’s Word

It doesn’t matter if you are a Christian or not… the Bible is an amazing book and worthy of your time. I know of no other piece of literature that provokes thinking on so many subjects.

Read Great Books

I don’t remember whose it was, but I was looking at someone’s Facebook profile the other day and under favorite books they wrote something like “I don’t put much value in books, but always take time to read GQ, Details, and” something else I don’t remember. Wow… almost speechless… maybe they were kidding? I hope so.

I’ve found DailyLit to be a convenient way to get through some “Great Books”. But of course there are always libraries and garage sales!

Even if it takes you a long time… make your way through some of the “Great Books”.

Challenge the Mind

This has a lot to do with what you read, too. Don’t stop learning! Don’t be afraid to admit you were wrong about something in light of new information. Talk to people that you don’t agree with. Although it is mostly political spam these days, check out reddit.com. Read CS Lewis. Learn from Tim Keller.

This was a good book. I’ve had an interest in the Normandy campaign for years, but still learned some from this book. What was most valuable for me, though, was the coverage of the Italy campaign and the German/Soviet front.

The book was edited by Tony Hall and he compiled a very nice group of authors in the following chapters:

• Europe Invaded
• The Soviet Summer Offensive, 1944
• The Reconquest of the Philippines
• Drive to the Rhine
• The Strategic Bombing Offensive
• War in Italy: The Final Year
• The Ardennes Counteroffensive
• Crossing the Rhine
• The Soviets Enter Germany: The Winter Offensive
• Burma Reconquered, 1944-1945
• From the Rhine to the Elbe
• The Battle for Berlin: April-May 1945
• Island by Island
• The Final Horrors

I liked each chapter, but would have tired of it quickly if not for the use of different authors.

The book is VERY heavy on mentioning specific army groups, divisions, fleets, etc and their commanders. This can be quite difficult to follow because I don’t think there was a SINGLE MAP in the entire book. The names and units all start blending together without a way to picture the setting of the battles described. This meant that I had to go to other sources for maps to get a better context of the battles and campaigns described by the authors. Sometimes it didn’t seem worth the trouble. The book has almost 300 illustrations and over 100 color artifact photos, but NOT A SINGLE MAP! The photos and illustrations are really good, though.

This book is 6/10 but would easily be 8/10 if it had proper maps. I can’t believe there weren’t any maps… wow.

The March to Victory: The Final Months of WWII

Long ago… on the detasseling crew… we’d eat bugs (mostly box-elder bugs) once in a while as part of our mind game strategy with the kids on our crew. It helped with discipline issues if they thought we were a little psycho.

But the most bugs I’ve ever eaten in my life was last Thursday night while riding my bike down by the river.

I’ve been riding by the river on Thursday nights for about a year now, taking some time off for my back surgery.

With all those kms flying by… the occasional bug in the mouth happens… but last Thursday I guess I ran into a swarm of some sort. I don’t know what they were, but they were small and black and not tasty. Of course I shut my mouth, but didn’t want to swallow these critters so tried spitting them out, but ended up getting more in… and I didn’t really want to stop riding right in the middle of a swarm of bugs… thought it best just to keep truckin’ and get out of the swarm.

I also have bites on my arms and legs… but nothing serious at all. I’m surprised there aren’t more.

If anyone is interested in a nice bike ride by the river, I start at the Yonghe side of the Zhongzheng bridge at about 5:30 and ride for about 2 hours. Contact me by email or leave a comment and we can exchange cellphone numbers to make sure we meet up. There are rare occasions where I don’t ride (another reason to be in touch first), but weather hasn’t stopped me yet.

Box elder bug… eating a few of these will really impress jr. high kids.

UPDATE: After I posted this… I was reminded that I’m getting a tooth pulled on Thursday… so no bike riding for me that night… however… I’m going tonight instead… Monday… same time same place…

Patrick Cowsill has a really interesting post about POWs in Taiwan during WWII. If you remember… Taiwan was under Japanese control until the end of WWII… so the POWs were Allied forces.

Patrick’s grandfather served in the Pacific and writes…

Actually, my grandpa hated the war; he rarely talked about it.

Same with my grandfather, who also served in the Pacific theater. I never got a *single word* out of him about his time in the Navy. He shuddered each time he saw war footage or simulation on TV and either changed the channel or left the room.

I’ve recently been reading March To Victory covering the last year of WWII and read some things about Taiwan. There actually isn’t much… because Taiwan was seen as too difficult to take over and too close to the Japanese mainland. The Allies considered an amphibious assault on Taiwan but instead took control of the Philippines. The Allies bombed Taiwan on a few occasions, as Patrick mentions in his post, - and suffered terribly with much infrastructure destroyed and thousands killed - but was spared from ground attacks.

Patrick posts a letter he received recently regarding eywitness accounts of POWs in Hualien.

For anyone interested in Taiwan… or in WWII… the letter is an interesting account.

Thanks for posting the letter Patrick.

The March to Victory: The Final Months of WWII

In keeping with the spirit of the previous post… little to no commentary… here’s a good clip about one homeschooling family…

very well done

One of my favorite parts is when the homeschooling mom says that people often ask her how she knows if her kids are learning or not… her answer? I’m with them 24/7 so I know if they are learning… if they can find Lithuania, etc… not an exact quote… but you get the point.

click the image to go to the page where you can view the video… it isn’t embedded here.

No… not that evolution… just changes… that’s all.

For one… I’ve always shared a lot of things I like in the “Shared Items” section in the sidebar… but I think I’ll start choosing a few of those and dedicating a post to them. I don’t really have time to blog more often… to write more… to offer much commentary… but I read A LOT and some of this stuff just needs to be made more widely available and I know that some of you that read my blog will also like some things that I’m reading. I guess the fact that I’m sharing them implies that I agree in part or in whole or else feel like it is some worthy opposing view or has some other value… like FUN! so commentary isn’t always necessary… it works for Instapundit and Mr. Reynolds is doing OK. (incidentally, that is one blog I *don’t* subscribe to)

I currently have 183 subscriptions in Google Reader and I read them pretty much daily and very quickly (tip: learn the keyboard shortcuts if you need to power through lots of entries).

So anyway…here’s a recent read that deserves a bit more attention…

From Missions, Misunderstood:

My Evolution

…

I have learned to worship without music or a guy with a guitar. I have come to realize that prayer should be a two-way conversation between God and me. I’m working on reading the Bible for what it says and what the Holy Spirit illuminates to me instead of picking verses that support my arguments. I’ve altogether quit thinking of the church as a building with a paid staff and youth group games on Wednesday nights.

I came here to tell people about Jesus. Now I realize the power of publicly living out the joys and struggles of my faith. Though I still struggle, I can now see through the lies of materialism. I find my identity in Christ instead of my profession or the successes of my ministry. I’ve learned not to assume that I know what’s going on around me spiritually. I’ve come to enjoy the spirituality of conversation with believers. I’ve learned a lot from fellowship with people who don’t believe.

…

There’s more… maybe you should read it…

My list would be similar to Ernest’s… but different in details…

As usual… the “main stream” media gets it wrong. They’ve chosen to take a political angle in reporting the recent release of An Evangelical Manifesto.

Joe Carter writes at Evangelical Outpost:

Indeed, every single news article focused on the political implications rather than on what it really said. Consider these headlines:

     AP: Evangelical leaders say their faith is too politicized

     USA Today: Manifesto aims to make ‘evangelical’ a less-political term

     Reuters: US evangelicals call for step back from politics

     NPR: ‘Evangelical Manifesto’ Aims to Depoliticize Religion

The media considers the term “evangelical” to be political rather than theological because of their own willful ignorance. Part of the problem is that they don’t know anyone who would consider themselves an evangelical. Even at conservative media outlets you are more likely to an atheist on staff than you are an evangelical Christian.

Who should read it?

*You* should. *Everyone* should.

If you consider yourself “evangelical” you will definitely want to.

If you used to consider yourself “evangelical” you will probably find this document a bit of an invitation back.

If you aren’t evangelical (theological liberal, non-religious, fundamentalist, atheist, sikh, pastafarian, etc) you’ll *still* want to read this document. At least to some degree, you’ve probably fallen under the media’s spell and have a whole host of issues with “evangelical” straw men and this document, while not authoritative (evangelicals have no pope and are notoriously dis-organized religion at its best - or worst), might prove useful, either to enlighten or to help you reload.

Sadly, most who see the term “evangelical” as a political term, rather than a theological term, will likely not be swayed by the document because they are too invested in it meaning the former,,, including those “evangelicals” who are most politically invested. We all know who they are and their signatures are missing from the document… make of it what you will.

So… no matter your political or religious persuasion, I suggest that you read it yourself. Don’t rely on others to tell you what it is and isn’t… this blog included! It is a 20 page PDF file and there is also a 6 page executive summary.

What Are People Saying?

Here’s a good sampling of blog posts from people who have signed the manifesto and some others. I believe that each of them has certain issues of disagreement, but find there is so much to agree with that they signed on. Each one of these signatories happily points out that this document is AN Evangelical Manifesto and not THE Evangelical Manifesto.

Mark D. Roberts - An Evangelical Manifesto: Why I Signed (Part 1)

Joe Carter - Thoughts on the Evangelical Manifesto

Josh Gelatt - Why I Signed the Evangelical Manifesto

Justin Taylor - An Evangelical Manifesto: A Summary

Darrell Bock - The Point of the Manifesto Put Simply

Dr. Bock will be in Taiwan this summer (July 7-12) as one of the main speakers for the Taiwan Missionary Fellowship Summer Conference. I look forward to discussing An Evangelical Manifesto with him at that time.

Final Comments

The document and its signatories are already being attacked by those who say it is too watered down… others say it is an attempt to supercede the Bible… other say it is a “power-grab”… others say that evangelicals are political no matter what…

meh…

I, too, could nitpick… But I like the document… I like its purpose… I like its clarity… I like its spirit… It promotes unity and yet allows for disagreement… I find some parts a little “so-so” but other parts are some of the most brilliant words that I’ve ever read about authentic Christianity.

Maybe in America people still find it valuable to argue over doctrinal issues that are of absolutely no consequence to people who don’t know of God’s love and grace… but here in Taiwan, the missionaries (for sure) and the churches (in general) find that we have far more in common with one another than we have in disagreement and it makes much more sense to stand as one than to criticize at every turn.

I’ve purposely not quoted from An Evangelical Manifesto because I’d really rather see people go read it for themselves and come to their own conclusions… reading the thoughts of the signatories linked above will help us understand the document as well - much like reading Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, Washington, et al. will help us understand the US Constitution. It is always possible to quote anything out of context… so I’m going to leave the reading and quoting in your hands.

UPDATE: Mark D. Roberts has posted An Evangelical Manifesto: Why I Signed (Part 2)