Sabbath

About 10 years ago, I attended a women's conference in Japan that had a profound impact on the way I view the Sabbath. The conference speaker was Marva Dawn, a brilliant theologian. The topic? Keeping the Sabbath Wholly. As in completely, yes.

Since that time, I have tried my best to celebrate the Sabbath. "It's not a polite suggestion," Marva reminded us. "It's a biblical mandate, and something Jesus took seriously" (though not in the strict Jewish way, necessarily). She explained to us that a Sabbath rest isn't something you work toward, but rather that we can serve out of the rest we have had.

Knowing that I have another very full week of class ahead, I chose to lay low today, to rest, spend time with God, go for a walk, and finally, to meet a friend. Idelette is a South African whom I had gotten to know in Taiwan. She got married to a Canadian nine years ago, and I hadn't seen her since. This afternoon, she drove down from Vancouver, Canada, to visit for a few hours.

Tayla.jpg, originally uploaded by Boyznberry.

(Above: Idelette's 3-year-old, Tayla, with some flowers a little boy brought her... He seemed quite taken by her and brought flowers twice. It was the cutest thing to watch!)

It's a bit bizarre when you had last seen a friend as a single and next as a mother of three. I had a wonderful time with them! The kids were darling.

We ran to Trader Joe's to do some shopping for Idelette, bought Thai food to go at a nearby restaurant, and went to a park to visit, let the 2 oldest ones play, and have our dinner. Some of my favorite quotes from the 5-year-old Gabrielle were, "Mom, can we please get an orphan?" and, "Mom! My poop's coming out!!" (Sorry for the graphic narrative. I just think it's hilarious when a well-mannered, beautifully-dressed little princess blurts out something so real!)

It was refreshing to spend time with an old friend. As I did on Friday night. Phebe Shen, a former roommate and colleague from my ORTV days is from this area, and we met up for Taiwanese food and a delightful visit.

Yesterday, albeit Saturday, our class met for the most hands-on journey through church history. We traveled to our prof's home near Mt. Baker where we embarked on a 2,000-foot mission trail. The trail represents the 2,000 years since Jesus sent his disciples to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Along with trees that have significant meanings (the Reformation Tree, the Trinity Tree, and the Epiphany Tree) as well as monuments to significant family events, Ray took us to the 20 markers on his trail. At each marker, he'd stop and teach in his narrative manner on the significance of the specific person. History had never been so alive to me!

Not only was it a truly hands-on learning experience, it was also a delightful time in nature. The Bakkes' farm is beautiful, and it had just stopped raining prior to us embarking on the walk. The forest was alive with raindrops dangling from moss-covered tree trunks...

Today's chance to rest, reflect, and visit with God about what I'm learning was the perfect end to a mentally challenging week, and the perfect beginning to the next 5 days of learning. I feel like I can think again after taking time out to be alone.

Click on the picture above to see photos from this past week.

Some things I've done today

A not-entirely-exhaustive list of things I have done so far today.

1. Hit "snooze" on my alarm clock.
2. Drank 2 cups of coffee.
3. Studied Genesis 27, the "blessing chapter," about Jacob stealing Esau's blessing.
4. Identified with Rebekah (Jacob's mom, who sometimes didn't get that God's will will prevail, even without my "help.")
5. Ate an egg sandwich at the airport.
6. Wondered if the egg sandwich was safe to eat.
7. Wore blue jeans for the first time in Kenya.
8. Crawled into a really small plane. (Seriously! Aero Kenya has added new flights, but not all of their flights are full, so they've acquired some smaller planes. You cannot be taller than 4' if you'd like to walk in this plane. All seats are isle seats. Most seats are window seats. OK, technically, all seats are window seats, but the two front seats don't have windows.)
   
9. Sat with my feet on top of my carry-on back-pack the entire flight due to lack of space.
10. Chatted with some pastor from some town in the Deep South about the work his church does in Kenya.
11. Read an Afrikaans magazine en route to Nairobi.
12. Fell asleep.
13. Waited for Mayfield driver George to pick me up at the airport. (Mayfield is a missionary guest house run by Africa Inland Mission in Nairobi.)
    
14. Read a few pages of a book while waiting.
    
15. Waited for George to run errands after picking me up from Wilson Airport.
16. Read more pages of the book.
17. Visited with the staff at Mayfield.
18. Wrote thank-you notes to supporters while sitting outside in the Mayfield garden.
19. Listened to good music while writing notes.
20. Had Yorkshire pudding and roast beef for lunch at Mayfield. First time ever to have Yorkshire pudding, that was.
    
21. Met a missionary family who live "just up the road" (a 2-hour drive) from me in Ilula.
    
22. Agreed to connect in Eldoret sometime, which is their nearest "city."
    
23. Went to the international airport with George, to drop off my damaged luggage at British Airways. (The extendable handle by which you pull my big suitcase was broken off totally during my journey to Kenya. I had filled out a report when I picked up the luggage, and they told me to hand in the bag the next time I'm in town. They'll either fix it - how I don't know - or replace the bag.)
    
24. Was sent from BA's counters to international arrivals to drop off the said luggage.
25. Had to explain to the security dude why there's no Kenyan stamp in my passport. (I had grabbed an old passport when packing. And yes, I have several passports since my country only issues skinny passports and you have to get a new passport when yours is full - they don't add more pages.)
26. Dropped off my bag and was told that BA will get back to me since their official left "just 5 minutes ago."
27. Waited for George.
28. Read some more from the book.
29. Caught up on friends' blogs.
30. Putzed around on my computer.
31. Answered some e-mails.
    
32. Read more.
    
33. Took a nap.
34. Downloaded updates on all my favorite podcasts. (I cannot download audio from my neck of the woods.) And in case you wonder, my favorite podcasts are, they are sermons by John Piper, Chuck Swindoll, Joyce Meyer, Erwin McManaus, and Bill Johnson, and video podcasts from National Geographic's Video Shorts and their NG Atmosphere. My computer will be running all night and probably much of tomorrow, just downloading all the podcasts!
    
35. Read more.
    
36. Made some work phone calls.
37. Ate too many Pringles, which, by the way, you don't get out in Eldoret. Check out their Web site. They don't even show they're in Africa. But then again, according to their site, they're not in Greenland, either. Or anywhere in the Middle East.
38. Made this silly list.
39. Took a long, hot bath. (One of the nicest things about being at the Mayfield.)
40. Read more.
41. Visited with a Mennonite missionary family at dinner time.
42. Pretended to understand what their 2-year-old blue-eyed girl was telling me all through dinner. Did get that they recently had a herd of elephants walk right through their shamba (garden) at night. They live north of Nairobi, near Mt. Kenya.
43. Learned from them that you can get arrested for talking on your cell phone while driving in Nairobi. They'd know. It happened to them today.

I think today can officially count as a restful day. I'll be getting a Mayfield vehicle tomorrow morning, go to get my hair cut, pick up some things in the city, connect with friends, watch a movie, perhaps?

Addendum:
It's almost 11 pm. I've been doing admin work stuff for most of the evening, and my eyes are tired of staring at my computer. Guess I should add that to the list.
44. Punched numbers till my eyes were cockeyed.