No Such Thing as Helpless

My walk to work takes me past a couple of dumpsters for neighborhood use. One morning as I passed, I noticed the sound of a puppy's cries. When I looked over the side of the dumpster I saw a tiny tan puppy, hardly a week old and the size of my hand, straining against the weight of garbage in which it was stuck, yelping for someone to take notice. It was just a puppy, but my emotions tore at me as I stood there listening to its little yelps.

I wanted desperately to reach in and rescue it, but the problem is that the attitude toward dogs is much different than I'm used to seeing in America. They live on the streets, find food in the garbage heaps, run away from boys who throw rocks at them. A few people keep them as pets, but in general they aren't valued at all. So when unwanted puppies turn up, they are simply thrown onto the garbage heap with the rest of the trash. A woman walked by me with her child, saw my distress and stopped to sympathize with me and the cries of the little dog. "Terrible, terrible," she said, lending support to my perspective that life, even an animal, shouldn't have to suffer. But there was nothing we could do. Even if I had saved it, I don't have the resources or time to take care of it. Picking up that one helpless little puppy wasn't going to save puppies from being thrown into dumpsters because the problem is rooted in people's attitude toward dogs.

I Will Not Keep Silent

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
    for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, 
till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, 
   her salvation like a blazing torch. (Isaiah 62:1)

Something rose up from deep within me. It was almost as if I felt my insides burning, indignation wracking my spirit with a gigantic, Stop! This is not right!

Accepting the Gift

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

For this fiercely independent American girl living in Albanian culture, to give means to receive graciously. To accept the lavish gift of relationship poured out upon me. To share a whole lot more of myself than what's comfortable and give up my privacy and independence.

New Years Eve Reflections

Several someones have suggested that one of the devil's tricks is to keep Christ-followers so busy that Christ is crowded out - out of their thoughts, out of their time, out of their relationships, out of life. I struggle with this sin, this thinking that by somehow accomplishing more tasks, ministering to more people, doing more for Jesus will make Him happy with me. On the mission field this problem is magnified ten-fold, as I rush from task to task, person to person, as if I were their savior, as if I were on a race against time, trying to save as many people as possible before… before… before what?

If you don't go see that person now, they're going to think you don't care.

They won't like you unless you make a good impression.

If you don't get that done, you're on a slippery slope to failure. 

If you make a mistake, you will ruin your chance at this ministry.

Lies. Guilt.

The Cost of Christmas

Christmas in a formerly atheistic, now predominantly Muslim nation is a very different experience than in historically-Christian America. Instead, New Years is the major holiday. In my Muslim neighborhood, people are decorating New Years trees and putting up New Years lights. December 25th will be a day just like any other for most people in Albania.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year in the States with everybody getting into the decorations, festive music, TV specials, concerts and Christmas baking, but in my neighborhood it takes some effort to "get in the spirit of Christmas." I re-watched the movie, The Nativity Story, to help get myself "in the spirit." It focuses on the lives of Mary and Joseph when they suddenly found themselves called by God to an incredibly difficult task.