Has it been a whole month?

That's pitiful!  After blogging everyday in November, I almost went all of December without writing anything!

I've blown several good blog opportunities.

I could have written about how I spent 15 hours on 3 different trains getting from Ukraine to Munich to catch my flight home.

I could write about seeing The Hobbit in Germany before it released in the States.

I could write about reuniting with my Jeep and driving across three States without a License.

I could write about seeing friends at Zion Hill Church, or at Bayou View Church, or about how Agricola Baptist Church replaced my broken computer with a brand new beast of a laptop.

I could write about all the friends I've seen and all the favorite foods I've eaten or how I've gained 10 pounds in two weeks.

Of course, I could write about Christmas and riding my niece and nephews around in my Jeep with the top off on a sunny 65 degree day!

But right now I don't have time to write any of that because I'm at Passion 2013 and the Doorholder meeting starts in a little while.

I promise I will write about it though!  In a few days.

5 People I'd like to get stuck sitting next to on the flight back to America

I'm not an airplane conversationalist.  I usually watch movies or sleep, maybe listen to music or read.  I've never seen anyone "famous" on a flight and I've never really sat next to anyone especially memorable except for an elderly Indian couple one time; I helped them complete their Customs form and navigate the airport in NY upon our arrival.

But I'm always on the lookout and so here, not in any particular order, are 5 people I'd like to get stuck sitting next to on my flight to America next week:

1.  Katie Holmes.  By Ukrainian standards she's not too young for me.  And she should be on the rebound, right?  I'm taller than Tom Cruise so she could talk to me without having to look down so much.  I like to think I'm a pretty normal guy so that should be a change-of-pace from her last 6 years.  Maybe I could help her detox from all that scientology suff and I'd like to remind her that Jesus died for her and loves her.  (A close runner-up here is Natalie Portman but I want to keep my list to just 5 people).










2.  Pastor Rick Warren.  He may not be your cup of tea.  A lot of my friends are all about more cerebral preacher/writers like Piper or some of younger crop of current church leaders.  I like Rick Warren because he's a master of "practical".  I've never had to read something he's written over and over again just to understand it.  He's as successful as any big-time preacher in modern history yet he remains, by all accounts, the same grounded person he's always been.  I've never heard him stumble over an opportunity on a big stage to boldly (if simply) proclaim the Gospel.  I've read that when he became a bazillionaire he repaid his church for 25 years of back salary and continues to serve without a church salary.  I've read that, like the late RG Latourneau, he tithes 90% and lives on 10%.  His church has sent workers to most every country on the planet.  In short, he's put his money where his mouth is, he makes disciples, equips the saints, and serves the poorest of the poor all over the world.  Whenever I encounter a critic, I usually want to ask, "ok, so what have you done for the Kingdom?", and it usually pales in comparison.

3.  Kari Jobe.  Would it be creepy if I just looked at her the whole time and kept saying, "sing something for me." From seeing her onstage one time and reading a little bit about her I think we could have pleasant conversation about the church and worship and missions.  If she wanted to give me her number, I'd be ok with that.

4.  Bill Gates (or maybe Warren Buffet).  A speaker friend of mine said a few years ago that you should have a definite answer to the question, "What would you do with a million dollars?"  He told a story of a man who had an encounter like that and because he had a definite answer he was given a great amount of money.  I've thought often of that story.  So I have a definite plan for $45,000 (fund our Refugee/Student Outreach for 2 years), I have a plan for $90000 (fund our Print-on-Demand business/ministry).  I have a Million Dollar Plan (Build or buy a big enough house here in Ukraine to start an Orphan Home...of course I need a wife to do that). and I have a 5 Million Dollar Plan (Ministry Happens, Inc- to fund thousands of mission trips).  I'd love to hear from Bill what motivates him to give so generously and I'd like to thank him for the lives he's saved and the difference he's made in the world.  I'd also like to tell him about the One who gave it all.  I'd like to ask him for some money, too.

5.  Any American family returning home with one or more former Ukrainian orphans.  I'm not fluent in Russian by any means but I think I could offer some assistance to a family traveling with a handful of excited/anxious/downright scared kids who were just a few days earlier wards of a Ukrainian orphanage now on an airplane for the first time and on their way to a new life in America.  I always love to hear adoption stories. They are, each in their own way, a parable of the Gospel.



Who would you like to get stuck sitting next to on an overseas flight?

The Weight Loss Index

I don't think I've stepped on a scale this year but anytime I'm overseas for more than 3 months I start loosing weight.  That's not a bad thing.  I remember on The World Race I think I stayed fairly constant most of the year up until the last 3 months.  I almost shriveled away in SE Asia.

Here in Ukraine I don't think I noticed much weight loss until late-summer.  Here's a pic of me in June I think.

By early August my lone pair of Bluejeans were getting baggy and I asked my friends Caleb and Haley to bring a new pair when they visited; I ordered a size smaller in the waist.

It was hot and I had a pretty active summer eating a lot of "camp" food.





Fast forward to, now.  Those new Jeans I started wearing in early August are baggy on me by about an inch in the waist.  My Medium t-shirts that used to be tight around the gut now hang on me just a little bit.  And this shirt I bought on sale last year that NEVER fit me before now fits pretty good.

So there you have my patented weight-loss program:

Move to a foreign country.

Cook fresh foods rather than processed foods.

Get rid of your car and walk everywhere.

Carry all your stuff- computer, books, groceries, etc with you in a small backpack!

Work all summer in camps chasing and being chased by rugrats.

I like mine Smothered, Covered, Scattered, and Chunked!

Every month, because I'm an important member of the...get something free from Waffle House every month club...I get a teasing email from them.  Sometimes it's a free Waffle.  Sometimes it's the ever tempting Hash Browns.  Sometimes it's a dessert or a free drink.

And every month it's the same.  Every month I'm forced to simply delete the email because, alas, there are no Waffle Houses in Ukraine.

Every month I receive an email offer like it's some sort of cruel prank.

But not this time.

This time I will use my Waffle House coupon.  This time, fate, is on my side.

30 Days of Blogging. Day 30, The End.

It's been a fun 30 days of blogging.  Some days I had no idea what to write about.  Other times I knew a day or two in advance.  I think I covered a lot of ground and painted a pretty good picture of my life here in Ukraine right now.

If you've kept up with all the blogs then you shared my birthday with me and you got a ground-floor view of the launching of a new ministry.  You got to peep in on a Bat Mitzvah, and you got to hear me sing on more than one occasion.   You might have laughed along with me as I study the language, or laughed at me when I went for a haircut.  You may have visited one of our weekly youth group meetings or traveled with me when I taught a church about youth ministry.

Maybe you shared in my frustration of trying to get things done back home from 5000 miles away, or maybe you were offended by my attempt to reminisce about my love for MSU.

Or maybe you haven't taken the time to look at any of those blogs.  That's ok.

I like writing blogs.  I generally have no idea if it's worth the effort, though.  As far as I know, there are 3 regular readers.  The offensive MSU blog was apparently discovered by some of those friendly Ole Miss types who generously made it available to a more diverse group of people than I could have ever reached on my own resulting in some positive, encouraging feedback from them.

Maybe I could learn a few things from one of my favorite bloggers, Jamie the Very Worst Missionary. Whether it's her content or her "presentation" of her content, she seems to quite often stir stuff up which in turn I'm sure leads to higher readership and a LOT of interaction.  The price she pays though is that she gets slammed by people.  A lot.  I could probably learn something about being thick-skinned from her as well as how to make the blog something people want to read.

But in the end- it's not entirely about making it something people will want to read.  It's a great glimpse into what I'm doing and at times, what I get to see God doing around me, in me, and through me.  But mostly I'm writing for me.

30 Days of Blogging. Day 29, Chopsticks

This Sunday the youth group from the Messianic Church is coming over for a fellowship time, to practice some English, maybe watch a movie and... I'm cooking Chinese for them.

Last time they were here I made Taco's and Fajitas for them.  Pretty sure it was their first Mexican food.

This time, I'm feeling Chinese. I've been shopping on and off through the week for ingredients and I'm looking forward to some Sweet & Sour Pork for the sweet tooth's and some Kung Pao Chicken for the adventurous ones.

The kicker for making Chinese food for a bunch of kids is to find Chopsticks!

Ukraine is a funny place.

More times than not I can't find what I'm looking for.  That's probably more a reflection of me not wholly grasping the language and not knowing where to find stuff.  I mean, in America, I either know where to find whatever I need or at least I know where I can find it.

Sometimes not being able to find what I'm looking for is a function of non-existent customer service here in Ukraine.

For example: Three summers ago I worked at a camp.  We had a lawn mower that had been bought locally at a Home Depot knock-off and it's cheap plastic wheels were literally disintegrating and falling off.  I went to the store to get new wheels but they didn't sell replacement parts so they gave me the name of a Service Center.  The first couple times I went to the Service Center they were closed.  Middle of the day.  Not a holiday.  Closed, just because they guy wasn't there.  No apparent office hours.  When I did finally luck-up and catch him at the store he didn't have the spare parts.  I guess there was some semblance of good customer service though because he ended up taking the wheels off another mower.  I'd love to know if he ever sold that mower without the wheels!!

But I digress.  My friends Beth and Inga told me where they saw Chopsticks and lo and behold I found them.  Today was a win.  It doesn't take much to make my day!

30 Days of Blogging. Day 28, Countdown....

Two weeks from today (I think) I'll begin the trip back to Mississippi for Christmas.  I don't feel especially burned-out or anything.  I'm in a pretty good place emotionally and physically and as spiritually good as a plank eyed saint with dirty hands and heart divided (and who really can't understand 90% of any given sermon) can be.

I think it's just knowing I'm headed back in a couple weeks has my brain in "shut-down" mode on this end and in "start-up" mode for the familiar of home.

Home.  Now there's a funny word.  If it's a building, a domicile....then I don't have one.  Here or there.  I'm hard pressed to identify a hometown even.  I don't really feel like I have any place to "go back to".

I guess home is more like family and friends, and well, familiarity.  I am looking forward to all of that.

My parents aren't getting younger.  That's in the back of my mind every time I board a plane.  My great-nephews and nieces are getting older.  I don't like missing that.

I learned while on The World Race a few years ago that for my friends back home...life goes on.  Without me.  It's difficult to remain connected to them and my nature is to remain connected.  Regardless of how it happens, when those bonds are broken, it sometimes feels like abandonment on this end.

So being back in Mississippi, even for just a couple weeks, is needed.

And bacon, is needed.
And biscuits.
And fried catfish.  And BBQ.  And a Steak.  And Taco's.  And bacon.