Today I was in the canteen (cafeteria) throwing food in my mouth with my right hand (thats how we do). I was sitting with a guy I never met before and he asked my name. I told him robby. He looked at me totally confused and said "are you from a Hindu family?" I wasn't at all sure how that was relevant to the conversation but simply said "No, Christian." Then he said "Oh, ok your name sounds like Ravi, which is a Hindu name." Then it all made sense.
A week or so ago I posted about a little confusion I had as to what to call myself here. I thought about foreigners that came to the sates and often I met people that adopted american names. Although we knew the Chinese guy was not originally named Tom, we would have no problem with that. The difference is that in the states your name has very little meaning to it. For example if I tell you my name is Robby, you don't know anything more about me than how to get my attention. In the states you give meaning to your name, the name doesn't give meaning to you.
However here it is different. Your name immediately tells other people what state you are from, what social class you belong to, and what religion you family ascribes to. So if I was to say that my name was Ravi it would be making statements about myself, my family and our background that are clearly not true.
It almost reminded me of the kid trying to be someone he is not. The kid that bought a Tony Hawk skate board but really has no idea how to skate. Or the person that has taken one philosophy class but tries to talk like he is well versed in philosophy. Or the first year bible student debating Calvinism at Starbucks. The slang term is "poser." Someone that poses to be something/someone they aren't.
Here there is a lot in a name. A lot of trust, value, and identity in a name and I have no right to coin a new nickname for myself. Lesson learned!
R
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
A Suprise
I haven't been here very long, but I have somewhat grown accustom to seeing things that for me are out of the ordinary. Everything here is done different, it makes it exciting and interesting. However yesterday I saw something that literally made me stop in the middle of the road and stare like an idiot.
Here there are beggars everywhere. Slumdog Millionaire did a good job of portraying reality. Everywhere you go there are beggars and street vendors that would make DHEC have a conniption. Yesterday I hopped on the bus and went into town to explore a little. There I saw for the first time a roadside tattoo artist. The said "artist" was about 12 years old and sitting in the dirt on the sidewalk with a tattoo gun going to town on a guy's arm. He had a little white (dirty) blanket and a small jar of black ink (not green). It looked similar to a bottle of ink you would use for a quill pen.
Now I know standards of cleanliness are different, but to me that looked like a death wish.
Guess i'm not in Kansas anymore.
Here there are beggars everywhere. Slumdog Millionaire did a good job of portraying reality. Everywhere you go there are beggars and street vendors that would make DHEC have a conniption. Yesterday I hopped on the bus and went into town to explore a little. There I saw for the first time a roadside tattoo artist. The said "artist" was about 12 years old and sitting in the dirt on the sidewalk with a tattoo gun going to town on a guy's arm. He had a little white (dirty) blanket and a small jar of black ink (not green). It looked similar to a bottle of ink you would use for a quill pen.
Now I know standards of cleanliness are different, but to me that looked like a death wish.
Guess i'm not in Kansas anymore.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Noah was weird
I read just finished my devos today. I am still kind of stunned/thoughtful about what I just read. I read about Noah. Now I grew up thinking of Noah as a great zookeeper painted onto every nursery wall. You know the cartoon where he is this funny bearded guy with birds elephants and giraffes? I think that is a misrepresentation.
I read about Noah today. I've been in Mathew, but Jesus references Noah in chapter 24, so I went back to read that. The first thing that I saw was that "Noah walked with God." Now I haven't done an in depth study yet but I know that same description is used of Adam. I also know that Gal. 5 tells me to walk in step with the spirit.
But do you know what Noah did? he was in the middle of the desert and spend YEARS building a boat! Why? Because he walked with God. Then he gets all these animals and his whole family and they go into the boat (remember it has likely never rained in the history of the world at this point,and he isn't even close to the ocean) and they sit there for a week! He was in the boat with the family and all these animals for a WEEK! Why because he walked with God, and God told him to.
What gets me is that Mathew 24 says that the return of the son of man will be like in the days of Noah. Everyone will be happy clappy, and then He will return on the clouds. Revelation also says that people will be screaming at the mountains to fall on them for fear of the one who sits on the throne.
So what is my response? I know this day is coming. Am I going to live like righteous Noah and tell everyone or will I shut my mouth out of a desire to be liked? So all that to say the Lord just hit me with the urgency of the situation. Noah didn't sit on his duff and "have a good time" he went and built a boat. So lets do something.
In other news I just got back from visiting teams that are "doing something." A huge blessing to hang out with them, see their work, little bit of mutual encouragement going on, it was great.
Anyway, thanks for caring. Peace.
R
I read about Noah today. I've been in Mathew, but Jesus references Noah in chapter 24, so I went back to read that. The first thing that I saw was that "Noah walked with God." Now I haven't done an in depth study yet but I know that same description is used of Adam. I also know that Gal. 5 tells me to walk in step with the spirit.
But do you know what Noah did? he was in the middle of the desert and spend YEARS building a boat! Why? Because he walked with God. Then he gets all these animals and his whole family and they go into the boat (remember it has likely never rained in the history of the world at this point,and he isn't even close to the ocean) and they sit there for a week! He was in the boat with the family and all these animals for a WEEK! Why because he walked with God, and God told him to.
What gets me is that Mathew 24 says that the return of the son of man will be like in the days of Noah. Everyone will be happy clappy, and then He will return on the clouds. Revelation also says that people will be screaming at the mountains to fall on them for fear of the one who sits on the throne.
So what is my response? I know this day is coming. Am I going to live like righteous Noah and tell everyone or will I shut my mouth out of a desire to be liked? So all that to say the Lord just hit me with the urgency of the situation. Noah didn't sit on his duff and "have a good time" he went and built a boat. So lets do something.
In other news I just got back from visiting teams that are "doing something." A huge blessing to hang out with them, see their work, little bit of mutual encouragement going on, it was great.
Anyway, thanks for caring. Peace.
R
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Losing to Gain?
One of my favorite authors is D.A. Carson. Although he has done an excellent job of addressing many different issues one I have especially enjoyed the way he points out irony in scripture. The reality is that the word of God was written by real people with personalities and he does a great job pointing that out.
One of the things I initially found most ironic was Jesus’ teaching on life. Jesus said that to gain life you have to loose it, to be great in the kingdom you have to be a servant, least and last. At first glance I thought this was dripping with irony, however the more I meditate on it I think it is simply common sense.
Another topic that I enjoy is finance/investments. Now I am not very good at it, but I do enjoy learning about different financial markets and fund opportunities (so bear with me if you hate finance). Everyone knows that if you want to have money for retirement you have to invest it. If you just let your cash sit in your checking account your interest rate wont even hit inflation and you will consistently loose money. The only way to make money is to invest it in a profitable fund. We have to let go of it and put it in something greater than itself so that it will grow. At least for a time we loose it so that we might gain it.
Now what if there was a fund that was guaranteed a 1000% annual return? What if there was a fund where it was impossible to loose money? You would most likely reject all notion of diversification and invest every thing in this one fund. You wouldn’t even be out of line to begin selling things you could do without in order to put the profit in this particular fund. Wouldn’t it be logical to also go and tell everyone you knew about this new found fund? Now the reality is that for a time you would be without. You wouldn’t have access to that cash immediately but you would endure living without for the joy of what would come later.
I think this is exactly what Christ is talking about. He calls us to invest our lives in something greater than ourselves so that we might take hold of that something greater. Sure maybe we will be without today, maybe we will be uncomfortable (its 9:30 pm and I am sitting on my bed sweating- with the fan on), but if we have taken our comfort and given it up to invest in something greater isn’t it worth it? Think of the previously mentioned fund, would it make any sense to not invest everything in it? I think that’s what Christ calls us to, to give him everything. To loose our life that we might gain it, it seems ironic but we hold to the same principles elsewhere.
Life with Christ is crazy. I think it’s worth a try.
One of the things I initially found most ironic was Jesus’ teaching on life. Jesus said that to gain life you have to loose it, to be great in the kingdom you have to be a servant, least and last. At first glance I thought this was dripping with irony, however the more I meditate on it I think it is simply common sense.
Another topic that I enjoy is finance/investments. Now I am not very good at it, but I do enjoy learning about different financial markets and fund opportunities (so bear with me if you hate finance). Everyone knows that if you want to have money for retirement you have to invest it. If you just let your cash sit in your checking account your interest rate wont even hit inflation and you will consistently loose money. The only way to make money is to invest it in a profitable fund. We have to let go of it and put it in something greater than itself so that it will grow. At least for a time we loose it so that we might gain it.
Now what if there was a fund that was guaranteed a 1000% annual return? What if there was a fund where it was impossible to loose money? You would most likely reject all notion of diversification and invest every thing in this one fund. You wouldn’t even be out of line to begin selling things you could do without in order to put the profit in this particular fund. Wouldn’t it be logical to also go and tell everyone you knew about this new found fund? Now the reality is that for a time you would be without. You wouldn’t have access to that cash immediately but you would endure living without for the joy of what would come later.
I think this is exactly what Christ is talking about. He calls us to invest our lives in something greater than ourselves so that we might take hold of that something greater. Sure maybe we will be without today, maybe we will be uncomfortable (its 9:30 pm and I am sitting on my bed sweating- with the fan on), but if we have taken our comfort and given it up to invest in something greater isn’t it worth it? Think of the previously mentioned fund, would it make any sense to not invest everything in it? I think that’s what Christ calls us to, to give him everything. To loose our life that we might gain it, it seems ironic but we hold to the same principles elsewhere.
Life with Christ is crazy. I think it’s worth a try.
"normal" life
Hey hey,
well I am here. I know I haven't been very good about updating this, but I am still trying to figure out what I can say and what I can't. Learning from mistakes already!
I have been here about 2 weeks now and am starting to get into a flow. Right now I live in a dorm about 50 meters from my office. I eat in the canteen (cafe, cafeteria, lunchroom etc.) which is also on campus.
Right now the biggest thing I am working on job wise is coordinating communication between the team here and a f-ship in the states. I will also be teaching an ESL class this fall (for the first time in my life) and then helping to teach a little in January while taking classes.
I got asked a question the other day that for the first time I wasn't sure how to answer. A guy asked me "what is your name." Well um, hmm. I actually had to think about it. Here was my thought process. Well my real name is Robert but I don't go by that. My nickname is Robby, but if I tell you that you will say Ruby and that is a girls name here. The closest equivalent that I know of here is Ravi. But is my name Ravi, Ruby, Robby, or Robert? So I said Ravi. I have tried this a few times telling them my name is Ravi, and each time I get the response "no it isn't." Hahaha, so then I tried Robby/Ruby and they laugh and say "dont you know that's a girls name here?!" Eh, yea, um ok? So what is my name? hmmm, TBD. :-)
well I am here. I know I haven't been very good about updating this, but I am still trying to figure out what I can say and what I can't. Learning from mistakes already!
I have been here about 2 weeks now and am starting to get into a flow. Right now I live in a dorm about 50 meters from my office. I eat in the canteen (cafe, cafeteria, lunchroom etc.) which is also on campus.
Right now the biggest thing I am working on job wise is coordinating communication between the team here and a f-ship in the states. I will also be teaching an ESL class this fall (for the first time in my life) and then helping to teach a little in January while taking classes.
I got asked a question the other day that for the first time I wasn't sure how to answer. A guy asked me "what is your name." Well um, hmm. I actually had to think about it. Here was my thought process. Well my real name is Robert but I don't go by that. My nickname is Robby, but if I tell you that you will say Ruby and that is a girls name here. The closest equivalent that I know of here is Ravi. But is my name Ravi, Ruby, Robby, or Robert? So I said Ravi. I have tried this a few times telling them my name is Ravi, and each time I get the response "no it isn't." Hahaha, so then I tried Robby/Ruby and they laugh and say "dont you know that's a girls name here?!" Eh, yea, um ok? So what is my name? hmmm, TBD. :-)
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