Worldly Holiness

Barcelona Harbor, originally uploaded by papalars.

Well, we are starting to store, pack and sell household items as we prepare to move to Seattle next month. For those that haven't followed the story of our change you can read below in the May Prayer & Praise post. So, we are back to the moving routine, kind of reversing the track we made last August. My books are the major thing to move!  I need to extract them from my bookshelves here and then place them on another set of bookshelves halfway around the globe. That may seem silly but I feel a little like the Apostle Paul when he asked Timothy to bring his books. "When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments." 2 Timothy 4:13. So you could say I'm in good company. Somehow this doesn't cut it with Carol and Erick. Not sure why.

Anyway, last fall, God provided some special sherpas from McMinnville, Oregon who conveniently were coming to Barcelona a day or two after us. This time, we have some family visitors and a friend of Erick's who will provide that service in reverse. In all this moving back and forth, we have seen God's hand through this year and we have another chance to trust him for the upcoming year. Does that mean we never get anxious? Not exactly. As you think of it please remember to pray for us. We still do not have housing secured back in Seattle but we are pursuing some leads. With about 3.5 weeks to departure, that little old trust factor becomes more, well, shall I say topsy turvy. Don't even know if I spelled that correctly but you get the idea.

I'm a little nostalgic about leaving Barcelona. This has been home for a year. We have become familiar with the metro system and enjoyed the fascinating history, architecture and art of this city. Quite a place really. I have to confess that we don't have a lot of friends, but God has provided a few. That has been good but we could have had more. Maybe if we were here longer that would improve. Anyway, the goodbyes will be nothing like Mexico where we basically raised our family and still keep in regular contact with friends we made there.

Well, this is Friday and I have a coffee with my Arabic teacher before he goes to prayers. Today is like his Sunday for me. He closes down his Muslim bookstore and heads to the mosque with friends and family to pray and focus on the things of Allah for his life. Pray for our sharing over the next few weeks, that I may be able to give a clear witness to Christ and continue to build a relationship of trust. As always, check back to this blog for new developments in our adventure. Drop me a line or post a comment. I have a lot of new pictures of Barcelona. I'm trying to capture the city before we leave. I also have some pictures from Marseille, France. We visited Ken last week to touch base before we all depart Europe. Thanks for joining us in the journey.

Jesus and Cast of the Passion, originally uploaded by papalars.

Another full month has come and gone for us, with some significant things happening. It was an eventful month with Carol traveling to Chicago for Kjel’s graduation from North Park, my trip to Morocco, Nicki moving to Minneapolis and having a kidney infection….let’s see, oh yes, and Erick just left for Mallorca to spend time with some friends after finishing school. We are very aware of a praying community that supports us and want to continue to thank you for being part of what God supplies for our journey. We feel God’s company in the midst of our lives and are grateful to be part of what he is doing for focus people.

My trip to Morocco went great even though I got sick. More in-depth stories can be found below so check those out if you want more detail. And the pictures are there to give some visual aids. Suffice it to say, Morocco is very enchanting as it is important for what God is doing today with our focus friends, many of whom come from Morocco. Here are some prayer requests as we go forward over the next 30 days. Please join us in praying.

• Nate is our friend and Covenant short-term missionary we left in Fez to study Arabic. He is doing well but asks for prayer for learning the language and also for spiritual support during the next 3 weeks of study.

• Arabic teacher. I have not been able to visit my Arabic teacher for a while but hope to have a coffee with him this next week. Continue to pray for him, that God would give us opportunities to connect at a deep level and share about the things of God with each other through friendship and trust. I don’t want to leave Barcelona without having the chance to establish a deeper bond with him and sharing more deeply the love of Christ.

• House rental. We have a great lead on a house for rent back in Seattle. Please pray that the owner strongly consider us as potential renters. The price is right, the size is good, and the location is perfect for what we need to do this coming year. We have tickets to return on July 20th so we are not really too close to the date to have a place to stay. If this house does not work out, pray that God will provide and show they way.

• Kids. Continue to pray for our children, each of them as they are in major transition this year. Pray for God’s guidance and wisdom in their lives as they make decisions about their futures, careers, friendships and sense of God’s presence in their lives as well.

• Pakistani friends. Praise God for a successful 1st worship service for my Pakistani friends this last month. Pray that God continue to lead and provide for Austin, Oliver and their growing list of friends and contacts that they minister to.

Well, this is probably enough for this month. Do pray also more generally for our transition back to Seattle. Pray for things like all the details, relationships, new opportunities, travel, energy, peace and just overall sense of God in our lives and our faithfulness to follow, whatever that entails! Keep posted on my blog for stories and developments in our ministry and many transitions these next few months. The picture above tells the story of who all this activity is about. Without him, we are pretty boring and insignificant. But since we know him, our lives have Kingdom significance. Just think, we can all be part of his plan for the ages. That is exciting. Nothing beats that for adventure, significance and the stuff of life that keeps us leaning forward into his love and grace. By the way, click the picture for details about where and what. A click takes you to the place on my flickr site with more information.

“People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.” Luke 13:29 

I want to know as many people from the east and west at that great feast! 

Tribute to Dad, originally uploaded by papalars.

Today is Father’s day and I’d like to say a word or two about my Dad who factors large in my life. I attribute much of what inspires and challenges me to my father. He was, and still is, a quiet, godly and strong presence in my life that has produced some personal trajectories and passions that would not be there had he not taken the time to do things with me or shared his passion for God in generous ways.

Clearly, my flair for photography and the artistic impulse comes from dad. I still remember when he put one of his own cameras in my hand on a hike as a young teenager. He taught me a few basics about f-stop, lighting, timed exposure and depth of field and then said something like, “see that flower in the field over there?” I was hooked from that point and never turned back. I slowed a bit in taking pictures when I had young children of my own. I did snapshots to keep track of our own family but nothing too creative or extensive. The cost of film and developing plus the time just to keep up seemed too much when diapers, school events and life was so full. Last summer when I bought my first digital camera, a switch flipped inside me and I returned to a former passion with total abandon. The flow of pictures on this blog accredit to this personal renaissance. It has been a joy, therapy and a significant aid in telling the story of what God is doing around us and the adventures that accompany that call. I think dad had that in mind when he gave me that camera, telling visual stories of what God is doing and keeping track of the adventure. Adventures aplenty we have had; growing up and now with my own family. And I expect many more before we are finished. Somehow the joy of adventure was planted early in my life from dad.

One side note.  I think my fear of heights also came from something dad did when I was young. In an effort to cure me of a perceived acrophobia on a mountain ridge, dad picked me up and swung me out over a precipice in his arms. I think I peed my pants from fright. I have hung to the uphill side of the trail the rest of my life, making sure my footing was firm with each step. But even with that, I have climbed several mountains, like my dad, and hope to continue to push to the heights of God's creation as long as my body allows me that joy.

Finally, my passion for God and impatience with insignificance comes from dad. Serving God more than sitting in a church pew are traits that Dad quietly modeled in life. I don’t think he ever said you should serve God. But I caught that passion somehow by watching him do significant things for the Kingdom.  He also reached out to the people on the fringes who didn’t have the same opportunities that I did. Now as a father myself at the stage of launching my own kids, I only hope I measure up. Thanks Dad. May God reward your remaining years with the joy of having laid a solid foundation of loving God, loving the unloved and loving adventure. Thanks for handing me your camera too.

PS. The picture is of Dad on top of Moro rock in California. The picture was scanned from an old slide. Then I tweaked it in Photoshop with a special brush to give it an artistic touch. I think he is lifting his hands in praise and thanks to God. Don't you think?

4 Guys in Fez, originally uploaded by papalars.

What you have before you are the stars, at least some of them, of the existing and future Mosaics project team. These are the ones that traveled together for about 10 days in Morocco recently. Pardon the self aggrandizement. If you can guess who belongs to each category, "existing" and "future," you win a prize. By the way, we all got a touch of the bug that affected our digestive systems. It hit me the hardest and the fastest perhaps but hey, what can I say. That is the way the parasite….works it's way into the system sometimes.

This picture was taken inside the medina in Fez, close to where the horse taxi picture was taken in one of the previous posts. We left Nate the day before in language school inside the walled section of the city and he is probably doing well at this point in his Arabic. He was so eager to plunge in head first when we saw him last. Pray for him during these weeks. He is immersed at this point with the language and culture all around him, living with a Moroccan family. He may need a little assistance from upstairs at this stage of the game.

Let's do a little who, what, where on the picture and see if you can match the description to the person above.

One of these guys is a current student at North Park Seminary and will soon be doing an internship at a church in Washington. He traveled with us to see if maybe God was calling to this kind of work. Another lives in France currently but will be doing language study in Tunisia this summer before returning to the States for a six month period of itineration, speaking in churches about the Mosaics project. Another one of these guys is currently studying in Fez, but will return to Texas this summer for about a month before he comes back to Spain to complete a second year of short-term mission work, but this time in our city of choice, Barcelona. He will work with a Latino cell group that we have been supporting this year and also engage our focus group with the Mosaics project. Lastly, the fourth guy in this picture currently lives in Barcelona where he is beginning to make plans for a year of ministry with the Mosaics project and the Covenant Department of World mission based in Seattle. He has three wonderful children and Carol is his wife. She was back in Barcelona during this trip volunteering for the Red Cross and keeping track of their last son at home. Each person loves what they are doing and feels called by God to serve others–mostly focus people.

If you care to comment or make any guesses, drop me an email or post a comment. I just thought you'd like to know a little bit about who God is calling into this exciting and strategic ministry. Do you know anyone else we should be talking to?

Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, originally uploaded by papalars.

This mosque is as impressive as it's data sheet indicates. I had read about the numbers before we traveled to Casablanca but nothing on paper can quite capture the sense of the immensity of this structure. Our little group of 5 went to visit the mosque on a Sunday and I took something like 165 pictures. Thanks for the digital revolution. Then I did something foolish. Never before had I done this. I uploaded my photos to my laptop and then went to re-insert the card back into my camera. Since I had all these wonderful pictures on my laptop, I wanted to prepare for the next day's events and shooting. I erased the card. Then I went back to my laptop to begin to play with the pictures–crop, color adjustments, etc. only to find that just about 16 of the originals had actually uploaded to my computer. Ugggg! I have never made that mistake before.

So the next day, I had to make a trip back to the Hassan II Grand Mosque of Casablanca. Which I did. Dragged two others from our original group along with me. This time, however, we got the tour of the inside and learned even more of how immense this structure is. It was simply amazing. I learned some of the specifics also of the before prayer ablutions that Muslims make, saw the different sections of the mosque proper and a whole lot more about the dimensions of this particular house of prayer. Below are more of the details.

The Hassan II Mosque (Arabic مسجد الحسن الثاني) is a mosque located in Casablanca, Morocco. Designed by the French architect Michel Pinseau, it is the second largest in the world (after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca). It stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic, which can be seen through a gigantic glass floor with room for 25,000 worshippers. A further 80,000 can be accommodated in the mosque's courtyard. Its minaret is the world's tallest at 210 meters (689 ft). That is a third again the height of the Seattle Space Needle if that helps for a reference point.

Built on reclaimed land, almost half of the surface of the mosque lies over the Atlantic Ocean. This was inspired by the verse of the Qur'an that states "the throne of God was built on the water". Part of floor of this facility is glass so worshippers can kneel directly over the sea; above, lasers shine at night from the top of the minaret toward Mecca. These features were specifically requested by King Hassan II, who declared, "I want to build this mosque on the water, because God's throne is on the water. Therefore, the faithful who go there to pray, to praise the creator on firm soil, can contemplate God's sky and ocean."

It also includes a number of modern touches: it was built to withstand earthquakes and has a heated floor, electric doors, and a sliding roof.

The mosque displays strong Moorish influence and the architecture of the building is similar to that of the Alhambra and the Mezquita in Spain. This and the old Tin Mal Mosque are the only mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslims.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_II_Mosque