Do you know where you are?

One of the things I've noticed about the people here is the concept of space and how it is different from mine. I knew coming in that personal space was much less in Europe than in America. It got a little getting used to, but after awhile I was more comfortable having people in "my space."

But what I've noticed is not an issue of personal space. It's a matter of people really not knowing where they are in space. So many times I'm in a store, and someone will just bump into me. Or someone will be walking and just walk right into my shoulder as if they couldn't judge the distance well enough to avoid a collision. I do not know if the personal space is so small that one person's space actually runs into the next. But personal space here is not like being at the top of the Eiffel Tower and literally having Japanese tourist push their way around you. It's more like people are just not sure where they are.

It carries over into parking lots and highways. How many times do you see scratch marks along the side of cars? Either they have gotten too close to the pillars in the underground parking or too close to another car on the highway. Obviously, one could blame that on the small parking areas and no merge lanes. But if the car is an extension of one's self, it might well could be an issue of misjudging space.

Run but do not cheat

Being on the 11th floor gives us a certain point of view. This past Sunday I noticed a race happening right below on the street. As I observed the race, I noticed the police were stopping traffic and turning drivers around to the chagrin of several irate taxi and bus drivers. I also noticed race officials whose sole job was to ensure no runner cheated by cutting the corner. I must say they were not doing such a great job. Many runners rounded the corner and went on the inside of the red cone instead of the outside. Not really a huge blunder.

What amazed me more was that not a single person crossed the road until they came to the red cone. It would have been so easy to run down one side of the road and cross over and be ahead of a lot of people. So even though many cut inside the red cone (a really small gesture) no one dared "cheat," by crossing the road.

I was thinking...the runners had put a lot of effort to train for this race. There were so many who knew they had no chance of winning. They were running just to be running. But each runner decided to run the entire length of the circuit and not cheat. It meant something for them to run the entire distance.

In our sojourn on Earth, we run. We could cheat our way through with selfishness and arrogance, but when we cross the line, we'll know in our hearts that we really did not run well. We simply ran.

Lost vs Stolen

Recently, a good friend of mine has his passports stolen.

Yesterday, another friend lost his cell phone in the back of my car.

Today, I lost my own cell phone and found it in my bag.

When something is stolen, it feels like a personal violation. Someone has taken our property. When we loose something, often we were negligent in some way. But no matter, there is within us a feeling of something "taken." When the item is recovered we are joyful and relieved.

We all hate loosing things or being the victim of a robbery. The Evil One is set on doing both. He steals, will kill, and basically wants to destroy our life. But even in the clutches of the Evil One, Jesus came to redeem lost and stolen people. Much has been taken, much can be redeemed. Oh the joy of finding lost and stolen objects.

Je leur ai dit la vérité

Quoi? Qu'est-ce qui a dit par le président de la République aux familles des victimes du vol AF447 Rio à Paris?

L'avion a disparu après avoir entré dans une zone de turbulence au-dessus de l'Océan atlantique. Quand Sarkozy arrivait à l'aéroport Roissy, il a rencontré les familles qui étaient à une cellule de crise.

Sarkozy a dit <<Je leur ai dit la vérité, c'est-à-dire que les perspectives de trouver des survivants sont très faibles.>>

Vraiment! Et c'est une message "d'entretien?" Vraiment? Il leur a dit la vérité. Je veux la vérité mais assaisonnée de sel et dans l'amour.

Condoléances aux victimes. Que Dieu soit avec tous eux!

Pentecost Sunday

10 days ago Christ ascended. What a great 40 days we had with him after his resurrection!!

He told us to wait for the Holy Spirit. Today, he came.

Not sure why Pentecost is not a bigger deal than it is. But I've taken this Pentecost to enjoy revisiting the Scripture on Pentecost. Of course Pentecost began as a Jewish festival 50 days after Passover. This day is also called the Festival of Weeks or Festival of the First Fruits.

When the Holy Spirit came 10 days after the Ascension of Christ, everyone who was gathered in Jerusalem could speak to each other and be understood (Acts 2:6). It was a matter of both speaking and understanding foreign languages never learned. (Acts 2:4,8,11) But let's not get too caught up with this. The reason the Holy Spirit allowed everyone to communicate with each other was to hear the message of Peter (v22 "listen to these words"), respond appropriately (v37 "what shall we do?"), and form a fellowship together through common initiation activity (v38 "repent and be baptised because of your sins being forgiven") and devotion to the apostles' teachings (v42). It wasn't the miracles of the Holy Spirit that was so important on that day, remember Jesus had performed many miracles and produced many signs and wonders too (v22). But like Jesus, the important thing would be the work of the Holy Spirit. That day He was poured forth to indwell the believers and gather them together like the grain used to be gathered into a bundle. This was also the first picking of the harvest that God is still reaping when one is united to His body by faith through the Spirit's work.

Facebook making Reunions obsolete?

I am amazed at the social networking tools available today. I guess one of the most popular ones is Facebook. I've heard about Facebook for years and refused to join until about a year or so ago.

But what a tool. You fill out the information about yourself and then go searching for long lost friends from high school or college or even childhood. I've been surprised by whom I've found and also by those who have found me.

So, how will Facebook change (or has changed) society? Well, I'm no sociologist by any means. But I have a few observations. Facebook may bring back the the high school (or any time in our lives) cliques. For example, Popular Person A will only be friends with all his popular friends from high school. No harm there. Why would I want to be friends with Popular Person A now when s/he didn't even give me the time of day back in high school? But what if you thought you and Popular Person A were friends in high school and never get your friend-request accepted from PPA? As you wait and wait to be accepted, you start to wonder if you were in fact really friends. Was the other person just enduring you and really did not consider you a friend? Or could it be that the other person has actually forgotten about you? Or were you really friends, but for whatever reason s/he has not kept your memory alive so when they get the email saying they have a friend request from you, they either deny it or wait to see if something joggs their memory of you. One way to find out how this person may know you is by checking out yours and his mutal friends. That can put you in a context for them.

The other thing Facebook might do is put an end to high school reunions. If I find Lost Friend A from high school, we may send a couple of messages back and forth getting caught up. Usually this is no more than where the person is, to whom they've married, how many kids they have, and what their profession is. I've found that after that most Long Lost Friends (A, B, and C) really don't have that much to add, or either they are way too busy to give me more information than the basics. So, when the 25th high school reunion comes around, they may think to themselves, "I've already gotten caught up on Lost Friends X, Y, and Z, and I really could care less about Acquaintances M, N, and O, so I won't go to the reunion. Besides, if I really wanted to know about Acquaintances M, N, and O, I would accept their friend request, but I really didn't like them anyway." (see above paragraph). And can you blame them? I can get an update on what my friends are doing everytime I log in (provided they have updated). They change their status, post some pictures, write notes, and keep sending me invitations to join their little groups or games. So, if anyone does go to the high school reunions, no one will have anything to talk about. We've already got reunited.

Now, the death of the high school reunion could be based on other social conditions like being too busy, too far to travel, too young, etc., etc. But I imagine as communication increases through social networks like Facebook that taking the time to see each other again face to face will be a thing of the past. Besides, isn't it more convenient to catch up on everybody by logging in to Facebook rather than trying to plan and attend the reunion?!

A new change coming

Life is always full of changes. And for me and Lady R our lives are about to change a whole lot. We are expecting!

Yesterday was the 15th week. We had our a normally scheduled doctor's appointment, and she said everything looked fine. This is good news, and we've waited to say something until we were past the first trimester because of a previous miscarriage.

Please pray for us as we become parents and for the protection of our little one. We should know if it is a boy or a girl just before we come back to the States in a few weeks for a little R&R.