Life in Nepal is lived in spurts.
There are normal days of school and chores and there are days of visiting the Mother Theresa nuns and singing to old people, riding scooters along the Fewa Lake or visiting the Ghurka museum trying to navigate Nepali traffic in the same tiny scooters.
Some days we go on photo safaris, trying to learn how to see the world from a different angle. Other days we don't leave the apartment at all.
Some days we book white water rafting trips or ziplining events, other days we eat noodles and eggs.
However, it is the stuff that happens under the surface, unseen, that we are interested in the most. That is why we are here...to connect with that current of the Holy Spirit that blows where she wants and includes anyone interested in going.
I have to admit, it is a long way back to the point on the path of holiness that I sort of left a while back...or perhaps not left but at least decided to to travel (at least, it seems long). Found myself a nice little reststop and sat down, finding and enjoying distractions of all kinds of different sizes and colors and shapes.
Of course, that is not true, at least not in the sense of enjoying them. In reality, the path of holiness with God is the ultimate "enjoyment". It is the distractions that are un-joyful. No one feels joy on Facebook or Twitter. Smart or clever, perhaps, but not joyful.
The "under the surface" stuff also happens in spurts, unfortunately. Where do you start if you want to find your way back to the path of holiness? Or if you want to find it in the first place? Are you even on it?
For me, the path is found to begin with prayer and Scripture and talking with my wife about spiritual things. On prayer...
I 've noticed this thing about prayer. There are two different kinds, useless and effective. Have you noticed the difference? Can you tell when you pray a useless prayer or an effective prayer? I kind of can.
Tonight my youngest son told me that the reason he wants someone to stay with him when he goes to bed is that he is a little scared of "the bad angels" that we have told him/warned him about. The spiritually ignorant and Biblically illiterate dismiss demons as fiction but the true Christian know better...and of course, they are scary to a young boy (or anyone else, for that matter!).
So I told him that Jesus is stronger and that angels prevent the demons from hurting us. I prayed to Jesus for protection and thanked him for winning over the devil and for "being stronger". As I prayed, I realized that I meant it, like really. Embarrassing, I know, but sometimes that is how it is.
A wise monk was once asked "How long do you pray for?". He answered "- For 5 minutes, but it takes me 15 minutes to get there." There is wisdom there.
So I will pray prayers I mean and decide to mean them before I pray them. We'll see how that goes.
There is much to tell from our time here in Nepal, such as the "Festival of colors" this Sunday, but that is for the next post.
Until then.
There are normal days of school and chores and there are days of visiting the Mother Theresa nuns and singing to old people, riding scooters along the Fewa Lake or visiting the Ghurka museum trying to navigate Nepali traffic in the same tiny scooters.
Some days we go on photo safaris, trying to learn how to see the world from a different angle. Other days we don't leave the apartment at all.
Some days we book white water rafting trips or ziplining events, other days we eat noodles and eggs.
However, it is the stuff that happens under the surface, unseen, that we are interested in the most. That is why we are here...to connect with that current of the Holy Spirit that blows where she wants and includes anyone interested in going.
I have to admit, it is a long way back to the point on the path of holiness that I sort of left a while back...or perhaps not left but at least decided to to travel (at least, it seems long). Found myself a nice little reststop and sat down, finding and enjoying distractions of all kinds of different sizes and colors and shapes.
Of course, that is not true, at least not in the sense of enjoying them. In reality, the path of holiness with God is the ultimate "enjoyment". It is the distractions that are un-joyful. No one feels joy on Facebook or Twitter. Smart or clever, perhaps, but not joyful.
The "under the surface" stuff also happens in spurts, unfortunately. Where do you start if you want to find your way back to the path of holiness? Or if you want to find it in the first place? Are you even on it?
For me, the path is found to begin with prayer and Scripture and talking with my wife about spiritual things. On prayer...
I 've noticed this thing about prayer. There are two different kinds, useless and effective. Have you noticed the difference? Can you tell when you pray a useless prayer or an effective prayer? I kind of can.
Tonight my youngest son told me that the reason he wants someone to stay with him when he goes to bed is that he is a little scared of "the bad angels" that we have told him/warned him about. The spiritually ignorant and Biblically illiterate dismiss demons as fiction but the true Christian know better...and of course, they are scary to a young boy (or anyone else, for that matter!).
So I told him that Jesus is stronger and that angels prevent the demons from hurting us. I prayed to Jesus for protection and thanked him for winning over the devil and for "being stronger". As I prayed, I realized that I meant it, like really. Embarrassing, I know, but sometimes that is how it is.
A wise monk was once asked "How long do you pray for?". He answered "- For 5 minutes, but it takes me 15 minutes to get there." There is wisdom there.
So I will pray prayers I mean and decide to mean them before I pray them. We'll see how that goes.
There is much to tell from our time here in Nepal, such as the "Festival of colors" this Sunday, but that is for the next post.
Until then.
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