the latest

As the halfway point of my time at N.E.S.T. rapidly approaches, I can't help but marvel at how much has happened in just two months. Some of these things I've shared and some I'm still in the process of articulating. I hope to keep you updated as things begin to take better shape in my mind. However, here are some of the highlights of the past few weeks:

CHICAGO PRESBYTERY VISIT

Since I've been here, I've had the good fortune of joining the Chicago Presbytery for the Lebanon portion of their three-week trip through the Middle East. The time included a visit to Sabra and Chatila, a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, various churches and schools in the country that were products of missionary work years ago as well as visits to the Israel border where evidences of my country's damaging foreign policy are unavoidably evident and amazing historical sites like Tyre and Baalbek. It was a whirlwind of 4 days and I still marvel at the stamina and energy level of the older members of the group. I have a feeling they could run circles around me! The experience introduced me to new issues and gave me the opportunity to become better informed on different issues, including what is happening in Palestine/Israel, learning about the Druze community and meet ministers who are actively serving in areas that would break the spirit of anyone who did not have a faith to lean on. Truly, many of these leaders are serving and living by the grace of God.

One man, in particular, is serving a congregation in a village right on the Lebanon/Israel border and because of the military activity of the area, had not had contact outside of the village for over two years. The isolation and fear he experienced, I'm sure, is such that I've perhaps only had a taste of. In addition, he has seen his congregation shrink dramatically from about 300 to 50 or 60 as a result of the incursions.

Additionally, as a result of one of the meetings we had, I was invited to attend a course on Islamic Ideology at the American University of Beirut. This course has been valuable on a few levels. Not only does it create a nice balance with my Islamic Theology and Introduction to Islam courses, providing the political/ideological aspect of Islam, but also it gives me the opportunity to observe the students, who are from throughout the Middle East. It is interesting on a sociological level. On one hand, their base knowledge and point of perspective is very different but on the other hand, they are typical college kids trying to figure out what the heck to do with their lives.

OPPORTUNITIES
I've also had some new practical experiences, with opportunities to preach in the daily chapel and delivering my first “real” church sermon this upcoming Sunday at the International Church here in Beirut (that is, pending Presidential elections -- more on that later). I have also been asked to deliver a word at a Lebanese church in the very north of Lebanon next Sunday. These opportunities were definitely unexpected but have really helped me in feeling more confident that God can speak through me -- in spite of me! haha!

BEIRUT MARATHON
By the grace of God, I was able to complete the Beirut Marathon with a time not much worse than last year's (4:20) despite having only trained for a month and suffering from some wicked food poisoning only the week before. (BTW: Now I know what it feels like to have minus-food in your stomach.) Initially, you may remember that I had given up on the idea of running it. However, when Kurt, a German pastor here on sabbatical, decided to do it, I thought, “How can I say I can't do it when this guy who is as old as my dad is going to do one?”

And so, I found myself standing among 500 other runners at 7am on 18 November near the Chatila neighborhood, not far from the aforementioned Palestinian refugee camp, waiting to wind my way throughout Beirut. It was quite fun, despite less than ideal organization and the fact that there was only one water station in the last 10 kilometers. Yikes! I even made a few friends along the way, including last year's male Lebanese winner, a guy who is studying to be a nurse and another guy from Taiwan for whom this was his 190th marathon (he recommended running the Himalayas, although “the altitude can be a killer”) and his buddy who was celebrating his 68th birthday and 500th marathon. If you were looking for a reason to feel inadequate, I'm sure I just gave you one.

COMMUNITY
The encouragement and positive affirmation I've received here has been overwhelmingly humble. The N.E.S.T. community has been the single most outstanding part of my experience here. It's amazing how so many people from so many different cultures and backgrounds can come together with so much love. I'm always hearing some funny story or learning something new about the world. I have learned the value of having a village idiot from Bahjat, a first-year Palestinian student:

“In my village, there was a man who was a homeless man. He used to steal things from people and sell them so that he could buy the things he needed. We all knew. He wasn't totally okay up here (indicating his head). One day, he thought to himself that he really wanted some cigarettes so he looked around at what he could take and sell. He looked over and saw a pile of shoes, many many shoes, outside of a building and so he took a large bucket and filled it with the shoes. Then he ran away very fast down the street. Well, the building was a mosque and it was lunchtime so the men were in there praying. When they came to the entrance, they saw that their shoes were gone! They didn't know what had happened. But that day, you saw many many children running down the street from their homes with shoes in their hands. The men had told the children to go home and get shoes for them. It was so funny! All of the Christians were in the street laughing. After they found out that it had been the man, they went to him and told him, 'You cannot take the shoes from outside of the mosque.'”

A by-product of some of the conversations I've had has been realizing just how abrasive and damaging to this region of the world U.S.'s foreign policy truly has been. I used to be a good sport about bashing our current administration's activity but I have to say that being here, my sense of humor has dissolved into shame. I am ashamed of my country. I hate saying this and I hate typing it. I don't want to feel this way but, to be honest, I have so much sorrow in my heart. I know our country can do better than it has and I know that it has chosen not to. One thing has stuck in my head. When a professor was talking about U.S. policy in the Middle East he said, “For all of the money that the U.S. government has spent on military activity in the Middle East, it could have bought the hearts and minds of Arabs. Instead of investing in bombs and radical regimes, the U.S. could have built hospitals, schools and helped to jump start the economies of these countries.” To top it off, reading about the self-censorship of the American public, its xenophobia and hesitancy to even provide refuge for those who have risked their lives to help the U.S. leaves me feeling that there is very little to be proud of. Sure, there are a lot of good things about our country, but the weight of damage done to the outside brings a level of hollowness to this empire that is crumbling rapidly.

All in all, my time here has been even richer and more fruitful than I ever anticipated. I have grown to love and cherish this community and know already that I will miss it dearly when I return home.