Moving Forward

Many clear nights I can see the Southern Cross out my window as I lay in my bed. My iPhone didn't capture it well enough to post here, so I borrowed a picture of the Southern Cross from the internet. This one is courtesy of Astro Photography of Australia.  It's the four stars with the pinkish one at the top. The Southern Cross is a new constellation to me not visible from North America. In Minnesota we have constellations such as the Big and Little Dippers, with Polaris the North Star being the set-point or "pole star" in the sky. The southern pole star is called Sigma Octantis, a star too dim for navigation, so the nearby Southern Cross is used in its place. Like in the northern hemisphere where the stars in the sky appear to revolve around Polaris, the southern hemisphere stars appear to revolve around the Southern Cross. Excuse me for a minute while I go put on some flip flops. A wasp wants to be my friend. I snipped it off my mouse and now I can't see w...

I visited a lighthouse this week. And it got me to thinking. Saipan is a small island with a lot of churches on it. Why do we need a Nazarene Church here? To me it has to do with perspective. The Church of the Nazarene is a holiness church, which doesn't mean we are holier than any other church, but that we come at the good news of what Jesus did for humanity from a different foundation than our fellow denominations. The Nazarene Church did not start as an offshoot or breakaway from a denomination. Rather, it sprang up in the late 1800's to early 1900's as a coalition of small denominations who joined together to preach the gospel from a foundation of holiness. The Nazarene Church isn't laying an exclusive claim to holiness. All denominations teach and believe in holiness. Nor is holiness some sort of sinless perfection. Holiness, as a doctrine, is one of the pathways that gets us to an understanding of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. It's like the lighthous...

Hi guys! So the working conditions are not too shabby. I'm working at my table in the church here in Saipan finishing up a little project I have been working on for my home church, Davenport Nazarene in Iowa having to do with our church app. I am facing the wall in an effort to keep from being distracted by the view behind me. I have claimed this as my desk area until the Buchers return. I think Helen Ann usually parks herself here. It's a good place to work if you don't mind sweeping gecko poo off the table before starting to work. It's afternoon right now. I didn't start my day here at my desk. I got up early this morning and drove to the ocean for my prayer time. Beach Road is straight ahead and I will be turning left and then pulling off onto the narrow verge between the street and the ocean where benches are conveniently placed along the walking trail for people like me. I've been thinking about Jesus going out to the mountain to pray all ...

In keeping with this week’s theme of adaptation to my new environment, I need to tell you about my roommate. See him? No? Let’s zoom in a bit. Zoom more? Isn’t he cute? He’s not, however, the first gecko I met this week. I met another at a friend’s house on Monday when she gave me a dress to wear to a training event. The event, ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) was a 16 hour course.  After two intense days of classes, I am now certified in suicide intervention.  The problem for me on Monday was that I had only packed one suitable dress. I felt like I needed another for the second day. At least, that's what I thought on Monday. As it turned out, I probably could have gotten away with wearing my white capris and a top. Anyhow, when my friend heard my dilemma, she offered me a dress right out of her closet. I found a pretty one, long to the floor, sleeveless, fits perfectly. Best of all, I get to keep the dress. She and her husband are movi...

We had a wonderful day of church yesterday at Living Hope Church of the Nazarene in Saipan. Today, I am a little flat. It seems to happen after I preach. Mondays I am flat. Not exactly sure what is going on with that. I don't go flat when I do any other sort of public speaking, or teaching (Sunday school, etc.), just when I preach. So today, instead of thinking deep theological thoughts, I decided to harvest a coconut. Actually, the harvested coconut was already sitting on the table when I returned from my morning errands. I think I already told you I am living this summer with a married couple, Laura and Josiah, while I cover for the Buchers who are away on vacation. Josiah has been harvesting coconuts to make his own coconut milk and coconut oil. He went to work this afternoon, and while he was away I went to work on one of his leftover coconuts. Here is the process: 1. Find a coconut tree with brownish coconuts on it. 2. Find a loooooooong pole and knock a coconut down f...

Yesterday the patio door didn't want to unlock when I got up in the morning. The handle latch mechanism seemed to have unlocked, yet the door would not open. I turned on my phone flashlight for a closer look at the lock. Click. Lock. Click. Unlock. The door budged a tiny bit, enough for me to see that the problem wasn't with the latch mechanism. But the door would not budge more than that little bit, maybe an eighth of an inch. There had to be something else preventing the door from opening. A stick in the runway? I looked but the door's runway was clear. No stick. I got myself some breakfast and sat to eat at the table in the lanai, the part of the house we would think of as an indoor porch. The outdoor porch, where we have church and do most of our eating, reading and talking during the week, is connected to the lanai by way of the stuck patio door. As I ate and thought about the problem, the dogs pressed their noses against the glass obviously wondering why I didn'...