Christmas Letter 2011

This year's Christmas letter has come out. It's even better than last year's.

Since it includes personal information, you have to know me to get it.

If you haven't gotten it yet, my apologies. Give me your e-mail address, and we will fix the situation.

Prizes and more!

Best article I've read this month

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/features/25956-11-things-to-know-at-25ish

Check it out.

Now read my contribution, fancy schmancy number 12.

12. Continue expanding your horizons. So many times since leaving college, I've had a choice to make, between going about life the way I'm used to and comfortable with, or taking a risk and trying something new. Make a list of 50 new things to do and try a new one each week for a year. Try biking to work for a week. Visit an art gallery. Put on the tourist hat and go sightseeing in your own city. Check out the local toastmasters club. Some things you try won't have much effect. Some will rock your world. As a similar challenge, have lunch/coffee with a new person each week for a year. Ask your friends who you should meet, and meet them. You can say you have this challenge, it will be a good excuse to ask for names and contact info. Most people are willing to meet someone new. Especially if they know you aren't selling anything or going to be a needy-clingy personality. Just meet them for an hour.

What do you think? What's your item 13? What's something new you did, or a person you met which rocked your world?

Christmas gifts to charities

Conceptually, donating to a charity in someone's name has a lot going for it. Our country is centered around stuff. A popular question every year is: "What to get the person who has everything?" Many charities can do a lot with a little. And if someone wants to give an audiobible to a random Indian as their Christmas gift to me, go for it. See my latest Facebook re-share.

Here's my struggle with the idea. I got one of those gifts once. And try as I might to be thankful and see that the money is going for a good cause, I didn't feel much but disappointment. Here's why:

• It was one of the giver's favorite charities, but one I wasn't familiar with and/or excited about. I'm not saying at all that what they are doing wasn't good. I just didn't have any prior emotional connection with that specific work.
• The gift was the first gift from a particular individual, one who I cared deeply about. If this individual had given me a book I had already read, I would have re-read it. Or an ugly piece of art, I would have found a way to display it so it looks great.
• I felt invalidated, that now that I have attained a certain material status, that I lose the privilege of receiving.

Through all of this, there seems to be a confusion between giving and materialism. Christmas giving does have the unfortunate consequence of us having even more things that we don't really need, maybe even want. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, people. Accumulation of stuff isn't the purpose of giving. The purpose of giving is providing a tangible way to show that you care about someone. If I give an extra $X to my favorite charity in your name, does that show that I care about you? Not really.

Can charity gifts for Christmas still work? Sure it can. Though, like any good giving, it will take some work. First, find out if the recipient is interested in receiving such a gift. Find what charity s/he is excited about. These can be done at any time during the year.

Perhaps even if they assented to the gift, and it is to a charity they are excited about, they have a small twinge of disappointment. Maybe that's a good thing, to get rid of selfishness. Particularly for those you are close to, I highly recommend that you give a small gift in addition to the charity gift. It could be something as simple as a couple hours service of something you are better at than they. Some token that tells them that, while this cause is important, you are also important. Yes, if we were perfect we wouldn't need that token gift. But that's not the world we live in.

What do you readers think? Have you received a charity-gift? How did it make you feel?

Technology for pastors

The mission field in India is quickly spreading. Pastors are being trained as quickly as possible. The rural growth is taking on. These are exciting times to be in missions in India.

James has a vision of equipping the seminary students with technology skills. There's so much they can use technology for, whether it's getting directions with a smartphone, writing a paper in Word, studying for a sermon with e-Sword, publishing sermons on youtube.

My main work assignment while here has been to develop training material, then present that material. The session went well, and there's more to come. James is working on some more modules, and there are many more Bible schools where this information can be presented.

Talking about the internet




Hands-on demonstration of OpenOffice

This post is Rated R

But you can't put a Rated R post in the same blog that you talk about missions. Sorry. I. Just. Did.

You all know what that means. Anyone under 17 isn't allowed to read this without your parent there. Sorry, kids.

Yesterday, there wasn't any school in India for an official holiday - Children's Day. Yes, you heard that right. You've had the conversation before. Usually somewhere around the 2nd Sunday in May or the 3rd Sunday in June. Youngster wonders when is Kid's Day. Parent's response is, "Every day is Kid's Day." Except it isn't. Because Children's Day is November 14th.

Now kids, don't get 2 excited. The next Children's Day is not for another 365 days (yes, 2012 is a leap year). If you remember all this 365 days from now and inform your parents, they will ask you how you know that. You will show them my blog. And rather than getting a new Playstation, you'll get grounded for reading R-Rated content.

If you are reading this as a parent, you should be happy after reading that paragraph. If you are a kid, you should be happy, since now you know there's a kid's day. If you don't have kids, you should be happy because you can enjoy the laugh without the drama of getting more presents. Everyone is happy. Mission accomplished!

One thing I'm looking for in a woman

Listen up, ladies. I don't give many tips like this, so pay attention.

This trip has afforded opportunities to look through photo albums. We looked at James's wedding pictures from the last trip. (It still baffles me that Nathaniel and I were in the family photo, having known the family for less than a day.) Older pictures we looked at as well. One observation struck me. Throughout the photos, Priya Auntie* looks more beautiful with each passing year.

While we give too much credence to appearances, sometimes appearances reveal inner truth. That's what was going on here. And it can be summed up in 2 words: aging well.

What does that mean? How do you do it? I'm not here to give a formula. And I know that difficulties in life happen over time to everyone. Here's what I do know. When you wake up before everyone else, spend an hour a day exercising, participate in morning and evening family devotions, morning and evening ministry devotions, morning and evening personal devotions, eat healthy, give of yourself to others, show gratitude, maintain a positive attitude, and do that every day, day after day, month after month, year after year, all not for personal accolades but for the praise of God, well, good things happen. Difficulties don't magically go away. But good things happen. Those good things start small, and start internally. But slowly and surely, the good things start getting bigger and blessing the lives of those around you. And one day you wake up and realize God has given you a more incredible life than you ever imagined it.

Museum trip

This weekend, we visited a technological museum named after Visvesvaraya. Say that 1 time fast. The museum housed technology from the inclined plane to nuclear fission. Exhibits were enjoyable, and we all had fun. Watching a 3D film was enjoyable as well -- though that cost Rs. 20 (about $0.50) apiece. I love the cost structure here.

This picture was taken in the physics/illusions exhibit. Bonus points to the reader who can figure out I got here.

Speaking of technology, my transportation of the day went something like: motorcycle, car, train, walking, auto rickshaw, train, car. Ahh, the wonders of technology.

If you haven't been to India, here's an auto rickshaw (i.e. auto). THE best way to see India.

Like Father Like Son

The washrooms in India are quite curious. It's all one big room, without the shower-toilet separation like we have in the States. They also take bucket showers -- fill a bucket of water and use that for your washing.

Since there is no separation within the room, shower water could get everywhere. The tiles have a slight slope, so it typically doesn't. Still, there is a small separator, maybe an inch tall between the washroom and the rest of the house.

You know how the smallest details of life can have an impact? I was walking out of the shower and stubbed my toe against that separator. Something didn't feel quite right. It was one of those "oh crap, I know what just happened" moments. The big toenail was loose.

For some reason, Dad always has had issues with his big toenails. Now, this is the second big toenail I've lost. Coincidence? (Likely not...)

For Mom: the doctors took the toenail out fine. It was actually easier than the first one. There isn't much after-effects -- keeping it elevated seems to be fine. And I have antibiotics and a good wrapping. And my hostess is a nurse. They are making sure nothing goes wrong.

Giving, Part B

We look at a lot of Scripture in response to giving. When Christ sent his disciples on their first missions trip, he exhorted them: "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." (Mat 10:16) We have the innocent as doves part down. What about the first part? Unfortunately, there are wolves who want your money. You know that. Think those wolves might dress up as sheep?
Exhibit A: Joe stops by from the local orphanage asking for kids' clothing donations. Your kids just grew out of a bunch of clothes, and you have been thinking about donating them. Joe will save you time, and will give you a big thank-you.
Exhibit B: Mike has come from another country, and his church is being persecuted, the church building was burned to the ground. He is raising money for a new building.

Now, what if I told you that Joe is from out of town? He owns a second-hand store, and their inventory is low. And Mike? Yes, the persecution he described did happen. If you go to his village, though, you won't see a church building. You will see a very nice car in the driveway, though.

The sad thing about these stories is that there is a vast need out there. People in ministries are working for tiny wages so the money the ministry raises can go to audio Bibles. People asking for God's word are turned down because the money to produce another copy isn't there.

How are we shrewd then? Research

If you were a business investor, would you put your money into a company because of a 5-minute spiel? If you do, you'll run out of money really soon. You spend some time researching. You would call that time due diligence. You look at the business plan. You talk to others who are experts in the industry. You would learn how to separate the good from the bad, the real from the illusion. Does it work every time? Of course not. But it will weed out a lot of bad options.
When Joe stops by, and tells you he is Joe Smith, you might ask for some ID to see that he is really Joe Smith. Then, you might look up the orphaneage's phone number, and give them a call to make sure Joe Smith works there. Could a different Joe Smith work there? Sure. The odds aren't very high, though. The bigger problem is, that makes us feel uncomfortable. We think: Joe here is working for an orphaneage and we don't even trust him? He looks like he's in a hurry, too.
Shrewd doesn't mean we can never trust anybody. Shrewd says trust must be earned. Shrewd says if you have no reason to trust Joe, you have no reason to trust what Joe says, so what Joe says shouldn't be a reason to trust Joe. (Now obviously there are different levels of trust -- you have to trust complete strangers when you are driving -- Shrewd knows the difference between those different levels.)
Here's some ideas to consider before your next donation.

• Ask for a budget. Whether it's an individual or an organization you are supporting. You have a right to know where your money is going. Obviously this involves a level of trust that the budget is truthful and is being followed.
• Ask for a mission/vision statement. What are they hoping to accomplish? Sure, it sounds good. How will they accomplish it? Can they accomplish it? If they do accomplish it, will it work?
• If you are married, go into this with your spouse. Many deceptions can be caught by one gender more easily than the other. Woman have a 6th sense for sniffing out what's under the surface. If the presentation is emotionally engaging, guys might better spot something on the surface. Plus, if you find something later, there will be less finger-pointing because you both had a chance to catch it.
• Visit the site in-person, talk to those in the community. For smaller donations, collaborate and send a couple of you to visit the site.
• Find others doing similar work, and ask their opinion.
• Follow-up, especially for recurring gifts. You can ask ahead of time how you can follow up. You can stop by unannounced, that you were in the area and are excited to see how the work is going. Push-back to follow-up could be another red flag. Mike, from the earlier example, would have strongly resisted in-person follow-up.

Readers, have you experienced any offers which have turned out to not have been a good use of money? How do you evaluate your options?

Giving, Part A

This trip has been a great opportunity to re-think my finances, seeing where my priorities really lie. Here are some questions you might find helpful.

1. Will that day come? How do you know something else won't come up (car accident, sickness, ...)?
2. Why not now? Which is more likely 10 years from now: look back at now and wish you were giving more, or look back at now and wish you were giving less?
3. Are there people making much less than you, yet still giving more than you? Not saying there are, not saying there aren't. I'm asking the question, you have the opportunity to answer it. If you spend time looking into this, you will see people with very little who are giving so much -- and at the same time they are so happy. Why is that?

WCOI

Some of you are familiar with the ministry I'm partnering with, World Cassette Outreach of India. Others, less so. Either way, hopefully you will learn something in this post you didn't know before.

India has over 1,000 languages. While most people can speak at least a few languages (mother tongue and state language), they really connect most in their mother tongue. Bible translators have realized that. Many of them have devoted their lives to translating scripture into a new language. However, literacy is not a part of most of the Indian culture -- many can't read, and many who can don't have an interest. It is much more of a story-telling culture. Unfortunately, that results in much translation work having little impact, because the people aren't reading the translations.

The mission of WCOI is to address that every need. As the name implies, the organization began when cassettes were the medium (actually, even earlier to when cassettes were the cutting-edge technology). Their basic process was, and still is:

1. Go into a village with a translation, find a reader, and record the reader reading though the whole Scripture.
2. Take that audio and edit it for quality. This is the most time-consuming of the steps.
3. Return to the village with cassettes and player for the residents.

God has been moving through the ministry. You can hear story after story of individuals' and communities' lives being changed.

The one requirement to receive the cassettes has been to commit to play the Scriptures for 1 hour each day with 10 people in the room*. Initially, I thought this requirement was quite strict -- I would have a hard time doing it, for instance. There is such a hunger for God's word, that people don't have a hard time at all meeting it. In fact, oftentimes what happens is that the rooms aren't big enough to hold all the people who want to listen. Most of these languages have no literature, so the advent of an audio Bible fascinates many around, even if they have no idea what it's about. You hear from so many people that they just wanted to hear what the audio player had, and soon after that they gave their lives to Christ (many are now training to become Christian leaders in their local communities).

What's also happening now, both a concern and a joy, is that so many people want to listen to God's word, that the ministry is usually out of players and oftentimes has to turn people down or make them wait (until enough support money comes in to buy more players). They do have some funding, but when a new order of 600 units comes in, they go through it quite quickly.

Recently, the ministry has upgraded from cassettes to the MegaVoice unit:

This unit is much smaller than the cassette player, more transportable, lightweight and durable, and is solar powered (batteries for recorders can be hard to come by).

When I spent a summer here, it was with steps 1 and 2 -- we recorded the New Testament in Vasavi, and we edited the recording. This time, it will be with step 3, in a slightly different context.

Hearing the Bible can be quite helpful if you have never been taught to read. It can also be quite helpful if you are blind. One blind woman, when she picked up a unit, said she had been waiting her whole life for something like this. She also picked up a unit for her blind, unbelieving brother, and for her pastor. Within the next few days, we will be visiting a local blind community and handing out some players. From my host, James, there isn't a huge demand for the players in that particular community, maybe just a couple dozen (imagine: even just a couple dozen people hearing the Bible for the first time!). Soon, though, once the word/Word gets around to the other members of the community, many more people will be asking for copies.

Excellent videos of the organization, their vision, and just a few stories of change can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/wcoindia. One of those was done by the legendary Bryant Brozik. If you just watch one, watch Bryant's on "The Need for Audio Bibles in India."

* This has changed with the advent of the new handheld players, but something the ministry is hoping to return to. The cassettes are still available for groups.

Bleg: internet resources for Indian pastors

James and I are putting together technology training modules for the Indian pastors. Many of these people came from remote villages and have hardly used a computer. Our current modules are:

1. Computer Basics
2. Basic Software
3. Internet
4. Choosing Externals
5. Internet for Jesus

The last module will include social media, e-mail, and resources. Right now, I'm trying to find useful online resources which have 3 criteria:

• Solid theology
• Culturally independent or world missions focused
• Free

I'm finding some, but haven't really used many of them (other than e-Sword, BibleGateway, and BlueLetterBible). I'd love to hear from any of you who have used resources which might be applicable for Indian pastors. Which would you recommend?

Do jets lag?

God brought me safely back. It's so great to see everyone. If anything, this is even better than I remembered. James picked me up from the airport, and is doing all he can to make this stay great. Smells do wonders on your memory. All the smells in India so much more.

Praise God, I don't feel much jet lag effects. For the 4 hours after we arrived until now, I was able to sleep very well. Waking up wasn't difficult either. I feel more awake now than I usually do when I wake up.

The flights weren't too bad, either. I got some really good reading done, as well as an outline for some chapters of a book Dad and I are writing.

The first book I read was James Altucher's "How to be the Luckiest Person Alive." James talkes about his life and how various practices he has done seem to create luck. He is a nonconformist with a unique perspective on the world. There is a lot we can learn from his methods. His goals don't resonate well with me (making money as the end). I'm reading to learn, not to judge. I learn what I can and ignore what I don't want to learn. Here are 3 methods I would like to implement:
- Give. Give your talents to help others. Try to make their lives better. His business philosophy is, "Improve people's lives enough that they are willing to part with their hard-earned money for it." Whether in business or in personal life, this is something I can always improve.
- Work out your creative mind each day. Treat it like a regular muscle. Every day, come up with a list of 10 ideas. The ideas themselves aren't important, what's important is the workout. (On the plane, I started making a list of ideas for things to do in Bangalore. The initial goal was 10. The list ended at 46. If I can do it, you can too.)
- Meet new people. The meet more new people. Get to know them. How they are different than you. How they are similar. Try to help them out.

The second book, one I'm working through right now, is The Ragamuffin Gospel. Here are some lines in there which are worth paraphrasing:
- Quoting Morton Kelsey "The church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners." (I need to be reminded of that. Frequently. I tend to put people on pedestals. Whether that person is me or someone else. We are all sinners saved by grace. While some of us may be better or more committed to ____, we are all in the same boat. The only one who we should be lifting up is Christ.)
- When asked what to DO to receive eternal life, Jesus turned to children. Not that they were perfect. But that they weren't WORKING to obtain. They knew what they received was given to them as a gift.
- Imagine a little boy trying to help his fater with some household work or make his mother a gift. The help may be nothing more than getting in the way, and the gift may be totally useless, but the love behind it is simple and pure, and the loving response it evokes is virtually uncontrollable. I am sure it is this way between our Abba and us. (Yes!)

Now time to eat yet another one of Auntie's awesome breakfasts. I've been sipping her awesome tea while writing this.

How 'bout them Hawkeyes?

Back to Bangalore

Those of you who've known me in college might know that one of my best experiences during those years was when I went to India. The autos, the food, the history, the smells, the chaos. Great place to visit. The people there are the best part.

The southern half of the country is similar to the Midwest here in the States -- doesn't get lots of outside attention (all the restaurants here are north Indian, they have the Taj Mahal, Delhi, Mumbai), but a lot of genuinely great people. What's even better, though, is all the work God is doing there. From talking with people, to going to service, to hearing story after story after story, to be welcomed so warmly in home after home. Sometimes you can see God working in other cultures easier than you can see him working in your own.

Add all this together, and you can see why I'm very excited to be going back to Bangalore.

There's 4 different themes which I would like to explore during the next couple weeks there:

1. Reconnect with the people, being intentional about being an encouragement. When Nathaniel and I spent some time there with the "Summer of Service" program, JP frequently had to remind us, "If all you do is get a bunch of work done, you'll miss the point. Mom and Dad could easily hire someone to help with the work." This time, there is less work there, I probably won't be in an office all day. Which will be great. It will give me a chance to work through what this "ministry of presence" is we've been talking about at Park (church). So much of the time, people take short-term missions trips, which are great for sure. But the follow-up isn't really there. Following up is such a big deal, and can make the whole experience ten times better, both for you and for the hosts.

2. Setting up computer training modules for local pastors. Bringing an American to India for computer work? Yeah, I'm very replaceable there. That's a good thing. It will be nice to have something to do, though I'm not going to overdo it and spend too much time there.

3. Explore future options. Many of you have expressed interest in going to India yourselves. It is a great opportunity, and you really couldn't ask for better hosts to do it with. I'm looking forward to sitting down and talking with the locals to see what that might look like, and how we can do it without being a burden on them.

4. Have fun. Seth Currier is visiting Chicago and we're having loads of fun right now.

Support:

Prayer is always the most important aspect, and that remains true. Please pray. The abovementioned items could be topics of your conversation with God.

Finances are always mentioned here. Praise God that he has given me the opportunity to make this a self-supported trip. If you are sitting cash and are looking for ways to use it for kingdom work, the ministry is looking for people to sponsor audio Bibles.