Fw: Getting the party started.

 

 

GETTING THE PARTY STARTED

Have you heard people say that you are a painting of all your
choices.   That you reflect what you choose in life. They say that
you are the one at the wheel and your ability to drive, put on the
brakes, pedal to the metal, navigate (or get real lost) is the beauty
of human choice.   I've always kind of thought that way.   But what
about the people whose mothers never took them to a steep hill to
learn to drive (stick shift) and are suddenly given the junkiest car,
the longest road, and then told they have to drive, blindfolded,
through downtown Seattle at rush hour.  Short sticks drawn, bad hands
dealt; where is the freedom to choose the high road? It's more like a
survival mission for some people.
What we have isn't what we would have always chosen.   And that's just ok.
I just keep thinking, "I'm not usually some patriotic-flag-bearing
rallier, but I sure do recognize that the balance has tipped in my
favor as an American."

I am so thankful I wasn't born in Chad.

There I said it.

  It feels like I shouldn't being say it: like it's an unspoken truth
that, when spoken, just reveals me as quite spoiled.

The freedom for us isn't in our ability to make the choice of every
left right and rest-stop on our path.   God knows that we've all
tried to make choices that were met with big rocks that we couldn't
do anything about.  We were handed things that we had to deal with
even though we never asked for them.  Maybe our free-ness is the
ability to choose a direction and be motivated to keep in that
direction no matter what we get put on our plate.  Directionally motivated.
Alot of people here are directionally motivated.   They don't have
much, but they're putting it use to move in some direction that they
can call good.
The other night we had a party.   Chadian-style party.   When I think
party, I think of a certain atmosphere.  You know.  Celebration. The
host and guests bringing the best things forward to share.  Lots of
effort made to connect with people.   I was really curious how that
same atmosphere would be created here because I didn't know where we
all were going to sit (chairs are a bit of a luxury here), what we
were all going to eat (do they have other things besides rice?), what
we would all talk about (such a language barrier sometimes), or  if
we were going to listen to music (static radio maybe...).  How was
this party going to get started?
People started arriving.   The guests came in the front courtyard
gate and the air was so partyish.   Everyone was anticipating food I
could tell.  Nathaniel told us not to eat...that there would be alot
of food.   I saw little "tables" all set up with the "china" set
out-all mismatched.  They had these savory "crepes" and the CHOICE of
two different sauces!   There was a second course of JUICE!   The
third course was rice boulle (with more sauce) and by this time we
were full.   The vegetarian (non-goat) sauce was this green leafy
sauce that I just knew was not a good party food because everyone
would have green stuff in their teeth!   But just as i was thinking
that, the host walked around and gave us each a toothpick for our
teeth!   "That was a very awesome Chadian party thing to do," I
thought.   We all left full and went to sundown worship at the
church.  It was the beginning of the Sabbath.  We agreed that the
party was not over yet though and that we would all come back to the
hut for a bon fire (rare in Chad because wood is a bit scarce), for
singing,  some chadian dancing, and for a 4th course of food.   The
fire was going when we arrived and worship continued in singing,
guitar, african drums and then moments of silent contentment that
also is such a form of praise.  There was even some teaching of
African traditional dance that made us all laugh SO hard.  It was
like a "just shake your body violently and move your hands around"
dance.  I'm so glad I wasn't pulled up to give a
demonstration.   :)  The party felt so celebratory.   I couldn't
believe how what they had was used to move us all in this direction
of connectedness!   The extravagance was in their generosity not in
what they put on the dinner table.   It reminded me so much of the
woman who gave so little but it was all she had.   Jesus said she had
given all she had and that meant the world!  What a party when people
put their best forward for YOU.   You just feel it.