Hot Water!

We moved into our new home on the weekend.

What an incredible blessing to us. Still so much to finish ... but that's okay most of the moments!

 

What I am loving... HOT water!!!

I have taken a HOT bath and a HOT shower!

If you live in the developed world, you probably take this for granted.

You turn on the tap each time and hot water is expected to be there - you don't even think about it.

 

For over 7  years, I have heated water either with a kettle or in a pot on the stove for a bucket shower.

This involves planning each time one wants to take a shower. You actually have to plan the time to heat the water into your scheduled life. If you know me... water often couldn't be heated fast enough. It was common for me to call home to whoever was there to get the water on as I was coming! Not to mention getting the kids showered as well...

 

No more!

I can turn the tap on and voila.. hot water!

Oh the bliss of hot water running over your body.... so great and enjoyable!

 

Hot water... just one of the perks of our new home.

Have I ever mentioned the view... :-)

 

(Guess the only thing now... to make sure the water heater is plugged in... ha!)

Bonhoeffer

I enjoy reading a good book. 

I also enjoy reading stories of peoples lives.

 

A few weeks ago, I finished Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.

 

What a great read.

I learned so much about Bonhoeffer, his personal life, his journey with God, his family, WW II, Bonhoeffer's involvement in the conspiracy, and the German church.

Sounds like it a lot and it is BUT it is such a great read.

 

Don't be daunted by the number of pages, the era or anything... find it and read it! :-)

 

As I said, it 's been a few weeks since I finished and a couple of quotes still are rolling through my mind.

 

pg. 241

There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God; not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.

 

pg. 531

Whether you are young or old makes no difference. What are twenty or thirty or fifty years in the sight of God? And which of us knows how near he or she may already be to the goal? That life only really begins when it ends here on earth, that all that is here is only the prologue before the curtain goes up - that is for young and old alike to think about. Why are we so afraid when we think about death?... Death is only dreadful for those who live in dread and fear of it. Death is not wild or terrible, if only we can be still and hold fast to God's Word. Death is not bitter, if we have not become bitter ourselves. Death is grace, the greatest gift of grace that God gives to people who believe in him. Death is mild, death is sweet and gentle; it beckons to us with heavenly power, if only we realize that it is the gateway to our homeland, the tabernacle of joy, the everlasting kingdom of peace.

How do we know that dying is so dreadful? Who knows whether, in our human fear and anguish we are only shivering and shuddering at the most glorious, heavenly, blessed event in the world?

 

Death is hell and night and cold, if it is not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death.

Culture Overload

I've lived in Rwanda for over 7 years now full-time.

I'm pretty good at knowing what it is about the culture that pushes my buttons. 

 

Today ... I wasn't so good at recognizing it and I had a meltdown.

 

We're on our last big push to get our house finished. We want to be in by next weekend. Hence, there continues to be lots of work going on - painting, tile, finishing the washrooms .... all the finishing stuff. Takes lots of time and money to do it but we're managing through it.

 

Today I was not managing.

I thought the doors were finished. I thought the ceilings were finished.

Guess not. The workers all said they were finished this past Friday ... and they looked good to me!

 

On a Monday, in a week where I thought life was moving forward, life seemed to move backward. ARG!

I sat down in the corner of my soon to be new office / library and cried. Cried my eyes out.

It was in that time that I recognized that it was culture clash.

I did want the doors to look good. I did want the ceilings to look good.
I had just been blindsided with what words and actions meaning something different.

Coming from a culture where your word means something ... it's not always easy.

 

A good cry, time to be apart ... and some chocolate ... and my day turned for the better.

 

As Serge and I debriefed it later, he asked me why after 7 years plus in this country, this sorts of things still surprise / get to me?

I don't know why today.

 

What I know is, tomorrow is a new day, God's mercies are new every morning, and I'm ready for what tomorrow brings!