Simon's Nairobi Diary - Archive 14

10 January 2006 8:23pm

I read something today about how the ability to be delighted by God is suffocated when a person goes to great lengths to make sure they are never wrong about Him.

9 January 2006 8:11pm

The variety of church that exists around the globe was seen on Sunday. I agreed to an invitation to go to the Ethiopian Church. It turned out to be their Christmas service since the Ethiopian Church celebrates Christmas on January 6. The service was from 2.30pm to 6.30pm, and when we left it was still wrapping up. It was in a large sanctuary, and it was completely filled with Ethiopians. For non-Ethiopians to attend is rare since the whole ordeal was conducted in Amharic. Basically, for me, it was a long long four hours. Amharic isn't even Germanic. It is Chaddick in origin, meaning I couldn't even tell when a word began or ended.

The remarkable thing I witnessed was how a community of Christians had completely made faith their own. They wore traditional clothes and sang Ethiopian traditional songs. The lyrics were written on the overhead in Amharic, which to me look like a cross between Chinese characters and Egyptian hieroglyphics. The rhythm was unlike anything I ever heard. The lead singer's voice wavered in an amazing way up and down the notes. The best point was when the dancers at the front formed an open ended square and proceded a traditional Ethiopian dance. The body would bend from side to side and the hands would brush to the opposite side at the hip level. A woman held a massive drum strapped to her stomach and leaned left and right while walking around the square. At a point of crescendo the drum was offered to the biggest guy in the square, and he quickly took it and continued the syncopated beat while jumping high in the air. Near the end of the four-hour marathon everybody was handed big thick candles and I had the honor of seeing the Ethiopian Church in a finale of murky beauty.

The whole thing wasn't much better or worse than normal. It may have had its extraordinary parts and its weak parts, but overall it was just very very different, and for that I was thankful and changed.

“I believe in God like I believe in the sun. Not because I can see it, but because of it all things are seen.” –Clive Staples Lewis

6 January 2006 7:44pm

Favorite moment of the day in semantics class: each of the African students spoke the word for tree in their mother tongue (I used Dutch - boom). One of the students was speaking Kikuyu, and the word for tree starts with a 'ng' and ends even more confusing. The moment was my linguistics professor kneeling down in front of this student (only inches away) to see how his mouth (lips, tongue, jaw) was forming the word so as to write the correct phonetic spelling on the chalkboard.

5 January 2006 6:08pm

Second semester has begun. Today is my last day house-sitting for this family who has gone to India. I'm going to miss their oven and their hot water heater. I'll miss having a dining room table to share meals on, and a piano to learn 'The Giving' on. I'll miss having a couch. But, I'm excited to be back with the guys on my floor.

For Christmas the 'rents tried sending me deer jerky through the mail, but.. uh... it didn't make it.

2 January 2006 8:45pm

Do I desire to live in God and Him in me? More than anything. With even a moment of the feel of his Spirit of goodness, I gain such an understanding of love and hope that my heart begins to sing. My step begins to quicken and I simply enjoy existing. Here is the dilemma. This good sensation (and it is good) gives a satisfaction that quenches my perceived need, causing me to withdrawl my desire. And the spirit starts to slow and a stream of rebellion ensues. The only result I can see is to hold an ache for his indwelling that is inexorable and insatiable. To roll with the presence, whether it lives glowing or lies hidden. Is God the all-in-all or not? Reach higher, keep reaching! A burning heart and consistent reapplication is all one can do in this world full of tilt. And through it is the most sidled one can come to stasis, solidity, and heaven. The sea is the same because of the waves.

30 December 2005 11:43pm

It happened in the shower today. The house I live in over the holidays has a hot shower. The combination of the shower and that bottle of green Prell shampoo from home is heaven. Well, most of the time. See, I expected the 'five-inch spider encounter' to happen sooner or later, but not like this. I'm just doing the ol' lather and rinse routine and I glance up and that was that. I was frozen eye to eye with the massive arachnid. Terror in the raw. It stared quietly and I blubbered. If I remember correctly my voice said something similiar to, "Mnce... mincee... mynnnn..." I was like Frodo when he gets led by golem up the cliff to the caves, except my mithril armor was quite vacant (boo!). I did the bear encounter response. The whole 'let it know you're there and back away slowly' routine. Killed it with a broomstick, and it hit the shower floor like a steak. I spent the day dirty.

28 December 2005 11:12pm

I took my clothes off the line just now, a little past 11pm. I've never even thought about washing machines being so convenient. Have not seen one yet. In its place, I use a bathtub. Its like the bread I've learned to make this past week. They both involve a kneading that leads to a better knowing. To put a shirt on is like, 'Yeah... A clean shirt.'