A good reason to hate him

This weekend in Lyons, France I’ll be giving a seminar on Job called “Lessons from suffering.” While reading away in the first chapters of that book, (the ones I kind of understand), I found a couple of good reasons (among others) to hate The Accuser.

One: The Accuser takes what is good, loving and perfect and turns it black by questioning motives. Unlike God, The Accuser is unable to see the hearts of people, or at least unable to assign anything positive to people’s motivations. God sees Job as full of integrity, justice and goodness. The Accuser sees him as a selfish follower, in it for what he can get. I hate that.

Two: The Accuser says that Job loved his own skin more than the lives of his 10 precious children. What a liar! It’s a sick society, an inhumane place, where fathers love their own lives more than those of their children. But, once again, The Accuser is blind, and can’t see the truth, and slanders a dad. And I hate that.

For some reason, God could put up with him. But I really don’t want The Accuser around my place. I can’t stand him…

B-day

It’s time to break a “rule”. It’s not an Even Day, but it is Son 1’s birthday. 19 years ago today I almost missed it because at 9:00 AM in the birthing room I told wife the car needed to be moved. She threatened me. I stayed. And Son 1 was born at 9:06.

One thing great about being a parent, besides the new relationship with a significant person, is that life becomes more REAL as specific moments in time are engraved on your mind. When Wife announced for sure, over the phone, that she was pregnant… When Wife woke me up, after two hours of contractions, to say Son 1 was on the way… When Son 1 came into the world and we washed that stuff off… And those are only the memories from the very first.

Son 1 leaves on October 8 where he will follow a year-long spiritual internship in Marseille before beginning university back here in Lausanne. It’s been his dream for about 7 years… He’s been saving and praying for it all this time, and it’s almost here. Almost time to leave.

Several of you know what that’s like, seeing the first one go. I imagine it will be another memory etched in my consciousness, accompanied by a feelings of pride, thankfulness and, I have no doubt, some tears.

Father-son retreat

I’m going back to the future on this post, written on the 28th but dated the 26th. We’ve been busy recuperating from stuff: Selling a house, a weekend retreat, and selling a house.

The weekend was a father-son retreat in the Ardeche area of France. Son 2 had really wanted to go even though I knew there would be few people there, and I hate missing Sundays in Lausanne. But Son 2 prevailed, so on Friday afternoon both the Sons and I made the 4.5-hour drive to Ardeche to be with 3 other fathers and their sons.

Let’s rewind. The real reason I didn’t want to go is because I was afraid of confrontation. I was dreading the special one-on-one session (actually, one-on-two session) where the boys would give me my father evaluation. You know, the no holds barred, straight-from-the-heart, you’re-the-reason-I’m-a-serial-killer and why-didn’t-you-ever-teach-me-to-paraglide confrontation.

But if you know our boys, you know they are merciful, especially to their dad. The one-on-two’s were rich. The afternoon activity where we hiked alone and had a scavenger hunt was great, writing a prayer on the summit of the local mountain… and the Sunday worship unforgettable.

Children are a blessing. I know we can break their hearts at times, and they can break ours, but our Father knew what he was doing when he put us in a family and gave us love that covers a whole multitude of “stuff”.

Thanks for reading.

Back from the fair

Wife and I had a great time at the fair. Free tickets in. A slow start in the Canada section where you could buy acreage in the forest outside of Montreal. That made me laugh because Wife’s dad bought a lot 35 years ago that is worth so little that the family is giving it back to the taxman. The bath, shower and sauna section made the pace pick up. We did the hearing test. Wife can hear all hertz levels except those of the male-second-tenor voice. They said there is no help for that. Just have to talk nicer. Or deeper.

We ran through the sofa section, except for the $4000.00 recliners that massage your calves. I had to drag Wife out of that chair because she was losing consciousness. We then made it to the cheese and chocolate section. All that you’ve heard about Swiss cheeses is true, except there is no Swiss CHEESE. There are Swiss cheesES. Samples everywhere. The gourmet chocolates did not disappoint.

The largest section is where the vintners gather. There you can taste wines from all over the region and buy them too. After that we moseyed (not stumbled) over to the appliance section where they had the perfect food processor, guaranteed for 5 years, top-of-the-line for that delicious pizza crust. We escaped after spending only 15 CHF on a gift for a friend.

We know we are getting old, though. It wasn’t that we were tired after walking around for 2.5 hours. It was that sales people actually thought they could SELL us something. And they were nice to us. When I was younger, no one paid attention to me at the fair and I had to ASK for samples. People the other day were throwing them at us, so age does have its benefits.

Show the house

The house belonging to Wife’s parents went on the market on Tuesday. So we’ve been cleaning it up, getting things sorted and sold for the last four months.

The phone has been ringing off the hook since Tuesday. I dropped by the house this afternoon to clean the terrace and FOUR people came by to look at the place, and we’re not even showing it yet. They had free reign as far as checking out the outside of the place (the GARDEN in British English). Monday is the open house.

It was interesting to see people’s reactions. For example, some of the people complained saying there was too much shade. Now, in a country where there is no air conditioning, I found that pretty funny. I’d WANT shade.

One was a couple with two miniscule kids. While I was on the roof, they actually came near me and said the house was exactly what they wanted, did they need to make a offer OVER the asking price or BELOW it, and would we like to receive some money under the table so as to keep from paying taxes on it.

I answered “A” and NO.

Is it a ploy? Is this part of the buying strategy? To say that the house is exactly what you want and say the kids will actually love living in a place like that? Do you sell to the sun lovers or the family with kids?

We need words of wisdom…

Comptoir Suisse

If you walk up the hill about a kilometer (.6 miles, Randy) you’ll find the convention center which is the site of the Comptoir Suisse (the Swiss Fair). It lasts for 10 days and makes parking really difficult.

It used to be that the Comptoir was the Swiss answer to the USA shopping mall. Most shops were mom and pops and every object had its own shop. But at the fair, EVERYTHING was together. You could check out a sewing machine, buy a coat, spy out the whirlpool baths, see the latest in electronics and fill your wine cellar ALL IN THE SAME PLACE.

Now, we do have malls, so everyday is the fair. Yippee. They’re not COSTCO, which is about as close to the Swiss Fair as you can get (yes, you can buy Polish sausages at the Swiss Fair), but you can buy milk and a micro-wave in the same place now.

There is something magical about the Fair. Nowhere else do those slicer-dicers look so good as the fair. The knives are sharper, the food processors more powerful, the coffee-machines more expressoed, the magic cards more slight-of-hand, the vacuums more full of suck… And the folks who demonstrate the machines are never more persuasive than during Fair week. Just tell one of them “you want to think about it…”

But I’m always ready for it to be over so I can get my parking space back.

Some news

The folks who stayed for our AGAPE meal have just left. A good group this morning for church but only 17 for the meal. It was still fun. We sang and sang. I thought people would get tired, but it wasn’t the case. We had the digital camera out and took a lot of pictures, then put them on the computer straight away so that people could see them. Lots of eyes closed and funny looks, and lots of funny commentary while watching. But it was great.

We prayed for little Jeanne after the meal and singing. She’s a few days over 4 months old and just had open-heart surgery to repair her defect. She’s still in critical condition and her parents from the Geneva church have asked for our prayers.

Now the kids are playing ping-pong. We’ve got the family of one of Daughter’s friends coming over for the evening meal. First time to really spend time with them. As my French-speaking-trying-to-speak-English friends say: “We are so looking forward.” I used to always have to bite my tongue to keep from yelling “FORWARD TO, forward TO.” But now that I’m much more mature, it doesn’t even come to my mind.

And it’s daughter’s half-birthday today.

So life is good.

Family photo

Here’s a picture of the family taken at the wedding in Marseilles a week ago. Son 1 and I are a little squinty-eyed, but that’s because we aren’t all that used to the sun here in Switzerland. Marseilles is much farther south than Lausanne and it has much better weather. Meaning more sun.

Daughter never wears her hair down like this, so you’re seeing a Kodak moment. Treasure it. Son 2 always wears his hair down. Son 1 is inwardly happy. He is preparing to smile, but didn’t get there yet.

Wife is just plain good.

Thanks for checking in.

The race

There is a foot-race series in our canton (or state, as you probably call it) that both Wife and Son 2 have been participating in. It is called “Le tour du pays de Vaud” (Zee tour of the Vaud countryside, Vaud being our canton). For the last 4 weeks, every Wednesday, they have been running up and down hills, along rivers and through the woods, clocking in about 9.5 kilometers each time.

The last race is this Friday evening when they’ll get a prize for participating in 4 of the 5 races and see their final finishing position compared to the other racers in their category. Both of them will finish in the top quarter of their divisions.

But not me. I actually did my first race 3 weeks ago. I ran along with Stephanie and didn’t slow her down too much, though she did finish a place or two lower. I took a rain check the next week and just applauded along with Son 1. Then I announced my plan for last week. Wife loves starting up front. My heart has trouble taking it what with tachycardia and all. So I told her I’d be at the back of the pack, and would catch her on the uphill section at about 2 K. Then I’d run with her, and maybe try to pick up the pace the last 2 K. Right.

At 2 K I spied her about 70 meters ahead of me. But traffic was thick and we were heading into the forest. I saw her again at 4 K, still 70 meters ahead, but we were running downhill and no one runs faster than her downhill. At 5.5 K, now about 80 meters ahead, I caught a glimpse of her shirt as we ran single file through the forest. But I was about to pass out and it was all that I could do to keep on the trail.

I actually saw her again at 8 K, about 100 meters away, but gave up trying to catch her and just tried not to throw up. I crossed the finish line 30 seconds behind her with the firm resolution to never try to catch up again. Next time, I run with her.

Wedding pictures

Our weekend was busy as we drove down to Marseilles and back for the wedding of one of the evangelists there with the church secretary. We had a great time. This was the second wedding that I’ve been to in that chapel. The first one I officiated 4 or so years ago on the hottest day of the then-young decade. The bride was an hour late, the walls smelled of paint (people had been painting them just that morning), there were 140 people present and only 100 seats, the bride was an hour late, my suit was so hot that my shirt was soaked and plastered to my skin and you could count the hairs on my chest. And the bride… But they’re still married and have a 2 year old kid who’s running their life.

At Saturday’s wedding I got demoted to photographer. This is funny, because just four weeks ago at a wedding in Geneva I spent a good part of the time laughing at the photographer because he was right in the middle of everything. And the bride was 45 minutes late at that wedding too, but it really didn’t matter, because it looked like the photographer was standing in for her. He was everywhere.

Anyway, they actually made a public announcement that I was the official photographer and that others could take pictures but they had to take them from a sitting position. I was like a groupie with a back-stage pass and went wherever I wanted. I took pictures during prayers and Scripture readings. I got an exemption from the singing. And yes, it was hard not to smirk at the poor souls who had to take their pictures from their seats.

So, 327 shots later, I’m back in Lausanne thinking they really should have had two official photographers. The first photos are a little shaky because I was so nervous. You know, lots of people only get married once and I didn’t want to mess up. And I’m really happy I didn’t smirk, so I can contact some of those other photographers and maybe get some of their shots.

But please don’t say anything to the newlyweds. Thanks.

A psalm a week

Our worship time on Sunday mornings starts with praise songs and the reading of a psalm. We read the psalms in order and the reader can choose to read the whole thing or only a portion (they usually skip over the “dashing the babies against the rocks” and the “breaking of teeth” parts). Then we take prayer subjects, written down in a book, which we add to each week.

So this Sunday we’ll be back at Psalm 1, reading them through a second time. What I’ve learned is this:

• The psalms don’t always say what you want them to say;
• They’re not all about praise;
• There are a few that leave you sadder after reading them than you were before;
• If the reader didn’t prepare the psalm, it’s interesting to watch their expression as they discover it for the first time right up in front of everyone;
• Psalms remind us that believers prayed about stuff, and asked for stuff, that we don’t (hardly) ever ask for or pray for.

Are you a psalm prayer? Does your church family pray through them from time to time? Let us know what you think.

Books

I love books. I love looking at them. I love collecting them. I love reading them and marking them up. I love re-reading them and wondering why I marked up what I marked up the last time I read the book.

I love Amazon.com and Christian Book Distributors. I loved Charlottesville and the used book places, especially the 3-story house-maze we went to where every wall, corner and step was stacked with books. I love the Protestant Center in Lausanne where they sell used books by the kilo. (You just put the books on a scale and give them $2.50 for each kilo.) I love Abebooks.com where you can find nearly any book on the planet in nearly any condition, sometimes cheap.

But my love of books has been shaken. Really. A book “read” is an investment of time and energy. It represents a slice of your life. Each book not only forms you, it also steals from you, or takes a portion of your life. One bookshelf can contain a year of your life.

Wife and I finally had to get rid of wife’s dad’s books yesterday. Of course, wife’s sister and brother had already taken some books. We put another 250 volumes in our apartment. The 430 kilos of Ukrainian books await a future trip back to their homeland. About 40 other volumes are in the church building. We found owners for most of the French books. About 20 other people culled through the English ones. We called every English-speaking church within 50 miles. But no doing. There were still over 2,000 books to get rid of.

I hope someone buys a kilo of them, and when they turn to pages 1, and then 100, they’ll find his embossed seal:

ESB’S LIBRARY
The wicked borroweth and payeth not again.

The Swiss News Reports

By far, the number one story reported by the Swiss and the French these days is Hurricane Katrina. Most of the reports focus on the stories of loss and confusion experienced by those left behind in New Orleans. Other stories interviewed survivors in Biloxi and dwelt on the ways people were trying to help each other out. Well over two thirds of the broadcasts were spent on this events.

The editorials, after expressing deep sympathy for the inhabitants of Louisiana and Mississippi, see this as a strong test to American leadership. They think that the President can do good through this catastrophe if he puts his mind to it. They also think it is a wake-up call for American politics to really do something about global warming and poverty in the USA.

The number two story is the 840 people killed on the bridge in Baghdad.

We will meet tonight to eat, pray and sing. In our prayers we will remember those thousands affected by these events and the millions who will reach out to them to console and restore.

Le Grand Combin

This is the mountain you'd see as you stare out one of the windows looking out over the glacier at the place we hiked to last week.

And this is a picture of wife with the newest member at church. He goes by the name of Morgan and is a sweetie.



I hear you are getting ready for Labor Day Week-end. We will have an official holiday, almost all over Switzerland, called Fasting Monday in September. Years ago, people would fast for the country and pray on that day. Now, you eat plum pie and sleep in.

Got to go. Just swallowed a gnat and I've got to wash it down.