Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

What you see is the HBS-700 made by LG. Dana bought me this as my Christmas present and I have been loving it. It is my first wireless headphones (for music) and headset (for mobile phone) so I was wondering how I would feel using it to make a phone call out in public, mainly due to this consequence:

Well, I was out running errands today and Dana called me. I decided to answer her on my headset which mainly sits inside my collar on my shirts with only the wired earbuds going up to my ears from the necklace receiver part. The necklace part is practically invisible because it is so well-hidden. I walked by two French ladies going the opposite direction right as it was my turn to talk in my conversation. So, here I am walking in the middle of Chambéry, perceivably talking to myself in a foreign language.

I wish I knew what those ladies were thinking because they had a slight look of “poor fella” on their faces.

One of my favorite methods of cooking a salmon filet is pan frying it in a little bit of olive oil. We had it tonight and it was the best I had ever fixed. The only difference with how I cooked them tonight with how I did them before was that I left it flesh side down a little longer which gave it a nice golden-brown crispy layer. Here’s how I fix it:

Wash the salmon filet(s) under lukewarm water and pat dry with a paper towel
Season with salt and pepper
Heat a skillet on high for about 4 minutes
Reduce to medium heat
Add 3 tbs of olive oil to the skillet
Place the filets in the skillet skin-side up
Fry 4-5 minutes (maybe even 6 min if thicker) until you get a nice golden brown on it
Flip and fry for 4 more minutes
Gobble it up with your sides of choice

 

Our French language acquisition is progressing slowly but steadily and surely. Dana and I are both attending school and visiting a private tutor. There are four groups/levels of classes at school and we’re both in level three this month. The school doesn’t use a conventional, lengthy school-term approach but instead consistently assesses each student’s progress. Then, at the beginning of each month, the professors create that month’s groups and schedules. Check out what February looks like for us:

Monday – Both have separate tutoring sessions of two hours each

Tuesday – Jonathan attends class

Wednesday – Jonathan attends class

Thursday – Dana attends class

Friday - Both have separate tutoring sessions of two hours each

Fortunately, we both love the language which makes this challenging-with-a-new-baby schedule that much easier to accept.

No restriction

Since we have now made it public, as of yesterday’s newsletter, that we are no longer going to Mali, I’m switching my blog back to open-to-all. Our now-former destination is semi-sensitive so we needed to keep some things a little more private. But now, we don’t have that online restriction. Maybe it will provoke me to start posting on here again?

I’m willing to tell you of what single item I perceive to be (or have been) our biggest challenge as a couple. Some of the ‘biggies’ but not the biggest include:
- our 1st month of marriage
- our decision to become missionaries
- transitioning to Tanzania while Dana was morning-sickly horizontal almost 24/7
- deciding to leave Tanzania
- Swahili study
- French study

Those are all pretty stinkin big. But the biggest by a clear margin has been (and still is) learning how to be parents and good ones at that.
Dana and I once again had a midnight pow wow tonight. I pray God gives us wisdom to love and discipline Asher (and eventually Eva *she’s soooo cute!!*) in a way that at least remotely resembles the way He loves and disciplines us.

Grace and peace in our Lord Jesus.

Less than 48 hours ago, my 46 year-old uncle fell asleep not to awaken again until the resurrection on the last day. My aunt’s marriage of 20+ years has tragically ended. My three teenage cousins now have a father-less future.

With the zeal of fresh faith, it was not too long ago that I believed the death of one with faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins should cause others in the faith to only rejoice. That saint has finished their temporal race and now is in the very presence of their Lord. They will have no more tears. No more pain. No more sin. Only we should rejoice, right?

Then, a pastor shifted my perspective. Although we may rejoice in the hope we have been given by our great God and Savior Jesus, deep mourning (and maybe even some righteous anger) is in store. God created the heavens and the earth and saw that they were good. They were perfect. They were sinless, including His most treasured creation… mankind. Us. There was no death. We brought death through the resulting curse of our sin. God made us to live, not die. We are the reason we die. We are the reason death even exists. Mourn when that harsh truth strikes down another person… and another person… and another person… and your uncle, faithful husband, father, son, brother, friend. Mourn because God didn’t intend death. Mourn.

And then rejoice because the death we brought upon ourselves, Jesus rose from the grave on the 3rd day and conquered it once and for all.
~Death, where is your sting! You will never get the best of us because even in you, we have life in Christ.~
Eternal life. All of our worst… He bettered.

Therefore, I mourn for My uncle David’s death. I mourn mostly for those closest to him and the long harsh road lying ahead. I mourn because it didn’t have to be this way. Then, I rejoice because I know in my death, I have life. In David’s death, he has life. He has faith in Jesus and his vicarious atonement for our sins. David’s faith can turn the necessary mourning into eventual rejoicing.

Mourn. And rejoice.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.