Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

Archive for January, 2009

The first half of the day had me in Mwanjelwa buying more things for the studio.  I bought some more foam and egg trays/crates to thicken the ceiling.  I’m still getting a little bit of reflection from the tin roof.  The picture above is of Filimoni, our neighbor.  The carpenter was taking A LONG TIME to come so I asked Filimoni if he was able to make a hole for the studio window.  He did great.

Also, if you look through the hole, you can see where I hung patterned fabric on the walls to cover up the foam look.  That was per Dana’s suggestion.  Told me it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing.

We’re still on schedule to begin recording on Tuesday.

I know.  I recently listened to a sermon by Mark Driscoll.  To be honest, I can’t remember the name of it because I’ve checked out quite a few of his lately.  I like his delivery, conviction and theology.

In this sermon, he asked the question, “What do you see when you think of Jesus?  What does He look like to you?”  Hmmmm.  Good question.  My first picture is the serene, long-haired, bearded man sitting talking to children.  He appears to not be able to out-wrestle a 10-year-old because He preaches a message of love and forgiveness and peace.

“One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them…”  (New Living Translation. 1997 (Mk 10:13). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.)

Isn’t that sweet Jesus, nice Jesus?  It is, on the real, and I’m not in anyway whatsoever discounting Jesus’ earthly ministry.  The things He did and said are great examples from God Himself by which we can learn and live.  But, that was Jesus then.  Where is Jesus now?  Glorified in Heaven sitting in the place of honor and exaltation, the right-hand of God.  What does the glorified, ascended Jesus look like?  John told us in Revelation:

“11 Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the one sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True. For he judges fairly and then goes to war. 12 His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him, and only he knew what it meant. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven, dressed in pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15 From his mouth came a sharp sword, and with it he struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod, and he trod the winepress of the fierce wrath of almighty God. 16 On his robe and thigh was written this title: King of kings and Lord of lords.”  (New Living Translation. 1997 (Re 19:10). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.)

Does Jesus love the little children, all the children of the world.  You betcha.  But He is also The Almighty, capable of striking down the nations.  The Jesus we now worship is not the fragile, incarnate Son of Man.  He is the exalted Savior who has been given all authority in Heaven and on earth.

I really want to see Jesus in His curent exaltation, not His former incarnation.  That made it a lot easier for me to understand why he deserves every bit of my worship.

I spent most of the morning and afternoon practicing parts with three Nyakyusa speakers.  We practiced all the parts of: (From Ruth) Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, & Town Women; (From Jonah) God.  This is a different approach from how I did the Sangu and Kinga recordings.  There was no practice with them, just give me my speakers, get ‘em recorded, give me the next one.  My dramatized recordings have lacked… drama.  So, with the help of two Nyakyusa pastors who work with us in the office, we had a good dramatic practice.

Since Nykyusa is a very large population with many, many in Mbeya, I’ll be recording here in my new studio behind the house.  I’m still waiting on the carpenter to finish building my two-pane window, desk, chairs and bench.  He said he’ll finish them tomorrow and we’ll begin the in-studio construction then.  We have a goal of starting the Nyakyusa recording one week from today.

Maharage: beans

This is the lower back corner of our lot.  All of these sprouts are beans, a staple food for the Tanzanian diet.  Our neighbor, and night guard, planted the seeds for us.  The harvest will be split between us, his family and Mama Ima’s family.  They’re good beans.  We have them often and with rice.  They’re commonly eaten with a chapati which is kind of like a tortilla.

A lot of you remember what a Whammy is and the game show from which it came.  Landing on a Whammy on Press Your Luck was a bad thing.  You lost everything if you were ‘whammy’d’.

I feel like we are continually getting whammy’d over here.  One thing after another happens to us… it seems like.  Last night, we discovered our new puppy missing.  We don’t know if he ran away or was stolen.  Both are feasible scenarios.  He was growing to be a good dog, too.  It is hard being whammy’d, especially in Africa.

H₂0 , Maji, Agua, Eau, the wet stuff… whatever you call it, we need it.  We have an in-ground 2000L tank that fills an upper 1000L tank.  Currently, 2k is empty and 1k is ¼ full.  It is the rainy season but it hasn’t really rained in over a week.

To catch you up-to-speed as to why rain is so important to our water supply is that it is, well… our water supply.  We have a gutter system on half the house that feeds the lower tank.  The city water system has yet to make it to our house so we are reliant completely on what God drops from the sky.  Please pray for cats and dogs.