Category Archives: Everyday Life

What is Truth?

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What is truth?

I live so far away—and yet so close—to the tragedy going on these days…actually, tragedy (HORRIBLE TRAGEDIES) happens every day. Our world is full of pain and suffering and sin and hopelessness. News and social media outlets have made it so simple to spread the word. But spread the word about what? Some perceived injustice or some perceived threat or just some thing that I oppose or support.

And which pieces of news—which posts—are really true? (For example, are the refugees evil to be shunned or good to be helped?)

I am well aware that anyone can write up any old article (I mean, I wrote this one, didn’t I?) and slap in some pictures (real or not), making a very emotionally persuasive argument that moves the hordes to some wild, manic action.

How do I know what I should be propagating? How do I know what actions I should take? How do I know what I should rejoice in, be enraged by, be hurt by, or even worry about?

How do I know what is true?

Pilate asked the same question, “What is truth?” when Jesus said to him, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37, 38)

I don’t really know if he asked that question in exasperation or in defiance, but he asked it. He didn’t know.

 

Munkacsy_-_christ_before_pilate.jpg

Christ before Pilate by Mihàly Munkàcsy (1881)

 

That’s because, apart of knowing Jesus and the Bible, there is no hope of knowing the truth. Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He offers the truth of God’s Word (John 17:17) to set me free. “If you abide in My word, you are my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31, 32).

So, does that mean that if I know Jesus and the Bible I will always know which article is true?

Not exactly.

But, because I know Him and His Word, I know the truth, and I have been set free. I have been set free from the sin of worry about this or that article. I have been set free from the sin of fear over what might happen if such and such legislation is approved. I have been set free from the sin of trying to control my life and the lives of my children—to protect them.

“The truth will set you free.”

I am now free to place undying trust in the great God of the universe and rest faithfully in Him and His Word—His unfailing Truth.

I am free to abide in His Word and find repose in Him in light of whatever horrible tragedies may come.*

That is truth.

 

*BTW, I find (in His Truth) that He is more than worthy of my trust, so finding rest in Him is so much more than freedom…it is a delight!

 

smb

“A Thanks-giving Heart”

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Thanksgiving is almost here, and many Christians (myself included) enjoy the reminder to “Be Thankful.”

But, why do we need that reminder? Why don’t we just live in a constantly thankful manner? Why do we find it more easy to complain than to be thankful?

The dissatisfied, complaining spirit oozes from my kids.

“Why did HE get that toy instead of me?”

“Why do I have to go to school?”

“Why don’t these people speak English?”

“Why did you make potatoes instead of pasta?”

“Why can’t I color now?”

“Why can’t I throw rocks?”

We always want what we don’t have or what isn’t ours to do. 

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” James 1:14

As an adult, I’m often more sophisticated in my complaining. Instead of directly asking why I can’t have something my way, I tell a great “complainy” story about how “unjustly” I was treated at such and such a store or by such and such a person, or how “unreasonable” a certain restriction or government law is that I must now find a way to obey, or how ridiculously rebellious my kids were today.

It’s the mindset of: “Oooh, I’m SUCH a victim!” or “You wouldn’t understand because MY situation is so much worse than yours!”

It’s time we stop our complaining (sophisticated or not) and remember what God says our attitude should be.

Don’t just “endure” your trial, but be thankful for it. “Count it all joy.” 

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

James 1:2-4

God knows what He is doing in your life. He is teaching you more about Him. He is trying to make you more like Christ.

“It is good for me that I was afflicted,

    that I might learn your statutes.”

Psalm 119:71

He is in control, and He is good.

So, whether your “affliction” is grave or whether it’s as light as your kid finding and eating your last piece of chocolate, “Count it all joy.”

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

    to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 

to declare your steadfast love in the morning,

    and your faithfulness by night.”

Psalm 92:1-2

Now, it’s time for me to work on having a happy, “thanks-giving heart,” not just a “Happy Thanksgiving Day.”

Thanks-giving heart

smb

Comparison of Cultures

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American culture vs. Italian culture, summarized in the way each spends money:

In my personal opinion, Americans (as a whole) spend their money to be comfortable and to be entertained. There is no country in the world (that I know of) with greater “ease of living.” America has been blessed with freedom and opportunity, so Americans have had the time and ability to invent things to make life easier. They have also had the time and ability to be endlessly entertained. American entertainment industry is so huge that other countries don’t come up with their own entertainment, they just dub American entertainment in their own language.

Italians on the other hand, spend their money to eat well and to look good. Yes. They eat well. Food is good, and good food is expensive (and takes TIME). In fact, I just saw this at the store the other day:

 

Italian Dog Food

Even the dogs eat pasta here. This is raw pasta (cooks in 12 minutes) in the dog-food section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, I’ve seen this:

chicken food

Pasta is for chickens too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, Italians look good. They look good even wearing the strangest styles (i.e., elastic at the bottom of sweat pants and “floods” are in here, and so are fanny packs). They may not live in the American standard of “comfortability” (i.e., not much—if any—air conditioning; marble floors that don’t ever warm up in the winter; lots of flies/mosquitoes/bugs in houses [because of lack of screens]; no dryers), but Italy is a beautiful country, and the people like to make a good impression. They want to “look good” no matter what that exterior covers up. They are overly concerned about outward appearances.

We have been told by more than one person, “If you want something that looks nice, buy Italian. If you want something that works, do NOT buy Italian.”

We believe it.

We are enjoying learning and adapting to these cultural differences, and enjoying loving and ministering to the people who form them.

Throughout all this change, we have the ease and simplicity of keeping the same authority. It’s a beautiful thing to experience the perfect applicability of God’s Word to all cultures—and to know that it has also been perfectly applicable through all time.

How did God do it? He is amazing.

 

Psalm 119:89-93

Forever, O Lord, your word

    is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Your faithfulness endures to all generations;

    you have established the earth, and it stands fast.

By your appointment they stand this day,

    for all things are your servants.

If your law had not been my delight,

    I would have perished in my affliction.

I will never forget your precepts,

    for by them you have given me life.

 

 

-smb

No More “Choo-Choo-Train” Meals

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My heart and head are full. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt truly like the deer in Psalm 42 until recently. Yes, Yes—I feel like that deer.

Psalm 42:1-2

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

    so pants my soul for you, O God. 

My soul thirsts for God,

    for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

I feel it deep within. I feel a hunger for God’s Word and for Him like I haven’t felt in the past. I feel starved for more of Him. Nothing else satisfies.

And, yes, I am ready for my death or His return. I’m ready to appear before Him.

Why do I feel this way more than I have in the past?

My first thoughts drift to the fact that for the past 9 months (almost) I’ve been among believers who speak a foreign language. I’ve sung hymns that I don’t understand, that don’t lift my spirits, and that don’t help me to praise my God (because don’t know what I’m singing) for just as long. I’ve been listening to preaching that doesn’t feed my soul (that language barrier again).

“Church” just isn’t the same.*

So, instead of receiving God’s Word constantly ministered to me through friends, music, and preaching, I must now work for my food.

What???!!

Yes. I must feed myself or I won’t be fed.

I know I have heard this concept for years: “Your spiritual growth can’t depend on the church or Sunday alone. You must spend time with God and be in God’s Word daily yourself.”

And, I was.

I was daily in God’s Word and talking to Him. I was not just a “Sunday Christian.”

But, I reveled in corporate worship and fellowship on Sundays (and Wednesdays and…). I love the Church.

And now, “without Sunday,” my personal feeding tactics seem to have left me emaciated. (I can’t just open my mouth while others play “choo-choo train” with my food anymore.)

I’m starving. I’m starving for more!

My soul longs for God.

He doesn’t change, and He doesn’t fail. He is always, only good.

He quenches my thirsty spirit. Nothing else will.

I thank God that He has revealed Himself to me in His Word—available to me in my language, whenever I want it.

I thank God for sermonaudio.com.

I thank God for Word-filled music in my language.

I thank God for His faithfulness.

It’s all there—available to me. I just need to feed myself more. HE is the water for my panting soul.

 

 

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You

To receive the food of Your Holy Word.

Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;

Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,

That the light of Christ might be seen today

In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.

Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us 

All Your purposes for Your glory.

 

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,

Holy reverence, true humility;

Test our thoughts and our attitudes

In the radiance of Your purity.

Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see

Your majestic love and authority.

Words of pow’r that can never fail—

Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

 

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;

Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—

Truths unchanged from the dawn of time

That will echo down through eternity.

And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises,

And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.

Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built

And the earth is filled with Your glory.

 

“Speak, O Lord”

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music

 

 

*I want to add this brief note to say that I love our church (I specifically mean the people and the way they worship God together). It is just that I am a foreigner, and THAT is what makes “church” not the same. I have to work hard to worship corporately.

 

-smb

The “Other” Feelings

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I have joy in Jesus. But, sometimes I fight other feelings.

 

I feel pain when I correct my children for not sitting quietly during the church service and for not trying to participate in the singing, and they look at me with watery eyes and say, “We can’t understand what anything means!”

 

I feel guilty when moms at the playground point out the “bad” things my kids are doing every single day (like getting soaking wet in the drinking fountain or carrying sticks). Um…wait…do I really feel guilty? No…I think I only sort of feel guilty—and then I laugh a little on the inside about the paranoia. 🙂

 

I feel like a distraction and a waste of a seat (or 4) when I’ve taken at least one of my kids out of the service every single Sunday morning that I can remember (and the only reason I haven’t taken them out in the evening too is because I’m playing the piano…speaking of which—).

 

I feel deficient when I attempt to play the hymns for our church and I bomb 2 of the three. Why couldn’t I have any of my siblings’ musical talent??

 

I feel blessed and desperate at the same time when I realize the wealth of spiritually uplifting materials available to me in my native language and the dearth of the same for the Italians. The constant influx of new English CDs for kids (even professionally done like Patch the Pirate!) as well as for adults is wonderful! I can choose from dozens of good English hymnbooks. The shear volume of English devotional books (audio, digital, and hardcopy) and good English blog articles on every topic I could possibly want to read about is overwhelming—but what about the Italians? What can I give them to encourage their spirits?

 

I feel embarrassed when I am trying my very hardest to concentrate through a conversation just to understand the words, and suddenly I realize I’ve been asked a question. Or was it a comment to which I am supposed to say “thank you”? Or maybe “I’m so sorry!” I don’t know. I couldn’t tell. I knew the general topic of conversation, but what should my response be?

 

I feel my heart breaking when I’m helping the neighbor design a flyer for her job, and she starts asking me meaningful spiritual questions that I can’t answer in Italian or when other neighbors prod for real explanations of why we left America to live here, and I can only give them partial answers in Italian.

 

I feel unsuitable when I can’t understand what my neighbor is saying to me, and she says, “Your husband must surely speak better Italian than you!”

 

I feel self-conscious and weak when I’ve thrown up at two different events involving our church people in the short time we’ve been here (migraine related–NOT pregnancy related). 😉

 

I feel ashamed when near nudity is displayed in front of my kids and I try to teach them a right response. And, I feel jealous at the same time.

 

But—my feelings are just feelings. 

They aren’t fact.

The fact is I’m accepted and loved by God.

 

I come broken to be mended

I come wounded to be healed

I come desperate to be rescued

I come empty to be filled

I come guilty to be pardoned

By the blood of Christ the Lamb

And I’m welcomed with open arms

Praise God, just as I am.

~Travis Cottrell

 

Psalm 18:6, 16-19

In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

He sent from on high, he took me;

he drew me out of many waters.

He rescued me from my strong enemy

and from those who hated me,

for they were too mighty for me.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a broad place;

he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

 

–smb

Beautiful Closed Doors

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Today, I thank God for doors. Particularly the beautiful doors to my kitchen. Oh, they are beautiful, but more than that, they’re extremely functional.

image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been hot here (supposed to be over 100°F next week), we don’t have air conditioning, and this is a girl who didn’t wear a coat in the 10 years she lived in SC (jackets, yes; but coat, no–in other words, I prefer cold).

 

BUT, let me tell you about a little treasure God gave me. He gave me a kitchen that’s usually wide open and connected to our living room/eating room, etc. However, He also gave me two doors that slide closed and block the small kitchen off from the rest of the house. These doors are a huge blessing. I close the doors when I cook, and though the kitchen heats up like a furnace, when I leave it, I leave the heat trapped inside. Oh, and, when I leave it, I feel like I’m entering an air-conditioned room (for a few minutes, anyway). 😉

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”
Psalm 34:8

 

-smb

 

It’s the Little Things

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It’s the little things that start to get on my nerves and wear me down. Somehow, it’s never the big things. When big things come along, I know I need to depend on God for grace, and I’m usually fairly faithful at doing so. However, it’s the little things that I don’t do so well with.

 

Why’s that?

 

I think it’s probably because I THINK I can handle the little things on my own, and I TRY to. I fail to take advantage of the grace that God freely offers to me. “No, no, I’ll be just fine with this one,” I say.

 

That’s when the non-American-style screen comes apart for the 64th time, and I’m once again “trying to see if it will stay up THIS way” so the mosquitoes don’t get me.

 

It’s when the hot water (which only functions after the faucet has been turned on full blast for an extended period of time–and remains on full-blast for the duration of the usage) stops working for the 3rd time while I’m doing dishes (or when I’m in the middle of a shower), and I can’t get it to come back on.

 

It’s when the kids won’t stop making noise (small children are quiet, aren’t they?), and I just want to be able to concentrate so I can understand the person who is speaking to me in Italian (or worse, decipher the Italian voice speaking to me on the phone). Why is communication SO much work?

 

It’s when we’ve called 427 times and made 19 personal visits to the internet company, asking why the internet (that we purchased/fully paid for over 2 months ago) still hasn’t been installed in our home, and we hear the word, “domani” (tomorrow) once again. Ug.*

 

That’s when I lose it.

 

But, that’s really when I need to remember James 4:6, and ask for grace.

 

“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says,’God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”

 

 

*Please note that all of these events are accompanied by one child climbing up one leg, another child climbing up the opposite leg, and incessant kid-noise and questioning, such as: “Is it tomorrow yet?”; “Are we still in Italy?”; “He hit me!”; “She’s telling me what to do!”; “Can I eat this?” (Obviously this question only occurs after said object has already been inserted into the child’s mouth)—-But of course, this happens in every country.

 

 

–smb

Riding in Style

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Home Depot, Bi-Lo, Bloom, and other stores in America who have the fancy “car-shaped carts” have nothing on the mall here in Perugia.

Look what your kids can ride on here:

Animal rides

 

 

 

 
Of course, there’s no place to put what you buy, but your kid would be happy while you shop, so you COULD actually buy something.

 

*No, we didn’t spend 2.50€ so that our three very loving, sharing kids could share the time on one animal.

 

–smb

Today I “Voted”

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I voted today (Sunday, May 31, 2015).

 

Well sort of. In reality, although I thought I was going to vote, I just learned HOW to vote. 🙂

 

A couple of weeks ago a policeman made a personal visit to my house to drop off my “voting card” so I could vote in my first Italian election–an exciting privilege.

 

I asked a respected friend who she recommended I vote for– since I have very little understanding of which candidate is best (another friend informed me that they’re all dangerous). She told me she always votes “Bianco” (“White”).

 

Ok. I can do that, I thought. I’ll just look for “White” somewhere on the ballot, and choose that party/candidate.

 

I looked. And I looked. There was no “White” anywhere on the paper ballot I was handed at the voting location.

 

That’s because voting “White” means leaving the ballot blank.

 

HA!

 

So, I got this lovely stamp on my voting card (saying I voted) for voting “White.”

My stamped voting card

Next time, I’ll know. Next time, I’ll choose a candidate. 😉 Next time I’ll actually vote.

 

I’m especially thankful that God didn’t need my vote to accomplish His will.

 

“His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”

 

Daniel 4:34-35

 

–smb

Il Sciopero

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Yesterday, there was a sciopero.

What’s that?

A strike–a common occurrence here.

This time it was the public schools that were on strike.

I asked a girl (maybe 10-years old) why there was a strike.

Without batting an eye, she responded, “Because it’s hot today.”

HA!

I didn’t laugh (on the outside), but REALLY, that sounded sooo possible! Italians simply don’t operate the way Americans do, and after all, it was an an abnormally hot day!

However, I was pretty sure there was another, more sophisticated, reason.

Yes, yes…This time, the strike was because the Prime Minister picked a new Minister of Education, and the Minister of Education wants to shorten the summer school break from 3 to 1 months.

STRIKE!!!!–led by none other than our Prime Minister himself.

 

 

–smb