Our family and I have undertaken to move to Germany and are currently finishing up the 5th phase of the 7-phase plan that takes us from preparing to leave America, over the Atlantic ocean, and on to full integration. Throughout this long process that began in August, we have experienced a wide variety of change in location, circumstances, and people we've been around.
We went from our normal routine of life to sleeping on mattresses, all in the same room, and having no furniture and few possessions. As rough as that was, we kept in mind that we still had it better than most in the world. Next, we lived for 12 days with a friend and his family. We lived in a little shed there that had no running water. There was a lot of dust and friendly spiders, ants, and bugs to share the shed with but we still had an air conditioner, electricity, and cell phones. Two of our kids contracted chicken pox during that time.
From there, we moved to a hotel room while making last-minute preparations to launch into San Diego, California. In Cali, we turned in our family van for shipment and moved into another hotel while enjoying the company of some friends in that area. We next lugged our 24 bags into an airplane and traveled for what amounted to about 18 hours across America, (changing planes once b/c of engine trouble) and then the ocean, until we arrived in Germany. We next traveled by van for an hour or so and finally checked into a hotel near Heidelberg and are now adjusting to a lifestyle where people are accustomed to much smaller living spaces and higher prices for everything.
If you read through all of that, I want to thank you for sticking with me and getting to the main point of all of this. The struggles and coordination that went with this move were and have been challenging but we thank God that it went smoothly, overall. As I talked to my family about all we had been through, it seemed right to me to point out something significant. We are a family. Through all the changes and all the places we have lived and been, we've stayed a family. Family isn't about where you live, what you have, or what you are going through. It's about serving our God and about being together. No matter what goes on in our world or our circumstances around us, we always have our God and we have the bond of each other to sustain us. This is the constant, the anchor, that gives life meaning and makes it worth living.
-Dad
Ps. Heather says that after getting used to life without all these possessions and after enjoying so much time together as a family living in close proximity, she is praying that the boat with all our stuff sinks. It's been so liberating to be free of all that "junk" and I have to agree with her. We are really planning to downsize and share life more in the future. This whole thing has been a great re-focusing experience.
We arrived yesterday in Germany. It's a little colder here but it's so beautiful! The unit I belong to had an amazing crew who received us and helped us get situated quickly. I did some inprocessing today and then the kids rode in a two-horse carrriage and went to a "trunk or treat" thing at the ...post chapel. Met most of my unit today and it's a great group. Miss my Huachuca folks though...
Hi,
Thought you might like an update. After a million-and-one things to get done, it seemed like we'd never get out of Fort Huachuca. After analyzing all the details and circumstances, and after prayerful consideration, I made a "command decision" to push on San Diego instead of stop halfway there and get a hotel room. So, we finally set sail at about 5pm and made it to Miramar (Marine Corps Air Base) at about 3am. We slept well and the hotel here is amazing; the best military lodging we've ever seen. We are heading out to meet some family friends for a day at the beach and an evening of hot dogs, hamburgers and smores. Tomorrow, we'll plan to turn our van in for shipment to Germany and then take the rental van to Sea World and the zoo here. Shipping out, God willing, on Wed. afternoon to Germany.
Take care and planning to update again soon.
James and family
Nothing too profound, but just wanted to share two stories from experiences I had this week; experiences that have some sort of spiritual nuggets tucked in within them.
I'm not normally a church goer but I did so more than once while in Virginia last month. This experience wasn't all bad, apparently, and this is proved by a funny event that happened while returning to work this week. I was feeling pretty happy about being back around the people I am called to work with and I had enjoyed greeting and catching up with them throughout the day. During the course of doing that, one especially macho-type guy there greeted me and shook my hand. He then moved for a paper on the printer behind me, but the way he moved and reached gave my subconscious the impression he was greeting me with a hug, like people do at church. I responded with returning the hug gesture and the co-worker backed up and said something like "you know I don't roll like that, man." It was awkward and funny but also made me sad that such a gesture would be considered abnormal. It wouldn't be if we were in heaven.
The other thing that happened was that upon returning home from Virginia, I noticed that our Beta's fish tank was looking pretty murky and in need of a cleaning. I decided to take care of that today, and when I opened the lid to begin the process, I was shocked to see that the water was chrystal clear looking down from directly above. The sides of the tank were dirty and gave the impression that the water was nasty. Not what you'd expect to be the stuff of spiritual inspiration or insight, but I recall wondering how many times we get it wrong in life by measuring what's inside by what we see on the outside.
Muhammad Yunus has helped millions of impoverished people; ninety-something percent of those helped being women.
Why does he focus most of his energy on women, anyway? That's a question I wanted to ask and a statement from him that I didn't really like. The honest truth, though, is that I already knew the answer. In his own words, he answers the question by saying, quote:
"... Women have plans for themselves, for their children, about their home, the meals. They have a Vision. A man wants to enjoy himself ..."
It should not be this way, but largely, it is. It's not impossible for things to be set right. I'm a man who has some vision for his family and obviously, there must be other men who do as well. Dr. Yunus is a man, after all. I know of many Godly men who are connected with their wives and with their families.
But the reality is that this sort of man seems to largely be a minority in our world. I here of women in destitution because of the men they have married or been with from my missionary friends living in Kenya. I see woman after woman in the Army who are single Moms or who live with deadbeat men who won't lift anything but a beer can or a video game controller. Just this week, I've met two single Moms who work at the hotel desk where I'm staying in Virginia.
Women are amazing creatures and for all the feeling inside and irritation I sometimes feel when ministries or governments focus more on women, well, goodness, why are we as men surprised? Men of integrity, we all need to step up and alleviate the need to focus on women in crisis if we want things to balance back where they belong.
Women carry the weight where we leave off. It's something to tear your garments over, to throw ashes on your head over, and weep and mourn because of. Thank a woman today, hug your Mother, and then challege your fellow men to step up.
Isaiah 3:12
Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path.
A good friend of mine, Bram Warrick, asked me if I'd ever heard of "microloans" years ago. I opened the newspaper last Sunday and found that Muhammand Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and father of the "microfinance" movement would be speaking at the University of Virgina that day. I quickly got dressed and heading down to hear him speak.
Muhammad Yunus has helped millions of impoverished people; ninety-something percent of those helped being women. He had the following to say concerning the battle against poverty:
I strongly believe that we can create a poverty-free world, if we want to.... In that kind of world, [the] only place you can see poverty is in the museum. When school children will be on a tour of the poverty museum, they will be horrified to see the misery and indignity of human beings. They will blame their forefathers for tolerating this inhuman condition to continue in a massive way.
... Invisible Berlin Walls must go. We are not even trying to make it happen. Whenever we talk about the people at the bottom or the poor people, our usual reaction is to write a cheque. Okay, take care of them, feed them, clothe them, give them some place to live. But we don't touch the wall. We simply say, let them stay on the other side of the wall, but feed them a little. What I'm saying they don't need your throw-away money, they don't need handouts. They need an opportunity, a fair deal. They don't get a fair deal right now. Poverty is the denial of all human rights. I am talking about establishing their human rights. If we do that the walls will disappear. Poverty will go ...
If you think creating a world without any poverty is impossible, let’s do it. Because it is the right thing to do.
We got rid of colonialism, we got rid of slavery, and we got rid of apartheid – everyone thought each one of them was impossible. Let’s take the next impossible, do it with joy and get it finished with and create a world free from poverty. Let us create the world of our choice.
You can learn more about Muhammad Yunus at: http://muhammadyunus.org/
-James Matthews
When it comes to charismatic leadership or sports performance, I don't shine out as awe inspiring. In the workplace as well, I'm a "Jack of all trades and a master of none." This state-of-affairs gets old and frustrating, and leaving me wondering what purpose and significance I have "out there" in the big world.
My wife reminded me today that God sometimes allows us to stay humbled in some areas of life to increase our "usability" in other areas. I thought I'd share two recent examples of how I have been useful in hopes to helping a kindred hearts reading here.
In my Virginia class of 19 students, we have a kind person and a mean person who happen to share a room. The mean person lost an important, work-related item and the kind person happened to find it. The kind person, after having endured weeks of antagonism from the mean one, let go of kindness and decided to throw the item away and and revel in sweet revenge. I handed the item back to the kind person and said "are you sure you don't want to take this chance to make peace," with a smile. The kind person actually agreed, took the item out of my hand, and looked happy to do the right thing.
Today, a fellow classmate's wife and his 3-year old son had traveled here to visit my friend over the weekend. However, a last-minute change had all of us back in class on Saturday at 8am. It was now 1:30pm and my friend was distressed but holding his frustration well. I came to him, hoping to encourage him to ask to leave, and said "I can't see why they wouldn't let you go with your family. We are basically finished here." Although I didn't know it, a key class leader was right behind us and heard what I said. Minutes later, my friend had been released quietly and I saw him looking full of joy and leaving with his family at last. The rest of the class didn't leave until after 3pm and I heard one person complain that our classmate left early. I guess "misery loves company" but I felt good about what happened.
Our significance at home is more obvious when we look at our children and our spouse. But even in the wide world out there, we might not get fame, great wealth, or attract large followings with our leadership, but God uses even those like me (and you) to make a great difference in our world and in the lives of others.