Amsterdam

So, we just arrived back to Portugal from Amsterdam. We were there to share some time with other learners of culture. It was a fantastic time. Amsterdam is a city full of juxtapositions; the old is balanced by the new, the local by the international, tradition shadowed by progress, the holy faces the unholy, extreme beauty flanked by extreme sadness.

It is a town reminiscent to me in the slightest of ways of Las Vegas. A city of many sights and sounds, attractions and history (albeit not like the history in Amsterdam). But in Amsterdam, as in Vegas, the commodification of the human body, and life, is more than a main stay. It has become a culture, a history, a worldview.

Surrounded by Victorian homes, a beautiful river runs through the city, masking, for a little while, the sold lives and the cultural commodification of sex. A beautiful thing has become sold like a slave. Many of the bodies sold, very well could be slaves. Those bodies, though, have souls, lost somewhere in the darkness of hopelessness. Lost in the dark streets that need more than window lights to illuminate.

As we traveled to the houses of Ann Frank and Corrie Ten Boom, a new reality hit us. This is also a city of hope. If you are unfamiliar with either story, I strongly encourage you to read both. People, who both risked and lost lives for the sake of love and righteousness, gave been immortalized by their courage. They represent a new reality, one of beauty in suffering, freedom in enslavement, hope in hopelessness. Corrie Ten Boom, a seemingly lesser known story of the two (yet not lesser by any means), stood out to me. Her words seem to transcend her situation to a hope in a higher reality, a higher authority in fallen situations. Despite the circumstances, we are challenged to love; at cost, at risk, because it is who we are supposed to be.

I have no judgement for those who sell their bodies, only hope. Hope of a new reality, despite their circumstances, despite their history. I share in imperfection. But I have seen the hope that stands to face the darkness. I have felt the light that burns bright in the allies of hopelessness.

I am greatly appreciative of my experiences, being able to see such a wonderful town. I am greatful for the organization who facilitated that experience. I am also incredibly greatful for those who are in Amsterdam full time to share Light with those there. We had a chance to share that light with a shop keeper there. A man from Egypt who, although smiled a lot, opened his heart to us, giving us his life story. We remain in contact with him. But, it is comforting to know there are workers of the light there.

"...joy runs deeper than despair."- Corrie Ten Boom

"Love is larger than the walls which shut in in."- Corrie Ten Boom also (shes good)

Fresh Water

Yesterday, I saw a man having a seizure. He was helped by a crowd below my apartment, so I felt my helping would only hinder, but as I watched this dramatic scene unfold, I was struck by a swift emotion of thankfulness. As the man lay, surrounded by good citizens (from who knows where), and the ambulance racing up, I became aware of how thankful I am for people such as this.

One of my best friends in the states is a paramedic. His name is Brian. He is a man of great character, the kind of guy you would expect to see in a crowd of good citizens and most definitely the guy you want pulling up to an emergency.  I am thankful he is a friend, I am thankful he has been there for me in times of need.

I find myself surrounded by people, good citizens, blessings. We are blessed with an amazing language teacher here. She is a breath of fresh air, her and her family. We are most indebted to her kindness and tutelage. What I am struck by is that there is so much, so many people, so many things to be thankful for everyday. Blessings hidden by familiarity, brought to light by drama, by necessity, by  emergency.

Tradition is a great thing. It gives us a story that helps paint our identity, it gives us context, understanding. What we risk in tradition, though, is a fresh vision. We risk the lack of risk. We become what we know, not what we may know. What was once lively and dramatic has become stone and dusty. We relive it to make it new-ish. And yet, how much more lively when we seek to engage, to dance with, those blessings that surround us like the cool night air come to refresh our souls.  We have risked, for too long, the dry arid desert of old. Yet we cannot abandon history to nothingness. It is important, necessary.

We must strike a balance between remembering the past as hope for the future. As relics to remind us of the current and present hope. The spirit that haunts us, that has not dissipated to the depths of oblivion. Those blessings that we so often forget that are right there to drive up and resuscitate us, lights flashing, holding our heads as we seize in and struggle.

I am reminded of what I have taken for granted, what my history sight has distorted, or forgotten. A fresh view of One who blesses, of One who redeems. I am filled with thankfulness for a hope in something not solely of the past, locked in time, subject to the annuls of dust and rust. I am thankful for an active Spirit, a fresh well of living water. Fresh, like the water given by faith.

"To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it."- Mother Teresa 

Haunting and Helping

Sorry folks, it has been awhile since I have blogged. Steph and I have been super busy with the summer sports camp we help with, along with a crazy busy schedule of spending time with locals and other volunteers. We have been incredibly blessed to have a great language teacher with an amazing family! We miss our homestay family too as we have been so busy and not able to hook up with them (hopefully soon).

We continue to meet new people and get to know the friends we have made so far. It has been great getting to know some of the football players I work with a few nights a week. We have been sleeping little with such a crazy schedule, however we are encouraged at the opportunities given us!

"They" say that the past will come back to haunt us, but rarely do "they" say how it will come back to help us. In fact, if you were to google (someday spell check will recognize this as a verb) history quotes, you would find that most quotes on history are quite negative. It is actually quite depressing. But what we write about history is from a perspective, a pessimistic one at that! Very few quotes remember the things in our histories that bring about a better future, a more rich present.

 I have been in sports as both a coach and an athlete for as long as I can remember. Even when I was not active as either of those, my life was saturated with sports. These sports ranged from your mainstream sports (football, gymnastics, etc) to, as they say here, "radical" sports (rock climbing, surfing, etc.). I have been known for my conditioning work with athletes ranging from baseball to gymnastics to climbers (and on and on). Steph, too, has seen her history is cheer stunting, gymnastics, climbing, slacklining, etc. She has connected well with the kids she works with because of years of experience working with them.

I would have never thought that our history in sports would open so many doors to work with and get to know so many people in so many situations. Both Steph and I have been blessed to use our history to engage our present, we shall see how it directs our future.

I am constantly encouraged by the opportunities we are blessed with, the people we sport with (that's right, I used it as a verb!). People here have a long history in sport, as they have a long history in general. But I am learning much from them and they have welcomed us through sports.

Sometimes, we forget the amount of stuff we learn in our lives, either professionally, educationally, or live lessonally (yea I know). It is amazing how things come back to us. With technology today, information is so easily gained, but that stuff we spent hours and hours and days and days attaining, it is burned into our minds. It is there like a ghost hiding in the shadows. But this ghost does not have mal-intent, like a Holy Ghost it is there to help, to aid, to support.

We are so afraid of being haunted by a history that holds as many blessings, if not more. This ghost, given to us, is a gift. One to harness, to remember, to be thankful for.

"Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second."

-William James

"History never looks like history when you are living through it."

-John W. Gardner