Elke's Boring! [tm] Blog | ||
|
 Name: Elke Home: Downingtown, Pennsylvania, United States About Me: Unapologetic child of God who is madly in love with Israel See my complete profile
|
Sunday, September 06, 2009
|
Elke's Boring! [tm] Blog | ||
|
Name: Elke Home: Downingtown, Pennsylvania, United States About Me: Unapologetic child of God who is madly in love with Israel See my complete profile
|
Sunday, September 06, 2009
|
Ed Stetzer jokingly says he has become a big deal on
his blog. For those of you uninitiated, Ed Stetzer is kind of a big deal. And Ed has gently begun asking people to un-friend him on Facebook now that he has a fan page. Who is Ed, you might say?
Ed was speaking at the conference. I learned from the program that Ed Stetzer heads up the Research division of the Southern Baptists' LifeWay, serving as providers of Christian products and services. Ed is also a church planter. I don't worship in a Southern Baptist church, so some of this was truly new to me. Ed's topic was supposed to be on a completely different topic; I remember having to change the topic on my iPhone as I was attempting to take notes. What Ed actually did speak on wound up being one of those God moments in life, when the world suddenly disappears, and I was Isaiah saying "woe is me, I am lost! For I am a (wo)man of unclean lips and I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips". Ed addressed the issue of unaddressed personal sin and personal holiness that morning. In total disclosure, his words shone a bright light into areas of my heart that had not been yielded to God and where I was hiding some personal little pet sin.
I want you to hear his words. A summary of his talk can be found here. If you have the time, please watch him speak here. Please find the time. It is a critical message for us all to hear as we travel along this Christian journey with God. Ed spoke into my heart that day and, of that I am sure, into the hearts of many of the men and women listening to him. Instantly, Ed became a big deal to me. Not because he is bigger and better and smarter than anybody, but because he spoke God's truth in great boldness. Let's just say, I became an instant Ed Stetzer fan.
To get back to the title of this blog, I started following Ed Stetzer a bit closer after that morning. I friended him on Facebook and found him on Twitter. I realized quickly, he is not a leader with a blown-up ego, and he pokes fun at himself in liberal doses. It was truly refreshing to see this servant of God. Ed is definitely as much of an "exhibitionist" as I am (at least my husband tells me that about myself from time to time). I enjoy Ed's version of personal exhibitionism. I soak up looking at his life. I love seeing the photos of his wife and of his daughters playing. Ed has become real and tangible to me and is giving me hope that I am not alone on this tilt-a-whirl, as N.D. Wilson recently called life on this planet.
Of course, the whole topic of Internet privacy finds itself in the cross hairs these days. My husband is big on his concern for privacy issues (yet I talked him into being on Twitter and Facebook successfully ;-) ), while his wife is much more liberal in the policies of what is disclosed on the Internet and what isn't (as my Twitter stream, my Facebook presence and my four blogs will attest to). But in all fairness, have you 123peopled yourself recently? Look at what I pulled up for Ed! Don't worry, Ed, I don't know where you live and won't be calling you, but case in point is, we are all fairly visible these days on the internet if we have participated in anything from Amazon purchase reviews to speaking at events to participating in the latest fashion in social media. I think if you google me long and hard, you will even find wise things I said in 1994 or something like that on a bulletin board for WordPerfect experts.
So Ed, I am sorry, but unless you force me to un-friend you like Mike Hyatt, another truly fascinating person, recently did (and I understand it and am not saying it's bad per se, but boy I miss feeling like a friend already), I still would like to be your friend on Facebook. You are a big deal to me, not because you are a celebrity of sorts, but because you are a Holy Spirit indwelled brother in the Lord who puts a smile on my face when I follow your fun-filled life of plowing the soil for our holy God. I pray for you, Brother, and thank you for sharing your life in Christ with us!
posted by Elke at 11:20 AM
Some of my favorite Israel and Jordan photos are now online at http://www.speli.com/israel/.
The PowerPoint show can be seen at http://www.speli.com/israel/israel.pps.
Enjoy!
posted by Elke at 12:31 PM
I have started a new blog to write specifically about my 2009 trip to Israel as part of a group from Liberty University.
You can find this blog at http://www.sar-shalom.org/.
Enjoy!
posted by Elke at 10:42 PM
It has happened again - feelings of being a total alien flooded through me this morning with raw force.
I have been in Germany for five days now - you would think it is time enough to get back into the "German swing". But nothing could be further from the truth. This morning began by getting ready for many guests, neighbors, friends, a city representative, photo group representatives, a volunteer fire department representative, you name it - most of them dressed up in their Sunday finest, including Dad in jacket and tie.
Now mind you, dressing up is a very German thing. Most Germans from my parents' social circles would never be caught dead at such an event wearing casual clothes. Maybe that was my first point of alienation: I do like my casual jeans and sweatshirt most days. However, I am perfectly capable of dressing up when the occasion calls for it, so this morning I had put on nice black dress slacks and a rather expensive Michael Kors top with my beautiful antique coin necklace and earrings. I thought I looked rather nice. Apparently my Dad didn't - or maybe wasn't expecting it and thus failed to recognize it. At any rate, he proceeded to compliment my sister on her outfit when she walked through the door, but never said a word to me, which, honestly, hurt. My first point of feeling very out of place.
Then the procession of people calling or walking through the door began - I thought it wouldn't end. Is it just me or is it a bit much? Maybe I have been married to Nick too long who doesn't hold much of a great love for such grand-scale events for birthdays. Then again, what gives, I didn't even get a birthday cake this year, and Nick certainly heard about it. ;-) So maybe I do like celebrations, but not in that big of a mode. Regardless of being there and being in the moment, I felt out of place again. Just not cool or German or whatever enough to hang with the crowd.
The one moment when I felt normal was when a woman my parents know arrived with two of her horses to wish Dad a happy birthday. This was real - two tangible creatures of my God who had arrived to bring me something I could think of as normal. And much to my great happiness, I was able to touch them and talk with them without a serious allergy attack - maybe my bucket list will get shorter now that I realize I can be in the presence of horses without almost dying from sneeziness, hives and shortness of breath. Dude ranch, you are now a vacation option after all! Praise God.
More recently, my point of alienation with most of the German world around me has been punctuated by two simultaneously occurring changes in my life: one is my very ardent love for my Savior, which has put me in a place where all that I want to think, do or say has to do with Him - so great a salvation is mine! For Germans, that is a very strange concept and puts me in serious danger of belonging to a sect. At any rate, not something you talk about in fine social circles. In a way, it is that way in the US as well, but it is still more socially acceptable to be a "church goer". And the second, my love for the nation and the people of Israel has put me in a precarious situation of having to defend not just where I live (the US) but also my friends and their country from most Germans who think Gaza incursion and Israeli atrocities when they think Israel.
Most days, I am not sure where I belong - am I American, German or even Israel? All this boils down to one thing: I feel out of place, alien, not fitting in many times in my life, and I sometimes wonder whether there actually is a place where I do fit in. To me, the one place where I feel loved and accepted is in the body of Christ, yet even there from time to time I feel like the odd ball out, especially when I long to talk about the Old Testament and Israel and what it means to me. So where do I fit? Lord, help me find my place in this world. And remind me that this world is not my home, but that my eternal destination is with You in a heavenly country.
In the meantime, give me the ability to fit in where you place me, so I can engage those around me with Your Good News.
P.S. Also Lord, please extend my beautiful Mom and Dad's life for many more years so they can also meet the Love of my life. I love them with all my heart and want nothing more than for them to know my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
posted by Elke at 7:42 AM