Taking Up Space

While I was in Bangladesh, my Grandmother, Concordia Munro Searle, passed away. She was 94, and though her mind was sharp, her body was tired. As one of my cousins put it, from where Grandma Connie stood, it was a short walk to heaven. I’m very happy for her. She was always a person who was full of wonder—always spotting something interesting in life—kind of a smart girlish inquisitive quality. I can see her wandering around heaven, enjoying a nice surpise every minute and delighting in the company of all those interesting people—especially the Lord himself, of course.

So I’m happy for Grandma Connie. But I find that whenever I think of her, and I’m thinking of her a lot these days, a very deep sadness comes over me. Without her, the world is a little harder, a little more mechanical, a little more cynical and heartless and strained. I feel like everyone needs to find a good coat.

I have two authoritative sources for understanding the fruit of the Spirit. First there’s Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 5, vs. 22 & 23: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”My second source is the Christlike personality of my Grandma Connie. She truly personified all of these qualities. And I’m not saying this because she was my Grandma and was always nice to me. I honestly think she was just as nice to total strangers as she was to me. No, she had the kind of Christlikeness that goes way beyond nice. Real kindness is always better than niceness.

You see, the thing is, Grandma Connie lived in such a way that there was no doubt that her life was rooted in the grace of God. She loved because He first loved. Her life is how I know He’s real.

Driving me home from the ranch one Sunday night when I was 10 years old, Grandma took ten minutes to share with me the struggle she had to depend on the Lord rather than on her own strength, like starting over every day. That casual conversation has haunted and sustained me ever since.

It was hard to be so far away when Grandma died, but it was comforting to me to know that she would have loved what I was doing—seeing a new and interesting place, meeting new and interesting people, and talking to them about the love of God in Christ.

Stephanie writes:

Friday, September 28

Today, the ladies helped with a children’s program. A lovely young lady named ——- told the children several Bible stories. She also led them in worship songs. Even though we couldn’t understand the words, we knew when they sang “The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock” because of the hand motions. It was a delight to see the joy on their faces and to hear their sweet voices praising the Lord.

After stories and singing we gave them coloring pages with verses and pictures. Bengali children love to color because it is a rare treat for them. To help them learn the verses, we played a VBS game. They divided into boy and girl teams, tossed a koosh ball into a basket and pulled out a word from the verse. Both times, the girls were the first to get their verse in order. They all had a blast playing the game.

To encourage them to learn the verses we told them they could have a piece of candy from my treat bag if they would recite the verse. The children stood around the edges of the room quietly saying their verses over and over to learn them. Older children helped the younger children. Even the shyest, quietest children said their verses loudly and clearly and then got candy out of the bag with a big grin on their faces. We even had a few dads say the verses so they could have a piece of candy.

When the program concluded we enjoyed the Bengali version of fast food called box lunches. Everyone gets a small cardboard box with rice, curried vegetables, spicy chicken, a slice of lime and three cucumber slices. We ate with our hands (except me!) while seated on straw mats on the floor.

Dr. Stack writes:
30 September 2007
Bangladesh 
When was the last time you did anything for the first time?

When was the last time you observed a baptism in an eastern bathroom? My narrow-minded Western Christian world view initially thought “that’s not the way we do it, so their way must be wrong.”  How often have we said to our children “grow up” when they display acts of foolishness and self-centeredness? “Grow up” often implies that our child should not look at a situation where everything centers around them, but rather from the perspective of others. American Christians often think they must be closest to God and are in His “favor” because we have the best life-style, greatest intellect, and the most freedom. This incorrect thinking has led some people to think of America as a “Christian Country” or worse, to think they are assured salvation because they are materially “blessed.”

I also had the opportunity to watch a Muslim man ask for prayer from a group of Bengali believers during a small gathering. This came shortly after a lively discussion over discrepancies between the practice of the Muslim faith and the Koran. Believers that are former Muslims, frequently know the Koran much better than most Muslims as they have had to work out their new beliefs as a Christian from their beliefs as a Muslim.

Bengali take-out (rice, curry, chicken, vegetables in a take-out box). The final “first time” of the day.