Deep Breaths

A Quiet Saturday Night

Hello, all. Leia is at a school function this evening, and Michael and Soulla are off attending another wedding, so I'm just soaking up the silence of a big empty house for a few hours. Been reading a bit, playing my guitar, and generally enjoying some down time after a long day of cleaning the house and helping to tear some carpet out.

Last night was the third installment of our series of lessons on the Bible with our youth group. We discussed the fact that the story that the Bible tells regarding the nature and purpose of our existence (which we had explored the previous week) is only one amongst several competing stories (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, secular science, etc.), and challenged the kids to think about what separated the Christian story from these other stories. As you might imagine, that topic generated quite a bit of discussion among the group (tragically, since it was all in Greek I can't really re-cap much of it).

The point we tried to emphasize to them was that the Christian story centers on loving relationships between God and humanity (and also loving relationships between humans, which grow out of our relationships with God), while the other stories tend to say either A) There is no God, and therefore no one with whom to be in a relationship, B) There is some sort of God, but not the kind that you can be in relationship with, or C) There is a God, and you can be in a relationship with Him, but not a loving relationship. Anyway... in spite of my linguistic shortcomings that keep me from interacting in discussions with them as much as I would like, it is so rewarding to watch the young people grappling with new ideas and attempting to flesh out their faith. I think putting together this series of lessons has really given both Leia and me a fresh sense of enthusiasm regarding our calling and our ministry partnership. (And by the way, any of you guys from the youth group who may be reading this, please feel free to chime in with your thoughts about all of this stuff).

Tomorrow, as you well know, is Mother's Day (at least in the States), so we are going to Limassol tomorrow morning to attend a church service there (and give out more wedding invitations), after which we will take Leia's mom and grandma out for a nice lunch. Naturally, I am a bit sad about being far away from my own mom and grandmas this year(actually, this just occurred to me, but given the fact that I usually went home for the summers before Mother's Day when I was in college, I don't know WHEN I was last away from my mom on Mother's Day...hmmm), but on the plus side, it does mean another day down near the beach, as opposed to fighting for a table at Cracker Barrel or something (For all you British and Greek readers who may be wondering, "What in the world is Cracker Barrel?" well... words do not do it justice.)

We are beginning to count the days until our wedding, partially because we're eager to start our life together, and partially because we want to reassure ourselves that we won't have to deal with pre-wedding stress much longer, but also because we're so excited about seeing so many of you soon. Please drop us a brief comment now and then. Our mood improves considerably when we receive tangible proof that someone's actually reading all of these ramblings.

I'll leave you with another thought-provoking quote this evening. This is from a song called "Sounds Like Sunday" by a band called Mineral. Part of it comes from Luke 6:21. I put bits of it into one of the first cards I ever gave Leia, and into the last letter I wrote to my grandfather before he passed away, so it's pretty special to me. Enjoy.

Time doesn't always heal.
It just breathes, and swallows memories,
Sending showers,
Beating flowers into the mud.

How blessed we are for crying now,
For we will laugh some day, and how.

Nothing is forever in this place—
Nothing but the way my heart fits in Your hand,
The held breath of hope,
And the sweet, lingering taste of grace.

Amen to that.

–John

posted by John and Leia @ 11:26 AM