In New Orleans, even when there wasn’t a one-hundred-year storm bearing down on the paved-over swamp, hurricane season was still something to experience.  I can remember getting on my bathing suit, some disposable sneakers and a tee-shirt to head out into the flooded streets of Metairie with my roommates to wade through two feet of water washing over paved streets; the shoulders and lane-width road dividers littered with abandoned vehicles, rain pouring down around us.  That was a good time.  This rain is reminiscent of that hurricane-like rain.  Although it will only come for 30-60 minutes at a clip, Sauk is getting a thorough rinse.

One time, on the Miss Julianne, we had suspended dive operations due to lightning strikes near by.  I can still see the cabin being lit completely with a bolt so close that there was no delay between the flash and its subsequent report.  This morning while standing near a window in the common area of the school, I found myself retreating a few feet from what I witnessed happening outside.  These storms have been awesome.

The rain broke yesterday in the mid-afternoon, which was ideal.  Last night beginning at 8PM and ending a 4AM this morning was an evening of prayer, worship, and fellowship.  While heading back from Tirana with a van full of guests, we happened upon three young men from Fushkruje church.  I hopped out and walked the rest of the way with them, stopping halfway down the hill to feed Max a package of salcice.  He still doesn’t trust me.  I recall Bo, our family dog growing up, taking a long time to warm to me.  He had been abused and abandoned as well.

Tomorrow I am on the docket to give a word at the church in Durres.  I want to talk about the way we define today, and to offer the perspective that no matter which day of the week it is; today is God’s special day designed for you and I to perform our calling in His name.  Each day is crafted and shaped to give us encounters with neighbors who need reaching; with widows, orphans and strangers who need our love and attention.  Today is not the exception, today is all we have.

Today was another exercise in the mystical and magnificent nature of our God.  I can not remember a time I was as happy as I am at this very moment.  I had thought that my arrival had somehow coincided with the apex of spring, but nature keeps surprising my senses with a multiplication of her bounty both in flora and fauna.  It is as if the landscape is God’s canvas which at first sight appears complete, yet every time it comes into view He has added another dash of purple wild-flower or half-a-dozen bright red poppies; another nest-full of hatched chicks tightly formed around their mother.

Kurt and Stephanie are my handlers here in Sauk, they have been missionaries to Albania for something like 16 years.  Construction in Fushkruje is set to start back up this coming Monday, and I am ready to go.  This afternoon a pastor from Brazil lead the chapel at 11:30.  He is named Pastor Jose, and he has totally mastered the Albanian language.  He invited me to come to his church, and so that is where I will be on the 10th.  This Sunday I will be going to Durres, Pastor Gezim’s church.  

Today I knocked out the second to the last paper I need for graduation.  If you are interested in reading some really well written sociological prose, check out Liquid Modernity by Zygmunt Bauman.  His writing is too dense to summarize, his thought process to full of color to paint with words.  I enjoy him.

For dinner, five of us walked to Sauk, on the way passing the dog I have fallen in love with.  On the way home I picked up a salcicia i vogel for him.  I have found that I need to crush the hot-dog so that the casing is easier for him to chew.  Max, the name my little brother chose, doesn’t have many teeth.  I noticed today that he has kind of a golden brindle coat, and deep hazel eyes.  

I spoke with my father for about an hour last night.  He is such a good man.  I could tell you so many stories about his love for me and our family.  If you are an All Saintser, you are a blessing to my father and I thank you for that.

Today I received an email from you, B and I started to tear up.  You honor me with every key-stroke, every thought.  The truth is that without you and Anne in my life, I would have a misconception about what family is.  I’m glad Mom and Dad didn’t stop when they had me, I don’t even like to imagine that.  It would not be possible for me to accurately articulate the depth of my indebtedness to God for bringing you into my, all of our, lives.  Every day I wake up, I wake up better for having known the two of you.  In you and our sister I see the true nature of Jesus Christ.  You have a transcendent goodness, an ability to live above the confines of this life, to show love first in all situations.  I used to resent your innate wisdom, I used to be profoundly jealous of it and your ability to find happiness, whatever.  More than anything I am simply grateful to God for your undying friendship, love and loyalty.  

Would you honor me by naming my dog?  You can post it as a comment in response to this letter.  Please don’t over think it.  I’m sure your gut instinct will be the right one.  Your instincts have always been as sure as a sword of Japanese craft.  Love,

Joshua

I wish you could feel what I feel right now.  There is a sensation even through my fingers of the eternality of a moment.  If we were meant for anything more than this, then I cannot fathom it.  If there is life more beautiful than this, then I have never known it.  I am certain that this memory will remain sweet in my mind like slow honey on my tongue. 

Yesterday I split a small frank in half and fed it to one of the stray dogs near the school.  I have seen him on the road between the school and Sauk Qender twenty times or more.  He is my favorite stray.  The first time I really noticed him, he and two other dogs were barking at me threateningly and appeared to be pursuing a violent confrontation, the outcome of which I was unsure.  However, upon meeting my eyes on the sidewalk he ceased barking, having also been abandoned by the other two dogs in tow.  Dogs are a real problem here, and you can hear them barking and fighting on almost a nightly basis.  This dog is about half dirty-yellow and half black.  He has lost his tail and both ears either from fights with other dogs or from intentional mutilation on the part of a former owner.  He is a good dog.  You know how you can just tell sometimes? 

If you would like to name this animal, I am up for suggestions.  I would like to think of him in the context of a personal noun and for that noun to foster a feeling of affinity with the readers of these posts.  If I have my camera next time I see him, I’ll steel his image for you.

I am sorry for writing like this.  I have been working on a paper on postmodernism and there is no escaping the tone in my mind right now.  Take care.

Dear Reader,

Hello.  Tomorrow will be a national day of morning in Albania.  If you would pray for the people here, the injured in critical condition, and the families of those who lost their treasured young ones, I know the students of my school would appreciate it.  I won’t know for a few days if anyone who died had a connection to any of the people here.  Probably, yes.  Albania is a country the size of New Hampshire and family/clan connections are very strong here.  Thank you,

Joshua

There is a tradition in Christianity which traces is roots back to Origen, one of the fathers of our faith.  Origen had something that we might think of as mystical perspective on scripture.  Many Christians over the centuries have tried to connect with the word of God in tangible ways.  Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory Naziansus were two men who showed an early appreciation for Origen’s work and ideas.  Naziansus later took some ideas about sanctification to their rational conclusion, stating that the highest state of a human spiritual evolution was to become God.  I’m relatively certain he meant that it was to be united with God, which may indicate how he interpreted Jesus’ path to divinity.  

Anyways.  

In the common area tonight the students are practicing what is commonly known as Lectio Divina.  It is a practice of focusing one’s attention on a particular passage of scripture for a long period of time.  If you reread a certain scripture over and over, you will find that a certain word or phrase from that scripture will stand out to you.  According to people like Origen, that word or phrase is in effect the Bible speaking directly to you.  It is a fascinating and productive exercise.  

Today was Hana’s birthday.  She is one of the students here.  8 of us went to Tirana at the end of the day for akullore.  I had akullore mix, which is like a combination of strawberry, orange, vanilla, and some other flavors.  It was nice to enjoy the company of friends over a cool treat at the end of a hot day.  One of the students must have told a dozen jokes, all of them were very funny to everyone who speaks Albanian.  When one was explained to me, it wasn’t really worth the effort.  I’m sure you understand.

I want to invite each of you to come and serve here in the Balkans, Albania or Kosovo.  I would love to show you all that God is doing.