Stomped-Day 1

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Robert Franklin

Mark Lauer and I journey began at the Cincinnati airport mid-afternoon on a Thursday. We flew to Detroit, then to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to Entebbe, Uganda. Mark and I arrived at the Entebbe airport after nearly 18 hours of flying and a little less than 7 hours of varied airport layovers. It was about 10pm Uganda time Friday night. I had to purchase entry visas and we were told twice by uniformed guards to get into the wrong line so getting out of the airport took about 40 minutes longer than it could have.

Right away we knew we were going to have to be very mellow and take everything as it came during the next seven days.

After “clearing” customs–actually we just walked right past the customs agents pretending they were not even there–I had the joy of meeting Isaac, who was soon to be my adopted son, Anthony, our missionary friend, and two other mission workers at the airport reception area. Although it was not my first international experience, I was already feeling overwhelmed. I hadn’t expected Isaac to come and frankly didn’t know what to do with him.

It was so dark and a little too warm. The night was overcast so we could not see the stars and the airport parking lot had only one light. Getting luggage loaded onto (yes onto) the Toyota Land Cruiser was a dirty chore. The superfine red dust that I would soon learn to love coated everything and I was dirty from the flight and dirty from dirt. Along the road there were very, very few street lights and the hundreds of shops lining the lane were dark. It was just 45 minutes of some pretty bad roads, driving on the “wrong” side of the street and wondering if oncoming traffic would crash into us as the opposing drivers attempted to dodge potholes that make the Detroit freeway system look like polished glass.

Video of Detroit Potholes

Satelite pics of Detroit Potholes…No Kidding!

The missionaries were kind enough to give Isaac a lift back to Kampala, our destination, but Isaac and I didn’t have time to get to talk very much on the way. I felt guilty about ditching him unceremoniously off at a crossroads while I went with my American friends to get some rest. This emotional unease became the norm for the rest of the week.

Neither Mark nor I can sleep for more than 40 minutes at a time on a plane, so we were appropriately tired by the time we arrived at our lodgings for the week (now about midnight Uganda time). Lydia, our host at Emmaus House greeted us upon our arrival, got us checked in (an experience in itself) and led us to our more than adequate quarters.

Our

We showered, shaved, got under the mosquito nets and slept deeply.

No one ever sat at this desk...and all three clocks were incorrect.

The reception desk at Emmaus house.  No one ever manned this desk.

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Change in My Pocket

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Robert Franklin

During my lifetime I have heard the cliche repeated again and again “people do not like change.”   I know for my part that I never carry it.  The jingling in my pocket drives me to distraction and I get rid of my coin at the first opportunity.

Many would say, “Me too, I hate change.”  Yet it is my observation that the exact opposite is true.  I believe that people in our culture relish, perhaps even lust, for change.  Why else would we fight for keeping the penny? (http://www.progress.org/archive/fold207.htm et al)  Why is the remote for the television so easy to use?  Why are we always looking for the next “big thing”?

What I believe people in our culture do not like is change they do not control.  Change is ok if I am either the one making the change, or if I am at some level feeling like I have control over or at least input into the change being made.  That is why I don’t like change in my pocket, I cannot make it be quiet at a moment’s notice and I cannot move without it reminding me that it is there…out of my direct control.

For the Christian this cultural dynamic is especially difficult.  The Christian world view states emphatically that only One is truly in control and that He is both the progenitor and controller of all change.  Control for the Christian is more or less regulated to “self-control” which is, in turn, the result of the presence and work of God’s Holy Spirit (Galatians 5.22-25).  Life is full of jingling reminders that  I control nothing outside of  myself and that only as an act of the grace of God.

Perhaps this is part of what God meant when He required me to “walk humbly” with Him (Micah 6.8).  What do you think?

Posted in Devotional | 1 Comment

Three Trees

Posted on April 21, 2008 by Robert Franklin

Spring has arrived and the grass is shooting up from the ground nearly too quickly for the lawnmower to keep up. The flowers on my apple trees burst open during one night last week and all is well in my humble garden…except for my three precious blue spruce trees.

These three trees represented three Christmas celebrations. Each tree was selected, in turn, by my children and reminded us of the unique tastes that each child possesses. Finally, each tree served as a statement that we were finally “home” and that after years of moving (seven major moves in twelve years) we were going to stay put.

We took tender care of the three trees. When each one completed its seasonal duty we placed it in the best location my back yard had to offer. They grew healthily each year and offered year round beauty. I was very proud of these trees.

Some sort of bag worm got the first (and most beautiful) tree we planted. Last year’s drought took the second tree. The third tree appeared to be healthy all winter long, but now during the season when it should be resplendent, it is turning brown.

We have lost all three trees.

One could draw all sorts of conclusions from the death of the trees, or draw no conclusion at all. In the midst of my grief (yes this former Oregonian does mourn the loss of his evergreen trees) I am reminded in a painfully clear way that this world is not my home. I am not permanent, my house is not permanent, even my children are not permanent here. We are just passing through to the place where death is no longer operative and decay holds no sway.

I thank God that he has allowed me to stay in this sure hope because of Christ Jesus. Elsewhere I would descend into despondency.

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Posted in Bible Study, Devotional | 1 Comment

Interracial

Posted on April 9, 2008 by Robert Franklin

Yesterday I had the great honor of having lunch with a pastor of African descent. For most of my life I have had significant relationships with “brothers of another color” but since I came to live in Campbell County (98% white) I have not made the effort to develop one of those relationships. In not doing so not only have I done wrongly but I now remember what I have missed by not being in such a relationship.

My new friend was quick to laugh, easy to relate to, transparent about his struggles and full of hope for his future, the future of his children, and indeed for the future of our nation. His world view is different from mine, but not incorrect. He sees what I see, but from a different point of view. His love of our Lord is passionate and his face radiated with the light of Christ as our conversation turned to spiritual things.

He took time to introduce me to his extended family and to speak of his history, both relationally and spiritually. Hanging on the walls of his office are not the certificates of accomplishment that many pastors use to make themselves feel a little more qualified, but 8 by 11 portraits full of faces related to him, gathered together for their biennial family reunion. I felt more than a little embarrassed that my own family heritage is so lean.

He talked at length about the pastor who discipled him, about his “home church” and the close community he still feels with those who helped him grow up.

In a day when we have seen and heard the screams of a man mad at his world, it is good to see the strength of a man not only connected to his world, but living well in it. This man who desires not only for political wrongs to be made right, but even more so for what is wrong in the hearts of humans, regardless of their color, to be made right with God.

This is the only true hope of our nation and the only thing that will bring about real change.

Posted in Current Events | 5 Comments

Easter as Axis

Posted on March 20, 2008 by Robert Franklin

Easter is the strangest weekend in America. People who have lived their lives without much thought of God throughout the year all the sudden get religious. They get dressed up, the women are beautiful, men wear coats and neckties and they come to church–they bring their kids.

Adults are uncomfortable because church is weird, a lot of the kids are tortured because they are experiencing the full power of sugar laden treats a “bunny” left in a basket this morning and now they are expected to sit still and be reverent when every cell in their body is simultaneously saying, “run, jump, be loud…I want another chocolate!!!!”

Church is strange Easter weekend as well: Some churches convince everyone to show up literally at dawn for a worship service, bleary-eyed and dazed. Then oftentimes these churches share a meal of egg casseroles and breakfast Danishes—that’s odd at least. Other churches spend the whole week putting on elaborate drama and musical productions chronicling the last days of Jesus of Nazareth—trying to figure out how they can make Jesus’ resurrection from the dead seem real and powerful. Other churches have a series of events to encourage their members to be penitent, to experience the sorrow that should be felt concerning the crucifixion of the Christ.

Very few churches do not do something special to mark what is THE day in Christendom.

People who come to church every week and people who come only once or twice a year expect something special Easter week. Both regular “attenders” and occasional “attenders” want to be entertained, they want to be emotionally moved, they want to feel like God is satisfied with them showing up at His house and that God will be ok with them. For some they just want God to be ok for today and for others they want God to be ok with not really hearing or seeing them for another nine months or a year because they DID come; they are sorry that Jesus died; they do believe that he rose from the dead; that they really do want to go to heaven when they die…if heaven exists and their friends are there and they won’t be too bored…

Let’s just admit to ourselves that we are here whether we know it or not because this day is the day when Time says to us, ‘STOP’. Most of us don’t know why, but we do know that this weekend is like the involuntary duck of the head right before an unseen object would strike, or the pause before stepping into the street only to avoid a falling into a dangerous hole; it is the light that flashes inexplicably right before we are snatched from certain death.

It is like our lives are spinning around some unseen axis that we instinctively know exists but aren’t quite sure what exactly that is.

If I may, I want to suggest that this invisible axis and really the reason we are here is because we have this nagging question about life…eternal life to be exact. We stop this weekend because even with the distractions of bunnies and chocolates and egg hunts and big family dinners we are curious sometimes even haunted over what is going to happen when we die.

I pray that going to church this weekend is not just another exercise in meaningless religious activity, nor some emotional boost that is received and that soon wears off. I pray that this weekend is a reorientation of the orbits of daily activity around the axis of our existence: the reality of the crucified Messiah resurrected and in full authority over the hearts of those who belong to Him.

Posted in Bible Study, Current Events | Leave a comment

Whoops!

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Robert Franklin

I spoke with Pastor Shane today and the conversation drifted to my blog…I told him that no one had visited the site, so I wasn’t doing much to keep it up.  Somehow or another, my tracking has not been accurate, so for you precious few who have been waiting for an update…here it is.  I promise to post regularly, but in order to keep me from feeling like I am speaking to the air (which I absolutely despise) leave a comment from time to time, even if it is just “hmmmm.”  It will help me out a bunch!

I mentioned this during this past weekend’s services that “Election ’08” has been a joy for me.  To be transparent, if my hope was set on our government and its ability to be “in control” or to “effect real [positive] change” I would be depressed.  The more days worth of experience I amass however, the more convinced I am that I should stand with the apostle Paul in praying for our government with the understanding that all governments–just governments and unjust governments–are under the authority of God.

“Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” (Letter to the Romans 13.1) AND “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” (First Letter to Timothy 2.1)

I pray that our government would be a defender of God’s justice, correct in its action home and abroad and that it would remember that it is indeed in subjection to Him.

In those years when we are blessed with peace at home and abroad, when the laws that are enacted and enforced serve to help us live quiet and dignified lives and when the defenseless are protected then we can give thanks to God for His great blessing and generous grace.

In those years when we suffer from war, disease, famine, disasters of every sort, we can give thanks to God for loving us still even in the midst of our pain.

Surely if God were to unleash His just wrath upon us in keeping with the due punishment for our sin, we would know nothing but misery.  Thanks be to God that His hand is still held out in love.

Keep praying for our government!

Posted in Current Events | 3 Comments