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Archive for October, 2011

A Slice of Americana from the Jungle, Part 3 of 3

Posted on: October 28th, 2011 by Jason Chatraw  | 

Over the past few weeks, we’ve connected with some MAF missionaries to find out how they follow their football teams from the field as part of a three-part series on the subject. Last week, we shared the answers from some college football fans. This week, we’re sharing the answers from NFL fans – Dan Whitehead (Vikings), Fran Durocher (Packers), Dave Holsten (Broncos), and Brad Hopkins (Colts).

Q: There’s the idea when it comes to missions that missionaries have to give up many of the things they love. How hard was it to know that it wouldn’t be so easy to follow your favorite football team each week?

Fran: It was more difficult to know that no one really played the game of American football – so that was actually more difficult than not seeing the games for me. I loved just playing – either organized or just pick up.

Brad: Football was something that I looked forward to each week, but I’ve learned that, like so many other things in life, once I adjusted it was fine. You end up finding things that you like to do here, like more family time, walks in the neighborhood, etc.

Dave: Honestly, of the things I “gave up”, football was probably one of the more inconsequential ones. When we first left I didn’t really think a whole lot about missing out on football. Once I was overseas, the thing that I’ve come to miss is more the ambiance that surrounds watching a big game with fellow fans.

Q: What are some creative ways that you follow your team from the field?

Dan: In the past, friends sent me VHS tapes of big games. In recent years, it has become possible to watch games on satellite TV. And as the speed of the Internet has increased, that is another source of following sports. But the NFL and Major League Baseball are not that popular where we live, so TV providers don’t put those games on much.

Fran: Some special friends have satellite TV, and on the “big” games, like the Super Bowl, we either have them taped or watch them live at 3 or 4 a.m.!

Dave: Internet is for sure the biggest game changer in staying up on interests back in the States. Streaming video and audio are usually pretty sketchy, so I end up reading articles more than anything. I will occasionally download podcast from ESPN to keep on top of the latest stuff. One of our fellow missionaries had a VCR that could record a PAL signal, so they would record the game and then reshow it at their house on Monday night. When it came to the Super Bowl, though, I tried to work my schedule so that I could be at the house to watch it live on Monday morning.

Brad: Since we have a 12-hour time zone difference, it’s hard to watch anything live. But one thing we’ve done is have someone with a TV subscription that showed Monday night football (on Tuesday morning) to tape it for us. We wouldn’t look at the score that day, and then at night we would go over to their house for Tuesday night football. They would make popcorn and brownies and we would have a great time … and we could fast-forward through the commercials!

Q: What is one of your most memorable moments following your team from the field?

Brad: My most memorable moment came when the Colts were playing in Super Bowl 41 against the Bears (2006). It was a very close game early in the third quarter. But it just happened that my mother was coming to visit us and had just flown half way around the world. Her plane was scheduled to land in the middle of the third quarter, so I had to leave the TV to go pick her up. The plane was late and I never saw the rest of the game. But I was really happy to see my mom. I hadn’t seen her in two years, so that was definitely more important!

Dan: It usually doesn’t involve my favorite team, but there have been several memorable Super Bowl parties, sometimes watching a taped game later and trying hard not to hear what the final score was before we got a chance to watch it.

Fran: Watching the Packers in 2010 on a taped game … but had to avoid all Internet and news until I could see the taped game – and they won of course.

Dave: We had other people on our team over to our house on Monday morning for a Super Bowl breakfast, and then watched the game. I’ve gotten up at all sorts of unreasonable hours to watch pro golf or World Cup coverage.

Q: What game are you most looking forward to this year with your team and how do you plan to follow that particular one?

Dan: After seeing the Viking’s first game this year, I’m not sure there is much to look forward to.

Fran: The Super Bowl in January – either live or taped. You do promise Green Bay will be there right?

Brad: I don’t know. I usually just read about it afterwards now. TV here doesn’t carry much American football (recently it’s been less than before) so I haven’t seen an entire football game in years. I still enjoy it when I get to, but it’s just one of those things I have had to give up to be here. Somebody usually has a Super Bowl party so that’s always fun. The problem is it’s on Monday morning here, so we do it up right with a fancy breakfast. You just have to think outside the box, and anything can be fun.

Dave: I’m on furlough at the moment, so I went out to a sports restaurant with my brother and our two boys to watch the Broncos first game (they lost), but we had a great time together.

Even in the Small Things

Posted on: October 26th, 2011 by Between the Verses  | 

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Words on the screen blurred through tears as I fumbled encouragement through the keyboard of my computer. The streams from my eyes quickened and dripped at my chin as my constricted heart longed to be there, sitting on the edge of my daughter’s bed in an understanding embrace.

These situations for which the answers must be learned, trust in faith built, and perception of God’s plan gained through experience would not be any different were I on this side of the ocean or that one. But our tears could pool together, my comfort be tangible, and sincerity not mocked through strokes of the keyboard.

This. A painful sacrifice. My greatest weakness. Leaving my daughter for her first year at college. 7,456 miles away.

This. Where power is made perfect? Where can I boast? How do I delight in this hardship? Where is the strength from this weakness proven?

I took my makeup to work with me three days this week because troubled sleep had its way, but not its victory. Prayer proved its power each day. I made dinner, served guests, attended Bible study. Bedtime stories and nighttime cuddles with my youngest soothed this mamma’s heart.

But the ache remains. This weakness. This longing. No great tragedy. No big event. No persecution. Just separation. Just. Missing part of my heart.

But His grace got me through (gets me through) each day—even with tears threatening to spill over at inopportune times. His power helped me to wrestle out of bed seven mornings since. Christ’s power even in these small things.

Lord, help me to delight in your power in my weakness. Not in the face of insurmountable odds, but in the daily obedience to your call. You care so much in my small hardship that I can boast of your grace and power in the act of carrying out your calling through these difficulties.

“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:10

Sanctification through Flight Delays

Posted on: October 25th, 2011 by John Boyd  | 

There are two ways to develop the attribute of patience in your life – pray for it or travel.

God has chosen to teach me this character trait as I travel across the country and around the world, spending much more time in airports than I would like. It’s something many of us will experience in the coming days as we begin our holiday travels.

On a recent flight home from a long trip (during which I visited some fantastic MAF donors!), I walked up to the schedule board only to see my flight had been delayed.

“Four hours?! You can’t be serious, Lord,” I mumbled. Then I continued complaining to the Lord. “I’m going to miss my connection. I was going to have dinner with my family tonight.”

I was stuck. My car rental keys had been returned. I had nowhere to go but a lonely bench to sit and think about how God is developing patience in me.

After expressing my frustration over this untimely delay, I decided to change my thinking. Instead of complaining, I took advantage of the moment to do some work as well as some deep thinking. I thought about the future of MAF – and also why my flight was the only one delayed at the entire airport. It was an opportunity to assess the situation as “NLT” – “Not Life Threatening”. It’s a little acronym that has become common in our house, especially when my children are complaining about something that they don’t like or don’t want to do.

In the end, it gave me some incredible time to reflect and think about the direction this amazing organization is headed.

This holiday season, I hope to maintain the posture of looking at each delay or setback as an opportunity to reflect about God’s blessing in my life. And I hope you will do the same.

A Slice of Americana from the Jungle, Part 2 of 3

Posted on: October 21st, 2011 by Jason Chatraw  | 

With football season in full swing, we caught up with some MAF missionaries to find out how they follow their teams from the field as part of a three-part series on the subject. In part two of this series, we talked with fans of the collegial variety, Will White (Nebraska) and Tripp Flythe (N.C. State).

Q: There’s the idea when it comes to missions that missionaries have to give up many of the things they love. How hard was it to know that it wouldn’t be so easy to follow your favorite football team each week?

Will: In Haiti, we are fortunate enough to have access to DirecTV. The bad part is Mark Williams was on the same system and lived across the street. He would get the whole NFL package and I had to endure my Sunday naps being interrupted by the Williams family yelling all Sunday afternoon.

Tripp: People may not believe this, but going to football games – the tailgating, seeing college buddies, listening to the call-in show afterwards and sulking or rejoicing with my family and fellow Wolfpackers – this is honestly one of things I miss the most. It’s to the point that as I look at when we’re due for furlough in 2013, I’m going to try really hard to make sure we’re back in the States for most of football season. I love fall in North Carolina, and N.C. State football is a big part of that.

Q: Since you don’t have DirecTV, Tripp, what are some creative ways that you follow your team from the field?

Tripp: These days I mostly just read blogs (usually statefansnation.com) and will occasionally open the ESPN gametracker on my iPhone. I used to listen live on the Internet but I rarely do that anymore since I have three small kids and getting up at 3:30 a.m. to listen to a game isn’t the priority it used to be!

Q: What is one of your most memorable moments following your team from the field?

Will: Probably the most memorable was being able to watch the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. It was an escape from Haiti to have a real American Thanksgiving meal and watch the football game. I love the sounds of a U.S. football game. They are very distinctly different from the soccer games and other sports you hear in developing countries.

Tripp: I was living overseas when Philip Rivers began at N.C. State. He was a true freshman and throwing for like 400 yards a game from day one, and everyone was excited about him. One memorable game was when Georgia Tech visited Carter-Finley in Raleigh and the game went into overtime. Rivers threw a fade to Koren Robinson in the corner of the end zone to win the game. It was like 10:30 a.m. by that point for me, and I was cheering and going crazy, but there was no one there to celebrate with. Times like that are when it can be kind of sad at the same time. That’s when you really miss home. The emotion, excitement, and celebration are all happening 12,000 miles away from you, and you’re sitting there in your pajamas listening to it over dial-up internet. It’s definitely a bittersweet time.

Q: What game are you most looking forward to this year with your team and how do you plan to follow that particular one?

Will: Being on furlough this year, our entire family is looking forward to our small town high school football games in Nebraska. Some nearby towns are so small they have to play 8-man football, which is a lot of fun to watch.

Tripp: Probably the Carolina game, since they are our hated rival. My wife went to UNC, and we’ve beaten them like four years in a row now. To add fuel to the fire, they’re in the middle of a massive NCAA investigation, and State fans in general feel they’re getting their just desserts for the dirty program they’ve been running. There is no love lost there. I’ll probably just follow it on the Game Tracker. College games are almost never shown on TV over here. My brother usually records all the games, puts them on a DVD, and sends them to me to watch later.

Dead On

Posted on: October 20th, 2011 by Jim Manley  | 

Flying high above all obstacles requires only the simplest navigation. Ancient mariners called it “dead reckoning.” Determine the heading to your destination, then use your compass to fly that course. Measure the distance, then divide it by your speed to learn how long the trip will take. Start the clock. When the time’s up you’re there. Unless…

The wind pushes you off course, affects your speed, or both. In that case, pick intermediate checkpoints. They show how far off course you are, or if you’re early or late. So, no worries, you’ll get there. Unless…

Everything beneath you looks the same––rolling hills, blank desert, endless jungle, ocean. In that case, go out of your way. Pick a place near your destination you know you can find. Go there, then take a new, shorter course to your target. And flying high makes it easier to find. You’ll just arrive a little late. Unless…

An angry ceiling pushes you down low. There, as you look up at hill tops and count individual leaves below, everything happens fast; twisting, turning, following river and creek, dales between and dips in low ridges that point in all directions at once. You’re exhausted trying to keep track of where you might be, where your destination once lay and, while you’re at it, not running into anything harder than air.

MAF Plane Instrument Control PanelOn such days, I made life and death decisions for patients, passengers and myself based on discerning subtle terrain features. Great uncertainty, great stress, great chance for error. Until…

We installed GPS (Global Positioning System) in our planes. Suddenly I could tell my exact position within plus or minus 30 feet anywhere on earth. No matter if invisible wind pushed me off course, heavy clouds forced me low, dark rain obscured my vision, or tangled terrain confused my way. A sure guide always pointed the true course. My job? Simple. Just recognize and follow.