Sharing our good things.
Tell us something about your life in international development, faith, missions, cross-culturally…anything. Tell us something you have seen, heard about, done that is:
Good
Kind
Beautiful
Generous
Lovely
Praise-worthy
Honorable
You get the idea. Tell us something good.
Here’s mine (and actually several below are mine, too, oh well!):
Baby goats!
These little guys (13 of them in total) came over the ridge and swarmed me and my friend, bleating and crying and no shame, they walked right up to me and started licking my elbows and chewing my shirt. It was hilarious and awesome.
Best Book I Read
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad. This book is stunning. It is also devastating and left me in tears multiple times. The writing is incredibly brave and vulnerable. This is a cancer book but it is so much more than that. It is about relationships, love, friendship, pain, rage, loss, hope. As a cancer survivor it hit me especially hard, even though my cancer was like a cold compared to what she went through. Be warned, there is death and sorrow and pain here, so it might be for everyone. I loved it, could not put it down and even managed to read it during finals week!
Best Upcoming Book I Have Not Yet Read
What Is God Like? by Rachel Held Evans and Matthew Paul Turner. Even though Rachel passed away, her dream of writing books for children has been continued by those close to her. This book comes out in 4 days and looks amazing.
Best Review of Pillars
This is a bit long, but it is just so lovely. Some self-promotion here! You can also leave a review simply by writing, “Loved it, highly recommend!” Don’t feel pressure to make it long, but it would be so so great if you did leave a review!
“Pillars is the book I’ve been waiting for from this author. It encapsulates her ethos: a skillful weaving of humor, many-angled analysis, wrestling and guts. In Pillars, Jones writes about the gradual crushing and re-growing of her faith in Jesus as she lives among Muslims in the Horn of Africa.
Jones credits her stable upbringing with catapulting her into the world “to do some good.” But as she is broken and her motives are exposed as less-than-righteous, coupled with the hurt of being the continual outsider, Jones wrestles with what in the world she’s doing in Djibouti. Her conclusion? To recognize light, to see signs of God at work, and experience Immanuel – God with us – especially when it isn’t “safe.” To a lesser degree, she analyzes her identity as a Minnesotan evangelical Christian with candor, admiration, and a little bit of fun. (The recounting of her sister’s childhood description of hell had me chuckling long after I’d put the book down that night.)
Despite the memoir-like nature of this book, Jones’s friends are the real stars: Amaal, Deeqa, Gudal, a passerby writing “CIA” in the dirt, and several more individuals who add texture to the narrative and insight into how a particular set of Christian-Muslim friendships were forged. The stories allow readers access as Jones spends the day at a macaroni stall, swaggers along the road with her daughter, receives a death threat with words she doesn’t yet understand, and celebrates the birth of her friend’s unusually named son. From the words and actions of shopkeepers, house cleaners, tea sellers and a street beggar, we learn how Jones encounters Muslim practices. Structured loosely around the five pillars of Islam, the prose is nuanced, much like Jones and her surroundings; the religious ambiguities she has lived and is living in Djibouti are turned over and over like a gem; the Islamic pillars and how they relate to complexity of living among and befriending particular Somali or Djiboutian Muslims are seen from multiple angles, studied from different vantage points, and appreciated more than they could have been at first blush.
Along the way, Jones weaves in the Biblical narrative and Quranic account of Hagar, the Egyptian slave-woman seen by God and eventually freed and blessed with a son and a nation. With this as a backdrop, Jones details her struggle to understand, live in harmony, and flesh out the teachings of Jesus in a community that identifies with Hagar’s son, Ishmael. In my reading, the climax of this struggle came in the form of three plastic bags tied with red ribbons. A thoughtful gift from a Muslim at Christmastime served as a “sign” to Jones that treating one another with dignity and respect can happen between Muslims and Christians. She explains the Christmas gift not as “mashing religions together” but “nudging one another into deeper faith through shared delight” (p 184-85).
Warmth, humility and sincerity characterize both Jones and the Djiboutian community she currently calls home, speaking hope to both Christians and Muslims attempting to building bridges. With her courage and open-minded attitude, Jones nudged me into deeper faith and delight, and made me want to join her looking for evidence of God with us – even in the most unexpected places.”
Best End of Year School Performance
The International School of Djibouti celebrated the end of the year at the Cultural Center in Djibouti with a drama performance, class shows, and a potluck. All who are moving on for work and other reasons will be missed, it was another wonderful year!
Best YouTube Event
This group is amazing. I loved hearing them talk about faith together and it was a real honor to participate.
Best Article about Ministry
This is about the necessary inclusion of women, in particular women of color, in spaces of spiritual leadership. Regardless of one’s theological bent, he makes great points.
What’s your good thing from this week?
Thanks. I put a hold on the Suleika Jaouad ebook at the US library I have access to. I'm 21st in line to get it. (And I'm a fellow cancer surviver.)
Two quick good things to add:
Books: Running the World, by Nick Butter. First person to run a marathon in every country in the world. Absolutely incredible. (Not the writing skills, but the feat and scope of his accomplishments!!)
Thing: My family watched a quick documentary about Courtney Dewaulter running a 200 mile race in Tahoe. My oldest was so inspired that he is now in the midst of running 200 laps around our house before the 4th of July. We have a chart for his progress and everything! Seeing his drive, maturity, and dedication is inspiring to me.