Wednesday, July 30, 2008
hurry up and wait (patience)
the waiting began on march 3rd. it continues...its been difficult to wait for august 21st to roll around. but tomorrow marks 3 weeks until departure. 3 weeks. after almost 5 months of waiting, we are on the doorstep of the biggest adventure of our lives. yet, we are nervous about one thing: being completely immersed in a new culture that we really know nothing about. not that we haven't been doing everything we can to learn, its just impossible to imagine a world so different from our own. it will be the month of Ramadan ten days after we arrive in amman. everyone (at least 97% of everyone) will be fasting from food and drink while the sun is up. we get 10 days to prepare ourselves for this festival/ritual/sacrament of Islam. and, it is our intention to participate. will we be able to survive? yes. will we be able to be an example of love to these people who are so different from us? i hope. please earnestly pray for us that we can be love and live love and show love while we are in this strange land. here's a picture of us now, prepared for jordan, so you can imagine us in the middle east. ma'salaami
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perhaps. this would be similar to participating in a fast for Lent, though. i do believe that most "christians" are aware of the lent season and fast from something during that 40 day period, even though lent is a primarily catholic tradition...fasting at the same time as someone else doesn't declare you the same in belief or practice. it just provides solidarity. our participation as americans will beg the question of "are you muslims?" from those around us. this gives us the opportunity to have open conversations. if we did not participate, we would show that we do not value their culture, or worse that we've come to change their culture. neither would be true.
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