Friday, November 16, 2007
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Father, Son, & Holy Spirit y Dios
The rest of my team is off to Bajo Grande for the weekend, a small town in the mountains for a short-term missions trip with some students. I am left holding down the fort here in Panama City as my current physical condition isn't at a place where I can handle the conditions. So...it's me, myself & I along with 1 000 000 Panamanians for the weekend. But I have decided to forgo the Independence day celebrations that the rest of the city is partaking in to spend some quality time alone with God. And this is where my title comes in...
Father, Son, & Holy Spirit y Dios. A couple of weeks ago my team was jokingly discussing how Dios (God in Spanish) is the forth part of the trinity. Maybe not theologically correct, but there is an element of truth to the equation. There is a new side of God that I am experiencing for the first time here in Panama, Spanish God, Dios.
I think a lot of it is language, English is missing some words. Take the world 'love' for example. In English we say "I 'love' pizza" in the same breathe the we say "I 'love' my sister". Do we really feel the same way about pizza that we do our families? Spanish on the other hand has more than ten words for 'love'.
The same is true with God. El Senor, Dios, Padre, El Rey, our Lord, our God, our Father, our King. We came to Panama to show Panamanians how they can know God personally, but in doing this we're getting to know God personally in a whole new way. Being placed in a situation where you can solely depend on God you're given a unique opportunity to get to know God in a whole new way. It is really too bad that language stops us from experiencing all there is of God, or maybe more correctly being able to rely to others our exact experience.
While on STINT we are blessed with the opportunity to take one day a month as "a day alone with God". I look forward to these days, they are refreshing like nothing else. Its incredible, after a four day weekend interacting with few other than a couple of store clerks and a couple of phone calls home to friends and family, I crave nothing more than what I will experience on Wednesday, even after this weekend. I highly encourage you, if you don't take an entire day once a month or every six weeks for yourself and God, do it. He'll rock your world. I am not suggesting a day of solitude, though if that's what you need, go for it. I am suggesting a day free of distractions, a day completely free of responsibilities with school, or at the office, or whatever...clear the day and let God direct it. Maybe you'll be blessed by experiencing God in a whole new way, like I am experiencing Dios here in Panama.
Father, Son, & Holy Spirit y Dios. A couple of weeks ago my team was jokingly discussing how Dios (God in Spanish) is the forth part of the trinity. Maybe not theologically correct, but there is an element of truth to the equation. There is a new side of God that I am experiencing for the first time here in Panama, Spanish God, Dios.
I think a lot of it is language, English is missing some words. Take the world 'love' for example. In English we say "I 'love' pizza" in the same breathe the we say "I 'love' my sister". Do we really feel the same way about pizza that we do our families? Spanish on the other hand has more than ten words for 'love'.
The same is true with God. El Senor, Dios, Padre, El Rey, our Lord, our God, our Father, our King. We came to Panama to show Panamanians how they can know God personally, but in doing this we're getting to know God personally in a whole new way. Being placed in a situation where you can solely depend on God you're given a unique opportunity to get to know God in a whole new way. It is really too bad that language stops us from experiencing all there is of God, or maybe more correctly being able to rely to others our exact experience.
While on STINT we are blessed with the opportunity to take one day a month as "a day alone with God". I look forward to these days, they are refreshing like nothing else. Its incredible, after a four day weekend interacting with few other than a couple of store clerks and a couple of phone calls home to friends and family, I crave nothing more than what I will experience on Wednesday, even after this weekend. I highly encourage you, if you don't take an entire day once a month or every six weeks for yourself and God, do it. He'll rock your world. I am not suggesting a day of solitude, though if that's what you need, go for it. I am suggesting a day free of distractions, a day completely free of responsibilities with school, or at the office, or whatever...clear the day and let God direct it. Maybe you'll be blessed by experiencing God in a whole new way, like I am experiencing Dios here in Panama.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
DANCE, DANSE, DANZA, DANCE
To Dance - To move rhythmically usually to music, using prescribed or improvised steps and gestures, an artistic form of nonverbal communication.
For those of you who are unaware of my past, dancing took up most of it. I dedicated the majority of my time outside of school, and much time suppossed to be spent in school to dance, or something related. It became more than a passtime or hobby, it became a lifestyle. Blessed by the opportunity to study many forms of dance, ballet, jazz, tap, highland, modern, swing, folk, the list goes, has left me unable to decide my favorite! Fusion of multiple forms is probably where I find my passion lying.
Dance has been a creative outlet, a way to blow off steam, a way to connect, a way to disconnect. There are few feelings that come close to the feeling one gets after nailing a show infront of hundreds of people, or finially getting an excerise correct in class, watching students master something you've taught them. Dance never fails you...regardless of if its in your living room dancing for only you, or on stage for a packed house, the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment is next to nothing!
Dance, however has not played a role in my life for almost two years now. A knee dislocation stopped my plans in dance right in their tracks. My body was unable to do what was required of it and I made the decision to stop dancing and study religion and psychology at SMU instead. My life the last couple years has looked completely different to those of the previous. But alas, I don't post just for nostalgic reasons...I post because once again I am back in the studio.
I forgot how much I loved to dance, and realised how much I missed it! I am currently working with a show that my church here in Panama is putting on for Christmas. I am told that thousands of people will watch the show live, not to mention the numbers that will see it on TV! I am so excited for it...though it is a very humbling experience...my body isn't what is was, so I'm now in the process of re-teaching myself everything I once new so I don't humiliate myself! But I love the challenge it provides and the opportunity to get to know an entire new group or Panamanians!!
"a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance" - Ecclesiastes 3:4
For those of you who are unaware of my past, dancing took up most of it. I dedicated the majority of my time outside of school, and much time suppossed to be spent in school to dance, or something related. It became more than a passtime or hobby, it became a lifestyle. Blessed by the opportunity to study many forms of dance, ballet, jazz, tap, highland, modern, swing, folk, the list goes, has left me unable to decide my favorite! Fusion of multiple forms is probably where I find my passion lying.
Dance has been a creative outlet, a way to blow off steam, a way to connect, a way to disconnect. There are few feelings that come close to the feeling one gets after nailing a show infront of hundreds of people, or finially getting an excerise correct in class, watching students master something you've taught them. Dance never fails you...regardless of if its in your living room dancing for only you, or on stage for a packed house, the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment is next to nothing!
Dance, however has not played a role in my life for almost two years now. A knee dislocation stopped my plans in dance right in their tracks. My body was unable to do what was required of it and I made the decision to stop dancing and study religion and psychology at SMU instead. My life the last couple years has looked completely different to those of the previous. But alas, I don't post just for nostalgic reasons...I post because once again I am back in the studio.
I forgot how much I loved to dance, and realised how much I missed it! I am currently working with a show that my church here in Panama is putting on for Christmas. I am told that thousands of people will watch the show live, not to mention the numbers that will see it on TV! I am so excited for it...though it is a very humbling experience...my body isn't what is was, so I'm now in the process of re-teaching myself everything I once new so I don't humiliate myself! But I love the challenge it provides and the opportunity to get to know an entire new group or Panamanians!!
"a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance" - Ecclesiastes 3:4
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