Something occurred to me a while ago, after a family visit. I'm not sure what holiday it was, nor do I recall exactly which family members were present. I just remember that I said something someone did not like, and the next comment I heard was, "you always do that, Christy."

The thing about that, which stopped me cold in my tracks, was that I knew that I did not always do that. In fact, I knew that I used to always do that, but I had not done that in a really long time. The relative, who has known me since before I was born, could only see me the way I was years ago. He and I only see each other a few times a year, if that, so his best understanding of who I am as a person is defined by who I was the last time we saw one another on a daily basis.

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This is just becoming all too familiar. The first reports, the death toll climbing every half-hour or so, the news of those who survived, grieving for those who did not. I first learned about the earthquake today in Chile from Twitter - from Alyssa Milano on Twitter, in fact, retweeting photo images from the New York Times. I jumped on Facebook and learned that several friends of mine have relatives in Chile; thankfully, all reports are good news so far.

As I continued combing through news reports, I discovered that there was also an earthquake in Japan this morning. Then I heard further news - the warning of an impending tsunami. I have just been looking at the images on the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center web site, and I see nations and cities along the Pacific coast that are now at risk: Japan, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tonga and many other place.

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Good morning.

Forgive me for the fog I'm in as I sit at my desk, looking out the window it faces, where snow is falling in huge flakes. Just last night I remarked to my dog, "Isn't it nice that you have access to the grass again?" and now, in a few hours or so, he will once again be forced to do his business in the areas that get shoveled.

"Why the fog," you ask? I did not sleep last night. I was wide awake, tossing and turning, staring at the clock, praying for sleep, counting backwards, doing breathing exercises, willing myself to sleep, to no avail. I even got up and took a TylenolPM around 3AM. Sometime around 5:30 or so I must have dozed off, because I was in a light, foggy sleep when my alarm went off at 7. Now, having read some scripture and had some coffee, I am feeling better, but foggy. In a few moments, I will have a quick shower, get dressed and head in to work in Manhattan.

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I'm really looking forward to joining the ladies at Big Island Baptist Church in central Virginia March 19-20! If you're close by, join us! Click here to register.

 

In the past decade, two books have been profoundly important to me when it comes to world evangelism: Let the Nations Be Glad!, by John Piper, and Cities: Missions New Frontier, by Roger S. Greenway and Timothy N. Monsma. The former provides a robust theology for why we do missions*, while the latter addresses the changing focus of missions from the middle of nowhere in the bush or outback to the world's cultural centers.

I now have a third book for my list of required missions reading: The Meeting of the Waters: 7 Global Currents That Will Propel the Future Church, by Fritz Kling, releasing March 1 (click here to pre-order your copy at a discounted price.)

When it comes to how the work of foreign missions is executed, the twenty-first century has brought with it an entirely new set of trends that missionaries-in-training would do well to heed. Kling, a world traveler many times over in his role as president of a philanthropic management firm, has spent years on the ground in "the field," interacting with leaders throughout global Christendom, asking questions and analyzing his findings into seven "global currents" presently at work in the river of world missions.

From my much more modest experience doing missionary work in Asia, Central America, Africa and North America, I found myself uttering enthusiastic "amen's" throughout my reading of The Meeting of the Waters. How I wish I had the perspective this book offers when I first delved into the world of foreign missions over a decade ago. Kling is careful to honor the old wineskins, which for centuries have broken ground and reaped fruitful returns in many unreached areas. However, he is unapologetic and unflinching in his honesty when he articulates the changing tide of world evangelism and the challenges those changes pose for Christians going forward. While I could never quite get comfortable with the title he gave old-school missionaries - "Mission Marm" - neither could I deny the accuracy of his conclusions that we - those of us committed to doing the work of world evangelism - must change our perspective.

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In December, I worked on publishing a book of poetry written by L.L. Barkat, whose memoir, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places, came out in 2008. Ms. Barkat and I met early last year, when I sang at her church in NY, and at that time she gave me a copy of her book. When we next connected, she was becoming a more intentional patron of the arts, encouraging others to get involved with International Arts Movement (a movement I am part of) and make the arts a bigger part of their lives. When she came to IAM with a collection of poetry, we were delighted to publish it as the first of (hopefully) many books that embody IAM's commitment to filling the world with cultural artifacts that are good, true and beautiful.

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I bought a sweater once that was "one-size-fits-all," but I quickly discovered that "one-size-fits-all" is a bold-faced lie. When it comes to clothing, one size most definitely does not fit all. I am a size four, and the sweater practically swallowed me whole. It was supposed to be one of those items that stretched and retracted to accommodate its wearer, but instead it was bunchy and bulky and unflattering. It quickly moved to the back of my closet, only to be donated to Goodwill for some other gullible shopper to get suckered into buying.

One-size-fits-all is a lie when it comes to clothing. And, I am coming to learn, it is a lie in pretty much everything else. When the IAM staff first got our iPhones, mine felt clunky and large in my smallish hands, while my coworkers who are men with much larger hands did not find it awkward at all. When I go somewhere, I slide easily into my Nissan Sentra, but when I recently gave my friend Allen a ride, his height and girth made my small car a bit of a challenge. For him, a truck or larger sedan would fit much better. The more I think about it, one size does not really "fit" all. Rather, "all" adjust or accommodate or simply get used to using something that doesn't fit all that well. The more I think about it, life depends on "all" adjusting to the "one-size." I suppose, in some backward way, that is how manufacturers can get away with saying that "one size fits all."

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Last week, from Sunday to Sunday, was my church's annual week of prayer and fasting. Like he does every year, our pastor called the entire church to fast. What type of fast we did was entirely up to us. He just asked that we have 100% participation.

A few people I know of did juice fasts, but most of us did a modified Daniel fast of sorts. Some (myself among them) did a "media fast." For me, this meant that I did not watch any television or movies all week. 

Now, I do not consider myself a tv junkie. In fact, for years I did not watch television at all. But lately, I have grown very fond of Hulu. The truth is, I don't get any TV stations in my apartment; I do not have cable or a TiVo or DVR or anything of that technological ilk. But with Hulu, I can watch a variety of television programming any time, for free. So nowadays, especially after a long day of work, I come home, fix something to eat, and watch something on Hulu to "check out" for a bit.

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