This meditation follows the order of creation in Genesis 1, which leads us through the diversity of our universe. Feel free to substitute specific objects (e.g., a star, a flower, a bug, etc.) as you meditate.

Cultivating gratitude for the natural world and awareness for its complexity is an especially useful skill in our practice of mindful living. I hope this meditation works toward that end. :)

I use the meditation by reciting the long phrase on my first in and out breath, then just sitting in silence for several minutes before progressing to the next phrase. I often will use the key words (e.g., light / praise) during my silences....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

1. Aware of the wonderful gift of light, I breathe in.
Praising the God who made light, I breathe out.

Light / Praise

2. Aware of the wonderful gift of water, I breathe in.
Praising the God who made water, I breathe out.

Water / Praise

3. Seeing the wonders of the heavens, I breathe in.
Praising the God who made the heavens, I breathe out.

Heavens / Praise

4. Seeing the beauty of the earth, I breathe in.
Praising the God who made the dry land, I breathe out.

Earth / Praise

5. Grateful for the flowers and fruits and all kinds of plants, I breathe in.
Praising the God who made the seed, I breathe out.

Flowers and Fruit / Praise

6. Grateful for the sun and the moon in the sky above, I breathe in.
Praising the God who gave light upon the earth, I breathe out.

Sun and Moon / Praise

7. Amazed at the swimming of fish and flight of birds, I breathe in.
Praising the God who filled the sea and sky with life, I breathe out.

Birds and Fish / Praise

8. Amazed at the animals and insects in the trees, on and under the ground, I breathe in.
Praising the God who created them all according to their kind, I breathe out.

Animals / Praise

9. Remembering that humans are made in the image of God, I breathe in.
Praising the God who shared the joy of life with us, I breathe out.

Humans / Praise

10. Remembering that God saw everything He had made and called it 'very good,' I breathe in.
Praising the God who rested and blessed His creation, I breathe out.

Good / Rest

Some questions to answer via Kris :)

1. You're currently in the MCC guesthouse.....will you eventually find and/or be in a place of your own?

Yes - we are in the guesthouse right now while we pick out where we want to live. Our language classes and orientation meetings are all at or near the MCC office, so it makes sense for us to be near hear right now. There is a house about 10 minutes away that we might be moving into soon - we are visiting it on Sunday. However, once I am working full time at Peace Bridges, it will be on the other side of the city, so we'll probably want to move somewhere nearer that office. That will be when we finish our intensive language study in a couple of months.... Finding a house is pretty easy, but we want to try to find a place with at least a small yard for John to play in (grass is unusual in the city). So we'll be patient. :)

2. Have you got any other classes or training going on at present besides language?

Yes - we've been in orientation about the MCC country program, rules, procedures, etc. (This includes meeting other MCC staff and partners.) We've also been getting involved in some of the MCC meetings (e.g., we had a partnership meeting yesterday, where everyone reports on their work, we hear requests for new projects, we make consensual decisions regarding requests coming into MCC, etc.).

On Tuesday, I'll (Dave) begin my first unit of training at Peace Bridges - An introduction to effective peace maker strategies for conflicted groups. I'm really looking forward to this.

3. Are you free and comfortable to go out and "explore the neighborhood"?

Yes. Some of the staff have shown us around, and we feel quite comfortable here. Holly and John have made a couple of trips to the market (yesterday they brought home some goodies, including a beautiful woven basket for a toy box and a Khmer style chess board for John), and we are planning on getting to the grocery store again this morning sometime. We walk to language classes, take tuk-tuks around the city, and play with the neighborhood children (John's frisbee is just about worn out now!).

4. How about the food and eating and cooking?

The food is great. There is a cook at the MCC guesthouse who has introduced us to some yummy dishes. We've been to a couple of restaurants, as well. There is a kitchen here for us to use, which we do for breakfast and weekends (and sometimes the evening meal). Shopping is easy, and selection is better than I expected. We eat a lot of rice, but the vegetables are plentiful. We've eaten mainly chicken and fish for meat. And there was this one curry soup with chicken and pineapple that was excellent. :)

5. What have John's first impressions/comments been?

John's homesick and misses Missouri but has been very resilient and adaptive. He likes the geckos and has been trying to play with the other children - but the language gap scares him a little. Mainly, he has been sticking to most of our Missouri routines and playing around the house to give him stability. He is very at home with the other MCC workers and plays with them all by himself. :)

CR Clearinghouse:
http://crinfo.org/index.jsp

Joyce asked some good questions in her last e-mail. Here are some answers -

1. are you catching up with your sleep yet?

We got 5 hours straight last night before John woke up! Hurray! We are right at 12 hours apart, so we wake up around midnight - 1 am hungry for lunch. :) We are all feeling pretty tired, but we're moving in the right direction. Hopefully, we'll get even more sleep tonight.

2. When do the language classes start? Will both of you be in it, if so what will you do with John?

We started Monday. We have a private tutor in the morning (Mr. Socheat) and then a private tutor in the afternoon at a language center nearby. Each session lasts an hour, then homework. The sessions are staggered so that one of us is always home with John. :)

3. Where do the children play if there are no parks?

In the streets sometimes, but mainly on the rooftops, which are mainly like pavilions. We spend a great deal of time playing freeze tag up there (John's new version is 'Gecko tag''). There's a small swing set on our rooftop, along with the kitchen, eating area, and lots of plants. It's not too bad a place to play!

4. Aren't most of the homes multiple family dwellings?

It varies. Sometimes it's multi-generations. Sometimes the landlord lives in the (cooler) downstairs. etc. We are still at the MCC office/guesthouse. The offices are downstairs, the guest rooms on the second floor, and then the rooftop pavilion.

Well, I believe that's all for tonight. I am ready to go to bed! :) Many thanks to all of you and many prayers, too!

To my knowledge, this is one of the most even-handed and informative websites on modern Cambodian history. It includes some oral histories, a general overview, photos, statistics, articles and links. They are generally even-handed and well written:

Cambodia: Beauty and Darkness - http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/index.htm

Other places of interest -

Cambodia Statistics:
http://www.nis.gov.kh/

Peacebuilding in Cambodia:
http://www.peacemakers.ca/research/Cambodia/

VBNK Development Resources:
http://vbnk.org/home.htm

Peace Bridges & the ICF:
http://www.icfpp.org/PeaceBridges.shtml

Silaka:
http://www.silaka.org/

Friends (Aid and Vocational training for street kids):
http://www.streetfriends.org/

Bloom Cafe and Bags:
http://www.bloomcambodia.com/
http://cambodiacalling.blogspot.com/

Riverkids Project (Stopping Child Trafficking):
http://www.riverkidsproject.org/index.html

This brief meditation reminds us of God's special work in breathing life into humanity - awareness of breath for the Christian should be awareness of the precious nature of the gift of life and life's constant dependence on God's spirit. I use the meditation by reciting the long phrase on my first in and out breath, then just sitting in silence for several minutes before progressing to the next phrase. I often will use the key words (e.g., dust / body) during my silences....

"Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground nd breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." Genesis 1:27

1. Aware that I am made of dust, I breathe in.
Aware of my body, wonderfully and fearfully made, I breathe out.

Dust / Body

2. Aware of life in my body, I breathe in.
Aware that God gives the breath of life, I breathe out.

Life / Breath

3. Aware of the presence of God, I breathe in.
Aware of God's peace, I breathe out.

Presence / Peace

Funny how God provides the little things.

John had two wishes for when we arrived in Cambodia. First, he wanted incense (to play a favorite game from 'home'). Second, he wanted sparklers. I didn't expect the first to be too hard, but didn't know when we'd get to a store that carried incense. We went to lunch with another worker on Saturday, though, and at the store after lunch John discovered a HUGE package of incense. Maybe 200 sticks - a diameter bigger than a softball. And it cost a whopping $1.25. So far, so good.

The second wish I thought pretty unlikely. But we went to a expat gathering for dinner on Saturday evening, and - you guessed it - they had sparklers for the kids. John was super excited and had so much fun. :)

Little things like these - small surprises - go a long way in making adjustments. Now, if we could only sleep at night.... ;)

Getting ready to leave, I'm remembering the birds - looking forward to the new feathered friends I'll make in Cambodia while remembering the familiar feathers from Missouri.

The birds were delightful this summer. Our pair of orioles left in late May, but they were beautiful this year. The goldfinches were a dazzling yellow, and we had fun watching the white-breasted nuthatches hanging around - until a squirrel chewed the rope off our sunflower feeder! I happened to be watching when he fell - quite surprised by it. He stared at the feeder like gravity was in conspiracy against him. I felt a little caught by that - that somehow my complaints against the universe are a little like his own.... :)

Finally - this was a treat - I got to see a scissor-tailed flycatcher while we were traveling to Springfield in June. I haven't seen one since 2000! :)

I guess the beginning goes back to a paper I wrote in seminary on Thomas Muntzer (1997). In my research, I came into contact with a dissertation by a man named Rom Maczka. I wrote to him by e-mail, and he first introduced me to the work of Mennonite Central Committee. It turned out that we had more in common than an interest in Reformation-era heretics and history. Like us, Rom was not a Mennonite, but he had deep convictions about peace and justice. He had worked with MCC in Eastern Europe. His story stuck in my head.

Fast forward 6 years to December 26, 2004. We had traveled to Indonesia before and had good friends doing humanitarian work in Aceh. Even though we couldn't do anyhing long-term at the time, we contacted MCC about doing short-term work to help the survivors rebuild Aceh, Indonesia. That didn't work out, but in the application process, MCC began discussing the possibility of becoming services workers. We were committed to a local pastorate at the time and didn't feel like we could leave, but the idea stuck in our heads.

A few months ago, while we were in transition and looking for employment, I sent an e-mail to MCC to update our file with them. Our representative started contacting us more and told us she really felt like she had found a great fit for us. It was in Cambodia. That was in May. A month later and we had accepted.

I am leaving out most of the story, but it really amazes me how we got to this point. Then again, God has a way of bringing people together in amazing ways. More than a history paper on Thomas Muntzer, more than an e-mail friendship with a MCC alumni, more than a tsunami to stir our hearts, more than all of our experiences that fill our lives and the lives of billions of others, God is holding all things together. Paul put it this way in Ephesians 2 -

“12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, .... 13But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15..., 16and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 18for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” (NASB)

I can see better than ever how our lives live out these words when we follow Christ, how God brings us closer to each other as we get closer to him, how Christ preaches peace into our lives and makes our lives a sermon about his own peace. We have all collected our amazing stories, our tragic stories, our embarrassing stories, our joyful stories. But if we learn to hear them right, there is only one story: He himself is our peace.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately because my job title is Peace Advisor. MCC has seconded me to a local Cambodian humanitarian group called Peace Bridges, a group of people committed to preaching peace, like Jesus, to those who are near and those who are far away.

I have great respect for the people of Cambodia, rebuilding after a horrific century of loss great enough to fracture any society. My generation of adults were just children during the Khmer Rouge regime, when around 2 million people died in 4 short years (1975-1979). Civil war continued for another decade. Families and institutions and infrastructures were destroyed. Those that survived have had to start over. And that has been hard. Peace is hard more most of us, let alone when we have that kind of sustained trauma in our past. I am glad to join their story, to learn and give and live this peace together.

And we CAN join together. As Paul put it, we all have access in one Spirit to the Father. Cambodia is half-way around the world from where we always called 'home.' But the peace that Jesus brought to us isn't restricted to certain time zones or continents. We still have instant access to the one Spirit. Paul reminds us that what makes us really far off from one another is not distance measured in miles, but our unwillingness to live out Christ's peace. So perhaps we are not moving at all -

13[for] now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For He Himself is our peace...

See you in Cambodia! :)

This scripture meditation is based on Colossians 3. I use it in a similar style to Buddhist Metta (lovingkindness) meditation (see the explanation that follows).

Begin by praying these verses for yourself. You are opening your heart to God. When distracting thoughts come, just return to the scripture without judging yourself. You simply return to the promise of Christ's peace.

You can take as long as you want to sit with these words, but this is not a time to analyze them. You are praying, just indicating your willingness for God to bring peace into your life.

When you are ready, return to the beginning of the prayer and extend it to others. Think of someone who is dear to you, someone that you love. Meditate again, placing your loved one in the peace of Christ.

Return a third time to the beginning and think of someone who you don't know well at all, an acquaintance or someone you see but have never taken the time to know. Hold them also before your mind as you pray.

The fourth meditation on the peace of Christ is the hard part. Pray for someone who irritates you, someone who is hostile toward you, someone who makes you sad or angry, someone who has hurt you, or someone you cannot forgive. Pray for your enemies, as Christ commanded us.

You could keep praying like this indefinitely for family, friends, acquaintances, enemies, government, etc. When you are ready to end, though, return to the beginning and pray for yourself one last time.

This is an excellent way begin a day, prepare for (or deal with) a difficult situation, or close an evening. If you meditate like this consistently, you will find that you naturally have a calmer disposition, more open to the love of God and the love of others. :)

On Thursday, August 16, we will be leaving for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

In the meantime, we are sorting through our remaining belongings and gathering our wits. :)