I think I am beginning to understand what "culture shock" means.
It's not that there is anything wrong -- it's just different, different, different, different.... Different road signs, different rules for crossing the street, different rules when you walk into a house, different food, different directions on doorways, different advertisements on the metro, different transportation, different cars, different money, different ways to measure distance, different bathrooms, day after day sitting with people as they chatter away in a different language and you don't have any idea what they are saying, going to a museum and someone gives you a long, detailed explanation of what you are looking at, and you only understand 0.1% of what he is saying. Sometimes, you may even recognize that this new way of doing something is better than what you do at home, but that still doesn't stop it from being different...
You aren't mad at people -- after all, they're just doing the normal things they have always done -- you just get TIRED. Tired of having to THINK about all the little bits of living that you never had to think about before. Tired of having to work so hard to accomplish the normal little bits of life that you have to do every minute of every day.
I've loved this trip to the Czech Republic, and to be honest, I'm still loving it, but I think I will be very, very glad to be home.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Tales of the Tryons Czech / First Week
Just a quick note... Sue and I are here in the Czech Republic. The Internet here has been spotty (our link was down for the past several days at the home where we are staying), so it's been hard to get out a report.
HOWEVER, we want to report that we have been having a great time here! The first few days were mostly getting set up (and recovering from jet-lag!), getting art supplies, coming together as a team (both the US team and the church we are working with here), learning about the Czech Republic and its history and culture.
HOWEVER, we want to report that we have been having a great time here! The first few days were mostly getting set up (and recovering from jet-lag!), getting art supplies, coming together as a team (both the US team and the church we are working with here), learning about the Czech Republic and its history and culture.
On Tuesday, we dove into what will be our more or less regular schedule for the next two weeks. We are in a large tent in one of the squares in the city (within sight of the river). In the morning, we spend time in devotions and prayer, and then in our individual art activities. After lunch at a local cafe, we start the free workshops. There are a LOT of people walking through the square, so we have many people dropping in to the tent, curious to see what all these crazy artists (5 of us working on creating art, plus a photographer/journalist and a bunch of the people from the church) are working on. We are open to people of all ages just dropping in and joining various learning sessions. Not surprisingly, my table of clay attracts a lot of kids! I have kids from probably around 6 or 8, up to much older "kids" in their 20's and 30's. (I'm convinced that picking up a lump of clay will bring out the child again in almost anyone!) It's pretty crazy, with up to 6 or 8 people all working at once. Depending on who is there, or when they come, or how much "instruction" they need, I may be teaching a specific project, or just helping people out as they dive in and start making whatever is on their mind. Technically, the workshops start at 3:00, but it's hard to turn down a bunch of excited kids at 1:30 or 2:00 when we get back from lunch, so by the time 5:00 rolls around, I'm pretty whipped. Happy, but exhausted!
After dinner, the local church is putting on either music concerts or teaching seminars in the tent, so we have to clean up all our stuff (and I have to clean all my tools and clean the mud off the table :-/) before we leave for dinner. One of my hardest things is getting all my students to stop in time for me to clean up!
It's an amazing, diverse team. I'll try to describe them more later, but for now, I have to get to bed, since the alarm will go off all too early in the morning tomorrow!
Keep praying for good, meaningful conversations, for good communication across the language barrier, and for good health for the team.
Blessings!
It's an amazing, diverse team. I'll try to describe them more later, but for now, I have to get to bed, since the alarm will go off all too early in the morning tomorrow!
Keep praying for good, meaningful conversations, for good communication across the language barrier, and for good health for the team.
Blessings!
Monday, October 01, 2012
The Potter and the Clay
Did you ever think about who was the first Potter in history? The Bible says that God formed Adam out of the dust. Not, it doesn't specifically say this, but I have a feeling that He added a little water to the dust first so He could make Adam from clay!
God is an artist. Look around and see the beauty of a sunset, or a tiny flower, or hear the gurgle of a swift running stream, or see the majesty of a snow covered mountain, and you cannot help but see what a wonderful artist He is. There is art in everything God does, and He has planted that same spirit inside each of us.
As an artist and a potter, I know that God speaks to me through my work with clay. In Isaiah 64, the Bible says that God is the Potter, and we are the clay. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in II Cor. 4:7, he says that we have this great message of God's work of reconciliation that he has given to us, but we carry this message as if we were "jars of clay", so that the glory of the message doesn't go to us (the clay pots) but to God. When I build a sculpture out of clay, I can see many parallels between the creative process I go through, and the way that God works in our lives.
When you start with clay, it is dry dust. It's as if it is dead. You can't do anything with it in this state. In the same way, when God finds us, we are spiritually dead. There is nothing we can do to reach out to God on our own. However, if you add some water to this dust, it suddenly transforms into something that can be worked and molded. God adds "water" to our lives in the form of His Holy Spirit.
When I begin to work on a sculpture, I usually have a picture in my mind of where I want to go with this piece, of what it will look like in the end. I am also figuring out the steps I will need to go through in order to reach that goal. When God saves us, He has a very clear picture of the path He wishes to bring us down, and the final destination He has for us. The clay has no idea of the final destination, but the Potter knows...
I also know that clay, even in its best state, doesn't always cooperate with what I want it to do. It may crack, or be so soft it collapses. However, I keep patiently working with it, even when it seems to be fighting back. God knows our nature, and how we don't always go in the direction He wants us to go, but He patiently keeps working on us.
Next, when I have finished molding the sculpture, I need to put it aside for a time to let it dry. I haven't forgotten about it, but it looks like I am not doing any work on it. However, this is a critical step in the process. If the clay isn't allowed to completely dry out, then in the next step--the fire--the trapped moisture can turn to steam and literally cause the piece to explode and be destroyed. If it explodes, it may even ruin other pieces around it. One danger with this step though is the fact that the clay becomes very brittle and easy to break. It is very easy to bump it and cause it to shatter. When God is working on our lives, it feels sometimes like He has forgotten us, or set us in a corner to be ignored. Life seems dry and unfruitful, and no one is paying any attention to us. In reality, He has not forgotten about us at all. Rather, He is preparing us for the next step in His process. The Potter knows what He is doing...
Of course, just when we think things can't get any worse, they do... Into the fire! When I fire a piece in the kiln, I know just what temperature I have to reach. The firing begins slowly, and then step by step over the next several hours, I will push the kiln hotter and hotter, up to around 1000°C (bright yellow heat), usually over a period of eight hours or more. I have to carefully control the temperature so that the stress of the heat doesn't shatter the pieces inside of the kiln. In this heat, there are many internal changes that take place inside of the clay. When God, as the Potter, puts us through the fire of circumstances and trials, He knows just exactly how hot to make things in order to accomplish His purposes in us, to strengthen us and prepare us for what is coming next. The Potter knows what He is doing...
Next, I let the kiln slowly cool down. It usually takes six to eight hours for the kiln to cool. If I open it too soon, the thermal shock can shatter the pieces. God knows when we need to rest, and He knows when to lower the heat in our lives.
When I take a piece out of the first firing, the heat has transformed the clay from "dried mud" into stone. It is now hard and strong, but it is not yet beautiful! It has no color or shine. It is not very useful yet. So, I have to add glazes to the pot. Now, I know which glazes are supposed to create which colors, but when you look at the glaze in its raw form, it just looks like mud! There may be some color, but it is dull and uninteresting. There are times when God is working on us, and the circumstances just don't seem to make sense to us. They may look ugly or hard or useless. However, God has a purpose for everything, even when it looks ugly or useless. The Potter knows what He is doing...
Then... it's back into the fire. If the first fire seemed hot, the second firing is significantly hotter! In this case, I have to increase the temperature up to more than 1200°C. For the finest pottery, the temperature is even hotter. Under this heat, the dull ugly glaze melts, and the chemicals react to form the beautiful, glistening finish that I am looking for. I have to carefully control the temperature until it has reached exactly the right level before I can shut off the heat to let the kiln once again slowly cool down. Now, the piece is not only strong, but it is beautiful!
God knows where He is taking us. He has a purpose in mind -- purpose that may or may not make sense to us. We may not even have a chance in this life to see the ultimate goal of what He is doing in us.
A true piece of Art reflects and communicates the heart of the artist who created it. It speaks of the artist's dreams and goals and concerns, and what really moves them. In the same way, as God's artistic creations, we are intended to reflect and communicate His heart to the world around us. It may be a very long process, full of difficulty, but God wants to make each one of us into a Beautiful and Unique work of His art. If we are ready to go through the times of molding, and the dry times, the times that don't make sense, and through the fire, then we will see how God reflects His beautiful love to the world through us, His artwork.
God is an artist. Look around and see the beauty of a sunset, or a tiny flower, or hear the gurgle of a swift running stream, or see the majesty of a snow covered mountain, and you cannot help but see what a wonderful artist He is. There is art in everything God does, and He has planted that same spirit inside each of us.
As an artist and a potter, I know that God speaks to me through my work with clay. In Isaiah 64, the Bible says that God is the Potter, and we are the clay. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in II Cor. 4:7, he says that we have this great message of God's work of reconciliation that he has given to us, but we carry this message as if we were "jars of clay", so that the glory of the message doesn't go to us (the clay pots) but to God. When I build a sculpture out of clay, I can see many parallels between the creative process I go through, and the way that God works in our lives.
When you start with clay, it is dry dust. It's as if it is dead. You can't do anything with it in this state. In the same way, when God finds us, we are spiritually dead. There is nothing we can do to reach out to God on our own. However, if you add some water to this dust, it suddenly transforms into something that can be worked and molded. God adds "water" to our lives in the form of His Holy Spirit.
When I begin to work on a sculpture, I usually have a picture in my mind of where I want to go with this piece, of what it will look like in the end. I am also figuring out the steps I will need to go through in order to reach that goal. When God saves us, He has a very clear picture of the path He wishes to bring us down, and the final destination He has for us. The clay has no idea of the final destination, but the Potter knows...
I also know that clay, even in its best state, doesn't always cooperate with what I want it to do. It may crack, or be so soft it collapses. However, I keep patiently working with it, even when it seems to be fighting back. God knows our nature, and how we don't always go in the direction He wants us to go, but He patiently keeps working on us.
Next, when I have finished molding the sculpture, I need to put it aside for a time to let it dry. I haven't forgotten about it, but it looks like I am not doing any work on it. However, this is a critical step in the process. If the clay isn't allowed to completely dry out, then in the next step--the fire--the trapped moisture can turn to steam and literally cause the piece to explode and be destroyed. If it explodes, it may even ruin other pieces around it. One danger with this step though is the fact that the clay becomes very brittle and easy to break. It is very easy to bump it and cause it to shatter. When God is working on our lives, it feels sometimes like He has forgotten us, or set us in a corner to be ignored. Life seems dry and unfruitful, and no one is paying any attention to us. In reality, He has not forgotten about us at all. Rather, He is preparing us for the next step in His process. The Potter knows what He is doing...
Of course, just when we think things can't get any worse, they do... Into the fire! When I fire a piece in the kiln, I know just what temperature I have to reach. The firing begins slowly, and then step by step over the next several hours, I will push the kiln hotter and hotter, up to around 1000°C (bright yellow heat), usually over a period of eight hours or more. I have to carefully control the temperature so that the stress of the heat doesn't shatter the pieces inside of the kiln. In this heat, there are many internal changes that take place inside of the clay. When God, as the Potter, puts us through the fire of circumstances and trials, He knows just exactly how hot to make things in order to accomplish His purposes in us, to strengthen us and prepare us for what is coming next. The Potter knows what He is doing...
Next, I let the kiln slowly cool down. It usually takes six to eight hours for the kiln to cool. If I open it too soon, the thermal shock can shatter the pieces. God knows when we need to rest, and He knows when to lower the heat in our lives.
When I take a piece out of the first firing, the heat has transformed the clay from "dried mud" into stone. It is now hard and strong, but it is not yet beautiful! It has no color or shine. It is not very useful yet. So, I have to add glazes to the pot. Now, I know which glazes are supposed to create which colors, but when you look at the glaze in its raw form, it just looks like mud! There may be some color, but it is dull and uninteresting. There are times when God is working on us, and the circumstances just don't seem to make sense to us. They may look ugly or hard or useless. However, God has a purpose for everything, even when it looks ugly or useless. The Potter knows what He is doing...
Then... it's back into the fire. If the first fire seemed hot, the second firing is significantly hotter! In this case, I have to increase the temperature up to more than 1200°C. For the finest pottery, the temperature is even hotter. Under this heat, the dull ugly glaze melts, and the chemicals react to form the beautiful, glistening finish that I am looking for. I have to carefully control the temperature until it has reached exactly the right level before I can shut off the heat to let the kiln once again slowly cool down. Now, the piece is not only strong, but it is beautiful!
God knows where He is taking us. He has a purpose in mind -- purpose that may or may not make sense to us. We may not even have a chance in this life to see the ultimate goal of what He is doing in us.
A true piece of Art reflects and communicates the heart of the artist who created it. It speaks of the artist's dreams and goals and concerns, and what really moves them. In the same way, as God's artistic creations, we are intended to reflect and communicate His heart to the world around us. It may be a very long process, full of difficulty, but God wants to make each one of us into a Beautiful and Unique work of His art. If we are ready to go through the times of molding, and the dry times, the times that don't make sense, and through the fire, then we will see how God reflects His beautiful love to the world through us, His artwork.
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