Scrubby Little Baylor
Someone left the north door open this morning and let some unseasonably cold weather blow down into North Texas. I signed up a couple of weeks ago to help the Rotary Club flag detail this morning in observance of Pearl Harbor Day. The Weatherford Rotary Club has a trailer stocked with U.S. flags that we put out around the downtown square and County Courthouse on special days. It usually takes about 30 minutes to do them all. One crew puts them out early in the morning and then another crew picks them up in the evening.
When I signed up, I didn’t know that it was going to be 21 degrees with a wind chill of 14 at 6:30 this morning! That’s a bit cold for us Texans. So I layered up, put on a warm cowboy hat and met the crew downtown.
This is the 70th anniversary of that dreadful day at Pearl Harbor. I never served in the military so I always consider it an honor to put out the flags on days like this in memory of those who died in that attack, as well as those who courageously fought back. Somehow, I suppose, it makes me feel like I am doing my part.
Very few survivors remain with us, and in a few years they will all be gone. The task remains for us walking behind them to remember their sacrifice and never take our freedom for granted.
No need to fight about it. Christmas comes whether we mention it or not.
| “ | Prisoners are the truth bearers in our culture. Regardless of what we say, this is what we model: money is all; end a conflict with violence; address any difference of opinion with blame, dismissing or shunning. They bear that truth to us in vivid and destructive ways. |
| “ | We are witnessing culture transformation before our eyes. According to James Davison Hunter’s brilliant recent treatise, To Change the World, we don’t change culture merely by winning elections or building big churches. Culture resists frontal assaults such as the Moral Majority or the Christian Coalition. But it is defenseless against people who manifest “faithful presence” (Hunter’s term). |
| “ | Whenever you obey God, His seal is always that of peace, the witness of an unfathomable peace, which is not natural, but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, tarry till it does or find out the reason why it does not. |
Yesterday was a lesson reminding me to let God take care of the details. Last summer I was supply preaching for a vacationing Pastor at one of our churches in southern Parker County. The church pianist mentioned to me that she has a friend at work whose daughter is a pediatrician. The doctor speaks Russian and even has an adopted child from Russia, and she offered to try and put me in contact with her.
Through a series of e-mails, the pediatrician offered to help us with Nikolai’s initial medical visit if we were willing to make the drive to Denton. Yesterday we drove to Denton and this doctor spent over an hour with us going over his medical history, helping us understand some of the things we can expect to face in the future, did a thorough exam, and set up all the required lab tests.
The poor little guy had to have a lot of blood drawn along with some x-rays and some other tests, but he made it through. Having this doctor was such a blessing to us. She also clued us in on an iPad and iPhone app that translates English into Russian and then speaks it. We made some immediate use of that!
So, in Kolya’s first three days as an American he has been to the dentist, poked and prodded at the doctor’s office, and today has been to the Social Security office to get that all-important number.
He seems to be doing pretty well. The boys are getting used to each other and they are both hopefully learning that we have enough love and attention for each of them.
Getting connected to the pediatrician in Denton was such a blessing. It reminds me that we often fail to acknowledge how God is always working behind the scenes of our lives and that our security is in hands that are larger and much more capable than our own.
“Don’t you know that the gossips had a field day with Simon Peter.” - Dan Crawford at the PBA Annual Meeting.
The gospel is good news to everyone, especially at the most critical moments.
Since we were unable to leave for home today we decided to make the most of it. Our adoption agency representative here helped us get our bearings on the Metro, and we rode the subway to the Moscow flea market. We had been there on our previous trips and knew that it was the best place for souvenirs. We shopped until early afternoon then headed back to our part of town on the train, bought some lunch at a stand and let Kolya have some rest.
In the early evening we made our final visit to Arbat Street, a pedestrian mall near the apartment that was alive even on a cold Saturday afternoon. Lots of people were packed into the two Starbucks that are on the street as well as the other coffee houses and cafes. Street musicians and artists entertained onlookers for pocket change. One guitarist filled the air with an excellent acoustic rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” while a thin Russian girl did her best to handle Aretha Franklin’s “Think.” She was not quite getting there despite the help of the juggler performing with her.
Moscow is like most of the world’s major cities; traffic is horrible and people are everywhere. Still there is something unique about the ancient history that resides here alongside the modernization taking place. I like visiting Moscow. Once you learn the system it is easy to get around using the Metro. I have found people to be very friendly and I don’t feel as lost as I did when we were here six years ago.
Even so, our mission is accomplished and we are ready to go home. We leave for the airport at 3am, and our flight for Amsterdam leaves at 5:45. Thankfully, the time changes here tonight and we get an extra hour of sleep. We lay over in Amsterdam for 3 hours before flying to DFW and arriving at 2:30pm. We will be glad to be at the end of this journey.
We awoke to falling snow this morning but that did not keep us from exploring more of Moscow. After breakfast at Cinnabon (who can resist, even in Moscow?), we walked to the ancient Moscow Kremlin. There are actually several Kremlins (Citadels) in Russia but the one in Moscow is the most well-known for obvious reasons. We stopped and took pictures at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier but decided not to wait in the snow and cold for the changing of the Guard.
We passed on taking a tour inside the Kremlin walls and elected to stroll down the massive Red Square. As a child of the cold war era, it always feels surreal to walk here among the tourists and school groups in a place that I once only knew from televised news clips of military parades. Like the Kremlin, Red Square predates Communism by several centuries. The word “red” actually derives from an ancient translation of the Russian word for “beautiful” which was originally applied to St. Basil’s Cathedral which sits at the end of the square. So, the designation really has nothing to do with Communism.
Lenin’s Mausoleum remains on Red Square for now. His embalmed body has been on display there since shortly after his death in 1924. I did not check for myself, but I presume that the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution is still very much dead in odd contrast to his disdain for religious faith. Lenin shared the building with Stalin’s body for a short while, but Stalin is very much out of fashion these days. There is also talk of actually burying Lenin’s body which I presume would have some ceremonial effect of burying communism as well.
We made a brief stop at McDonalds to rest and warm up before walking back through the snow. Does anybody else chuckle at the thought of a McDonalds at the edge of Red Square? I wish we could export our faith as effectively as we export our vices and fast food. We also passed up two Starbucks on the way back. Since we had a very tired 5-year old we opted for hot tea back at the apartment.
Of most importance, we have registered Kolya as an adoptee with the Russian Foreign Ministry, so every detail has been completed. If we could get a flight tomorrow then we could go home, but we will have to wait until early Sunday morning. Kolya has done very well adjusting to us as parents, and we can’t wait to get home to the rest of our family.
