Who Owns the Moon?

On July 20, 1969  I was between my freshman and sophomore years at the Naval Academy.  I was at the Academy that evening, watching with millions of other Americans, as Neil Armstrong took, "one small step for man...".  I recall being in a room with a bunch of other midshipmen over in the 4th wing of Bancroft Hall.

This was, without doubt, a shining moment in human exploration, and a shining moment for NASA and the USA.  The space race had been won!  The USA was proud, for that one moment.

A couple of weeks back we were transporting a UB student who had attended the weekly Navigators Bible study, way out in Block 8.  Somehow it came out in the conversation that the imperialist USA thinks they own the world.

One of the great benefits of being in another culture is seeing your own culture through other eyes.  In the biggest part of the world, the USA is disliked, though ironically US citizens, called "Americans" are fairly popular, more-so in some locales than others.

It caught Brenda and me totally off-guard, when the imperialistic nature of the USA was illustrated by the comment, "They even planted a US flag on the moon.  The USA thinks they own the moon."

Wow, I had never thought of it that way.

Whereas I have traveled enough that I know that each culture sees the world, and sees life, a bit differently; I am often caught off guard.

That said, we all need to cultivate a sense of empathy for how every individual sees the world, and sees life, a bit differently.  When we examine the Bible, that should be in mind.  When we share Christ, or our testimony, we should keep that in mind.  Everybody sees things a little different.

Handle with care, we are dealing with G^d's unique creation.

Still More Trees

You may begin to think I have a tree obsession.  I wouldn't call it an obsession so much as a deep artistic appreciation (bordering perhaps on obsession).  I love trees.  They give us shade, beauty, fruit, nuts, paper, lumber, oxygen, and... maple syrup.

Trees come in many shapes and sizes.  Though this baobab probably is an extreme.

A few miles north of Gaborone, some of the trees seems to be turning yellow for fall.

Maybe it harkens back to the tree of life in the Garden. I am not sure.  G^d's creation is a testimony to him.

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." 

Hey trees reach to the heavens.

A Clean Sweep

One of the great occupations in Botswana is sweeping.  UB has hundreds of employees keeping up the place, and a goodly portion of those workers are sweepers.  Almost every time I go across campus, to class, or on some errand, I see people, sometimes several, sweeping.  They not only sweep the sidewalks and gutters, they sweep the ground too.

Mostly they seem to focus on sweeping up leaves.  I say this because there is plenty of litter around, and if they were sweeping litter, as many sweepers as there are, I wouldn't have much to pick up.  I toss a lot of trash in trashcans here, and most of them have a small square-sided bucket and a dustpan inside for the sweepers to use.

I'm guessing that all this sweeping is a cultural thing.  I recall my father telling me that in the old days (Dad was born in 1913) anyone with grass growing in their yard was considered slovenly.  You had a yard broom and you swept your yard regularly enough to keep all vegetation eliminated.

As you can see above, there may be old burned logs, a hose lying shelter-skelter, cluttering trash, but by George, that dirt is getting swept!

This reminds me of............me.  I worry about the mundane, and over-look the important.  I sweep the dirt and ignore the more easily remedied but bigger issues.  I "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel" as Jesus once noted.

Is there hope for me?  No, not for me.  Perhaps if I paid more attention to the Holy Spirit I could make some progress.  But wait, I think I need to stop thinking about this and go brush my teeth.

Everyone's Favorite: Politics

The student politics at the Univ. of Alabama can be intense, for a couple of weeks before elections.  Other than that, politics are pretty mundane.

On many Universities around the world, student politics seem MUCH more intense.  We recently had student government elections here at UB.  It seemed such a big deal that two of my students who were running for office, chose to forgo the test (1 of only two for the term) in order to campaign at the polls on election day.

In the above photo you can see the loooooong queue for voting in one of the cafeterias.  It was a big day.   In the weeks preceding, the campus was covered with posters, and every party had a tent on the plaza in front of the student center.  This was big time campaigning.

Above is a picture of  a well-dressed politician on the evening of elections.

I recall in VZ, at the Univ. of Maricabo, elections and student government were a major power.  Students were a political force, not just on campus, but in national politics too.  Here, student protests and strikes can be pretty serious.  Police disbursed a group of students at a local private school just last week.

I think it is a universal hope that somehow, somewhere, some day, politicians will actually act in the best interests of their constituency.  It has happened on a rare occasion here and there.

Hope springs eternal, and I understand the need for hope.

As most of you know, I am a cynic and skeptic but nature and by training as a scientist.  As an old timer, I have increased my cynicism, and decreased my hopes that politics will ever do very much good for anyone except the politicians.

My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness.   I hope not in man, and certainly not in politicians.  Dr. Robert Griffith's emails end with this CS Lewis quote, "If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world."

Indeed.

Small but Wise II

“Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags;"
Prov. 30:24-25

 We were visiting for the first time, the Botanical Gardens less than a mile from our apartment.  As we strolled along, learning what we could, Brenda cried out, "Look groundhogs!"

Before even seeing them I knew she had seen some hyrax.  I scurried around trying to get a decent photo only to discover that hyrax are:

• Extremely shy
• Very quick on their feet
• Extremely agile amongst the trees and rocks.

 I reminded Brenda that when in Africa right after we were married, for some reason I bought a blanket made up of squares of hyrax fur sown together.  We kept it for a few years, and in Pensacola we used it to try to make something out of a little piece of sofa that was one of our few meager pieces of furniture.

The hyrax we saw today were amazingly cute and made me regret supporting the hyrax fur trade.  I Goggled them and discovered that the Proverb 30 quote might be a lot more accurate than we thought, up until a few years ago.

In Israel hyrax are considered pests, which means they are the subject of scientific study.  Lo and behold it turns out that hyrax have a complec bird-like communication with evidence of syntax (http://www.gentlewisdom.org/5293/hyrax-intelligence-scientists-discover-biblical-truth/).  It is said they rank alongside " primates, whales, birds and bats" as top-ranked communicators.

Who knew?

But one thing should becoming clear by this point, The Scriptures, ordained by G^d, are trustworthy, not only for science but for life.

Now, if I could just live according to Scripture!  Ps 119:9-11.

Ah, Variety, the Spice of Africa

In less than 3 months we have seen:

Rhino, hippo, elephant, eland, kudu, gemsbok, impala, springbok, duiker, giraffes, zebra, widebeest, hartebeest, warthog, cape buffalo, puku, babbons, monkeys, water monitors, slender mongoose, banded mongoose, spring hare, hyrax, squirrels, water buck, crocodile, black-backed jackal, and lots and lots of birds.

It is unbelievable to see this variety in their natural, native habitat.  Part of the thrill is:

• You never know what you will see.
• You never know how many.
• You never know where
• You never know what combinations
• You never know what actions they will be taking.

We are surprised at how superior this is to the zoo, where all the above are known before you start.

It's odd that we see life in mostly opposite terms.  We want the pre-packaged, deterministic, fully insured.  We don't want surprises, and we are generally uncomfortable with the unknown.

Surprises are fun for some parts of vacation, but not for "real life".

I know I don't like any surprises.  I was trained by the Military to plan and plan for the unexpected.

And yet, G^d calls us to live by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinth 5:7).  If we know what's coming, there is no faith required.

L^rd increase my faith!

African Autos Around

People here tend to like nice cars.  In our humble parking lot of University Lecturers, there are some nice rides!  Mercedes are common.

Consequently, there is a thriving car wash business all along the roads.  They will wash your car and vacuum the inside for about $6.   They do a nice job too.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we bought a 99 Toyota Gaia.  That's the second newest car that we own!    So far it has worked out quite well.  It can haul a bunch of students home from church or to our Nav Bible study.  It served us well on our trip to Kasane back in early March.

Not sure why nice cars are so desirable.  People who are business minded, only want to steal nice cars.  If a nice car gets scratched, it is terrible.  If our Toyota gets scratched, we might not ever know.

Some of our friends wrecked their Suburu when they hit a Kudu.  Their car has been in the shop for over 3 months!  They say it is hard to find Suburu parts. I hope that's not true for 99 Toyotas!

I think cars are mostly a pain.  I like to be able to go places, but beyond that there are repairs, insurance, maintenance, parking passes, and other stuff.  At UA I pay a boat-load on the off chance I will find an empty space I can use.  Here at UB, it's a lot more reasonable and there are more parking spaces.  I think I paid $4 for this fall term (Jan>May is Fall here.  Freaky eh?).  Even so, I have only driven to work once since I got the car.  I don't like cars or driving.

But enough about these details.  I just put a quote up on my email that is apt.  It is from Donald Miller, the Christian author and it goes like this,

“Moral #1: "If you work hard, stay focused, and never give up, you will eventually get what you want in life.
Moral #2: Sometimes the things we want most in life are the things that will kill us.” 


That's especially apropos for cars!