Refuge Under His Wings

Hello, 

A friend sent me a reflection on Psalm 91 about refuge under God's 'wings' [from pestilence, among other things].  He was responding to my previous post about the pests in my house when I got back to LAMB.  I am a little called out, being reminded of how truly minor are the issues of pests, compared to other struggles. (By the way, I have now decided it probably isn't a mouse, but some other creature in my bookshelf, but haven't unpacked the shelves to find out yet--I just listen to it chewing on my books every night as I fall asleep.) 

Honestly what I thought about more when I read Ps 91, was how I feel protective about Bengali Christian brothers and sisters.  While it is good to provide some shelter as young believers grow in spiritual maturity and professional capacity,  really, it is God who shelters, not (potentially paternalistic) me.  

We struggle as foreigners here to really allow a 'Bengali' way to emerge for character and processes of this organization, which has had strong 'Western' influence.  Somehow we hope for a 'Third' way, embracing some Western best practices as well as Bengali ways.  But really we need to better explore God's way--and how that is best expressed here.  Please pray as our mixed national/foreign management team works through the struggles with that (though we have nonChristian staff, the management team is all Christian). 

Yesterday's management/policy meeting was a good example;  we were discussing a child and vulnerable adult protection policy.  It includes provision against employment of children <18 .="" nbsp="">One contentious issue is how to address the common practice of having a 'kajer meye' or 'working girl.' (not what you think!)  Many Bangladeshis have a young girl, often 8 -11 yrs. old when first brought into the home, who is something like a 'maid of all work.'  Sometimes they will help with child care, basic cooking tasks, washing clothes, etc., paid in kind with food, clothing, and shelter.  They are also just present in the homestead when everyone else is away to discourage bandits from coming in and stealing clothes or household goods (as happened to my household cook who didn't have a 'kajer meye' at the time).  

LAMB wants to state in its policy the reason for discouraging such a practice: so those girls can go to school and have better future prospects.  But Bangladeshis counter that the practice is actually similar to a vulnerable child protection system.  The girls are often daughters of poorer relatives who would not be going to school if in their own family home, and would likely not be getting much food or clothes or protection anyway (can be at risk for abuse from uncles, as extended families usually live in one household).  So if LAMB prevents our staff from 'employing' and caring for kajer meye, who are also just poor girls from the neighborhood, we are potentially increasing their vulnerability.  How to make sense of similar goals (a better future for the girls) but different methods to achieve the goals?? 

And on the home in American front: Dad and some family lit a candle for Mom in an All Soul's remembrance mass in Minster Nov. 2 night.  Today (Nov. 3) Dad has chemo again, after a short break.  Please pray he tolerates it well, and his lungs stay in good shape.  So many at LAMB have been telling me how much they have prayed for Mom and Dad and our family over the last couple of years, and I know not just at LAMB, so thank you...

Shelter under God's wings of refuge protects us from so much more than pests!   We trust in God's faithfulness as he "is with us in trouble" (v. 15) even as we dwell "in the shelter of the Most High."Amen and amen.

Psalm 91

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

    my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you

    from the fowler’s snare

    and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;

    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night,

    nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

    nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

    ten thousand at your right hand,

    but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes

    and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”

    and you make the Most High your dwelling,

10 no harm will overtake you,

    no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

    to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;

    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;

    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;

    I will be with him in trouble,

    I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him

    and show him my salvation.”

Back in Bangladesh

Friends, 

One of my nieces reminded me of my blog, which hasn't exactly been active.  But I want to be able to keep in touch with family and friends a bit more regularly than the last couple of years, so this is one way to do it!  I have thought 'I need to write that home' in the last 48 hours or so since I arrived back at LAMB, so I will try to do so now!

Life at LAMB
First, it is early morning here, and the view out my window is typical:  rice fields in the slight fog, as the weather is cooling down nicely (thank you, Lord). I have actually been up since about 3, though awake since 2 or so--jet lag, yeah.  My first couple of nights I slept pretty well, but once over the intense exhaustion of 24 hours straight of travel, I only got 2 hours the night before, about 5 hrs. last night.  This too shall pass...

I wrote already to family of pest count:  bat and mouse in bedroom my first night, mosquito bites I am scratching, scraping cockroach egg pods off my books...  But much more important really, is the joy of being back among these friends--giving me flowers, hugs, joyful smiles, a few tears at people who have passed away while I was gone (one dear faithful woman of God who was one officemate's mother, one's mother-in-law; another was a quite young staff person, a man of only 42 who had a heart attack while on his way home from work).  But other friends have become parents and grandparents.  Actually there are a number of staff children marriages--kids who were 6 when I first came have now grown into professionals with families of their own.  WOW.  Actually, just like my nieces and nephews at home, but we won't raise those tears, at my present nearness to the former, and distance from the latter...

Work at LAMB
My first full day back, yesterday, started with a board meeting. I never really thought I could avoid it, though Pat told me I should try.  I knew it would be a way to get an overview on what has been going on recently, as well as a good chance to see whether things had changed much or not!  Of course I was already hearing about various issues and one colleague has already asked me to take on 3 roles which she carries, 2 of which I had previously.  But I am definitely exercising my arrival caution in not agreeing to anything (except obstetrics call which starts next week).

I am supposed to be writing an assignment for my current Fuller class on Worship, due tomorrow, related to some overlap of worship and justice.  Good timing, because on Friday, LAMB is hosting a conference on justice for 350 staff. Our organizational chief aim is "People, transformed by the love of God, live in healthy and just communities."  So after a conference last year on holism, this one is looking at issues of justice we face locally, and how we work together with local communities to address justice.  One talk which intrigues me is something like 'Communicating non-violently.'  It is supposed to be about how to speak truth in love in the midst of conflict, a lesson we so much need to learn in a context where perspectives can clash between foreigners and Bangladeshis of different backgrounds, as well among foreigners of various countries and cultures.  

We pray to work together here as we grow together:  "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ."  Eph 4:15

Prayers and Thanks

• For Dad at home:  health (physical, social, emotional, spiritual).  That all the medical, transport, household, social, etc., issues will be sorted. He is still getting chemo every 3 weeks, his most recent scans were holding steady, his lab numbers have been quite good.  But nevertheless his lung function and balance are still sometimes unsteady.  Thanks for all who have and will support him.  I have Face Timed with him a couple of times already, and it is proving much easier than anticipated, which is great!
• Fuller studies:  one concern I had was from previous experience in Bd, the Internet access here was quite slow.  However, the whole country has apparently been wired for 3G speed while I was gone, and I can now get my course work (sometimes video and sound recordings, but lots of documents) downloaded with relative ease.  Thank you Lord!  
• pray I can now apply what I am learning here, and reflect on ministry here at LAMB fruitfully.
• LAMB work:  I am thankful to be here when our current ED is winding up his time (I pray I can be a sounding board for he and his wife as they leave); our new ED (exec director) will be arriving in a couple of weeks, and I look forward to working with him, as he was the ED when I first arrived at LAMB in 1997.  (We bonded over diarrhea stories when I had my first severe bout while I was in language school and he took me to the doctor!)
• Definitely pray for discernment of which tasks to take up
• Pray for our Justice Seminar Friday:  speakers, participants, logistics managers
• Pray for us as the issues of growing in breadth of coverage versus depth of holism continue to be put before the Lord.