And now for something different…

So, I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to find any amazing spiritual insights from this post, but this video is so much fun.

Be blessed!

Tu Aduci Întunericul şi se Face Noapte

The title above comes from Psalm 104:20 in the NTR, an easy-to-read (Ha ha!  As if anything in Romanian is easy!) Romanian translation, “Tu aduci întunericul şi se face noapte; atunci toate fiarele pădurii încep să mişune.”  The English translation is, “You bring the darkness, and it becomes night, then all the wild beasts of the forest begin to move about.”

The “you” here is referring to God.  There’s an uncomfortable truth here, a really uncomfortable truth if you take time to think about it.  This verse says  that the God who is light and joy and all things good is also the author and bringer of darkness, even difficulty and trouble.

Imagine you’ve taken a walk alone into the woods.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and life is beautiful.  In this heavenly place, you find a tree just off the path and sit down in its shade.  Soon enough, the wonder of the place draws your head to drowsiness, your eyelids close, and you dream happy dreams.

this thing is very AWSOME !!!!!!!!!!!!

By now, I’ve told many people that I’m a missionary in Romania.  I’ve had a lot of different responses.  They range from complete cluelessness to amazement and awe to violent annoyance.

Here in Romania, I seem to find a lot of disinterested or slightly annoyed people.

It took one of my English students to remind me of just how truly amazingly awesome it is to be a missionary.  Radu found me on Facebook chat the other day

“but Ben, you are a missioner ?” he typed.

“Missionary, yes,” was my reply.

My Grandpa Jack: March 31, 1929 to May 4, 2013

Everybody has a grandpa, but there’s no one like my Grandpa Jack.

 My grandpa never won a Nobel Prize or wrote a novel, but he taught me how to paddle a canoe and how to row a boat.  Grandpa showed me how to dig up the big nightcrawlers in the wet leaves at the cottage, how to get the worm on the hook and the hook on the line.  He taught me how to cast it on the mucky side of the dock where the fish were and how to move the worm to fool the fish.  I still remember the first bluegill I ever caught; I was with Grandpa at the cottage.  And I remember perfectly the lures I proudly purchased after that trip; they were big and purple, and I was sure I’d catch a thousand bluegills with them.  Of course, no bluegill on the planet would’ve been able to get his mouth around them, so I went right back to the nightcrawlers under the leaves.  My giant lures weren’t a match for Grandpa’s wisdom.

“Ileana,” she said after a pause

It was late at night after the Good Friday service.  I had planned to stay through to the midnight candle-lighting, but I kept falling asleep so decided to head home early.

When I saw her standing along the busy street, I immediately started going over Romanian phrases in my head.  ”Isus te iubeşte, Jesus loves you” and “Nu e viaţa, this isn’t life” were the two that seemed easiest and most intelligible.  But then selfishness crept in, so I decided to lower my head and just hurry past without making eye contact.

As I approached, though, her need for money made my selfish attempt to ignore her fall on its face.  She stepped right in front of me and blocked my path.

Playing with Kids in a Trash Heap

When I was first taken to their home a few months ago, my first thought was that I had somehow been transported about 70 years back in time and 1400 miles west of Bucharest.  The site looked just like what I’d picture a 1940s city in France would have looked like after a thorough shelling by enemy artillery.  Bricks, trash, and wood littering the ground, dead electrical wires hanging out of old plaster walls, the charred remains from the fire used to cook breakfast… it all seemed like a scene from the movie ”Saving Private Ryan“.

Religion Kills Twice, part 2: The Yeast of Pharisees

    But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They
had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. As they 
were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, "Watch out! 
Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod."
    At this, they began to argue with each other because 
they hadn't brought any bread.
    Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, "Why are 
you arguing about having no bread?  Don't you know or 
understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in?
                                    Mark 8:14-17

I know I’m probably confusing at least half my readers with my title.  You’re saying right now, “But… aren’t you into religion?  You’re a missionary in Romania, after all…  What do you mean ‘religion kills’?”  So, if you’re totally confused right now, just bear with me as I look at part two in this series on the dangers of religion.  (For part one, visit  The Yeast of Herod.)