My Greek Trip Part Deux

Santorini

Well, I had hoped to have some ongoing blog posts during my Greek trip BUT my power cord fried 3 days after I got to Greece and I was regulated to quick e-mail and Facebook updates at hotel computers and internet cafes.  Anyhow...thought I would do a quick wrap up of the highlights:

Old Town on Corfu

* The Greek Islands were fantastic.  We spent 3 nights on the Island of Corfu and then one night on Santorini. In its history Corfu has been ruled by the Greeks, the Turks, the Romans, the French, and the British...and it shows.  Beautiful architecture from all of the above have made their mark making it a very cosmopolitan place.  Santorini is almost so beautiful it is beyond words.  Our tour guide informed us that Angelina Jolie has just bought a place there...and you can understand why.

Palm Sunday devotion

The cliff top Monastery

* We got to spend Palm Sunday visiting the the cliff top monasteries of Kalambaka.  Huge rock outcroppings jut straight out of the earth in the most peculiar way and of course, the monks thought it would be a good idea to put monasteries up there.  I can just see the builders back then going, "You want to build a monastery up THERE??"
But I got to lead a devotional for the students we brought on the trip on a balcony overlooking a steep cliff.  I explained the importance and meaning of Palm Sunday and the reason for Christ's entry into Jerusalem that Passover week.

* Because it was Holy Week and Greek society is highly observant of Easter, every night when I retired to my hotel room there would be another classic Christian themed Easter movie.  I fell asleep most nights to the cool sounds of Jesus of Nazareth ( Michael York's portrayal of John the Baptist is my all time favorite), The 10 Commandments, and Ben-Hur.

* Again...the FOOD...the FOOD...the FOOD!!!  I really put on 2 Kilos  this trip (which my wife immediately noticed when I arrived home).  The trip we go on eschews cheap cafeteria or fast food.  Every one of 3 meals a day were full of olives, cheese, bread, and meat.  Yep, Tammy has me on protein shakes now.

Our hotel on Santorini!

Anyhow, I feel incredibly blessed to be part of this trip.  Of course after being responsible for 27 students 24/7 for 2 weeks straight I think I need a vacation :)

My Big Fat Greek Weddi....I mean adventure! (Pt. 1)

The Plaza in Corinth where Paul preached

Hi all, I'm writing this post from a little hotel in the village of Olympia where the first Olympic games were held in Greece.  I'm on a 2 week tour of the country that is known "for being the "cradle of Democracy" with 27 students from our schools in Hong Kong and Shanghai.  I'm pressed for time but wanted to update the blog so some thoughts:



 * I fly a fair bit and can say Turkish Airlines is one of the best airlines I've ever flown.  In economy class there were literally hundreds of TV shows, movies etc to watch on your personal screen.  (It took me nearly 20 minutes to cycle through just the movie selections)  For economy class the food was very tasty but the slam dunk for me was the fact that after they made the obligatory anouncement of no electronic devices during takeoff and landing...they ignored it.  Deep down they just knew my 4 gig ipod was just not going to flummix the navigational system of a Airbus A350 that still smelled like new car.

* I am realizing I just LOVE the food of the Medditeranian cultures.  In less than 12 months I have been to Turkey, Italy, and now Greece and although there are certainly differences in their cusines there are some commonalities that I have just fallen in love with.  The salads, olives, breads, cheese....I swear after just 6 days I have eaten the equivilent of a whole lamb.  This morning I had "ölive bread".  How genius to take two of my favorite things, olives and bread, and put them together in a delicious mash-up.  Of the cusines around the world, I think this culinary region is my favorite.

*It is awe inspiring to stand in places where so much history was made.  The Acropolis, Mars Hill (where the Apostle Paul addressed the Athenians) and the stadium in Olympia where the first Olympic games were held.  I particularly liked walking through the plaza of Corinth thinking this is where Paul preached and was persecuted.

Ooops the bus is leaving soon...this will have to be Part 1

"Roughing it" in China

Just got back from a week travelling in China.  I had the opportunity to go to a fairly remote area of central Sichuan that you may recall was struck by a devastating earthquake in 2008.  The education foundation I work for helped rebuild a school in this area so we took a group of students from our schools in Beijing & Shanghai to go and do some service projects there.  As you can tell from my last post, I enjoy the Rugby Sevens alot so it took a pretty noble cause to get me to leave Hong Kong during this time.

Now I knew I was going to be "roughing" it.  This was a no frills trip to bless a poorer region of China and I told myself I was ready for it.  Hey, I have spent over 1300 hours travelling by train crisscrossing China before, mostly on what is known as "hard sleeper" (hard beds stacked 3 high with six to a compartment), I have traveled across Borneo trekking in the jungle and sleeping on bamboo.  I know how to "rough" it.

But if I'm honest, that was in my 20's and early 30's.  In the last few years I've gotten a little "squishy".  "Roughing it" these days pretty much means the outrage of staying in a hotel that doesn't have room service.

I knew I was in trouble when one of the other adults on trip asked where my sleeping bag was.
"Excuse me...sleeping bag?" I asked.
"Yes, didn't you see the e-mail that said we would need a sleeping bag on the trip"

Apparently I missed that memo.

So we had one night in the city of Chongqing before taking a three hour bus ride the next morning.  I was assigned the corner section of floor and the local staff where we stayed was able to rustle up a couple of blankets for me so I didn't freeze.  But sleeping on the floor of a clean room with spotless toilet was a King's Palace compared to what lay in store the next couple days.

"Nite John-Boy"

We arrived the next day at the primary school and it really was something.  The people of the village (as opposed to the Village People) even came out to greet us as it seemed that a busload of foreigners suddenly arriving was not normative in these parts.  All the boys were assigned to a single room with about 9 or 10 handmade bunks all up against one another, I'm told, for additional support.  So there we were that night, all sleeping on wood planks only a foot or two away from one another.  Laying there I couldn't help but envision myself on Walton's Mountain  and had to restrain myself from giving a "Nite John-Boy" to a gang of people for whom the cultural reference would all be but lost.

The toilets were the real challenge.  The men's loo was essentially 4 holes in the cement with no water flushing it away.  Likewise for the urinal.  Also there were no doors or walls (something we are hoping to address on subsequent trips) which for me was the real challenge.  Having traveled throughout Asia for the last 20+ years I am used to less than ideal toilet situations, but they always at least offered a measure of privacy.  I did not relish the thought of a student walking in on me while I was squatting over a hole doing "my business".

Even the sewer monster refused to visit...and no thats not water!

Fortunantly, my body was in agreement with my mind on this one and cooperated on Day One by shutting down all "bowel" systems.  Day 2 was a different matter though and I began to feel a pressing need develop that was not going to wait for my return to civilization.  I made a tactical decision...since sleeping on a wood plank in a room without heat doesn't make for a night of interrupted sleep, I used my 4:00 AM wake time to good use.  Knowing the bathroom would be clear I slipped on my flip-flops, grabbed my torch, (flashlight for my American readers) and headed over to the bathrooms.  

Even in the dark, I just had to follow the smell which even from the outside was overpowering.  Walking into this place in the middle of a freezing cold night was pretty spooky.  I had to stick the torch in my mouth to do the delicate balancing act that any foreigner using an Asian "squatty potty" is familiar with.  As my light beam danced up and down creating shadows on the wall I couldn't help but think that some sewer monster was going to jump out of one of the other holes, whack me on the head, and drag me down to the underworld.

Apparently, even the sewer monsters were turned off by this particular toilet...

Our Policeman assigned to "protect" us.

Also in all my travels in China I have never needed to have a police escort.  (Well, I take that back, there was another incident a few years back but thats for another blog post).  Apparently the area in Sichuan where the 2008 earthquake occurred is a sensitive area.  Because there has been negative stories about building conditions and the amount of people that died because of "dodgy" construction the Chinese government has closely monitored outsiders coming into the region.  When I asked the guard (our assigned policeman) if I could go out he had to say no.  After a little persistence he agreed but only if he could go to "protect" us.  When operating in China you have to distinguish between the "real" reason for something and the "official" reason.  Not making this distinction can lead to real frustration. 

Although my point of this post was to talk about my "roughing it" I do want to mention that we were able to do some great service projects for the school.  The kids were wonderful and so appreciative of our being there.  We met one little 9 year old girl who lost her parents during the earthquake and is now being raised by friends in the village.  She shared how she is happy again being able to go to the new school.

And the school staff went out of their way to accommodate us to the best of their ability.  There are no showers at the school so the cooks heated water in the kitchen so we could wash a little in the evenings.

When I finally got back to a hotel room in Chongqing I saw the toilet and shower when I opened the door and never even minded that they didn't have room service.

Going to the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens

Probably the biggest event in Hong Kong every year is the 3 day weekend extravaganza known as the Rugby Sevens.  The "Sevens" competition is a scaled down rugby game where each team has only seven men and a game consists of 2 seven minute halves.  24 teams from countries around the world participate and with each game being only 14 minutes long...its fast and furious.

My first Sevens was back in 1994 when I won 2 sets of tickets for the weekend.  A now defunct English Language newspaper (The Eastern Express) was offering a set of tickets for the person who could best write why they deserved them.  With the upcoming Handover of Hong Kong back to China from Britain on everyone's mind I wrote a political tale involving defense of an innocent lady, Rugby Sevens tickets, and then China's Head of Hong Kong Affairs, Lu Ping.  I was working for a Christian missionary organization back then and the manager sent me out on a errand for a computer thing-a-ma-jig.  As I left I said rather cocky for all in the office to hear, "Oh, and the Eastern Express will be phoning to let me know I won my Rugby Sevens tickets" (We didn't have cell phones back then).  From the computer store I called back to ask a question about my errand and the manager said, "Oh yeah, BTW, the Eastern Express did call after you left, and you did win Rugby Sevens tickets"

When I returned last year to live again in Hong Kong, I knew I wanted to take Gabriel to the Sevens but when it came around, he didn't seem that interested.  Because tickets are not cheap, I didn't want to spend the money unless he really wanted to go.  We ended up running into a friend on his way to the Sunday finals (he was skipping church...church attendance does take a dip during the Sevens weekend) and I was able to talk Gabriel into tagging along with him.  Watching 8 hours of incredible nail biting Rugby that day surrounded by good friends, good conversation, beef pies and lots of cold...Coke Cola ;)  turned Gabriel into a rugby fan.

Now I don't think I could NOT take Gabriel to the Rugby Sevens every year!  Last night he was proudly wearing his South African Springboks jersey given to him by a good friend.  Although I think he spends far to much time trying to figure out how he's going to sneak into the South Stands.  The South Stands is at one end of the field where alcohol can be consumed in the seats and you have to be over 18 to sit.  Its the most rowdy place where people are dressed up in costumes and enjoying their beer WAY to much! :)



The Sevens have become so popular that it is now becoming an Olympic sport.  Thats one of the reasons I like it so much.  Over a weekend you get to see nations from around the world play in what could almost be called a mini-World Cup. Bill McLaren, in his autobiography Talking of Rugby writes at length about his Hong Kong Sevens experiences:

"I remember a big South Sea islander saying that, in his view, the Hong Kong sevens were really the Olympic games of Rugby Union. Certainly, the Hong Kong event encapsulates all the really good things that the game has to offer–splendid organisation, wonderful sporting spirit, universal camaraderie, admirable field behaviour, the most enjoyable crowd participation, the chance for emergent rugby nations to lock horns with the mighty men of New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Wales, Scotland and the Barbarians. There is, too, scintillating running and handling which is what the game is supposed to be all about."

Anyhow, its great to be living back in Hong Kong and able to enjoy such an International event every year!

Return of the Gweilo

I lived in Hong Kong in the years leading up to July 1, 1997 when the territory was returned to China from Great Britain.  During those days it was common to see gweilos (a vaguely pejorative term given to Caucasians meaning at worst "foreign devil" and at best "pale ghost") holding political office alongside Chinese counterparts.  During that time members of the Legislative Council (Hong Kong's version of parliament) were just as apt to have a last name like MacGreggor as they were to be a Lee or a Chan. 

With resumption of sovereignty by China in 1997, any smattering of diversity, at least in the politcal arena, disappeared almost overnight.  The International flavor of Hong Kong was still visable in other city sectors however.  Business, religious, and  entertainment sectors to name but a few, still mixed the majority Chinese population with many other ethnic minority Hong Kongers to create a vibrant cosmopolitan fabric.  But in the political sector, save a few civil service positions, the ethnicity became quite homogenous.  (I recently saw a "gweilo" police officer and was surprised to be told there were still a few around)

Recently though a couple items hit the news here in Hong Kong that raised a few eyebrows. The first was that in an election last September, Paul Zimmerman, became the first non-Chinese elected to political office as a District Councillor when he was voted in by 60% of the Pok Fu Lam residents.  Zimmerman, who admits his Cantonese is poor, still saw a large portion of the local Chinese population of that district tick a gweilo's name in the ballot box.

This is followed by a recent South China Morning Post article that details British born, but long time Hong Kong resident, Andrew Brown's trials since winning a village election by a single vote in 2003.  Seems Brown has had trouble with one of the long time ruling families to the point where he has not even been allowed into the village office he is supposed to work from.

But "foreigners" winning elections in post-Handover Hong Kong??  I can almost see the movie poster now:

                                           "Return of the Gweilo"

      starring Joaquin Phoenix as Paul Zimmerman and Hugh Grant as Andrew Brown. 

An Oscar contender for sure :)

What's in a Name?

For a few years now (OK for a LOT of years) I have been a reader of Charisma Magazine. Its a monthly publication with articles and news covering the charismatic stream of Christianity.
As a "dancing in the aisles" charismatic myself, I've always enjoyed the coverage and insight they give on what God is doing with His church around the world.

In the early days author Jamie Buckingham would write a last page column that was always witty, humorous, insightful, and with a gentle swipe at some of the less than desirable attributes of pentecostal Christianity. As some one who considered himself witty, humorous, and insightful, I appreciated reading someone who showed me that speaking in tongues and having a brain were not mutually exclusive.

Anyhow, when Jaimie passed away the column was assumed by the magazine's founder, Stephen Strang whose Strang Communications has grown into a media empire featuring a host of Christian publications and resources. Stephen, along with fellow editor J. Lee Grady, continued to write passionate columns encouraging Christians as well as decrying some of the hypocrisy within our own movement. The irony (and often the focus of many a letter to the editor) was one of them would be blasting the excesses of certain ministers and ministries on one page with that very type of ministry being "blasted" having a full page ad on the opposing page highlighting the fact.

Anyhow...the point of this blog post.

In Mr. Strang's latest column he says that after 30 years, they will be changing the name of the whole company from Strang Communications to Charisma Media. Why?

Essentially to take his name out of it and keep the focus on God.

He mentions how in the last year he began to use the moniker "Steve" rather than "Stephen" when identifying himself. As a "Steve / Stephen" myself I was curious why. Basically in examining his own motivations he found a little pride in his use of "Stephen". Hence a switch to the less sophisticated sounding, "Steve".

Following this, he realized he had been hoping to leave a legacy with Strang Communications not unlike great Christian publishers like Thomas Nelson and Pat Zondervan. In his words though he says,

"Was I put on earth to serve God or build a legacy to myself?...I knew the answer."

Names are pretty important things...especially to God. The Bible is full of people giving names to other people, objects, places, and even themselves for very specific reasons. One of the rewards Christ promises is the giving of a name to us that only He and the person know...suggesting an intimacy of relationship with the Creator of all life that we desire within the very soul of our being.

That said, Stephen Strang has taken his name off the masthead of the empire that he founded. He did it because he knows what very few people walking on this Earth ever fully realize:

"Jesus must increase and we must decrease."

Kudos to Stephen Strang. He continues to show me hope in the leaders of the Christian Church in general, and the Charismatic Movement specifically. Of course, considering the post, kudos is probably not what he's looking for. :)

BYU Benches Star Player: "And so shines a good deed in a weary world"

There is a great scene in the movie Hoosiers where the small town high school basketball coach played by Gene Hackman benches one of his star players during a game because of an attitude problem.  As they begin to lose, the parents are screaming for him to get the kid back in the game.  Principals be damned, there is a game to be won!  Hackman doesn't buckle as there is a higher value he is trying to drive home to his team.

A real life Hoosiers moment hit the college basketball world this week when Bringham Young University benched its scoring star Brandon Davies for an honor code violation.  The violation?  He admitted pre-marital sexual relations with his girlfriend.

Of course now a chorus of ridicule is being heaped on the Mormon based university for it "puritanical" honor code that seems out of step with the times but what is encouraging is seeing a growing wave of support for this point of light in a weary world.

The Daily Show - Tales of Principled Behavior
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Even Jon Stewart on The Daily Show showed an admiration for the decision in its Tales of Principled Behavior section.  I include the video but with the disclaimer of a PG-13 rating. (The relevant section is in the second half of the clip)

Kudos to BYU for standing firm despite this action severely affecting their Division D Championship possibilities and kudos to Davies himself who has come to the games, sat on the bench, and supported his team.