On the skating boots....

I never thought skating was quite a job until i was in the shoes last sunday. The only game in my childhood that would come close to skating is what we used to call "mtelezo"(sliding on slippery mud barefeet). The difference is that we used to slide barefeet because then you move so fast without friction and a little water acted as the lubricant. However in a country  like Norway where you have snow and sometimes you might mistake it for manna (at least from the movies), you can't slide bare feet- you will freeze, therefore there are special boots for the purpose.

As usual plans for skating were made a week earlier and it was expected that the temperatures were to remain low so that we could go skating on a frozen lake. Unfortunately the temperature were not that low and we had signs on the frozen lake that it was not safe. Luckily there are field's specially designed for the sport and so we went.                        

Caro (Team mate) being helped to put on the skating boots. All this time i was waiting for mine to be sharpened(the blade below the shoe) and you can be sure i was dying to get into the field. Is seemed so easy for the Norwegians on the field and i thought i would being sliding like magic when i get in.

Immediately i got my boots i was so eager to be in the field and use my childhood mtelezo experience. The difference being that i had boots and it was not mud but ice. Although i convinced my self that i could maintain balance and that i needed no help, that was yet to be proved.

As you can see here, this was my first moment in the field. Instead of standing still (Like Caro) i lost my balance and as though i had dropped it to the ground i had to look for it.

 

Well, i managed to get my balance now i was ready to do my first lap round the field on skates. But was i do it a lone? Elli one of my bible study member dicided that it would be disastrous letting me by myself. Therefore she had to hold me close as she taught me how to do it.  Hold your balance, then make a small step to the right and a small step to the left alternatingly She explained. Now let's go Leeeeft......Riiiiiiggght, Leeeeeft.....Riiiight honestly i felt like a toddler who had to be taught how to write the alphabets. Anyway patience pays and i am grateful she was hold me. For there were a number of times i would have fell very bad on the hard ice and i don't know what would have happened.

On the other side Caro was being helped by my room mate(Vegard) and she did quite good.

After two rounds of being toodled i decided that i was grown enough to be let go. So i embarked on the first lap without support. Men, it isn't an easy thing especially when this form of excercise is foreign(Exotic) to the muscles.

Before i went out i was told that falling was inevitable, though i was a little scared i developed the courage of peter when he asked Jesus if he could come to Him walking on water. It was a risk but worth trying. I was impressed by my skill until the first quarter of the field, then my boots slide backwards instead of forward making me land on my stomach. Falling is not bad you only have to fall intelligently and land on the part of your body with generous proportions of flesh. By the time i was finishing my first round i had registered three falls.

My confidence grew and it became interesting after every successfully completed round. Thhe team got tired and it was time for a break-Hot kakao, chocolate, mandarin and banana break.

The break was really timely. I was very tired from the swinging and dancing of an amateur skater, but i kept wondering why the break was taking so long. We should be back into the field and do as many rounds as possible.

Finaly we got back to the field so that i could register more falls. I kept falling intelligently except for one that made me feel some pain. I fell on my back and landed on the side of my sitting apparatus- that wasn't so good but i managed to collect myself up and finished the last round having registered Six falls in total (In the Bible a rigtheous man falls seven times). That was a very fantastic day and one of the days i wish to remember " on the skating boots"

                                                                                                

               I hope we look like skaters do we?. See you next time although i don't see you now!!!.

A puppet God?

There are times i have thougth that we defend God alot and that He should just appear face to face and defend himself. Questions upon questions have been asked about the character of God and there has been little data to answer them. Why doesn't God present Himself live live and answer these questions?

As i ponder over these questions it has hit me that we cannot defend God in the sense of a battle field or present perfect arguements as to why He does somethings and "refuses" to do other things. But we can explain somethings according to the revelation he has given us. This could be through His word (Bible) or personal experiences from ordinary life as well as from the nature around us.

Last week on Tuesday (as usual) we had a bible study with the students. Many of the students didn't show up because was exam time and they needed to prepare.All the same we had an interesting discussion about God. One of the questions that come up is why doesn't God Himself come down and show Himself so that those who doubt His existence can believe?.
The immediate assumption of this question is that people believe with proof. I would understand, atleast from the perspective that we live in a world where we have faith in what has proved to work. After all why should you believe in a machine that doesn't work? I am a student of mathematics and proofs are important in order to have faith in a model or a formula. But should we subject God to similar treatment? Only if we make God our equal and assume that he breathes the oxygen we breath and eats bread and cheese as we do.

As we discussed it became clearly that there are people who would only believe in God if He really appeared. While there may be some truth in that, this option was rather weak since God Himself has already shown up 2000 yrs ago in the Person of Jesus Christ but men rejected him. Men refused to believe in Him even the learned teacher of the Law who had studied the law to know when and how the messiah could come. We don't dispute that there are those who belived in Him and are saved, the point is Man will always have an excuse as to why they can't believe in God. The Bible stories of the Man born blind (John 9:1-34) and the Rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) demonstrates this best.God on the other side can't force them to do so-he has given them the free will (God is a risk taker in that he creates a human being with a free will with includes the freedom to reject Him).

The question still remains, why doesn't He appear as many times as possible until the whole world is saved? The assumption here being that there more God shows himself up the more the people believe. But imagine that kind of a God who behaves like an errand boy and responds to our challenges of Him showing up. Isn't this a PUPPET GOD, that we all will make fun of? God is sovereign, he is our creator and our master. Everything we have we owe it to Him including our precious lives. Unless we have such like a view we will always think God as our peer.

As i had my devotions the day after i read the story about Zachaeus from the bible. This was a short man wanting to have a glimpse of Jesus. His quest to have a glimpse at Jesus was genuine to the extent of climbing a tree inorder to see Jesus pass. When Jesus gets to the tree He tell Him to come down because He would like to have Lunch at his home. Zachaeus is really excited and welcomes Jesus and Zachaeus receives salvation.
This story revealed one thing to me. That if people really what God to show Himself He will if it is an honest and genuine desire to believe in Him. God doesn't slam the door shut to every sincere and honest seeker of Him. He understands our struggles with the many answered questions about Him, but as the bible tells us ....the things that God has revealed to us belong to us and our children but those that He has not belong to Him. we can be humble enough to sit at His feet so that he can reveal more to us. But the first step have a relationship with Him. So things we make sense immediately others will not but it is only Him who knows why they don't make sense and why He has not chosen to reveal them to us.

.......As white as snow......

Sleep was so sweet and the night seemed shorter. The previous night (saturday) we had what is referred here as Julebord ( Christmas Table) with the students. That was fun with the traditional christmas food-Pinnekjott and an opportunity to offer some entertainment before the party ended at around 1.00 am. I don't want to say much about julebord now, my focus will go to sunday.The prevoius night we agreed with some students that were to have a mountain trip to the highest mountain in Bergen (Ulriken).

 Now as you can see from this picture, this is part of Bergen city from the top of Ulriken. I would have loved to give a panoramic view of the city but my Camera couldn't survive the cold up there and my battery froze, but you can admire this other picture as well.
Well, ladies and genlemen, I must say that Bergen is a very beautiful city. These photos don't capture what i mean but i will describe the beauty of bergen in another Blog




I must admit that sunday afternoons have become my favorite times to go hiking on the mountains.Thats when most students have time to spare .
Unlike at home where Sunday is occupied with lots of "spiritual activies" here sunday is one of those days when you catch up and join friends on trips. The youths here don't consider Sunday as a church day, this could be explained by their attendance of other christian meetings in the course of the week.

The excitement of having this trip naturally would have denied me some sleep. But since i was very tired after the Julebord i had a good sleep that was interrupted by the horrible tone of my Alarm. Well, it was sunday and i had to prepare some matpakke (Packed lunch) for the journey ahead was long.

This is the cable car station. The cable car takes roughly 7 minutes to the top of the mountain. Walking up the mountain takes hours. This photo isn't the best to show how far the top is from the station. A long the way i Kept asking Caro whether we were any closer- She has already beeen to the top once.

Here we go up the mountain. Shall we all make it up? with the snow and steepy sections of the mountain? Let's see

These guys are pretty serious that they didn't recognize i was taking this photo. As you can see they are really focused on the climbing. So let me try to catch up with them.

 The journey to the top was not an easy one, it had a variety of exciting and scary (at least for me)sections of steep, slippery, very steep etc. At some point when it became very steepy and slippery, we had to decide whether to continue or to go back. At that point we had to split and part of the group had to go back (they loved their lives-just kidding)

This is the point where we parted and only three boys had to make it to the top. The only thing that Caro would say is "...james please be careful and take care..." i felt so good especially since she said it with a lady's emotion of concern. I had to assure her that i will rerurn in one piece.

The last three standing....

Well, they say determination knows no barriers and i guess that is the strength and motivation the three of us had despite the ugly path before us.

 There were times when my breath was taken because of the slippery and steepy ground but i must say the steel fence you are seeing help quite alot.



Andre Førsund and meg



 Almost there.....where? the top of course.

 Just before a finish as you can see the snow is very white. You can easily think it had been raining Jasmin rice. this thing is really white and for the first time i understood the biblical verse that says(Isaiah 1:18)  .....though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow...... This thing is pure white.

These are the last photos my camera could capture before it "froooooze"

I know you wonder how we got down. We used the cable car. It seemed too dangerously walking down and this time round we loved our lives. It costed 80 kr(appr Ksh 800) with the cable car. What a beautiful sunday. see you.

Unfulfilled and unsatisfied life

What brings such kind of a life? Is it possible to have a feeling of unsatisfaction even in the midst of affluence?
Well, these and many more questions cloud my head as i examine my life here in Norway. Is satisfaction and fulfillment something a person decides to have or is a state that comes involuntarily?

The diagnosis of my life here tells me that atleast i have been lazy in some form of ways. I don't know whether to attribute my laziness to the change in the pattern of night and day here, or a lack of responsibility from myself. I am sleeping quite a lot nowadays, but atleast not to the extent of breaking any  known guiness record of sleeping.

One time i shared this with my team mate(Caro Sadera) and she gave a wise counsel; perhaps i am expecting too much from myself.

Last week as i had my devotions i happened to be reading from Prov 24:33-34, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hand to rest-and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man" What a message to me? It is not that i am in such like a situation exactly but i drew lots of lessons from this proverb. I want to share them here,

• Sluggishness-Laziness can be a big contibution to an unsatisfying life, putting things off, day dreaming without ever making something come true, making excuses etc, these are very small things but look at their consequences- Poverty!!!!! and Scarcity!!!!! Now poverty can be viewed in many ways, but the worst form i guess would be the poverty of happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction and a sense of purpose in life. The other side of the coin would be the riches of frustration, dissappointment, discouragement, broken relationships etc
• Do you sometimes feel like this? How many projects have you thought of starting but not started yet? How many songs have you thought of composing yet none has been completed yet? How many books have you planned to read yet you have read none? How many...... How many......How many....
• Do you have a reason as to why you wake up? If you never had a reason then your life will be a life of responding to situations and circumstances.
• Don't invent excuses, don't put off things and have  a plan and a vision because then you have the energy to wake up every morning. God gives sleep to those he loves but he also gives us the power to control the sleeping.
• We are not active because we have the energy, but we have the energy because we are active.

I thank you Lord for your Word, its so relevant and speaks to us every time we open it. Open my eyes that i may see wonderful things in your law.

Christmas mood in Bergen

The trees have shed all their leaves. Those that haven't have crispy brown dry leaves that are easily blown by the wind from the branches. A few weeks ago as we walked with my  team mate to a students meeting, we saw someone lay down electric cables around a special part of the city with a small lake as well as  a park.
Well we didn't understand why so went our way.
Last saturday as i walked with my room mate in the city (shopping for winter shoes- its cold here men) we saw christmas trees almost everywhere in the big stores. The mood is that of Christmas my roommate told me and invited me to go for the Advent celebration later that evening.
I was told that this was a special event in Bergen and i wouldn't want to miss any of it. So i decided to go even though it was freezing cold. Why not, its an exotic experience altogether.

The real thing

As we get into the venue of the celebration, it dawns on me that the person we saw laying down cables weeks earlier, was actually working out the ligthing on the leaveless trees.
This was at night outside and the very many small ligths are burning torches of the people attending. I didn't have one myself-i was taking pictures

This was my first time to see so many people attending an event. It brought memories of evangelistic crusades in Kenya.



Christmas Tree

Now from the picture above you can see the reflections of the light. The reflections are coming from the frozen lake where a huge Christmas tree has been artificially planted or suspended on the lake.
well they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder but this is really beautiful irrespective of the beholder. What do you say?






In the mix

Even in the freezing cold i managed to enjoy the celebration and a friend tried to capture the moment here. Guys if you have problems identifying me in this photo, i am supposed to be between the two seen guys. I forgot to smile i didn't want to freeze my teeth. Next time i remember to smile. There were a lot of performences with christmas messsages. The music was very Christmas,the people were very Christmastic though freezing, time moved in a Chrismal fashion and may be were just breathing Christmasogen (Christmas oxygen) without realizing it.

Christmas is an important occasion in Norway. It can be seen from this event and the celebrations that accompany the season. As i talked with my Norwegian Roommate( Vegard) he told me that he only hopes that the Norwegians find it even more important the person behind the event (Jesus Christ).

Fire works

By the time the celebration was over, about an hour later i was so cold that my fingers were paining. I rushed to my room and not just anywhere but in the bathroom and turned the knob to the hottest degree. The rest was a relaxing evening after a meeting with the students group here in Bergen.