I put together my 2015 Reading List. Let's see how it goes!
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014
Sunday, November 30, 2014
New Post: What Might be Eating Me
New Post over at The View from My Mountaintop: What Might be Eating Me
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
New Post: Sinners in the Hands of a Merciful God
New post at The View from My Mountaintop: Sinners in the Hands of a Merciful God
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
New Post: A Bathtub? Inconceivable!
New Post over at The View From My Mountaintop: A Bathtub? Inconceivable
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Saturday, November 08, 2014
The G20 is Coming! The G20 is Coming!
Over at "The View From My Mountaintop"
The G20 is Coming! The G20 is Coming!
The G20 is Coming! The G20 is Coming!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Baptism and Pain -- A Counselor's Perspective
Many of you still follow here, so I will post my blogposts here, and all you have to do is link over. and read.
God bless,
RPW
Sunday, October 05, 2014
Check Me Out
I've started blogging again..finally.
I know there are a lot of you who follow me on this blog, and I wanted to let you know that I am elsewhere now. I've struggled for a few years with the fact that the name doesn't fit anymore.
I will be keeping this blog up, and maybe mining some of the posts. But I have some new stuff and am getting comfortable and my new blog.
It's called "The View from My Mountaintop" and it is as www.lorahorn.com
Thanks.
In Christ,
RPW...aka Lora Horn
I know there are a lot of you who follow me on this blog, and I wanted to let you know that I am elsewhere now. I've struggled for a few years with the fact that the name doesn't fit anymore.
I will be keeping this blog up, and maybe mining some of the posts. But I have some new stuff and am getting comfortable and my new blog.
It's called "The View from My Mountaintop" and it is as www.lorahorn.com
Thanks.
In Christ,
RPW...aka Lora Horn
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
Compatibility
In Papua New Guinea, to a great extent, they have gotten around the issue of compatibility in marriage, much like most cultures where marriages are arranged in some way, shape, or form.
We often joke around about men and women being different creatures. In PNG, they actually believe it. Women are women, and men are men. I won't get into a lot of the nuances and evils that spring from this. At least for now, it is kind of irrelevant.
Until recently, in a village, men would live in a long house, all together. Each wife would have her own house where she would raise the children, care for the pigs, and make the meals. The man would come visit frequently for his meals, to see his children, and a little somethin' somethin'.
Even though most husbands and wives live together now, in many ways, their lives are far more separate than a Western marriage. He often works or gathers income from the pigs, while she usually takes care of the family by tending the garden, daily care of the pigs, and selling extra produce or buai at the market. Often, they are not friends, they rarely are seen together. They sit on separate sides of church. Throughout the day, the men hang out with other men, the women hang out with other women. It actually can be quite difficult as an outsider to figure out who is married to whom.
Now my marriage is completely different. Before we became missionaries, I don't know that we have been apart for more than a week or so since our wedding date. We spent most of our three year courtship on the phone with each other. We love to hang out, we have most of the same interests, and we have grown together in most of those over time. Even our faults are the same. Where we are not similar, we often are complementary -- we balance each other out. He hates forms -- I have no problem with them. I hate dealing with people on the phone -- he handles all customer service issues, etc.
Looking back, there probably are only two or three places where we clash, and these things have been huge. We fought about them in our first year of marriage, and we still fight about them almost twenty years later. I just can't seem to meet Jeff on his issue, and he can't meet me on mine, but because my issue is so very important to me, I can't let him off the hook, and he continues to push on the issue that is dear to him.
In a Papua New Guinean marriage, it wouldn't matter. Marriage isn't about meeting the other person's deep need to be validated. That's what friends are for. In most marriages throughout history, it would probably be the same.
Choosing the person that you marry is really quite a novel thing, when you look at it. And when we choose, we tend to choose a person because there is something about them that reminds us of us; something in common, some bond. Some scientists and anthropologists insist that it is hormonal and subconscious how we pick each other. But there is something in it that says "You are like me. You are good for me" and we see this as a basis to build a relationship that will last us the rest of our lives.
As a breastfeeding counselor working with young parents, I would see what would happen when a major life change happened, and the couple failed to navigate that change together. I also worked with married couples as a mental health counselor who faced the same thing in various other stages or crises of life. The hurt and pain was so palpable.
Look at what divorce has become in our culture. The main reason for divorce is simply "irreconcilable differences." Somewhere along the line, a couple that came together because they had similar thoughts, dreams, beliefs, goals, etc., no longer have enough in common to make it worth keeping together.
I've seen marriages where the couple seemed to have very little in common, and marriages like ours where they seemed kindred spirits, but I am convinced that when we pick our own spouses, there is something that draws us, something we can relate to, something that is "us" not "other." Maybe we are less tolerant of the "not us" aspects of this relationship because we picked someone who was supposed to validate that part of us that we were drawn to. So when there are other aspects that don't click, or when our experiences change those things that used to, or when life brings up new things that show the differences, we respond with rejection.
Over the last year, I have been reading Dietrich Bonhoffer's Life Together. I can't seem to get out of the first chapter because it is so amazingly rich. One thing he argues is that loving someone with a psychic love -- a love that is pure us, is very different than loving someone with the love of Christ. The psychic love wants to feel good about loving the other person. The psychic love tends to want to change that other person. When we love with the love of Christ, we accept that person for who they are, and we love them whether or not we get a reward back. It doesn't hold up a standard for the other person to meet. It says "Christ died on the cross for who you are now, He loves you for who you are now, and we are both one in His death and resurrection, so you are my family, my flesh and blood. We walk together, and there are no conditions to that.
Marriage is the closest thing that we have on earth to our relationship with Christ. Christ knows that. He calls the Church His Bride. He refers to Himself as the Bridegroom. Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, Scripture goes back to this analogy over and over again. Often, it isn't the beautiful, romantic situation one would hope. Generally, it is about God talking about how wicked the Bride has been, and how He loves her and is redeeming her anyway. In marriage, God makes the two become one flesh in a very real way. In baptism, we are made one in the body of Christ.
Compatibility is nice. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend, but even if he wasn't, he's still my husband, and I am his wife. But it's really not about compatibility, it's about the fact that we are together. The being together is the important thing, not the things that we think unite us or separate us. So these things that seem so important, that we want the other person to validate in us, because the other person is as close to "us" as we can get....if we are loving them with the love of Christ, then rather than letting these things separate us, we really need to accept the fact that there are these places where we can't meet, where the other person can't do what we ache for them to do. Often, the only thing to do is accept it, forgive ti, release it.
Because that is what Christ does.
We often joke around about men and women being different creatures. In PNG, they actually believe it. Women are women, and men are men. I won't get into a lot of the nuances and evils that spring from this. At least for now, it is kind of irrelevant.
Until recently, in a village, men would live in a long house, all together. Each wife would have her own house where she would raise the children, care for the pigs, and make the meals. The man would come visit frequently for his meals, to see his children, and a little somethin' somethin'.
Even though most husbands and wives live together now, in many ways, their lives are far more separate than a Western marriage. He often works or gathers income from the pigs, while she usually takes care of the family by tending the garden, daily care of the pigs, and selling extra produce or buai at the market. Often, they are not friends, they rarely are seen together. They sit on separate sides of church. Throughout the day, the men hang out with other men, the women hang out with other women. It actually can be quite difficult as an outsider to figure out who is married to whom.
Now my marriage is completely different. Before we became missionaries, I don't know that we have been apart for more than a week or so since our wedding date. We spent most of our three year courtship on the phone with each other. We love to hang out, we have most of the same interests, and we have grown together in most of those over time. Even our faults are the same. Where we are not similar, we often are complementary -- we balance each other out. He hates forms -- I have no problem with them. I hate dealing with people on the phone -- he handles all customer service issues, etc.
Looking back, there probably are only two or three places where we clash, and these things have been huge. We fought about them in our first year of marriage, and we still fight about them almost twenty years later. I just can't seem to meet Jeff on his issue, and he can't meet me on mine, but because my issue is so very important to me, I can't let him off the hook, and he continues to push on the issue that is dear to him.
In a Papua New Guinean marriage, it wouldn't matter. Marriage isn't about meeting the other person's deep need to be validated. That's what friends are for. In most marriages throughout history, it would probably be the same.
Choosing the person that you marry is really quite a novel thing, when you look at it. And when we choose, we tend to choose a person because there is something about them that reminds us of us; something in common, some bond. Some scientists and anthropologists insist that it is hormonal and subconscious how we pick each other. But there is something in it that says "You are like me. You are good for me" and we see this as a basis to build a relationship that will last us the rest of our lives.
As a breastfeeding counselor working with young parents, I would see what would happen when a major life change happened, and the couple failed to navigate that change together. I also worked with married couples as a mental health counselor who faced the same thing in various other stages or crises of life. The hurt and pain was so palpable.
Look at what divorce has become in our culture. The main reason for divorce is simply "irreconcilable differences." Somewhere along the line, a couple that came together because they had similar thoughts, dreams, beliefs, goals, etc., no longer have enough in common to make it worth keeping together.
I've seen marriages where the couple seemed to have very little in common, and marriages like ours where they seemed kindred spirits, but I am convinced that when we pick our own spouses, there is something that draws us, something we can relate to, something that is "us" not "other." Maybe we are less tolerant of the "not us" aspects of this relationship because we picked someone who was supposed to validate that part of us that we were drawn to. So when there are other aspects that don't click, or when our experiences change those things that used to, or when life brings up new things that show the differences, we respond with rejection.
Over the last year, I have been reading Dietrich Bonhoffer's Life Together. I can't seem to get out of the first chapter because it is so amazingly rich. One thing he argues is that loving someone with a psychic love -- a love that is pure us, is very different than loving someone with the love of Christ. The psychic love wants to feel good about loving the other person. The psychic love tends to want to change that other person. When we love with the love of Christ, we accept that person for who they are, and we love them whether or not we get a reward back. It doesn't hold up a standard for the other person to meet. It says "Christ died on the cross for who you are now, He loves you for who you are now, and we are both one in His death and resurrection, so you are my family, my flesh and blood. We walk together, and there are no conditions to that.
Marriage is the closest thing that we have on earth to our relationship with Christ. Christ knows that. He calls the Church His Bride. He refers to Himself as the Bridegroom. Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, Scripture goes back to this analogy over and over again. Often, it isn't the beautiful, romantic situation one would hope. Generally, it is about God talking about how wicked the Bride has been, and how He loves her and is redeeming her anyway. In marriage, God makes the two become one flesh in a very real way. In baptism, we are made one in the body of Christ.
Compatibility is nice. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend, but even if he wasn't, he's still my husband, and I am his wife. But it's really not about compatibility, it's about the fact that we are together. The being together is the important thing, not the things that we think unite us or separate us. So these things that seem so important, that we want the other person to validate in us, because the other person is as close to "us" as we can get....if we are loving them with the love of Christ, then rather than letting these things separate us, we really need to accept the fact that there are these places where we can't meet, where the other person can't do what we ache for them to do. Often, the only thing to do is accept it, forgive ti, release it.
Because that is what Christ does.
Friday, March 21, 2014
The Beauty of Marriage
The nice thing about L.A. is the days are BEAUTIFUL. If I can actually get my butt outside, I can usually feel better, no matter what kind of day I am having.
Most days are good. Honestly. My joints barely hurt, no dull ache in my back, mood is okay.
Other days, like the week after we dropped my Prednisone dosage (last week) are hard. Mood swings, rage, shaking from blood sugar issues, joint pain. Withdrawal. Because Prednisone is a corticosteroid, when I went on a 50 mg. dose, my endocrine glands could take a vacation from making cortisone, so when the dose dropped, my endocrine grands were slow on the uptake, and then probably overcompensated...vicious cycle. Hopefully I won't experience this with every drop. We ended up adding a few milligrams back.
Other days, my introvert can't take it. It just takes a little too much work to get out of bed, get ready, and cook around other people, around other people's stuff, and also to have to converse with other people. Sure, it's my inlaws, and they are wonderful. But usually I don't talk to people until I have eaten and vegged for a little while, unless I am very intimately related to them, and then it is dubious. And it's still small talk, and small talk is work. Usually more work than the rewards that it reaps. I leave the room feeling tired. And being alone in someone else's home, in a town that is not my home town where my friends are, 95% of all communication falls under the category of work.
What I love about marriage is it is never small talk. Even small talk isn't small talk. It is relevant in some way, shape, or form. It's something that we share in. All day today, I just didn't want to talk to anybody, and then the phone rang and it was Jeff (okay....I "summoned" him over Facebook) and life became easier again. Talking, listening became easy.
I'm really glad that he found me, because I would probably be an extreme hermit without him.
Most days are good. Honestly. My joints barely hurt, no dull ache in my back, mood is okay.
Other days, like the week after we dropped my Prednisone dosage (last week) are hard. Mood swings, rage, shaking from blood sugar issues, joint pain. Withdrawal. Because Prednisone is a corticosteroid, when I went on a 50 mg. dose, my endocrine glands could take a vacation from making cortisone, so when the dose dropped, my endocrine grands were slow on the uptake, and then probably overcompensated...vicious cycle. Hopefully I won't experience this with every drop. We ended up adding a few milligrams back.
Other days, my introvert can't take it. It just takes a little too much work to get out of bed, get ready, and cook around other people, around other people's stuff, and also to have to converse with other people. Sure, it's my inlaws, and they are wonderful. But usually I don't talk to people until I have eaten and vegged for a little while, unless I am very intimately related to them, and then it is dubious. And it's still small talk, and small talk is work. Usually more work than the rewards that it reaps. I leave the room feeling tired. And being alone in someone else's home, in a town that is not my home town where my friends are, 95% of all communication falls under the category of work.
What I love about marriage is it is never small talk. Even small talk isn't small talk. It is relevant in some way, shape, or form. It's something that we share in. All day today, I just didn't want to talk to anybody, and then the phone rang and it was Jeff (okay....I "summoned" him over Facebook) and life became easier again. Talking, listening became easy.
I'm really glad that he found me, because I would probably be an extreme hermit without him.
Wednesday, March 05, 2014
Six Months? REALLY?
Wow. It has been exactly six months since I last wrote...on my birthday.
You are probably due for an update.
1. Last I wrote, we were in Madang, and I was complaining about snorkeling. I actually did learn not to completely despise it, and actually relax occasionally while floating in the water. If I went back, I probably would have to start over, though.
2. God put us exactly in the right place up in the mountains -- because I am NOT meant for the heat.
3. Language learning has gone well, especially for the kids and Jeff. Once we were up at Birip in the end of September, men were showing up constantly to talk with Jeff, and his Pidgin took off. I am usually cooking and such, so my conversation is more limited, but functioning well.
4. A few days before Reformation Day, Jeff started saying "I think they are going to ask me to preach." Since before we arrived, he was nervous about the first sermon in Pidgin, and had been hoping to have a few months. The next day, Jeff was sitting in the living room with the principal, and the conversation seemed to be dancing around something. Jeff then said "Do you want me to preach?" "Yes!" John responded. A few minutes later in the kitchen, Jeff pumped his fist and said "It's ABOUT time. I SO need to be back in the pulpit." It was a wonderful sermon.
5. Culture shock is brutal. The first few months were ecstatic. Christmas was harsh. Packages that were supposed to come didn't come, we had been away from home for all of Advent, and when we went to church at home again, we expected something different than what was. The same ten songs that we ALWAYS sang at church. Nothing was different. Christmas was not different. It kind of threw us into a bigger spin than we expected, especially since I have a love/hate relationship with the holidays anyway.
6. Depression and anger are very normal in that phase...but it doesn't mean that experiencing it is any less shocking to experience.
7. People are awesome. People can be hell, too, and sometimes it's the ones who you anticipate should be awesome that are hell, and vice versa.
8. Satan attacks where you are most vulnerable, and God still can turn that for good.
9. The work of the Lord does go forward, despite the devil, the world, and our sinful selves, thankfully...mercifully
Probably our biggest update is that part of our challenge has been my health. I have had some incidents over the last few years that we believed were isolated and unexplainable, but have come together to form a bigger picture. I walked into a clinic in Goroka while we were traveling, just expecting to get another round of antibiotics for yet another UTI and he looked at the "acne patch" I have had on my face for several years and started asking questions about lupus. I have other symptoms that point in that direction, and so I currently am in Los Angeles, seeking medical treatment. Jeff and Chris are still in PNG, and I look forward to figuring this out and returning back home.
But with internet and the United States comes blogging. There is so much to write.
So part of my Lenten discipline is to blog, either here or at our mission blog: Gutpela Sindaun:
www.pnghorns.com
You are probably due for an update.
1. Last I wrote, we were in Madang, and I was complaining about snorkeling. I actually did learn not to completely despise it, and actually relax occasionally while floating in the water. If I went back, I probably would have to start over, though.
2. God put us exactly in the right place up in the mountains -- because I am NOT meant for the heat.
4. A few days before Reformation Day, Jeff started saying "I think they are going to ask me to preach." Since before we arrived, he was nervous about the first sermon in Pidgin, and had been hoping to have a few months. The next day, Jeff was sitting in the living room with the principal, and the conversation seemed to be dancing around something. Jeff then said "Do you want me to preach?" "Yes!" John responded. A few minutes later in the kitchen, Jeff pumped his fist and said "It's ABOUT time. I SO need to be back in the pulpit." It was a wonderful sermon.
5. Culture shock is brutal. The first few months were ecstatic. Christmas was harsh. Packages that were supposed to come didn't come, we had been away from home for all of Advent, and when we went to church at home again, we expected something different than what was. The same ten songs that we ALWAYS sang at church. Nothing was different. Christmas was not different. It kind of threw us into a bigger spin than we expected, especially since I have a love/hate relationship with the holidays anyway.
6. Depression and anger are very normal in that phase...but it doesn't mean that experiencing it is any less shocking to experience.
7. People are awesome. People can be hell, too, and sometimes it's the ones who you anticipate should be awesome that are hell, and vice versa.
8. Satan attacks where you are most vulnerable, and God still can turn that for good.
9. The work of the Lord does go forward, despite the devil, the world, and our sinful selves, thankfully...mercifully
Probably our biggest update is that part of our challenge has been my health. I have had some incidents over the last few years that we believed were isolated and unexplainable, but have come together to form a bigger picture. I walked into a clinic in Goroka while we were traveling, just expecting to get another round of antibiotics for yet another UTI and he looked at the "acne patch" I have had on my face for several years and started asking questions about lupus. I have other symptoms that point in that direction, and so I currently am in Los Angeles, seeking medical treatment. Jeff and Chris are still in PNG, and I look forward to figuring this out and returning back home.
But with internet and the United States comes blogging. There is so much to write.
So part of my Lenten discipline is to blog, either here or at our mission blog: Gutpela Sindaun:
www.pnghorns.com
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