Some Memories

I have been reflecting on quite a few things these last few weeks.  Quite a few I have shared with my family, especially with my kids.  One of the big things that I have shared with them are the cartoons that I grew up with.  Unfortunately, though, some of them are harder to find than others.

There are several cartoons that I have shared with my kids that I have been able to find.  One of them being ‘Garfield and Friends.’  It was a show that I enjoyed as in my teens and early adulthood.  In fact, I still enjoy watching Garfield cartoons (including modern ones), and rereading some of the older cartoon strips.

Another show that I have shared with my kids, but they have not taken too much of an interest in, is in Magnum PI.  I have at least 4 seasons on DVD and still enjoy many of the episodes.  Just like with the current series that my family enjoys watching, CSI, Magnum PI lasted for many seasons because of their rich combination of actors that complimented each other extremely well, and some really good writers.

There are several shows that I have not been able to find on YouTube, though.  The version of Superfriends that I grew up with is one.  Not the one with ‘Wonderdog,’ but the one with the ‘Wonder Twins’ who could ‘activate’ their superpowers via verbal command while physically contacting each other.  (This was usually done via touching their index fingers, though other ways were done, too.)  It was a show that I grew up with in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  Another one during this time was ‘Thundarr, the Barbarian.’  With this particular show, I can find the opening credits and several commentaries on the different episodes, but not the episodes themselves.  Though ‘Thundarr’ was not my favorite cartoon growing up, it was one that I did enjoy a lot.

Some other memories that I have shared with my family and on this blog are my memories of traveling, especially in Europe.  Though I have traveled to many places throughout the United States and have very treasured memories from those travels, I more often talk about my travels to Europe.  Why?  Good question…

There are two reasons that I can come up with off the top of my head that I will share hear.  One of them is because of who much my experiences in Europe have impacted my life.  Let me start off with sharing one of my more humorous moments!

My parents had already visited Europe, primarily in Germany, because my Dad loves genealogy and his family comes from Germany.  While I was about 7 years old, and while we were living in Kansas, my parents started taking German at a night class.  My Mom eventually stopped going, but my Dad continued to attend.  While I had not interested in learning the language per se, I did enjoy learning some words and phrases over the years.  Basic questions, how to count, etc.

Fast forward to age 14, and I finally was able to visit Europe with my parents.  Needless to say, I was extremely excited!  My Dad had suggested to me that I sleep on the plan instead of staying up and watching the movies and eating the meals.  Being the typical teenager, I elected to stay up.  Needless to say, the consequence of that decision was being extremely tired upon our arrived in Germany.  So, I slept for a while in the car.

When we stopped later that afternoon at the hotel that we were going be staying, we decided to have lunch.  There were at least 6 or seven of us at the time (several friends and classmates of my dad traveled together), so we had one menu for every two people.  A friend of the family, Sandy, initially received a menu.  Being the hungry teen that I was, I snatched the menu from her had so that I could order something to eat.  I looked at it, but then angrily slapped the menu onto the table and said, “I can’t read this!”  It was, of course, in German!  Talking about culture shock! 

But, I overcame this experience within a day or two and was able to greatly enjoy my time there.  In fact, it was because of these experiences, falling in love with the food, the culture, the food, the landscape, the food, the history, the food, the castles…  Did I mention, ‘the food?’  Because of all that, I was inspired to learn the language with the intent of learning it so that I could work in Germany or travel there frequently for my work.  In fact, I went so far as to majoring in German (language, culture, history, etc.) while at Centre College.

We all memories for our experiences.  Some of them entertaining, some of them are awe inspiring, others are sad and/or painful.  But, these memories help mold us into the person that we are today.  How often do we share these memories and experiences with others to help them learn and grow?  I would encourage you to think about that.

RC

Lost in Translation

Have you ever had an experience where you tried to tell a story and someone, or maybe your whole audience, couldn’t understand why something was funny or embarrassing?  Or has someone told you a story about their childhood or travel experience that left them in stiches but left you just ‘scratching your head’ because it didn’t make much sense to you?  I’m sure that all of us have had such experiences from time-to-time.  For those of you who have traveled a lot within your own country, or especially to other countries, this is probably a familiar experience.  I know that it is to me.

This morning I had an awesome opportunity with helping to lead worship in my church.  Every year at about this time in the summer, we have Germanfest.  Because many of the people who settled here in this part of Syracuse are of German heritage, we have this festival to celebrate it.  We also have a joint worship service, too.  And it was during this joint service that I helped out.

What did I do?  I read responsive reading and the Lord’s Prayer, in German.  Of course, we had the English translation in the bulletin and on the PowerPoint.  It made for some entertaining experiences.  Instead of just jumping into the responsive reading with the German, I think I should have giving some instructions first.  It took a few moments for people to catch on, but they did. 

What was really entertaining was leading the Lord’s Prayer.  I actually gave instructions this time, that I was going to read it in German and for those in the congregation will recite it in English.  So, I read the German while they said it in English.  Well, for those who have not spoken something in a foreign language in front of people, especially while they were talking, it’s not very easy.  It is probably also the reason why I am not a professional interpreter.  That is, translating something from one language to another while people are talking. 

It got me thinking about my many experiences with languages over the years.  For those who don’t know me, I have always been fascinated by other languages and cultures.  Whether the languages and cultures are made up like the Klingons in Star Trek or the Hutts in Star Wars, I find them fascinating.  Actual languages in our world, whether modern or ancient, fascinate me as well.  Not just languages, but other cultures as well greatly interest me.

For those who do not know, I have been deployed to Iraq three different times and Qatar once.  I have also spent a significant amount of time in Europe, primarily in Germany, Holland, and the Alsace/Lorraine Valley (a region on the French/German Boarder), in the city of Strasbourg.  With each of the different experiences in each of those areas, I learned many new things about other cultures and peoples.  In fact, my favorite job that I have ever had was working in the International Zone Universal Placarding (IZUP) Office, back in 2010, creating security placards for vehicles.  These placards were needed to access the International Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, and certain areas within the IZ. 

In order to do my job, I had to interact with many different people from many different countries.  Because of my previous experiences with other cultures while in high school, collage, and in seminary, I had a lot of knowledge to draw upon in order to interact with the many different people.  For example, when the security group from one of the Asian embassies came in to have their placards renewed, I was the next available person to work with them.  Because of Asian friends that I had in the past, I knew the first thing I needed to do in order to show them respect was to bow, so I did.  This sign of respect made such an impact with this group that, when they came back on a couple of other occasions, they would always wait at the door until I was available.

Whether it is working with German, the rudimentary Spanish or Arabic that I have picked up over the years, or the biblical Greek and biblical Hebrew that I studied in seminary, I have long understood that translating things from one language to another can be challenging at times.  There are times where word or phrases translate easily.  Other times, one has to creatively interpret one idea to another.  Whether we are talking about idiomatic phrases, like ‘making a mountain out of a molehill,’ or translating prose or poetry, it can sometimes be very difficult.

Just as understanding another language can be difficult, understanding a different culture can be just as hard.  One example that I am very familiar with is the differences between American hygiene and typical Middle Eastern or African hygiene.  In most places in the Middle East and in Africa, people bathe regularly, but they do not ‘perfume’ themselves with deodorant, antiperspirant, etc.; whereas, we Americans pride ourselves on how good we smell.

It has been my experience that this ‘pride’ can be very harmful for good interpersonal and international relations.  For example, I had two friends from Africa while at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.  Because of my prior experiences, I was annoyed by their lack of deodorant, but ‘not offended.’  This was not the case with all of my fellow students.  Many of them, believe it or not, would talk disrespectfully about them when they were not around.  This was only because they ‘smell like us.’  On several occasions, I tried to help my fellow students that, although they bathed regularly, they smelled differently only because they didn’t wear deodorant.  That wasn’t a part of their culture.  Sadly, many of my fellow students didn’t care about ‘cultural differences,’ just that ‘they stink!’ 

One evening, I was in the basement of the dorm cooking my supper.  At least one other fellow student was with me at this time.  After a few minutes, while my back was to the door to the kitchen, I noticed a familiar scent and said, “Good evening ‘Paul,’ here to make supper?”  The other student, from Africa, stopped dead in his tracks next to me and said, “Ray, how did you know it was me?”  I just responded, “Lucky guess?”  In reality, over time, I realized that each of the two men had individual scents.  These different scents were very distinct.  Upon realizing this, I was soon able to recognize when either one of them came into a room.  Well, for me it was very entertaining…

Whenever I preach or do a Bible Study, I make it a point to take time understanding what the particular passage meant in the original language and culture.  Only after grasping a good understanding of how the original audience would have received and understood it do I try to interpret it for modern listeners and/or readers.  Being a person who loves learning and seeks to understand where others come from, this is natural for me.  However, I have realized many years ago that many others do not share this passion.  Therefore I make it a point to help others to understand this.

The point that I am trying to make?  Each of us have our own cultural and regional upbringings that have helped define each of us as we are as a unique person.  Our own life experiences make us unique and different.  And the culture and region that we grow up in help us to further interpret those experiences.  Because different ethnic groups, regions within a country, or even the people of other countries, do things differently, sharing experiences can sometimes be difficult.  Not only because of language barriers, but also because of cultural, ethnical, and/or religious differences.  We all have our set beliefs and biases.  We all have them.  However, to better understand others, we often have to try to understand how others believe, think, and behave.  In doing so, we show them respect for who they are.  Though this can often be challenging, maybe even extremely difficult, we should strive to do so.  Are you up to the challenge?

RC

Finished With It

Well, yesterday was a major milestone for me, so to speak.  I received my E6 (Staff Sergeant) in December of 2012.  In order to ‘keep’ my rank, I had to complete an on-line course and go to a school.  I was able to successfully complete the school in 2013, but it has taken me a long time to complete the on-line course.

For those who have not done an Army on-line course, consider yourself lucky.  I do not feel that many of the on-line courses are put together very well.  Even though I love to learn new things, the way some of the classes were put together, or studying things that ‘Big Army’ thinks is important, was a real struggle.

The only good thing was that the course that I just finished was an actual ‘learn at your own pace’ class.  That made it much, much better than the course I tried to take in 2013.  Now, that course was extremely difficult!

Off hand, I think that the course was called ‘Common Core,’ but I can’t remember for sure.  When I was promoted in 2012, I did so before it became a requirement for me to complete the school and online class prior to being promoted.  So, I was grandfathered in.  The school, which I attend in California, was very educational.  However, the online portion was more than a little difficult for me.  There were two reasons why it was so difficult for me.  One was because it was done like an actual college course with very specific due dates for certain things.  The second reason was because there were at least 5 different NCO (Non-Commissioned Officers) grading the course.  This became a problem with certain projects because different instructors would grade things at different times.  This made for an issue with consistency for me.

I had a very rough start to the online course because the audio would not work.  Even though I called the school that was facilitating the course, they did not have a ‘fix’ for me.  I just had to use the Close Caption (CC) feature.  Even though I was told that it was at the bottom of the screen, I could not find it.  After about a week of this frustration, while working on it at home, I finally realized that part of the screen was behind my taskbar.  So, I tried resizing and moving the screen.  To no success.  I eventually figured out how to move the task bar to the side, which solved that problem.  But, I would soon have more significant issues to deal with.

At this time, I had returned to work at the state prison after about 18 months of being away, trying to pursue a ministry career.  At first my work was pretty regular and I could make time for working on my online class.  However, within a week of actually getting started on the course, we started getting hit with a lot of mandatoried overtime.  And, since I worked 2^nd Shift (1400-2200 or 2 PM to 10 PM) and was mandatoried onto 3^rd (2200-0600 or 10 PM to 6 AM) I almost never got relieved early.  And, we were getting mandatoried 2 to 3 times a week.  Needless to say, I became chronically sleep deprived very soon, and stayed that way for almost a whole month! 

On top of this course and work, my wife and I had an almost 3 year old boy and an infant girl (about a year old).  My wife went out of her way to give me as much time as she could to focus on this online course.  But, she was burning the candle at both ends, and sometimes had to take time for herself or just sleep.  Myself?  I feel that I was burning the candle at both ends, and in the middle!  It was an extremely difficult time for all of us!

Up until about the 3^rd week of the course, the different instructors did not create a major issue.  However, when we had to create a SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) using a very specific Army memo format, this became a very big issue.  By this time, I had about two weeks to finish this SOP and participate in a discussion board (which they also graded).  Because different Instructors would grade my SOP, different things would have to be changed.  I soon had to have a fellow NCO who had already completed the course tutor me with getting the SOP ‘totally correct’ so that I could complete the first section of the course.  Unfortunately, this didn’t help me in the end.

About 10 days before the first mandatory deadline, my wife and I realized that something had to go.  Either my job (because of all the mandatory overtime), our family, or this course.  It was taking too big of a toll on all of us.  So, I wrote a memo citing my extreme situation, providing my Shift Supervisor from work’s contact information to confirm my situation, and requested to be removed from the course prior to the deadline so that it wouldn’t be counted against me.  (It was a ‘fail three times and you are permanently done’ situation.)  My Chain of Command received and forwarded the memo to the schoolhouse within about two days.  Then the school just sat on it.  I was then removed from the course, ‘failure.’  Needless to say, my wife and I were extremely irate about this!  I had not failed a military school, nor had I failed a course since my second year in seminary.  And that class was a Biblical Greek language course.

For several years, I wasn’t interested in taking an online course because of this very painful experience.  Eventually, in 2015 while deployed to Qatar, I requested to be enrolled in the Structured Self-Directed (SSD) 2 course.  I started the process in the late summer or early fall, where I would have a lot more time to focus on this course.  However, it wasn’t until within a month of me returning to the States that I was finally enrolled in the course. 

I returned from deployment to doing four 12 hour shifts, that made it harder for me to do the course, especially since I strive to put God and family first.  This made finding time to focus on the course very challenging.  On top of that, the course presentation was less than appealing. After years of taking many different Army online courses, I find the way they often present course to be irritating. (Think:  Extreme death by PowerPoint!)  I find it easier to learn by muting it and read what they say while listening to classical music.  Unfortunately for me with this course, it would ‘unmute’ almost every time it advanced to the next screen/slide.  I finally just muted my computer every time I did my online course and listened to classical music on my iPod. 

Well, after almost three years, I finally completed it.  Did I learn a lot?  Yes.  Were there things that I think were unnecessary?  Definitely!  If I were to set up a course, there are several ‘lessons’ that I could combine to help make things shorter.  There are other things that, though nice to know, I don’t think it was absolutely necessary to be included.  I honestly think it was way too long.  Now, if I was Active Duty or in a full-time status, it might have been easier to deal with.  But, as a part-time Guardsman with a full-time job (with occasional to frequent mandatory overtime) and a family to take care of, it was overly long.  But, I am finished and it is, finally, behind me.  I can now focus on other things like preparing for next years learning vacation, preparing for the upcoming Bible Study on the Purpose Driven Church, finish going through many boxes of things that we have, etc.  And, I am now able to just sit down and read without worrying about that course.  That, in itself, is a major blessing!

RC

Looking at the Psalms

In a couple of weeks, I will re-start the Bible Study that I do. I am excited about it, because it gives me a creative outlet and something to look forward to each week. Honestly, I love teaching theology! At least for now, we will be looking at The Psalms. "Why?" you may ask. Well, several reasons.

The primary reason is because of the role that Psalms plays in worship. The Psalms were an integral part of the ancient Hebrew worship, and often is major part of ours. I am sure that you have noticed this. However, have you taken time to sit down and read through each of these Psalms that were used in a worship service and examined them in detail? If your church uses a Psalm as a ‘call’ and ‘response,’ have you really thought about what you were saying? Have you thought about what kind of events might have inspired a specific Psalm, or what the original words might convey in meaning?

Many of the Psalms are short, but full of vivid imagery and deep in theology. This will give us a lot to think about, pray about, and discuss. Another important thing is that most of these were someone's prayer that they wrote down. It was their way of putting words to what was on their heart and on their mind. Therefore, they can help us put our thoughts and feelings into prayer.

On a related note, the Psalms cover a very, very diverse range of emotions. From joy, to sadness, to loss, to being deeply confused, to absolute range, and many emotions in between. According to Paul in Romans 8:26-27, we see that the Holy Spirit aids us in our prayers, and searches our hearts. From the readings of the Psalms that I have done over the years, they have helped me put to words what I might be feeling and/or thinking.

While I am not fluent in Hebrew, I can work with that language much more easily than I can Greek. This will help me a lot with researching the history and original text. Believe it or not, this can be very important. For example, in Psalms 23, the original words used in verse 4 actually indicate a ‘staff’ and a ‘club?’ Which indicates to me that God will protect me from dangers that are ‘at a distance’ and those that are ‘right up close.’ That is pretty significant to me, don’t you think?

While most Psalms are a complete thought/prayer in and of themselves, several of the longer ones contain multiple parts. This means that we can either cover one of the longer Psalms in one session, or look at each of its parts over a period of two or more sessions. One Psalm that will take many weeks to look at is Psalm 119, which has over 170 verses! Though they cover a similar theme, they are very diverse in how they express it.

To be honest, it is very easy to look at Psalms and not really think about what they mean. They are very poetic and have wonderful (though sometimes scary) imagery. But, do we really think about them, or do we just quickly read through them? What about our hymns of today? When we sing them, do we really think much about what the words mean? Did you know, Psalms were often chanted during a Jewish worship service, playing a similar role as our hymns. For me, this is yet another reason to look at them in depth.

Something that I am hoping to do, is to post some of the things that we are looking at with the Psalms. Now, there is no guarantee that I will be able to do so every week. Some weeks are more challenging than others. And, I am sure that each of you out there know that. But, not only am I wanting to post things that I discovered, but I also hope to share some of the observations that others share in the class.

As I have talked about before in prior blog entries, each of us is on a journey. What God does with me in my journey will be very different than someone else. Each of us have our own particular joys, sorrows, struggles, expectations, etc. It is my hope, though, that the things that we discuss and learn about the Psalms will be a blessing onto at least some of you each week. That’s not to say that I won’t blog about other things that I experience. As time and life allow it, I want to do so. But, one step at a time. Ready to start a journey together through the Psalms?

Never Stop Learning

I have to admit, I love watching movies and documentaries on Netflix. Depending on my mood, I will watching anything from a foreign suspense or foreign action movie to a documentary on the Middle East, to documentaries on different types of animals. And, of course, I will watch various cartoons with my kids.

I am the kind of person who loves to learn new things. Whether it is reading a book, watching a movie based on actual events, reading articles about something on the Internet, etc., I seek to learn more about the world that I live in. And, as I learn more, I seek to pass it on to others.

I have found some fascinating programs on Netflix over the last few years to learn more about the world in which we live. In the last year, I have watched several documentaries on ancient Egypt and WWII Europe, just to name a couple. Each of these programs have brought to me different pieces to the puzzles of "what really happened" at that time. Some of the 'pieces' were familiar, some not so much. And there were some that I seriously questioned as to whether they were true or not. But, they were still an interesting piece to examine.

I can't remember if I have share this in a previous blog or not. But, my ancestors on my biological mother's side were ethnic Germans who had originally emigrated to what was Southern Russia (now the Ukraine) in the 1700-1800's. This mass migration of (mostly Polish and Germans) was initiated under Catherine the Great (One map can be found here, and my ancestors came from the Odessa region), but was ended during the 're-Russification' during the late 1800's. (Another brief article, in English, can be found here and another one can be found here.) This particular documentary was called 'Empire of the Tzars' and done in three parts. I was a little disappointed in the fact that there was not more mentioned about Czarina Catherine the Great inviting Germans to settle in southern Russia. But, at least it was mentioned, though in passing. The series did give me a better understanding as to all of the issues going on at the time.

Growing up, I was an avid reader. Though I would often prefer fiction action/adventure or Sci-Fi, I would also spend lots of time reading encyclopedias and various books to learn more about things. These easily ranged from biology, ancient history, information on various religious, to the supernatural, etc. Because of the different things that I learned over the years, my friends would jokingly saw that "I had memorized the who encyclopedia!" While that wasn't quite the fact, the broad knowledge that I had, people would often come to me with questions. Yes, I considered all of that a compliment.

Thankfully, I have not lost that love for learning. In the last few years, I have extended my interest from theology, ancient history, WW II era, etc., to also include genealogy. Although I am interested in both sides of my biological family, so far I have focused most on my biological mother's side. Unfortunately, though, I have not had much time this past year in order to work on this. Working long hours at the prison, having work on the side for the Guard, and taking care of a family definitely does eat up a lot of my time. Oh, well, as some things settle down, I hope to do some more.

I encourage each of you out there to develop and nurture a love for learning. It helps you to grow as a person. Even if it's something that you don't agree with, learning more from another person's perspective can help you in many ways. And, the more you learn about other beliefs and histories, the better you can understand your person beliefs and experiences. The more you learn, the healthier you will keep your brain.