Hi everyone,
Not too much exciting stuff to report...
Ulf is happy plodding along in his job cleaning the high school. He downloads podcasts and teachings from the internet and listens to them on his phone while working.
As always, there is the challenge of loving people - both those in Elisha Care and each other - and although we learn a lot along the way, it doesn't seem to get easier. Ulf read/heard a great quote which said something like, "As soon as you have responsibility for other people, you have possibly friction and/or conflict. Without it responsibility for people's lives, there is no friction and no conflict." So when we live very seperate, insular lives, protecting ourselves with our high fences and structured lives, without relationship with others, then we have 'peace'. But we'll also have loneliness, lack of purpose, and no possiblity of joy. To love others is to be uncomfortable sometimes, to be vulnerable, to be hurt sometimes, to bear the pain sometimes. It reminds me of a picture from Hannah Hurnnard's sequel to "Hind's Feet in High Places," which described the purpose of the whole of creation as one of giving. The trees grow and bear fruit, giving food to the animals and birds, leaving seeds behind to grow more plants from which to give food. Animals have babies and give to them, who in turn mature and have their own young and give to them. It's a cycle of giving for which all creation was made. And yet we are broken, corrupted and selfish in our existence, which goes against the very nature of life itself. There is no joy in getting, there is no fulfilment in storing up for ourselves, there is only emptiness in taking from others, from being only focussed on receiving. Even those who know or say they know our Creator, are focussed on receiving. And it doesn't work. To experince love is to give love to others. That's when we'll truly know love. God Himself is love by nature - He is always giving, and yet we seem to think that He is an angry parent trying to discipline His children with pain and punishment. What's gone wrong? Why are we trying to earn His love or pay Him back for what He's done for us? Just receive His love and pass it on to others. It's that simple.
Okay, besides all that.... Emma's setup a new website for Elisha Care. At the moment it's at
http://elishacare.blogspot.com/, but soon it will be moving to
http://www.elishacare.org/. Ulf helped a lot with it, too.
Emma's also been running a craft group out of the girls' garage. It's been a great learning experience, and she's really enjoying it. She is in need of some ideas for craft activities and some sewing equipment and craft tools... If you can help with some, please let us know.
That's all for now...
Tchuess!
