Flash is fat. Barney is on bed-rest.

I've been doing a lot of praying lately, asking God to heal.

The people I've been praying for have not been getting healed. I realize that it's good to keep humble, but I hate praying again and again and not seeing results. And yet I feel that God wants me to pray, so I keep doing so.

It's not really accurate to say I'm not seeing results, it's merely that I'm not seeing results on people. But I've been doing better with animals. This is not exactly the spiritual gift I was asking for. And yet it is a blessing from God.

Remember Barney the Beagle? He was prescribed medication that was so expensive that his family was considering traveling to Canada to get a discounted prescription. Anyway, he did improve. And then when he had a relapse in Fall, and was hospitalized with pneumonia, I got a call asking me to pray. And God was gracious, and he recovered.

Last week, I visited Barney, because a planned dinner date with his family was re-located to keep him company, because he has hurt his neck and needs to stay in his crate for 6 weeks, to try to avoid re-injuring it. It's sort of the doggy version of bed rest.

While I was there, I mentioned that I needed to read my email when I got home, to check on the status of a cat I was praying for. Well, my hostess was eager to find out, and offered her computer. I logged in and found out that Flash's suspected abdominal tumor had been re-diagnosed as... fat.

My hostess was thrilled, and wanted to cooperate in getting the same results for Barney. So she asked if I needed a photo of him for the prayer to work. I said I didn't need a photo, but that it was sometimes helpful to touch a person I was praying for. She asked whether it would work through the crate, and I assured her that it would. So before I left, I sat on the floor and reached into the crate and laid hands on Barney, and asked for God's healing.

So now I need all my friends to also pray for Barney! [That's you guys.] His family is beginning to believe in this prayer thing, and I think we're finally at the point where they will ask me if they need healing for themselves, not just for their dog.

So while you are praying for Barney, please also pray that God will stir up and expand the gift of healing in myself and in our Church, and that we will see more and more people healed, in the name of Jesus.

Bhagdad Burning excerpts from 2003

I want to share a few fragments from an Iraqi blog. This isn't my own writing. My point in highlighting this is not politics, rather it puts a human face on events on the other side of the world. Someone we can be praying for.

Excerpts from Bhagdad Burning blog by Riverbend (an Iraqi woman living in Bhagdad).

August 6, 2003
"For me, April 9 was a blur of faces distorted with fear, horror and tears. All over Baghdad you could hear shelling, explosions, clashes, fighter planes, the dreaded Apaches and the horrifying tanks heaving down streets and highways. Whether you loved Saddam or hated him, Baghdad tore you to pieces. Baghdad was burning. Baghdad was exploding… Baghdad was falling. April 9 is the American Occupation Day. I can understand why Bush was celebrating- I can’t understand how anyone who values independence would celebrate it."

Aug 22, 2003
"This war started out a war on WMD. When those were not found, and proof was flimsy at best, it turned suddenly into a “War against Terrorism”. When links couldn’t be made to Al-Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden ...it turned into a “Liberation”. Call it whatever you want- to me it’s an occupation."

August 23, 2003
"Before the occupation, I more or less dressed the way I wanted to. I lived in jeans and cotton pants and comfortable shirts. Now, I don’t dare leave the house in pants. A long skirt and loose shirt (preferably with long sleeves) has become necessary. A girl wearing jeans risks being attacked, abducted or insulted by fundamentalists who have been… liberated!"

"Before the war, around 50% of the college students were females, and over 50% of the working force was composed of women. Not so anymore. We are seeing an increase of fundamentalism in Iraq which is terrifying. "

Aug 28, 2003
"instead of bringing in thousands of foreign companies that are going to want billions of dollars, why aren’t the Iraqi engineers, electricians and laborers being taken advantage of? Thousands of people who have no work would love to be able to rebuild Iraq… no one is being given a chance. "

Baghdad Burning

Baghdad Burning is the title of a blog that I've recently noticed.

It gives a very different picture of the war in Iraq. It's written by an Iraqi, but she is an ordinary, college educated, computer professional, non-extremist, jeans-wearing, English speaking woman. Someone I can identify with. Someone whose story makes me cry.

We don't hear about people like her on the news. We may talk about democracy and liberation, but that is not what she is experiencing. She may be faceless and anonymous (due to security reasons), but with her blog, she is not voiceless.

Maybe instead of praying about the political slogans and sound bites, we should be praying for real people, in their real situation. She calls herself Riverbend. Lets pray for her.

Technical note - comments

I'm switching my 'comment' functionality.

This means three things to you:
1) you will see two 'comment' links instead of one for a while.
2) you should use the 'new comments' link, on the bottom left of each post, to enter any comments from now on. Choose the 'other' button to enter your name.
3) the 'old' comments will go away eventually (as soon as I'm sure the new comments are working).

You can skip this part unless you are a techie...
I had been using Haloscan, which was working perfectly fine. But as I have learned, using an independent commenting function puts you at their mercy, and they can pull the plug at any time. Ironically, the better they are, the more likely they are to fold, since their volunteer business grows to big for them to manage. So I'm switching to the commenting function that is now offered through Blogger. That way, the blog and the comments are managed by the same people. It also has an easier way to delete comments, which hasn't been necessary so far, but could be convenient if anyone entered something inappropriate.

Foods of Provence

A co-worker is about to go to Provence on vacation, and I was eagerly telling her all my ideas of what to see and do there. I re-read my journal from my trip and found an interesting theme. Every location was punctuated with a description of the food that I ate. Provencal food is not the same as the haute cuisine that we imagine, when we think of French food. Rather, it is good country cooking with an abundance of seasonal items, a plethora of olive oil and garlic, and a pervasive assortment of local herbs.

Here was my journal entry from a dinner at La Cour de Rohan, in Aix:

We all insisted we weren't hungry, but ended up splitting a wonderful meal. Goat cheese omelet and salad; canteloupe; lobster tail; eggplant tapenade; seafood soup; ham; pate; spinach pie, and peach tart. I ordered hot chocolate and it was out of this world -- thick and dark. Nirvana in a cup.

And here are some other memorable foods from Provence:
Banon – a white cheese
Bourride – just as tasty but less annoying than bouillabaisse, which has enough bones for an entire village
Pastis – an anise flavored liquor, the french version of raki or ouzo. For sipping, not drinking
Vin de noix – slightly syrupy strong red wine, flavored with walnuts. Marvelous and aromatic.
Fougasse --bread made with olive oil and various other ingredients such as olives, anchovies or cheese
Soup with pistou – the French version of minestrone with pesto on top
herbal desserts. For example, we had thyme sorbet and lavender ice cream. It’s worth it just for the experience! Although the lavender ice cream was an interesting example of how the subconscious works. I kept wondering why it tasted soapy, and finally realized that it didn't, but my mind was merely associating lavender with soap.
Provencal wine – it’s generally not well known, and is not considered as good as the other regions, but you might as well drink the local wine when you are there. I liked especially a local blend of Syrah and Genache.
Candy – I forget what it is called, but Aix has a delicious nutty nougat. Also, the supermarkets and department stores have lovely little hard candies in tiny tins, with unusual flavors – anise, lavender, etc.
Salad - my favorite was the salad at the goat farm. Mixed greens with walnuts and raisins and thin crispy apple slices, served with a dressing of olive oil and walnut oil and lemon juice. And of course, goat cheese made in the little 'factory' next door. After seeing the worker plunge his arms up to the elbow into the vat to scoop out the curds, we made sure to drink the wine at lunch for its antiseptic properties.
Cassoulet. Well, it's not specifically Provencal, but it's a hearty delicious, distinctive casserole. Best to share one -- it is richer than we are used to.

It is curious that I love to try so many foods, considering the fact that I score a zero in risk-taking generally. What my friends really have trouble understanding is that I love trying different foods even if I don't especially like them. Which really helped me in the jalapeno donut episode mentioned earlier!

The benefits of teamwork

I've got a terrific team helping with my next leadership project.

I'm suddenly seeing the results of what I've learned in team theory. Having team members with different personalities and skills is exciting and fruitful. Most of my projects have been things that I could have done myself, had I enough time and energy (and if leading a team was not a requirement!). On this project, I have already seen that people with different personalities are gravitating to areas of responsibility that they will do much better than I.

Of course, as a 'homesteader' I find it scary to work with 'pioneers', but I'll try to get over it! The ideas and energy that they bring are welcome.