Of Tank Girls and Bucket Lists...

Some people know that i'm sort of a big fan of our country's armed forces.  What follows, then should not be much of a shock except that believe it or not, this journey really revolves around my daughter, Peri, and not me so much.  Starting late last year, i dropped friends in the office of Senator Joe Donnelly the following e-mail:

"This past year, my family has had to stand tough through some pretty difficult times as my wife has battled cancer, fought through chemotherapy, a resulting systemic infection, ICU hospitalizations, multiple surgeries and near death experiences, learning to walk again and a host of other battles.  It's been a great year in many ways, actually, but it's had more than its normal share of ugly too.  In the process, my wife has had an unbelievably undaunted attitude throughout it all, and has been an example for both my children and our little community of friends and family of her faith and ferocity in taking each challenge head on.  Because of my martial mindset and proclivities, i have probably uttered the phrase, "my wife is a tank!" a few thousand times to illustrate her relentless resilience and indefatigable spirit in the midst of all she has had to undergo.  I have illustrated for my daughter how despite her mom's slight size (my wife is 5' and 95 lbs), her spirit is just like our famed M1A1 Abrams battle tanks in battle.  You can hit them hard but they keep rolling, keep "bringing the thunder", and keep protecting the people inside them against everything that the enemy can throw at them.  Peri is similar to me in that she likes the rough and tumble, so often my military analogies are ones that she likes or prefers as she envisions her world.

I think i just didn't realize how much these images have impacted her until recently.  While i was in India two weeks ago, my friend Raj asked me about the movie "The Bucket List" and what it was about and what a "Bucket List" is.  I explained the concept and we had a lot of fun talking about what was on our respective Bucket Lists.  When i told Peri about that conversation, i asked her what, at 9 years of age, was Number 1 on her Bucket List, and she responded without a moment's hesitation, "I'd like to ride in a tank, dad."  A little surprised, i asked her for clarification.  "You know… like… a real battle tank.  One that our armed forces use.  I'd like to ride in one."  A little shocked that such would be #1 on an 9 year old girl's Bucket list, I cocked an eyebrow and said, "Is that because i've described your mom this year so much as a 'tank'?"  She smiled and nodded. It made me smile in return.  

Symbols are a big deal in our house.  We derive strength from them in whom we are trying to be and what we are trying to do to make sense of our world, our faith and how we follow Jesus to try to bring the Kingdom of God from "Up There to Down Here" in practical ways as we feed the Hungry, champion the Oppressed, give Voice to those who have none and care for the Marginalized.  As my children grow older, my wife and I do all that we can to try to grow, nurture and nourish those symbols, particularly as our kids begin to come up with their own.  

So i wondered if it is even possible, or what might need to be done to see if i couldn't get Peri an opportunity to ride in an M1 Abrams tank somewhere?  I have no idea if that's even legal, or if the US Army would permit a 9 year old girl to even sit inside one, but thought you might be able to direct me to the right people to at least ask as a starting point."  

Tomorrow, that vision will be realized as my family travels to Camp Atterbury in the southern part of the state, where Peri will have the chance to ride in an M1A Abrams battle tank that is being decommissioned from active service and place on display at the Camp's military honor museum.  She'll be able to sit in it as it makes its journey across the base with a US Army escort inside with her, explaining how it actually works.  Afterward, there will be a short service for the tank where its life and battle record will be reiterated, and then Peri will have a chance to take a guided tour of the Camp's museum to see the other exhibits on display.  We are so unbelievably grateful for the Donnelly's, our friends in their office and the US Army and Army National Guard for helping to make this dream happen, and will be excited to provide commentary and pictures on Facebook during the day!  We even sprung for full military BDU "fatigues" for Peri to wear tomorrow (pictured here).  We think she will look quite the part as well as have a great day!

"Do" vs. "Jutsu": A Martial Musing on Following Jesus

"Do" vs. "Jutsu"

There is difference in Japanese martial arts between what are called "Do" arts and "Jutsu" arts.  Do arts literally mean "Way of", where Jutsu arts more mean "Technique of".  This may sound subtle, but the difference is quite pronounced.  A Do art (JuDo, Karate-Do, AikiDo, KenDo, Tae Kwon-Do — though the latter is Korean) focuses not only the application of a system of thought in a martial setting, but the reason for it in the first place. A Do art focuses on developing a worldview and a "way of thinking" about everything in one's life rather than purely from a combat point of view.  A Jutsu art (Jujutsu, Aikijutsu, Kenjutsu), by contrast, focuses purely on combat application in given set of scenarios.  It doesn't care as much about the "why" as the "how", and stresses action more than thought or reason.  You might say that  Jutsu would be embodied in the phrase "flap your arms really hard", while Do would be embodied in the phrase "think like a bird".  

A Lesson from Aiki-Do

A few years back, i met a young woman in Chicago who was helping my wife and i build my daughter's "Samurai Day" (i.e. 7th Birthday Rite of Passage).  She is a sweet girl and was at the time recently divorced.  She said that she started studying Aikido as a stress reliever as she and her ex-husband fought and neared the end of their relationship, but was shocked at the implications of the Aikido techniques not only martial combat, but to basic conflict resolution as well.  She said that by the time she and her husband were finally divorced, she felt less anger than he did, less hurt than he did, and experienced a significantly higher degree of peace when they argued.  Why?  Because Aikido teaches "the circle" as the foundation to all of its techniques.  Aikido is about energy redirection rather than absorption.  It is about taking energy from your opponent and moving it in circles so that it spins around you and back to themselves without impacting you in the process.  She said that she found herself naturally simply doing the same thing when she and her husband would argue.  She wouldn't fight back, seek to harm him, etc. and she wouldn't "absorb" his insults either.  Aikido gave her more than just pure techniques for defending against an armed attacker; it gave her a way of thinking that taught her that energy "has to go somewhere" and that you "don't have to absorb it to use it".  She merely learned to redirect his energy until it wore him out and he left in a huff, all the while leaving her little the worse for wear.  She actually told me that had she started studying Aikido earlier in her marriage, she probably could have saved it.

"The Way" As I See It…

Most Christians that i know treat their faith as a "Jutsu" art.  It is a series of learned techniques that focus on pragmatic values, but are not necessarily an encompassing worldview.  We have labored to reduce our faith to a series of techniques to apply in a series of scenarios, but often fail to understand (or care about) the undercurrent of belief and theology that prompted such techniques to begin with, and thus end up with a radically truncated view of its full body.  Our people may know that if they have trouble with their marriage, they know how to pray or seek godly counsel (jutsu).  If they are struggling with disappointment or doubt, they know what Scriptures to read (jutsu).  If they want or need something, they know which systems to engage, which Christian books to read and perhaps even which Scriptures to quote (jutsu).  But it is not their way of life.  They can live any way that they like, actually, and only employ such "jutsu" techniques when they need to or are confronted with life's difficulties.  

But that's not how "The Way" is meant to be lived.  Like other Do arts, the life we live in Christ is meant to be an "all encompassing worldview".  It is meant to change not only "what" we think and think about, but the very fulcrum of "how" we think, how we evaluate what's going on around us, and how we respond to it.  Rather than looking merely for a few techniques to employ when we're having  a down day, a fight with our spouse or kids, or just need some encouragement that we're doing what God wants us to do, following Jesus is meant to be the lens through which we view all of Reality around us.  It is a Way (do), not a Technique (jutsu).  If we truly believe that everyone is precious to God and that He is worthy of their praise as a precious son or daughter in the approaching Kingdom of God, then The Way that we respond to them should follow accordingly. 

A Good Metric for "When To Exit"...

These are some of our friends in the small village of Kalavai where our GCC India Teams have been working for the past 4 years.  In that time, we have grown close to so many of the families, and as we near our "Exit" point from the village in July of this year, i am sometimes asked the question by friends and other church leaders, "How do you know when it's time to begin leaving?"

This is a great question, and it follows on the heels of one of the chapters that Rob Wegner and i talk about in Missional Moves when we speak about the "Monster of Dependency" (see Chapter 9, "From Relief to Development") and why so many partnerships between churches, organizations and indigenous people end in cycles of endless toxic charity that harm both the recipient and the giver long term.  As a result, what is really being asked often is not only "when to leave" a given community to allow the indigenous church to take the reigns and move fully forward, but also how to know when a given community is ready for that step before leaving them too early or staying too long.  Honestly, we have struggled with knowing this ourselves, so have begun to gather data to share with others.  As best I can tell, the following are hopefully some metrics to keep in mind for this process:

* Expectations on the Front End - We began our work in the village stating at the outset that we would be a temporary asset working in conjunction with the local church already in the village.  We have continued to reinforce that throughout our time there, and have also continually pointed to the local church planter as the "glue" that holds everything together.  I have even heard people in the village reiterate the concept back to me in saying, "We believe that you are our family.  You are our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers.  We love you as you have loved us.  But we will be grateful when you are able to leave and go help other villages as well."

* Three Strata of Development - We learned from our friends at World Relief to categorize "needs" in a context into the following three strata:
1) What can people do for themselves?
2) What is the government's responsibility to do?
3) What can the people not do for themselves and the government will not do for them?

We have focused 100% of our efforts only in category 3) so as to ensure that our friends in the village are doing category 1) alongside us, and that the government is being held accountable to deliver 2).  This helps prevent the idea that "GCC is doing everything for us!"

* Consistent Survey and Analysis - We do a lot of on-ground survey and evaluation.  At least four times in the past four years, we have sent teams in with very specific mission objectives to gather data as a component of their time in-country.  Over the time, such has given us a usually reasonably clear picture of what is going on and what dynamics are in play in the village, and what needs to be addressed in subsequent teams.

* Objective Outside Evaluation - We have been blessed to consistently have both on-ground field staff with Life Mission International and also other "outside" observers (i.e. Social Workers, Professors, other Pastors, etc) who have consistently visited the village and been liberal with their evaluation and suggestions.  This has been critical as it has prevented us from receiving a purely one-dimensional view of change and transformation which we might have acquired if the people in the village or the local pastor were our only sources of information.

I don't mean to make it seem that the above process has been easy for us or our friends in India throughout this process, but it has given me some hope that we are on the right track.  When our final survey team returned just a couple of weeks ago from a week of living in "deep cover" (more on that in the next post), they were able to tell us the following story of one of our friends living in Kalavai.

"When we asked Lakshmi what the village was planning on doing for the next 4 years now that GCC teams were going to be formally exiting in July, she stated that, 'GCC and our friends with Life Mission International knew what we needed the lasts 4 years.  We will know what is needed for the next 4 years."  That, to me, is music to my ears, and helps me believe that we are on the right track for our strategic exit from Kalavai.