Think about what you just said

[bigG]

I don't know about that last post.

I just got to know a lovely young gal (8th grader) from the outskirts of Oaxaca, Mexico. Being the resident Spanish speaker, and guidance counselor, it's my job to usher in such folks. What a  blessing. Really. we have a very inviting school. I couldn't be more proud of my 8th graders, one of which is an absolute saint (you won't read about in the Bible) who came with me to this young woman's home, to invite her to our faire school. So, I take the one young lady who is fluent in Spanish, to greet the new kid (whose second language is Spanish ) and she hears the new kid debating with her mother (who I've known for several years) and says she doesn't know what the heck they're saying. The new kid (and her mom) speak Mixteco. She is a living piece of history. One of about 40,000 to speak the last dialect of the Maya. I'm acclimated to the language but can't speak fluently by any stretch.

It's been a labor of love, as I hope to one day be fluent in Mixteco. People here like to think "a Mexican is a Mexican." The difference between both these girls is unreal. One brought up in Guanajuato speaking pure Spanish, the other pure Maya and speaking both Mixteco and Spanish. I'm teaching her English while she teaches me Mixteco, and Spanish is our common denominator. Totally different from any language you ever heard. I'm enthralled. So, this girl comes to my school adamantly (one month from her mountain village near Oaxaca) close to the Guatemala border. Doesn't ewant to talk the first week. Court says she gotta be in school, my job to make sure someone looks out for her. Everyday, I have her in my office. She and I chat real well, now. Finally, she trusts me. She now tells me about what she misses, and just how odd the world here, seems. She misses taking her 6 goats up the mountain to graze, to get our of school and spend the late afternoons and evenings in the village center, looking at boys and giggling with her friends. She ate the same food everyday: black beans, rice, handmade tortillas, tamales, apples and oranges. So, I get her those things for lunch (if mom doesn't bring them). She hangs in my office.

I talk to her about religion and she says her religion is nature. I ask her to expand. I ask "do you believe in Jesus?" she says she does. I ask if she believes he is the son of God. She looks at me and says You are a son of God, like I'm a Daughter of God, just as Jesus is a son of God. I ask if she believes that God is everywhere. She says he is, in the rocks, animals, trees, etc. She says that those ARE the Gods. The things we can't communicate with but with a deeper vision if what life really is. I ask if she believes in only one God. She pauses, and says, "I believe in all the Gods, and accept all of them that exist." "The mountain is a God, so is the water. These are all things that we need." I think long and hard, and , hopefully, have a lot more time with this kid, and wonder if existence in the nature of this world doesn't make for Godliness. The one thing that really stands out is that she is much more open, and sees the Bible as an important book; but not the first nor last word; rather an instrument with which improve our treatment of God(s), and to enrich our souls. Perhaps not a concrete "this is right, the rest is wrong" sort of thing, but an opening to greater knowledge , peace, and forgiveness; oneness. I feel this is an element missing in the livers of many modern Christians. That said, I don't feel it was a mistake that she was cast into my midst. I hope I bless her as she has done me. I had to be the bad guy about insisting she be in school daily. She didn't like me for awhile. I felt bad knowing how out of place she was. I guess I didn't know just how out of place, as she didn't know how much I wanted her happiness. So, we meet and her deceased father now has set her in my world. I don't owe her or him; rather I just feel and know it's right that I'm where I am and she where she is. Perhaps the most Godly thing I think Christians could do is to embrace the Gods we think are myth and equate them to the Biblical and conclude that they are not necessarily putting on in front of the other, but combining beliefs to make for an eternal God.

Wish I could say the Bible is it. I can't. Too much to go with it that too many followers won't acknowledge. So, I'll float quietly along; not saying one is or isn't truth; but willing to accept the truth as I learn it to be so. I feel privileged. Born relatively poor raised boring, I wonder what I've done to get such a privilege. I might just be fortunate that instead of pursuing such privilege, I just let it happen. Either way, looks like I got a knew quasi-daughter. Another pain in the butt that will make me so much happier than if she never showed up to begin with. I'm lucky to be here. knucklehead counselor from Milwaukee, 8th grade girl from Mixteco Oaxaca. What are the chances we could even communicate. We do now, thank God.

[chrisber]

                                                                 He is risen!


Matthew 28:6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Mark 16:6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

Luke 24:1-12

John 2:22

[chrisber]

From the other thread

[bigG]

I think all trees bear fruit. Just some less noticeable than others, and some less edible than others. Who would think that the nastiness that grows from cocoa could end up something as divine as chocolate. I think its' what you make of the fruit. Did JC use the dead tree for firewood? That's what I'd do, if I were JC.

I'm gonna get that young gal going on Google earth so she can take my little Spanish speakers on a tour of her town. I work on English with her when I get the chance. She'll learn...slo but sho.

I wish I could get into the Bible as you do. Maybe it's my short attention span that leads me back to the simplicity (and brevity) of the Tao.

Many great lessons in both, and most spiritual books out there.

[chrisber]

Did JC use the dead tree for firewood?

Good question, I would use it as firewood however, the scripture doesn