Code of Faith

I find myself sitting up past midnight at my computer again. Last night I was working on an application for Facebook. Oddly enough, that is about the only thing that I have been able to concentrate on for more than 10 minutes all week. I probably worked on that project for 4-5 hours yesterday. However, when it comes to the work for which Fielder pays me, that has not been so forth coming. I got the major components of the code complete before I left. When I was working on those parts, I would sit at my computer and lose track of time. Upon my return, I have found myself making cosmetic and simple fixes. I have to do these things but they are not intellectually stimulating. Therefore, I have found myself staring at my monitor in frustration for most of the week.

It is also frustrating that before we started this project, everyone kept harassing about when we would get started. Now that we are in the middle of it, those same people are the ones slowing the progress. I am not innocent in this predicament but it is frustrating nonetheless. My thoughts keep going back to every other programming job I have had over the last seven years. I start and find many projects to keep me busy. Time passes and the boss relegates me to simple editing text. Worse, I find ways to innovate and take the company forward and every piece of the management machine crushes my ideas.

Combine all that with my lack of desire to do anything constructive when I get home and things go down hill quick. I do not know if this is just a case of summer time blues or something more. I have thought about this for the last year or so. Have I left each job because of the lack of stimulation and fulfillment? Perhaps I am lazy, and I chose not to stick out the rough times.

I am reminded of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9,

We were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.

Perhaps all this lack of interest and frustration is to break me of my pride. My only prayer is that I pass the test.

Byline: www.imb.org

This article appeared in the latest edition of Commission Magazine. It describes the ministry that I worked with in Cambodia in the words of the people who started the work there.

http://www.imb.org/main/news/details.asp?LanguageID=1709&StoryID=5846

I was driving back from Louisiana yesterday afternoon and listened to Buzz Out Loud. This particular episode was a retrospective because one of the hosts was leaving. So during the broadcast, they played a 4 minute montage of her random and bizarre comments. One happened to be a song about Harvey the Wonder Hamster. Enjoy.

Harvey the Wonder Hamster Mp3

You would think that after the number of mission trips I have taken over the last decade or so that I would have developed immunity to the post-mission depression. Every time I have come back from a trip, I have a period of a few weeks that I alternate between wanting to go back and fighting apathy with what is going on at home. The hardest is when I have gone with a group of friends. Our relationships have deepened because of that experience. Then I return home to my empty apartment and nothing feels right. I long for that deep sense of community and fellowship.

A great friend of mine once gave me some insight into this condition. He told me that when you have an experience like this, that is just a glimpse into the joy and fellowship that we will find in heaven. Therefore, when we return to our mundane routines, we long to return to that experience. However, as he also pointed out, that is not reality. What I mean to say is, that is our mountain top experience. We cannot build tabernacles and remain there. We must come back down to the broken and at times mundane valley.

I am still learning how to take what I have experienced on the mountain. It should energize me for the return to the valley. There are also times when the experience gives me perspective as I struggle through the bogs of life. However, most times the overwhelming feelings fade along with the incredible memories of the trip. I allow life to dull those memories in my mind and it feels as though I have spent my entire life in the valley.