Playin in the Mud

One of my favorite images in the Bible comes from the book of Genesis... I think we all too often think of God as the Almighty Creator, white flowing gowns, curly beard, and all-knowing intellect. Thus, when it the writer says the God made Adam out of clay, it's like God waves his hand and the dust of the desert takes the shape of human being. Instead try this: the desert dust is blowing around, and God takes some of the water from the oceans and makes mud. Then, into the mud he reaches both of his hands, getting mud all over his fingers, and probably even splashing some on his arms. Imagine that! God, with his hands dirty with the sutff of humanity! Our God plays in the mud! I guess that's how I see much of this adventure. God works with our humanity, in all it's messiness. In accord with all that has been typed recently, this blog will in some ways be a place for us to work in our own mud as we grow together through the "stuff" of our lives. And for myself, I am very excited to tell you that even my own project assignment should hopefully involve a little bit of mud-play. No, it's not as huge as writing funding proposals, establishing a niche in an overseas marketing, or even saving the workd through effective values formation. Though it may seem simple, my project serves to build ownership of each village and community in both the partners and the village residents. I have been asked to focus my efforts for the six months to ensuring that every village has a nice marker (the cool sign that you see at the entrance of each village) and that every GK site has a site plan and map posted in their community gathering space. For those of you that know me well, this means that I will have the chance to travel to a large majority of the villages, and spend time constructing the Markers at those villages that need them. This of course means getting dirty, and that's something I'm good at ;-) So, bring on the mud and sweat! I supposed I will be blessed with the chance to work out some of my frustrations and challenges with a shovel and a hammer...and that's a good thing. For pics of some of the markers that already exist, check out the ANCOPUSA.org link in the link list.