my journey contines

A stately tree stood by the stream
Where sparkling waters flowed,
Her trunk was gnarled and badly scarred,
Her branches deeply bowed.

For many years she’d stayed the storms,
Withstood the windy blasts,
Her roots, sunk deep beneath the soil,
Tenaciously held fast.

At times she swayed so furiously
She thought her boughs would break;
The winds did heave her to and fro,
The ground did firmly shake.

Yet further down her roots did grow,
Her anchor firmly set,
She raised her branches to the sky
Her praises to beget.

For each new storm that came her way
Forced her to take strong hold,
And all the trials and stormy blasts
Caused her to grow fourfold.

When winds of tribulation blow,
Our faith takes root and grows;
And when shaken by life’s trials,
God’s strength He then bestows.

So when the trials of life befall,
Remember this old tree;
And thank God for each storm that comes
Which serves to strengthen thee

Linda J. Stevenson
Roanoke, Virginia

in the middle of my studying, reading, paper-writing, midterm-writing, etc. i am also looking (as many of you know) for where i will do my field placement and what type of work i would like to do.

for the longest time i have had such an interest in Latin America. i’ve wanted to learn Spanish for a number of years and although it’s been slow (because i haven’t been immersed in the language/cultures), i’ve made progress. however i ask myself, am i interested because this is what i’ve been exposed to? or is it really a passion that’s been laid on my heart? there’s another part of me that can’t get my mind to stop thinking about Cambodia and perhaps some other areas of South East Asia. same thing here… is that because i want to experience something new or is that a calling?

although i have the business background i really wonder what it is i’d like to do. do i want to do office work and number crunching? not really. i am so relational and for me, buzz-word or not, the whole incarnational model that i learned about at Urbana this year was just so exciting! living alongside the people in their realities. but doing what?

so i have a lot of things on my mind… i’m hoping that i’ll soon have a better idea and sense of where it is that God wants me to go. my passion for people, for building relationships and working in community, microfinance, etc.

In terms of what is needed… my internship requires I find a placement where the organization can provide:
1. Room and living stipend (though this will not always be possible.)
2. Be responsible for on-ground supervision and guidance for the field experience.
3. Part-time use of a computer and Internet access.
4. A one page written job description citing the expectations of the organization and what the intern will be doing. The job description should include the intern supervisor’s name, title and contact information.

If you have any suggestions or ideas of organizations you feel might be a great fit with the above criteria or good things for me to check out, please share!

Anyways, thanks for reading!!
Shannon

Hi! This is a repost as somehow with my new format it isn’t quite so easy to scroll back and see old posts… I had what some would call an epiphany almost a month ago, some of which is shared in this post…

Wednesday, February 28th…
“sometimes you sit staring at a blank page for hours. sometimes for minutes. sometimes you can’t remember what you were going to say. sometimes a thought comes and goes. sometimes it comes and stays. other times it comes and stays… and hits you hard…

for the girl who grew up at home, blessed with a wonderful family (with which she’s super close), who originally wanted to be a graphic designer living in the same city as her parents. this same girl was a picky eater, wasn’t too big on “adventure”, and might possibly have had a fear of spiders… she didn’t really cook either. (lol) for that little girl a whole lot has changed, and every now and then it hits me. today was one of those days.

yea i have a definite passion for people… friendships/relationships are important to me. learning at least a little about a person’s story, where they come from, where they’ve been and where they want to go… yea sure, i can sometimes compete for airtime… a little bit of a chatterbox. random ideas and stories jumping out of my mouth every once in a while. but i can listen too… and i love doing that. everybody has a story. have you ever taken a seat and just watched people? maybe when you were at a mall, or perhaps looking out the window of your car, or looking down from a balcony. each person has a story. they have joys and pains, victories and struggles…

looking back on life it’s often a lot easier to see God’s hands on your life, moving around the pieces and working His master plan - the big picture, than it is looking forward and guessing what that might be. you can guess if you want. might even be fun. when we catch up in 10 years, naw… even 5, let me know what you thought and i’m sure we’ll both be surprised. today it hit me that this little girl, somewhat of a homebody, is changing… not completely. i’ll always be daddy’s little girl (and mom - urs too!)… i’ll always care about relationships and probably always still jump when i see a spider.

but something from ProSem today led me to really feel like once I leave and go abroad, it’s probably unlikely that I’ll be at “home”, settled back in Canada, for a long, long time… it’s exciting! it’s a little nerve-racking… i feel totally excited, curious, and incredibly ill-equipped. and i miss my family already, but i’m excited to see what God’s going to do - what doors He’ll open and what things i will learn.”

ok so i’m reposting another link to chris’ blog. he does podcasts/videos and they’re FUNNY. and this is what they did on Sunday night (i was sitting and working on my methodology for my research project. funnnn)

http://cjlewis.blogspot.com/2007/03/sunday-night-movies.html

and he gets comments! maybe if i start making videos then i will stirr you guys up.

or perhaps if i make some radical, thought provoking statements that you disagree with so much that you will with respond.

tell me what will inspire you?

for those of you that don’t know, i’m working on a research project. the main question i’m seeking to answer through the research is, “What elements of cross cultural orientation programs are most valued by first time and short-term cross-cultural missioners?” i am going to be sending out surveys to many of you (and thanks, by the way, for being willing to participate), to get some feedback on your cross-cultural experiences. soo, what happened?

something pretty awesome happened today though, in relation to another class. in that class we’re working on writing a proposal and going through all the steps of creating a program (logical framework, project planning, measurements, evaluation, etc.) in the field of community based disaster preparedness. the area we’re focusing on is near Manila, in the Philippines. matt had a contact there and he’ll be dialoguing with her to be working with real data/stats. so we were brainstorming on what information and where else we could draw from…

well i e-mailed Scott Bessenecker. he is the director of global projects with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and was at Urbana 2006. i first heard about him when i was going to Urbana and enrolled in the Slum Development Track. i picked up his book, “The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World’s Poor”. (it’s on my to-do list for recreational reading… although as you can imagine with my work load here in grad school i haven’t quite gotten to dip much into that list.) anyways i just e-mailed him to ask about any information or contacts or suggestions that he might have to get information about models… and i got an answer tonight! so that was exciting for me. hopefully we’ll be able to dig up some more information from there.

well thanks for reading.
shannon

for my GA (grad assistanceship) i’m working with Stan LeQuire at Eastern University. He is very interested in and knowledgeable in the field of ecotourism. ecotourism is another thing that i knew nothing about before coming here, but through working with him and reading through some of the information i’m learning a lot. it’s really exciting! and with all of the growing interest and influence in talking about the environment it is opening the doors for more publicity on this important issue!

we as Christians are, i believe, called to be responsible on earth and with our natural resources. being in right relationship with Jesus, with others and also in our approach and use of the environment is really important. not that i’m jumping on any “Inconvenient Truth” bandwagon (although there is good information)… but i don’t think that caring for creation is a bandwagon. it doesn’t require us to do anything in excess, but to be thoughtful, thankful and considerate in our approach. yes, i believe it honours God to treat with respect and work to preserve the environment. at the fall, sin entered the world and all of creation fell. so we can’t fix it all… but we can do our part.

as part of what i’m doing at Eastern, we are working on building a database and contact-centre for faith-based ecotourism groups that are involved in community-based programs. I’ve taken an excerpt from the website and please check it out for more information. if you’re interested, either through personal involvement, just being keen to know more, or knowing contacts that would be interested, please check out the site!

“Do you know any faith-based groups involved in community-based ecotourism? Community-based ecotourism is best defined as responsible tourism to natural and cultural areas that conserves creation and improves the well-being of the local community that takes ownership of the project and receives direct benefit from the venture. While there may be a partnership with an outside group or business, the local community remains the key stakeholder and is honored as such by all parties.

Eastern University invites you to contact us if you know of any such community-based ecotourism ventures.

This may include:

Accessed from http://www.eastern.edu/academic/international/sld/Ecotourism.shtml on March 20, 2007.

… who are lookin for pics.

after a pretty low-key weekend (grad students need down time every once in a while!!) during which i caught a few episodes of CSI and got to sleep in (wonderful! sleep is often under-rated…)

tonight we went for an awesome home cooked meal by Hemen. Hemen is in our cohort, part of our class… i don’t know that i have a picture yet of everybody in our cohot (i’ll grab some more early next week). anyways, we were invited over and had a lovely evening!! (thank you hemen!!) we had traditional Nigerian food (Hemen and her family are from Nigeria). I tried foo foo and fried plantains and goat. It was all delicious.

later in the evening some of us went out to relax. and so i have a few new pics. (for those of you who are checking in to see your friends but who have also enjoyed the pics of my delicious cooking. hahaha)

happy st. patrick’s day!

here comes trouble

Girls in green

Left to Right: Faith, Chantelle, Beth, Matt, Chris

William Easterly was speaking tonight at UPENN. For those of you who aren’t familiar with who he is:

He’s an economics prof at NYU. He’s got a long resume I’m sure, having worked at the World Bank for 16 years amongst other things. He’s also the author of two well known books in the international development field: The Elusive Quest for Growth and The White Man’s Burden.

It was an interesting lecture and I’m sure there’ll be some quotes I can pull out of there for a paper at some point. If anybody is interested in hearing it, I did tape record the session.

I found an article written by Amartya Sen title “The Man Without a Plan”, hence the title… He feels that Easterly is far too hard on the concept of aid and suggests that as long as it’s done right, aid can do great things. Obviously Myers (the author of a previous book mentioned in posts “The Road to Hell”) would get along better with Easterly… however I really have the feeling that Easterly’s book will not be nearly as depressing.

The problem is that there are extremes and it’s not always easy to find a happy middle. But there’s definitely common ground - the goal, the reason these people write about the issues and one of the reasons I’m here in this program and want to be involved…. it’s not whether or not we want to help. There are a lot of good intentioned people pouring money and resources and time into trying to change the lives and futures of the poor. The problem isn’t really even lying directly in Aid or lack there of or organizations, etc. (I mean, yes they have problems…) But the money isn’t getting to the people. You can raise billions of dollars but unless it’s being put to good use, avoiding corrupt governments and actually being put to good use - it’s useless. In fact, not even that it’s waste. And for too long money has been mismanaged.

So the differences show themselves in terms of how to solve this dilemma. I’m not sure where I stand on that yet. I’ll let you know when I have all the answers hehe…

okay so chris filmed this a while ago but it’s pretty funny… i just saw it today. check it out - virtual tour of palmer seminary through the eyes of, well… chris.

enjoy. good job chris on ur first podcast.

Click here to view.

hey! well we arrived safe and sound back in philadelphia - my home away from home. it’s nice to be back! and today was BEAUTIFUL!! didn’t have to wear a coat, sun shining, breeze blowing - definitely could make you think that spring has sprung!

i found this neat map, first on my friend Anyelis’ myspace and then saw something similar on Peter’s blog. i still have SO many places to trael to, but here are my journeys so far: