"A More Excellent Way"

a while back i wrote of a ladies meeting where the hostess read a remixed version of the corinthians 13 "love chapter" as it pertains specifically to foreign workers/missionaries. I received a copy of this piece yesterday and will share it with you here. I may not be able to muster much more than a strict copying of the text, with no additional thoughts or comments from me because i am sick with fatigue. I can barely keep my head up because i slept so poorly last night: the dance club i've written about before, the one that has live music every friday night, the one that's just over the wall from our house, started playing music last night LOUDLY. Dance music. on a Wednesday! And they played it until well past midnight. ack! i swear to you that the music was as loud as if we had put on the stereo in our own house at top volume (with very large speakers) and then gone to bed. terrible. i could still hear the music clearly despite the windows all being closed and my earplugs jammed in my ears!

Besides this music deterring sleep, Judah was also feeling poorly last night with fevers and head/stomach aches. Alas. I'm a bit nervous about it, since i cant tell whether it has something to do with the hives or if it's unrelated and is merely the flu. I just hope that he's better by Monday when we depart, because i dont fancy carrying a sick child through airports and whatnotall.

Anyway, without further ado.
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Edgar Stoesz in 'Beyond Good Intentions' (with gratitude to St. Paul)

We may speak the language of sacrifice and of service, but if we have no love in our hearts for those whom we seek to help, our efforts will have no more effect than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal whose influence fades away with its clamour.

We may emphasise the urgency of development, comprehend all the urgent problems and needs of the world, and have such absolute faith and determination that we can imagine the masses living in prosperous communities at a respectable standard of living, but if we have no love for the people, it is all in vain.

We may distribute all the aid we possess. We may give our lives to save the needy masses, but if love is not our motive, the world will be none the better for our effort.

With love we will be very patient as we confront a foreign culture with change.

With love we will not feel boastfully righteous as though we have all the solutions to the world's needs.

With love we will never assert our superiority, never selfishly seek praise for sharing with others that with which we have been so abundantly blessed.

With love we will never inflate our ego at the expense of those we have come to serve.

With love we will always be slow to expose the failures and weaknesses of others.

With love we will not be resentful when our sevice is taken for granted.

With love our efforts will hit the mark.

Love never gives up. As for teaching, it will be superseded; as for agencies of development, they will cease. For our technology and our planning and our institutions are incomplete but when our actions are guided by love and justice, they then will be complete.

We are limited in our understanding, we see in a mirror dimly. We are baffled by problems and lasting solutions elude us. But we are learning bit by bit and we long for the day when love shall rule the world.

Thus faith that God has a plan for the world, hope that seeks the full life for all, and love that knows no boundaries - these three endure - but the greatest of these is love. Make love your goal.