Term in Review: 5 most entertaining posts

People do not smile enough.

It is certainly true where I live, and rightly so. I currently live in a world where life is harder than most anyone who reads this could imagine. If you are reading this, you are sitting in front of a computer. Even if its not your own, you at least have access to one. Day after day, the people here are fighting for existence. Many are wondering whether they will eat tomorrow. They live in sickness, disease and danger.

That does not leave a lot of room for smiling. Yet, despite their circumstances, the people here make room. One of the greatest gifts I have received in Africa is a smiling face. In a world that is so hard, few things are as valuable as experiencing moments of joy with a friend.

There is just something about seeing a face light up with happiness, eyes bright and teeth out of hiding. That is why I wrote these posts.

Would you like fries with that friendship?

People ask me all the time what things I miss from the States, expecting it to be a steak or some real fancy meal. Quite to the contrary, I have discovered people miss the things they did and used the most. It is the things that were a part of my life everyday that seem to have left a hole.

So I really miss fast food.

Off Topic: The Fishbowl Effect

I once owned a goldfish. His name was Cochise.

Cochise was the result of an unfortunate series of events that ended with 30-50 small goldfish in my bathtub one evening. My only explanation is that I was a college minister prior to coming to Africa.

Being the tenderhearted, animal-lover I am, I sought to rescue said goldfish from the ultimate peril of my drain by scooping them out and putting them in a glass cookie jar. This jar turned fish refugee camp housed most of the fish in a suitable, yet cramped, environment. In other words, the jar was so full they could hardly move.

And as cheap Walmart goldfish tend to do, they began to slowly die off. Every morning, I would wake up and find one or two belly-up in the cookie jar. Every morning, I would have a burial by toilet bowl.

The numbers soon dwindled until I had only one left, and man was he a keeper! Cochise was by far the ugliest fish of the whole group. Most of the other goldfish were, well, gold.

Not Cochise. He was a nice shade of duct-tape grey. Furthermore, one of his eyes was much larger than the other one and somewhat bugged out to one side. Despite his obvious handicaps, Cochise was apparently a fighter, because that guy held on to life like no fish I have ever seen.

We were together for several years. In fact, it was not until months after I came to Africa that I learned of his eventual demise. I charged a friend with his care, only for Cochise to head off to that happy fish pond in the sky. My only guess is that he died of separation anxiety.

Cochise and I shared many fond memories. During the final months of my masters degree, his bowl was next to my computer on the desk. After I moved to a new house for a brief time, he lived on the counter in the kitchen, the room I frequented the most. Often times, I would walk by and see him sitting there, staring back at me. More than once, I caught myself wondering what the world was like from his perspective. How did the world look through Cochise's bugged-out eyeball? What is it like to live in a bowl and watch the world go on around you?

A piece of me now knows.

My 10-year high school reunion was last week. (Put the old man jokes aside until I finish making my point.) It was an event that, for all intents and purposes, I should have had a hand in planning. And certainly, had I been in the States, I would have.

Instead of catching up with long lost friends about life and their pursuit of happiness, I got to look at pictures of the reunion on Facebook. It appears they had a good time, a fact of which I am glad. Yet, like so many other things in the past year, I “experienced” this milestone from behind glass. I watched through the lens of Facebook.

I have already confessed to being a Facebook stalker. It has become my means of watching my old world march forward without me. I have indeed succumbed to the fish bowl effect. I sit back and idly watch as friends get married or have kids, as events take place that I should attend, and as family and church members get sick.

Facebook albums and status updates fill in the details of county fairs and Strawberry Festivals, of celebrations at church and tragic events that shake my community. All the while, I stare through my little glass wall and watch from a distance.

At times it has been hard. Sometimes, it hurts because you realize you are not a part of what is happening back at home anymore. On other occasions, it hurts because you realize it can actually go on without you. You see group photographs that should have your face in the middle of them. But then, you realize they are all smiling just the same without you.

Before you gather that my point in writing this is to garnish your pity, let me assure you this post has a happy ending. I am by no means upset by my current circumstances. Quite to the contrary, I thank God for my position. For, while I spectate on my old life from another world, I am indeed experiencing this new world as well. You see, there is a life on this side of the glass. It is a life full of new faces, new places, and new memories. For the time being, I have an abiding peace here, despite the separation from those who are so close to my heart. Truly, it is the kind of peace that can only come from being obedient to God's call.

Ironically, with the end of my term in sight, the realization is dawning on me that I may soon be viewing my world here as though from a fishbowl. In the event that I return home to stay, I may soon be casting glances back on my new friends and family here through the lens of Facebook and scattered collections of news and tidbits I gather through email. The work here is so important, and the people here are so dear. To watch it from behind glass, it would hurt.

Yet, no matter where I land, that will be my reality, to watch one of my worlds from a distance. Solace comes in knowing there is true peace for those who are obedient to God's call, wherever it may lead.

For all of my friends out there who have attended a wedding via Skype this past year, I imagine you know how I feel...

Off topic: "What did you do this summer?"

I have a confession. I have become a Facebook stalker. It all started out innocent enough I guess. Occasionally glancing at photo albums from friends trips, until one day, I caught myself purposely seeking out the Info tab of some friends to see if anything new was happening.

I blame my distance. The world, friends and faces I grew up with are moving along without me. How else am I supposed keep up? But I digress...

My real reason for this off topic post is that age-old question, “What did you do this summer?” I remember dreading that question, and unfortunately, as sure as the sun will rise, it would come up at the beginning of every school year. As a little kid I can remember sitting in my desk trying to come up with some halfway decent answer and inevitably failing. Truth is, my family and I rarely went anywhere when I was growing up. I can count the number of vacations we took on one hand.

Sure enough, the teacher would start at one corner of the room and off we would go retelling our adventures for the last two months. The room would fill with lofty tales of cruises or trips to the beach. Somebody would always chime in with a trip to Disneyworld. But all of these would come crashing to the floor as soon as that one kid in the room mentioned Europe.

I usually had to follow that kid.

Interestingly enough, my recently developed habit of Facebook stalking has brought to my attention a new evolution in this timeless question. Gone, it seems, are the days or waiting for the teacher to give you the open invitation to ooh and ah your friends. Now, its as easy as a tweet and the world knows just how cool your summer was.

School is back in session, and the Facebook photo albums are piling up. Countless people are doing the profile makeover. And it seems, we Christians have our own brand of “pimp my profile.”

In case you may not be sure if your friend had a “Christian summer”, here is the evidence:

1. Their most recent photo album title has the words “camp” and “creek” in it. Other variations will be words that end in “crest”, “cove”, or “ridge.” 
2. They are giving some person from the third world a side hug in their profile pic. Bonus points should be given for the shot of them surrounded by a crowd of children. If its on a dirt road its better still. Alternately, they may be standing entirely too close to some animal that should have already eaten them, and there is no cage between them and said animal. 
3. They clog your news feed with constant “liking” of obscure causes and charities. 
4. The “Write something about yourself.” blank on their profile has been filled with some recently learned statistic about illiteracy or “global lostness” in the “10-40 window." 
5. Their profile references the “10-40 window." 
6. Instead of ridiculously skimpy swimsuits, they opted for the do-rag and long dress look as the outfit of choice in all their summer photos. (Guys will be wearing the pants with legs that zip off.)
7. Their status updates, which sound like a love letter to an old boyfriend, are actually lyrics out of some new worship song they heard at that camp whose name ends in “creek”, “crest”, or “cove”. (See point 1.)
8. In the Religious Views blank on their Info page, the actual denomination they belong to has been replaced with, “Hopelessly and endlessly pursuing the one, true, holy, matchless, boundless, unchanging, creator of heaven and earth, who fills my heart with inexpressible joy.” Or something like that. 
9. They have an ongoing wall discussion full of inside jokes with their new best friend they met while building a house in Alaska. 

Oh, and the list goes on. What do you think belongs on this list? Comment below with your additions...