WE LANDED!

We landed! Welcome to Africa.  We spent the last year, and some change, in France, learning French.  We changed the country of our destination in Africa.  And our family grew by another member now we are a family of 5.  And as the Language learning center in France was the most fertile place in the world we are expecting to be a family of 6 in July.  Ummm yeah, that was unexpected. 

My Contradiction

I am a walking contradiction.  I love to write. I love create.  In middle school I often tried to make cartoon characters and tell their stories.  My life’s ambition was to be a cartoonist. 

But, I had a problem.  I struggled with “learning disabilities” (I think the official term was Perceptually Impaired).  Specifically, my impairment existed in the domain of language (though numbers were affected as well).  Trying to understand language was trying to stop my feet from sinking into the sands of spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax as the tides of education swept over me. I struggled through middle school, high school, and college, gradually finding less and less joy in writing and creating.

The Long Road to Life

Here's the next question from Aaron:

“If Adam and Eve had repented of their sin, would they have still gotten kicked out of the garden?”

Aaron, I find your question interesting and it captures some misconceptions people have about sin and forgiveness.  To answer your question succinctly: yes, God would kick Adam and Eve from the garden, even if they repented instead of trying to hide their sin.  With our western American sensibilities, we cringe at this answer. The moment Adam and Eve reached for that fruit they took the long road away from the garden.  They could never again live in this paradise. 

Now to the work of demonstrating this.  There are several elements of your question we need to examine flesh out the answer.  First, what exactly happens in sin.  Second, what is the nature of repentance.  Finally, what is the nature of forgiveness and restoration.

Un Jour Chez Hahn

Chloe asked:

“What's an average day look like for your family right now? Have you guys discovered any great French food? Are you going to a French church or is there an English service you attend? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? (Kidding, but really, I'm super curious about life-in-general for everyone. We miss y'all!)”

Let me answer the most important and pressing question first.  The air speed velocity of an unladen European swallow is 11 meters per second (or 25 MPH). At least according to this website.  Couldn’t tell you about an African swallow.  And, I still cannot figure out where they are getting all of these coconuts, but that is life. 

Now to answer the rest of your questions. 

Join me in the Ministry of Writing

Over the past several years this blog has been through a few different permutations.  First it was a place where I would digest my sermon notes into blog length content.  Then when God called us to the mission it changed to an easy place for our updates with meaningful (at least I hope) theological reflection. 

Now I would like to tweak the content of the blog a little bit more.  I am inviting you to participate in our blog.  You see, I do not want this blog to be just a quick place to write some perfunctory updates.  I want this blog to be a ministry to those of you who read regularly.  So I need your participation.