Mikan - The Cyclist

This is my friend Mikan that I met in China last summer. He was a Chinese teacher's assistant for one of the summer English classes. My roommate, Emily, and I made friends with Mikan and his friend Cerix. A big group of us went over to Mikan's house one night for "home hotpot." We also went to the Chengdu Zoo. The day before we left I went biking with Mikan. It was so much fun out on the open road on a perfect summer evening. We are hoping to go biking again this summer. I am looking forward to that. I need to start biking now so that I am more in shape to bike than I was last summer. Mikan goes to college at Sichuan University and is majoring in Chinese. One more thing I am looking forward to this summer is to learn some Chinese. Mikan kept bugging me about learning Chinese. He didn't start mentioning it until just before I left the country and it seemed pointless to learn Chinese for 3 days in China. He wants to learn better English, so we are going to get together and help each other with our foreign languages. I am hoping this will be a great opportunity to reach out to one of the friends I made last summer.
We had some great talks about life in each of our countries as well as what we believe about many things. This is one of the many friendships that I made last summer that I am hoping to futher cultivate this coming summer. I will write more about some of those other friend soon.
Mikan is a cyclist and is constantly biking for fun and in competitions. He recently was in a Triathalon with this group of friends. They won first place. Last summer, just after I left China, he biked with a group of 8 guys to Tibet during the 25 days before college started. Then they took the train back home. Hopefully this will give you just a glimpse into my trips to China, as well as, a face to remember.

Mid-Winter Special Olympic Games

The last weekend in February most of our two special education classes at Mauldin Middle went to Charleston for the Mid-Winter Special Olympics. The events took place at the Citadel. This is the picture of our athletes. If you will notice, I am the only coach in the picture. I say this is all the athletes because I noticed on the pamphlet they passed out with all the athletes and coaches names on it that I was in the list of athletes instead of coaches. Everyone played that up all weekend. The parents and other teacher's from our school would tell me, "Go for the gold, Eunice!" Of course, I kept the hand out as a special memory as well as to prove I was on the athetes list.

Our area of competition was in basketball skills. Here is our whole group waiting for the "athletes" to be called for their event. We knew we would all crack up if I really was called for an event. As far as I know, I wasn't.

Just after we got there on Friday night, we watched the March of the Cadets at the Citadel and then went downtown on a carriage ride.

After we were all done with our competitions on Saturday, we went to the new South Carolina Aquarium and then ate at Bubba Gumps (it is the official Forest Gump restaurant.)

my ride home last night

I don't know about you, but I have only ridden on a motorcycle once...UNTIL LAST NIGHT. When I was 11 years old, I started my first "job." I would iron clothes for some close friends of my family, the Robersons. I had that job for about 10 years, until I went off to college. (Their daughter, Kelly, and their granddaughter, Leigh, are the ones that I stayed with in Charlotte and gave me "The Barbarian Way" book.) Until this year, I hadn't seen any of them for about 4 or 5 years. Mrs. Roberson has had some health problems and hasn't been able to get around very well recently. At the end of last week, my mom called to check on how she has been doing. She asked if there was anything we could do to help her. Mrs. Roberson said she had a bunch of laundry that needed to be done. My mom volunteered me to iron for her. I didn't mind. It is always nice to see them and help out, as well as get some extra money. My dad dropped me off after work, and my brother, Ricky, was going to pick me up after night classes at Greenville Tech. Well, Ricky met up with some friends at a coffee shop he stopped at after class and totally forgot to pick me up. When he got home, he said that he and his friends had an awesome discussion at the coffee shop about the sovereignty of God even through our mistakes and short comings. He didn't realize at the time that God was going to test him on that as soon as he headed home. I was waiting for Ricky and calling him, but got no answer. After a while of waiting, Mr. Roberson suggested that he could take me home. I felt bad about making him go all the way out 20 minutes one way if my brother could be near by...but he didn't feel bad. He said later he had been waiting for me to give up on calling Ricky and want a ride home. I finally did decided to have him take me home.
He gave me four options for my ride home. I picked his first option...his Harley Davidson. This isn't a picture of the kind of bike he has. He has one with two seats and a storage space in the back. It's an amazing bike. He got me all decked out with boots, coat, and helmet...and we headed home. It was a perfect night for a ride. It was probably in the low 70's or upper 60's. He told me that his 17 year old granddaughter, Leigh, and him took a 1,000 mile trip last summer on his bike, and they are planning another for this summer. They don't know where they are going yet though. I knew when I got home that my mom would be jealous. My mom's dream is for her and my dad to ride across America on a bike and sidecar. When she heard us driving up, she said to my dad, "He drove her home on his motorcycle!!!!" She had to come out and see it. Ricky did get home then and felt so bad. Mr. Roberson didn't. He was just glad about a good excuss to take a ride on his bike. Ricky told us about his talk about the sovereignty of God. He said he couldn't figure out how it was going to work out good since I sat their for about an hour. I pointed to the Harley and said, "This is how it turned out good." Mr. Roberson and I were glad that Ricky had forgotten to pick me up.

Off to save China

Our team's plans for going to China this summer are coming along just fine. I leave from Chicago July 5th and return August 3rd. I am glad I will be in America for the 4th of July. Last summer we left on the 3rd and got their on the 5th, but we didn't ever have the 4th of July because of the time change. It was so weird. As we can always expect, God has been faithful and the money is coming in in His time. Here is an email that Denny Vauthers recently sent to our team. (Denny is the GA in the missions office at Northland in charge of organizing much of our trip.)

"Mr. Cushman and I were just discussing our money situation this morning. We have been praying for the full amount to be here already, but we noted that God has provided everything we have needed up to this point. We had enough money to buy the international tickets when it was time for that. We have enough to buy domestic flights (which we have now done for almost everyone) and we also have enough to proceed applying for visa’s.
We don’t have the full amount necessary for the trip. However, God has provided and shown himself faithful up to this point!
Please continue to praise/pray for continued provision. We still have a couple flights to purchase and then there living expenses while in China."

That email was such an encouragement to me. I know God has been stretching my faith as I need to just rest in God's sovereignty in providing our needs when they are needed. I have gotten frustrated at times when I haven't seen much money come in from people I have sent prayer letters to. But God has brought me back to the fact that He will provide when we need it. His timing is always perfect.

I am getting excited about the trip though. I have been busy with a lot of other things and haven't really thought about it too much yet. But as it gets closer and I have less things to do that don't pertain to China, it starts becoming reality to me. I have friends that I made there last summer who are all excited about me coming back. God has clearly been preparing my heart for how He wants to use me there. Please do keep me in your prayers as you think about it. We leave in 2 months and a week.

My Aunt Arlene

It has been almost 2 months since my Aunt Arlene went home to be with the Lord. Her husband, George, is my mom's brother.For those of you who didn't know about the accident, she was killed in a car accident on an icy road coming home from church up in Wisconsin. This picture is of her and I on our graduation day from college, May 8, 2004. She was the mother of three: Tara, Aaron, and Alisha. This past Easter weekend, George moved down to Georgia. Aaron has been living with my Uncle Bruce's family in Athen's, GA for quite a few years now. Aaron told his dad that he needed to just move down to GA and they could rent a house together. Alisha is going to college in Tennessee. Tara is married and lives in Virginia. He will be much closer to his children in Georgia. God provided a great house for them. While I was coming home from Spring Break last weekend, my family went to GA for Easter. They got to see George's house. They said it is perfect for them. George said that Arlene would have loved it. They are doing good though. God has been so faithful through all of this. We have all been so encouraged to hear how God has been using this in George's life, especifically in draw him closer to Himself. Friends up in WI were an incredible picture of Christ and how the body of Christ should work. They came together and were there for George through the funeral, the packing, and the moving. God's grace is truly sufficient. They would all appreciate your prayers as this is all so new. But I know that God will continue to pour out His grace on His children so that His name may be glorified.

My niece and nephew

It has been amazing how God gave me friends at college that I know will be some of my best friends for the rest of my life. One of them is my friend Jen Neuenschwander. We were roommates our freshman year at Northland. Since then, she has gotten married and has a beautiful daughter. This is a picture of Jen and Brian's daughter Zoey. She was born October 12th, the day after I started my job here at Mauldin Middle. I have only seen Zoey once and that was in December. I have tried to keep up with her as I can. It helps to have blogs to catch recent news and pics. The picture at the top is the newest picture that has been posted on Jen's blog. I love it. I can't wait to see her in August. Jen and I are like family so I get to be Aunt Eunice to my neice Zoey. I also am Aunt Eunice to my nephew Ethan. Ethan Pershall is the son of my other best friend, Sarah Pershall. His picture is to the right. Jen and Sarah are cousins. They and their families live in Waukesha, WI. We have all been the best of friends since college. God is so good to have blessed me with such an amazing frienship. They challenge me spiritually, keep me accountable, accept me exactly the way I am, and thrive on the incredible fun that we have together. I love them both dearly as well as their husbands and children. Their husbands have also been great friends. All five of us look forward to the great times we can have together as often as we can. Our visits are fewer and farther between since I moved home from college in WI. We hope that I can come to see them at least once a year. So much happens in that time, and I am a loyal aunt who likes to keep up on her nieces and nephews. God has been so good to us because we don't deserve such grace.

Reveiw of "The Barbarian Way"

If you know me, you know that I am a thinker. But at times I find myself being easily convinced of things and not really seeing the "devil's advocate" side of the proposition. But I love a good challenge. I love when the other side is presented about an issue so that I can think it through and compare it to Scripture. I have much growing to do in this area though. As I read "The Barbarian Way", I clarely saw the point he was making and knew much of it was true. There always seems to be a deeper way to look into things though and not just blindly accepting a concept.
For me, the concepts and truths presented in this book inspired me to really evaluate how I am living. I have seen how I have been seeking to live in comfort in daily life rather than putting off my selfishness and putting on a heart to serve. It has been awesome to see how God has been bring so many truths to mind frequently. These truths have been coupled with a passion that was also inspired by truths in this book. God has been pointing out areas in my life as as simple as me not wanting to get someone a drink of water when they ask me to or not wanting to stay up late to help my family with something so that my mom doesn't have to get up early and do it. This has been a great rebuke to me, but I have needed it so much.
The truths in this book have also inspired in me a desire to live out of my comfort zone and not be ashamed of it. It has driven me to desire whatever God has for my life while recongnizing that I need to run in desperation to the Holy Spirit for the ability to live that out. God has been cultivating a passion in me to take these truths and run with them. But there are always evaluations to be made of anything that is written by man and not fully inspired by God. I would recommend this book. It will give you lots of food for thought if anything. But don't believe that faulty views promoted in this book are fully adopted by an inspired reader. I wouldn't say that is true. Here are some reviews from the "devil's advocate" prospective. I found them on some sites on the internet.
This first entry is by Kevin Drury.
~So I’m OK with the barbarian way so long as this emergent crowd avoids the error of making their own style of Christianity the “true strain” as they condemn every other style as wrong, sub-Christian, unbiblical, stale, and irrelevant. This book gets veeeeeery close to leaving that impression. The barbarian way is one way of following Christ… like the Baptist way, Reformed way, the Anglican way or Nazarene way. But it is not THE way.~
Another review that I found can be looked up on this site. http://www.letusreason.org/BookR17.htm He has an interesting perspecitve that is worth thinking through. I really appreciated his strong advocacy of the sufficiency of Scritpure compared to books. I am a book reader myself, but it is good to keep it in check and not get carried away with how much we look to man-written books rather than the God-breathed Scriptures. Read the book for yourself and compare it to Scripture.

The Barbarian Way

I was looking forward to spring break to be able to get away and get refreshed. God has blessed me by answering that desire with time to spend with family and friends, time to think by myself, and a time to read, giving more food for thought. In the last month or so before I left for spring break, I have realized more and more how I have been getting sucked into a mindset of nagging frustration and being overwhelmed with all that God has wisely been orchestrating in my life. I had a hard time consistantly seeing it that way though. I know it is true, but it is a battle to live in that reality throughout the day.

I am presently still on spring break in Allegan, MI at my Aunt Karla's house...alone. She is at work all night on 3rd shift as a nurse. I have had time to really think over many things that God has been challenging me with in the last 6 days. God started right off by opening up the opportunity for me to stay at a friend's house who I haven't seen in about 5 years or so. Kelly lives in Charlotte with her daughter, Leigh. I needed a place to stay there overnight on Friday because my flight took off Saturday morning at 6am. On the way to the airport, Kelly and I got to talking and before I left Kelly gave me a book called "The Barbarian Way" by Erwin Raphael McManus. Here is an quick glimpse from the back of the book to give you an idea of what it is about.

"Two thousand years later the call to follow Christ has been repackaged to be smooth and trouble-free, filled with opportunity and promise but lacking risk, passion, and sacrifice. Is this really what Jesus died for? If He chose the way of the cross, where would He hesitate leading us? Is it possible that to follow Jesus is to choose the barbarian way? Jesus never made a pristine call to a proper and safe religion. Jesus beckons His followers to a path that is far from the easy road. It is a path filled with adventure, uncertainty, and unlimited possibilites -- the only path that can fulfill the deepest longing and desires of your heart. This is the barbarian way: to give your heart to the only One who can make you fully alive. To love Him with simplicity and intensity. To unleash the untamed faith within. To be consumed by the presence of a passionate and compassionate God. To go where He sends you, no matter the cost."

It has sent my thoughts racing. I have grown up in the buckle of the Bible belt where Christianity is so structured and pretty. Much of it has lost its fire to live a life that isn't ashamed to passionately live for Christ even if I do resemble Mary at Jesus feet who poured out oil on his feet. She cried on his feet and wiped his feet with her hair. She didn't stop kissing His feet from the time that she arrived. It may resemble John the Baptist who wandered around the wilderness in animal skins and ate locust and honey. He wasn't refined as the "religious" people of his day assumed a passionate follower of Christ should look like. But if John the Baptist was who God chose to prepare the way for Jesus' coming than what should those coming after Christ look like? McManus poses in the book that because of the sterotype that people today put with the label "Christian" that He would rather be called "a passionate follower of Christ. " I whole-heartedly agree with him. I claim that too. It is as if the life has been sucked out of the disciples that God send out to reflect Him. McManus says Christianity has been "domesitcated and sophisticated." We don't just leap out on faith driven by a love for God to do what God has called us to do no matter the cost. I don't want to live like that anymore. Will you join me in my adventure on the unpaved road?