Button

Nicknames.  I used to remember wanting a nickname when I was a kid.  It seemed like a way other people said that you were so great, you earned a name that described you as a person better than the mere label your parents selected from some baby book.  Speaking of baby names, why is that book parents refer to  not just called human names?  You don't stay a baby very long, and yet, the names are only for babies.

When we named our first daughter Alyssa it was not very popular, therefore nobody could pronounce it.  That was alright with us because it was how we could easily identify our friends.  Kind of like the guy that calls your house looking for someone with a name that is almost pronounced like what he said, but just off enough to identify him as a salesperson.  Sorry about that. None of this really goes with the story you are about to read.

Nicknames.  I used to remember wanting a nickname when I was a kid. Actually, I do remember it. If I used to remember it, then that means I forgot it.

Nicknames.  I always thought they were better when given by a friend than if you try to give yourself a nickname. Unless you don't like it.

A missions trip to Uganda.  My name translates to Dawidi (da-weedy) in Lugandan. Lugandan is the name of the language spoken in the Kingdom of Buganda in Uganda, Africa.  Thats right. The country of Uganda had to name a Kingdom.  Lets see...how about Buganda? What about this language we speak?  Lugandan. Perfect!  So Dawidi also means David the King in the Bible. Cabaca (ka-ba-ka) is the name for King.  So the kind people of Buganda called me Cabaca Dawidi, much to my pleasure and chagrin of the rest of the team.  I was okay with the name.  Not as an egocentric thing, but as a term of endearment these kind people wished to bestow on me.  I will admit it caught on a bit.  Our team began to call me Dawidi, without the King part.  So here we are in Africa and I have earned a nickname. Well, sort of.  Can a translation of your name actually be a nickname?

One day a friend on our team finds an interesting treasure on the ground.  It was a button from my pants.  It fell off and I was casually trying to find it without making a big deal that I lost the button from my pants.  As he picks it up, he offers it to me with the one word in the form of a question as if asking me if this is what I was looking for.  "Button?"  

Imagine yourself nearby, but not in the game.  You did not know I was looking for anything. You did not see our friend pick something off the ground.  Suddenly you are in the game as you hear him approach me and say "Button?"  A bit odd for a nickname from a guy, but how sweet that he calls you "button."  Chagrin and pleasure now have changed places. And that is how I earned my new nickname in Africa.

Jack Fruit Tree

I recently spent time with a friend of mine who traveled with me on a music missions trip to Uganda, Africa.  It was my first trip to this unique country with amazing landscape and people.  This friend of mine is a very smart man. He is the CFO of a very large nationally recognized company.  I have lots of smart friends.  I am not sure if that really has any significance to anything I write, but it is worth noting since most of my stories deal with my friends.  Anyhow, this guy who we will call John loves learning the details of everyday things, as do I.  When traveling with Christians of other countries, it is good will to show an interest in their culture, but we can't always understand the language barrier.  I now know that in many countries they have words that don't translate.  I always found this odd as an American.  I thought as most arrogant English-speaking people, that of course we know all the words that exist and everyone else translates our intelligent language into their own.  Imagine my surprise when I found this not to be true.  I could pause briefly for you to imagine it but I know you will just read on so lets press ahead.  As an example of this barrier, I asked our host who owned the large home on the hill that we were looking at. He told me it was a minister. Wow, I thought. I had already been to many churches and all the ministers were poor people who many times had to teach or hold another job to make ends meet.  What kind of church was this man a minister of?  Well of course he was a minster of the government.  Ok, so this is where my education helps a bit because at this point I knew he meant minister as in government official, not as a Pastor.  All that is cleared up so we asked, what ministry is he in charge of? Wax he replied.  Ok. Now I had to pause to imagine what this would be like. So far with our time in Uganda electrical power had been rare. Most people use candle light at night so of course a minister of wax is very important. The government must supply candles to people as a courtesy for those who cannot afford candles or solar power.  By the size of his home, the wax business must be pretty good.  So, who manufactures the wax was my next question, met with a puzzled look.  What?  The wax. Where do they make it?  Our host was so kind. He looked at me to say, "he is in charge of roads and highways".  Now I am really confused.  What do candles have to do with roads?  Wax... in their Ugandan accent translates to the department of Works in mine.  Great. Lets move on to an easier question.My friend John takes the opportunity to switch to a more relevant cultural question.  We had been introduced to a wonderful fruit that is very difficult to describe.  It is about the size of a watermelon, but is very sweet inside and looks like a bunch of triangular pieces of translucent green candy connected in rows. You pull the pieces apart to eat them and they are sweet and chewy.  It is called a jackfruit and it grows on trees.  John asked our host, "what do you call the tree that the jackfruit grows on?  We all waited anxiously for the reply, perhaps some great African name. He stares at us like we are not quite as smart as he had thought and said, "the jackfruit tree".  What do you call the tree the orange grows on? What do you call the tree the apple grows on?  Right.  Language barrier.

You're Offended by What?

Recently our church showed a series of video clips by an actor portraying stereotypes of God.  These are actually quite clever. One clip shows God as a butler, taking orders from his people. He is there for our service, and we send our requests to him expecting him to serve us all the time.  Another shows God as an Old Man, since God is quite old. He sits in his rocking chair remembering things he has done in the past, but not really doing anything today. As these skits go on, we are supposed to identify with how we view God.  How do we see God?  We showed this video series to our congregation as preparation for Christmas, the coming of Christ.  I was reminded of the movie with Will Ferrell and Gary Cole; Talladega Nights.  In this movie as they pray over their meal, Ricky Bobby prays to the tiny baby Jesus, while others remember other stages of life where Jesus is older.  I liked that part of the movie.
It never ceases to amaze me when people come to complain about something in our services.  I have fielded countless complaints about our music, the slides we use, the amount of light that comes in the windows, the temperature of the sanctuary, and many more I will probably write about later.  This one particular complaint caught us off guard.  After watching the skits, one of our parishioners was offended by the actor.  Deeply offended (his words).  In one of the skits the actor portrays God as a sheriff, citing violations of his code, and handing out punishment for it.  We know God isn't really like that, it is just a skit.  But that part wasn't offensive to him. Oh. Of course the actor dresses the part of a sheriff, complete with 10 gallon hat, vest, badge, gun, boots; well you get the picture of a cheesy western character.  So what part of the sheriff's words or costume offended our friend?  None of it.  He was offended at the way the actor waved the "firearm" around so carelessly.  Our response?  Ummm....it's a toy cap gun.  Clearly not a real weapon.  A firearm should always be handled correctly.  People may watch this video and think it is okay to handle a firearm like that.   This is wrong!  Our response? Yes, of course we can see how that might happen.  Thanks for your input.