Java with Jennifer Journal

August 2011 Taste This!

 

 

What I Am In To Lately

Some of my friends teasingly called it "geek camp," but I called it amazing!  It was actually called Oxbridge 2011, sponsored by the C.S. Lewis Foundation.  It consisted of 13 of the best days of my life in London, Oxford, Cambridge and Paris!  I went with my friend, Lisa, and we enjoyed listening to riveting speakers like Randy Alcorn, Ken Blanchard and Os Guinness, just to name a few.  We tromped over cobblestone streets, went "punting," sipped tea at every local café we could and toured almost every historical site in Oxford and Cambridge.  And, we heard concerts, watched plays and learned tons at the plenary sessions and our breakout seminars.  My breakout was called "Lewis Remembered," and it was led by a wonderful man named Kim Gilnett from Seattle Pacific University.  And, did I mention it was held at The Kilns...C.S. Lewis's home?!  Yes, I sipped tea in his home and breathed in the inspiration.   

One of my favorite adventures was strolling with Lisa down Addison's Walk at Magdalen College, Oxford. This is the famous trail where C.S. Lewis walked with J.R.R. Tolkien and another friend one night. It was the conversation that occurred on Addison's Walk that was a pivotal part of Lewis's conversion to Christianity.   I thanked God with every step for the life of C.S. Lewis.  If you are as geeky as I am and want to hear every mind-numbing detail, you can read my journal from the trip.  You can also view a photo album on Lisa's Facebook page.

While at The Kilns, Kim gave me a copy of The Four Loves audio. It is read by C.S. Lewis himself!  I listened to it on the trip and since I've been home.  The book summarizes four kinds of love--affection, friendship, romance and the love of God.  He speaks masterfully without being too magisterial and I even think I can hear him smile every now and then.  Lewis offers wise, gentle and even witty reflections on the virtues and dangers of love.  You should give it a taste test...and I recommend the audio version.  You may just sign up for "geek camp," too!

Well, not all was heady on this trip.  During the one day Lisa and I spent in London, we got a fish pedicure!  The salon, Aqua Sheko, was in Kensington and it was so cool.  Lisa and I dangled our feet for 25 minutes in tanks full of hungry fishies!  The fish are Garra rufa, or doctor fish, and I think they originate from rivers in Turkey.  They supposedly nibble and suck until the dead skin is removed.  Well, the result was soft feet and tons of laughter.  Give it a taste test...or shall I say, let those fish have a taste test?  

Our very last day in Cambridge, Lisa and I decided to be spontaneous and take a train to Paris!  We did all the major sites in two days, and Lisa became quite the master of the underground metro!  We had cappuccinos everywhere we could in Paris and left the European continent totally exhausted and grateful.  

Because I loved the Paris cappuccinos so much, I went to Starbucks immediately upon arriving home and got one.  It wasn't the same.  It wasn't even close!  I am not a cappuccino connoisseur, so if you have any recommendations where I can get a good one or how I should order one, please let me know!

So, give these things a taste test:
1.  Oxbridge
2. The Four Loves
3. A pedicure

August 2011 Fresh Grounded Thoughts

 

 

What God Has Been Teaching Me Lately 

No Ordinary People       

Walter Hooper met C.S. Lewis in Oxford, England at The Kilns in June of 1963.  I met Walter Hooper this summer at that same place-The Kilns-C.S. Lewis's Oxford home.  As a young man, Walter traveled across the pond to meet the author who had deeply influenced and inspired him.  As a middle-aged woman, I, too, traveled across that same pond to study the author who had deeply influenced and inspired me.  Yet, I received a treasure I never expected when I arrived...I met Walter Hooper!  

At age 83, Walter Hooper is a gentleman in the truest sense.  He is mannerly and articulate, charming and witty.  A native North Carolinian now living in Oxford, England, he is soft-spoken and has the most delightful Southern accent-with a tinge of jolly old England mixed in!  

I gathered with a group of fellow Lewis cronies at The Kilns in Oxford as part of the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute.  We sipped tea and had the privilege of listening to Walter share so many stories about his time with Lewis.  

So much about this man struck me.  He knew Lewis personally, he knew Lewis's works intimately, he was a friend to Warnie, Lewis's brother, and to several of "The Inklings."  I could go on and on.  But, after listening to this lovely man share story after story, what struck me in my deep place was his deference.  For over 40 years, Walter has dedicated himself to preserving and promoting C.S. Lewis's work as a literary executor and trustee for the estate of C.S. Lewis.  He has edited about 30 pieces of Lewis's work posthumously.  I'm convinced many people might not even know C.S. Lewis as well as they do if not for Walter's work and loyalty. Yet, I bet most people don't even know the name "Walter Hooper."  As he shared, he showed such genuine affection for Lewis and everything he said was uttered with respect.  As our group gathered around him, riveted by each word he spoke, he sought no praise, nor did he solicit interest in himself.  It was as if he received personal satisfaction as he generously shared stories and insights (many of which I am certain he was sharing for the millionth time), just to make us love Jack as much as he did.  But, I don't think his deference was solely that of an admirer.  It was as if Walter saw the value in a life-in Lewis's life and in each life. Maybe he really took to heart what C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory:

There are no "ordinary" people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals that we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours...

   

Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.  If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat, the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.  

 

I don't think Walter saw Lewis as extraordinary solely because he had a brilliant mind. I think he saw him as extraordinary because he was a man within whom the glory of God dwelt. He deferred to him not because he was a world famous author, but because he saw him as "the holiest thing presented to his senses."  And honestly, that's how Walter made me feel, too.

 

There are no ordinary people. I'm not one, you're not one, Lewis wasn't one and Walter isn't one, either.

 

 So, let us "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of us regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for our own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4)
 
So, how do you perceive the people in your world?  Ordinary?  Extraordinary?  Could you begin to look for the divine--the immortal--in the "ordinary" people you see?

What if your spouse, your child or your most annoying relationship was really the "holiest object presented to your senses" today?  How might you treat them differently?

 

Well, that's what's been percolating in me lately.  

 

                                   Share your opinions on my blog here! 

August 2011 Spill the Beans

 

 

You Ask It, I'll Answer It  

Question:

I picked up your study Me, Myself, and Lies to teach at my church.  But before I can lead them and myself to change, I need to know the answer to a question that has bugged me most of my life.  It is a question that I have never had anyone to ask, because people who love you can't help but tell you that you are wrong.  

Here is my question--what if some of the negative thoughts I have are true?  I can look in the mirror or in pictures and know that I am overweight and not as attractive as the majority of women I know.  I have recently lost 45 lbs, but there isn't much you can change about your face :)  I have dated several guys and NONE of them have ever said, "You look pretty."  At my age, most of my friends are finishing up having kids and wondering when I will ever get married.  Here is the big secret that no one seems to understand...I'm not being that selective; no one is asking!  So, when I tell myself not to get too hopeful because I may just not be what men look for in someone to marry, is that a lie or a fact that helps me protect my heart?  

I hope you have some thoughts.  I'm okay with it either way (sad, but okay), but I don't know if I should feel guilty that I have created these lies, or feel freedom in just accepting that some of it is true and move on.  

Thanks!

  

Answer:

Wow, girl!  You are clearly an insightful and deep woman!  Your question is not easy to answer.  So, I won't try to address it specifically; instead, I will give a broad principle and you can apply it as the Spirit leads.  Instead of measuring if our thoughts or self-talk is negative or positive, I think of measuring it by this standard--is it constructive or destructive?

It is important to tell oneself the truth.  The truth may be that a woman is overweight. (Congrats on your 45 lbs!  What an accomplishment!) That is simply a fact.  But, the meaning one assigns to that fact must be constructive, not destructive.   

You may be right that God hasn't planned for you to marry or you could be wrong and the man He has for you is looking for you even now!  None of us know the future.  So, in order to speak constructive truth to our souls, we don't speculate.  Speculation has great potential for destructive thinking.  We should deal only with "what is" rather than "what if."

This I do know, even though we have never met--you are a bright, wise, down-to-earth, beautiful woman who any man would be honored to call his wife!  And, you just keep on being a woman who tells herself the truth. Truth sets us free!  And, truth makes all of us beautiful.

Peace to you sister,

Jennifer
 
And now the beans are officially spilled.

  

  

 

  

Got a question? I might just spill the beans.