If you give an accountant a cup of coffee {An NTBI story}

If you give an accountant a cup of coffee...

She'll ask you what account it should be charged to.  Then she'll lean over to the calculator to figure out the sales tax before she can charge it and file the documentation away in a drawer.

When she takes a sip of the coffee, she'll decide that today she doesn't want to drink it black, so she'll run up to her apartment on the third floor to grab some half-and-half.  While she's up there, some student will see her and say...

"Hey, I have a question for you about the guest house."  (Because everyone at NTBI wears more than one hat.)

She'll tell them she doesn't know if there's any vacancies for that date (three months in advance), and explain how they can check availability and even book directly from the guest house's Facebook page!

As she walks back down, she'll see the new sign up in front of the bookstore and decide she needs to pop in there.  She won't be sure if she wants a packet of mocha to add to her coffee, or if she wants to see the succulents for sale, or if she just wants to say hi to Cristi, but she goes in.

While she's in there, Cristi will start showing her a pinterest board full of amazing bookstore ideas.  She'll ooh and aah and admire Cristi's creativity.  Looking at pinterest will remind her of her own board of ideas an idea for the guest house, and how - just the other day - she saw something that would lend a fabulous touch to the rooms.

She'll go back to the office with her half-cold cup of coffee and start hunting around for that idea.  Pinterest will make her hungry, so she'll reach under her desk for the box of cheez-its, only to realize she and Esther finished it off the day before.  (What tragedy.)

She'll venture down the hall in hopes that there might be some snacks on the coffee table.  On the coffee table, she'll see the snack of all snacks: James' pepperoni rolls.  She'll snag one and run back to the office to tell Esther she should get one, too, before they're gone.

She'll settle down with her pepperoni roll and start answering emails.  While she's in the middle of typing, someone will come in and ask to withdraw some cash from their account.  She'll count the money, fill out the form, and they'll go on their merry way.

The cash drawer will be getting low, so she'll look at the calendar on the wall to see if they're due to replenish it soon.  Looking at the calendar on the wall will make her want to pull out her clipboard calendar.  She'll glance over the work goals she made for the month and realize that some of them need to be adjusted.

She'll shuffle through a stack of papers to find a certain project.  The project will trigger a question she needs to ask a coworker.

She'll walk over to the other block of offices to find the coworker.  On her way, she'll pass the break room.  In the break room, she'll see some of Linda's homemade treats.  The treats will make her hungry again, so she'll grab one.  It'll be sweet, and she'll think it would go perfectly with a good cup of coffee.  She'll remember she has one sitting on her desk.

She'll walk back, plop down in her chair, and pick up the cup.  It'll be empty - and she'll realize she must have drunk the coffee without even noticing.

She'll wonder if she has adequate documentation that the cup was ever full.  (What is adequate documentation, anyway?)  She'll start looking for any information she can find on previous cups of coffee.  She'll try using a query that doesn't work, which will make her want to learn how to create queries that do work.  She'll email John to ask.

While she waits, someone will come in with a list of charges from the coffee table.  And if you give an accountant a list of charges to make...chances are, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

The Time I Made the Team

Because although Senegal taught me many valuable lessons, sometimes it just gave me funny stories with no lessons attached...

Julien loves sports.  Especially soccer and basketball.

He said on a few occasions that he wanted five sons, so he could have his own basketball team.  Or seven, "so there could be replacements, too."

I liked to tease him about that.  "And just what does Angèle think of these plans?  How does she feel about having so many boys?"  He'd usually laugh sheepishly.

Another friend was over visiting with me one day when such a conversation was happening.  She pointed out that there were already three boys in the family, so they were over halfway to Julien's goal.

"There are only two," we corrected her: Germain and Theo.
"Oh, who's the other boy?"
"That's Michel, Angèle's brother.  He's just staying here while he's going to school."
"Oh, well...he could still be part of the team," she offered.
"No, no.  He's not part of the family," Julien shook his head firmly.
"Yes, he is," I insisted.  "He's part of your wife's family, and therefore he's part of your family."
"But he's a 'Diop' and not a 'Faye'," Julien responded.
I laughed.  "Well, suppose he changed his name.  Could he be part of the team then?"
Julien thought a few seconds.  "Sure."
I hid a smirk and looked at him.  "Suppose I changed my name, could I be part of the team?"
"Nah, you wouldn't have to change your name.  You're already a Faye."

In that moment, I felt, in some small way, that I had arrived.  I was a Faye.  I was part of the team.

Although...joke's on him.  I've never played a game of basketball in my life.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Helping decorate the school.

An ornament exchange with a group of ladies from church.

Behold the Lamb performed by some our very own NTBIers. 

Christmas movies with the fam.

Cookie decorating.

Branches of spruce and holly tucked around the living room.

Snow falling.

Christmas music playing endlessly on Pandora.

I love this time of year.

I love this festive feeling, the memories-in-the-making, the anticipation.

Most of all, I love remembering the miracle of God coming down to live in our world, to walk among our brokenness, to feel our pain and take our sin, to give us life and hope and peace and joy.

Emmanuel.  He is with us, today and always.

A Little of This and a Little of That

It's a mash-up post of lots of different parts of life. :)

- - -

In case you haven't seen these pictures of my newest nephew -

Pierre Léon Michel was born on November 19th at 2:00am and weighed 7lbs 4oz.

Theo's face absolutely kills me.  No matter how big he gets or how far away I am, he'll always be my darling little baby.

To quote a friend from my church back in Senegal -

Theo est le bébé de tout le monde, mais surtout le bébé de Rachel.

- - -

Random: Beck sent me these eye shadows just because.  My first thought when I pulled them out of the bag was, These are pretty!  Green and brown - just the kinds of colors I like.  My second thought (when I turned them over and saw the names) was, Smog?!  Mildew?!  I'm not sure I want to put this on my eyes anymore...

I'm on an anything-with-apples-and-cranberries kick right now.

I've tried a slew of variations and the latest was apple-pear-cranberry sauce, inspired by an apple-pear-cranberry pie my mom makes.  It has cardamom and ginger and other such delicious things.  You should try it!

I discovered these on the "free food" shelf at school - Maggi cubes, just like what we had in Senegal.  The writing is even in Wolof.  Simple things like this make me happy. :)

I went over Esther's for a movie one night, with a bag of a things to work one while I was there.  I dumped my stuff on the floor, and after poking around in my boxes for a while, Harold settled into my empty bag.

And eventually fell asleep there.

- - -

Jonah snuggles are the best -

- - -

Can't wait to snuggle these two soon, either!

Isn't this the sweetest?  The sleepy little face against the blanket, and the tiny little head peeking out from underneath...

Full tummy = happy baby.

He seems pretty happy with his baby sister.

This picture cracks me up every time I look at it.

Pause.  Take in the adorableness that is my niece.

The last time we Skyped, he was very entertaining.

Ava seemed less excited about being awake in the morning.  (It was a Saturday, after all!)

- - -

The other week I had a special visitor.

I hadn't seen her since before I moved to Senegal, and though we've kept in touch quite well, there was still so much to talk about.

They're two of my most favorite people in the whole wide world.

So happy we were all in the same place again, even if for only a little while.

Called to Excellence

Excellence.

It's a word the Lord has been bringing to my mind over and over this year.  Excellence in all we do is a core value for us as a Mission; it's an idea I've been familiar with for a long time.

That makes sense considering what NTM does.  We want to see people come to understand God's story, become part of His family, and function in their community as believers.  We focus on areas, on people groups, that have had limited or no access to the truth of the gospel.  Learning another culture and language - understanding how they see the world - is imperative.  We need to know how to communicate effectively, because we have an incredibly important, life-changing message.

Of course that takes excellence.  There's no room for sloppiness when you're teaching or translating the Word of God, or when you're training new leaders in a local church.

When I was in Senegal, it was easy to see the importance of excellence in what we did.

What meaningful ministry or discipling could take place outside of relationships?  And how could we have those relationships unless we fully invested ourselves in the process of learning?

So I put my nose to the grindstone to learn French (a language I was not at all fond of at the time).  I studied, prepped, and reviewed.  I read and re-read our program's learning guide.

I saw the fruits of that.  I saw it play out both in my life and in others' who were learning alongside me.  To the extent that we put whole-hearted effort into learning this new language and culture, we experienced deeper relationships and understanding.

Then I moved back to the States and transitioned into ministry at one of our Bible schools.

I found myself in two official ministry roles: managing our guest house and working in the business office.

Both were entirely new to me, and the learning curve has been steep this year.  Learning inevitably involves making mistakes - a reality that rubs my perfectionist soul raw.  I couldn't wait to reach a point where I wouldn't be making mistakes, where I wouldn't have to ask so many questions, where I could do my job exactly the way I was supposed to.



In grappling with this elusive idea of perfection, and the harsh realization that I would never fully reach my ideal, the Lord began to bring another word to my mind.

Excellence.

Not perfection, but excellence.  That's what He wants from me.  I am human, yes, so I will make mistakes.  But I can have an attitude of striving to do things to the very best of my ability.

Here, it looks different.  The motivation seems a little less obvious now.  I'm not learning another language and culture so I can share His truth with people who have never heard it.

I'm working in an office, overseeing the day-to-day running of a guest house and handling student accounts.  It's mundane, unimpressive, and hardly seems to have any spiritual significance.

But it's not the greatness of a task that calls me to excellence; it's the character of God that calls me to excellence.  (Colossians 3:23; Ephesians 6:7)

Our God is not a sloppy, careless, half-hearted God.

Suppose He cares less about what I'm actually doing and more about how I'm reflecting who He is?  Suppose discipleship is less about big, exciting opportunities and more about being faithful in whatever He puts in front of me?  Suppose my impact is tied, not to geography or job descriptions, but simply to whether I am willing to to put my whole heart into living this life He's given me?

I have watched others live this out, taking their work seriously and seeking it to do it well.  Not just good enough, but really, truly, well.  Their examples have encouraged me and caused me to realize that it does matter.  People are watching me.  Watching us.  We have an opportunity to reflect our God and cause others to look at Him, simply because we are doing the work He gives us whole-heartedly.

So this my goal: to do the work that I have to do with excellence.  Even if it means time and effort and more uncomfortable learning curves.  Even if the tasks I do are small and unnoticed.  Even if answering emails and checking guest rooms and preparing to lead discussions and keeping documentation all seem far removed from reaching people who have never heard about Jesus.

Can I challenge you, too?

Let's let God cultivate in us hearts that press toward excellence in all we do, hearts that reflect His, lives that model truth to those around us.

Let's allow what we know about God to shape how we live, in even the most mundane details.