Book Recomendation

I've been finishing up my readings for my upcoming Servant Partners training in Manila. One book that I would recomend if you are interested in learning a little more about the urban poor and why they are a priorty people group is "Dispossessed~Life in Our World's Urban Slums" by Mark Kramer.

The book is mostly a narritive of stories about individuals, families and communities around the world. The book is divided by geographical location. It covers Manila, Nairobi, Mexico City, Bangkok, and Cairo. The last chapter, called Knowing the Dispossessed is great. I'm including some quotes that I really liked from the book:

The author quotes another author, Wangari Maathai:
"Africa continues to be marginalized politically and economically and even socially. There is lack of genuine support, cooperation and equal partnership from the rich international community... but as if to justify relief and financial aid, people from rich countries are more willing to go to Africa to implement relief services like feeding emaciated infants, discover Africans dying of horrible diseases like AIDS and Ebola, be peacekeepers in war torn countries and send horrifying imagies of tragedies for television. Hardly any of the friends of Africa are willing to tackle the political and economical decisions being made in their own countries and which are partly responsible for the same horrible images brought to their living rooms by television."

"Differences among peoples and cultures are real. Distance and ignorance of one another keep us apart. Even after reading this book, you may be wondering how you'll ever truly identify with the experiences of people living in informal settlements. Consciously or not, we identify and differentiate ourselves and others through a variety of means: a passport, culinary tastes, ethnic heritage, language, religion, style of dress, the amount of melanin in our skin. Our own identity becomes a point of reference that defines who we are and how we relate to the rest of the world. It also helps us define who we are not."

Stroms on Longs

For my dad's 50th birthday, which occured this May, we decided to climb Long's Peak as a family. It would be my two youngest sisters' first time and probably summit #25ish for my dad. The rest of us were somewhere in between. Here is a play-by-play of how the day went.

1:00 am I fall asleep on the floor/couch because with a full house there are no extra beds.

3:00 am Mom wakes us up and I am well rested :-)

4:00 am We arrive at the trailhead, only to find that we have to park about a mile below on the road because there are so many cars. Apparently all the cool kids start hiking at 11:30 pm these days.

4:00-5:00 am The worst hour of the day! Hiking in the dark woods with flashlights, all uphill, switchbacks, 4 miles in one hour. I think my body tried to reject this new reality-I started sweating buckets, I felt like I was going to puke the whole time, I couldn't eat anything and every time I closed my eyes for even a blink, I felt like I could fall asleep.



5:00 am Sunrise. Just as we broke treeline, the sun started to rise. We were sandwiched inbetween a great view of the sunrise to the east and the early morning glow of the light hitting the east face of the mountain. At this point I could finally eat and felt much better.

5:00 am - 8:00 am More normal trail hiking, only we are now above the treeline. We get to the boulder field, which includes a pit stop at the privies. At the end of the boulder field is the key hole, which is when you start hiking on the west side of the mountain, so the views are incredible.

8:00 am-10:14 am Our "hike" turns into lots of rock scrambliing where we use all fours. Through the key hole, around the back side, up the trough, over the narrows and finally over the home stretch. By the time we got to the trough, my pace was "take ten steps, breath for ten seconds, repeat". Rachel and I coined the slogan "Holy Trough Batman!" for this section.

10:15 am VICTORY! All 6 of us made it to the top. Becca and Sarah did an awesome job, especially for their first time. My dad of course, was gracious to stick with us, as he could have been up in back in the time it took me to do the trough.

All in all, it was an awesome experience, especially since I'm moving away in just a few months. I won't be back to visit the summit for a few years, I imagine.

The sky, framed

The sky, framed
Originally uploaded by annajstrom.

Another heavenly post, per the photo expert eye of lorena la buena

Los cielos

1-3 Be good to me, God—and now! I've run to you for dear life.
I'm hiding out under your wings
until the hurricane blows over.
I call out to High God,
the God who holds me together.
He sends orders from heaven and saves me,
he humiliates those who kick me around.
God delivers generous love,
he makes good on his word.

4 I find myself in a pride of lions
who are wild for a taste of human flesh;
Their teeth are lances and arrows,
their tongues are sharp daggers.

5 Soar high in the skies, O God!
Cover the whole earth with your glory!

6 They booby-trapped my path;
I thought I was dead and done for.
They dug a mantrap to catch me,
and fell in headlong themselves.

7-8 I'm ready, God, so ready,
ready from head to toe,
Ready to sing, ready to raise a tune:
"Wake up, soul!
Wake up, harp! wake up, lute!
Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!"

9-10 I'm thanking you, God, out loud in the streets,
singing your praises in town and country.
The deeper your love, the higher it goes;
every cloud is a flag to your faithfulness.

11 Soar high in the skies, O God!

Cover the whole earth with your glory!
Psalm 57 from The Message