The Grey Shadow

Thankfully, after the strong bout of flu I got last weekend, I am starting to recover. The fever started receding Monday. On Tuesday I got back to the office (remember seeing Rev. S. not exactly glad about my Monday forced absence?), but this time it was Rev. S. the sick one. Hearing him cough repeatedly, like a car being ignited, was painful. He’s now at home and with strict orders to rest. He already had to excuse himself to people from Peru whom he was supposed to meet in a trip to Lima and Trujillo next month, because the doctors told him in no uncertain terms that he had to cut down his schedule or else. To complete the not so good news, my wife is also having the flu now, only that she’s aching in the throat, and that’s obviously very unpleasant. Please pray for both Rev. S. and my wife.

On other news, I did not post yesterday’s devotional out of time constraints. I plan to post it later today.

This was written yesterday:

The weddings were miserable. I went to the reception for the civil weddings on Friday evening, and there were so many strangers I had to greet… seriously, this is a situation I absolutely loathe.

The Saturday was even worse. It was really cold and my wife, even though she used a nice black velvet dress (and she looked stunning!) was shivering. Later I was informed that the temperature that night was 4 C (that’s 39.2 F for you Americans). We went later to the reception and the room was awful, and cold. The windows were open, and as is usual here, no building is neither insulated nor heated, so we had to endure the cold. The DJ were booming Tex-Mex music at insane dB levels.

I asked my wife to leave at repeated times, and she said every time, “wait a little bit more, it’s my brother’s wedding!” But there was a point into which the whole thing was unbearable and I simply had to enforce my authority and told her that we were leaving. She understood it, and we left. When we arrived at home, we simply crashed our bed.

I woke up on Sunday with fever, shivers, and a major headache. Additionally, I felt sick on my stomach. I spent all the day on bed, eating nothing but a sandwich and boiled rice, drinking only water and orange juice, and with Tylenol and Aspirin. Thankfully, today I woke up much better.

However, I wasn’t still fully recovered, and thus I had to call Rev. S. to tell him I was sick. He wasn’t exactly glad to learn the news. But the good news is that I’m practically recovered, and that I plan to go back to office tomorrow. What a weekend!

… simply too many funerals. The Office of the Attorney General found out that there were many duplicate entries in the list of casualties of the recent Ykua Bolaños fire. After pruning out duplicates, it seems that the official amount of deceased people is 369. There are a lot of injured ones and at least one suicide related to the tragedy. Please keep praying for our country and for all the bereaved.

While this sad event prompted many –both within and outside our borders– to an unprecedented outpouring of help, relief aid and generosity, there are also the not-so-bright spots. There are already a lot of scammers who would trick people into thinking they were making donations for the victims, when the money went to the scammer’s purse instead. Also there are many left-wing organizations who are trying to organize a march of protest, concealing their true identity and ideology in order to appear as non-radical.

But there’s one wedding! As I write this, my brother-in-law and her fiancée are getting married in the civil wedding. (Paraguayan weddings 101 for you English-speaking people: You “get married” actually twice; you have the civil wedding, officiated by a Justice of Peace or a Civil Registry officer, and this makes you married under the law; and the religious wedding, officiated by a pastor/priest and the one that makes you married in the eyes of the [Roman Catholic] Church and therefore the eyes of most of the people. The civil wedding is the preamble of the religious.)

Well, my wife had to go to my in-laws’ home to clean because her brother would get married and after the civil wedding, he wanted to have a small reception at his home. She has five other siblings, but no one was available to help!, so it was left to my wife the task of helping her aging and frail mom to clean out the living room and other partying quarters.

You can’t even begin to imagine how upset I am for all of this. My inlaws are a very large family, and yet, no one was willing to help. The bridegroom is in part guilty, since he wanted so much to have receptions after both the civil and religious ceremonies, and I don’t even begin to mention how deeply buried into debt he is because he wants to have a party and a big church wedding. I am deeply upset because my wife is not supposed to spend 12 hours cleaning the soiled rooms of my inlaws’ home. And I am forcing to stop now because I could go on and on and on rambling to no end in sight…

Now for more pleasant news. Josiah was very kind in sending me a Gmail invite. I’m delighted to have a Gmail account and I plan to do lots of nifty experimentation with it. Tomorrow I have to give a talk to InterVarsity Paraguay (local name is “Grupos Bíblicos Unidos del Paraguay”, GBUP, or United Bible Groups of Paraguay) about the inductive study of my favorite Bible book, the Book of Ecclesiastes. Even though is in “off-limits time” (Saturday morning) I really look forward to it. InterVarsity is the most enduring influence in my spiritual life and since now they are on rather difficult times, I am glad to help them in this way.

There are so many subjects I could blog on but there’s only so much time in your life. Perhaps I would add something else later. See you till then!

Thus says the Word of God:

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which the LORD inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.
“From on high he sent fire;
into my bones he made it descend;
he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
(Lamentations 1:12,13, ESV)

The recent Ykua Bolaños tragedy has shaken our community down to the core. For a lot of families and people, life will never be the same. So many loved ones, friends and family are tragically gone, having died burnt by the unforgiving flames of greed and lack of adequate prevention. For many, life has become an absurd joke, a burden, an unbearable pain not worth facing nor overcoming. For all those reasons it can be expected that many pepople would ask the question asked by the enemies of the sons of Korah: “Where is your God?” (Psalms 42:3,10).

Today we can experience in a tangible way how extreme is the tragedy of sin, which introduced pain and death into human existence. Today we see why sin in all its forms quickens the “fierce anger” of the Lord, and why humankind, all of us included, will never be able of even try to get right with God using our feeble efforts. But today we could also see God’s love and mercy in a tangible way in the commitment and struggle of several pastors, brothers and sisters of different congregations who freely gave themselves to offer spiritual help, counsel and support to so many bereaved or injured people; today we saw God’s love operating in the selfless help of so many firefighters, paramedics, and service personnel; we saw God’s love move through so many support gestures from many parts of our country and the whole world, freely given without asking anything in return.

But the most important thing is what the text is saying to us. God is not a merciless tyrant who looks from above to us as the master puppeteer. He knows the pain of so many mothers without their children, so many widows, so many children without their parents. God knows the sorrow which was brought upon us, because he was next to those who were gone and those who are suffering; and because He also saw his beloved Son Jesus die, a victim of the horror of the sins of all of us. But this is also our hope; because our Lord overcame the last foe to give us hope, and so that all this pain might be over one day, thrown away in the victory of God’s love.

Prayer
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Almighty and eternal God, who reconciled the world with you in Jesus Christ, out of love and for your glory: forgive our sins and send your Holy Spirit, the Comforter, so that all those stricken by grief may have the comfort that only faith in your Son Jesus Christ can give, and thus give witness of your love and mercy to this world which needs you so much. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Rae has an insightful letter from a Marine who is on duty in Falujah. I remember reading somewhere that Michael Moore asked Bill O’Reilly, “Would you send your children to Falujah?”. Well, here goes an answer:

To be frank, [Islamic fundamentalist elements in Falujah] will never accept a peaceful coexistence with free people. Their rhetoric and will to enforce their extremist beliefs are mutually exclusive with anything but direct conflict. We will be fighting them until a clear winner is determined.

Like so many of history’s failed villains, these terrorists truly believe that free people can be broken and do not possess the will to persevere in the face of real adversity…

There is no reasoning with these groups. In fact it is alarming that mature nations have succumbed so quickly to their terror tactics and have withdrawn their troops in the face of threats. No doubt it is a cultural issue because it is impossible to fathom how these nations can believe that the very people who have acted so wickedly against them and compelled them to bend to the enemy’s will on a globally humiliating stage are now capable of restraint and possibly compassion. The unfortunate reality is that by breaking ranks, these nations have diminished their own security and those of other nations committed to fight terrorism around the globe.

The rest of the letter is equally priceless. Read it here.

The tragedy of last Sunday keeps hurting deep into our society. There are simply too many people who are acquainted with, or are related to, some victim. Right now the dead count went officially 347, with 275 bodies officially identified over 40 people not identified, and 28 people burned totally beyond recognition in such a way that only a DNA test can conclusively establish their ID. There are about 270 injured now in hospitals (total count of injured people is over 500), with at least 10 of which are in critical condition and they are not expected to make it tonight.

It is increasingly evident that the supermarket owner ordered the gates locked to avoid looting and people going without paying, while he was sneaking out with the day’s money. There are already several people who are in dire financial straits, unable to pay for their loved ones’ funeral and burial, and other people who lost their breadwinners.

Some of our pastors are working round the clock in 6 hour shifts to provide spiritual assistance and counseling to people.

The supermarket owners were imprisoned and all the board of governors of the supermarket company’s were indicted under charges of murder (save one, who was charged with failure to provide due assistance in an emergency). An order to seize the owner’s assets to an amount up to US$ 10,000,000.- using the strict exchange rate, and US$60,000,000 if you use a compensated exchange rate.

Pray for all of our country, and that God’s mercy and love may be shown through His people to those in need.

I was told by Rev. S. that I should show up in church services a little bit more frequently, so I stayed there after teaching Sunday School. The service was the usual glitzy show of drum, amplifiers, high volume and low quality and spirituality. After enduring it, I called my wife and she asked me to stop by the supermarket on my way back home. While riding of the bus, I saw a fire truck with all the sirens going on madly, and I thought it was just another fire.

While in the supermarket, I saw people crowded on the TV sets on sale there. Apparently, there was some breaking news that warranted that the TV networks stop their usual Sunday programming. I went nearer the TV sets to see what was happening, and I saw that there was a huge fire somewhere. Ok, I thought. I’ll check it out at home. After my shopping, I walked home and turned on the TV, and I just began to realize the magnitude of what happened.

All out of a sudden, a loud explosion was heard inside one of the supermarkets of the Ykua Bolaños chain, and all hell broke loose, People stampeding trying to get out; many dead by fire; and many trapped, who died shortly thereafter after the roof crashed.

The death count, as I am writing this, is over 300, including at least one pregnant women, a baby and several children. Many of the deceased are unidentified. The injured are just too many, and like the dead, many of them are unidentified, their features burned beyond recognition. There are still bodies to be retrieved from the supermarket, but there are also fears that the whole structure would collapse any time soon.

Several hospitals of the Asunción were converted into makeshift triage posts, helping as much as they can. They are literally flooded with patients and hospital beds are scarce now. The scenes showed by TV were simply harrowing and gut-wrenching.

As for other details, well, there were simply too many things that went wrong. There are strong, substantial allegations that once news of the fires reached the owner of the chain, a Mr. Paiva, ordered the gates closed “to prevent looting”, thus trapping many people. The fire alarm did not have a battery backup power supply, so it couldn’t go live when the power was cut. The roof collapsed suspiciously too soon.

And I pray I might be wrong on this regard, but it was the most crowded time in a supermarket: the Sunday noon, when people go there to buy groceries and ready-made food, and eat at the annexed eatery, so I suspect a bombing or sabotage. (Update: Apparently it was due to a gas leak.)

President Nicanor Duarte ordered a two-day national mourning period with no activities. Tomorrow is also a day off from classes in all schools.

Please pray for all the victims and their families. Thanks to our Lord, I am able to confirm that all of our families (my wife’s and mine) are safe and sound. I just spoke with Rev. S. by phone and he confirmed that so far no one in neither our Baptist School nor Church was harmed; but everyone here is shaken.

Additional coverage from the AP is available here.

Got this idea from Tim’s blog… and the answer would be right, at least because Deep Purple, Emerson Lake & Palmer and U2 are among my favorites 🙂

Classic rock! Without you the other genres
wouldn’t exist! You are the raw and original
sound of rock! Other genres may try to imitate
your rawness, but they can never be like you!

What genre of rock are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Finally the week is over. The week was so hectic I didn’t even had the time to post as frequently as I wanted. Even more, I didn’t have the time to do most of the things I wanted. Now I’m just relieved.

I plan to go on with my part of the KDE 3.3 translation and finish it any time now. Meanwhile, I’ve sent a sidebar for Tim’s article about GNOME. Hope they are a nice addition to his commentary.

I saw today Tim’s article Why GNOME’s Got it Right on Open for Business.

This comes as a nice complement to Ed’s thoughts on the matter. It is always nice to see these points debated, because I feel that GNOME sorely needs a little re-orientation. (Flash: I saw a good writeup by Ed on OfB.biz… and the whole thing got Slashdotted for good measure!)

Not the one to stay still, I’ve written up my own opinion on the matter. Expect it to appear in OfB.biz any time now.

Saw this on Tim’s blog and I thought I might just join in.

1. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR BEDROOM WALLS?
White.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Roger Olson, The Story of Theology.
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason

Mostly because I need to read them. It is awfully hard to find time to read books when you’re married.

3. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
The logo of our computer provider on a blue background.

4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Trivial Pursuit

5. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
Christianity Today, World, National Geographic, The Atlantic Monthly.
Used to be the old Byte (pre-1990s).

6. FAVORITE SMELL?
Dewy grass in the morning.

7. FAVORITE COLOR?
Dark navy blue. In a distant second and third: Light grey and beige.

8. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR?
Red.

9. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOUR ANSWERING MACHINE PICKS UP?
Don’t have any.

10. MOST IMPORTANT MATERIAL THING IN MY LIFE?
My library and the backup CDs of my work.

11. FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM?
Chocolate and Dulce de Leche.

12. DO YOU BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT DAILY?
Only in my wishes. I do not drive.

13. DO YOU HAVE A STUFFED ANIMAL IN YOUR ROOM SOMEWHERE?
My wife does. 😀

14. STORMS – COOL OR SCARY?
Cool. However, storms in America used to scare me.

15. FAVORITE DRINK(s)?
The famous Tereré, which is an infusion made with Yerba Mate and cold water.

16. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY?
September 18.

17. FAVORITE VEGETABLES?
Onions, garlic, sweet peppers, garlic, corn, tomato, lettuce, potato.

18. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Canon Theologian of a Reformed Anglican Cathedral.

19. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Just like I have, dark brown, almost black.

20. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE?
In fact I am 🙂

21. TOP THREE FAVORITE MOVIES (IN ORDER)?
Let’s see: The Lord of the Rings series; Master and Commander; Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V. Very difficult choice, indeed.

22. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS?
Usually, yes. (ditto, Tim)

23. WHAT’S UNDER YOUR BED?
Nothing; She is very stringent on that regard 🙂

24. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER?
don’t have any.

25. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH ON TV & IN PERSON?
Figure skating, gymnastics.

26. WHAT IS YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR?
Harm to my family.

27. FAVORITE CD OF ALL TIME & RIGHT NOW?
Victoria’s Requiem Mass by Tomás Luis de Victoria; also Scandinavian Nights and Made in Japan by Deep Purple.

28. FAVORITE TV SHOW OF ALL TIME & RIGHT NOW?
I hate TV. Perhaps JAG would be an exception.

29. HAMBURGERS OR HOT DOGS?
Hamburgers, like some fellow down here makes them, they’re delicious 🙂

30. THE COOLEST PLACES YOU’VE EVER BEEN?
Firenze, Italy.

31. WHAT WALLPAPER AND/OR SCREEN SAVER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW?
elrohir has photos of Master and Commander sailing ships (switching randomly). Sombragris has a photo from Port Orange (beautiful).

32. DOES MCDONALD’S SKIMP ON YOUR FRIES & DO YOU CARE?
I don’t eat at McDonald’s, sorry.

33. FAVORITE CHAIN RESTAURANT(s)?
Difficult question… If I were in the U.S. I would say Applebee’s.

34. IF YOU HAVE A BOY (OR HAVE ANOTHER BOY) WHAT WOULD YOU NAME HIM?
Caesar Michael (but in Spanish: César Miguel)

35. IF YOU COULD LEARN TO PLAY ONE INSTRUMENT OVERNIGHT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Pipe organ.

I’ve finished editing part III of the Stealth Desktop series and just emailed Tim all the files. Let’s hope it’s good.

Now I plan to write the Devotional that is going to be with our church’s weekly Prayer Bulletin. As was the case last Wednesday, I plan to post here an English version.

Rev. S. felt sick this morning and went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with an incipient peritonitis at his colon. Thankfully there was no perforation yet, so he was sent home with strict orders to rest and take his medication. Rev. S. was way too much stressed and tired because of several issues at our church.

When he talked to me, Rev. S. told me he was prescribed with ciprofloxacin, and his blood was taken for some quick tests at the lab, whose results the technicians were very reluctant to tell him. I suspect that besides the quick tests of this morning, Rev. S.’s blood is now being cultured to show evidences of bacteriemia. Please pray for him.

This is a three-part stage drama.

Act1
Some days ago C.,, a long time (since early childhood) friend of mine contacted my wife. He is a lawyer about my same age, but as things go here, he has trouble getting clients and work despite being an expert with a J.D. degree in tax law from the University of Trier (Germany). He is the husband of A., a well-known state prosecutor.

C. told my wife that his wife A. was preparing the Government case against the former execs of the National Housing Committee. But these people were moving behind the scenes to get an indictment against A. on false charges in order to discourage her from prosecuting. Furthermore, one of the main actors of that behind-the-scenes comedy was Mr. T., Esq, one of the lawyers who works at my uncle’s law firm, and coincidentally member of one of the most influential families here. And finally, the report said, that in order to help this Mr. T., my uncle was also in the bandwagon. So, C. told me if I could please phone my uncle and tell him that A. is the wife of C. who happens to be my childhood friend, and that if he and his partners are going to press charges against her, to press only legitimate charges, and not fake ones? (wow, that was a mouthful).

Now, just to put you into context: my uncle is director of the J.D. doctoral program of the Catholic University here, is a renowned expert in civil law, and has an extremely successful law firm. He is also member of the Council of the Magistracy and the president of the Jury for the Judgment of Magistrates.

I felt really uncomfortable about the whole issue. C. is, after all, my uncle’s colleague. Why didn’t he just contact my uncle through professional channels, appealing to professional courtesy to get an even treatment? I was really unsure, so I phoned Mom, who is often in touch with my uncle, and is an overall wise person. She said that she didn’t like the idea too much, either, but that it wouldn’t do anything if I called to the uncle and just told him the whole business, telling him clearly that I was just acting on a friend’s request. After some phone calls I managed to contact my uncle, and after I told him the whole issue, he said that he was surprised, and that he didn’t know a thing. Well, Ok, that’s right.

Act 2
The other day one of my cousins received a strange phone call. Her mom, a sister of Mom and my uncle, usually lives in the U.S. but three months ago she built a house here, in Asunción, in a residential neighborhood. At that time she got an unlisted phone number. The caller was a male voice, who wanted at all costs to get my uncle’s home phone number. He said he was a reporter for a local radio station, and he wanted to warn my uncle that some fellows in his circle of friends were going to ‘stab him in the back’. And then he hung up leaving my cousing wondering. How did that man learn of my aunt’s unlisted and recent phone number? Go figure…

Act 3
Finally the whole business seemed clear. The local press ran some stories where Mr. President himself (Spanish link) and some of his representatives openly criticized my uncle and the Jury for the Judgment of Magistrates. Some of the Jury’s members openly acknowledged that the pressure to cave into the demands of the Executive Branch were almost unbearable.

So this is the whole issue. I was a pawn in a high power game. Someone really clever wanted to play against my uncle, and this person used my own family against him.

Of course, this amounts to play dirty, very dirty. That’s no surprise in the world of politics; but the really sad part here is that our President identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. The First Lady is a member of Raíces (Roots) Mennonite Brethren Church; and he does worship there, though he is not a member (and some would add “yet”). There is a growing feeling of triumphalism among the rank and files of Protestant Christians here, because “Brother Nicanor”, “one of us”, is now the President. They just crave to be back into Emperor Constantine’s times, just to be in bed with the Government all over again, and they do not realize that they are being used as disposable stuff.

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
Jeremiah 17:5, ESV

Today is the anniversary of the first example of atheism by establishment:

But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. Never, never more shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom. The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, is gone!
(Edmund Burke)

May this date live forever in shame and oblivion, and may we work towards the undoing of its consequences.