My time in Iraq has shattered my worldview. In some ways it has proven that I never really had a “world” view.

…And I think more than anything else, this has been illuminated for me by God’s grace.

Growing up as a Christian since age 8, my relationship with God has been defined differently at various stages of life. I understood grace when I was young, but that didn’t keep me from defining my faith – whether explicitly or implicitly – by what I didn’t do (didn’t cuss, smoke, drink, etc. ). Then in late High School I began to realize the childishness of my faith and so I began to define it by what I “did.” It wasn’t until college that I came to understand that my faith is simply defined by Grace.

Why was this the case for me? I think it’s because I “got Grace” like I “get” a math concept. “Oh, yeah, Algebra… I get it. What’s next?”

Those last two words are dangerous. Asking “what’s next” indicates there’s more to be had – that it’s not enough. But God’s grace is not a math concept on which to be built. It’s the numbers themselves.

The best part of all this, is that I was so eager to get beyond Grace (What’s next?) that I found that beyond Grace lies…. more Grace.

Now, as for how this applies to my time in Iraq – I went through the same process with the people here.

I “got it” – they show me grace, and I show them grace and all is good – so “what’s next?”

…Well, there are the don’ts. Don’t talk to women you don’t know, don’t blow your nose in public unless you want to create a panic, don’t ever. EVER. do anything other than just simply eating bread when you get it, don’t wear your shoes in houses, don’t go out of the house wearing shorts, don’t, don’t, don’t..

Then the moment of realization – “Simply not doing things is silly, what is it that I can do?”

So the do’s ensued. Do say “Choni? Bashi?” to every guy you make extended eye contact with, do stand up anytime a man enters the room, do dress up when you hang out with someone, do offer to pay for everything, do persistently argue to pay for everything, do eat the food in front of you… do, do, do….

Then finally I had that moment of grace. That coming back to the beginning. That moment of mutual understanding that we have differences, that I’m going to mess up and do something culturally abnormal and that they’re going to do something that I just don’t even understand.

Obviously the grace we extend each other is much different than Grace from God, but this grace all summer long has caused me to turn and worship our Creator many times over. It makes sense that our relationships be based on grace, since our ultimate relationship is based on Grace.

So as for my new world view? If it is possible to sum up in a sentence:

Everything pales in the presence of Grace.

Looking forward to seeing many of you soon, Inshallah!

Ted

Well friends, I’ve been slacking a little lately on the blogging end of things. Between teaching, animating and day-to-day life it has been a hectic couple of weeks.

But I want to share with all of you a little bit of what I’ve been working on…

Above is a still frame from the animation that has been my primary job to date. With the cancellation of the Remedy Mission here in Sulaymaniyah and a reallocation of funds and resources to a different hospital in Southern Iraq, I haven’t been able to do as much live-action video as we originally thought. But because of some of the skills I have developed over the course of the last year and half while working for iThemes, I’ve been able to undertake this animation. Unusual and uncontrollable circumstances can’t prohibit a blank canvas from becoming effective, and with animation I have very little standing in my way (other than time).

Anyway, you don’t care so much about that as much as you care about what it is exactly, and how is it beneficial for kids in Iraq?

Let me explain:

What PLC does is so much more than just bring heart surgeries to a war torn country. PLC provides reconciliation between communities at odds – whether that be Kurds and Turks, Kurds and Arabs, Sunni Arabs and Shia Arabs, or Americans and Arabs.

Through violence individual worlds are unmade, and Iraq’s history has been riddled with all types of violence.

But healing… healing reconciles. The healing of an Arab child at the hands of an American surgeon? The care of a Turkish nurse for a Kurdish child? Those are the stories that spread through a village. “Maybe those people aren’t so bad after all? Maybe they’re even, dare we say it, good people.”

Sure, I made that quote up, but my friend here, Alex Phillips, who has been doing the anthropological research has found over and over again that this is true (according to a large number of real quotes that are contained in his research). So what does this mean?

Healing reconciles. It restores. It makes what was broken, whole. And I’m not just talking physically, but relationally.

This is what I’ve been animating – a description of what has happened in the past and what PLC is doing to aide in reconciling. So far I’ve completed a history of the violence that has happened in Iraq condensed into 1:30 in animation form, what you see above is a frame from a sequence of America’s very own Shock and Awe campaign in Baghdad in 2003. The video is going to be used as the primary promotional piece for PLC, something that can be shown at a number of places and venues, like TEDxBaghdad for example but I’ll leave that for another post…

I chose this one because first of all I think it looks good, but also to touch on the fact that I believe we have a vested interest as Americans in restoring this country. Removing Saddam was good, but as the video points out – it required more violence, violence that needs to be followed up by healing. Which of course, is why we’re here.

So, we can argue that our violence was just, we can say it was necessary, but that makes it all the more necessary for us to provide the healing that leads to wholeness.

Just as violence has the power to unmake worlds, healing has the power to put them back together.

I think there’s a spiritual lesson to be had here, I just can’t seem to put my finger on it…..

For the subversion of terrorism by love,

Ted