International Ice Festival and World Peace

We spent a few hours yesterday enjoying the World Championship Ice Art here in Fairbanks, Alaska.  People from all over the world come here and participate as contestants or visitors.  It draws a lot of interest.  There are single block and double block contests.  Below are some photos of the kids playground all done in ice...

In the mouth of a lion...

Slide anyone?

Don't get lost in the maze!

I'm lost.

Taking the snow dragon for a ride...

Help, I'm stuck in the tunnel.

Hello from Alaska everyone!

You might be wondering what World Peace has to do with ice carving... it's just that lots of cultures are represented here each year and I recently read a very good posting about misconceptions.

Here's the blog and posting:  "jo-stophaveachat.blogspot.com.au  It was well written and addresses a common problem for Christians and non-Christians  the world over:  that of preconceived ideas or misconceptions of one another.  As true Christians who walk the way Jesus walks, we should embrace questions from others as opportunities to share Jesus love. 

I started to comment on the above blog post and realized the story is really too long for a comment so I dug up an old "letter to the editor" that I submitted to our local newspaper about an international connection ordained by God:

"We talked and shared heart to heart: mother to mother; she from India, I from America.  With one of her arms around my shoulders and one cradling my child, her Hindu husband snapped a picture.  It was their first time in America.  The world melted away as we shared questions and answers.  We spoke a long time together even though we were strangers.  Our common bond was parenthood.   The mother was a born again believer.  It wasn’t chance that we met.  We needed encouragement as fellow believers in Jesus Christ. Our socio-economic status or country of birth was of no importance.  We were bonded in Jesus Christ.  We found one another in a sea of people in Fairbanks, Alaska.   The way we dressed and acted as a family drew her attention to us.  True world peace reigns in the hearts of people everywhere that have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  World peace will never be here due to education, reformation, or following the “green” movement.  World peace came the day Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Peace with God and peace with our fellow man.   In the meantime, we will always have war.  I recently repented of a very ungrateful heart to the U.S. Military after a service at Bible Baptist.  I realize how ungrateful I am of so many things… it’s really hard to be grumbling and railing about things when I’m busy being thankful to God for every authority he has placed in my life, including my husband and the church.   I am so thankful to God for sending His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for me and every other human on the planet.  I believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day and is now preparing a place for those who trust in His name:  Those who acknowledge their sin as such and turn to Him in repentance and call on His name as the only name that can truly save.  He’s only a breath away from all of us."

I had a limit on words from the newspaper about what I could write, but here..... limitlessness.  Is that a word?  So let me tell you the rest of the story....

I remember it clearly like yesterday.  We were strolling about Pioneer Park enjoying the gold mining dredge and sluice box re-creation for tourists when a Middle Eastern woman and her family gathered around us and began asking us questions.  They asked us if we were like the family of Duggars off of T.V.  We said, yes, in some ways.  We both read our Bibles and love the Lord, but differ on individual beliefs and opinions.  They understood.  It is the same way with their religion. They were Hindu's but the husband and children were also Muslim, living in Singapore.  They were wealthy business owners but very curious about us with our group of children and how did we earn a living to support all of them?  The number one question from most American's as well.

When the Mother was able to get alone with me, she quickly shared that she was a believer and her husband was not yet and how did I handle anger?  It took me awhile to catch on that she wanted to get me away from the rest of the group so she could speak freely.  In America, we have freedoms we simply take for granted.  We can speak openly the way we want and our opinions and no one is going to be that upset about it. 

I tried to explain the best I could about how a parent can handle anger and what we do when we mess up:  We have to say we were sorry and in the wrong and ask forgiveness.... every time.  It's humbling but good for us.  Anger, frustration, irritation, it's all the same thing, some words just sound nicer that's all.  She was a Christian and needed fellowship and encouragement.  We committed to pray for one another.  She needed to know she wasn't alone and that even when we're Christians we still struggle.  We fit an awful lot of encouragement in a small space of time.  It was mutual.  Fifteen minutes later, we finally parted ways and friends for an eternity. 

The story doesn't stop there...My husband had met us at this park after work, so we took separate vehicles home.  I must have left a bit earlier with the younger children.  When my husband left the park, he noticed this same family waiting near a curb at the edge of the park.  He stopped his pickup truck and asked them if they needed anything and they replied they were waiting for a taxi.  He offered to take them back to their hotel as it wasn't really a place that any taxi's would be coming by.  The Mother choose to ride in the back of the truck as she'd never done so in her life and had the greatest experience ever! 

Isn't God good?  He loves us, His timing is incredible and only He can bring world peace through the Lord Jesus Christ.