So this is Christmas...

In lieu of a Christmas letter this year I am sending out this one-of-a-kind Christmas/4th quarter update.  I’m not exactly sure where I left off on my 3rd quarter update and I’m guessing that probably means you’re not exactly sure either.  So you’re getting a year-long summary.

December 19th, 2008 I stepped out of Managua and back into what I thought would be considered “normal life.”

By August I had been on sixteen trips.  I got to see a lot of you and felt I was doing pretty well on the transition.  God provided quite a few very odd jobs and I was able to take eight nice months of schedule-less life.

And then...

BAM!!!

The real world hit.  Or what I thought was pretty close to “adult-life.”  I got a permanent job.  9-1 EVERY DAY.  I had to switch from waking up at 10 (or later, I can’t lie especially if you were one of the people I stayed with on one of my trips) to 7:30.  I also had to start getting dressed EVERY DAY.  And these outfits could not include shorts, denim, flip-flops or Converse.

That job lasted until October 19th then believe it or not, I started working full-time.  8-5.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday.  That is my life now (plus or minus a few family birthday parties and Bible studies), so that is what the rest of this e-mail will be about.  I’ll try to keep it brief.

Who: Joy Eklund

What: Receptionist aka Administrative Assistant aka Personal Assistant aka Car Washer aka Travel Agent aka Ambassador of Goodwill (no joke that is what my boss told me my main job title is, my parents think he’s a prophet).

Where: Dowd and Guild, Inc.  – “We sell chemicals…and that’s all” actually that isn’t true we also sell chemical containers but you get 1,000 bonus points if you sing the above quoted line and know what movie it’s from.  D&G is in San Ramon, it is exactly 20 miles from my parents’ (where I live).  It takes exactly 35 to 60 minutes to get there.

When: 8-5.  5 days a week.

Why: First of all, it is a job.  Second of all, I get to do really cool things like watch videos entitled “The History of Paint.” Third of all, it probably the most un-green job possible so I get to be countercultural. Fourthly, they at least pretend to understand that if I had life-goals they would not be in the chemical sales field and they don’t hold that against me.

Overall I like what I am doing and I’m good at it.  Everyday is completely different and I work independently, two things that fit well with me.  Plus I work with a very “special” group of people that keep me entertained all day long.  I could tell you about the day the bathroom key went missing or about a lovely conversation that began with the question, “So, Joy, what do you think of my son?” or about the backlash received when a customer wanted to take my picture or about a billion other things.  But this is already getting too long and I wanted to share with you today’s Christmas lesson.

I like Christmas music, I listen to it on the way to and from my job. Today I was listening to “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”  I realize that the concept of three kings is not biblical, but this song is pretty tight, and not just for Christmas.  That said I am going to put in the lyrics (you can skip the first verse if you can’t handle it):



We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder star

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect Light

Born a King on Bethlehem's plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to rein

Frankincense to offer have I
Incense owns a Deity nigh
Pray'r and praising, all men raising
Worship Him, God most high

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes of life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb

Glorious now behold Him arise
King and God and Sacrifice
Alleluia, Alleluia
Earth to heav'n replies

-Rev. John Henry Hopkins 1857

I hope that this Christmas you drawn to the perfect Light not just of Baby Jesus but of the King and God and Sacrifice.