P David Roman

Eerie stillness all around. No music, no vehicles on the road, no talking, just quiet. And then it starts. Four o'clock in the morning and the broadcast of prayers begins, the solo male voice calling out over the loudspeakers from the mosque a few blocks away. The faint echo comes back from far across the land. The picture above was shot from the walkway on the fourth floor of the Alliance church, where I spent a week with four other Oklahoma lads, visiting Syrian refugees, working in a local school, and learning about the situations and daily lives of the displaced people housed in Mafraq. It was an eye-opening experience, and one that will not soon recede from my memory. I will not say much about my time there, as many others express the situation much better. I will, however, share a couple of photos and explain them. The first photo includes Trait and two others working in the area. We were doing a home visit, which includes taking a box of food supplies, visitation, som...

     The past week was chock full of interesting learning and inspirational moments, culminating in a Fall Break of relaxing and chilling, my favorite pastime. Wednesday evening I accompanied my father-in-law to a worship service at the Christ At The Checkpoint event in Midwest City, where we heard Grace speak of her experiences and appeal for prayers as she and her husband deal with separation due to Visa issues. Dr. Munther had prepared us by leading some songs in Arabic, which went well in my humble opinion, and set us up nicely to hear from Grace, and then from the featured speaker, Archbishop Elias Chacour. Dr. Chacour also had several stories to share, stories of the struggles faced daily by Palestinian Christians in the face of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict. That whole situation bears its own unpacking, and so it will be.      The weekend before, I had attended the Mockingbird Conference held at All Souls Episcopal Church in Oklahoma City. It was...

At SCU we are getting ready for the fourth week of classes, and my head is still spinning. Adding CANVAS to the mix is a blessing and a curse. I'm sure that when I get it all figured out, it will be an essential tool for classes. Until then, the learning curve seems almost straight up; no curve at all but a vertical precipice. And work on my doctoral thesis is going well - I think. Several people are reading my literature review and giving helpful input, and if it's anywhere close to being what the prof wants, maybe I can finish it by Halloween. I hope before then, as there is a planned excursion on the calendar pretty soon. One day soon I will start entering information about my thesis topic. For now, just this - cognition psychology, affordances, design and guitar playing all wrapped up into one long, exhausting process. Soon, I'll share a link so you can read a little more about it. For now, check out my other life at  thefarmathawkhaven dot com.