Crazy times... 05/17/2011
 Well, let me do a quick rundown of our past three months...
1. Early February--submitted our passports, as usual, anticipating a quick and fairly painless renewal of our residency permits. 2. Mid February--Found out our renewal request was denied. 3. Late February -- We were promised that our permit would be given and that the paperwork would be completed before our current permit expired on the 28th of February. 4. Feb 28 -- we were given a 14 day extension on our permit and assured that everything would be done by March 13, at which time we could go out of country for a day, get our new permit, and return. 5. March 3 --DEILgirl celebrates her birthday at school with her friends...yeah! 6. Mach 13 -- Our paperwork is not complete and we are forced to leave the country. For 12 days in another country we are promised everyday that our paperwork is complete and will be sent the following day. It never comes. DEILmom celebrates her birthday. 7. March 25 -- We return home on a 30 day tourist visa with promised continuing to come that the paperwork is near completion. During this time we try to catch up on work missed and other responsibilities. The kids try and catch up from their 12 missed days of school. 8. April 5 -- The owner of our house begins asking us if we want to renew our contract, but given our residency status we cannot commit to anything. 9. April 10 -- Our friend, W, that we shared about during our last home assignment declines rapidly in her fight against cancer. 10. April 11 -- A friend who visits our house has a reaction to some kind of bug in our house. This a new thing. A day or two later we begin to notice the tiny little bugs--fleas--biting our toes. By the following day we have a full-fledged flea infestation, probably caused by a family of cats that gave birth in our ceiling several days earlier. 11. April 12 -- DEILdad's Uncle dies after more than two years battling cancer. 12. April 13 -- The father a good friend of our here died following a very short battle with cancer. 13. April 18 -- We receive word that one of our groups has been forced to close. This was not a governmental closure but the result of a community movement that determined to force the closure of as many groups as possible in their area. 14. April 19 -- Two rats fall down from the roof into the recess in our ceiling where a skylight sits. It's a 2 meter recess so it's impossible to reach down and pull the rats out. The only real choice is to wait until they die, remove the plastic from below and remove the rats. So, we have a few nights of watching our rat friends sleep and play...all from the comfort of our own bedroom! Yeah...gross. 15. April 23 -- one day before Easter we must leave the country again as our tourist visa is finished. 16. April 25 -- Finally some progress! We got the paperwork we needed and were able to submit our application for a new residency permit! A week later we had our new permits! But that's not the end... 17. May 2 -- We return home for two days and then drive 20 hours round-trip to submit our new permits to the local office. We are able to spend a day or two with our friends and colleagues on our Bible College campus and then return home so the kids can get back to school. Although we have our permits we must wait for the local office to give us our ID cards before we can considered truly "legal" residents. 18. During this time an international news event (the killing of Osama by the US Military) caused great danger for our Brothers and Sisters here, a country where it was not uncommon to see the face of this terrorist painted on the sides of buses or imprinted on t-shirts. We kept a very low profile for several days. 19. May 5 -- The owner of our house demands that we make a commitment to stay in the house for another year or move out. We tell her we want to stay but she tells us it will cost us an extra $1000 this year. On the day, right after talking with the owner, we found out that when the worker climbed up into our roof to get the rats he found extensive water damage, mold, and other problems. He said, "pity the people living in this house when this roof falls apart." So we decided to find a new house. 20. May 7-8 -- We get a call from our colleague that the local office is ready to take our photos and fingerprints so we drive 20 hours round trip again for a 20 minute meeting with the local official. Not only that we have some lovely photos taken...not really. 21. May 9-10 -- Still catching up, DEILdad teaches a "super-intensive" class to four university students at our home. Following the class he spends a full day sleeping. While he was teaching, DEILmom was frantically searching for a new home close to the kids school (if possible). 22. May 14 -- We signed a two year contract to rent a house not far from the one we are in now. It's a bit larger than we wanted and a bit more expensive, but was one of very few options that would not disrupt our kids education and other things. The economic crisis and decreased giving means that we have to pay for part of this contract from our personal ministry funds for the first time. But we praise God because of the faithful giving of many people during our last home assignment we had enough to cover this very unexpected expense. 23. Today, we continue to wait for our ID cards to be issued. Though we don't need to worry about having to leave the country again, we can't really do much of anything until we get these cards. 23. June 8 -- is the date we have to be out of our current house. Now, it would be easy to think that the past three months have been all trial. Yes, it's been difficult and stressful. But that's no surprise, Jesus promised us that "in this life there will be many troubles" and that those who follow him would "face many trials." We have no doubt that God is working and that these trials are nothing more than rocks trying to trip us up. Look at what God has been doing over the past three months...click through to keep reading... 1 Comment What if they had killed Saul? 05/03/2011
Recently I listened as JS told the story of his conversion. He had been a radical terrorist responsible for several bombings in his country, even a few that made international news. Then, through a series of miraculous events, along with the loving witness of a few faithful followers he began reading about the Messiah of the Bible and, eventually, he came to know and follow the Christ.
I listened to him share his story with amazement at the way God revealed himself to JS. Shaking his hand I was overcome with a deep realization of God’s amazing power to transform lives. Here was a modern Saul; a man bent on destroying anything carrying the name of Christ. Now, like Paul, he carries the name of Christ through to the people of his country with a vision to change his entire nation by pointing them toward the Messiah! I remembered the mission that Jesus Christ had given to Saul as he stood blind on the side of the road leading to Damascus--"I am sending you," said Jesus, "to open their eyes...and bring them from darkness into light." JS's eyes had been opened and now he was bringing those around him into the light! Quotes to Live By: Guard your heart... 04/18/2011
 Guard your heart...above all else, for it determines the course of your life. [Proverbs 4:23] …the Spirit of God beckons our souls to breathe in elegant simplicity. Even on pressure-fulled days, we must be free to pick up the pace or slow down. Free to stop and worship God for a few minutes. Free to weep openly when we experience grief. Free to laugh from the soul. Free to lift our hands to heaven and worship God without fear of what others might think. Free to openly confess our sins. Free to listen to the hearts and dreams of those around us. [Paul Richardson, A Certain Risk, p. 178] I just really like this passage here. Freedom in Christ. We are so good at enslaving ourselves. Another story from back in the day: When I was in high school I played basketball. I had talent, a good shot, and was quite athletic. My problem was that I was very analytical in my approach to the game. Playing basketball was all about memorizing plays, memorizing schemes, and going to the right place at the right time. At any given time the “right” thing to do was determined by what the coach had told us in practice, the steps we had practiced, and the plays we had learned. Game time was a test of how well I had “learned the facts” of the game, so to speak. It was 80% rote, 20% reacting to the immediate circumstances of the game itself. When I got to college I began to look at the game in a new light. I didn’t play on the school team, but spent countless hours playing with a group of very good players every night after classes, on weekends, and any time we had opportunity. In the absence of playbooks and coach-directed practices I began to appreciate the creative side of the game—reacting in the moment, creatively making immediate decisions, and enjoying the flow of the game. I began to understand that a good team must have a basic framework with which to work—plays, guiding philosophies, and some concrete steps by which it operates—but that the key to moving beyond “average” and “mediocrity” was found in the creative “dancing” that occurs between five players who know each other, trust each other, and are willing to submit to one another for the good of the team. In this freedom to play the game…a team finds true joy and success. May it be so in our lives, as well. If we could see... 02/02/2011
 If we could only see the people he is calling us to become, we would wonder if it were even possible to change that much. [Paul Richardson, A Certain Risk, p. 177] When I was younger (a young boy up into my early adulthood) I was terrified of speaking or singing in front of people. I could tell multiple stories of Christmas programs, school speeches, solos and other occasions where my knees shook and my voice quivered to the point where I could not finish a line or a song. One particular time I remember I was in college and back home for Christmas. I was asked to sing a special on Sunday and my mouth got so dry that I simply couldn’t make any sound—nothing! I still remember the first time, at the age of 25, when I was asked to sing at a very large Christmas gathering in the Asian nation where I was teaching at the time. The church had rented out an auditorium and the crowd was huge. As my time approached I was very nervous, shaking, having difficulty breathing (which makes me wonder why did I keep saying “yes” when people asked me to sing). Anyway, I remember with clarity a still small voice speaking to me through those nerves, saying to me, “You been given a gift in your voice. Be confident. Sing boldly. Never be proud, but sing with great thankfulness.” I went up on that huge stage and had the best time I’ve ever had on stage. A few years later my beautiful fiance asked me to sing at our wedding. A couple of months later a pastors wife who had been at our wedding called and asked if I might be interested in being their worship/music pastor. I accepted. I remember thinking several weeks later, as I was enjoying greatly the opportunity to sing regularly and lead the people of this church in worship through music, that a few years earlier I NEVER would have been able to do what I was doing. It was nothing short of a miracle that I was (1) I was in front of people singing, and (2) actually enjoying it! What will I look back on several years from now and think, “Wow, I never would have pictured myself doing _____________ back then?” Go into their world 01/12/2011
 For our friends and supporters back home simply moving to another far away land is often seen as the ultimate act of obedience to God and the pinnacle of faith. If so, how come I don’t feel that way most of the time? I’m here but I feel as though just being here is the tiniest of steps. Anybody could have done this part; the question is what am I going to do with this opportunity to be in this place where most of my friends, family, and supporters are not? Am I ready to take that next step to go find them, to enter their world, to intentionally and purposefully arrange my life so as to become a part of their world? A Beautiful Grace from God 12/30/2010
 I remember many moments holding my weeping wife and crying out in my heart to God in the midst of certain loss. “Lord,” I prayed over and over, “you can do what you will, but I’m going to pray right now for an “Beautiful Grace”, a sign of your beautiful grace in our life. At the time we did not know the sex of our child and as the words were coming out of my mouth the thought crossed my mind that maybe it was just too much to pray for a little girl when I should have been focused on just having a healthy child. After several weeks of great worry and distress, DEILmom's pregnancy progressed and our worries of losing our child subsided. I’ll never forget the moment I first saw our first child, gave her her first bath as she screamed louder than I thought possible (certainly her lungs were healthy), and handed her to her mother. Sitting there holding our little girl, having already called the grandparents on the other side of the globe, I was suddenly overwhelmed to the point where my mind drifted to another place for several moments. I suddenly remembered those prayers prayed in desperation during those early weeks of pregnancy. I remembered my prayer for a little girl— “Beautiful Grace.” I realized that God had answered my prayer even in the midst of serious worry and doubt. In this moment of truth I knew nowhere else to go…but to my Father. Like Paul, I wanted nothing more than for my wife and child to be safe and healthy. I wanted nothing more than for this little girl to become a part of our family. The overflow… May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Don't brag about tomorrow …since you don’t know what the day will bring. Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth–a stranger, not your own lips. [Proverbs 27:1-2] Breathe through me 11/18/2010
 …when I surrender to his ways rather than insist on my own, I will see his miraculous power in action. The paramount lesson God showed me was that if I desire for him to breathe life through me, I must learn to trust in the creative work of his Spirit. [Paul Richardson, A Certain Risk, p. 82] And again I’ll come back to it—this is the edge. Not my own power, not my own plan, not my own strength. I sometimes ride my bike around the backside of the hill on which we live—it’s a pretty difficult ride for the first 20 minutes or so. Usually after the first five minutes I’m sucking hard for air, my quads are burning and the thought comes that this would be a much more pleasant morning if I just turned around, coasted back down the short distance I’ve come already and head home. There have been times when I’ve done just that. But I’ve also learned that if I push past that edge, past the point of feeling like I can’t go any further and past the point where my body is screaming at me to stop, then there always comes a “second wind” or a “second life”, as it were. After pushing through the pain and doubt, there is a sudden strength that carries me for longer than I would have thought possible just 15 minutes previous. Maybe it’s the same with God—if we will push past the uncomfortableness of approaching the edge and past the point where we think we can do no more…perhaps we will find a “second wind”, or in this case we might say that the Spirit was there waiting for us to get past ourselves. The world is my canvas... 10/28/2010
 Do I really have the permission to call the world around me my canvas? Do I have the freedom, the audacity, the creativity, and the imagination to wade in and create on that canvas? Or am I nothing more than a detached observer? [Paul Richardson, A Certain Risk, p. 109] During my first read through of this book I wrote a simple “Wow!” in the left margin of the book. We’ve been taught so often in our own cultural that to seek God is to seek solitude, peaceful settings, and quiet time. These are all good things. But I wonder, too, if sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we also meet with God in a very real way when we are sweeping across the canvas of our community and our city; that in our interactions with people we not only find ourselves thinking about God, but we begin to commune with him on a deeper level by actually walking with him. Maybe it’s rolling down the window, smiling at the old woman asking for money, and letting her know that at least one person on this day is happy to have seen her. Maybe it’s spending time downtown, taking part in the community as so many others are—not as an outsider (though I always am one) but rather as another child of our Creator enjoying the opportunity to enjoy a small part of the day. Maybe it’s encouraging a brother or sister in faith, or praying for a friend in need, or allowing God to speak through me a word that another needs to hear in that moment. | CategoriesAll AuthorLoving God and Neighbor... Being mentored by the Teacher... Journeying with my wife... Teaching my children the ropes... ArchivesApril 2012 |
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