Could you imagine being Joseph?

Could you imagine…..

Just the other day a good friend of mine witnessed the miracle of watching his newborn baby coming into the world. He told me it refreshed his perspective all over again on life and the amazing complexity of the birth of a baby. I have a picture of the baby just hours old. So, as I began reading through the first few chapters of Matthew, I can’t help but imagine the earthly father of the Messiah. Here we have the introduction of the King of kings being brought into the world and a simple, young man chosen to protect Him and His mother at all costs. Four different times in the first couple of chapters, we are told that Joseph was instructed by the Lord through dreams as to what to do next. Imagine this young girl, giving birth to the King, the Messiah and wrapping Him in His little blanket, nursing him. Imagine her young husband, Joseph, waking up from yet another dream and saying, “Uh….Mary….we gotta go again!” How was this guy so tuned in to the voice of the Lord? How did he know to drop everything he was doing and obey the voice of the Lord? Did he ever question? Did he get frustrated when his life was disrupted by another instructional dream? Did he ever wonder how he got in this predicament? Did he realize somewhere deep inside that he was part of a divine plan of redemption for the world? I mean, talk about moving around a lot? In less than two years, they had moved from Bethlehem, to Egypt, to Israel and finally settled in Nazareth of Galilee. How could he establish a job to support his young family with all that moving and re-settling? I wonder if he ever actually felt settled. I imagine his thoughts at times might have been, “I am so tired and need to get some sleep, but Lord, have mercy! What might you reveal to me in my dreams tonight?” I realize the culture of that day was quite different from the culture I exist in, but reading and pondering over this account has just caused me to really think about how attached I am to stability and routine and convenience. Let one thing throw a wrench in my routine and comfort and stability and I get all worked up. I want to be more like Joseph in his openness to the voice of the Lord. His willingness to follow and obey regardless of how unsettling it was is such an inspiration. His determination to protect his young wife and child even though it meant leaving behind whatever he may have started in way of a job. Their best interest was at the forefront of his mind, instead of meeting his own needs. After every dream, the Scripture says: “…and he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” I love how he chose to protect his young wife and her child regardless of how it changed any plans he may have had. His willingness to lay aside his own agenda to have his own needs met in exchange for what was in her best interest exemplifies his humility and security.

In looking back over the key, repeated thoughts I noticed how Matthew described Joseph from the start: “…being a righteous man…” The Greek describes righteous as one approved and accepted by God; one whose way of thinking, feeling and acting is wholly conformed to the will of God. Lord, help me to remember who I am in You: righteous, accepted and already approved. I do not have to try to acquire acceptance from someone else when I already have Yours. Help me to remember that as I live out of Your acceptance of me, I can lay aside my own agendas and humbly treat others in a way that has their best interests at heart. I can trust You to meet my needs and lead me in the way You would have me to go. Thank You for giving us models of Your righteousness like Joseph. Amen.

Does it have to be enjoyable to be good?

July 21, 2010

I’m tired and at this precise moment, actually feeling strong homesickness. Our time is drawing to a close and it is good. The whole experience has been good. Not always comfortable or enjoyable, but good. Sometimes when you are being stretched and challenged you don’t feel as though it is a good time. Especially when friends and family back home are asking the infamous question, “Are you having fun?” Trying to figure out how to answer that question is similar to knowing how to respond when the computer at Curves makes this statement: “Hope you enjoyed your workout.” Okay…so do they have to use THAT word? Anyway, my point is that something doesn’t have to be enjoyable or fun for it to be good. We still have a few other things that we are determined yet to do before our flight home. Tomorrow we are going to the British Museum, escorted by a former Muslim who is now a follower of Jesus and works alongside some of the World Harvest missionaries. Last week he was invited to participate in a debate against another Muslim and there were approximately 400 people in attendance. Most were there to side with the Islamic beliefs but there was a remnant of Christians in the mix. Anyway, this guy is going to go with us to the British Museum and give some knowledgeable information about what is on display. We are looking forward to that and feel like his participation in it will make it a lot more beneficial than just seeing what is there. We also want to try to locate a particular tea shop that we were told about. It is in the Covent Garden area, so we will try to navigate ourselves around to that spot. On Friday, it is our plan to see the Windsor Castle, be there in time to view the “changing of the guards” and also have our final Afternoon Tea experience at a place that some locals recommended. We may finish our final time here by having dinner with some of the World Harvest missionaries before packing our bags and getting a good night’s sleep at Joel’s before flying out on Saturday morning.

I know many of you have been following the photos and comments on Facebook and you have probably wanted more notes like this one. However, it just isn’t easy to take the time to write out my thoughts and post them. The timing of how our life is scheduled while here, the non-consistent access to internet, the time it takes to process just what you are thinking, feeling and experiencing all makes it difficult to give family, friends and supporters back home a good picture of what an experience like this is really like. Thanks for your interest. Thanks for your support in so many ways: financial, emotional, prayer, thoughts, etc. All of your support is felt strongly by the team and we really appreciate it. Whenever you hear a missionary say that they could not do this without you, it is true. Whenever a missionary tells you that you are here with us, that too is true. So, in reality we are all missionaries. Some of us go, while others stay home. But in whatever way you are supporting a missionary, it is vital and we share a common bond. Let me just make this one final note about support. If you had wanted to support any one of us on this team and just let it slip your mind and feel like it is too late, it is not too late. The expenses are much higher here than any other place I have personally been, so please feel free to share in whatever way God leads you. Grace Community Church is still accepting support monies for this mission and they are handling all of that for us. (The address is: 495 Cardinal Road, Mills River, NC 28759.)

We will be scheduling a time to share our experience for those of you who really are interested in hearing more details. We will be informing you of the date, time and place. Continue to cover us in your prayers.

Sunday in India

Sunday, February 07, 2010

I think it is Sunday….or is it Saturday?? I honestly have no clue. But I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it? The team has been quite busy between teaching the conference and visiting the children’s home. There really are two separate opportunities for ministry to happen for us here. The children love it when we show up where they are. The first time we met them, they were brought to the local KFC for dinner. We were there already waiting for them. As they all filed in, their faces were gleaming. Beautiful, intelligent and respectful faces. They were so happy. Dr. Anjuli Nayak has created this home for them, each one representing a family where both parents have died. This particular children’s home only accepts “true orphans” and apparently a child left with no living parents is what that means. There are a total of thirty three of them . We brought them each a new pair of shoes, games, books, movies, clothes and jelly beans.

The Galatians conference began on Friday morning with approximately 200 Indian pastors and students from villages as far as 100 miles away. Their enthusiasm and charisma was refreshing. To watch them soak in the teaching of the Scriptures all day long amazed me. Often in the U.S. we think an hour and a half long class is the maximum anyone could expect us to sit through. These men and women studied for hours, took a lunch break, and came back for more teaching the rest of the afternoon and into early evening. By the time we finish this conference tomorrow afternoon, we will have worked our way through the entire book of Galatians. Then on Wednesday, we fly off to Varanasi for the second conference. We have been told by numerous local people that Varanasi is a very “religious” place. By this, they mean it is over 70% Hindu and the rest mostly Muslim. There are over 200,000 idols in the city and it is the location of the Ganges River where people go to die. They believe if they die there, they go straight to heaven. So, we go to this place on Wednesday of next week to begin sessions on Thursday.

Getting to a place where we could access the internet has been impossible. Between the locations we are staying in and our crazy schedule, it just couldn’t happen for us. Right now, I have one hour of internet access which I was finally able to acquire, but I am so sleepy, I am not sure how much I will get done. All in all, it has been a good trip. There is so much to tell but not the time right now to write it all down. I am taking pictures on my phone and trying to post some of them on Facebook. It seems my phone can take me to that sight as well as bring in my emails. Other than that, my phone is useless.

Once again, trust has been the biggest challenge for me. Trusting Jesus that He has a reason for my being here in this place for such a time as this, trusting His provision, and trusting Him to speak through me to the ones I am teaching. Today was my first time to teach here and God came through as He always does. I had so much fun interacting with God’s people here. I am exhausted tonight, but it is a good exhaustion. I’ll write more later.

(By the way, living here gives a whole new meaning to the expression “Holy Cow!”)

Fly Day

I am at Kathy Bearce's home in Alpharetta, GA where I spent the night last evening. Our escort will pick us up at 1:30PM to take us to the airport. So....today is "fly day". Yes, I am nervous, but also excited. My family asked me at dinner the other evening what I was nervous about. I didn't have to think long to answer. For me, the uncertainty of it all; not knowing what to expect, what to do, how to respond to circumstances and surroundings. I am such an "atmosphere" person that I am often most challenged in that realm. From the very early stages of agreeing to go on this trip all the way to "leaving day", my ability to trust has been the ultimate test for me. Trusting for financial provision, trusting myself with a group of people I do not know, trusting myself to participate in an assignment in a third world country, trusting myself in this new test of my weight loss journey. The strong call to trust "not knowing where", reminds me of Abraham. In Genesis 12, the Lord told Abram to "leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." A few verses later, the Scripture tells us his response: "So Abram left as the Lord had told him." I can relate. I really believe God invited me to participate in this adventure and sent me out. So, I left and here I am getting ready to check my bags, go through customs and board that big silver bird. My trust is ultimately in the One who is sending me. I know that He is a protective and caring Father that gives good gifts to His children. While I am nervous, I also feel taken care of. As I choose to rest in that, it allows me to focus my mind and thoughts on the purpose for which I am going. Watch this....the passage in Genesis says it clearly and says it in my own vernacular; "....and you will be a blessing." I love that!!! I say that all the time..."just trying to be a blessing." So right here as God is promising Abram all that He promises, He also lets his servant know how He will cause him to be a blessing to others. How cool is that? I know there is much more in these verses about significant things, but that is what jumped out to me in my circumstances today. I know that I will be greatly blessed by this experience....and in turn will be a blessing to others. That is encouraging and a good perspective to have as I take a deep breath, center down, relax....and know that "you will be a blessing". Thanks God for such sweet words in my own accent.

Chocolate Cake Batter in India

These are some children from an orphanage in India where I will be visiting in just a couple of weeks. They had been learning to bake a cake in this picture and doing the very thing I love to do when I bake a cake: lick the bowl and enjoy the batter! Yum! Maybe we will relate to each other after all. It seems the enjoyment of cake batter is universal and cross-cultural, so perhaps my personal story about how much God loves to lavish His extravagant forgiveness and mercy to me will travel across the ocean and reach the hearts of these precious Indian people. As I reflect today on my upcoming trip, I find my heart is anxious about several things. Finances...but then what's new about that? Cross-cultural relevance...but then whose responsibility is that really? Will I like the food or should I take my own? Will my senses be so much on overload that I want to scream and rush back to the airport to go home? Isn't it funny how quick we are to fret and fear? I don't want to give in to those common, natural emotions though. I don't want that to be the main focus of my attention. I want to say with Abraham in Genesis 22, "Here am I." And I want to trust in the provision of my Provider. I want to be excited about the awesome opportunity and experience this trip promises to be. I want to give in to the whole thing; to embrace whatever is in store for me and the others with spontaneity and adventure. I just want to move among a different people for a couple of weeks and see where God is at work there. I know He is. His love and delight isn't just American. His mercy and faithfulness is cross-cultural and universal. Open my eyes, broaden my view and perspective beyond my own little bubble of a world. There is a great big world out there....and there is more going on it than my concern of whether my weight maintenance is on schedule or not. (More on that in the next post, as I know that several of my blog followers are curious about where things stand in regard to my weight loss journey.)