Not quite at home at home - by Crystal

Our time in the States has been both a blessing and a challenge. It has been so wonderful to be here for the year and to enjoy friendships, family, church and all the comforts that America has to offer. On the other hand there is a nagging and tugging at our hearts that this is just not home. Our hearts burst with anticipation to be back in Africa and all that God has for our family as we serve Him there.
It has been so special for us and the boys to be close to family. A huge blessing has been that the boys have really enjoyed hanging out with the Aunties, Uncles and Gram and Gramp. We are so thankful for their love and kindness to us and for their loving extra measure of patience just when we have needed it. As the boys are older now it has been interesting for Lad and I to see through their eyes about their experience living in Africa. They have gone through tons of emotions as their little hearts have processed what our family does. They have had many questions too, voiced their fears about going back and seem to be mourning already at the thought of saying goodbye and in the same breath looking forward to and saying hello again to Africa. It has been good and we are thankful they are able to share their feelings as we talk and pray through all of them.
The boys (Squire and Wyatt) are almost finished with their home schooling for the year and will start a new grade at their school in Africa at the end of January. At the beginning of the year the task seemed daunting to a mom who has never home schooled before and I am happy to say the end is in sight and I think that they actually learned something! The baby, Crusoe is not a baby anymore he is definitely into full-blown toddler life and trying to keep up with those big brothers. The boys had the opportunity to play fall soccer this year and it was so fun to see them running and having a blast being on a team and playing with friends.
The year has been busy and full and we do praise God for our time here. We are getting excited about turning our hearts and hands toward Africa once again. We count it a huge privilege that you are on this journey with us through your prayers and partnership with us. Our family could not survive without you! Thanks for making our time here a good transition for our family and especially for our boys. We look forward to this next term in Africa with you on our team! Love, Crystal

God made brains cool

Waking up on top of my land rover in rural swaziland at a 4.46am sunrise gives you time to think and pray...

...and it just came to me.

7 months without any need for it, and it came back just like that!

People in the States ask me if I know Siswati at all, and I say, “a bit.”

“Tell me some,” they ask … and I can’t think of a word.

But as I arrived back home in SZ last week, the words and conversations just came right out of my mouth.

It is like the context of sight and smell and sound brought it all back to me. Just like that. Brains are cool.

Thank you, Maker God.

in africa again - october 11

Three years ago today Crystal and the boys and I landed in Johannesburg via one way tickets through London, as we moved to Africa to serve Him in whatever He had for us. Crusoe was not born yet, and my exhausted wife and children and I spent a day or two sleeping and recovering from the trip as we entered an entirely new life of serving God in a new place and among a new people.

I arrived in Johannesburg to be greeted by my good friend, Andy Sims, who I met on that same day 3 years ago in this same airport. It is amazing how quickly time has flown by, and how it seems a lifetime ago at the same time.

I am in Africa to prepare for our move back to Swaziland in January of 2008, to meet with the group of people I am going to be serving with in Children’s Cup, and to help a team of people as we begin the process of building Orphan Carepoints in the rural area of Herefords. I will be here for 2.5 weeks and then I will return to Ohio to finish up our interim pastor role at Leroy Community Chapel.

It's going to go by quick. Selah ...

the best stuff lasts

what kind of things filled up the events of your life today? what character marks you as you go about that 'filled-up' life and influence the people around you in life?

if you're normal, your life is probably full of things that aren't all that important and your character needs some attention from within the process....

i spent a couple hours last week saying 'goodbye for now' to a friend who is looking at the last days of her life here on earth. what a blessing it was for us - to share a moment with a friend in the trials of watching life on earth escape from her possession... and what amazed me was the beauty of her present clarity in life.

people who are 'dying' tend to know a lot about priorities - there's not much time, so they make the most of it.

Crystal and i cried and laughed and wept with our sister, and were overjoyed at her clarity about God's goodness and grace to us as people - poor, rebellious people who spend so much of our lives defying God and making ourselves too busy for Him.

as our friend's body and health wastes away even now, she is left with nothing but the grace of God, loving forgiveness and repentance in her relationships with her family and friends, and an anticipation of seeing her Savior.

with our friend, as her health fades, the best stuff has lasted. as all else fades, the gold and silver of her character and God's work in her life are shining brightly. i can only pray that as my life gets examined in the tests of today and the future that there will be gold and silver there to shine through, that God will have refined in me in His grace.

wish we were here...

we are in oregon at mt hood where we were pastoring youth for almost 7 years before africa. it has been great to see people and spend time with our students who are now adults - even to marry a couple of them together and send them off into life's journey as a family! thanks God for the honor....

the trouble with all of this is the beauty of it. the beauty of friendships. the beauty of the work of God in the local church. the beauty of the mountians and foothills off my morning deck. the beauty of all the "what if we had's" of life here.

the trouble with serving in different places is disengaging and allowing God to take it beyond you and not wishing you were there ... all the while serving in a new location and time. being willing to enjoy the sweet moments of remembering and not to long for more of the past.

and that doesn't even figure in the issues of snowboarding and fly-fishing - that is a completely different level of disengaging!

id'd

being id'd, or 'identified,' with Christ is a great spiritual privilege for those who have believed in Him and been transformed by faith through the grace of His resurrection.

Christ called us to tell the good news of the forgiveness that is available in the Cross to everyone around us 'as we go' in life, making them followers of Him by teaching them the Word in a way that leads to the radical transformation of lives. to cap it off though, He told us all to get id'd with him - identified with Him in Baptism. identified with Christ in His death and resurrection to new life - the old is gone, and the new has come!

So Sunday was and 'id'd day' at our church. people id'd with Christ because they just got saved. kids id'd with Christ who have been trusting in Jesus for few years, but just decided to get baptized. adults who finally faced their fears and committed themselves to living for Christ. people who got saved during the baptism service and got id'd in the water on the spot!

so 67 in all were baptized - id'd with Christ for all to see - what a day! and the first one i had the honor of baptizing was my oldest son squire. what an honor as a dad, to get to baptize, along with my dad, the first of the next generation of my family, as he continues to choose to id himself with Jesus! one of the best moments of life!! thank you Lord - may You lead him and keep him as he continues to grow and learn to walk with you. amen.

ride like jehu

I want to be like Jehu.

A man of great Zeal for the things of God. Passion and direction for the things of Christ, lived out with fury. With zeal. With abandon.

Jehu knew life like this. The scene in 2 Kings 9-10: Commander Jehu was anointed in his field tent by an out-of-breath and unnamed 'crazy' prophet, sent by God through Elisha, to destroy the house of the evil King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. With the anointing oil still dripping off his eyebrows, and the 'babbling' prophet running off into the wilderness as quickly as he came, what does Jehu do? What any smart person would do - he drops everything to obey his calling - and he does so with fierce zeal.

Jehu knew zeal. A soldier whose reputation for fantastic chariot riding in battle was know across the county, he was referred to as a reckless madman. How often do we espouse to be reckless madmen and madwomen as we gather together around the Word?

How do I respond to the Word of God? When He reveals His Plan to me from His Word? When His Spirit convicts me of the right path when I am tempted to do otherwise? When I know I am called to serve Him in a task or opportunity?

Do I wait for confirmation to get involved? Do I look for a better time to make time for my kids? Do I wait until the moment is perfect to apologize? Do I figure that she wouldn't really be interested in hearing the Gospel anyways? "He's pretty good guy - I'll bet he goes to church and can hear about Christ there." Do I hit pause and hope to forget the Word and settle into more comfortable options of action.

Or do I seize the moment? Do I ride right into the fire-fight and call people into God's plan and Kingdom?! Do I act with zeal - like I really mean it?

It's been a real honor to spend these last 4 months serving as part of the Body here at LCC. Having grown up here and started my walk with Christ here, it's great to get to serve for a while as part of the localized Body again. I am not sure of all that God is doing in our midst as I am here, but I am praying for an infusion of Zeal into each individual and family at LCC. I pray that God cements His vision for living and expanding His Kingdom in each of our hearts and gives us the burning passion to accomplish it - to take it by storm.

Make us these People Lord: That our neighbors wouldn't just notice our wild driving at 6am, but that our lives would be come wildly unmistakable. The Neighbor that everybody on the block knows has a grip on life and will gladly help you with yours... The Co-worker who is Passionate about Christ - even beyond the cubicle of life. The Woman who is Zealous for Forgiveness in her relationships, even beyond the pain of the past. The Man who Recklessly represents the Savior to a dying world, even though he risks his reputation at work with each testimony.

And if we were mad-people like that at LCC, I can only imagine what the Lord could do with and among us...

august.8.2007 - trip of the day

i met an ethiopian doctor in california last night who had a piece of perspective that i don't know much about.

'why don't they read the book?' was his question. a man who started and heads up an organization that funds/equips/sends out 400 christian pastors and missionaries from northern Africa into other northern African nations, he told me with a smile on his face that almost all of his team working in a specific African country were in prison because of their proclamation of the gospel of Jesus.

'why don't they read the book?' he asked.

'if they would simply read the book they would know that as soon as they throw us in prison and take our lives that the Kingdom of God will multiply greatly beyond their reach! instead we are leading dozens to Christ in the prisons and the church outside is growing!'

but his punchline made me sick. 'if they wanted to destroy the church all they need to do is give us freedom and money, and death of the church is at hand.'

and i'm pretty sure that most of my prayers boil down to requests for more freedom and more money. forgive me Lord, have mercy on us...

learning to remember

today is Memorial Day in the States- for most of us it's a cool, 3 day weekend that signifies the official start of the summer weekends we love so much. i know that there is more to it, but we don't seem to make a lot of time to remember [significantly]the things of the past today.

but in my own life, the more i tend to be consumed with the busyness of today and forget what i've learned in the past, the more i tend to get off-track. so i would imagine that as a people, if we push forward with the busy agendas of today, forgetting what ought not to be forgotten from the past, that we will encounter many of the same hard lessons in the future [which could've been avoided if we had only remembered...]

and so today i am trying to learn to remember ... as a citizen, as a son, as a husband, as a father, as a friend, and as a son of the most high

getting [re]started

well i set this blog up last year duing a late night session in africa ... and i'm going to go ahead and start using it now. crystal and i are in louisiana getting ready to return to africa next year, and we can't wait! so i'll be trying to make this thing useful . . . for communication and frinedship and ministry. thanks for joining the ride.