Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving Part 2

Well, now that Thanksgiving is over, let me tell you one of the other things I am thankful for, my family. I have a wonderful wife and two wonderful kids. They're not perfect, which is best, because if they were they would never put up with me. However, they're as good as families get.

I used to say that one thing I was very thankful for in my wife was that she was hardy, but then I realized that for most people the word "hardy" does not carry with it a real romantic feeling:) And although I won't share with you all my pet names for her, she is the fire in my fireplace. But not only has she been my sweetheart for 16 years, she has also been willing, again and again, to go with me anywhere that God has led us. Not only do I love her, but I respect her devotion to God and I could never have guessed how important that would be to our marriage and to God's call on our life.

Then there's the princess, whose smile and blue eyes thwart my sincerest attempts to be tough. She is so tender and considerate, thinking about how others feel and what she can do to make them feel better. And of course, what's a princess without a brave knight. He just as cute in his own way, although he creates a more pungent odor. He wants to be strong and brave and likes the opportunity to help Katie when she's afraid (or when I have captured her and hauled her off to the dungeon:)

I could go on and on--about my parents, about Keri's parents, and even my grandparents, but I think you get the idea. No family is perfect, but I think mine is as close as you can get. Thank you, Lord, for my family.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Thanksgiving Part 1

This is the week of Thanksgiving and so I'm going to be thankful, or at least share some of the reasons I have to be thankful. The first reason, and the one upon which all others are built, is that I am loved and surrounded by God. Psalm 139:5-10 says,

"You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

When you you serve in full-time ministry, such as a pastor, it's very easy to relate to God in terms of what He has called you to do or what you're trying to do on His behalf. And while serving Him in this way truly is a joy, it can also crowd out your personal relationship with Him if you're not careful--the time you spend just being His child. I am so thankful for scriptures like Psalm 139, which reminds me that I can come to Him, not in any official capacity, not with any responsibilities, but just as His child, to love and be loved.

Friday, November 14, 2008

The Definition Of Necessary Evil

You've heard the phrase before, necessary evil, but what does it really mean? I like to think of it as a euphemism for the more common word, budget. It's that time of year again when we crunch numbers and project income and expenses for 2009. It's been a while since I used an adding machine with any regularity and I could tell because I sometimes got more than one total for the same line of numbers added. The numbers were too big for my preferred method of fingers and toes, in case you were wondering.

But in the midst of the torture I call budgets, was the joy of realizing that the numbers I was adding could translate into changed lives (I was working on the missions budget). I think about the people who will hear the name of Jesus for this first time this year because there is a missionary we had a small part in sending. I think about the person in living in St. Louis who may see the love of Christ in a tangible way for the first time this year and take steps toward Him. The Bible says that God is a God of order and on a good day I can file accounting and budgets under the heading "order," but much more satisfying is the realization that the money we give and spend can make an eternal difference in the lives of people.

So, pass me the aspirin and an adding machine...

Monday, November 10, 2008

Missions Convention

We just finished a one week missions convention and I'm pooped--but what a great week. We had the Morton's, the Johnson's, the Godbout's, the Hausfeld's, and the Tucker's. This week we tried to give people a better chance to meet with the missionaries personally so we set up small group opportunities in people's home and in the church. I enjoyed hearing from two of the missionaries--what they were doing, where they were going, etc. We also had our second missions banquet on Friday night where we shared humorous stories from the field. Some of the stories were very funny and beg to be shared. Since not everyone could be there I'm posting two of them that were particularly funny.

Mark Hausfeld, area director of the Central Asian Republics shared this story:

Our family had been in Pakistan for a couple months. We went to a community celebration called a "Mela." A Mela has all kinds of foods, crafts and carnival like activities for adults and children. One of the favorite activities is when a snake charmer plays his flute and a cobra comes out of a basket. I had always wanted to see that so I went to the center of the Mela grounds to the snake charmers platform.

There on a platform two feet off the ground was a family whose lives were dedicated to charming cobras. As I stood looking at the baskets of cobras that surrounded the family of snake charmers and watched a little boy two years age at the most pulling baby cobras out of a basket and playing with them like strands of thick spaghetti. Soon there were several Pakistani men around me and in Punjabi, a language I did not know; they seemed to be negotiating a price for him to charm a cobra from a basket with a flute. The each put down 10 Rupees (about 33 cents). Thinking this is what I am about to see I laid down 10 Rupees too.

The father reached for a small straw basket and took off the lid. He reached in and pulled out a baby cobra that was the diameter of a dime and about two feet long. In one motion from the basket he took the head of the cobra and shoved it up his nose. As the head disappeared in his nostril he slides the rest of the cobra's body into his nose. Suddenly he opened his mouth and put his free hand into his mouth and pulled out the head of the cobra with his index finger and thumb.

With one hand he pulled the head of the cobra and with the other he held the tail. Then he began to pull the head and tail with each hand back and forth like some kind of nose floss! Then he concluded his act with pulling the head so that the remainder of the body and tail came out his mouth. Then he took out a handkerchief and wiped the cobra clean.

And I thought I was going to see a snake dance out of a basket...

Don Tucker, director of Africa Harvest shared this story:

In our first term, we shared an old mission station with a caretaker family. They were nice people but had some very invasive goats. One day, we looked up from lunch to see one of the goats butting through the screen door to come inside.

I could tell by the look on Deborah's face that this was a bit too much for a lovely, young, new missionary lady. So, I proceeded to run out the back door, looked for the closest thing I could find intending to chase away the goat. We lived rather close to the city refuse pile, and there, lying near our back door was an empty long-necked bottle. I picked it up and through it in the general direction of the goat, hoping to scare it away. Would you believe it? That bottle smacked the goat square between the eyes and he fell graveyard dead on the spot!

That event became the talk of the town for a few days. You see, Don is left handed. So I threw the bottle with my left hand. In that country there is significant superstition about left-handed people (which I didn't know at the time!). They used my dead-aim bullseye (or rather goats-eye!) to confirm their suspicions that left-handed people have special abilities!

Little did they know how surprised I myself was when the goat passed away so quickly and thoroughly!