Five Minute Residency Renewal!

Do you remember the hours and hours and days and days that I have spent at Immigration, trying to get my residency in Costa Rica? My last appointment was amazingly easy compared to previous years, but this year's experience takes the cake!

I was due this month for my annual visa renewal. But, our agenda is so full that I was totally dreading taking a day off to wait in line for a appointment. So, on a whim one evening I did some web research and came up with a toll number to call for appointments. I decided to give the number a try the next morning. After just one ring, a polite young man answered, identifying himself as "Alejandro, from the Department of Migration." I explained to him my desire for an appointment for residency visa renewal. He asked my name and ID number and put me on hold. After about a three minute hold, he returned to tell me that I have an appointment for June 24th, 2010.

"2010?!?" I replied. Yes, indeed. 2010. I told him that I'd heard that they were giving appointments just one to two months in advance.

Alejandro replied that if I wanted to go to the offices and wait in line for an appointment, I could get one within two weeks. But, my residency would remain valid until the 2010 appointment if I preferred.

I said to him, "Well, it only seems to make sense to not go, wait in line, and have to go through all the red tape of renewal when I can just go in 2010 and have a valid visa for another year meanwhile."

He said it was totally the most logical option. When he told me I would have a confirmation email shortly, I held my breath. Previously with Immigration, they refused to give any kind of documentation to prove that something was in process.

Within the hour I had a confirmation email. AMAZING! Thank You, Lord! (And thank you, too, Alejandro!)

Don't Steal the Orchid!

Tulio, our gardener, brought me a valuable orchid. After doing my best to give it occasional water and plenty of sunshine, it finally bloomed! It is an unusual, but lovely flower. He says that when it finishes blooming he needs to put it on a tree that is not easily seen by the public. Otherwise it will be stolen right away, because people around here know how rare and valuable it is.

We Need a Friend - Thoughts on Pain from Lady Buxton

I am good at stealing thoughts from others, chewing on them, and spitting them out to you! Today I want to share something I actually read a year ago. (I looked back in my journal from 2008.) Lady Buxton was a philanthropist in the late 1800's and early 1900's. For 47 years she suffered pain from osteoarthritis, yet she helped promote missions and both the YMCA and the YWCA. Here are her comments about pain:

"Things do NOT improve... all seems increasingly hard sometimes, and I am rather hopeless of getting better. We need a friend, above all a Saviour, in the depths of our being - and, thank God, we have one."

Is your life growing increasingly harder? Are there burdens that go on and on? Let's cling to the friend that meets our needs in the depths of our being.

Earthquake Photos

The epicenter of the big 6.2 earthquake we experienced on Thursday the 8th of January, 2009, was just under 20 miles away from our home and office. It really was strong! Right at the epicenter the damage was devastating. One small town was totally destroyed. Our favorite tourist spot, La Paz Waterfall Gardens, was seriously damaged. Thankfully, the hotel there claims that no one died there. So far we don't have a clear death count. I think it is 17, though CNN says there are 34 confirmed dead. These photos are from the La Nacion newspaper. One shows an area where a body was recovered from a car buried about half-way down the landslide. The body was recovered by a Colombian crew working from a helicopter. Another shows 6 amazing before and after photos, including the La Paz Waterfall. The third photo shows one of the monkeys that escaped from the monkey cage at the Waterfall Gardens. It is eating at the lovely restaurant where we have taken many guests. Two monkeys were not recovered. A jaguar that escaped was recovered. I haven't heard about the poisonous snakes!

A Beth Moore Miracle

When I was in the USA last July I had only a few minutes to look for a Bible study to take back to Costa Rica with me. That store only had one Beth Moore study - on the book of Daniel. I wanted to study something from the Old Testament, so I bought the book.

Only after getting back to Costa Rica did I learn that it requires either a video series on DVD or an audio series. The cost of ordering that was prohibitive.

Last week I downloaded the first video session for just over $5 and enjoyed the first week of study. I was praying yesterday about whether to quit the study, becuase it would require at least another $60 investment. Weighing the cost, a couple of weeks ago I had even tried writing Beth Moore herself, explaining my situation and asking if they offer any discounts for missionaries. But, I hadn't heard back from Lifeway Ministries.

During my prayer walk, I felt God nudging me to continue. As I tried to figure out how to make that work, I thought to myself, "Well, I can spend the rest of my birthday money to pay for at least part of it." From there, I will just have to see.

After my quiet time I briefly stopped by to talk to Karen, a missionary colleague. I meant to share something with her from the Daniel workbook that I'd studied. When she saw the book, she was very excited because she studied it with a group while in the US on HMA in 2008. She told me, "You just have to study it! We'll find some way to do it."

My eyes filled with tears of gratitude to God as I read an email from Lifeway Ministries upon returning home from Karen's house. The timing was perfect. It read:

Dear Susan,
Thanks for writing~
I would be blessed to offer an audio cd set to accompany Daniel.

Isn't God great?!? I already have two other missionaries who want to buy the book and study it with the audio series I've been promised. As Karen often says, "Cool beans!"

Rocking and Rolling

I've lived in Costa Rica for over ten years, but recently I feel like I've just been baptized into life here. Last night I was just about asleep when an aftershock hit. (We had a strong earthquake last Thursday.) My bed shook and so did the beams above me. So, that got my adrenaline going. I had just calmed down and barely fallen asleep when another hit. This one was weaker, but it made me decide to try sleeping on the couch. I was just about asleep again when the neighbor dog, Beckham, started barking like crazy! While trying to ignore him, I felt another aftershock.

Now sleep was out of the question. Finally I went out with Celeste to try to calm the other dog. He wouldn’t be calmed. Diego, who lives across the street joined in the effort to quiet Beckham. So, Diego and I had a nice 1:30AM chat.

At 2AM I felt another tremor while I was working on my inbox. I managed to get back to sleep after 2:30, but awoke with a fifth aftershock at 5:10!

Lord, calm the earth today!

Intercession 101

This morning I was reading about the need to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit as we intercede for others. Without this sensitivity there are at least two consequences: we become hypocritical (praying words just to sound nice); we become subject to a critical spirit (praying for the faults we see in others while conveniently ignoring our own).

So, how can I be a true intercessor? I do not have the answers, but I have two clues based on something I read by Oswald Chambers.

1) I must be aware of the Spirit's leading and discernment about the souls of others. This discernment allows me to have the mind of Christ on their behalf.
2) I must pray from my soul that God will convey His mind to me as I pray for others.

If we allow our hearts and minds to be "roused up" by His Spirit in such a way as we see His view about the people for whom we pray, then "Jesus Christ will be abundantly satisfied with us as intercessors."

Prayer Specialists

How many specialists do you have available "by speed-dial?" I could quickly tell you phone numbers for lawyers, neurologists, ENT's, surgeons, washer/dryer repairmen, surveyors, cabinet-makers, and many others. But, do I know the number of a prayer specialist? A prayer specialist would be someone I could count on to not just respond with casual words of goodwill on my behalf, crafted in spiritual-sounding words to God. A prayer specialist does not offer pat answers. A prayer specialist listens to the heart-cry, responds with empathy and calm trust, and says, "Let's talk to Jesus about it." He or she then talks simply and intimately with the Savior, claiming the Bible's promises.

This kind of prayer is most effective if done in person and includes a touch of the hand or a gentle, loving hug.

Most of all, a prayer specialist continues to lift up the arms of Moses, and pray throughout the day or even during the night as the Spirit lays the need upon him.

May I learn to be a prayer specialist! Do you need my number for your speed-dial?

Spirit-Inspired Discontent

As we pray in the Spirit, God will make our soul profoundly discontented with all that is contrary to His will. From that sense of discontent arises an even more profound power in prayer. G. Campbell Morgan wrote, "The heavenly people are, therefore, those who most acutely feel earth's sorrows."

The above thoughts came to me through my study on prayer by Edwin and Lillian Harvey. At the same time, I am beginning a Beth Moore study on the book of Daniel. The study neatly dovetails the above thoughts as she describes the values of the culture of Babylon and draws the parallel to our own culture today. My soul grieves as I see how we, too, value youth, intelligence, and physical beauty. Babylon had the philosophy, "I am; and there is none besides me."

One thing that God has laid on my heart over the past years is the pressing question that Beth Moore also raises. As a church, are we influencing our culture with JESUS or are we being influenced by our culture?

I am not talking about social and political issues. I am talking about Jesus. That is our purpose as individuals and as a community of believers. May they see Jesus in us. May our values reflect the priorities of Christ!

Costa Rican Immigration, Part 26 or So...

On December 4th I went once again to try to get my residency visa renewed. If you haven't read about previous experiences, I will sum them up for you in a few words: long waits, repeated visits, multiple bank deposits, standing for hours at a time, confused and anxious masses of people, more delays, and many frustrations. The last time I went, I waited for hours and hours just to make an appointment that was nearly three months off. December 4th was my scheduled appointment.

My appointment was for 1:20PM and I arrived at the gates of the complex at 1:12. I had no sooner found the end of the line when the official at the door called out, “Susan Yah-net!” I’ve learned to be attentive to all renderings of my name. Sure enough, he was calling for me! I was directed to a row of chairs and sat down comfortably. I looked at my watch. 1:16.

Every few minutes we were directed to shift chairs, gradually working our way towards the front of the huge room. After about 15 minutes I was moved into another room and took my seat in order – way in the back corner. There were about 70 others in line ahead of me, comfortably arranged in order by the rows of seats. What an improvement over last time! I had not been in that room for even two minutes when an energetic, smiling young man stepped briskly out of the offices up front, strolled all the way to the back, looked directly at me and asked, “Are you here to renew your documents? What time was your appointment for? What is your name?” He told me, “We’ll call you soon.”

Not two minutes later he called out my name and I walked past everyone else, to their astonishment and my own. He greeted me enthusiastically and asked how I was doing today. He seemed to genuinely want to know. He pulled out my document file (I couldn’t believe they even could find it!) and even pulled up my data on his computer. (That was a first, too!) He had me verify the information, hand him two letters*, and sign my name. He took ten digital fingerprints, five of my right index finger and five of the left. (I wonder if they weren’t supposed to be of each of my ten fingers!!) He asked me to look at the camera, and I gave the camera a look that told all about my immigration experience today. (Photo attached.)

That’s it! I was out of there in less than an hour with my renewed visa! I have to go back in May, because I need to renew once a year, and it took so long to get the appointment that seven months of my year is already gone. But, I’m not complaining!!!

* Earier in the day I picked up a required letter of recommendation from the Central American Church offices, but too late realized that 1) it had my wrong ID number on it and 2) I needed to have it notarized. So, I held my breath as I handed it to the young man, knowing it could be rejected. He didn’t even look at it and simply added it to the file!

His Plenipotentiaries

What a mouthful! Plenipotentiares. That's what I read this morning in a reading from A. J. Gordon.

"Behold, I give unto you power... over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke 10:19)

Jesus says to us, "I have the authority. I have won it for you. I give it to you. Use it in My Name! You shall act in My place, even as I acted in your place." We go, authorized as His plenipotentiaries. But, even as we go, our every step is contested. Therefore we must meet Satan's persistence with our own clear insistence. Our taking must be "as deep as [our] lives; it must be as intense as the opposition." (And then, maybe a bit more!)

"And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." (Matt. 13:58)

Head, Shoulders, Hip and Toes, Hip and Toes

HEAD: I am trying to use it today! I have a lot to do to prepare for the Thanksgiving Bash. I was awake quite a bit last night and started thinking about how one of Kari’s goals in coming back to Costa Rica was to help lighten our load more. So, I started listing all I have to do and all that she can help me with. I’m so excited that today she readily signed on to help! Here’s a list of some of the things I’m recruiting her for either today or over the next few days:
1. Revise and print Thanksgiving menu; look over and organize needed recipes and figure out what we still need to buy/do
2. Help me come up with a “program” for Thursday so I know what we are doing and have bases covered
3. Talk to Tulio about bouquets and come up with vases
4. Find decorations: crayons, shawl, bittersweet, pumpkin bowls
5. Organize serving dishes and cooking stuff we will need
6. Call David Obando about the words for the Thanksgiving Day songs and make a document for those and maybe one for writing up a thanksgiving prayer to God (one for each person – pretty with clipart – maybe like a place card)
7. Help me with stamps on newsletters
8. Errands in SI: PO, bookstore for Thanksgiving tablecloth paper, etc
9. Maybe fix Arroz con Pollo with me???
10. Help organize devo photos and pages for Grandkid Devo
11. Organize Allmamirecipes.com
12. Work on calendar and “to-do” list for Alpine and ARC’S short-term teams

SHOULDERS: I think the above would take a lot of load off my shoulders. Regarding Woody’s shoulders: he just left to meet with Eric Gustafson over breakfast. They plan to meet regularly in order to be more proactive about financial issues for the LAMC.

HIP: Yesterday I saw Dr. Manley for my left hip. Just as Dr. Longworth thought by my pain description to him by phone, it is bursitis – tronchanter bursitis, to be exact. It probably was caused by favoring my right knee (infection) as well as my right foot (neuroma). I had to have two shots. The first was deep, guided by ultrasound. It was a mixture of cortisone and a local anesthetic. Double ouch! It hurt a lot. But, within minutes the anesthetic helped the pain. He also injected separately an anti-inflammatory, since my stomach can’t handle the oral version. Woody may have to give me shots every day for three more days. (You can do it, Woody!)

TOES: See photo. Don’t look too closely at the toes themselves, please. Just enjoy the “Pedal Christmas Spirit.”

The Chain is Her Conscience

I tell lots of stories about our 104 pound dog because I learn a lot of things from her. My brother Vito circled one verse in my prayer book and he wrote in the margin, “Celeste.” The verse reminded him of my walks with her.

1 Kings 8:23 talks about walking before God with all our hearts. When I walk Celeste, she couldn’t be happier. She is always eager to see the next thing on the path. That’s just how we should be! We should walk very closely to God (Heel!), and look forward to wherever He takes us.

Today I was thinking about another dog lessen. It is sometimes very hard for Celeste to resist running through our invisible fence. The fence is supposed to keep her inside by shocking her if she crosses the line. But, sometimes she feels like it’s worth it to run through the shock line… like if another dog shows up or she sees a squirrel outside of our property.

Recently Celeste ran out to chase another dog. After I got her back into our yard, I put her choke chain on and literally dragged her into the shock area so that she would remember clearly and painfully the consequence of escaping our yard. I am still working with her to teach her to obey consistently. So, while I sit outside on our step, spending time in God’s Word, I keep her choke chain nearby. As soon as she steps near the limit, looking longingly at dogs just outside her reach, I pick up and shake the choke chain. Just the sound of it makes her immediately jump back about 10 feet and to quickly decide to abide by the limits we’ve set.

That choke chain is much like our conscience. 2 Corinthians 1:12 talks clearly of the biblical concept of the conscience. If we are going to “listen to the choke chain” we must behave consistently – whether at church, at home, or wherever we find ourselves. We need to ask God to be totally in control of our lives and hearts so that even people outside our church notice that we belong to Jesus.

We need to be very sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But, we also need to accept His forgiveness and not echo a voice of condemnation. Like a tape recorder, sometimes we play over and over again the same tape that condemns us. Play. Rewind. Play. Rewind. But, remember, once God forgives us, he cleanses our consciences and doesn’t want us to grovel in our guilt.

This is a family prayer I wrote in my devotional for our Porter grandkids:

God, please convict us and guide us through our consciences. We want to please You without having to “cross the shock line.” Instead, help us to obey You from the get-go, using our consciences to guide us rather than convicting us of what we’ve already done wrong. Right now, though, we want to listen to You speak to our hearts about anything that we might have done wrong – whether it is a bad attitude, lack of thankfulness, hurtful words, or disobedience. We confess our sin before you, God, and now we thank You that You forgive and remove our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. Help us to live with a clear conscience today. Whenever Satan wants us to replay the tape recorder, help us remember that You have compassion on us and we should have compassion on ourselves as well. Thank You that Jesus paid the price for all our sins and paved the way to live guilt-free each day. Amen.

I Like Bananas!

We used to sing a children's chorus which said, "I like bananas, I know that mangoes are sweet. I like papayas, but nothing can beat the sweet love of God." Now I eat bananas, papayas and mangos almost daily. The bananas in this photo are from our back yard. In the photo you only see about 1/3 of the bunch that came off of just one tree! We have plenty of bananas to satisfy our yens and the appetites of our neighbors and friends to boot!

Every Friday, at least as often as I can, I visit my friends at our local small nursing home called Albernia. At least two of the 16 residents, and maybe only those two, are Christians. The one pictured here is Don Edgar. I've been reading the Bible with Edgar each week. Sometimes Don Carlos joins us.

Celeste's Sky Blue Eye

You may not know about our ordeal of building a house. I won't go into the details except to say that when our house was not ready on time, we rented a small apartment in the town of San Isidro, expecting to live there for three months while the house was being finished. 17 months later, we finally moved into our house, even though it was far from done, and didn't even have electricity or water!

On the day of the big move we were so happy to get out of the dark, damp, moldy apartment in San Isidro. As we pulled up to the driveway with our car and a moving truck, there on the front steps sat a three month old Harlequin Great Dane puppy! I had never even seen a Great Dane before and was very impressed - with her size and with her good behavior. She had no tags on with the owner information, so she ended up spending the day with us. She was a lot of fun!

During the course of the day, Woody turned to me and asked, "What do you suppose her name is?" I looked her in the eye, and replied, "Celeste." Celeste means sky blue in Spanish. Woody thought that was a bit of a wimpy name for a huge dog, but I thought it seemed just right for her.

At the end of the day she disappeared, not to show up again for another week. The next time she showed up, there was a torn bit of rope dragging behind her, attached to a collar with her name and owner's phone number.

You guessed it! Her name was Celeste!

Over the next few months she repeatedly ran away to our house. We told her owners that if they ever wanted to give her away, we'd take her. A few months later they called us to say that they were moving to Canada and could not take Celeste with them. At first they wanted to sell her to us for $200. But, they ended up giving her away, because they were sure it was not just coincidence that I guessed her name "out of the blue."

Payback at Machu Picchu

When we left La Paz, Bolivia, in 1980 we had a nine month old baby, Krista. We were young, adventurous, and probably foolish. Since we were uncertain we would be returning to Bolivia, we sold off or gave away all of our belongings except what we could pack into two suitcases apiece. Our baggage weight was carefully calculated - a 280 pound limit between the four bags. (Just imagine traveling around several countries, carrying that weight, plus carry-ons, plus a baby!) We managed to squeeze in a few extra pounds for free by wearing several layers of clothing. (Have you read The Poisonwood Bible? We laughed so hard as we read the account of the plane trip to Africa, stretching the airline baggage limits.)

Wanting to take advantage of our trip back to the USA, we planned to see as much of South America as possible on our shoestring budget. The first leg of the trip was by train from La Paz to the edge of Lake Titicaca. From there we got on a steamboat made in the 1870's which was brought up in pieces by carts and burros from Lima to be reassembled. Our crossing of the lake took all night. Our berth had two incredibly small bunkbeds - short and narrow. They did not have mattresses, but instead were strung with canvas. The deep dip in the canvas made an ideal crib for Krista and she slept well while we wrestled with the frame of the bed, impinging on our bodies on every side.

At dawn we could see the city of Puno, Peru - our destination. Well, not exactly. We were to take a train from there to Cusco. Krista and I passed through immigration and got on the train with some of our belongings while Woody tried to settle matters with the Peruvian customs agents. It seems to me that our train was already moving when Woody threw our bags up and jumped in the train just in time.

We had been forwarned about how dangerous this leg of the trip would be. The warnings were well founded. (In fact, that particular train was renowned for having the most robberies of any train in the world.) The whole trip - lasting all day - we kept our eyes on our bags, putting a hand or foot on each one, focused to avoid robberies. People were robbed right and left. One particular couple was robbed four times in the course of the day. Robbers would jump on the slow moving trains while their cohorts pounded on the outside of the train windows to distract the passengers. Heavy laden as we were, we never once got robbed. It was no small wonder that with all the chaotic yelling, crying, screaming, and running, our poor little Krista did not sleep all day long.

By the time we finally arrived in Cusco - about 36 hours after leaving La Paz, we were all shot. Krista was so over-tired that it took us hours to get her to sleep in our cold, dark, little hotel room.

We had planned to take another train ride to Machu Picchu, but we decided there was no way we could subject ourselves, let alone our baby, to another Peruvian train experience.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

The List

As we get ready to take four weeks off, here is a list of some of the things I must do over the next week. It might give you a bit more insight into our lives behind the scenes.

1. Write mentoring notes to four of the nine women that I regularly e-mentor.
2. Write a prioritized list of house projects we will have two of our disciples work on while we are gone. (They are both in need of financial help.)
3. Speaking of the above, see that money gets to a couple we mentor – they need a loan and we will have them do graphic design projects for us to pay back the loan.
4. Study details of two software programs so that I can teach them to a group of IT missionaries next Monday. (Attend the class on it that Eric teaches this Wednesday so I have a better idea what to do.)
5. Register Quicken.
6. Schedule a time to meet with M.M.– a former disciple who married a gringo and is back from the USA for a week. She is struggling in every sense of the word and has asked to meet with me.
7. Finish organizing and printing all our notes on Cross-Cultural Communication for Formation 2008.
8. Update my blog. (Mark that one off now!)
9. Do monthly shopping at PriceSmart.
10. Contact Miguel about one missing piece of our Access training program.
11. Send gifts for:
a. Our daughter Krista’s birthday
b. Janie’s baby
c. Two of our MK’s getting married – one from Costa Rica, one from Bolivia
12. Look up a missing element in Formation/Access curriculum; possibly need to re-write it
13. Reserve/purchase Woody’s Bolivia tickets for July/August – using vouchers from TX trip
14. Take P out for ice cream. (P was assaulted last month – want to encourage her)
15. Eat lunch with missionary from team here – I also mentor her
16. Get my hair cut and toenails painted
17. Go to Immigration to reinitiate visa process (Oh, how I hate to think of that!)
18. Go to municipality offices to complete process of property transfer (I think I am almost done with this long process)
19. Meal plans for our time at the cabin; grocery list for that time period
20. Write about forty thank you notes
21. Fix Celeste’s invisible fence collar
22. Go to Bolivian consulate with required documents to solicit my visa for July ministry/family reunion trip
23. Reserve and purchase the Peru portion of my ticket for that trip
24. Update my list of people wanting Su’s Daily Devos
25. Give the income from above to Checho, headed to Zambia later this year. He is in fund-raising process and struggling.
26. Pick up the mower we left off for repair.
27. Call on my biopsy reports from gastroscopy last week.
28. See internist about my foot pain (Wednesday) Probably get a cortisone injection
29. Host the all-day-training session on Saturday for Costa Ricans taking a short-term-trip to China – teaching English! And checking out missions possibilities.

Is it any wonder I feel a bit overwhelmed at times?

Birthday Coffee

We all stay so busy around here that it is often hard to connect with one another. So, it was really fun for me to host a birthday coffee party at my house for four of my friends who had birthdays within three weeks of one another. I got up at 4:30AM in order to prepare hot, fresh caramel rolls for the occasion. We had a great time talking about our favorite birthdays. Some of them really made us laugh. We also took time to form a circle around the birthday girls, one by one, and pray for them.

Monday, March 10 ISRAEL JOURNAL

Though this entry is about Monday's activities, I did not have time to write about it until Wednesday, so there are probably gaps. Each day is so full of activity!)

I had more energy today after a good night's sleep. I ate breakfast at 6AM in order to be ready to leave by 6:25 to see the rabinical tunnels - excavation of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. The excavation done was deep and long. The first rock we saw weighed 500 tons - more than our tour bus! The brochure about this tour reads, "Looking at the Western Wall, perspectives and points of view sharpen; the truly insignifican shrinks. These stones which observe beyond time and place have seen it all, have breathed war and seen peace, experienced calamity, and promise revival."

Perhaps a bit over-the-top description, but the tour shure gave be a new perspective of just how awesome the Temple was! That wall was 488 meters long! One also sees there rooms, plublic halls, water tunnels, arches, and cistens. I can't find a statistic about the height of the wall, but it is taller than what I would have ever imagined. I did read that the wall above ground is 25 stones tall, measuring 18 meters above ground. Below ground they have discovered yet another 19 stones of depth. By my poor math calculations, that would total 31 meters tall. That is a third of a football field!

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Herodion Defense System

This photo does not reflect how STEEP Herodion is. Imagine these huge stones rolling furiously down the mountain at you!

Part II of Sunday, March 9

We drove on past Bethlehem to Herodion. I don't think I'd ever heard of Herodion before, but it should be one of the wonders of the world. It is a gigantic artificial mountain built by Herod the Great. It looms much larger than Disney World's Space Mountain. It looks likke a lopped off volcano. Our bus was able to drive half way up the mountain and we hiked the rest of the way up. As we hiked we saw a huge stack of the large round rocks that they used as a defense system. The mountainside is steep. They would roll down around a hundred of those rocks towards the enemy struggling to get to the top. To see just ONE of those stones coming down would be terrifying!.

We hiked up to the palace that was hidden in the crater recess of the mountain. It served as a summer resort and a retreat in case of attack. Originally there were two stories underground and five above ground. Herod and his family lived on the top floor. The ruins included three bath houses, cisterns, escape tunnels, three towers, a sinagogue and a ritual bath. Servants would haul the water up for the baths and other needs. Herodion was built between 23 and 20BC. The synagogue and ritual baths were built by Zealots in 66 AD. Jesus surely must have known about this place!

Looking down from the mountain you can see below the remains of a swimming/boating pool he built that measured about 230 feet by 150 feet! It was also a great view of Bethlehem and surrounding areas.

We drove back through the countryside, watching the shepherds and their flocks, and all 250 of us had lunch at a banquet hall in Bethlehem. There we heard the testimony of a Christian Palestinian who was an active atheist in college, but met God through an amazing experience of awaking paralyzed and thus beginning his search for truth. All of us sang a few Christmas carols, which sounded very beautiful and were very meaningful in that setting.

After lunch the whole group had a shopping venture with assertive vendors. I bought nothing because I don't like souvenir shopping. Later I realized I should have shopped while I had the opportunity.

From there we circled around the huge walls of a refugee camp in existence since 1948. We listened to Palestinian spin instead of our usual Jewish Israeli spin. I wish I could know the truth and the insides of the refugee situation. The walls were covered with interesting grafitti. (I'll try to post a photo later.)

We went on to a Jewish museum, but were in a time crunch. They had a huge scale model of ancient Jerusalem, which was helpful to orient us to all we are seeing and to visualize Jerusalem at different stages of its history. Our guide talked just a bit too long, so the museum closed before we could see the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I was extremely tired during our evening debrief time with the Latinos, led by Mark. I bowed out and went to our room early (9:30) and slept like a rock. Between all the activity PLUS translating all day long, it has been very tiring.

GYI 2008

Here we are... all 250 of us from over 50 countries!

Sunday, March 9, 2008 in Israel

I got up at 6AM so I could at least have a short time reading the Scriptures about Bethlehem - today's destination. I wish I could read more of the Bible each day to prepare myself! For instance, we think of Bethlehem as the site of Jesus' birth. But, Bethlehem is also the site of many more important Biblical events.

The hotel made some changes in how they are serving our groups, so it was less chaotic today. I love the pastries and eggs. Yum!

Our first conference session of the day began with good worship and then a challenging message by Mark Titley from South Africa on "My Religion Meets the Master." (You can listen to the message on the GYI website.) Both this message and the one last night by Dann lasted about one hour. This is one of the few times in my life that I've regretted they didn't stretch each message out over at least two hours. There was so much to think on and to learn! Too much great stuff packed in too little time.

We took off by mid-afternoon on our tour bus. Our first stop was the Mount of Olives for a group photo. I will try to add that to the blog soon. Once again, it was hard to have the Latinos keep up with the group, but on the other hand, they are like sponges, not wanting to miss a word. Cool!

We headed on to Bethlehem. At the Palesinian/Israeli border we traded guides. They wanted to give us a Palestinian Christian perspective. We sensed an oppressive spirit on the other side of the wall. There were walls, barbed wire, bars, grafiti and lots of trash on the streets. That was hard to see. We drove right through the town center of Bethlehem without stopping at the Church of the Nativity. I think that was a good call, because on the other side we could better visualize how the area would have been when Jesus was born. There were shepherds watching over their flocks on the hillsides.

The Soundtrack of Life

I know. I am strange. My friend, Susan Ploughe put it this way. “You live your life to a sound track.”

Just like you one has no control over the content of one’s dreams, I have no control over the songs I wake up to. I’m not talking about our CD alarm which is currently waking me up to Jars of Clay. I am talking about songs that just come to me, dusting themselves off from decades ago.

One night I actually dreamed about a weasel nesting in the engine compartment of our Suzuki. I awoke with a song running around the carpenter’s bench of my mind. “All around the carpenter’s bench, the monkey chased the weasel…” The sad part of this whole strange side of my life is that I just cannot erase the song once it rears its ugly head. I might have just finished listening to Silvio Rodriguez on my iPod, but once the album is over, I find myself singing to myself again, “The monkey chased the weasel.”

I have thought of making a list of the crazy songs that come to my mind. One of them I recall is “Nothing could be finer that to be in Carolina in the morning.” I hadn’t thought of that song in thirty years!

The worst song, though, is one by the Monkees. It seems to haunt me, coming to me in the middle of the night or even the middle of the day. I might be totally absorbed in a task and suddenly gasp in disgust because that silly old song is running on my sound track. I can’t even tell you which song it is and I refuse to try to think of the title right now, for fear of starting up that track again. It is on the “Top 25 Most Played” on my mental iPod.

Amy Carmichael has a much more spiritual approach to “How Songs Come.” In her essay by that title she writes, “We have a little bird who has the pleasant custom of turning disturbing things into a cause for singing. The wind blows his bough and wakens him at midnight. His whole world is moving restlessly; he sings a tiny note or two then, perhaps to comfort himself. It is good to learn to do that.”

The other night I awoke to a bird that seemed desperate for attention in the middle of the night. I thought of Amy Carmichael’s observation and prayed that God might give me a welcome tune to sing myself back to sleep.

“Please, Lord. Not the Monkees - and not any monkeys chasing weasels. Let my life sound track be the one which You place in my heart, whatever my situation.”

Reflections on First Day of Conference

I'm going to pause to share a few personal thoughts and prayers from March 8th.

WORSHIP: You are the true God, the God of all history and eternity, David's God, my God.

THANKSGIVING:
-Michele's example in note-taking. I'm starting to do that, too. It helps me capture so much more!
- Woody watching out for me. His great joy in seeing me laugh so much iin the Dead Sea. Also for the Ahava stuff we could buy for our girls.
- Time with You tonight.
- Able to complete the challenging En Gedi hike. Woohoo!
- Visualizing things better.

RENEWAL:
- Give me a fresh encounter with the risen Christ! A fresh love for Jesus and desire to learn of Him and through Him.
- Deepen my commitment to walk as he did, and give me vision for nurturing leaders and a willingness to step out in faith.

REQUESTS:
- The there might be true multiplication at the Latin America Multiplication Center
- Multiply our rest!

INTERCESSION:
- Help Woody in the difficult role of being at the tail end of our tour group, trying to have people keep up.

My Shoe after a LONG Day Hiking in Israel

Continuation of Saturday, March 8

The highway to the Dead Sea was built recently by the Israeli army - constructed on top of a special netting to keep it from falling into a sink hole. One of the scrolls found near here is called the Copper Scroll and has riddles and a treasure map. An American archeologist names Jones was looking for the Temple jewels based on this scroll. Sound familiar? That was the basis of the Indiana Jones movie.

We saw the end of the Kidron Valley - the site of Kibutz Kalyet, at 417 meters below sea level. Our guide told us a bit about life in a Kibutz. The children now grow up with their parents, but work from an early age. The teens live on their own and govern their own community.

Driving up to the shore of the Dead Sea we saw abandoned barracks and a bullet-riddled army base that belonged to the Jordanian army. It was taken over by Isarel in the war of 1967. We had only one hour at the Dead sea because of our slow shoppers.

I had a blast in the water! I couldn't believe how much one floats. I loved trying to swim on my stomach. Every time the water would roll me right over again. While on my stomach it was impossible for me to get my feet in the water. It was fun to "stand" in the water without my feet on the bottom and have my head and shoulders above the water. It was hard to keep your balance that way.

Woody put mud on my arms, shoulders and back. After it had been washed off, my skin was incredibly soft. I had never believed much in the benefit of mud. Now I do! I almost forgot my swim suit in the crowded changing room at the beach. The bus was ready to roll when I realized it. So, I put my foot to the test and RAN to fetch it while everyone waited on me.

From there we headed back to our original hotel - the Regency Jerusalem. They were not at all organized for registering around 250 of us. We waited through long, slow lines. The main conference started right after supper. Supper at the hotel was mayhem as well - crowded, with long, slow lines.

The conference began with the sounding of the shofar, worship music and an excellent challenge by Dann Spader. Afterwards we met with the Latinos. Mark spoke to our small group of about 10 Latinos until almost 10:30PM and then Woody and I looked at our photos until midnight.

LONG DAY!

Su Holding up a Rock on our Hike to the Springs of David

Saturday, March 8, 2008

I awoke in the Bedouin camp around 5:30 and went out to the desert to pray as the sun was rising. (Woody was up at 4AM and went out to the desert even earlier. His cell phone rang four times during the night!) When I got up it was very chilly in the tent, so I put on an extra sweater. I stepped outside and it was already getting hot out there! I saw people from our group like dots all over the desert rocks and hills - all with the same desire to spend time with God there. That was a cool sight.

There was a refreshing smell of fresh-baked bread in the air at 5:30.

We had an amazing tent-buffet from breakfast - let's see how much of it I can recall. There were at least 3 types of flat bread, scrambled and boiled eggs, spicey pickles and green olives, cold cuts, at least four types of creamy sauces (which were unidentifiable, but good), houmus, sour cream, herbed cheese cubes, eggplant, delicious tomatoes, and cucumbers. I tried as much as I could and liked it all except the spicey pickles, for obvious reasons.

We packed up to leave by 8AM. We were going along a windy road when I noticed our driver was sleepy. I was debating what to do when his head literally fell on the steering wheel! Hitting the wheel woke him up. Our guide, Corem, noticed and chatted him up to keep him awake. We stopped at a high point of En Gedi. (I wish I could remember what Dave Patty talked about there, but I was busy translating for the Latinos, so didn't take notes. Maybe I'll find them on the GYI website and share them later. It was based on 2 Chronicles 20:23. "March down to meet them. You won't have to fight." Take up your positions and I will fight for you. Put the choir in FRONT.)

At the high point we saw an interesting animal which I call a ROUS (Rodent of Unusual Size.) I think the guide called them ground rabbits, but they were actually in the TREES!

We went to another spot of En Gedi to hike along the canyon and see the Springs of David. It was a hot, hard, long hike, but my foot did great! Yeah! When we got to the spot of the springs, it was delightful. I could just imagine David and his companions frolicking in the pool underneath a small waterfall. I wished so much that I could swim there (several did), but I didn't want to hurt my foot on the many rocks or wet my only shoes. (The hike took over 2 hours, if I remember right.)

Woody was Mark's assistant for our bus and he had a huge challenge to keep people moving.

We drove on another 15 minutes to Qumran where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. We ate box lunches there, though I couldn't actually eat any of the contents except the apple! They gave our group a limited shopping time there, but our group took WAY too long, partly due to the slow check-out, but mostly due to one of our Latinos who took his time.

Driving along the Dead Sea we saw how the level has dropped significantly. Along the shore lines we saw sink holes - a new phenomenon.

Ceremonial Washing at the Western Wall

Notice the two handles on the cup. Women must have arms covered past elbows and knees covered. It was really sunny and hot that day. This is the faucet where I unknowingly filled my water bottle. The special water didn't taste so great, but at least it didn't make me sick!

Reflections on What I've Shared So Far

My Israel journal so far mainly tells about what we saw and did. Let me take just a few minutes to share some things that I was learning up to this point.

When Jesus claimed that he would rebuild "the temple" in three days, I can now better picture how crazy that would have seemed to the Pharisees. One rock I saw on the Western wall - just one rock - weighed as much as our tour bus. Yet, wouldn't it be easier to rebuild the Temple than to raise oneself from the dead.

Rocks are speaking a lot to me these days! The phrase that keeps echoing in my brain is "If these keep silent, the rocks will cry out!"

At the Triumphal Entry, people were swept up with emotion - elation. But, how did Jesus respond upon entering Jerusalem? He wept for a people that had chosen not to be gathered as chicks under the hen's wing. Do I cry when He cries? Do I rejoice over what thrills His heart? Good questions!

As I spent a day in the wilderness, I was challenged to think on this question. "If Jesus is my model, what are the implications of this experience?" The wilderness was a place of prayer; time alone with the Father; and facing temptations. The temptations were basically challenges for Jesus to value self-protection, self-provision and self-promotion.

The Scripture talks about the wilderness a lot. The wilderness in Scripture was a place of:
- Judgment
- Rest
- Provision
- God's leading
- God's refuge
- Miracles
- Testing (proving character)
- Justice
- Grace
- Prayer
- Danger
- Discipline
- Wondering

It was good to have some time to ponder in the wilderness. May I leave here ready to walk by faith like Abraham and willing to follow in Jesus' footsteps.

Michele and I in Bedouin Camp - spots are reflected light due to sand and dust in the air

Friday, March 7

We had to rush our devotions in the morning in order to have breakfast by 7AM and be ready to leave by 8AM. That will be our routine our whole time in Israel. We went first to the Old City, taking some detours due to yesterday's terrorist attack. We walked through the Christian, Armenian and Jewish Quarters, walking very fast. We saw part of a dig right there which shows part of the old Roman Road through this area - with large paving blocks and pillars. We could see from there the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives.

We sat on the Southern Steps of the Temple and heard the story of the events that took place right there on Pentecost. 3,000 people were baptized after the message they each heard in their own language. We could see pools below the steps. We formed pairs and trios and each prayed in our own languages - people from over 50 countries! (This was definitely one highlight of our trip!)

We walked to seethe Temple wall up close. The stones are incredibly large. We could see levels of different eras, the topmost being from the Crusaders, the lowest probably being the base of the Temple. We went to the western wall where you could hear the Muslims chanting their prayers. The men and women went to their respective side of the wall. I knelt by the Wall and prayed and cried.

We were dehydrated most of the time in the hot, dry sun. It was hard to drink enough. I accidentally filled my water bottle from the faucet that was for ceremonial washing!

I did the ceremonial wash later, tipping the two-handled, large cup from side to side. (Yesterday's devotional Woody and I read talked about ceremonial washing. Interesting!)

We went in the bus to a local mall to eat in the food court. Woody had a pita sandwich and I ate five kinds of pastries from a bread shop. All were delicious. One had a vegetable filling and one potatoes.

I slept on the bus during the long drive to the Negev Wilderness to stay at a Bedouin camp. We took a ride on a camel there, watching the sun set over the desert. WOW! The camels followed close to one another, and Woody commented he felt like "camel Kleenex," since the one behind us kept wiping its nose and mouth on his jeans! The colors of the desert mountains were spectacular!

We were welcomed at a large tent with tea, coffee, and bread cooked before us over the fire. We were entertained by an "udo?" concert.

After moving our things to our respective tents - one for the women, one for the men - we met in the women's tent for a Bedouin feast. We were reclined on mats in small groups to share food on a tray in the middle of us. We ate chicken kebobs, lots of sauces, rice, and plenty of flat bread.

After supper we met in yet another large tent and had a good time of teaching, sharing about times of feeling overwhelmed. Richard, from India, was in my small group. Any of our troubles seemed minimal after he shared. Upon his return he will be facing trial for "causing damage to the State." Basically, he will be on trial for his faith.

After the evening meeting Woody, Carlos, Michele and I went and sat out in the wilderness. It was eerie how the desert floor seemed to shine with the reflection of lights in the area. The stars were out, but dust and sand in the air made the night sky hazy. We had a really nice time sitting there on the rocks. (Rocks everywhere! No place to sit comfortably.)

I slept by Michele in the women's tent on two thin pads on the floor, using an old, thin sleeping bag and a sheet to cover me. It was chilly, but OK, and I slept quite well despite the discomforts and stomach pain. My muscles were very tired after all our walking in Paris and today.

Israel At Last! Thursday, March 6

Jetlagged, I felt very groggy getting up, but we had a nice breakfast at our Paris hotel and left by 7:30AM to go to the Charles DeGaulle Airport. We walked about 12 blocks to the train station, Gare d Nord to catch the train to the airport. A really helpful Frenchman directed our way and as he walked a half block ahead of us, he often turned to make sure we were going the right direction. How thoughtful!It rained during the night. It was only barely above freezing, but today felt much warmer because there was no wind.

At the airport we ate our eighth chocolate croissant in 24 hours! Our flight on Air France to Tel Aviv was great. They served me my own special diet and offered seconds on the delicious French bread. There was turbulence over the Alps, but the views of the mountains were spectacular. I was just thinking about maybe getting air sick when the pilot announced that it would be bumpy for another 40 minutes. Yikes! Two minutes later the turbulence abruptly stopped. Yeah!

The Ben Gurion airport is gorgeous! I could hardly believe I was in Israel, but orthodox Jewish dress on all sides made it self-evident. It was hard to shift gears from just being the two of us to suddenly having tons of friends and strangers surrounding us and trying to connect with all the GYI participants. Almost all the Latinos arrived within one hour of our arrival - several separate flights. Immigration held some of the Latinos for over an hour of questioning. The immigration officials didn't understand why Latinos have two last names.

We met up there with River (from Bolivia), Jeffry, Miguel (from Ecuador), Jeff, Mark, and the other Jeffry, along with a number of others. Woody stayed at the airport to help Randy meet up with other participants. I rode on a minibus with a bunch of other GYI folks. I felt very out of place - shyness kicking in! We learned that today 8 Jewish students were killed in Jerusalem by a terrorist. Security was high, but we got through fine. In the van I listened to our driver talk on speaker phone for the whole trip. It sounded like he was arguing with everyone, but I would learn that was pretty typical in Israel. I think he also called his wife. That's the only phone call that he was almost silent for. She talked a lot. Of course, I can't understand a word of what they say! I could understand at least a little French.

I checked in to the Regency Jerusalem on Mount Scopus. We had a buffet supper in a banquet room of the hotel. It was way too crowded, but the food was good - especially all the kinds of bread. I could eat just bread the whole trip! Woody arrived at the tail end of supper. We paid for Internet (almost $20 for one day!) and Woody answered many emails. My stomach was hurting a lot, but still I slept - Woody didn't.

Israel Trip - A Half Day in Paris!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7
In my last entry I left us in cold, windy Paris with our luggage safely stowed away at Ville Saint Martin Hotel. We took the Metro to the Louvre station. I will never forget coming up the stairs and my jaw dropping. We were surrounded by the Louvre - and the awe I felt was almost surreal. We didn't go in the museum since we had only a few hours to soak in the city, but we walked in silence, dazzled by the historic beauty of a place I've heard about all my life.

The sky was mostly clear, but the sun was wimpy and the sky seemed faded as if it were huddled up to protect itself from the cold wind. I had on my light green windbreaker and felt like I was in a sea of black clothing and outerwear. It was as if my jacket were shouting, "I'M NOT FROM HERE! HAVE YOU NOTICED?"

We looked down the stree through one arch and could see the Arc de Trioph down the way. History surrounded us. I asked Woody to pinch me and told him that my expectations for Paris were already surpassed.

We walked to a boulangerie and ate a pizza-type thing with chicken and black olives. One of the olives had a pit, and of course I bit down hard on it. Thankfully no teeth broke! The hot chocolate there was a dream and my pizza and Woody's sandwich were perfect. We braced ourselves for the wind and cold (barely above freezing with about 20mph winds) and walked, crossing the Seine, to the Orsay Museum.

The Orsay is in an the old Orleans train station. They have amazing art, statues, and architecture everywhere you turn. The clock on the north was was ornate and huge. We went to the top floor (5th - looking down on the whole station) to see the Impressionists. We both loved it. Van Gogh's Siesta was a favorite of mine. We saw lots of Van Gogh, Sisler, Monet, Manet, Renoir. I liked Manet's La Lecture and Water Lilies. We also say Fantin-Latour, Caillebotte (I liked his), and Pisarro. Whistler's Mother was really gigantic. I wonder why I have that painting so engraved in my mind. We looked for a long time and probably only saw 20% of the displayed art.

We went on the Metro to Notre Dame - free entry! Dark, mammoth. One confessional was active - behind glass. So much stained glass that the huge, beautiful, circular stained glass art high up in the sanctuary are almost overlooked. It was probably 10 stories high inside! The organ was playing. It felt a bit oppressive and dead - devoid of hope, I thought.

From there we took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. It was so cold and we were so tired that we took a look at it and said to ourselves, "Been there, done that, let's go!" The tower itself was almost disappointing - looked like an exaggerated Erector Set or Leggo project. I had opted for seeing the Eiffel Tower over the Arc de Triomph with our last hour of daylight. Wish I'd chosen the Arc. But, we both were VERY happy that we got to see and experience so much of Paris in so little time.

We headed back to the hotel instead of paying a mint for a meal in the center of Paris. The restaurants around our hotel looked crummy and the cheapest meal in them would have been 20 Euros! We had some delicious leftover lunch and added a double cheese baguette and drinks to sup in our room.

All but one person we spoke with today spoke fluent English. Every single person we talked to was very kind and friendly.

We slept pretty well.

Journal of Israel Trip - First Day and a Half

Tuesday, March 4, and Wednesday AM, March 5

Eric drove us to the airport. I felt like God woke me up an hour before my alarm - 3AM!! - which proved absolutely important since I barely had time to get the essential financial reimbursement forms sent, take a quick shower and be ready by 8AM.

All went well at the San Jose airport. A Cinnabon stand had just opened there, so we were among their very first customers in San Jose. Yum! I felt very excited about the upcoming trip, both for Paris and for Israel. I held expectations loose for Paris since we were only scheduled to be there from 10AM on, and you never know about flight delays!

Once boarded in Costa Rica, our pilot optimistically told us we were departing and arriving on time. His prophecy was not fulfilled. Neither was on time. We did take off from the gate on time, but a few feet later we sat for nearly an hour.

Though we arrived late into Dallas, we still had enough time to step into the Admiral's Club. We enjoyed a quick Shiner Bock, cheese and crackers. Nice perks of the membership! From there we boarded our plane to head on to Paris - about an 8 hour flight. After supper we both slept. I slept more than Woody.

We arrived in Paris on time! YEAH! The Charles DeGaulle Airport and the transport systems were a bit challenging, but we managed to buy a day pass for the RER and Metro trains. Woody had a map on his Palm to find our hotel in Paris. It took good teamwork to figure it out, but we found the Hotel Ville Saint Martin by noon. The room wasn't ready yet, but they graciously stored our luggage for us and we headed out to quickly explore a little bit of Paris!

FYI, it was VERY cold and windy. With only a windbreaker and a warm vest, the cold air took our breath away. The views in Paris also took our breath away, but I'll leave that story for the next blog entry.

Tres Volcanes

My dear friend Helen came and spent an awesome week with us. The two of us ventured out to see three of the many volcanoes in Costa Rica. The most spectacular was Poas. We looked down into the turquoise, sulfurous, steaming water below and could also see clear as a bell the other extreme of the rim - nearly a mile away! I'll try to post a photo of Poas when I get it from Woody. Meanwhile, enjoy the photo of Helen on our La Paz Waterfall excursion. If you come to Costa Rica, don't miss that!

Aggravating Messengers

"One of Satan's favorite ploys to keep us from truth is to make us despise the messenger of truth." If someone speaks a difficult word to us, we will be tempted to ignore the truth by trying to find the same or a similar fault in that person. How true! Today, if we should hear an aggravating messenger, let's filter out the portion that irks us, and find the message underneath that we must apply!

I'm speaking to myself, since I'm headed to church this morning and still generally find the services and messages aggravating and boring.

(Quote from Seeking the Face of God by Gary Thomas. Great book!)

My Body's Jail

"Behold my soul shut in my body's jail" - Henry Constable

I have a surge of longing to be well and serve Him freely - no more jail time! The longing to forget the cell pushes up and becomes a temptation to falter.

Jesus said, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." It is my meat to endure, not escape. If this condition is the meat from His hand, then I would do well to take the snow of His words and lay it on my heart to cool my longing.

(Ideas stolen from Rose from Brier)

Sunset Christmas Eve

Do we not hear Thy footfall, O Beloved,
Among the stars on many a moonless night?
Do we not catch the whisper of Thy coming
On winds of dawn, and often in the light
Of noontide and of sunset almost see Thee?
Look up through shining air
And long to see Thee, O Beloved, long to see Thee,
And wonder that Thou art not standing there?

And we shall hear Thy footfall, O Beloved,
And starry ways will open, and the night
Will call her candles from their distant stations,
And winds shall sing Thee, noon, and mingled light
Of rose-red evening thrill with lovely welcome;
And we, caught up in air,
Shall see Thee, O Beloved, we shall see Thee,
In hush of adoration see Thee there.

- Amy Carmichael, Rose from Brier, p. 166

Enlighten my Dust

Once again, I have been struggling with stomach aches and a painful foot. It reminds me of the passage in I Corinthians 15:49, "Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly." It's hard to escape from the earthy, isn't it? Paul truthfully calls it "the body of our humiliation." As Amy Carmichael says about the body, "It will not let us, as we gladly would, forget it."

That's what I would love to do - just forget it! But, it certainly doesn't let me. "Lord, transfigure it; this dust, enlighten it."

On a totally different note, yesterday we hosted the team farewell for M and S. (I cannot write out their names for security reasons.) About 45 people came out for the occasion. One highlight was the testimony of Steve and Jamie - two of our newest team members. They spoke in Spanish, which was a huge thing for them at this phase of language learning! Steve and Jamie came several years ago on a work team and stayed with M & S. They saw "real people," but also people of faith, willing to go and serve. Because of M & S's faith and everyday walk with Christ, Steve and Jamie went back to California and began to pray, desiring to be people of faith as well, willing to go where God would lead.

M & S led them to their first step in the pathway to serve at the Latin America Multiplication Center now. Now M & S are taking yet another huge leap of faith as they head out this week to be true disciples in the midst of a hostile people in the Middle East. Pray for them!!

Santa in a "Woody" car, driving through a drift of coffee beans... my nails are a combination of Christmas candles and falling snow. My beautician said that's the only way to see snow in Costa Rica! She was asking me if walking through snow felt like walking through mud. :)

High Goals

My e-mentor, Win, once challenged me to set high goals in marriage. To be honest, it was a bit embarrassing for me to try to identify any goals in marriage, let alone high ones. After thinking on this challenge for a week, I called Win back to ask if she would give me an example or two of high goals. The goal that most struck me was a simple, yet surely unattainable goal.

Eliminate selfishness.

Wow! If somehow everyone in the world might attain that goal, what would life be like?

Today I was struck by a paragraph Gary Thomas wrote in his book, Seeking the Face of God. “When we love Christ only for what He brings us, including spiritual feelings, we are loving ourselves, not loving Him, regardless of the sacrifice we think we are offering. The dark night of the soul purifies our motivation and keeps us from becoming like the crowds in the New Testament who followed Jesus, not for His teaching, but for the miraculously supplied bread.” (p. 193)

That’s worth thinking on today! Am I one of the crowd? Why do I pray? What do I pray? What is my desire today? Am I loving myself rather than loving Him? (I don’t think they are mutually exclusive, by the way!)

If This Had Not Been...

Once again, I am challenged by thoughts from Rose from Brier by Amy Carmichael. Today I was reading about a series of events that led to her fall in a pit and caused her to be bedridden with pain for months on end. If just one link in a seemingly insignificant chain or events had not happened, the accident would have been avoided. "If this had not been, this had not followed."

How often do we think about that in life? If only I had waited two minutes more... If only I had watched my step... If only... (You fill in the blank!)

Yet, God certainly does set limits to our suffering. And nurturing the "If Only" thoughts, as Carmichael puts it, "can be vinegar upon niter." (Whatever niter is!!")

Many times we can see the limits God has put on the hand of the enemy, and we rejoice in that. As we Minnesotans say, "It could have been worse." But, what if it was worse? Would that mean that prayers were not answered?

Good question. I sure don't have all the answers. "It is a petty view of our Father's love and wisdom which demands or expects an answer according to our desires, apart from His wisdom."

Spiritual Temperatures

As a nurse, I know there are several ways you can take a patient’s temperature. I’ve thought a bit on the spiritual implications of each. You might say that a “spiritual oral temperature” is measured by Ephesians 4:29. No unwholesome should word proceed from my mouth – only words which are edifying to others.

The axillary temperature might be measured by our works.

The most important temperature, though, is like what we used to measure in ICU. We had a way of taking a computerized temp of the blood as it came out of the heart. You can’t get much more accurate than that! This “core temp” is what God measures.

Sometimes we mistakenly think that our feelings are a measure of the core temp. Feelings may make our spiritual lives seem easier or more difficult, but they should be neither a measurement nor a guide in our spiritual lives.

There have been times in my life where I have persisted in prayer, even when I had no good feelings to take away from those prayer times. I think God is honored when we honestly begin our time in prayer saying, “Lord, I don’t feel Your presence. I don’t feel like praying. But, I choose to honor You by talking with you and laying my life at Your feet, whether I feel like it or not. I give these moments of prayer as a gift of “walking by faith and not by sight.” (Or, by feelings, I might add!) I trust that You will be glorified even more by this gift today than You would be if I were all excited about my prayer life.

Gary Thomas says, “Feelings are never the yardstick of truth. They will betray the truth far more often than they will confirm it.”

I think that’s the kind of core temp that God is measuring. When He takes away the blessings and the feelings – like Job, will I choose to still honor Him? That’s what it takes to be a man or woman after God’s own heart.

Willow Creek "Muffs Up Maturity"

Woody sent me an article from October 18, 2007 entitled “Willow Creek Repents?” I think it originated in a Christianity Today's blog, "Out of Ur." I have abridged it below as a follow-up to my own essay called “Muffing up Maturity.”

Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years.

Willow, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels’ office hangs a poster that says: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?” Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry—church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage—has impacted every evangelical church in the country.

So what happens when leaders of Willow Creek stand up and say, “We made a mistake”?

Not long ago Willow released its findings from a multiple year qualitative study of its ministry. Basically, they wanted to know what programs and activities of the church were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not. The results were published in a book that was recently released. Hybels, the executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking,” and “mind blowing.”

Hybels previously taught that if more people participate in sets of activities on a more frequent basis, more disciples of Christ will be produced. This has been Willow’s philosophy of ministry in a nutshell: The church creates programs/activities. People participate in these activities. The outcome is spiritual maturity. Up until now Willow Creek has put all of its eggs into the program-driven church basket.

You can understand Willow’s shock when the research revealed that “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”

Speaking at the Leadership Summit, Hybels summarized the findings this way. “Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into, thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually… Other things that we didn’t put that much [staff and] money into is stuff our people are crying out for.”

Having spent thirty years creating and promoting a multi-million dollar organization driven by programs and measuring participation, and convincing other church leaders to do the same, you can see why Hybels called this research “the wakeup call” of his adult life.

Hybels confesses, “We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between service [sic], how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.”

In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.

Does this mark the end of Willow’s thirty years of influence over the American church? Not according to Hawkins. “Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture.”

(If you haven’t read “Muffing Up Maturity,” skip down and see what I wrote about this very subject before I read the article about Willow Creek.)

What Are You Reading?

Here are titles and brief notes about each of the books I’ve read (or am reading) so far in 2007.
1. The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg – OK, but Seeking the Face of God is WAY better!
2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyesvsky – Worth reading the classic, but Dostoyevsky’s mind was sick and the book is depressing.
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandr Dumont – Light, long and REALLY fun to read!
4. Patrick by Stephen Lawhead – It has its parts that are violent, but it was a great book.
5. The Great Influenza by John M. Barry – very poorly edited (should have been 300 pages instead of nearly 500), but fascinating to learn more about the influenza epidemic of 1918
6. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence – I like meditating on it a sentence at a time. There are some things I don't like about it, though. Ask me about it.
7. Get me Out of That Pit! by Beth Moore – I like her studies better than her books. This one should have been a pamphlet.
8. Seeking the Face of God by Gary Thomas – Excellent!
9. Night by Eliezer Wiesel – You are better off reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. Wiesel’s experience in concentration camps is similar to Ten Boom’s – only she redeemed her suffering and came out with HOPE.
10. Boxers to Bandits by Stephen Fortosis and Mary Graham Reid – Not the best writing or editing, but still very worth the read. I loved learning about the pioneer Christian missionaries to China and seeing what God did back then!
11. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway – My least favorite Hemingway piece so far. I stuck with it because I hope to see Paris next year – ever so briefly en route to Israel!
12. Mountain Light by Lawrence Yep – Juvenile fiction – not super-well written, but interesting.

13. Praying God's Word by Beth Moore - Basically a book that re-words Scripture into prayers - something I enjoy a lot!

What are YOU reading?

He Is in My Boat

I’d like to share an idea from Amy Carmichael’s book first published in 1933. Rose from Brier was given to me by my very special friend and mentor, Win Couchman. I have read it carefully many times and continue to be blessed by the thoughts presented.

It is normal at times to have fears “spring to life.” We wonder if all is well. No human voice can reassure us. “We must have our Lord’s, His very own.” Like the disciples in the midst of the storm, when urgent fears assail us, we cry out, “Master, carest Thou not?”

It is a needless cry because the Master is right there in the boat. 2 Timothy 1:12 says, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

“Storms may lie ahead. The waves may break into the ship. There is no promise of a calm passage. Let us settle it, therefore, in our hearts, as something that cannot be shaken, that our first prayer, our deepest desire, shall be not for blue skies and sweet airs, but that we may always have the ungrieved Presence of the Captain and the Master in our ship.”

Here’s part of a poem Carmichael wrote about the assurance of the Master’s care before our urgent call.

Lord, is all well? Oh, tell me; is all well?
No voice of man can reassure the soul
When over it the waves and billows roll;
His words are like the tinkling of a bell.
Do Thou speak; is all well?

Across the turmoil of the wind and sea,
But as it seemed from somewhere near to me,
A voice I know – Child, look at Calvary;
By the merits of My Blood, all is well.

Whence came the voice? Lo, He is in the boat;
Lord, wert Thou resting in Thy love when I,
Faithless and fearful, broke into that cry?
O Lord, forgive; a shell would keep afloat
Didst Thou make it Thy boat.

He is in the boat!

Muffing Up Maturity

Yesterday I read an article that Woody sent to me. It was written by Gordon MacDonald. Some of you may recall that MacDonald is familiar with “muffing up.” Unlike other fallen Christian leaders, MacDonald humbly repented of his sin, and God has seen fit to continue to use him, just as he used a king named David who muffed up centuries ago. MacDonald is now editor at large of Leadership magazine and chair of World Relief.

Martin Thornton said, “A walloping great congregation is fine and fun, but what most communities really need is a couple of saints. The tragedy is that they may well be there in embryo, waiting to be discovered, waiting for sound training, waiting to be emancipated from the cult of the mediocre.”

Joel Osteen has made it big. Let me promise you, he has a walloping great congregation. In Houston – what used to be the Rockets’ stadium – Lakewood Church hosts three services with an average attendance of 16,000 per service. On Larry King Live he was introduced as a “megapastor.” Woody kiddingly told me, “Hey! I want to be a mega-super-hyper-maxi-pastor!” Osteen’s main goal is to make people feel really good about themselves and believe that God has better things for them - both in this life and the life to come.

MacDonald writes about how we as a church are not too bad at bringing people to Christ and doing basic discipleship. It is possible to have programs - and the modern church loves programs! - that bring people to Christ and take them through booklets that teach them the basics of the faith. But programs rarely produce true mature Christians.

We are good at producing “churchy Christians,” but listen to how MacDonald describes the holy, Christ-like, and godly man or woman of God : “I have in mind those who walk through all the corridors of the larger life – the market-place, the home and community, the playing fields – and do it in such a way that, sooner or later, it is concluded that Jesus’ fingerprints are all over them.”

Like I was hearing on Tom Dooleys’ Through the Bible podcast, these are people who - just by the way they live - leave behind them a trail that makes people ready to hear about Jesus. It’s hard to define a mature Christian, but you are likely to know one when you see one. The marks of maturity include a spiritual devotional life that is self-sustaining, wisdom in human relationships, humble service, and comfort in the everyday life in the real world where faith is lived out among unbelievers.

How many people do you know that are like that? Have we forgotten how to raise saints? What are we doing wrong? Reading the wrong books? Doing the wrong studies? Preaching wrong? Too much emphasis on self-help? Too much application in church of the world’s principles of success?

Mature Christians are formed in many ways, but one important key is through mentoring.
When I was a young wife and mother and missionary in Bolivia, I realized that I sorely needed a godly woman to mentor me. During one furlough I decided to approach several mature women that had experience in ministry as well as being a godly wife and mother. I was shocked and sorely disillusioned when one after the other, they refused to share their lives and wisdom with me. One of them told me bluntly, “I have nothing to teach you.” I almost got down on my knees to beg her, “Can’t you teach me some of what you know about following Christ and serving others? You host many people in your home. Can you give me tips on having a healthy balance between hosting guests and caring for family? Can you at least give me some recipes that are easy to fix for big groups?”

“No.”

The answer was final. And my heart was broken. I could only go to God and say, “You have to help me! I want to do this right and well. Help me, please!”

Mentoring might involve sharing a helpful book with someone, but it goes way beyond sharing recipes and reading books. As we read that book, we talk of life and we pray about ways that God needs to change us and how to go about that. Mentoring takes place on the streets of life – learning how to live as a Christian in the nitty-gritty of life. “Mature Christians are made one by one through the influence of other Christians already mature,” says MacDonald.

I’ve been writing a devotional. A couple of weeks of Su’s Daily Devos focus on the reality of suffering in our lives. Mature Christians grow through suffering. A sense of inadequacy is the stepping stone to dependency on God. Wrestling with questions and doubt are the springboard to growth. Mature Christians fail forward, as has MacDonald. They say a strategic “no” when others are indulging themselves with “yeses.” And they fall and learn to get up again. As MacDonald says from his own personal experience, “Mature Christians are experts at repenting and humility.” Mature Christians learn under one who has gone before so that “his/her life becomes a textbook on Christ’s work in us.”

Just like my failed search for a mentor over 20 years ago, young people today are failing to find mentors. People of my generation are more interested in cruises than modeling Christ. As MacDonald puts it, they are “too busy, too distracted, too secretive, and too afraid.” He doesn’t add that they are also too immature! Maturity in Christ has not been among their long-range goals!

I hope and pray along with Gordon MacDonald that we won’t lose a new generation of young Christians who couldn’t get past infancy because we were unwilling or unable to “emancipate an embryo,” or at least share a recipe!

Whingy Su

This morning I was looking at the story of Elijah when he fled from Jezebel. I was focusing on I Kings 19:7 where the angel of the Lord came a second time and said, “Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.”

How often do I find the journey too great for me? I think I am a very weak person, because I find myself thinking that more times than not!

Isn’t it ironic that I can take great courage in the fact of my own great weakness?

Amy Carmichael wrote, “We never reach the place where we pass beyond the compassion of our God. His compassions fail not; they are new every morning; never tiring of us, always strong for our help.” (Emphasis mine.)

I love the thought that His compassions never get tired of me. I get tired of myself! I try not to whine, or, as the Brits put it, whinge, but I think I am a born whinger. But His compassions are new every morning. They never get tired of Whingy Su.

I want to read more about the life of Julian of Norwich. She evidently faced physical difficulties, illness and pain. In the book Revelations of Divine Love it tells of the ¨fifteen shewings¨ that fell fair and steadily, each following another, gladdening her heart.

Yet after the fifteen shewings, ensued a period of silence and remission. “Suddenly all my body was fulfilled with sickness as it was afore. And I was as barren and as dry as if I never had comfort but little. And as a wretched creature I moaned and cried for feeling of my bodily pains and for failing of comfort, spiritual and bodily.”

At that point, God granted her these words of comfort: Thou shalt not be overcome.

“He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted; but He said, Thou shalt not be overcome.”

I take courage in the fact that Julian of Norwich was a born whinger. She experienced supernatural comfort in the midst of trial. But, she also experienced the despair of silence in the midst of pain, comforted only with the promise, Thou shalt not be overcome.

God loves us and enjoys us, and He wills that we love and enjoy Him as we mightily trust in Him. That’s my prayer today.

May I mightily trust in You!

Celeste's Example - Seeking the Things Above

Squirrels!

"Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on earth; for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:2

Back in my college days I memorized the book of Colossians. It seems like the rest of my life I will spend trying to recapture those memorized verses! I just about have the first two chapters under my belt again, and I'm working on getting the third down.

On one of my Celestial walks this week, I was repeating the above verse when Celeste suddenly stopped in her tracks, her eyes fixed on the treetops.

Squirrels!

If Celeste has one passion in life, it is chasing squirrels. While we stroll the grounds of the Multiplication Center, she is constantly focusing on squirrels - listening for their sounds, watching for any unusual movement, sniffing and scanning the treetops.

Celeste is a perfect example of setting her eyes on the things above. My hope is that I might emulate her passion - not for squirrels, but for even more important things above!