The Promise is not Vain

It's been a difficult weekend for our little family, but a treasured Sunday as our church threw a goodbye party for us. My heart has been lifted from the depths in countless ways by my church family the past couple days. We even got to worship with them tonight and this verse sticks in my head as I can barely keep my eyes open:

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go | George Mattheson

~ Kim

Those Parents...

You know those parents that just think they have the cutest kids... like they have the market on cuteness or something? Like everyone else is just stricken suddenly by beauty when their children walk by? As if for the centuries and centuries children have been born, God had somehow saved the cutest ones for them?

We know exactly how they feel...

At RYM at Laguna Beach all week with our students. It was wonderful in so many ways and we are praising God on our first night back (and falling into our beds)! Will post more soon.

Life in the Plenty

I keep making the comment, "Life still seems so full!" Back in our Kanakuk days I remember one of the directors' wives referring to the end of summer as "hitting the wall." You spend a high energy summer serving and laughing and staying up late, and then in what feels like the blink of an eye it's all over. The kids and families and counselors leave and life returns to "normal." I anticipate this event in England, after the family is moved, the bags are unpacked, Robert has started class and life seems to begin again with the slower rhythm of the day-in and day-out. I really look forward to this but am a little terrified of it (and maybe the loneliness of a new place?) at the same time.

So what I really intended for this post (before the long intro) was a recap of the fun of this past week. It started last weekend with a special trip to the beach to visit some wonderful extended family, including Grandbud and Nana, the girls' great-grandmother and Grandbud's sisters, Carol and Laurie. There was a pool, so the girls were, naturally, in paradise!

Nana and Meg swapping secrets through the foam noodle :)

Little water bugs

Chillin' out max and relaxin' all cool...

Then it was a wild week of work for Robert and me which included one night of happening upon THIS version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella:

I mean, this really merits its own blog post, but what?!?! I was completely sucked into this crazy knock-off version of the older R&H Cinderella I watched as a kid. I mean, did you know BRANDY is Cinderella in this one?? And Whitney Houston is the fairy godmother? How did I miss this hilariousness?! It will be on the must-watch list for the next Sister weekend.

... Moving on to Wednesday night, July 3rd, when the military base closest to us puts on Freedom Fest complete with music and food vendors and great fireworks. I had really been looking forward to going out with the fam... AND then it rained... and rained... and rained! And we spent the night IN enjoying our little break from the "fullness!"

And then came July 4th and one of my dear friends from college came up from New Orleans for a visit. AND it rained and rained, but what is rain with an old friend?! Liz and I had a great time catching up,

eating boiled shrimp (if I can help anyone learn from my mistakes, do NOT open the mesh bag with the shrimp boil seasonings!),

polishing off a patriotic dessert,

watching fireworks on TV,

while blowing on the American flag pinwheel. It wasn't the Fourth I had exactly envisioned, but it was a wonderful one!

On Friday, we took a quick day-trip to the beach, where it was still raining but made for a nice cool day by the ocean.

Girls finding shells on the shore

Saturday included some shopping and a great lunch with Liz and then a trip to the country for a get together with Sunday School friends. There were lots of kids, lots of good food & conversation, and lots of fireworks.

Brad putting on a great fireworks show for us!

Watching the bigger fireworks

sister love

 

And I feel like I have been living life in the "plenty" and I want to be truly thankful for the fullness of this season. I want to seek the Giver and be reminded of the temporariness of all these things. Not so I'll cling to the things tighter, but entrust them more fully to their Maker. These thoughts remind me of Paul's words in Philippians:

 

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

 

PS - I should learn to never write a post on Saturday night before the perspective Sunday often brings. We had a great Sunday School lesson on the life of Jan Hus (Czech Priest, Church reformer and martyr) and then a sermon on Hebrews 4:1-13 which includes the phrase: "Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest..." God offers true rest for our souls! What a gift this was to hear after writing a post like this! Let us make every effort to enter that rest.

Dreaming

So last night I tossed and turned in my bed because I had an unsettling dream – I was at the first day of class at London Theological Seminary where I’ll be studying this fall.

I walked into class, and while there was a sense of excitement, the day turned into confusion, disappointment, and embarrassment. Multiple professors were teaching at a time - one was asking me questions about the Hebrew language, one was giving a pop quiz, and the other was introducing himself to me and laughing amicably.  The students (mostly young, college-age Americans) were talking to each other non-stop and not paying attention, how rude! (Stephanie Tanner, Full House reference…anybody?) On top of that, my girls rushed in and knocked over rows of chairs! It was a crazy dream!

However, tonight (back to real life) while hanging out with friends, I was asked what I was most excited about LTS. I answered, “Getting to study and live within an international community.”

From my time visiting the campus last year, researching online (ltslondon.org), and emailing with the staff, I know that God is preparing quite the opposite of my chaotic dream. Men from around the world come to LTS because they are serious about being trained for gospel ministry as a pastor.  Here is a picture from LTS’ recent graduation ceremony.

Some of these men are graduating and moving on, and some of these men will be my classmates and professors. I was excited to find out the countries that will be represented in the seminary this upcoming fall will be UK, Switzerland, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Poland, Netherlands, Cyprus, Germany, Kenya, India, and USA (potentially a few more) - WOW! Kim and I cannot wait to be a part of this international community, and we will be the only ones from America. Crazy, huh? God truly will stretch and grow us as we are a part of such a unique body of believers, the Church!

All of our professors will be theologically astute and will have years of pastoral experience. Hopefully only one will teach at a time. I have met a few of them and cannot wait to study the Bible under their guidance and see how deep the rabbit hole goes (Morpheus, Matrix reference…anybody?)

As for the last part of my dream, there is a decent chance that my girls will come barging in during class – we just found out our flat will be in the same building, one floor up from where our classes meet!! We are really looking forward to getting to know the other families – I’m sure our girls will make friends quickly (Lord, may it be so)!

Here’s hoping my dreams will be better tonight (probably not, I ate a TON of chocolate today!)

Robert

John Owen

On our ride home from visiting family in Destin, Robert and I listened to a biography by John Piper on John Owen. We actually love to listen to these biographies (Piper has done LOTS of these) on car trips. John Owen was a great pastor-theologian in the 1600's in England whose works have had tremendous impact on readers centuries later, including J.I. Packer:


www.johnowen.org

Two themes from Owen's life that really struck me while listening to his biography were communion with God and authenticity from the pulpit.

From a letter he wrote to a friend:
"Christ is our best friend, and ere long will be our only friend. I pray God will all my heart that I may be weary of everything else but converse and communion with Him."

From Owen's collection of works giving insight into his authenticity:
"A man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul. And he that doth not feed on and thrive in the digestion of the food which he provides for others will scarce make it savoury unto them; yea, he knows not but the food he hath provided may be poison, unless he have really tasted of it himself. If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us."

What a life! What a rich heritage of faith England has!

You just need to hear the whole thing :) Download it here and bring it on your next summer trip:
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/the-chief-design-of-my-life-mortification-and-universal-holiness

PS - In this same vain, we got to hear about the life of John Wycliffe (reformer in England from the 14th century) this morning in Sunday School. Pastor Henry mentioned that the biographies he read all concluded with this quote about the death of Wycliffe from biographer Thomas Fuller: "The little river conveyed Wycliffe's remains into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispensed all the world over."  His "doctrine" included an emphasis of the direct relationship of each believer to God, and he spent the last years of his life translating the Bible into the common language of English. For this and other similar "heresies" his bones were excavated 40-some years after his death, burned, and the ashes thrown into the Avon river. Pastor Henry's talk should be posted sometime this week on our church's sermon archive (http://firstpresdothan.com/media.php?pageID=42).

Robert's late-night workouts

It's 9:30 at night and Robert says he wants to get in a little Total Gym workout. He's been doing this a lot lately. So as a sweet encouraging wife, I've been quoting this commercial to him:

 

 

And it makes me laugh every single time. Laughter is the best exercise, right? Or is that medicine? Well, let's just say for ME it's exercise... ok? Preesh.

God's Will

A great reminder to me came out of our College Bible Study time last night (oh, to be in college again and stay up past midnight regularly without consequence!). We are looking at Kevin DeYoung's book Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will. We covered chapters 4 and 5 last night and looked especially at the "Don't Worry" verses in Matthew 6 and then a few in 1 Thessalonians:

1 Thess 4:3-4

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable.

 

1 Thess 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

What a comfort to know that this is God's will for my life - my sanctification, self-control, rejoicing, prayer and thanksgiving. Not some obscure, hidden path that could take me off the edge of a cliff if I don't read the signs correctly.

Here are a few other book quotes from the end of chapter 5 that say it far better than me:

"So go marry someone, provided you're equally yoked and you actually like being with each other. Go get a job, provided it's not wicked. Go live somewhere in something with somebody or nobody. but put aside the passivity and the quest for complete fulfillment and the perfectionism and the preoccupation with the future, and for God's sake start making decisions in your life. Don't wait for the liver-shiver. if you are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you will be in God's will, so just go out and do something.

...Die to self. Live for Christ. And then do what you want, and go where you want, for God's glory.  

God's will for your life is not very complicated. Obviously living a Christlike life is hard work, and what following Jesus entails is not clear in every situation. But as an overarching principle, the will of God for your life is pretty straightforward: Be holy like Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God."

 

(Robert and a few of the students in our College Bible Study. Backdrop: Memphis Trolley!)