Pilgrim's Progress

This month we celebrated 30 years of marriage. For the better part of that we've been in Papua New Guinea. This year finds us waiting to return, living in a semi-packed state with as much in boxes as possible without totally disrupting normal life.

As Tony is at a gathering of friends in Texas, it seemed a good time to get away and just recover from the non-stop movement of the past five years. At times, when enough things happen, you just "numb out" and keep going. Personally, I've been doing that for a long time. Anyone who has moved forty times or more recognizes numbness as a great way to approach another move.

So to celebrate we headed up to Maine. Maine is easy, relatively inexpensive and it's not crowded. There is something about being in a place that is simple and quiet that puts life back in perspective. The ocean is vast. We are small. A very clear reminder of our great impact in the universe. The birds abound. Each is cared for individually by Our Father in Heaven. I even had to laugh to myself as I went through a plate of steamers and enjoyed a lobster the next day, that those "Levitically unclean foods" I so enjoy are a reminder that it is "for freedom that Christ set us free". Back to bondage? No way.

When we got home we had a bit more news of things overseas. Neil's work permit is "all set" but for some official transcripts which apparently now need to be notarized. Neil is out doing that now. The issues of housing, safety and schooling remain unresolved and the fist two issues may not be resolved until we are actually in PNG. Yes, I wish it were all settled. No, I don't enjoy living in a state of perpetual transition. Yes, I remember that we are looking for a better city, one whose Builder and Maker is God. Yes, I feel like I am getting a bit old for this. Yes, we are supposed to live our entire lives as pilgrims and strangers on the earth.

Still sojourning, and praying for the next stop on the pilgrimage.

Psalm 84

Pearly Gates and Redeeming Pain

While we've been waiting to receive our work permits to PNG, I've been reading Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven". I really enjoy the book and it's made heaven sound more attractive than I have pictured it when I hear it described as a perpetual song service. It will indeed be magnificent and reflect the Creative One whose Glory will be seen in every detail.

In the twists, turns, ups and downs of the last five years, I, to be totally honest, have asked God if He would reassure me that there is something redeeming in all that has transpired. While I will admit this is not super spiritual I have asked,"Would the world fall off its axis if we went from A to B without something being excruciatingly painful?" We haven't cornered the market on difficulty, but most honest people have asked the same question at some point in their life. I have reviewed events and said, in all truthfulness, "It was less painful getting hit by the car".

Then I realized something about gates made of pearls. Pearls, are of course, born from a painful foreign substance that gets lodged in the oyster's shell. Oyster's don't get up and say, "Let me go find something uncomfortable so I can make a pearl". It's one of those thing that "happens" to the oyster and there's not much the oyster can do about it. I'm not an oyster (really) but I can imagine that "pearl making" is not a wonderful experience.

I looked at the gates in a new way. How amazing and redeeming that the entrance to that great city is by passing through gates which in part are made of a substance born from pain. Born from His pain. Born from ours. Yes, there is something redeeming and even eternal and glorious in that.

Imitation and Redemption

Today at the Southern New England Council we celebrated the Lord's Supper. That ordinance of the church has always held special signficance for me. Today as I held the bread and the cup I was thinking, "We are alive because of the unwarranted sacrifice of Another. We were redeemed because One who did not desereve the blame carried our blame. I live from the sacrifice of another."

One of the statements that I have often heard but has left me feeling unsure is the saying, "If you had been the only person in the world,  Jesus Christ would have died for you".  I have had occasion to think about the "cost" of seeing someone come to Christ.  There are some sacrifices that come more easily than others.  There is no sacrifice we are asked to make in ministry, that Christ Jesus did not make for us. Do we lack good housing?  He had no where to lay His head.  Are we criticized for how we carry out the work to which God called us?  So was He.  His family thought He was wrong and self promoting. ("If you want to be a public figure…). Anything we might "suffer" so has Christ Jesus.

Jesus was despised, rejected and ultimately tried on fasle charges by human beings so confused about the nature of God that they were concerned about taking the bribe money they returned to Judas less they do sometihng unlawful but crucified the Son of God. As they taunted Him to “save Himself” He was actually saving us. As much as we would like the redeeming of souls to be easy, it is not. It cost Jesus everything. It will certainly cost us something. If we are not willing to count that cost, we will probably never see people come to Chirst.

Several years ago I heard a man saying something that has stayed with me ever. He said, “There are many things we can fail to do and call still ourselves Christians. But we cannot neglect these things and call ourselves imitators of Christ”.

Nine weeks and 52 years

It's very late at night or very early in the morning, depending on your time zone. Either way, April 21 is Neil's birthday. His card was accidentally left on the vendor's belt at Stop in Shop while I did a "self check out" (to get rid of coins) but at least I remembered his cake. Today he is 52. If you know the story of the last four years, you know that today is a miracle. Today is a gift from Jesus to me and Tony and all who know my husband.

Of course, being a woman, it reminds me that in another five months, I will join him with this elite number of years given by our Lord. Anyone who has followed what God has so gracefully preserved us through, will celebrate that we are alive, walking, and still in ministry. This is evidence of God's grace, favor and of the faithfulness of so many of His people. Yes, God wants the Mesem to have His Word.

It is nine weeks till, Lord willing, we plan to depart for Papua. We are still waiting on our visas and still waiting on our housing and Tony's school situation. We are working daily on the New Testament here and in another week I leave to begin work on the "Fire Bible" in Melanesian Pidgin, a translation of the New Testament in the trade language that includes explanatory notes. It's a three year project, and I am thankful to be able to be involved in something that impacts so many lives in Papua New Guinea.

There are many unknowns tonight. We don't know so much of what awaits us when we go back. This we know: God is waiting. His Word is alive. His Spirit is working. We know the Mesem want to have the scripture and are hungry to receive it. We know God called us. Dear friends, in an age when human reason has so often supplanted faith, love and hope, we ask you to remain steadfast with us in prayer that Jesus' Name is made great among the Mesem and that His glory is revealed here in an ever increasing way that leads to revival.