As we start another new year, God in his wisdom has guided me to be studying Lamentations 3. We look for times to begin anew with making desired changes in our lives and often choose the beginning of the year. We have New Year resolutions that may include time in God’s word, organization, weight loss, exercise, and other improvements. But most of us will stray away from our resolutions and we often think “Oh well, I’ll try again next year.” But based on my studies, I’ve decided to not make New Year resolutions because God does not work on a yearly basis to renew us. “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall, I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me, yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:19-23 (NIV) When we wander from our goals, we get down on ourselves and feel like failures. When this happens we need to remind ourselves that our wanderings will not consume us because God, who helps us and strengthens us, never fails. There is no need to wait until next year to try again. God’s mercies are new every morning. I have made my New Year resolutions New Day resolutions. Every day is a new beginning.

So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:32 (NIV)

I love walking in the woods and this last weekend was a beautiful time for enjoying God’s creation and the explosion of autumn color. As I was walking along the main trail, I noticed another smaller path forking off and, out of curiosity, started following that path. After a short time of walking along what looked like a path I suddenly realized there was no path. Nothing in front of me and nothing behind, either, and I was far enough from the main trail that I couldn’t see that, either. Fortunately, I am quite familiar with these woods and was never in danger of getting lost, but it reminded me of how easily we can get side-tracked from following the path God has laid before us. The Lord’s direction is clear, yet out of curiosity, or maybe even rebellion, we decide to start following a different path and before we know it we are lost without any clear direction and we can’t see our way back to the main trail. The only place to go when we find ourselves in this situation is to our knees to ask our Savior to show us the way back.

The very steps we take come from God; otherwise how would we know where we’re going? Proverbs 20:24 (Msg)

Thank you, Lord, for your guidance, for your patience and protection when I wander, and for your faithfulness in leading me back.

Before you get too excited this is not about losing weight, sorry. Better yet, it is about how you and I view ourselves. If I were to be completely honest with you, sometimes I think that I am pretty great. Fortunately, time and circumstances make their way into my life and reveal something about me that is quite the opposite of greatness, failure. The harsh reality of my life is that I am the “Biggest Loser”.

The seasons in my life when I am met with ease, or I can match my situation with my own talents and abilities hide the truth about the real depth of who I am. Let me illustrate this for you. Chaos enters my life and the challenge is before me. The children are not cooperating, the house is a disaster, my energy level is low, the calendar is filled, and I become hopeless. I turn to complaining, being rude, wallowing in self-pity, and focusing on my inability to conquer. Yikes, I am the “Biggest Loser”. Not so spectacular after all.

The Apostle Paul had a strong grasp on who he was , and understood what it meant to be the “Biggest Loser”.

• What did Paul use to assess himself? .

“Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, and let God know my integrity.” Job 31:6

GOD IS MY JUDGE

• What was his assessment of his own life before God?

“To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given......” . Eph. 3:8.

I AM THE LEAST

• How did he view his accomplishments?

“Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” Php. 3:7

MY DEEDS ALONE ARE GARBAGE

• Who saved Paul from his sinful self?

“It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, whom I am foremost of all.” I Ti. 1:15

GOD IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS

Viewing myself as the “Biggest Loser” brings proper focus on who I am and Who God is. It is true I am weak and sinful, but God being rich in mercy gave His life for me, even me. Thus, I can encounter uncertain days and trials because there is Someone greater than I. If you are finding yourself face to face with who you really are, won't you run to the One who died for your sins? God is in the business of saving the “Biggest Losers” and giving us strength to endure all that comes our way.

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. Hebrews 13:2 (New Living Translation)

While visiting my daughter in San Antonio, I went to church with her and took away a great definition of hospitality. We often think of hospitality as those activities surrounding the holidays when we have friends and family to our houses after marathon cleaning and cooking sessions. However, the pastor pointed out the difference between hospitality and fellowship as he was preaching on the passage where Abraham is unexpectedly visited by the Lord. When we plan for a gathering or a guest and prepare our home and food with the expectation of the event, our time with our guest is fellowship. Hospitality is when you unexpectedly, inconveniently entertain someone in your home, possibly including a meal or allowing them to spend the night or two.

I’ve always admired those who seem to be prepared for company at the drop of a hat. Their house is always spotless; there are deserts and beverages on hand at all times. I prayed that the Lord would help me learn more in the area of hospitality. In answer to my prayer he landed two delightful young men from other countries in our home for the entire school year. I guess He decided I was up for the accelerated course on hospitality. I didn’t even recognize it as an answer to prayer until hearing this pastor’s discernment between hospitality and fellowship in his sermon. I discovered that it wasn’t growth in the ability to entertain friends and family that the Lord wanted me to experience. He truly wanted me to learn hospitality: how to graciously serve and love strangers. And at the same time, he answered my prayer to be more involved in missions. He provided me with my own mission field right in the convenience of my home. Thank you, Lord, you always know exactly what I need.

Well-spoken words bring satisfaction; well-done work has its own reward.  Proverbs 12:14 (The Message)

How often are we satisfied with the job we have done and seek no more reward than the knowledge of having done well?  Our society promotes going after awards and accolades.  We don't feel good about our performance unless we get first place, win the game, hear applause, or get the promotion - yet do we ask ourselves was it well done, regardless of what others may think?  Isn't doing the task well enough?  Our desire should be to live our lives so well that we hear from our Savior, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  This will be the greatest of all rewards - disintegrating all earthly rewards by its brilliance.

Being the mother of six children, I find myself entrenched in plenty of excitement. Each of my children are uniquely gifted to bring an abundance of excitement into my day. Frankly, sometimes I wonder “How am I going to handle this? What should I do?” I know that I will never be able to dodge all the thrills and buzz of our home. What I can do is consider how I ought to respond to those “little rascals” .

To give you a picture of the adventures the “little rascals” bring I thought I'd share a few:

A local artist (in our home), colored a cooperative cat extremely green, freakishly rendering the cat into the “Grinch”.

• A wanna- be- beautician replicated the 80's mullet with precision causing her to resemble Cyndi Lauper, “Miss Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”.

• Our ever talented handy man, who has difficulty zipping his paints, meticulously removed all the switch plates on the first floor with great ease and silence.

• An illusionist in the family thought concealing a smelly smoked fish in an underwear drawer would be a place mom would never look .

• Our yard boy decided we did not need our lawn mower to be assembled any longer, nor did we want flowers on the plants. CHOP!

A persistent little chef rendered my chili recipe into “Dilly Chili” with a quick stroke of genius by adding an entire container of dill into the pot.

The truth of the matter is not what my “little rascals” are doing, but how I am responding to them. When my children walk away from my interactions with them, do they see an angry, proud, and irritated mom? Or do they see a mom who is patient, humble, and a servant who takes time to help them? Am I leading them to God by exhibiting my trust in Him (even during chaos)? I must confess it is easy to be selfish and act inconvenienced by their shenanigans, but God has called me to love them and to view them as more important than myself. Will my children see that I love God and them more?

My “little rascals” need a mom who ponders on how to respond to their struggles, sins, and mishaps in a way that would be pleasing to God. I pray that my “little rascals” will see right responses and do like wise. The parenting responses I want to have are found in the following passages:

I Co. 13:4 “Love is patient, love is kind,.....love is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not take into account wrongs suffered,”

Eph. 6:4 “Fathers do not provoke your children to anger; but to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

No, this is not Cherie's description of our marriage.  This is Abigail's description of her marriage in 1 Sam 25.25.  This is another instance where it pays mighty dividends to study the definition of Hebrew proper names.  Abigail is married to Nabal.  The word Nabal means "a fool."

One wonders what exactly his parents were thinking, "Let's set the little boy off right in life, let's call him "The Fool."  We don't know how he got his name, whether it was a nickname he earned through his behavior, or whether that was his name from the start and it doesn't really matter.  Nabal means "a fool" and he acts like a fool.  He's also described as "churlish and evil" (KJV).  One would have to search long and hard to find anyone in the Bible described in a worse way.  

One thing that fascinates me about the narrative here is Abigail's character.  She is married to a fool, she knows it, the servants know it, David certainly knows it, but what do we find her doing?  Being a good wife to Nabal.  She ends up saving his life!  This is a woman of character.  

After Nabal dies (the Lord smote Nabal [KJV]), David sends his servants to take Abigail as his wife (When my wife—who is on the same Bible reading plan  as I—read this passage, she said, "Wow, way to woo a woman, David.  Send servants to propose."  Strange culture, that).

A couple of things stand out to me in this story.  First, it's possible to be the richest man in your neighborhood and still be a fool.  Second, it's possible to be married to the biggest fool in your neighborhood and still live righteously.

Dear Friends,

Time! We live in a world where we never have enough of it. We tend to evaluate our days or weeks as being successful according to how much we accomplish with the time we have. If we use up all our time and don’t really get much done, then it is a bad day or week. How do you evaluate your time spent?

This last week it took some time just to pay a bill in Kiev. Normally, John figures our electric bill month to month by
reading the meter and multiplying by a certain amount. This month, however, we received a bill claiming we owed more than we paid. We figured there was nothing we could do but pay it so we went to the address on the bill to inquire where to go to do that.   While waiting in line for an hour and a half, we noticed a sign that said if you are questioning the bill you must bring a passport and three years of paid receipts. We had only brought the bill.  We also noticed people yelling at the employees, wanting to know why they owed more. As you can imagine, the ladies working the counter were not very happy being yelled at all day over money. When it was our turn at the counter the lady was grouchy and asked if we had our past receipts. We said, “No, we just want to know where to pay it.” Her tone changed instantly.

She said that was great and nicely gave us directions to the place to pay the bill. It took time we really didn’t want to take to do all this but we know God has a reason for everything in our lives. We hope we displayed Jesus Christ as we waited and as we talked with the lady working in this office. Is that ever a waste of time? It is always a lesson for us here in taking care of business, which John does a lot of for us and others on the team, or in doing every day activities, to bring glory to God.

When we ask our friend Daniel about his week, if he had opportunity to share about the Lord or what God is teaching him, it is always a wonderful week. He works as a janitor at a college dorm.  He is highly educated with a doctoral degree yet has not been able to have a job to use his education. But, he says, he has a roof over his head and all he needs to live. If he can share Jesus with someone what more would he want or need?  He is successful not because he has a high paying job or lots of things but because of his heart for the lost. His favorite saying is, “Redeem the time.”

The last day of May we had year-end party for our English students. One of the advanced students shared her testimony in English as a friend translated. Jane’s students did a skit of Jesus feeding the 5,000 using real bread to pass out to the audience. The young man from the group who played Jesus didn’t know much about Jesus but read the passage the whole week before so he would be familiar with it. His name is Sasha and he is not a  believer yet heard the gospel through the English club. John’s group read Scripture. After the program of singing and a gospel message given by Daniel, we talked and enjoyed the sweet table.

We traveled to Germany the first week of June for our conference with all of Eurasia Send. It was great to be able to connect with people who serve in Russia and Kazakhstan. This particular conference only happens every three to four years.

In July we decided to get away for our 40th wedding anniversary. We went to Thailand and enjoyed the time together. What was this time away? It was a relaxing, chance to read and sleep when we wanted with no schedule time away. We even went on an elephant ride through the jungle when we visited Janna Johns. She was a wonderful hostess.  We thank the Lord for the time away with Him and each other. It was a change of scenery and a chance to experience a different language and culture.

Our God is so good all the time and His plan for our days and lives is best.

To Him be the glory,
John and Jane

One of the number one movies of all times is the Wizard of Oz. It's no wonder why so many love this movie, the characters and the plot are captivating. The lead character, Dorthy, is far from home and and desperately longs to get home. Her infamous line is “There is no place like home .” Her desire for her home is one I should readily identify with. I should love my home and long to be there.

 

The home I am to yearn for, is not the home I am currently living in. As a follower of Christ, my home is heaven and I should aspire to be there. Heb. 11:16 “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.” Unfortunately, I must confess, I find my affections drawn and competing for things of this world, not heaven.

 

Why do I find my heart satisfied in this world when I am to be a“stranger” and “alien”? I have a bad case of spiritual amnesia. I forget Who bought me, Who I am to live for, and where I am to set my heart. (I Co. 6:20, Matt. 6:21) I am near-sighted, earthly minded, and temporarily satisfied.
How do I live in this world, and yet realize “There is no place like home ” a.k.a. heaven? I must ask myself two questions:

 

What am I thinking about?

What I can buy.

What makes me comfortable.

What pleases me.

What I want.

• 
  

What am I doing?

Serving myself.

Doing what is easy for me.

Working to fill my bank account.

Collecting things for myself.

 

“There is no place like home.”. Php. 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” I must always think about where (be far-sighted) my home is and live my life anxiously awaiting that home as I live for the One who bought me.

 

Do you remember that television ad jingle: "You asked for it, you got it, Toyota" or am I dating myself? It was probably written by Barry Manilow, in which case, yes, I am dating myself, and I am an old geezer. I thought of it this morning in my Bible reading (Quick Aside: How is your Bible reading plan coming?) I came to 1 Samuel 9 this morning. Specifically, 1 Samuel 9.2: "And he had a son, whose name was Saul."

Do you know what the name Saul means? It means: "asked for" or "demanded." Isn't that interesting? The people demanded a king in 1 Samuel 8.19. So what did they get? A (soon to be) king named, "Demanded." Of course this is no mistake, Saul would be a living, breathing reminder that God gave to his people what they asked for, which, if you recall Israel's history, did not turn out very well for them. I wonder if they soon wished that Saul could have been named "return to sender."

In God's grace and mercy, after the disaster which was Saul's reign, God gave his people a king who would be a picture of the coming Messiah, King David. What was he like? Read Psalm 23.