Sep 28, 2009 | Baby Photos, Stories, The Good Word
Sunday morning the Bear woke up with a sneezy, coughy, chesty cold. (I laugh when I use the term chesty — I first heard it when I went to the doctor with a bad cold for the first time in Scotland. He asked “Are you quite a chesty person?” Having no clue at first what “chesty” meant, I wanted to say, “Om, I think you can look at me and tell, I’m not a particularly chesty young lady. haha) Anyway! Asher had a cold is his chest, and we decided to stay at home, because this seemed to be the same cold he’d been struggling with since we passed through Scotland, and the weather wasn’t nice, and we thought rest would be the best thing for him.
We listened to some worship music and praised the Lord, listened to a podcast sermon, and spent time in prayer together while Asher had his usual morning nap. (Praise the Lord, he sleeps 2 – 2 1/2 hours every morning!) I was challenged to the core by something the pastor said over the course of that sermon. He was talking about an interview he’d seen of an atheist celebrity, who was talking about people trying to share the Gospel with him. The celeb said, “It doesn’t bother me so much, the people that preach to me. I don’t believe it, but what bothers me is the people who don’t. I mean, if you really believe there is a hell, how much do you have to hate someone not to tell them about it?”
Whoa. I thought that this was an incredible comment to make, and a perceptive observation. I think one of the greatest lies of the enemy, totally from the pit of hell, is the lie that there is no hell. Or that God is too nice and lovey dovey to ever send anyone there. Sometimes I find myself wanting to believe that. It is nicer to believe there isn’t a hell. It is nicer to think no matter what we live like in this life, the outcome will basically be the same. We want to believe all of our family members will be in heaven with us. If we do believe there’s no hell, then we don’t have to share the Gospel, and we can kind of just live how we want. The problem is, that is not what the Bible says! Ouch!
If you remember a wee while back, I was deep into the parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, and began to recognise a pattern. Jesus is constantly warning about the wrath that is to come, and more specifically about all the people who think they’re okay, but aren’t. Think about the wise and the foolish virgins (Matthew 25) — all of them were waiting for the bridegroom. Some of them just weren’t ready for him. Think about the parable of the talents in the same chapter. All of those guys were servants of the Master — some of them just didn’t understand who the Master was, or what His expectations were.
That’s what’s scary. Jesus is continually making it apparent that a lot of people who think they are all right with Him aren’t. Perhaps I can slightly modernize this statement for you: “Not everybody who says, ‘Yeah Jesus, you’re my homeboy…I mean Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. The people who will are the ones who actually make Me their Lord, by doing My Father’s will. And when judgement comes, a lot of people are going to be like, ‘Hey Jesus! Remember me though, right? I prayed a prayer when I was five. Okay so maybe I didn’t do much after that but…remember me?’ Or, ‘Hey Jesus, I made you my Lord! I went to church every Sunday. And I did stuff in Your Name.’ But I’m going to have to reply, ‘I didn’t know you. Depart from Me. You ignored my commands and did your own thing.'” (Matthew 7:21-23, heavily paraphrased)
Now some of you might get a bit huffy at this point and say, “well, is our faith justified by our works, or are we saved by grace, and through faith? You make it sound like we work our way to heaven.” That is definitely not the case. I don’t believe your works get you into heaven — and hope you won’t believe that either for a second. Just like Ephesians 2 explains it, our salvation is by grace, and through faith. It is absolutely a gift of God, and it is not by works, so that no one can boast that they earned it in their own merit. And Romans 10 makes it clear again — if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you’ll be saved.
So is there a contradiction here? Not at all. If we really believe Jesus is who He says He is, and we confess Him as Lord, and actually mean it, then we are saying He is our Lord. Meaning He is boss. He is in the driver seat and we are riding shotgun. Â With the gift of His Holy Spirit, we can begin to follow His lead for our lives. As sheep spend time in the presence of a shepherd, and begin to learn His voice, we spend time in the presence of God, begin to learn His voice and His ways, and where He leads us, we follow.
If you are going to claim Christianity, it seems apparent from Scripture that there’s more to it than coming down to the front and praying a prayer once when you’re eight years old. It sounds to me like Jesus says, “Come and die, and find your life again in Me.” “Follow Me.” And if we really believe what the Scriptures say, then 1) we have to obey them and 2) we should be warning people about the judgement that is to come.
The only thing I know for sure we can do now that we won’t be able to do in heaven (besides sin) is share the Gospel. Because everyone in heaven will already know it. So here’s the opportunity. Start by asking, “Do I really know Him?” The next question is, “Do you?”
xCC
Sep 23, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
A lot of thoughts have been swirling and twirling around in my mind lately. And they are thoughts that have created fear in me. And that is not pretty, and is not from God. One reason some of these thoughts have been joining my mental conversations is that some friends of mine lost their child just a few weeks ago — their four month old little boy. When you have a little one yourself, the stark and sudden reality that your little one could be here today and gone tomorrow — or anyone you love could be — can do a lot of different things in your soul. You can trust that God will take care of you and your family, but when you see what on the surface appears to be Him not taking care of friends of yours who also love Him, you might begin to think, “Well, there’s no reason that would happen to them and not to me.” And that is a scary thought.
I don’t think I realised what this thinking had begun to do in my mind until today. I’ve been praying for the family who lost their child, thanking the Lord for my family, and trying to do a better job of enjoying life each day, remembering we aren’t promised tomorrow. But today I was reading in the Bible, and came across Proverbs 10:22. The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it. As I pondered this verse I began to think…gosh, I am struggling to actually believe this. In my mind I am disagreeing with it. Where has that come from? I realised it had something to do with the loss my friends experienced. I prayed, “Help me understand, Lord. In light of my friends and the loss of their son.”  And these are the thoughts that came next.
Loss and death come because we are in a fallen world. God’s blessing brings prosperity to our lives — and true richness, which is richness to our souls. He does not bring death or sorrow to the righteous. Death and sorrow are a consequence of life in a fallen, broken world. This was not God’s intention, He did not create the world to be this way, but He can still bring even these difficulties about for good.
The disciples once questioned Jesus when they saw a man who was blind from birth. (John 9) “Jesus, did he sin or did his parents? Somebody must’ve messed up for him to be born blind.” (This was the Jewish way of thinking about disabilities and birth defects.) Jesus said, “Neither. He didn’t sin, His parents didn’t sin. But this happened so that the works of God should be revealed in Him.”
In a perfect world, the world God initially created, for example, there would be no blindness, and four-month olds wouldn’t fall asleep and never wake up. But we are in a fallen world, where things are broken, and messed up things happen. The Good News is that the works of God — including His goodness, mercy, and kindness — can still be displayed in this broken world. God is still actively at work, and can bring good out of these hurtful, painful and tragic moments in life. In fact, He promises to work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.
Financial or monetary richness is not always a sign of the Lord’s blessing. Statistically speaking, lottery winners often end up very, very unhappy people. (Examples) We are truly rich when we learn to be content with and thankful for what we have. The richness that comes from God can teach us this lesson — to see how rich we already are, because of the gift that we have from God in Christ Jesus. (That’s even better news — our time in this world is incredibly brief. If we love Christ, and are following Him, we will spend eternity with Him, where weeping and sorrow will not exist for even a moment. Hallelujah!)
While sorrow, trials and tribulation will come in this fallen world, (that’s a promise). We may not always understand why God allows them, but I am still certain that God is good, that He can bring beauty from ashes and turn mourning into dancing. I’m thankful to say, as well, I am confident that the Lord’s blessing makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.
Sep 14, 2009 | Baby Photos, South Africa
This one is mostly for the grandparents, but perhaps you can all enjoy. The Bear had his first African bath the day before yesterday. Yeah, we’d been here a couple of days, (okay…maybe four…) but I got so used to my Mom bathing him every day when we were back in North Carolina, it kind of slipped off the radar that that was my responsibility again! Whoops! At least he didn’t smell. =)
So we had to make a plan since his big rubber duck tub is hopefully floating somewhere over the ocean, along with the rest of our stuff on its way here, and our accommodation only has a shower. The options were the complex’s outdoor swimming pool, the mop bucket and kitchen sink. After much deliberation, kitchen sink was victorious. Mark made one side soapy and the other one not, so that he had a wash and a rinse. Very efficient.
 Any if you look very very closely at the shot below, you might be able to see his Praise-the-Lord-it’s-finally-here-first-tooth just breaking through his bottom gums! (Just right of centre)
Yay!
xCCÂ
Sep 12, 2009 | Scotland, South Africa, Stories
Well folks, we are safely in South Africa and it is really really good to be here. Our most recent travel experiences really deserve a mention. By the end of this you might think I’m writing a paid advertisement for Emirates airline, but honestly, this is just me telling you what a great experience we had. (Although if they wanted to pay me, I would take it!)
This adventure began with our last few days in Scotland, staying with our dear friends Rob and Alice (travelling Rob), and catching up with more friends, (who had birthday prezzies for Asher, no less! thanks Worwy and Sawah [above]!) connecting with friends at church, and catching colds because it was so cold and rainy and wintry. A million thanks to the Andersons for hosting us so graciously (Rob could run a fantastic restaurant of culinary delights), to Adam for driving us to the airport in Glasgow, and to Hope for letting him when she’s so pregnant she’s about to burst and has two wee ones.
We were…shall we say… a bit concerned about our baggage because we thought the Emirates allowances were the same as Continental’s, but we discovered we were mistaken the day before our flight. We were looking at 25 to 35 pounds — that’s British Pound Stirling — per kilogram overweight. And we had none too few extra kilograms. But the travel agents were as friendly as Nessie is hard to find, and did not even mention the extra weight. When we walked away from the counter we felt like kids on Christmas morning. That upgrade we prayed for just happened. They only made me taste two baby food jars at customs (yeah… seriously) and when we arrived at the gate, they came and checked our pram (stroller) for us, and told us although it was checked to Johannesburg, there would be a pram waiting for us while we were at our layover in Dubai. That was great. The layover was more than four hours in the middle of the night, but at least we had a pram! And I am now convinced Dubai is quite possibly the coolest place I’ve never been. (Since the airport doesn’t count).
Our two eight hours flights were easypeasy. On each leg, the flight attendants gave us toys and other stuff for Asher…he got a hand puppet camel on the first flight (along with a colouring book and coloured pencils) and he got a hand puppet tiger for the second leg of the journey! They also gave us baby food, and a little pouch with a rattle, a spoon, baby wipes, a bib, baby lotion… they just really took care of us. And they took Asher’s picture and put it in a little paper frame with an airplane on it. “Best wishes from Emirates to Asher†with the flight number and crew member names. So sweet! He wasn’t looking at the camera so they tried twice. Sweet anyway! We also had a row of four bulkhead seats to ourselves on the first flight, and three bulkhead seats to ourselves for the second. Upgrade!
So here’s my thirty second Emirates promo: “At a time when most airlines are debating charging customers for extra baggage or even for going to the bathroom, Emirates is handing out hot towels and amazing meals. They’re serving cake and ice cream with tea and coffee at snack times. They’re giving kids toys and making sure their families are comfortable. Their prices are competitive, but their customer service blows the competition out of the water. (Or sand dunes, if you will). From perhaps one of the best-traveled babies in the world, Emirates gets a one-tooth smile with lots of drool, and two happy hands up!”
Thanks for allowing that digression. As the story continues, we are now safely in South Africa and it’s great to be here. We arrived in Johannesburg, stayed the night with Mark’s sister, Lyn, (who also had great birthday prezzies for Asher!) The next day was, praise the Lord, our final flight — Johannesburg to Cape Town. Mark felt prompted to wait one more day before buying those tickets with Kulula, a domestic South African airline. A one-day sale started the next day, and (thank you again, Lord!) we saved a huge amount on the tickets. Unfortunately, we did have to pay for our extra baggage on that flight, but since we’d saved so much on the tickets, we pretty much broke even.  And now the real adventure begins! Since I’ve gone a bit long, I will perhaps save the story of our arrival for tomorrow. =)
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Sep 2, 2009 | Baby Photos, Scotland, South Africa
This is a “Traveling Wednesday” because we are actually traveling today, and a wee ways into tomorrow. Mark, Asher and I are on our way to Scotland for a few days before the journey to South Africa begins. Having a round trip ticket looks better to the US government (since Mark is in the middle of the spousal visa process) and it was cheaper to get a one way from Edinburgh than from North Carolina. (AND we get to say hello and goodbye to our dear friends in Edinburgh again!) We take off tomorrow afternoon and arrive in Scotland Thursday morning. If you fancy praying for us, feel free to pray that Asher will be happy and peaceful, we won’t have any delays and things will go smoothly, our stuff will arrive safely, we’ll get upgraded to better seats and have lots of room, and that there will be warm weather in Scotland when we arrive! =) (No reason not to ask, hey?)
We’ll leave Scotland September 7th, arrive in Johannesburg September 8th, and fly to Cape Town September 9th. Perhaps let’s add in one more prayer — that Asher’s teeth, who are long overdue, won’t decide now’s the time to make their grand appearance. Praise the Lord who is with us in every circumstance and holds all things together…airplanes, suitcases…and even teeth!
xCC
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