I HATE change!

So, today is really sad for me. Several of my classmates are done after today and we will never be a whole class again. The past two years have been an awesome time of individual growth for us all and the bonds are strong. We have had to work as a team and support one another in all the challenges and those of you who know me well, know that I flourish in a strong team environment.

So, thank you to my classmates for being such a wonderful part of my life. I hope we can have a reunion in Thailand someday!

That Great City

One of my favorite books in the whole bible is Jonah; not because of some fascination with a man being swallowed by a giant fish. The account of Jonah fascinates me because of the message of God's love for the world, His mercy and grace towards sinners, and the missional aspect of this book.

Jonah, knows that God is a God of grace and mercy (4:1). Because he doesn't want the violent and oppressive people of Nineveh, enemies of Israel, to experience this grace, he directly disobeys the command of God to go to Nineveh and preach against that city. The book is mostly about a prophet who disobeys God, and it ends with the prophet as the 'bad guy' and God Himself is the 'good guy'. Jonah wants the benefits of living under God's grace to remain with Israel, and cannot stomach the possibility that God might show grace to a very brutal and ruthless enemy, an enemy who could possibly obliterate Israel. Jonah basically tells God, "I told you so!" when the whole city of Nineveh repents, then goes outside the city to watch and see what will happen (obviously hoping that God will destroy the city). In the climax of the entire book, God reprimands Jonah for his persisting callousness and short-sightedness. The book closes when God says, "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left [i.e., 'right from wrong'], and also so much cattle?"

The point is simply that God says, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." (Ex. 33:19; Romans 9:15). We serve a God who is the Covenant Lord of the Universe. Salvation is the grace of God, not deserved by the religious, the good, or the chosen. Missions is the right response to that grace...driven by the fact that no one deserves it, but that God Himself will save...even if He uses sinful people to proclaim the message.

July Newsletter

July Newsletter

Idols of the Heart

Something I read this morning:

"The things that the Lord has apportioned among the nations must not be worshiped. Essential to the idea of idolatry is the desire for more things. The things that God has made must never be substituted for the God who made them. The connection between covetousness and idolatry is made explicitly when the new covenant scriptures speak of "greed, which is idolatry" (Col. 3:5). The identification of covetousness with idolatry serves to expose the central sin of the present age, which is the worship of things rather than the God who made them. The shopping mall has become the temple of today, and the consumption of more and more things has become god. This turning to things as a substitute for knowing, loving, and serving God is the central sin of mankind in every generation. So it should not be surprising to find the prohibition against all forms of idolatry as the central focus of the law of God."

O. Palmer Robertson, Christ of the Prophets, p. 87

A true idol of my heart....as is obvious.------------>

hobbies...

So I finished my last real class on Friday and have been enjoying two days of freedom from deadlines and grades! And my mind has turned to all the things I have not been doing for the last two years....

I am definitely starting a new hobby. Photography. I have been learning a lot about it for the last few years, but I am really starting to get excited about it. I have a lot more to learn especially about post processing with photo editing tools.

There are a few things that I really want to learn. I reached my peak with knitting and don't want to learn more than I know. And photography has lasted a while so I am getting serious about the equipment etc. But I would also love to learn how to play the piano and paint. I think the piano might be a stretch considering my formidable lack of musical instict, but it can't hurt to try. Oh, and learning how to salsa has been on the list for a while.

Trey suggested that I write a few best sellers in the next year so that we don't have to raise support and can just live off sales. I'm considering it. I think I would write fiction, and it would probably be completely unimaginative... oh well, guess we will still be raising support.

A note on Church History...

"What does this have to do with Thailand?", is the response that I imagine any of the 4 people that read this blog may have. But hang with me...it matters. I'm working through Dr. Frank James' History of Christianity lectures (which can be downloaded for FREE on itunes and are completely worth your while) this summer and realizing the importance of learning one's lessons.

Men much more able than I (like Tertullian, Origen, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Polycarp, Anselm, Aquinas, and countless others) have made BIG mistakes. They said, wrote or did things that make us cringe and which were obviously sinful or just plain dumb...and they were bishops and Church Fathers...men with vast influence on the early church and subsequent doctrine and Church growth. However, as I read and listen and think through the lives, triumphs, and failures of these men, I have to rejoice in the fact that God used these men. God used men who were sinful and mistaken and prideful and undeserving...the bottom line is that God uses sinners and that He is still God. Absolute and uncompromising sovereignty that will bring to completion His own plans, resulting in His ultimate glory and our ultimate good.

So...back to Thailand. I can't match any of these men in intellectual ability or devotion to Christ. I can't match them in ministry credentials or educational pedigree. But, just as in the lives of these great men (who again...often got it wrong), God will use Kiki and I in Bangkok in spite of ourselves. All of this comes together to make me more humble (I have to realize that I don't always have the whole picture...God will move in ways that I am not always comfortable with, theologically), more gracious (men more able than I have made BIG mistakes), and more dependent on Him (this is His work, His Church, His mission...not mine...and He will bring results in His time).

Thailand Timeline

Many have asked us about our time-line for getting back to Thailand, which leads me to believe I haven’t clearly communicated it (imagine that!). So....I wanted to put this down and give you all a little clearer picture of what our next year looks like:

So I turned 29 yesterday and had home-made guacamole for a birthday cake. I wish I had a picture of it, but I forgot my camera for the whole week of being in Alt. Forgetting one's camera is a cardinal sin and I have repented... So, anyway, this is the age that everyone says they are when they lie about their age.... I think I'll like this year, but I don't know if I will like it enough to not want to try the next years too.
This is my last real week of academics (until language school in Thailand). I have two big projects to finish and present and then I don't have any more academic deadlines. I will have 3,000 pages to read and another 10 page paper, but I can do it on my own time. I like reading and 10 pages seems like nothing at this point in the game! So!!!! I willl soon be grade-free! Who wants to have a number represent how much they learned? That is why I love being in clinic--it is experiential learning. BTW, I love what I am doing. Praise be to God who designed me for this kind of work.

Support Update

Every week or two, we'll post our support level here on the blog. Right now, we're at about 3% of our monthly support needs. We've just met with a church and we've got some more lined up already. Pray with and for us as we look for people to partner with us as we get prepared to leave for Bangkok.

4th family brownies

This doesn't feel like the 4th of July.... I don't know what is different this year, but I feel very a-partiotic. Not unpatriotic, but kind of disconnected to this holiday. Maybe this is the beginning of moving to Thailand. This isn't our last 4th of July in the states but pretty much every holiday after this one is going to be the last one at home for at least three years and maybe forever.
So being at home with family and our church family is going to be nice for today and the rest of the week--even if Dr. Hurley's last class assignments are still looming over my head. But what a weird thought... after this Christmas, I will be spending Christmas in a tropical country wearing shorts and running the AC without a Christmas tree or any of the normal trappings. Or our families.
Family is one of the biggest sacrifices we will make as missionaries. There is a lot that we take for granted about family and it hasn't quite hit home (seeing as I am laying in bed in my childhood room typing this) but as for what I will miss most, it might be the comfort being a part of a family, especially if we ever have kids.
Speaking of family, my mom just brought up the brownie batter bowl for me to lick. I am going to stop typing now so that my keyboard doesn't get all sticky.

Off to ATL...

For the next week we'll be staying with Kiki's family in north Atlanta as we take Isaiah to Malachi at RTS Atlanta from 10am-6pm everyday. Hopefully, we'll be able to catch up with old friends, worship at The Vine Community Church (PCA), do some support-raising, and play with our very lovable pit-bull, Bella.

Pray for our support meetings as we gather partners to 'hold the rope' for us as we prepare to return to Thailand.

Different country, same story.

"In China, every hour four-thousand people pass through the gates of death unto the darkness beyond- Saviorless, hopeless. Does it not stir our hearts to go forth and help them, does it not make us long to leave our luxury, our exceeding light, and go to them that sit in darkness?"

~Amy Carmichael, A Chance to Die