A new adventure begins for us!

August 26, 2012

Maria Faith, Uncategorized , 2 Comments

Andrée Seu Peterson crafted an interesting analogy in a recent column for World Magazine, dated 21 Aug 2012 How Linda Diets.  Her cousin Linda, once on a diet, remarked that to lose weight, “you have to like the feeling of your stomach grumbling.”  Andrée followed Linda’s advice and found that, “The change of perspective was effective in turning a normally unpleasant experience into a motivator.”  Andrée continues:

Nowadays I have no trouble with my diet, but everybody has trouble of some kind or other. You may as well expect it: “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). And I have found my cousin’s counsel transfers well from the dieting domain to the spiritual domain: “You have to like the feeling of your soul being in a trial.”

It’s good to know that by looking at problems and challenges differently, I have a better chance of staying motivated LONG ENOUGH to get ALL the good that God intends for me.

My husband and I have deliberately created some trials that we are now entering.  No, we’re not masochists.  But we do like adventure.  Kind of like George Műller, we have deliberately bitten off a HUGE project that gives us a massively challenging opportunity to practice trusting God. (George started orphanages in 19th century England and daily PRAYED in the money to keep them running.  He kept a diary and published a book to encourage average Christians like you and me to trust God as well.)

My husband Michael is retiring from Federal service next May with a small pension.  (Thank you, Lord!)  We could choose to stay put here in Virginia. It would be way ‘easier’.   We wouldn’t have to sell a house or give up my teaching job. Most likely, Mike could find a contracting job, making more than he earns right now as a federal civil servant.

But where is the adventure in that?  Where are the staggering opportunities to trust God?  In fact, if we didn’t want ANY stress, Mike could stay working for the Federal government.  He doesn’t HAVE to retire.  Next summer he GETS to retire

Why are we moving?  It’s simple.  We’ve always wanted to live in the hills. We have picked Asheville, NC.

And here are the ways we are venturing forth in this prayerful path of faith, a path into the unknown:

  • We have a house to sell, with all that entails, including timing
  • We need money to pay for moving costs
  • I need a teaching job in Asheville
  • Mike needs work that will bring in income (? How do you start a consulting business?  How do you find clients? )
  •  We will have to find a place to live

What we have going for us:

  • We have God as our ‘blessed controller’
  • We have tons of His promises to guide us and provide for us
  • He actually WANTS us humbly to cast our cares on Him, as a child would with his dad
  • We are of the same mind, Mike and I
  • We can encourage the other when fear and doubt attack
  • We have Christian friends who are praying for us
  • We have good health and no other mouths to feed but 3 felines

Deliberately choosing to practice trusting God should give us much evidence of the God who cares and comes through for His children.  We want to give Him the glory each step of the way and gain specific examples we can use to encourage other believers along the path.

What are you trusting God for in your life?  I’d love to hear.

More to come about the adventure as we walk in faith along this new road – and if you’d like résumés….just let us know

PS: I’m encouraged by the poem that follows

A poem quoted by Elisabeth Elliot
Do The Next Thing

“At an old English parsonage down by the sea,
there came in the twilight a message to me.
Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven
that, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven.
And all through the hours the quiet words ring,
like a low inspiration, ‘Do the next thing.’

Many a questioning, many a fear,
many a doubt hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from heaven,
time, opportunity, guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrow, child of the King,
trust that with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer,
do it reliantly, casting all care.
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand,
who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
leave all resultings, do the next thing.

Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
working or suffering be thy demeanor,
in His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
the light of His countenance, be thy psalm.
Do the next thing.”

Idols and the One True God

August 12, 2012

Maria Proverbs , Leave a comment

Funny how no one protests the dominating and dour-faced deity on the boardwalk!  There stood the grimacing Neptune, trident at the ready, with tourists innocently posing for pictures next to the Virginia Beach idol, I mean icon!   Good thing he wasn’t a real god!!

I was enjoying a final field trip and play date with a friend before starting back to school. No we don’t have young kids; WE were the ones frolicking in the waves.

As I approached the towering symbol on the boardwalk, I couldn’t help but ponder the reaction should there have been an equally large Jesus, beckoning or protecting tourists who come to swim and sunbathe.  Yes, I know that precedent exists.  Outside Rio de Janeiro looms an immense Christ the Redeemer statue. Raised and secured on top of Corcovado Mountain, it was blessed and inaugurated in 1931 by Brazil’s president and a leading cardinal.  But that was 80+ years ago. Today there would be protests.

But instead of thinking about the injustice, I realized that the only reason the Roman god Neptune could be displayed in public in such a grand way by a municipality, is the fact that he is utterly powerless.  No one prays to him anymore.  He must be actually harmless, since Satan has removed him from the dark side’s arsenal of gods.   But Jesus, He is another matter!  He is to be feared.  He is powerful.

To get an idea of the relative power, consider this.  If Neptune WERE real and not just a mythological figure, then we would be talking merely about the King and Ruler of the Sea.  But we’re talking about the Son of God – Jesus, who CREATED the entire universe.  Here’s a way to think of the enormity of the universe. (Borrowed from JD Greear who quotes others.)

Imagine that:

  • The distance between our Earth and the Sun is represented by the thickness of one piece of notebook paper. (the Sun is the only star in our solar system)
  • Then the distance between the Earth and the closest star in the next nearest solar system would be a stack of paper 70 feet high.
  • Then the distance across our Milky Way Galaxy would be that same stack of paper, but now 310 miles high.
  • In our galaxy, it is estimated that there are 200 to 400 billion stars.
  • And scientists conjecture that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the universe.

And it’s Jesus who created all this, at His word.  Talk about mind-boggling!!!

It’s a good thing we shy away from erecting a token statue of the Creator.

So, I say to the City Council of Virginia Beach.   Enjoy the revenue-producing draw that King Neptune exercises for you, for that is all he can do.  But fear the Lord and get wisdom!  (Proverbs 1:7)

PS:  Look at how that verse is rendered in French – « La crainte de l’Éternel est le commencement de la science » Did you notice how the word for knowledge is translated ?  Hmmmm

Blessed Contradiction – Psalm 68:19

August 5, 2012

Maria Psalms , Leave a comment

Bless the Lord who daily loads us with blessings.         KJV/ Darby/ Websters/ Youngs

Bless the Lord who daily bears our burdens.        NIV/ NASB/ God’s Word/ASV/ERV

Bless the Lord who daily carries us.         NLT/ ESV

Psalm 68:19

Welcome to the wonderful world of Blessed Contradictions!  I heard RC Sproul teach today that there are no contradictions in the Bible.  If one account or fact SEEMS to contradict another in the Bible, it is either a paradox or a mystery.  Paradoxes are seeming contradictions which resolve themselves when more information is provided.  Mysteries however, are just in the pre-resolved state. We don’t YET have enough information which will untangle the ‘so-called’ contradiction.

So what is a truth-loving Christian to do, given 3 different possible translations of Psalm 68:19?  Which translation is the correct one? It all depends on the definition of ‘amac’  (6006).  The Hebrew verb ‘amac’ can either mean:  to bear a load or to load onto.

So which is it?  And how are we to know?

I will offer a solution to our di- or ‘tri-lemma’ by asking a question? Would it be so wrong if we allowed for all three?

Think about Jesus’ theology.  In his high-altitude sermon, He gently chastises listeners (and us!) for holding onto anxieties, however real and legitimate they might be.  Who among us older than 9 doesn’t identify?  His invitation to come and rest is balm for many hearts. Shoulders sag with relief as He calls the weary and stressed out to come & off-load weighty matters at His feet.

If I asked you right now, ‘Friend, what wears you down, what wakes you up in the middle of the night, what is on your mind today?’ would you have to ponder long?  I bet you could tick off 10 concerns before I muttered ‘fish and loaves’ or ‘water into wine’! But whoever invites THAT kind of transparent sharing?  Each of us is preoccupied with his own ‘what ifs?’.  At most, we seem to invite honest off-loading by asking each other, ‘How are you doing?’  But few are they who listen lovingly, with patience.  We all understand social conventions.

Should you be worried that since YOU are NOT going to be worrying anymore, then nothing will get fixed, Off-loading at Jesus’ feet is in nowise neglect.  Jesus Himself will pick up our problems and sort them out from His perfect perspective. He might hand them back, one at a time, but they will have been lightened and infused with new insights into how we might deal with.  Or some will be permanently taken from us with the promise that He will solve them with His resources. (They were ‘above our pay grade’.)

Recently I was worried about finding someone to cat- sit our three cats.  The regular sitter was gone and I didn’t want to ask our neighbor who occasionally feeds them when we are away for a weekend.  I actually kept writing down this problem as a prayer request, off-loading the burden each morning, exercising trust that Jesus would come up with a solution.  About 3 weeks before we left to go hiking, one of my students called up and mentioned that she heard we were looking for a cat sitter.  She works part time at our Vet and our normal sitter had mentioned to someone who had mentioned to someone……..who worked at the Vet who then said to Monica, “there is a lady who needs a cat-sitter, would you call her?”   When Monica asked the name, it turned out to be me, her French teacher.  And when Monica phoned and we started to work out details, I asked her what she would charge.  She ‘just happened’ to still need funding for a missions trip to Japan.  Our budgeted amount for cat-sitting helped make the difference in her financial support.  Now THAT is creative.  I would not have thought of Monica.

So you see, Jesus does not suggest we ‘go Buddhist’ and pretend that we don’t have any needs.  He actually proposes a swap: His concerns for our concerns – His yoke for our yoke.  But how different from our cumbersome and heavy backpack is this Heavenly Load!

We get to wear a yoke that is custom fitted, with all the right padding in the right places. If you’ve ever hiked with a backpack, you might know the blessing of having a strap that goes across your chest and one across your waste to distribute the weight.

And what goes in our Backpack by Jesus? Do we get world-sized problems? By no means, we actually get presents!!!  Spiritual gifts for every situation: think wisdom and courage and strength and material resources.  Some of the best supplies we get to pack are Bible truths. God’s promises remind us of His love for us and His always-available supernatural power.  His forever love and permanent Holy –Spirit-power are down payments of future grace due us, given our ‘new-birthright’.  So instead of meditating on all our problems, we meditate on God’s character, His past help and His future promises.

Best of all, among all the items we carry when we are yoked to Him are His surprise gifts.  Our God is infinitely creative and as Jeremiah reminds us, God’s blessings are new every morning.  So let us meditate on the ‘loads us with blessings’ promise of this tri-fold truth.

May we NOT be perplexed by what seems like a contradiction or tri-lemma.  Since the Holy Spirit inspired King David to pen the Hebrew word ‘amac’, we can be sure that God intends good for us whether by removing the load from us, actually carrying us or giving us rich and weighty blessings.