John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
We moved to another house in July, still in our same town, just a different house. When we bought this house, we felt very strongly that God was leading us to this house, for the purpose of giving people who needed “shelter” and place to stay. The economy is still not the best in our area and the housing market has been in “park” for about 6 months now, so we currently own 2 houses. Our kids have long begged for a home at “the lakes” (about an hour from us) and we have always told them that ‘no, we can’t afford 2 houses”. Now we own 2 houses so they are wondering why we have said we can’t and now we do. Our answer? Just because we do, doesn’t mean we can. *smile*
Throughout the past few months I have had my doubts, times of fear, times when I questioned whether we did the right thing, times of an absence of peace in my life. Then Ju Chan arrived in the US and needed a home and without question we knew he was supposed to live with us. We did not want to receive anything financially for allowing Ju Chan to live with us, however, his father insisted and wired money to us for Ju Chan’s care. God provided. Last week a man that we attended college with us contacted us, he needs a place to rent in our town during the week, would we rent our home to him? God provided. Two days ago I began a new job. This one is fewer hours and more pay. God provided. We made the first double house payment last week and I am truly stand amazed at how God is providing for us in tangible ways. Why am I so amazed? God’s deepest desire is to love and care for his children. God’s deepest desire is to deepen my relationship with him.
After a few “quiet” weeks with only one showing, we have had 3 showings in the past two days. As I opened the house yesterday for the realtors, I realized I have complete peace right now with this situation. God knows. He knows my needs. He knows the plan. He does not promise an absence of hardship in our lives, He promises that HE will never be absent.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
The Least of These
Three weeks ago today we welcomed a young man into our home from Seoul, South Korea. We had first heard of this young man 3 days before when our church sent out an email with a special request for a young man (22 yrs old) who had arrived in the United States earlier that day to attend the college where my husband is employed. He had arrived that day on campus with his younger brother (15 yrs old), who was registered to attend the high school that our kids attend. However because of “glitch” in communication - there had been no housing arrangements made for the younger brother.
I read the email from our church while on a break at work. I immediately thought that I needed to talk to my husband (Mike) about that. 45 minutes later Mike stopped in at my work and asked if I had received an email. I said yes, and he said without hesitation, “I think we need to do that.”
We had almost full and immediate support from our kids on this decision. In explaining it to them we used these verses from Matthew 25:35-36 -- For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
We have 2 sons the same ages as Ju Chan and his brother. Mike and I could very easily place ourselves into their situation and wanted to do what we would want people to do for our family if the situation was reversed.
It has been an interesting 3 weeks since Ju Chan arrived to our home. We took a “crash course” in the Korean culture (a.k.a. surf the web), so that we could better welcome him to the US and to our family. We have tried to teach him about the way we live and the American culture. And at times it does seem overwhelming. The language barrier has been just that at times… a barrier.
It is amazing to me - the things that we say or do (as Americans) that really make very little sense and sound even more odd to have to explain to someone who really has no idea what something means. For example: I believe I really scared Ju Chan two weeks ago when I told him it was not a problem at all for me to “run him over” to his brother. You might understand what I meant by that (drive him over to his brother). But the look on Ju Chan’s face told me he HOPED he did not hear me correctly.
Many things have come back to me from my past that are helping me today. The many trips that I took to the country of Honduras, leading mission trips for teens, has been very helpful in learning to communicate without words or with very few words, where there is a communication barrier.
Actions speak loudly in some situations. I am reminded of the quote by St. Francis of Assisi -- “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” As I said in the previous post: what do my actions say to others, about who Jesus is?
We are making progress with Ju Chan and our family is learning a lot of different things through this whole experience. Such as: after Ju Chan made us a Korean meal two weeks ago -- Koreans prefer that their food be VERY spicy. I think my lips/mouth burned for two days after that meal. :)
Despite the ability to communicate with him clearly, our kids have taken him in as a sibling and have become very protective of him. I ask for your prayers for Ju Chan as he continues to adjust to living here in the U.S. and for our family as we continue to adjust to adding him to our family. Thanks!
Matthew 25:40 - The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
I read the email from our church while on a break at work. I immediately thought that I needed to talk to my husband (Mike) about that. 45 minutes later Mike stopped in at my work and asked if I had received an email. I said yes, and he said without hesitation, “I think we need to do that.”
We had almost full and immediate support from our kids on this decision. In explaining it to them we used these verses from Matthew 25:35-36 -- For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
We have 2 sons the same ages as Ju Chan and his brother. Mike and I could very easily place ourselves into their situation and wanted to do what we would want people to do for our family if the situation was reversed.
It has been an interesting 3 weeks since Ju Chan arrived to our home. We took a “crash course” in the Korean culture (a.k.a. surf the web), so that we could better welcome him to the US and to our family. We have tried to teach him about the way we live and the American culture. And at times it does seem overwhelming. The language barrier has been just that at times… a barrier.
It is amazing to me - the things that we say or do (as Americans) that really make very little sense and sound even more odd to have to explain to someone who really has no idea what something means. For example: I believe I really scared Ju Chan two weeks ago when I told him it was not a problem at all for me to “run him over” to his brother. You might understand what I meant by that (drive him over to his brother). But the look on Ju Chan’s face told me he HOPED he did not hear me correctly.
Many things have come back to me from my past that are helping me today. The many trips that I took to the country of Honduras, leading mission trips for teens, has been very helpful in learning to communicate without words or with very few words, where there is a communication barrier.
Actions speak loudly in some situations. I am reminded of the quote by St. Francis of Assisi -- “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” As I said in the previous post: what do my actions say to others, about who Jesus is?
We are making progress with Ju Chan and our family is learning a lot of different things through this whole experience. Such as: after Ju Chan made us a Korean meal two weeks ago -- Koreans prefer that their food be VERY spicy. I think my lips/mouth burned for two days after that meal. :)
Despite the ability to communicate with him clearly, our kids have taken him in as a sibling and have become very protective of him. I ask for your prayers for Ju Chan as he continues to adjust to living here in the U.S. and for our family as we continue to adjust to adding him to our family. Thanks!
Matthew 25:40 - The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Friday, September 10, 2010
Who Do You Say That I Am?
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
- Mohandas Gandhi
The email came from a friend of mine, with the subject line: “Here’s where I always have a problem”…. So I knew it was going to be another good discussion with her. Even though she never actually said the quote, her email ran along the lines of this famous quote by Mohanda Gandhi. I’ve been thinking about this email and quote ever since I received it. We did have a great discussion, too.
This email and conversation with my friend also raised a lot of questions in my mind, things I have been “chewing” on ever since. These questions have convicted me to take a look at myself. How is that people can claim to be followers of Christ and yet, not look one bit like Him? I know that there have been times when I looked NOTHING like Christ, in my actions or words…. And I never paused to think about how others might see Christ, if I claimed to be a follower of Christ.
At youth group the other night we talked about a theme for year. We listened to several songs and read some scriptures to go with the songs. We were searching for a theme for our year… who do we want to be known as? What does it mean to “live the life”? What does it mean to BE Christian? What does it mean to love as Jesus loved? One of the songs we listened to was Lincoln Brewster’s new song “Reaching For You” [Video quality not the best, but you can hear the song quite well]. A great discussion followed that song on how these kids sometimes feel “persecuted” for going to the church that they go to or being labeled some type of Jesus Freak when they live with integrity. It was at this time that a very wise young man said: do you think people even realize that they need God? That statement blew me away.
How often do I live like God really doesn’t matter?
How often do I live like I don’t really need God?
How often do I live like all that really matters is "today"?
How many times do I confuse people who really need to see Jesus in my life, by living in a way that they do not see Jesus in me?
Our words and actions are on display. They “tell” who Jesus is to those who know I am a Christian and to those who do not know I am a Christian. What is my life saying about Jesus? What picture do other people see?
[The Lincoln Brewster video is from last weekend at Lifelight - a free 3 day music festival located about an hour from me.]
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