Baked beans for breakfast?

Folks all over the world are waking up this morning.  Some will eat, indeed baked beans, as they do in the UK.  Some will eat potato leaf and rice with fish, as they do here in Sierra Leone.  Some will eat seaweed and rice, as they do in Japan.  Some will eat olives, as they do in the Middle East.  Me, I had PB and J today.  The global community comes in many different stripes.  Yet, our need and heart’s cry for this broken world to be put back together is shared.  We know things are not as they should be.  That has been planted in our hearts by our Creator.  Sin messed us and it up.  Yet the cry echoes in our hearts.  We try and try to fix it and ourselves.  Yet, no matter what our stripe is, we cannot make it right.  And no matter what our stripe is, we have been sent an Answer, a Solution.  Isaiah 61:1 foretells of One.  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor.  He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.  Jesus read this in the synagogue, and said, ” This Scripture is fulfilled in your midst. (I am the One)  What good news.  No matter where we come from on this earth, it is for us.  Whether we eat tamales on Christmas Eve, or turkey on Christmas Day, the good news is for all of us.  Our world, and we are broken.  We cannot put it or ourselves back together again, but there has come One who has, is and will put it all right.  Heaven will not be separated by race, language, or ethnic background.  One Jesus, for all.

Lessons from a rat

Today I walked in my kitchen and smelled something rank.  My friend Jane verified that the smell was cause for celebration.  The rat we had been trying to get rid of for weeks, had finally died.  Hallelujah!   We had tried so many things with this rat.  We tried traps, glue boards, homemade organic poison- peanut butter with baking soda inside, (rates cannot process baking soda, it builds up and boom, they die- who knew? well, we tried it all, to no avail.  We prayed, and we asked the Lord to take this nasty thing out of our house,  Still, he was around.  Then, we found a hole under our sink where he was coming and going out of the house. MMMM, very sneaky. We couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t getting into our food.   He was going outside to eat, but then coming back into the house to sleep in a nice warm nest made by part of my kitchen rug he chewed up and part of my daughter’s fleece hoodie he had chewed.(EWWWW!)  For a long time we weren’t even sure he was real, then evidence would pop up again.   In the earlier days we would hear him chewing up my bathroom cabinet.  Not a pleasant sound at  2AM. When we found the hole under the sink, our friend Paul closed it up.  Then, just a few days later, he was caught in the trap.  What a day of rejoicing!  Strangely enough, we learned a few things from this rat.  1) Things do not always happen when we think is best.   We set out traps and did all we knew what to do.  We would have liked to have him killed early on, but it didn’t happen that way.  Like so many other things in our lives, we needed to trust God and His timing  2)  We needed to keep on trusting that God would somehow get this thing out of our house.  We needed to keep on asking Him,  3)  Rats, like sin, are sneaky.  He moved in the night time, he had a secret passage way.  Sin doesn’t often come up, introduce itself to you and say, hey, how would you like to come with me into a lifestyle of bondage, say, gossip, gluttony, pornography, hatred, unforgiveness, etc.  Nope,  It happens little by little.  We really need to make sure the holes in our mind are filled.  Is there anyway for sin to enter in us today?  

Now, you may say that I have too much time on my hands and that I hyper spiritualize.  Possibly true.  Yet, I know that God heard us.  I know even more to wait for God,  I know even more to trust God.  I know even more to be alert, and to close areas in my heart where sin can sneak in.   And isn’t it great that God cares about things like this?  He sees us.  He loves us.  He is acting on our behalf.  What a wonderful God!

Thanks!

Thankfulness is a powerful thing.  There are many days that we wake up cranky, and all we can do is focus on what is wrong.  There are plenty of things to  focus on that are wrong in our world.  Yet, there are many good, wonderful, beautiful things to focus on as well.  It may seem that there are days where there is nothing to give thanks for.  Yet, they are there.  Simple things, big things. They are there.  As Christians, we have so much to give thanks for.  We have been redeemed.  We have been ransomed, bought back from the enemy.  We no longer have a barrier between us and our Creator, Father God.  We have eternity in Heaven to look forward to.  We no need fear death.  We are equipped with all we need for life and godliness.  We are loved and treasured.  God created us, saved us, filled us with His own Spirit.  This earthly life is broken due to sin.  There are many things that aren’t right.   And yet….. God is still in His throne.  Psalm 9:1 and 2 say” I will praise you , Lord, with all my heart.  I will tell of all the marvelous things You have done.  I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to Your name, O Most High.”  He is worthy of our thanks, even when we cannot see light.  Who knows, as we sing, a little Light just may creep in……

Shhh, can you hear it?

My family and I have been enjoying our time back in the states since early September.  We have enjoyed seeing family and friends.  We had the wonderful opportunity to travel through many states, catching up with friends and supporters, visiting the White House, (no, we didn’t get to see the President, he was a little busy since it was 4 days before the election! 🙂   )  and getting to experience fall in more than a few states.  It has been wonderful.

Each time we come back, we notice how much we have missed, how much we don’t know, how much we haven’t seen in the previous 2 years.  There have been times in the past that we have felt at home, nowhere, not here, not in Africa.  This time is different.  We are ready to go back home to Africa.  That is where our ministry is, that is where our hearts are, that is what we miss.   I am surprised by that since I thought I would always feel that this, the US is home.  The Lord may move us at any time, but for right now, that is home.  We have been richly blessed in the last 18 months.  The Lord has opened up so many opportunities in ministry, and we are now overseeing a preschool, an elementary school, a Bible Telling and trade school, as well as two orphan homes.  Never, did we see those things all coming, not as fast as they have come.   We dreamed, but they are very present.  So, we are dreaming more… For this space in time, we are where we are supposed to be, doing what He has equipped us to do.  Some folks have a hard time even thinking about living in Africa, and want to elevate us to supersainthood.  I can assure you, we are not all that.  Yet we are doing what He has put in our hearts to do, and using the gifts He has given us.  Rick and I firmly believe that God has put a fire, a passion about something in each and every person He has made.  He has also gifted in those areas.  So, contrary to popular belief, God wants us to serve Him with the gifts He has given us along with the fire He has put in us.  So many times, folks believe serving God means suffering in the sense that it has to be doing something that you hate to do, that goes against every grain of your being.  What if, He has put something in you, a desire, and giftings, to serve and honor Him, to show Him to a broken world, in a way that only you can???

One thing that I have seen since being back is that folks are so busy.  Busy doing good things, busy doing the right things.  Yet, in so many cases, I got the sense that there was no time to hear God.  No time to hear Him whisper and draw out what He has made you to do.  I know, life is busy.  So much busier here than in Africa. Yet. What if we live a whole life with the fire dying inside of us?  What if there is a piece of God that no one gets to see since we couldn’t take time to let Him draw that out of us?  We are called to serve him in Africa, the one place so many folks pray against being called to 🙂  God may not call you to Africa, but if we listen, He will call us into a rich life of serving Him and loving Him the way we were built.

Lord, help us take time to hear you.  Help us to take time to look at how we are serving you and see if it lines up with the fire and giftings You have put in us.  Help us to let what You have put in us shine, for Your world to see. amen.

Lost and found

Sometimes, I walk into a room and look for something I have lost.  There are times I find, later that I am in the wrong room.  I have been searching in the wrong place.

This weekend, Ramadan, the month of fasting and seeking Allah for Muslims is coming to a close.  The last ten days of this time of fasting is important for them.  Many will go to the mosque and stand, read the Quran out loud and pray from midnight to 5 a.m.  It is fair to say that at least some of them are really seeking Creator God.  Some are trying really hard in the way they know how to find Him.  Yet, they are in the wrong room.  Thankfully, they are not searching for an inanimate object.  They are searching for  Creator God who loves them and wants relationship with them.   He finds them in their search.

Please join us in praying for Muslims worldwide- 1.6 to 2 billion of them, that they would find and be found by Creator God during this Ramadan season.  Pray that He would speak to them in visions and dreams.  Pray that they would find and be found by the God they have always hoped for.

You are joyfully woefully inadequate…..

Great encouraging post title, eh?  I don’t know how many times I will have to learn this lesson, but every time I do, I breathe a sigh of relief.  There are so many articles, blogs and books out there that tell you how much you need to be doing to “reach your full potential”  Now, I am not against full potential.  I just know it doesn’t come from me.  Yet, I forget where it comes from, and I work and huff and puff trying to be all these things, to all sorts of people.  Then,  I get the tap on the shoulder, to come away and rest with Papa God.  AAAHHHHH.  He says, “Without Me, you can do nothing” What is that? Nothing? Yep, nothing.  Yet, through Christ I am able to do ALL things.. Matthew 11:28-30 in the Message says,””Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” I am unable, He is ABLE.  I think I go rest for a while in His able arms….. and lay down the quest for my full potential! 🙂

For ladies only! Embarrassing moments in Freetown

Yes, ladies, it is time for me to open this blog as one that celebrates the strange and funny things that happen here.  When we first arrived in Sierra Leone in 2006, one day I was hanging out with some African ladies on our back porch.  Someone told a joke, and one, who really was a friend, reached out and put her hand on my breast.  Well, I was straight off the boat, so I jumped!  She laughed and asked me what was wrong.  I explained that that wasn’t appropriate behavior in the US.  She laughed and told it was a sign of affection (really?) and of close friendship.  Breasts here, apparently, are more public property than in the states.  When I became a mom, I was used to them becoming the kids property, but other grown women, really?  Well, as time when by, I saw that it was true.  A little while ago, we became friend with a lady who runs a small shop near our house.  One day she reached out and touched me, you know…. and told me that I really did love her, “too much” as they say here..  Well, suffice it to say, in the states, I would have felt led to explain that , no, I really don’t love her, that way, too much.  But now I was free to receive her own proclamation of love and friendship towards me.  The touching thing, not so much welcomed, but what it means, yes indeed! She is a good friend.  Don’t worry, friends of mine.  I won’t be showing my love and friendship to you in that way!  🙂  The joys of learning in a different culture!

No one will ever love you like He does….

So, we just celebrated Easter yesterday.  What a wonderful day!  Celebrating freedom and life, forever.  I am not sure why, but I got to thinking.  What a lie society has sold us about romantic love.  I love my husband, he really is wonderful.  Yet, he is not, nor am I to him all that society says we will be to each other.  Because people refuse to look to God to be their all in all, the true Lover of their souls, they look around for a substitute.  My husband is indeed wonderful, yet he does not complete me, Christ does.  My husband has tremendous patience with me, but he does not heal me or fulfill me down to the very depths, Jesus does.  In Zephaniah 3:17, it says” The Lord your God is with you, a Powerful One Who wins the battle. He will have much joy over you. With His love He will give you new life. He will have joy over you with loud singing.” And in the end.. Jesus laid down His life, for yours.  That is true love, that is everlasting love.  that is the real deal my friends, and He has it for you!  All you have to do is say yes, and open wide your arms to receive it.

VICTORY!

We are victorious when we accept the gift of Jesus.  Hebrews 9:22 says there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.  He hung on that cross, and died for you, for me.  Then… on the third day…, He arose victor over the grave, over death.  There is no victory for us, without Him, without accepting the gift of His death.  He has risen, He has risen INDEED.  Go and celebrate! You are free, you are forgiven, you are victorious!

Why do we need to be made new?

A few days ago, we talked about being brand spanking new.  Why is that?  Why do we need that?  We aren’t all that bad, are we?  Here’s the glitch.  Yes, we are without Christ .  Yes, we were.  We are in the week of the happenings that led up to the resurrection of Christ.  So, really two questions are in play here, but we will just tackle one today.  Who were we, anyway, before we took Him as our own?  Well, glad you asked, let’s take a peek.   Romans 5:10 says we were enemies of God,  Colossians 1:13 says we were in the domain of darkness, Ephesians 2:1-3 says, “At one time you were dead because of your sins. ² You followed the sinful ways of the world and obeyed the leader of the power of darkness. He is the devil who is now working in the people who do not obey God. ³ At one time all of us lived to please our old selves. We gave in to what our bodies and minds wanted. We were sinful from birth like all other people and would suffer from the anger of God. ” Romans 6:6 says the our old self was disobedient to God and independent from Him.  If we want to have a relationship with God, something has got to give.  Our sinfulness is the barrier in between us and the God who loves us.  Yes we are that bad.  Yes, we are sinful.  Yes ,we need to be made new.  How can that happen?  Come back, and you will see!