Junction Ahead

This summer I have taken several long trips. On those road trips, it is obvious that if you pay attention to all the signs, things go more smoothly. If a junction is coming up, will it be a right-hand or left-hand exit? Which road is best? Sometimes there are multiple roads that could get us to our next stop, and things like traffic jams, accidents, and road construction can make a difference as to which road we choose.

For Christians, our final destination is heaven, but God leads us along through a series of stops along the way. For the past nine years, the West Hampden Baptist Church has been our stopping point. Now God is taking us to the next one. We are back on the road in our lives, making our way to the next stop.

The signs on the road point to missions as our next stop. For several months now, we have been following God’s directions toward that destination. In February, we took a missions trip to the Dominican Republic where Charlie taught a week of modular classes. When we got to the end of the week, he said, “That is what I’ve always wanted to do.” So we asked IPM (International Partnership Ministries) if it would be possible for us to join them and do that. They eventually sent us an application. Last week we took a week to go through their pre-field training, and on Friday their board officially accepted us as missionaries.

So now we are close enough to begin looking for landmarks to pass by on our way. First, our church needs to find a new pastor and we need to sell our house. Then, we will start the process of raising friends who will support us with their prayers and finances. When that is finally complete, we will begin our ministry as itinerant teachers for IPM, going wherever they need us in their multiple Bible College and pastoral training facilities around the world.

Our next stop on this journey through life is IPM. How long it takes us to get there will depend on many things. But one thing is sure: We follow a Master Guide who has gotten all his travelers safely to their final destination.

Peace Under Pressure

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3

On Thursday morning, I looked at my calendar for the rest of the week. That day I planned to spend the day watching three little children. On Friday, I would spend most of the day decorating for our Mother-Daughter banquet. On Saturday I was speaking at another church’s Mother’s Day Luncheon. In the afternoon two sets of guests were arriving – one couple and one family of five. In the evening, we had our own Mother-Daughter banquet. I also needed to put together the worship bulletin for Sunday morning and figure out what to do about meals on Sunday. I didn’t have enough food in the house to feed dinner to seven additional people, so I needed to make a grocery store run too.

I looked around the house at the cleaning that still needed to be done so that the guests would have clean rooms and bathrooms. I looked again at my calendar and said to the Lord, “Lord, you see my calendar. I don’t see how I can possibly get it all done. But you said that your yolk is easy and your burden is light. So I give to you my schedule and ask you to compress the responsibilities into the hours I have. And I give you any expectations that are not Yours, but my own pride.”

I got up from my prayer time confident that God would work things out. I went to school to meet the mother of the three children and pick up her preschoolers. She told me that her schedule had changed and she would meet me at lunch to pick up her children. Suddenly I had an afternoon free. God was already answering my prayers.

On Friday I went to church to decorate. A friend and her children met me there. As we were decorating, she asked me if she could bring lunch to church on Sunday to feed my houseful of guests. Once again, I saw God step in to answer my prayers.

That evening at 6:00, I looked at the few things that still needed to be done at church and called my husband. “I still have one errand to run, more napkins to fold, an arch to finish, and I haven’t done anything about supper.”

He responded, “Would you like me to come and help?”

"I would love it!" I exclaimed. Once again, I saw God’s answer to my prayer. Charlie came and we finished.

The next morning, I had enough time to finish cleaning and get ready for the rest of my day. I still needed to stop at the grocery store to make sure I had enough food for breakfast. I also still needed to finish a game I was creating and set out the place cards. I trusted that there would be time enough in the afternoon to get all of that done.

When I returned from my speaking engagement, a box of bagels sat on the table. My husband had attended a breakfast meeting that morning. When the host church heard about our guests, they gave him the leftover bagels. That supplemented my breakfast food enough that I would not have to go to the grocery store that day.

This morning I read Isaiah 26:3. I marveled at the peace I experienced over the past four days. While my schedule was non-stop from morning to late night every day, I did not feel overwhelmed. God had truly given me His peace. He had also gone beyond what I could have dreamed when I prayed that simple prayer on Thursday morning by taking care of so many details in my life.

So today I give Him praise for His wise management of my schedule and for giving me the grace to trust Him so that I could be at peace during all the busy-ness.

Dawn on Resurrection Day

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. Mark 16:1-2I have often wondered what it would have been like to be Mary or Salome or Joanna on that first Easter morning. Were they afraid for their lives if they were discovered to be disciples of Jesus? What did they talk about? His smile? His teaching? The way He changed them? His love for the unlovely? Their last time with Him before He died? We have no idea, but their early morning devotion has created a desire by millions of Christ’s followers to celebrate Christ’s resurrection at dawn on Easter morning.

For me, the memories of Easter sunrise services are many. As a child in Indonesia, my parents awakened me and my brothers and sisters. We dressed quickly in the darkness, grabbed sweaters and flashlights, and headed out into the crisp air of the predawn, following dewy paths to the beach. The youngest child rode most of the way on Daddy’s back. There on the beach, we gazed at the horizon, where the night’s stars gave way to morning’s glory. As the sky lightened, Dad retold the story of that first Easter morning, adding emotion to the words, “He is not here! He is risen!” As waves crashed on the beach and palm trees waved, we joined their celebration and sang with abandon. After all, we were the only ones there, God was our only audience, and there was no better day to give Him praise.

In the Philippines, we gathered at dawn in the American Cemetery. Surrounded by tombstones, some of the teenagers dashed down the hillside into the group gathered shouting, “He’s alive!” And how we sang! Surrounded by death, we praised the One who had power over death, the One who is Life.

In southern Maine, we gathered on the lawn of a seaside hotel, where the aroma of bacon wafted from the hotel’s kitchen. As the waves gently lapped at the shore and seagulls soared overhead, we awakened the hotel guests with our songs of praise. Some came out on their balconies and joined our worship.

Sometimes, I have been in situations where I could not attend a sunrise service. On one of those occasions, I arose before sunrise and climbed the stairs to the flat roof. As the city began to awaken and the sun began its day’s journey across the skies over Mexico, I sat alone reading my Bible, praying, and singing praises to God for His amazing redemption.

Here we gather in a building. It’s often much too cold to be outside at dawn on Easter. In our heated auditorium, we watch the sun light the room and the world outside. With a piano accompanying, we sing “He Lives!” I am amazed again by the mixed mercy and justice of God who would allow me to be redeemed when I deserve only His judgment.

So while I have no idea what it was really like for Mary, Mary and Salome on that first Easter morning, I am so thankful for their early morning expedition. Now I have a lifetime of early morning memories of celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. But that’s not what is most important to me. Their story cements the amazing reality that Jesus conquered death. After all, if it were a lie, who would have entrusted these simple women with the first news of it? Wouldn’t you have chosen someone rich and famous like Joseph of Arimethea or one of the religious elite like Nicodemus? I would have.

So thank You, Lord, for Easter’s dawn, and for the testimony of these women. Thank you for entrusting them with the first news of Your resurrection. Thank you that while tomorrow is in some ways just another day, it is a special day when we can celebrate with abandon. If You would do all of that for us, then You will give us everything we need and will take us safely through all our days until we see You face to face if we will just follow You every step of the way. Lord, I love You. Thank You. Amen.

Homesick for Heaven

“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” II Corinthians 5:8

When the sun comes up in the morning and paints the sky with gold, and the clouds shimmer as though they hide angels, and the deep blue sky behind the bright spring green of the trees reminds me of the beauty of summer flowers still to come, I marvel at the creative hand of God. Then when I stand on the ocean’s rocky shore and watch the sea spray reach for the sky, see the cormorants dive for their food and hear the seals bark, I wonder why God made such an incredibly beautiful earth for us to enjoy. When I have stood on the sandy beaches of tropical isles and seen the last glow of the sun paint a path across the calm seas, I have dreamed of being able to walk that path and arrive at the other end in heaven.

I think I have always longed for heaven. When I was eight years old, I dreamed of it. I saw the radiant glow of the golden city and wanted to go there, but it was blocked from me. In my dream, a glass dome covered the city and I could not go inside. But oh, how I longed to be there. After that, I prayed every night for a long time that Jesus would come back before morning. When I awoke in the morning, I was so disappointed to awake in my bed in my own room. But I bounded happily out of bed saying to myself, Maybe tonight He will come and this will be my last day to enjoy.

God had spread so much beauty around for us to enjoy. The star-filled nights and trembling thunderstorms, the whispering fall of white snow, the frozen rivers that crack and break under spring’s thaw, the eagles, seagulls, and hawks that fly past my windows, and the first shoots of spring flowers pushing up through the mud. I could go on and on. Our world is so beautiful.
God has also filled my life with many good things. I have a husband I love and family and friends who are precious to me. I have a roof over my head and clothes to wear. I do not lack for food. Yet I long for heaven.

Almost every day something beckons my heart toward that place where Jesus will reign supreme. It will be so much better to be with Him. I long for the day when I will be able to bow at the feet of the Savior of my soul and thank Him face to face for His saving grace. I look forward to the day when I will stand with myriads of people raising our voices with one loud voice, singing "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!"