Plagued by Many Choices

In the U.S., we are plagued by many different choices whenever we have to make a decision. When we bought our house, we looked at many different ones. None of them were exactly what we wanted, but we eventually chose the one we thought fit best. When I go to the grocery store, I am often overwhelmed by the many different choices of cheese, cereal, or cleaning products. If there were only one of what I wanted, my trips through the store would be much quicker. When we prepare to take a trip, we have multiple routes to sort through before arriving at the best way of getting there. At almost every point in life, we have to make choices among many possible options.

Because life is full of choices, we often approach finding a church the same way. We ask God to lead us to the right choice and then proceed to look for a church based upon our list of personal preferences. If no church has all of what we want, we settle for the closest thing, in the same way that we settle for the closest thing in our search for a house.

However, once we have a house in which to live, certain other things fall into place. We soon learn where we will do most of our grocery shopping and where the local gas stations are. We find the local library and gym.

In the same way, nearby churches become a logical choice for us. A church close by provides accessibility to a network of other people nearby who also attend there. It allows me to attend all the events, even when gas prices rise or there is a threatening weather forecast. If the car is in the shop for a few days, it is easier to get a ride from another church member (or even walk if it is close enough.) In other words, a church nearby is most likely one that God would have me attend, provided that it is theologically sound.

I can already hear some objections, so let me address a few of those.

• The churches near me do not have a youth group, and we have teenagers. Could it be that they are just waiting for your teenagers to start a youth group? Could it be that God wants you to be the one that starts a youth group? (This applies to any other ministry that may be your favorite.)
• We went to the church that is near us, but the pastor preaches boring sermons. Are the sermons the only negative? Is he good at shepherding the people? Is he good at counseling? Is he a good example to others? One man usually does not have all the abilities that everyone would like in a pastor. Can you have a ministry there by teaching a stimulating Bible study or Sunday school class?
• The church near our home has so few people in it that the atmosphere there is sad. Maybe God wants you to be the one that will help infuse new life into that church so that they can once again be a light in the community.
• The churches near me do not have good music. Are you sure that your definition of "good" music is the one God has for His church? It is possible that music can be unbiblical, but often our definition is a personal preference based on our experience. Could it be that they do not have the training to use good music? Maybe they are just waiting for someone who is an accomplished pianist or song leader in order to incorporate better music. 
• I like going to the church that is 45 minutes away because they have good (you fill in the blank.) Maybe the church near you does not have good ______ because you and others who live nearby have made the same choice you have. Will you still go there if gas prices rise? Can you be as involved there as you can be in a church nearby?
• Someone attends there that I do not like. This may be the worst reason I have heard. We are called to love one another, and the unlovable person is the one who needs our love most.  If God wants you to attend there, ask God to help you forgive them and then determine to love them in spite of anything that may happen.

When we moved to Lafayette, it did not take us long to find out that there were many different churches nearby. There were also many more good churches farther away. But God led us to a home in Lafayette, so it made sense that we were also supposed to attend church here. To go to a church far away would be like refusing to go to the local grocery store and drive an hour away to one we like better.

I know that sometimes God clearly leads people to a church that is not nearby. Sometimes it is for a season to help a new church start or to fill in when someone is needed for a particular ministry. Usually, though, God leads to a close church so that time, finances, and weather do not hinder our participation.

If you are one of those currently looking for a church, please consider one nearby. Ask God how far is too far and then keep your search inside those parameters. Unless you live in an area without a gospel witness or that is very sparsely populated, you will usually still have a choice, but the decision will not be as overwhelming. Then go to God with your thoughts about the church you are considering to make sure that He is leading you there. Otherwise, when there are difficult days, you will not be as likely to stay and struggle through the hard times. (But that's a blog for another day.)

A Real Christian Man

My dad was my first hero. As a child, I thought he could do anything. Oh, I knew he could not fly like Superman, but he was certainly more capable than Batman. After all, he could preach, teach, ride a motorcycle, fly an airplane, play a ukulele, sing with gusto, build houses, fix almost anything, and teach us cool stuff like how to fish, swim, and ride a bicycle.  He could even read us books and change his voice to sound like the characters in the book.

Dad planing a board for our house.

We learned a lot from his teaching. He taught us how to mow a lawn, plant a garden, wield a hammer, build things, and use power tools. He spent hours with my brothers rebuilding a car engine. He was at home in the kitchen.  On our birthdays, he made a tall stack Norwegian pancakes so that we could eat until we waddled away from the table, holding our bellies and declaring to the others how many pancakes we wolfed down. Now when we make Norwegian pancakes for the next generation, we use Dad's recipe, perfected through years of birthday celebrations.

However, the lessons I learned by observation were even more special. While I may not have admitted it while I was growing up, he set a standard for me of what it meant to be a real Christian man. When I got married, these were the things I wanted in a husband. I wanted someone who was authentic in his faith and who was a real Christian guy.

1. A real Christian man spends time alone with God.

In the morning when I arose, I usually found him in the living room. His Bible lay open on his lap and when he was done reading, he took out a list, scrawled in his own handwriting. As his prayer list covered the page of his Bible, he closed his eyes and talked to God about his concerns.  Occasionally I watched him, wondering how he could pray for so long.

One morning he was missing at breakfast. Later I asked him where he was. "I so wanted to stay up all night and pray like Jesus did when He was on earth," he told me, "but at about three in the morning I had to go back to sleep. One day I will try again." There were times when he was missing from the dinner table because he was praying and fasting.

2. A real Christian man loves his family.

Many pastors take Mondays off because they find Sundays exhausting. For him, Sundays were filled to the brim with teaching, preaching, counseling, prayer, and hospitality. He must have been tired on Mondays too. Yet because his children were in school on Monday, he chose to take his day off on Saturday so that he could spend more time with us.

His favorite stories to tell and retell were often about his children. Whether it was Steven's exposition of Scriptures, Dan's miraculous recovery, Tim's natural leadership, Joel's cute antics, Andrea's inexhaustible energy, Reza's adoption, or my fear of monsters in the night, his stories remain with us as part of our heritage. They give us a sense of identity and belonging. They tell us we belong to him.

While there was not a lot of money in the house, we knew that he considered us a priority. Birthday and Christmas gifts were simple and practical, but they were part of our celebration and a reminder that our parents cared. Vacations were spent as a family - either camping or visiting relatives. When special events like graduation arose, there was always a celebration and Dad was there, laughing and smiling with us.

3. A real Christian man tells others of Christ. 

My dad was shy, but he was also determined to let his light shine for Christ. At a gas station, he'd ask the attendant, "If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would go?" Depending upon the response, we might be there a while as he continued to share his faith with him. At restaurants, he'd say to the waitress, "We're going to pray in a minute. Is there anything I can pray about for you?" He kept gospel tracts in his pockets when he was traveling so that he would be able to leave information with people he encountered along the way. He was always ready to tell others of the hope he had in God.

I remember the day that he called me to tell me that Marcus, an Indonesian pastor, had died. "Now I know for sure that there will be someone to greet me in heaven when I get there because I introduced him to Jesus," he said with a mixture of sorrow and joy.

4. A real Christian man stands up for what he believes.

It would have been so much easier to keep quiet than to let people know his convictions were different from theirs. He could have kept his mouth shut when he saw people straying instead of encouraging them to go hard after God. He could have preached safe sermons rather than stepping on their toes. How he longed for people to take sanctification seriously and to do what they could to walk as closely to God as possible. So he chose to call sin evil and warn people of choosing the wrong path.

I thought it was normal for Christians to take a stand and to pursue heavenly goals with dogged determination. I thought every Christian tried to put God first in their lives. After all, all of the men I admired were like that, but especially my dad. Now I realize that his commitment is more rare than I realized. While it may be "normal," it is certainly not common.

5. A real Christian man is authentic all the time.

There was no difference between the man we saw at home and the man others saw at church. What he preached from the pulpit, he preached to us at home. If he said he hated sin, we heard him say it first at home. We never had to wonder what mood he was going to be in or how he would react to us. His moods did not affect his behavior. If he was wrong, he admitted it.

Sometimes I meet people who tell of a very different home life from what we see in public, and I grieve with them. It is hard for me to imagine the weight of having to put on a face in public to cover up what is really going on. I am glad that my dad taught me to be genuine at home so that we did not have to be hypocritical.

6. A real Christian man leaves a lasting legacy.

My dad is 91 years old now. He is weak and can no longer climb mountains to find jungle tribes that need the gospel. He tires easily just from daily activity, let alone the stress of juggling the myriad responsibilities of those many years of being a missions director. So I am glad that he spent his strong years doing things that would matter long after he is gone.

Fifty years from now, when he is celebrating in heaven, his legacy on earth will live on. An orphanage in the Philippines and a Bible school in Indonesia may still remember his part in their inception. Grandchildren may recount stories of his life. But even if they don't, there will be people in heaven who will thank him for his steadfast faithfulness to the God that he worships. I know because I will be one of them.

More Than Bravery

Mindanao, the southern island in the Philippine archipelago, is known for trouble.  An active rebel movement called the New People’s Army has kept the Philippine army busy for decades.  While we were there, they killed eight soldiers in a town not far away.  In addition, an extremist Muslim group, Abu Sayef, periodically makes the news with its activity.  Years ago they captured New Tribes missionaries, Martin and Gracia Burnham, and held them for ransom.  When the army tried to set the Burnhams and the other prisoners free, Martin was killed in crossfire.  We were grateful that Abu Sayef was quiet that week. 

IPM has a missionary family there, and we wondered what they would be like in person.  There were things we already knew.  We knew that Glen Namoc and his wife have a burden to reach Mindanao and other parts of the world for Christ.  We knew that 31 years ago, they began a Bible institute to train young men and women to become missionaries, church planters, pastors and other church leaders.  We knew that they call Mindanao their home.

In other parts of the Philippines, people think that those who live in Mindanao are either trouble or brave.  The Namocs know about the reputation of Mindanao, but they do not feel brave.  Mindanao is home to them, and just as you and I would deal with difficulties in our homeland, so do they.  Yet even though they do not feel brave, we found something more compelling than simple bravery.  We found a profound dedication that we do not often see, not just in them but in the others who stand with them in their ministry.  We found students eager to learn and to find ways to serve.

Where in the U.S. would you hear stories of:

• a husband leaving his wife behind for four years in order to plant five churches in an unreached part of the island?
• students eager to finish their education in the city with all of its amenities to return to the primitive village lifestyle in order to plant churches and share the love of Jesus with their neighbors?
• a willingness to go hungry in order to attend Bible college?  We heard of one student who often went without lunch because he did not have the ten cents he needed in order to pay for lunch.
• farming families willing to give up their children’s labor in order for them to attend Bible college and go into the ministry?  (Imagine what it would be like if a farmer in the U.S. gave away his combine to further the gospel.)
• a willingness to go into areas known to be infiltrated by terrorists in order to preach the gospel?

  

  This year's graduates singing at graduation.
  White robes signify a 1-year certificate and black robes a 3-year degree.

• being told to leave your motorcycle helmet off so people know who you are and do not attack you?  It also lets your friends know where you were last seen.
• selling a plot of land you inherited in order to buy a motorcycle so you can reach into the mountain villages?

As we heard more and more stories like these, Charlie asked Glen, “What are you doing in this ministry to encourage this kind of dedication?” 

He shook his head, apparently dumbfounded that we thought he was doing it. 

We finally realized something.  Wholehearted commitment is not something you can program into your students.  It is, instead, a work of God.  Although they are doing all they can to encourage the student body toward wholehearted dedication to the Lord, the credit is due not to him, but to the Holy Spirit who is at work in the students’ hearts.

Christmas Card Blessings

I took the Christmas cards down today.  I decided to leave them out longer this year than usual.  We were gone for the first two weeks of January, and when we returned, there were some Christmas cards in the mail.  I just could not bring myself to let go of them when I had only just received them.  So they have continued to decorate our house long after the other decorations came down.

We received a fraction of the number of Christmas cards we received in previous years.  I understand some of the reasons for this.  Postage rates have climbed so high at the same time that gasoline prices drop that I feel I should visit people rather than send them a card.  Okay, that is not practical.  I would have to drive the entire country and even to other parts of the world.  Still, it is expensive and social media greetings are so much easier and quicker.  After all, with one "Merry Christmas" on Facebook I can reach out to hundreds of friends.  Or can I?

When I read a "Merry Christmas" on Facebook, I do not assume that someone is thinking about me when they posted it, but when I receive a card in the mail, I know that a friend took the time to think about me and send me a card.  I received a tangible expression of that person's care for me when I picked up my mail that day.  Then, when they took the time to add a note or include a newsletter, I also get caught up on their news.  That, too, is a blessing.

As I pulled the cards down off the door frames where they were hanging, I reread them.  Here are some of the special blessings I found in them:

• Memories we shared during the year.
• A desire to get together in the new year.
• Photos of children who are growing and friends whom I have not seen in years.
• Expressions of commitment to pray for us.
• A couple cards included gifts for our ministry which we submitted to IPM for our overseas travel expenses.
• A reminder that we are privileged to be a part of a huge body of Christ.

One card stands out.  It read, "We are sorry that we cannot commit to your ongoing ministry.  We have more than 100 ministries which we support which makes it hard to give a lot to anyone, but sometime in the new year, you will receive a gift from us."  One hundred ministries!  Wow!  And this dear couple included us in that 100.  What a blessing it is to me to know them, especially since I know they pray for us as well.

The Christmas card tradition may not last.  Hopefully, it will be replaced with something even  more meaningful.  But I, for one, have been glad this year to enjoy the gift of Christmas cards once again.