The first night is our best after a long trip – physical exhaustion makes it impossible to stay awake even if we try. I slept on a sponge mattress on the living room floor and Gene took the single futon. At 2:00 A.M. however, I was wide awake. My brain swirled with busy thoughts, my feet were freezing cold, and my hips ached. After only three hours of sleep, I knew that I’d never survive teaching for four hours on Thursday if I didn’t get more rest. So, I pulled a pair of socks on and swallowed two melatonin tablets. That did the trick. Didn’t hear another sound until 6:30.

Work began at 10:00 A.M. About 50 university students and one of their teachers filled the pews of a small Baptist church, and we had four hours to teach parenting workshops to them. This was the first time inside a church for some and the experience may have felt a little intimidating. If so, their fear didn’t last too long. We broke for pretzels and cookies, tea (herbata) and coffee (kava) between the second and third sessions, and they enjoyed visiting with each other and us. When the fourth session ended, two girls who’d left early suddenly returned with long-stemmed white roses for me, Gene, and our translator. And then came the traditional Polish kisses on each cheek.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon with Czarek and Ewa,

Our dear friends and coworkers, Czarek and Ewa

the Polish pastor and his wife with whom we’re partnering for this trip and with whom we host the summer family camps. They’ve become dear friends. Looks like their 11-year-old son has decided I might be an okay friend, too. He speaks only Polish; I speak only English, but we’re learning to communicate through pantomines. To top it off, he invited me into his world by asking me to watch him play Star Wars on the computer for a half hour.

We walked back to our apartment from Czarek’s suite as darkness fell. Cobblestone sidewalks all the way. It was brrrrr…..cold outside. No snow, but biting wind. Halfway home we ducked into a pizza restaurant to thaw out with a hot drink and a bite to eat. The menus were in Polish and the waitress couldn’t speak a word of English. And so…I pointed at a salad picture and nodded my head. And then I pointed at the soup items (zupy) and asked, “Good?” She smiled and nodded. I hadn’t a clue what I ordered.

We laughed about our lives as we waited for our food to come. We’re walking in a strange city, ordering unknown items in a restaurant where no one speaks our language, teaching parenting classes based on Biblical principles to secular university students and the social services department in the former Communist bloc. Never in a million years would we have imagined we’d be doing this. What a ride when God takes the wheel.

Friday morning will come early. I have a broken molar, so I’ll visit a dentist at 8:00 A.M. before we teach social workers for four hours. After supper, we get to meet with a youth group — the teens that Czarek and Ewa minister to through the year. Most are from at-risk families. We know some from the summer family camps, too. It’ll be like seeing our own kids!

A memorial to Buddy Holly in Clear Lake, Iowa

Tragically, that night he died when his plane crashed in a nearby farmer’s field.

And now, for the regular post!

Do you remember Paul Harvey’s radio program and his closing line, “And that, my friends, is the rest of the story”? I appreciated his common sense perspective on news briefs, and I found the behind-the-story facts and details fascinating.

Today brought me an unexpected surprise when I discovered that Laura, one of our International Messenger short-term alumni at this weekend’s retreat, worked for Paul Harvey as a fact researcher. What fun to hear about this man from someone who knew him personally. She said he was the real thing – a true gentleman, a hard worker, and a husband who treated his wife as kindly as he spoke of her on the air waves.

This weekend’s opportunity to meet IM staff and board members was a blessing. It amazes me how God takes people from all walks of life – music teachers, farmers, nurses, landscape engineers, school teachers, lawyers, retirees and more – and puts them together to form a Kingdom-building team.

What do these people have in common? Their love for God and their willingness to obey His voice when He says “go.” They also share a passion for the Eastern Europeans and a desire to make IM the most effective it can be. And so, our group of 50 spent Saturday updating ourselves on our 120 + career missionaries and their work, strategizing questions for a marriage mentorship program, discussing pros and cons of pursuing grants, and more. And we prayed.

We prayed for every missionary and for each other. We prayed for God to provide a van for one of our Polish pastors who ministers to children from pathological families. We prayed for funding so the day center for young adults with HIV/AIDS in Romania can remain open. We asked God to provide money for other specific ministry needs as well as monthly support for each missionary. We prayed for the health and protection of their families, their marriages, and their interpersonal relationships. We prayed for their language learning abilities and for encouragement for those who struggle emotionally through long, dark winter days without sunlight. The prayers were as varied as our staff’s personalities, ministries, and physical needs.

We also worshiped together. With voices lifted in harmony, we praised God for His amazing grace that saved this group of 50 wretches. We marveled together at His redeeming love. And we thanked Him for setting us free when He nailed our sins to the cross.

This weekend was a mountaintop experience. We wish we could linger longer, but that’s not to be. Now it’s time to get on with sharing God’s amazing love with those who have never heard, and with those burdened by the load that comes with trying to earn their way to heaven.

I’ll spend today reviewing our workshop materials for the parenting classes we’ll teach in Poland, formulating discussion questions for the single women’s retreat at which I’ll speak in a couple of weeks, and planning some upcoming creative projects with our graphic designer. Then we’ll try to get a good night’s sleep because tomorrow will come early.

When Tuesday comes, we’ll drive to Minneapolis. From there we’ll fly to Chicago, on to Frankfurt, and finally to Poznan, Poland. It’ll be a long, long day. I’m taking Gravol along – I hear it helps people sleep on long-haul trips like this! We’ll arrive at our destination on Wednesday and begin working on Thursday. That’s when things will get really interesting. So follow along, my friends, for the rest of the story.

Our trip to Poland and the Ukraine has begun, and so have the fun, adventures and, yes, the misadventures. On our shuttle bus between Vancouver and Seattle, the man sitting behind us talked non-stop to his seat mate. Actually, he started even before the bus arrived. Without trying to eavesdrop, I learned that he’s 66 years old, retired 10 years ago, had a small stroke, is afraid to fly, is a former high-school Latin and French teacher, and the list goes on. I also learned (four times over) that he was very nervous about missing his flight because someone told him there might be a delay going through security at the border. (I felt sorry for the guy – he wasted a lot of energy worrying for nothing).

Then there was the guy sitting two rows ahead of us. Again, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it was impossible to miss his monologue. He talked about everything from what happens to a helicopter if bullets hit its rotor, to thinking that he’d take a bullet himself if he tried to reclaim the property his grandfather once owned in the former Soviet Union, to riding a bus in the Czech Republic that was boarded by a gang of hoodlums who were arrested and cuffed by police when the bus reached its destination. It sounded like the stuff of which spy movies are made. But he didn’t look like a spy (duh – what does a spy look like, anyway?). He resembled an overweight Einstein with white locks gone wild.  

I must say that I’ve never heard men talk so much. I thought only women used 30,000 words per day!

In all the miles I’ve flown, I’ve never spilled a beverage on a plane.

Heading out from sunny Seattle

But today my luck ran out when I dumped tomato juice down my right leg, Gene’s left leg, and on the bags at our feet. Red splattered everywhere. We sopped up everything possible with napkins and paper towels, and then we ducked into the mini-bathroom to wet-wipe our pant legs. Thankfully we were able to get most of it out and our jeans dried before we landed in Minneapolis. But my computer keyboard didn’t fare as well.

I was in the midst of typing this blog when it happened. I immediately turned the keyboard over and dabbed it gently with paper towels…and prayed. Within minutes, however, the entire bottom row of keys wouldn’t work. Try typing the words an, and or no without an n. I could do nothing but pray more and put the computer away. We figured we’d have to take it to a repair shop for the weekend and hopefully get it fixed before our overseas flight on Tuesday.

Thankfully that won’t be necessary. A couple of hours later, Gene turned my laptop on and wonder of wonders, it worked. All I can say is, “Thank You, God!”

So, here we are in Clear Lake, Iowa. In the snow. It’s beautiful. And it’s cold.

View from my window this morning

In a few minutes we’ll head to our US headquarters – my first time to see it. And later today we’ll drive a couple of hours to a camp for our advisory council meetings.

http://www.crosswalk.com/parenting/11626980/

Sometimes we make Christianity ‘way more difficult than it needs to be. Rather than complicate things with our manmade rules, we ought to remember the acrostic K.I.S.S. – “Keep it Simple Sweetie.”

If Christianity had but one rule, I believe it might be this – “Follow Jesus.” How simple should that be? That’s the invitation Jesus Himself gave to Simon and Andrew. That’s what He said to Levi, too. “Follow me and be my disciple” (Mark 2:14). And that’s what He says to us.

What does it mean to follow Jesus? It means that we embrace His teachings as found in the Scriptures… We value what He values – people more than material things. We treat others with honor. We seek to serve rather than be served. We forgive even when we don’t feel like it. We humble ourselves and admit our dependency upon God. We put our faith into action. We pray for our leaders, and we carry one another’s burdens. The list goes on, and it’s all good stuff.

Trouble is, we complicate things when we add our own rules or deviate from the path Jesus walked by seeking to satisfy our own selfish desires. For example – “I’ll forgive so-and-so when she changes her attitude toward me,” or “Serve her? You’ve gotta be kidding. She burned me big-time, and I’m not going to make things easy for her by helping her get ahead,” or “Admit my dependency upon God? I don’t think so – that would be to admit weakness, and I’m not going to do that!”

Imagine what the world would look like if we embraced the K.I.S.S. principle in our faith. If we’d set aside our own desires, our own agenda, our own fears and insecurities to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, there’s be a lot more light and salt in this place.

What do the words “follow Jesus” mean to you?

Check out Linda’s other blogs and her new book Grandmas’s Letters From Africa. Congratulations, Linda! You set a great example for many.

www.grandmaslettersfromafrica.blogspot.com

Truth be told, I don’t think it’s possible to live life completely free of fear. In the midst of unknowns, however, we can learn how to deal with fear so it doesn’t consume us and hinder us from fulfilling God’s purposes for our lives. And hey – we can even experience joy in the midst of our fearful situations. Here’s proof:

Two women named Mary went to see Jesus’ tomb on the third day following his crucifixion. To their shock, the tomb was empty and an angel sat on the boulder that had sealed its entrance (Matthew 28). “Don’t be afraid!” said the angel. “I know you’re looking for the crucified Jesus. But he’s not here because he’s been raised from the dead.” Then he invited them to see the empty place where the body had been laid. Note this…

“The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to find the disciples to give them the angel’s message” (v. 8).

What enabled these women to experience joy in the midst of their fear? The essence of the angel’s message: Jesus had been raised from the dead!

This, I believe, is the key to moving from fear to freedom and even experiencing joy in the process. Jesus’ resurrection means He’s the victor over sin and death once for all. It means the enemy of our souls is defeated. His resurrection doesn’t guarantee life without problems, but it means He’s there to give us the answers we need and to walk with us through those problems. So, yes, we’ll encounter fear along our journey. But yes, we can experience joy in the midst because Jesus was raised from the dead!

What does this truth mean to your life today?

And so, the count would begin: “One…two…three…four…” And so would the desperation in my voice. “God, he hasn’t smiled yet. Please make him do it. Please. Five…six…seven…” Sure enough. I’d hit ten without receiving so much as a nod or a glance, so I’d change my ploy. After all, maybe Grant wasn’t in a smiley mood that day. Perhaps I should have asked that he prove his love for me by leaving his desk and walking to the pencil sharpener instead.

Thankfully my prayer life has improved over time. As critical as my request seemed to me then, I now understand that it was pointless. So was a request that the Pharisees made of Jesus.  

Mark 8:11 says, “When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him. Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.”

Jesus didn’t answer. “When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.’ So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake” (vv. 12, 13).

The Pharisees’ request that Jesus prove His authority through a miraculous sign was pointless. He’d already healed the sick, given sight to the blind, restored hearing to the deaf, and fed thousands with a few loaves and fish. What more did they want? They’d seen Him in action and knew what He was capable of doing yet they asked for a miracle to prove who He was. Their unbelief drew a heavy sigh from deep within His spirit, a sigh of disappointment, perhaps.

Sometimes people today pray such things as, “God, if You’re real, prove it.” We ask for signs, for evidences of His existence. When we’re honestly seeking for Him, He answers. But sometimes, when the request comes from a defiant heart, God might sigh deeply in His spirit and remain silent. After all, the evidence already exists – the miracles of DNA and of a baby’s birth proclaim Intelligent Design. The complexity of creation shouts His presence. Lives transformed through prayer and forgiveness say there is a God who is real. Perhaps we need to forego the request and instead start living by faith.

Sometimes we ask God to prove His love for us. Why waste our breath when He’s already answered by sending Jesus to pay our death penalty?

Sometimes we ask Him whether or not we should share the Gospel with our neighbor or coworker. Again – pointless. He’s already told us that we’re ambassadors of the salvation message. We ought to pray for their hearts to be prepared to receive it, and then for the right opportunity to present it.

How many times do we pray pointless prayers? Writing this blog has been a good exercise for me, forcing me to examine my heaven-directed requests. I pray that God will continually bring this question to mind when I’m on my knees.

What other pointless prayers might we be praying?

“I think I’m going to throw up,” I told the teacher. “You’d better run to the bathroom, then,” she said. I dashed down the hall, locked myself in a bathroom stall, and then wondered what to do next.

A minute or two later, I heard the door open and my teacher’s voice say, “Grace, are you okay? I’ve asked the principal to take you home because you’re probably not over the flu yet.” Sure enough, the principal drove me home and handed me over to my mother. Somehow I managed to fool her, too. Maybe I should have pursued an acting career, or at least purchased shares in a ginger ale company.

Tests are not fun, but they’re necessary to see how well we’re learning the lessons we need to know. The Israelites experienced this in their day, too. Exodus 16:4 says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.’” And thus the manna menu began.

Every morning, the flaky substance appeared on the ground. And every morning, the people gathered as much as their households needed for that day. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over. And those who gathered a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed (vv. 17, 18).

What was the lesson God wanted them to learn? To trust His care and ability to provide for their needs. It looked as though they understood and were headed for a passing grade. But then came the test. “Do not keep any of it until morning,” said Moses.

Some students passed. Others failed – they didn’t listen to Moses but kept some of it until morning. When they woke up and went to retrieve their breakfast, they discovered a big, fat “F” on their test paper. The stored-up manna was full of maggots and had a terrible smell (v. 19,20). The test results revealed that, in the deepest part of their hearts, they didn’t fully trust God to provide for their needs.

Thankfully they took the failing grade to heart and changed their ways: “After this the people gathered the food morning by morning, each family according to its need” (v. 21). They’d seen God provide faithfully in the past, and they knew they could trust Him for the future.

As a missionary living on faith support, God tests me regularly in this regard. Do I trust Him to meet our financial needs? Just when I feel as though I’ve mastered this lesson, a major financial need arises: the car needs new tires, or a molar breaks and needs a crown, or the house needs repairs. Usually a speaking engagement or two cancels at the same time. I panic and wonder whether I should find a job with a guaranteed income to pay the bills. But then I remember that God promises to provide for our needs. Either I trust Him or I don’t. I can choose to rely on my own efforts, or I can do things God’s way and trust Him to keep His word. My response determines my grade. Will I pass or fail and have to relearn the lesson?

Tests are not easy, but they’re vital to reveal how well we’re learning what God wants us to know. How about you? Has God tested you recently? If so, we’d love to hear your story.

Moses found that to be true. Exodus 13 tells the story of the Egyptians chasing the Israelites after their exodus. The people panicked when they realized that their captors were almost upon them. Moses said, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm” (v. 13).

But God Himself spoke up: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground…’” (vv. 15-16).

Prayer is good, but there comes a time when we need to move on those prayers. Here’s an example from my own life:

As a mission leader, I’m responsible to help organize short-term ministry trips to Eastern Europe. One of my biggest challenges is finding people to fill our teams. I take my responsibility very seriously because the ramifications are huge.

Without volunteers, we have no teams. Without teams, we cannot host evangelistic family camps. Without camps, our career missionary staff working in these post-Communist countries have limited opportunities to build relationships with unbelievers who would otherwise never cross their path. And that could mean the difference between life and death for countless men and women. See what I mean about huge ramifications?

I could pray and pray and pray for God to bring us the volunteers we need to get the job done (believe me, I do that!). Or I could combine those prayers with action. And so, my husband and I invest time, energy, and resources hosting our booth at missions conferences, speaking in churches, meeting interested individuals for coffee to discuss opportunities, and more.

Here’s another example: Gone are the days when publishers did the marketing to raise awareness of a book’s existence. Now it’s the author’s job. As an author, I could pray and pray and pray for God to get the message of my book into the hands of people who need to read it (and I do that). Or I could combine my prayers with practical action. And so, I speak at women’s events and I pursue media interviews. I write magazine articles and a monthly online newsletter. The list goes on because I’m called to action. It’s not because God can’t get the job done on His own. It’s because He wants my involvement.

Sometimes I feel a tension. For example – at what moment do I take action, what should that action look like, and how much do I do? That’s where prayer comes into play once again – asking God to answer my questions and then trusting Him to guide me to do the right thing.

Have you ever struggled with this tension? If so, what insights can you share about prayer and action?

I admit it – sometimes I just don’t understand God. Why does He drop detours in my path when I’m trying to travel from Point A to Point B? Doesn’t He know that changing my direction messes up my plans? Doesn’t He know that His path sometimes requires more time than I’d prefer to spend on a particular journey?

Of course He knows. And when He chooses a particular path for me, it’s because He has a reason! Exodus 13:17,18 illustrates this beautifully: “When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, ‘If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’ So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.”

God could have led the Israelites on a shortcut – the path that seemed best according to human logic – but doing so would have taken them through Philistine territory and risked a war with the enemy. God knew that engaging in battle would have proven too much for His people. And so, He led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness to the Red Sea. The path that seemed illogical to the Israelites was actually planned with their best interest in mind.    

I’ll repeat that last sentence even if only for my own sake: The path that seemed illogical to the Israelites was actually planned with their best interest in mind.

This thought brings me great comfort and reassurance. According to the Israelites’ account, there’s no need to be afraid when life takes unexpected detours. There’s no reason for impatience when a long and winding road takes more time than a shortcut. There’s no need to divert and dash a different direction. If we’re in right relationship with the Lord and He’s our Leader, then we can trust Him and His ways. He knows the dangers that lurk and the battles He wants to avoid on our behalf.

What battles have you avoided by staying on His path?