Pure Joy



getting started up Mogote

Last week one of our (awesome and amazing!) students asked Daisy and me what in our lives we do that gives us pure joy and a feeling of freedom.  I didn’t have to think much about it.  What gives me joy and freedom?  Being outside, in God’s beauty, hiking up a mountain. 

And, having Carlos to hike with is truly an added blessing.  Our first date was a strenuous hike, and we've never looked back! 

So, when our friend Issai asked us if we wanted to hike Mogote this past Saturday, we quickly said, YES!



smooth trails ahead! :O)

Mogote is one of the higher mountains (more than 4,600 feet) near Jarabacoa, which is surrounded by mountains.  The trail is not super smooth, even when it’s dry. We've had lots (and lots!) of rain lately, which made the trail, well, rather a mess.  What made things worse were the horses, donkeys and cows who use the trail, churning up the ground into a thick, slick stew of mud.

mud stew

I’ve written about Issai before. He lives in Mata de Platano, is one of our English students, and is super sweet. He managed to hike without a walking stick, keeping far ahead of us, hardly breaking a sweat – or even getting his shoes very dirty!

He also snapped tons of pictures, including the ones here, without us even realizing it. Our heads were often down, eyes on the slippery trail!

The hike was not easy, but it was awesome.  As I walked, I kept thinking, "Oh, thank you, Father, this is joy, this is freedom!" 

 I’m not really sure when my love for being outside began, but it’s only grown over the years.  At times it’s almost a compulsion to GET OUT THERE.  The sweat starting to bead on my forehead and trickle down the small of my back, the breath coming faster, my legs beginning to ache as they work to pull me forward… It is so incredible! 


we're not sure what we were so confused about,
but this picture makes me laugh.

As I go, my problems and worries are pushed away as I take in deep breaths of air, glorying in the extravagant beauty that meets me at every moment.  The rich greens of the mountains, the changing sky, the variety of trees and matas (plants), the spiders’ webs beaded with dew (but not so much the spiders and other bugs!). 

Carlos coming to my rescue when I couldn't pull
my foot out of ankle-deep mud.

Being out in the world that God has created draws me into worship.  Even after coming back down the mountain, back into the ‘real world’ with its concerns and frustrations, the joy I experienced lingers, reminding me of the power and love and care of our Father.  The One who spun out creation is at work in me, too.  Whom shall I fear?

going down is always harder!

 

first day out with my new hiking boots... Awesome!

I hope that each of you has something in your life, too, which gives you pure joy, which reminds you of God's love and care for you.  Whether it is curling up with a good book, scrap-booking, sewing, playing with children, napping in a hammock, or, yes, even wading up a mountain, let’s rejoice at the creativity and variety provided by our great God.  From Him alone comes all true joy and freedom.   

Titus Two (v3) Who?

This morning I was talking with one of my sisters in Christ (and in mission!) while we ate our breakfast at the Base.  We were talking about getting older.  About how our hair is getting grey and thin and how the grey doesn’t hold color well, and the thinness makes us not want to color it as often so it just gets greyer (and thinner!). 

Getting old isn’t all that fun!  I look down at my hands, and they’re definitely not the hands of a 20-year old!  I’ve been blessed with good health most of my life, so I’m still able to bend and twist and sit cross-legged, but it takes days, not hours, to recover from intense work out.  Staying up to all hours isn’t just unappealing, it’s pretty much impossible, as my yawning starts soon after 10pm!

This afternoon Daisy and I were talking with our outreach students while eating our lunch in El Callejon.  (Have I mentioned before how much my life seems to revolve around food?!) 

These three young ladies are part of a gap-year program ministering with us for two weeks.  They are 20, 21 and 23, and each has a passion for Jesus.  We’ve just loved our time with them!  They ask great questions, and are not afraid to wrestle with our lack of easy, simple answers. 

Today they were asking us for advice on books we would recommend they read.  My mention of Tim Keller’s awesome book on marriage, The Meaning of Marriage, moved us into a conversation about relationships.  We were able to share about the struggles and challenges of marriage, plus the importance of not compromising on finding a man who can be the spiritual head of the family. 

Daisy and I always tell students it’s not that we’re so wise, we’re just older, so have experienced more of life!  In my case, bad choices and decisions in my past allow me to speak personally about the pain of a marriage where your husband is not seeking Christ.   

I was reading something this evening after dinner (yep, food yet again!) referring to Titus 2, where Paul says that older women have a role in teaching younger women how to love their husbands and children, urging them to live self-controlled, pure lives. 

As I re-read those verses, it suddenly hit me.  Hey, Paul is talking about me.  When did that happen?!  When did I move from being one of the young ones, to being an ‘older woman’ who is called to live a ‘reverent life’ (Titus 2:3)? 

The other day some of our “Treces” group (thirteen year olds) were telling us that they are now 14.  “But, I don’t want to be!” said one.  “I loved being 13 and I just want to stay that age!”  Another said, “No! I can’t wait to be 18 so I can do whatever I want.”  Another chimed in, “No! I want to be 20, but not any older!”

It was tempting to tell them it was silly, because no matter how much you want to stay a certain age, you can’t.  And, at 14, you can’t wish yourself 4 years into the future! 

Instead, we tried to tell them that every age has good parts and bad parts.  That time goes by quickly, and before you realize it, years have zipped past.  So, it’s important to enjoy each day, each year, as a gift of God. 

Huh.  Maybe I need to listen to my own advice, eh? 

There are definitely good and bad things about being 45.  Time is going by quickly, and I cannot stop it from passing. 

But, because I am this age, and not 20 years younger, I have the blessing and privilege and responsibility to share what God has taught me with others, particularly young women.  I pray His strength to live a reverent life which reflects my hope and joy in Him – thin, grey hair, and creaking body and all!

For The Good

As I shared yesterday, my verse for 2013 is Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

This morning I was thinking about the phrase ‘for the good’.  God is at work, Paul says, for the good of those who love Him.  What is ‘the good’?  Is it having a smooth and easy life?  Jesus said He came to give us ‘abundant’ life.  The problem I have is that I think I have the right to define what that abundance should look like, and then complain when it doesn’t.

The Heidelberg Catechism defines the good as ‘my salvation’ (Lord’s Day 1, Question 1).  Having been raised in the Christian Reformed Church I love this centuries old document, and find so much truth in it.  I ‘rediscovered’ it late last year.  If you’ve never read it, I encourage you to check it out!     

But, with all due respect to the Heidelberg, I think we need to go a bit further than ‘my salvation’.  God is at work in individual lives, absolutely, but He has a larger purpose.  In Revelation 7:9 John sees some from every tribe, tongue, language and nation.  My good is not just about me and my personal salvation. 

If I love God, I will desire what He desires.  And that is so much bigger than me.  So, sometimes, what for me personally may not look ‘good’ – pain, suffering, disappointments, struggles – may be at work for someone else’s good. 

While Paul does not say that in this particular verse, if we look at what he went through for the sake of the Gospel, a lot of it definitely didn’t seem much good for him.  Being flogged, beaten, ship-wrecked, imprisoned… 

It is important to remember that all of this happened after Jesus met him on the Damascus Road!  We have this notion that once we’ve accepted Christ, the bad stuff should fade away.  The Bible seems to say the exact opposite.  It’s after finding salvation that the trials begin. 

But, because God is so amazing, if we are obedient, if we seek His kingdom first, He blesses us with all we truly need.  Not the things we think we need – and that’s part of growing in Him.  As we seek His kingdom, our very definition of ‘need’ tends to change. 

There are Christ-followers living under severe persecution right now.  For the sake of their Savior, they have got to a point where they don’t even see being alive as a ‘need’.  Oh, to get to that place!  When whether I live or die is not what matters, but only Jesus!!

My life, my true eternal life, is hid in Christ.  That kind of assurance should make me willing and able to accept some less-than-good things in my life here on earth if through them someone else’s life can be transformed.  What could be more ‘good’ for me to do?  (Yes, terrible grammar!!)

Serving Jesus is the best way I can spend my life.  He bought me with a price, and so He has the right to ask anything of me.  Again, because of how amazing He is, it truly does do me ‘good’ to pour myself out.  Not good as the world might define it, but good because it’s what the Person I love most desires. 

As I continue to explore this verse, I pray that I will stop looking at myself and how the particular circumstances in my life are impacting me.  Instead, I pray that as the tough stuff happens, I will look up past me, and eagerly anticipate how God will use it to work in someone else’s life.  That really will be ‘for the good’!

And We Know

This week each member of our Students International staff was invited to ask God for a verse to focus on for the year.  The verse that has been on my mind for the past couple of months is Romans 8:28:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” 

It was a part of a sermon I was privileged to preach to my church family while I was in the U.S.  It’s been playing through my mind as I’ve looked back on the past year of life and ministry here in the D.R. 

Even though this verse has been playing over and over again, I hesitated to make it THE verse.  Why?  Well, it’s a bit goofy to admit, but I was hoping for something ‘deeper’.   

You see, this verse was one I held close when I was much (MUCH!) younger.  Father, surely at 45 I’m ready for a ‘meaty’ verse, not the same ‘milk’ one I devoured when I was a pre-teen!

But, as I continued to ponder it, I discovered just how much depth and ‘meatiness’ is there!  Paul says ‘And we know’.  Not,’ we hope’ or ‘we think’, but ‘we know’.  To me, that signifies assurance and confidence in this truth as a fact. 

What would it look like to live in a way that faces each situation with a sure knowledge that God is at work for our good?  Not waiting until the storm passes, but declaring this truth as the ground itself crumbles under us?    

Now, I know, sometimes Christians can take this verse and misinterpret it to imply that we are to call Bad stuff Good.  There are really bad things that are happening in lives right now.  We do a disservice to each other when we try to ‘spiritualize’ and minimize the pain and suffering of another.    

Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him.  The cross itself was not ‘good’ or a ‘joy’!  Instead, Jesus could endure because of what God was going to do in it, through His sacrifice.  This is our hope and assurance, as well.  

Jesus was called according to God’s purpose and was faithful, but that did not take away the ‘badness’ of being tortured to death and having His Father turn away as Jesus became sin.

The good news is not that bad things, terrible, painful, torturous, nonsensical, confusing, overwhelming things, are good.  The good news is that if God was at work in the gore of Calvary, redeeming us, washing us clean in His Son’s blood, He surely is at work in our lives, too.  

As His disciples, the world needs to hear us saying, “God, I know you are at work for our good” not when everything is peachy keen, but in the middle of the very worst of times.

For me, this is where I hear God’s invitation for the year.  To turn from my ‘milk’ way of using this verse – out of the valley, looking back and tracing God’s hand – to a ‘meat’ way of using it as a declaration when everything around me seems to be falling apart and I cannot see at all.

And so, my verse for this year is Romans 8:28.  My corresponding goal?  Getting to the place where my first response to all things – the really awesome ones, and the things that make no sense whatsoever… That my first response is, “God, I trust You, and I know, I truly know, You are at work right here, right now, for my good and Your glory.”

Father, thank you for Your invitation, Your challenge, to put my trust in You no matter what may be happening around me. 

Thank you, Jesus, for enduring the cross.  I can have joy because of what You endured.  Help me to endure.

Holy Spirit, give me Your words to declare to this broken and hurting world the truth that because of Jesus, we can know that God is at work in all things.

Hola, Jarabacoa!

I’m sitting in my apartment, listening to the song “10,000 Reasons”.  I last sang this sitting in the sanctuary of my home church in Harrisonburg Virginia this past Sunday morning.  Before that, I had sung it here in the D.R. at the S.I. base.  I love it, and I truly do have 10,000 reasons and more to say, “Bless the Lord, o my soul!”

I arrived back in the D.R. after a long trip home.  I left Harrisonburg around 1pm yesterday, and got to Dulles around 3.  My 5:24pm plane ride to JFK in New York lasted all of 37 minutes.  Then, it was time to wait. 

The trip I booked back in September included a flight to Santiago that night, but at some point it was canceled.  Instead, I was to be in the airport from 7pm – 7:15am.  

After a visit to the Delta counter, I found out where my flight would be, and tried to settle in on the floor at that gate.  Nearby the large flat screen TV shouted the news.  I was able to get about 20 minutes of rest before discomfort woke me up. 

At around midnight, a sweet 3^rd shift worker pointed me to some semi-comfy benches.  When I got up to them, another worker told me he’d hold of his vacuuming so I could get some sleep.  My ‘cat-naps’ increased to around an hour each.  Thank you, Father, for guardian angels in the guise of cleaning staff!

I woke up for good around 5, washed my face, got some coffee, and was soon winging my way to Santiago.  We landed around 11:30am.  Things with Customs went just fine, and both my suitcases arrived intact, too! 

Carlos picked me up in the (relative) heat and humidity.  We headed to Mata de Platano, as he had come in my car.  How fun to have all the little ones there run to give me hugs hello!  (Or, I should say "Hola!"?  It’s going to take a while to get used to Spanish again!).  Seeing some of our English students and friends was great, too.  Carlos’ mom gave me a big hug and kiss.  What a joy-filled welcome!

At my home, Doña Gloria and some of her family were eating lunch, so instead of just slipping upstairs, I had to visit for a while.  And, Maria fixed me ‘un chin de comida’ (a little bit of food).  It was a Dominican 'chin', meaning a huge plate of yummy rice and beans, meat and salad.  Even the dog, Lisa, jumped around and howled.

I entered my apartment a little after 2pm, 25 hours after stepping out of Dick and Mona’s home in Harrisonburg.  The temperature there was in the 30’s, here in the 70’s.  But, in both, I looked out on mountains and felt amazed and humbled at God’s love and blessing.

I’ll try and write more about my time later.  For now, I’m still quite tired, and still trying to process it all.  God has been so good, and I give Him the glory for bringing me safely from home to home and back again. 

I praise Him for allowing my heart to expand to the point where both truly do feel like home.  Not because everything about both places is perfect, but because, in both, He has provided loved ones to journey with and welcome me.

As I look ahead to another year of serving Him here in the D.R., I know that all will not go smoothly – for me, or for those I love back there.   I am grateful for this time of reconnecting, which strengthened ties with friends and family in Christ.  I will be able to pray for them better, and know they will for me, because of the gift of this time together. 

10,000 reasons?  Oh, yes!  Bless the Lord,  o my soul, worship His holy name!