In recent days I've been spending some morning time hanging out in the Gospel of Mark.
This morning I was struck by some emotions that I saw in Jesus in Mark. Jesus could perceive his enemies' emotions even before they verbalized opposition to him.
Mark 2:1-12 tells of Jesus' healing of the paralytic man carried by 4 men & lowered to Jesus through the roof. Verse 8 says that "Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them..." Verse 6 says that some of the scribes were sitting there "questioning in their hearts."
Mark 3:1-6 tells of Jesus' healing of the man with a withered hand. Verse 5 says that Jesus looked at the Pharisees "with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart." Anger and grief are combined here in Jesus' reaction.
On Monday we started a home schooling program for our children. This year we plan on having our 2 older kids do 4 days of a French home schooling program offered by the CNED, a program authorized by the French gov't. Then on Fridays, we have them in a special program for home-schooling families. We've never homeschooled before, as our kids have only done French public school in Paris until now.
I think this time we invest in our children this year will be important in all our lives. We've already seen how home schooling allows for better use of time than public school, as we can field questions right away & make corrections immediately. I expect that our kids will come out academically stronger this year because of our home schooling investment in them.
I started reading Tedd Tripp's "Shepherding a Child's Heart."
In summary of what I've already read today, Tripp writes:
"There are 2 issues that feed into the persons your children become: 1) the shaping influences of life, and 2) their Godward orientation. Therefore, your parenting must be addressed to both these issues. You must be concerned about how you structure the shaping influences of life that are under your control (many things are not, e.g. death, and so forth). Secondly, you must be actively shepherding the Godward orientation of your children. In all of this you must pray that God will work in and around your efforts and the responses of your children to make them people who know and honor God." (pp. 24-25)
Tripp points out that children have a Godward orientation that either follows God or idols. Thus, even in the best environments, kids can still choose to not follow God. Or under terrible environments, some kids still choose God.
This will be a year of getting to know our kids better and hopefully being part of shaping their hearts.
Tonight I went with my family to the Colorado Rapids vs. Houston soccer game @ the Dick's Sporting Goods Center in Commerce City, CO. It was an excellent evening together.
It was a reminder of the kindness & generosity that we've felt this past month since we returned to the U.S. on a planned 1 year Home Ministry Assignment. We had a number of things up in the air when we arrived, including housing in the Denver area. We knew that we should spend time in this area, but didn't know how all the details would work out.
2 weeks ago God provided housing for us even when I was in Michigan & my wife & kids were in South Dakota. It came through a friend of my brother & sister-in-law. He was renting a place to a soccer player on the Colorado Rapids. This player's family had to return to their home country on August 15. My sister-in-law somehow found about an opening in their place from August 15 through mid-January 2011, which is exactly the time that we need housing here.
After moving into this place on Tuesday, we met our landlord on Wednesday. He's on the pastoral staff at a local church in this area, as well as being chaplain for the Rapids' team. When he found out that we liked soccer, he offered us tickets to tonight's game.
I've been meditating on the Gospel of Mark the past few days. This morning I was struck by Jesus' understanding of His own identity in relationship to God the Father. At his baptism, a voice from heaven said this was His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased.
At the game, we enjoyed perfect weather, an easy 3-0 victory, some good munchies, and lots of live entertainment. It was my whole family's first professional live game, except for me, who has already been to a lot of professional games. A good memory created together.
2 weeks ago, we were packing our backs & getting ready to get picked up to go to the airport for our Paris-Denver flight.
That feels like much longer than 2 weeks now. It's been a busy time of the 5 of us adjusting to an 8 hour jet lag, as well as getting settled in in different ways. I dropped off my wife & our kids @ her parents' home in western South Dakota over the weekend, then drove back to Colorado.
Every day has been full of activity.
On Monday I met with a pastor of a young church in Denver. He suggested some great books to read about leadership. I started "Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes & Posner. So much that I want to learn this year away from the Paris field.
It's Monday morning and pouring outside. It hasn't rained this hard in awhile here. Have unplugged the computers & am running this one on battery, just in case some big lightning comes. We've done pretty well vs. lightning over the years, although we had a fax machine get fried 11 years ago in Wheaton.
Our flight to Colorado is in 10 days. Over the weekend, we got one major concern straightened out: the use of our apartment while we're away. A woman with YWAM will stay here. It's likely that 1-2 of her female colleagues will also stay here during the course of our year away.
We continue to plug away each day at preparing for our departure from Paris, as well as arrival in the U.S. There is a lot to do on both fronts.
On the Paris side, we've been having a number of events where we're saying goodbye to people. It's encouraging that people generally are sad that we're leaving, but insistent that we come back. They are excited about the opportunity to pass this next year in the U.S. & discover things there.
While I hadn't realized it before, it is a good time for a break away from the field here. Last Wednesday I met with David, a colleague who will take over the communications responsibilities with the arts ministries. He has some excellent ideas that will help move this area beyond where I've taken it. I honestly don't feel threatened by him, but relieved that it will move beyond where I'm able to take it.
It seems like there are regular reminders that none of us are irreplacable. In some ways, we're like chess pieces that God moves around His worldwide chessboard. This doesn't mean that we are to rest passive & indifferent. However, we do need to remember that He is ultimately in charge of our placement.
These days are reminders to me of different strengths & weaknesses that I and my wife have and how we can complement each other in working in our strengths. We're also blessed with offers of help that we've gotten from friends & family in Paris, as well as stateside.
Last night Spain won the World Cup football (soccer) tournament in South Africa. 12 years ago when France won the WC in France, we were preparing to return to the U.S. for 1 year of study at Wheaton. This ended up stretching to 2 years. It didn't seem that complicated back then, as we had a lot less stuff, as well as gracious offers of people to store it in their garages or basement storage areas. This time, we're planning on keeping all of it in our apartment, which in many ways is even simpler.
It's strange to think that we'll be away for a year. In 2 Sundays, we won't be hearing French songs & sermons in church. I'll miss the simplicity of our church & church family here.
In Matthew 6, it says something like "Each day has its own worries." This is in the context of the passage that talks about God's provision for our daily needs as we seek first the Kingdom of God & His righteousness. May we accomplish today what we need to accomplish and turn over the rest for the next day(s).
We're scheduled to fly to Denver 2 weeks from today for the start of a planned 1 year U.S. Home Ministry Assignment (HMA). Yesterday I completed my 2nd fairly major home repair job, the replacement of a metal device that helps open & close the rolling curtains in a bedroom. The device itself only cost 18 euros ($25). However, had we had to pay for labor as well, it could have easily cost us 150 euros (over $200). Several weeks ago I had to do replace something in the sink in one of the water rooms. Again, the parts weren't that expensive, but it easily would have run over $200 for labor.
I'm not super mechanically enclined, nor to I especially enjoy projects like these. However, I did enjoy trying to figure out the whole process from discerning what was broken to getting what was needed to fix it to completing the repair.
Yesterday I met with D@vid. He's with another group and has a lot of experience in working with artists. He himself is a musician who has done previous min in Montreal, Brazil, etc. He will be taking over the communications responsibilities that I've been doing for a number of years now. Yesterday I passed on the passwords to a number of different accounts, as well as showed him how to do use some of these different tools.
I periodically hear adages related to the notion that no one is irreplaceable. As we plan for a year away, we're forced to bring closure to some of what we've done, as well as turn things over. It's important to always be thinking about the future & who are those that we should be preparing to turn things over to. For we are all terminal & will have to turn things over eventually, whether we want to or not. If we more intentionally plan for transitions, then they are more likely to go smoothly than if we don't plan for them.
One way to measure the effectiveness of our leadership is by how smoothly the transition goes and how well our replacement(s) do.
Last evening we had an enjoyable evening with Bill & R@chel & their 2 children. They kindly took our kids all afternoon, which helped us get more done yesterday. G*d quickly & miraculously provided an apartment for them in a part of Paris close to Radio France & the Eiffel Tower. They are in a part of Paris that I don't know well, but am glad they are living in.
We first met them in IL while we were doing grad studies 1998-2000. They've been interested in working in Paris since then & left a successful min in a growing ch&rch in order to come here. We have been blessed to track with them these past 10-12 years & now have them in Paris. We are especially excited when new families arrive.
In some ways, it feels strange to be leaving Paris at this time when things are going well & G*d is bringing people like Bill & Rachel to Paris. However, G*d has His ways of moving His personnel around the field.
It's been encouraging to us to have people actually sad that we are leaving for this next year. Several have insisted that we do come back. Actually more people in Paris know about our 1 year stateside than do in the U.S. This is due to our needing to be part of a July 28 or 29 meeting that will help give some direction about this next year stateside.
It's good we're having this season to do some goodbyes to our friends here. It doesn't feel super rushed and we're not having one super bonanza party, but rather different gatherings of friends at different times.
Yesterday was Father's Day. It was my 9th one as a father.
My wife & 3 kids surprised me with a waffle breakfast. We all climbed into our bed & ate together. Fortunately, we didn't have any syrup, so it was a lot neater than it might have normally been.
As my younger daughter has the chicken pox, she stayed home with my wife, while I took my older two to our ch*rch's worship service. Every 2 or 3 weeks, there is a special catechism for the older kids. We're thankful that they've been able to get some more formal biblical teaching in this way.
After we got home, my wife got Pizza Hut for lunch for us. This is a treat that we often do on birthdays & special occasions.
I then went off to another ch*rch for the religious wedding ceremony of our friends Ch & Ma. I've known Ch for 22 years. My wife was Ma's witness at their civil wedding ceremony 7 years ago. It was encouraging to see the influence of their lives & work in all their friends at the ceremony. They are some of the friends who we've gotten to journey with together over the years in Paris.
It was good to see Ch's son Hu at the reception. He was 4 or 5 when I first met him. It's good to see how he has turned out, as this is an example of G*d's grace.
Being a father is something I enjoy, well, most of the time. Sometimes it's tiring and I would rather be left along. But most of the time, I enjoy being with my kids. As their personalities & capacity to reason are developing, I find them more fun to be around, well, most of the time. It's interesting to see them discover & process the world around them.
A big part of fatherhood is stewardship. In the Psalms, it compares children to arrows. Being a father involves helping the children to move in a strategic & precise direction. This involves trying to understand each child, with his/her particularities, gifts, strengths, weaknesses and particular life calling.
I recently heard Tim Kéller give a 2-3 blurb of the ministry & one's family. He said that at the many pastor's life, that pastor's primary regret was not spending enough time with his wife & children. He suggested trying to proactively reduce that regret by spending time with them now.
Every week I receive a p@stor's letter from Bob Tollïver. This week's one is on fatherhood. He cites a book by Bruce Feiler (www.brucefeiler.com) titled "The Counsel of Dads." Feiler is one of only a handful of New York Times sellers to have four consecutive best sellers in the past decade.
Tolliver cites Bruce Feiler as writing the following:
God and Dad: Four Lessons of Faith.
Why are men abandoning God?
Religion is increasingly a woman’s domain in America. Two-thirds of church and synagogue attendees are women, studies show, with young men fleeing the pews even faster. On any given weekend, 13 million more women than men will attend religious institutions.
Home is even worse. Moms are usually the ones talking about God at the dinner table. When the topic turns to faith, Dad is usually out to lunch.
What a shame. Fathers can find great inspiration in faith. For the last dozen years, I’ve traced the influence of the Bible through the Middle East and America looking at how religious figures from the past are relevant to today’s families. In Walking the Bible, I climbed Mount Ararat, crossed the Red Sea, and spent weeks recreating the Exodus through the desert. InWhere God Was Born, I continued that journey through the second half the Bible in Israel, Iraq, and Iran. In America’s Prophet, I explored how the story of Moses has influenced Americans from the Liberty Bell, through the Statue of Liberty, through Cecil B. DeMille and Charlton Heston.
Two years ago this week I was struck by a life-threatening illness and suddenly my travels took a more personal turn. What lessons of faith would I pass on to my three-year-old twin daughters? My new book, The Council of Dads, includes a Father’s Four Lessons of Faith.
1. Wrestle with God. In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with a messenger of God. The two come to a standstill, and the messenger leaves a mark on Jacob. The scar does not end up on Jacob’s hand, nor on his head, his heart, or his eyes. Humans experience God, the text suggests, not by touching him, imagining him, feeling him, or seeing him. Jacob is scarred on his leg, for the essential way humans experience God is by walking with him. Forever after, Jacob is called “Israel,” one who wrestles with God. Don’t be afraid of doubt. The true way to experience the divine is struggle with him.
2. Befriend the Stranger. There’s a reason the Exodus story has inspired so many Americans. It’s a narrative of home. “This year we are slaves, but next year we can be free.” History is not set in stone. It is not an immovable pyramid. The pyramid can be flipped. When you despair, when you hurt, when you fear – and especially when you encounter those feelings in others – remember the slaves who first groaned under bondage. You should read the Israelites’ story and remember: There is a moral dimension to the universe. Right can prevail over might; justice can triumph over evil. Flip a few pyramids yourselves along the way. Overturn injustice. Befriend the stranger, for you, yourselves, were strangers once in a land with no hope.
3. Plunge Into the Waters. One reason Moses is America’s true founding father is that evangelizes action; he justifies risk. He gives ordinary people the courage to live with uncertainty. The visionaries who have been inspired by him – Christopher Columbus, Benjamin Franklin, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King – were not born to greatness. They became great by tapping into the anger and hope within themselves. Imagine your own promised land, girls, plunge into the waters, persevere through the dryness, and don’t be surprised – or saddened – if you’re stopped just short of your dream. Because the ultimate lesson of Moses’ life is that the dream does not die with the dreamer, and the true destination in a narrative of hope is not this year at all. But next.
4. Be Reunited With the Ones You Love. The Council of Dads tells the story of my “lost year” fighting cancer and the men I asked to be father figures to my daughters. Today I am cancer-free, and I learned a powerful lesson during that experience. The Liberty Bell has a quote from Moses on its side, “Proclaim Liberty throughout the world, unto all the inhabitants thereof.” This line refers to a tradition whereby every seven years, farmers are obliged to give their fields a year of rest. Every 49 years the land gets an extra year of rest, during which all families are reunited, and all people reunited with the ones they love. That fiftieth year is called the jubilee year. That tradition perfectly captures my experience. My “lost year” was my jubilee year. I was needy. I was a stranger. I was reunited with the ones I love. Don't forget to slow down, girls. Reunite with the ones you love.
In a couple of hours, we'll host the end of the year party for the Saturday morning English club. My wife has bravely hung in there since September with this group of 6-9 year olds. She's created materials each week, like most 1st year teachers have to do.
It's been a good way to get to know some kids & their families & render a service to them. It's been good for our children to help with the English clubs & earn some spending money. Our son spent 26 euros this week on a "Star Wars" book. This money was earned by helping with English club, around the house, as well as by doing well on his weekly spelling tests.
I read the chapter titled "Friend...But I Don't Know Any Sinners" in David Putnam's "Detox for the Overly Religious" this morning. He cites Mark 2:17--"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." He writes (p. 133):
Toxic Religion: We build religious walls around us to protect ourselves from people who aren't like us.
The Jesus Way: Jesus pushes us outside our walls and comfort zones where we become "friends of sinners."
In The Tangible Kingdom, Matt Smay & Hugh Halter talk about being "advocates" for people. We work in their favor.
Both Smay & Halter and Putnam cite the story of Jesus before the Pharisees when the woman was caught in adultery.
May today's party be one where Jesus shows up.
Finally, I found this great quote on my friend Philip Sawyer's Facebook.
TO BE A WITNESS does not consist in engaging in propaganda nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way ...that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.
