SURPLUS Versus SACRIFICE

My home had a blessed visitation recently. Nick and Pam Sisco, and their two precious children, Allanah and Steven, stayed at our house for a few days. They are missionarries and are home on furlough from Ghana.

I don't know how many people really realize what missionaries go through. Of course, the media brings their sufferings to our attention when it's extreme - think Martin and Gracia Burnam but the majority of the time our missionaries hardships and sacrifices go largely unnoticed - and sadly unsupported in the western world.

My friends ,for example, are required to give up their home in Ghana every 4 years. They must pack all their belongings into a storage unit of some kind and leave it in Ghana . Then they spend the next 18 months to 2 years traveling in a mini-van and depending on the good-natured people of the United States and Canada to put them up for a night or two and/or become a financial supporter so they can raise the necessary funds to return to their first love - Ghana.

(Let me pause here to stress this is not their choice, this is normal protocol for all of the UPCI missionaries. )

I wonder how many North American pastors and their wives would be willing to sell their homes every 4 years, leave all their belongings in a Public Storage, and live out of a car, a hotel or another pastor's guest room for 2 years?

Makes you stop and think doesn't it?

I tell you all of this not so you will feel sorry for Nick and Pam Siscoe or anyone else like them. (They wouldn't want you to ) But to share how deeply touched I was by their beautiful spirits and sacfricial giving. In Ghana the Sisco's are lucky if they have electricity 4 out of 7 days. They consider themselves equally blessed if the city water is provide 3 days a week. They do without alot of conveniences and they live on a very tight budget - all for the sake of God's kingdom.

Their quiet example of true Kingdom Living and sacrificial giving convicted me to the core of my being. My giving - either of time or money - is mostly out my abundance. I pay my tithes, attend weekly services and teach Bible studies - but I want for nothing really. My home is comfortable, my closet is full ,and groceries abound in my house. And here are my precious friends with so little of the material things - no home, limited finances and possessions -yet they glow with the contentment and joy of the Lord.

How pleased Jesus must be with Nick and Pam Sisco! They remind me of the story of the widow's offering in Mark 12:41-44

"Jesus went over to the collection box in the Temple and sat and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. ...Then a poor widow came and dropped in two pennies. ...He called his disciples to him and said, "I assure you, this poor widow has given more than all the others have given. ...For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has." "

Nick and Pam left today to the next place on their itinerary. I'd worked most of the day and when I came home, the house was spotless - Pam had cleaned it. The sheets on the beds they stayed in had been washed and neatly folded and a beautiful, hand-carved elephant family was sitting on my kitchen counter with a lovely thank-you note.

I started to cry. Even in their hardship. Even in this humbling journey of seeking financial support - they had given so deeply of themselves. I knew they had brought those hand carved elephants from Ghana in hopes of selling them for income. And yet, they - like the widow - had given so sacrificially.

Oh, God. Change me. Change all of us 'westerners'. Birth in us a love for those who serve on foreign fields and teach us to give and sacrifice like they do. In Jesus Name. Amen.

ADDENDUM: Want to help Nick and Pam? Consider a donation. It's tax deductable.

Balloon Boy Observations

It saddens me to think the lengths a parent will use a child to further it's own agenda. The Balloon Boy incident is just one example: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091020/ennew_afp/usairaccidentballoonmedia_20091020074009

Think of the exampled lessons in this incident:

• Lying is okay


• Pre-planned deception is acceptable


• It doesn't matter what it costs or who is distressed or hurt as long as I get my way.

And I'm sure there's more I haven't thought of.

Fast forward 20 years and imagine Falcon Heene as an adult. A pattern of lying and deception could cause him to have trouble being a faithful mate, or of becoming an employee with integrity, or a parent that can be trusted.

My hope and prayer is that Falcon Heene and his siblings will have people in their lives who will teach them a better way. It's the children that lose in situations like these. Long after Richard and Mayumi Heene have faded from the national scene, Falcon Heene and his brothers will no doubt struggle with when to tell a lie and when not to. And the fact that Falcon, and others like him, may grow up thinking telling untruths is okay is a very sad commentary on our world.

Rejection

My heart is heavy today and I feel compelled to write about the pains of rejection. I can think of no other loss so great as that of not being wanted by someone you love so desperately. Maybe it's a mother, a spouse, a sibling or a lover. Who it is doesn't matter near as much as the utter worthlessness one feels when one you love doesn't love you back. Especially, when it's a biological relative. Your psyche tells you that genetically, your father or brother or __________ (you fill in the blank) must love you. Afterall, you share the same bloodline. But when even one of your own flesh wants nothing to do with you, the level of despair sinks to a new low.

And yet God tells us in Psalm 27:10 that

"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up."

And the reality is that if Lord takes me up then nothing else should matter. I'm not 'there' yet in my thinking, but I'm on the road to this kind of transformed thinking.

God help me to really grasp my value in You. Because I know that You will never, EVER reject me! And for that I am eternally grateful.

Pumpkin Patches & Suffering

I went to the Morton Arboretum with my granddaughter yesterday to paint pumpkins. http://www.mortonarb.org/for-kids.html. It was a little cold, but alot fun. There were pumpkins and people of all sizes and shapes.

October is always pumpkin month with the onset of cold weather, changing leaves and Halloween. While, I personally do not celebrate Halloween, sitting near a pumpkin patch and painting a pumpkin made me think of hot apple cider, jack-o-laterns and roasted pumpkin seeds.

It dawned on me there is a spiritual application to all of this: pumpkins are sliced, scraped and gutted in order that they might be transformed into their creators image.

(Okay, it's a little of a stretch but bear with me. )

Doesn't our Creator allow similar splicing and gutting to transform us? Granted He doesn't use an actual knife, but sometimes life's circumstances certainly make us feel as if we've been stabbed. And don't we at times feel as if we've endured gut-wrenching circumstances? And isn't God's ultimate goal to makes us shine forth with His light - aka a candle inside of us?

An author name Beecher puts it this way:

"Do not be afraid to suffer. Do not be afraid to be overthrown. It is by being cast down and not destroyed; it is by being shaken to pieces, and the pieces torn to shreds [gutting], that men become men of might..."

So this Halloween season as you see jack-o-laterns sitting on porches may it not remind you of the evil one's celebration day. No, instead, let it be a visual reminder that although you may be in the midst of a God ordered transformation process, one day you will sit on His heavenly porch and shine forth His glory for all to see!

Sharing the Gospel

I met a friend for dinner tonight at Panera Bread. (mmm, I love Panera) The soup and sandwhich were yummy, and after some general catching up we settled into our bi-monthly Bible study. She's a new believer and wants more of God, yet is not sure He's fully trustworthy.

On the surface, I can't say I blame her. She looks around her and sees the heartache in the world and wonders how a good God can let such things happen. But, after discussing the freedom God grants humanity to make their own choices and the results of some of those choices she was more reconciled to the idea of God's intentions being admirable.

It got me thinking that sometimes even as a seasoned believer, I approach God the same way. It's a sort of a "God, how could You....?" or in reality, "God, how dare you! "As if I had a right to my own life and it's outcome.

The reality is that I have no rights. God holds all the cards. He is the one who determines when I'll draw my last breath.

It makes me think of the last few chapters of Job when God shows up in a whirlwind and basically lines Job out:


Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:
"Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:1-7)

I don't know about you, but I'd rather trust Him at the outset than have him show up in cloud.

MORNING AND EVENING

"My prayer life must be brought entirely under the control of Christ and His love. Then, for the first time, will prayer become what it really is, the natural and joyous breathing of the spiritual life, by which the heavenly atmosphere is inhaled and then exhaled in prayer." - Andrew Murray

This quote resonates with me. I inhale the beauty of God's goodness in my morning prayer. If I linger long enough to really connect with Him, I face the day with a lightness of spirit and a renewed love for my fellow man. With the softening of morning prayer I am more able see past my co-worker's challenging dispositions and love them unconditionally. Prayer in the morning sets the stage for this.

And then, once the stresses and trials of the day have accumulated, I find myself in need of an evening detox before the Lord. It is in my evening prayer that I empty myself of all the spiritual impurities that have attached themselves to me. Then and only then am I able to lay my head down in sweet rest.