Early Morning Musings

My mind is full and whirling- We are starting a new term of work in the Philippines and the demands are everywhere! Then this morning in bed I got to thinking….

My head is full of all I need to prepare for the workshops I will be teaching – one a month so far through till December BUT it is for a job I love and I keep hearing affirmation that says the material and time is helpful.

My head is full of trying to figure out how to juggle being with my daughter in the birth of her first baby while I have workshops scheduled in and around the due date. BUT how blessed I am that my daughter wants me to be part of this awesome experience with them!

My head is full of special requests- can you teach my son piano? Can you counsel me as I have been through a terrible year? BUT what a privilege that I can play piano and enjoy it. (Thanks Hebron and Miss Fountain!) What a privilege that a friend wants my listening ear- isn’t that a deep compliment?

My head is full of plans, dreams, visions on what I would like to do in the next year or so. I would like to work on another set of materials to serve churches in partnership with missions. I would love to get a committee together to host a celebration (day or weekend?) for adult MKs (missionary kids) here in Manila. I would love to get more reading done. Love to get back into shape. Love to learn some harder pieces on the piano….. I know these plans will only be successful as I lay them before my Master Planner and work in union with him.

So I start this day with my head full and heart at peace. How is your day going?

Something I wrote for a ladies outreach

Mary’s true story

I can hear my mom’s deep sobs in the next bedroom and Dad’s angry barrage against this unexpected news. “ Where did we go wrong? She was such a good girl. What on earth was Jo thinking! What till I get my hands on that young man!”

I had just told my parents that I was pregnant.

I knew they would blow up and so didn’t dare add the extra blow- it wasn’t even Jo’s baby! Jo and I were engaged almost a year ago and everything seemed so right and good for our future. I had grown up in a godly home with good morals. I was known in the community as that quiet, respectable girl that every mother dreamed of tagging for her son. Everyone knew Jo too. He was that stable kind of guy you need and want in a husband. Mature with a good job already. Everything was so perfect until now!

I sat on my bed hugging my knees. The look on Jo’s face when I told him I was pregnant haunted me. He face contorted with pain and his jaws tightened and twitched. He said nothing but turned around and slowly walked away. This was so confusing. I know it hurts him to think I was with someone else. Should I tell Jo the secret of whose baby this is? Is the truth any easier to bear than what he was thinking now? How could he possibly understand! I don’t even understand how this happened? Oh, God, what do I do now? When I checked out to confirm the pregnancy, one of my first thoughts was should I get rid of the baby? Its still early. This baby is just going to mess up my future with Jo, my relationship with my folks. But as I kept thinking about it, the mere thought of getting rid of this little one made me sick in my stomach- more than the morning sickness!

The phone rang. I let it ring several times before I picked it up. It was Jo! I shut my eyes ready for his burst of anger, but instead I heard a deep sigh. “Mary,” he said, “ I don’t know what happened to us. How this happened to you. You tell me it was not a rape so what am I supposed to believe? I have been thinking it over and as much as I love you, I am willing to release you from our engagement so you can be with the baby’s father if that is what you want. You can even use the excuse of our broken engagement as the reason why you went off with someone else. I just wanted to tell you I still love you and I pray the best for you and the little one you carry; and hope the father will be good to both of you.” Click, the phone went dead before I could say anything. It would have been less painful if he had stabbed me with a knife.

I don’t know how long I lay in my tears when Mom came into the room and sat beside me on the bed. “Mary, I don’t know if I should be excited that you will make me a grandmother or angry and just tell you to walk out of the house and never show your face here again. But you are our daughter and we love you no matter what you have done. When you are ready you can try to explain some of this to us but in the meantime, your dad and I have been talking and have a suggestion for you. Everyone around here knows you and Jo, so we wonder if you want to get away from here for a while. Dad’s cousin, Lizzie, is actually going to be giving birth soon and could use some help around the place for a while. It will be a chance for you to learn from her how to care for a baby. What do you think?” I didn’t say anything. What could I say? What else could I do? Where else could I go? It may be good to get away from the accusing looks and whispered gossip that will soon be spreading around town. It would be good to be far away so I won’t bump into Jo anywhere.

So it was decided and after Mom and I shopped i for a few maternity clothes, I soon found myself heading for the mountains escaping all that was familiar and dear to me. When would I return? Would I ever get back? I was too tired trying to make any sense of it all and put my head back and slept from sheer exhaustion.

Maybe many of you hearing my story can identify with things up till now. Some facts may be different but you know how I feel. But what I am about to tell you next will be something nobody can identify with. You see I am not living in Canada and the time is not 2007- I put my story in your context but actually I lived in Judea 2,000 years ago.You may have heard my story before. You have heard of my famous baby before- he is the one named Jesus the Christ.

To make sense of this whole pregnancy and birth of my baby we need to go back to the beginning. Not my beginning, but the beginning of all time.

In the beginning was God. The self sufficient, Holy One. God has existed forever and has no start or end. He is all-powerful and is completely good and loving. He is a creator God and made the universe. His word is all-powerful. He just said, “Let there be light” and suddenly there was light. In an orderly way, God made the dry land, plants and animals. God looked at what He had created and it was perfect.

Then God created the best last. He created people. Everyday, the first people (Adam and Eve) and God talked together. They had a perfect friendship. Adam and Eve were like God’s own children. God knew that if He forced people to love and serve Him, then people had no dignity. He wanted people to CHOOSE to love and serve Him. So God gave people freedom. He told Adam and Eve that they could eat anything EXCEPT the fruit of one tree in the garden. The day they ate that fruit, they would die. So God made the choice very clear ‘choose life or choose death”. Now there was an angel that became proud and was thrown out of heaven. He is called Satan and he has ever since tried to destroy the relationship between God and people. He used a very clever method. Satan worked through a beautiful snake. The snake said to Eve, hoping that she would begin to doubt God’s goodness to them, “Did God really say that you couldn’t eat ANY of the fruit in the garden.” Eve wasn’t tricked so easily. “oh no, most fruit we can eat. Only the fruit of one tree is forbidden. If we eat that fruit we will die.” Satan immediately contradicted God. “You will not die! God knows that when you eat that fruit you will become like God.” Wow, that sounds good and the fruit was so shiny and beautiful.

She chose to rebel against God and listen to Satan. She also gave some fruit to her husband and he also rebelled against God’s clear word.

Immediately they rejected God they felt ashamed. They tried to cover their naked bodies and hide in fear and embarrassment.. God came to have his walk in the garden with them, but they hid from him. Their perfect friendship with God had been destroyed. God called out and said, “Where are you?” Did he know where they were? Of course, He knows everything. So, why did God ask this question? He wanted them to approach Him and admit that they had rebelled against him and say sorry.

But what did Adam and Eve do? They started to pass the responsibility. Eve blamed the snake. Adam had the audacity to blame not only Eve but God , “The woman YOU gave me”. His meaning was clear. If you hadn’t created this woman for me, I wouldn’t be in this mess!

God was very sad because He knew the suffering that this rebellion would cause. Every person looks to themselves or anything else but God to find meaning to life. The result would be arguments, divorce, war and much more. People would no longer care for the world but would try to exploit it, never thinking of the floods, pollution and misery that they were causing.

Perhaps Adam and Eve thought that Satan was right, they hadn’t died when they ate the fruit. The reality was that rebellion against God inevitably leads to death, spiritual death- separation from God forever. From the moment of their rebellion, they walked on death’s road.

In the midst of all God’s judgment, God showed mercy. He gave people hope through a wonderful promise. Although the descendents of Adam and Eve would continue to be hated by Satan, one day someone would come who would defeat Satan. Yes, only God can defeat Satan. This wonderful promise was that God Himself would one day come and save the world. The day I got pregnant that promise came true.

You see I didn’t have sex with any one to get pregnant. Believe it or not I was a virgin till after Jesus was born. Jesus is God taking on human flesh. Since Adam and Eve’s time, everyone was waiting for the promised Saviour. They waited and waited. Then one day an angel appeared to me. I told you it would be hard to believe! But it is true. You can imagine how frightened I was to see an angel because you don’t see one of those every day! The angel said to me, “You are going to have a baby.” And I said, “How can that happen since I’m a virgin?” The angel said, “God is going to do a miracle and put a baby in your womb.” You will have a son and his name will be Jesus, which means “God saves”. He will also have another name, Emmanuel, which means “God with us”.

That is the secret I was carrying of how I got pregnant. It was all pretty overwhelming! After I was at my Aunt’s place for a few months I did come back home. And guess who was there to meet me. Jo! He told me an angel had come to him as well and told him how I had got pregnant and that I shouldn’t give you up, but marry you! Wow, it was so good to have someone else know my secret and it was great to be back with Jo. You know the story of how Jo and I had to go back to our home town for a government census taking. I was almost full term pregnant and the travel was exhausting. When we got to Bethlehem there was not one motel room available and in the end I had to give birth in a smelly old animal barn. You know the story too of our first visitors, the shepherds that first night. After that we moved into a home and in a few years there were these very wealthy men from the East who came because they had found out that I had given birth to a very significant child. Their gifts helped us out as we set up our carpentry shop and had more children. Jo and I didn’t feel it was our place to be telling the world about Jesus, our son. Sometimes we even forgot ourselves that he was actually God come in the flesh. When the time was right God would let the world know.

It was when Jesus turned 30 that I once again realized who my son really was! He was God come in flesh to tell us good news.

I remember one night, a council member named Nicodemus came to talk to Jesus. Jesus said a very strange thing to him. He said, “to know God you must first be born again!” Nicodemus didn’t understand and wondered how a grown man could possibly enter his mother’s womb to be born again. But Jesus wasn’t talking about physical birth. His meaning was that to truly be friends with God it is like being spiritually reborn. We need a new start. Just as it is impossible for people to be re -enter their mother’s womb, we cannot save ourselves. No person can find this new life themselves. This new start is a miracle that only God can do. Only God can give us new life. This was the good news my son had been sent to teach and I was thrilled that I played a part in it all.

For the next three years Jesus was not at home but doing his heavenly father’s will- teaching, healing and comforting the hurting. But one very frightening night it seemed to all come to a crashing halt. One of Jesus’ best friends betrayed him to the religious leaders, who were jealous and fearful of Jesus and his teachings. It is hard for me to tell you this part of the story. No mother should have to see her son falsely accused, cruelly beaten, abused, mocked at and finally condemned to die. Not only die but die the worst criminal’s death by being nailed to a wooden cross.

When Jesus died you can imagine how devastated I was. Physically I hurt because I had seen my son suffer unbearably and spiritually I hurt as my hopes for this promised Saviour evaporate in thin air. We were not prepared for this. We had no burial plot ready but a rich man who had been impressed by Jesus offered us his tomb. This tomb was carved into a rock and a big stone was rolled in front of the opening to seal it shut. Guards were also placed at his tomb.

I remember it was three days after we buried Jesus that some of us women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with spices. We weren’t sure how we were going to roll that heavy stone away but we hoped the soldiers would have pity on us and help us. But when we got there the stone had already been rolled away and the soldiers guarding it were face down on the ground. There at the entrance was an angel. Where was Jesus body? Who had taken it away? Was this just a cruel dream or was this really true? One of my friends grabbed me before I fell, I was so shaken. The angel then spoke to us and said, “Do not be afraid. for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”

It all made sense now. God made human beings to have a relationship with him on their own free will. But when they disobeyed him the relationship was broken. The punishment for this disobedience was spiritual death for ever. But God made a way for this punishment to be dealt with once and for all. Jesus HAD to die to pay for our wrongs against God. But He rose again to show us the all surpassing power of God and give us hope. Why? Because God, the King of Kings loves us. He wants a relationship with us. We are the ones who should die because of our broken relationship with God. But God is merciful. He changed our destiny.

Jesus took our place so we could be reunited with God, our source of life. Whoever believes in the Jesus has eternal life, but whoever rejects him will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.Jesus is no longer my son but my Savior. He can be your Savior too. Admit that you are disobedient to God. Believe that Jesus took the punishment of your disobedience for you on the cross and accept this payment as a free gift of love from God himself. When you do I welcome you to the forever family of God.

Musician Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter killed in accident

by Terry DeBoer | The Grand Rapids Press

Thursday May 22, 2008, 4:53 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/musician_steven_curtis_chapman.html

Tucker PhotographyThe Chapman family: From left, Will Franklin, Maria, Steven, Shaohannah, Mary Beth, Stevey Joy, Caleb and Emily Chapman.

West Michigan Christian music fans are expressing their sympathy for Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman after the death of his 5-year-old daughter in an accident Wednesday in the family's driveway.

"We opened up the phone lines and people called in and wanted to pray right over the air," said Troy West, morning show co-host on contemporary Christian music radio station WJQK-FM (99).

Maria Sue Chapman was struck by a car driven by one of her teenage brothers, according to authorities in Franklin, Tenn., who added they believe no charges will result from what they termed "a tragic accident."

The child died 10 days after her fifth birthday. Chapman's manager, Jim Houser, also noted in a Web site posting the family had been hours away from hosting a high school graduation party for their son Caleb when the accident occurred.

Maria was the youngest of three Chinese girls the family had adopted, two of them through the the Nashville, Tenn., office of Bethany Christian Services. Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, also have three biological children -- two teenage sons and a 21-year-old daughter.

"They are loving and wonderful parents and a great family -- they must be devastated," said Brian De Vos, manager of Michigan operations for Bethany Christian Services. "He's been such an advocate for adoption -- I know their commitment to kids."

DeVos has known the Chapmans for eight years and worked with them on Shaohannah's Hope, a foundation the couple named for one of their adopted daughters and established to help families through the often expensive adoption process.

During Chapman's most recent concert tour -- which included a stop at Sunshine Community Church last September -- the singer raised $340,000 for the foundation. While here, he awarded a grant of about $3,000 to a local family for adoption expenses.

He also has raised funds for construction of an orphanage in China for special-needs children who likely will never be adopted.

Chapman, 45, has sold more than 10 million albums, has had dozens of No. 1 Christian radio hits, and has won more than 50 Dove Awards -- exceeding any other individual artist.

Yet he would much rather talk about his family or his work with adoptions and orphans.

"I have sung a lot of his songs," said local Christian singer Marty Miller, of Belmont, posting comments on an area Christian musicians' Web site. "Please be in prayer for the family."

Chapman's current hit song on Christian radio is "Cinderella," a ballad about precious times spent together by father and daughter. It was inspired by a real family moment.

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Video for "Cinderella"

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"I was trying to give my little girls a bath and rushing and hurrying through it," Chapman told The Press in an interview last fall. "And I got convicted over how much I rush through moments trying to get to the next one, and God telling me to stop and take the moments as he gives then, and see what he's trying to teach me."

A Web site has been set up for people to learn more about Maria and to leave expressions of sympathy: chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria.

Condolences also may be sent to the Chapmans in care of P.O. Box 150156, Nashville, TN 37215. A memorial service will be Saturday morning in Nashville's Christ Presbyterian Church.

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Video of Chapman with Maria Sue Chapman

My last month in pictures

Rich in Friendships

Being rich is a very relative word I am finding. What does that mean? Having money? How much? A full life- what does that consist of? Having meaning to life or having a purpose to life? Food for thought....I find much of my richness comes from my friendships.

Some friends have made us “rich” materially these past 8 months in Canada. Oh OK! Maybe not rich but certainly well looked after. Food, clothes, houses, even money to make a special valentine escape.

Others have made us rich emotionally. A few younger folk have found us relevant and want to learn from our experience- I guess we all want to be needed and not feel like dinosaurs. We have been affirmed both privately and publicly. I think every soul needs that! Our son in law asked us to live with them for a few months- how rich is that!

And then we have been made richer spiritually. We just came from visiting friends where the wife is battling cancer. They lost their young son to cancer only 4 years ago. As we sat around the table and talked, their unshakable faith in a good God moved me to tears. They know God in ways I long to know Him. Their perspective of life is wider, deeper and higher than mine. Friends like this give me a more accurate picture of who God is.

Thank You God for the riches I have from these friendships!

What happened?

Wars and rumors of wars

Famine that ravages thousands

Cancer that is no respecter of race, gender or wealth

Typhoons that wipe out homes and livelihoods

Broken relationships

Abuse of children and the elderly

Torture of the mind, body and spirit

Loneliness that dries up the soul

Is this what God had planned?

When God made the Garden and all in it

It was for his pleasure and fellowship with his highest creation- mankind

He called it all GOOD.

There was relationship, love, abundance and peace.

So what happened?

Man has tried to live without God

Who needs a crutch? they say

We are our own destiny

We have all the power within us, we boast

And look where it has got us….

We are made in God’s image

To love, feel, think, reason and have a choice

God made a way for life to have hope again

He took on the form of mankind

And through his sacrificial death he appeased the wrath of God

He then rose again the third day-

Finished the task he was on earth to accomplish

Now he says,

I am the Way

The Truth

And the Life

No one comes to the Father but by me.

And he leaves the choice to follow with us.

Canada dressed in winter white

Richard and I have been on a trip across Canada these past two months. Winter may be harsh, bitter to the touch but oh so beautiful to the eye! I may feel the cold but can't complain when I see the beauty.


The Rockies in northern BC












The hoar frost on the Prairies


Winter at its best












The Rockies from the plane window

The trip home

A pastor had been on a long flight between church conferences. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: Fasten Your Seat Belts. Then, after a while, a calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."

As the pastor looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice on the intercom said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us."

And then the storm broke . . .
The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightning! lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.

The pastor confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying. The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm.

"Then, I suddenly saw a little girl. Apparently the storm meant nothing to her. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat; she was reading a book and every- thing within her small world was calm and orderly.

"Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world.

When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid." The minister could hardly believe his eyes.

It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, our pastor lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time. Having commented about the storm and the behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.

The child replied, "Cause my Daddy's the pilot, and he's taking me home." There are many kinds of storms that buffet us. Physical, mental, financial, domestic, and many other storms can easily and quickly darken our skies and throw our plane into apparently uncontrollable movement. We have all known such times, and let us be honest and confess, it is much easier to be at rest when our feet are on the ground than when we are being tossed about a darkened sky.

Let us remember: Our Father is the Pilot. He is in control and taking us home.

The trip home

A pastor had been on a long flight between church conferences. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: Fasten Your Seat Belts. Then, after a while, a calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."

As the pastor looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice on the intercom said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us."

And then the storm broke . . .
The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightning! lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.

The pastor confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying. The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm.

"Then, I suddenly saw a little girl. Apparently the storm meant nothing to her. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat; she was reading a book and every- thing within her small world was calm and orderly.

"Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world.

When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid." The minister could hardly believe his eyes.

It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, our pastor lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time. Having commented about the storm and the behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.

The child replied, "Cause my Daddy's the pilot, and he's taking me home." There are many kinds of storms that buffet us. Physical, mental, financial, domestic, and many other storms can easily and quickly darken our skies and throw our plane into apparently uncontrollable movement. We have all known such times, and let us be honest and confess, it is much easier to be at rest when our feet are on the ground than when we are being tossed about a darkened sky.

Let us remember: Our Father is the Pilot. He is in control and taking us home.

Full Net/Full Life

I was reading in John 21 for my devotions the other day and something struck me. You know the story. Jesus had died and rose again and appeared to the disciples already. The disciples were back to fishing. They had fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus called to them from the beach, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they replied not knowing it was Jesus speaking to them. Jesus then told them to throw their net on the other side of the boat. And viola- they could hardly haul in the huge net full of fish. Then the disciples realized it was their Lord who had called to them and Peter jumped into the water to get to him as fast as he could. The others rowed to shore and dragged the net onto the beach. There were 154 fish and the net wasn’t even torn! Jesus then calls them to a breakfast he had ready for them on the beach.

Many friends and family have warned us that we are too busy. Maybe they are right. But it seems that God has called us to throw our net on the other side of our boat right now and our net is full. But it is God who is filling it and because of that our net is not torn. We remain healthy, excited about the ministry God has given us and still have energy. What we need to be careful is that we don’t take this for granted and just go fill up our net again on our own. We need to listen when God calls us to “breakfast” with him on the beach. Pray we will respond to God’s calling in our lives at every turn.

A day in Tokyo

I just spent yesterday with a friend as a tourist in Tokyo. Half the day was spent at the Emerging Science Museum. We could have stayed all day and still not seen it all. Japan is really on the cutting edge of innovative technology. The walking, talking, responding robot didn't just fascinate the kids but kept us all rivet ted.

Walking through the space shuttle where the astronauts live and work for months on end was like walking through a movie set- but this was real.


The next stop was an Onsen (public Japanese bath). This one gave you a taste of what it was like in the rural traditional parts of Japan. We were given a kimono (known as yukata in Japan) to wear and suddenly we found ourselves blending in (sort of) as EVERYONE was wearing one and there were just 10 or so patterns to choose from!



The middle section was set up in the style of a village street full of vendors of wares and food and even side shows (a man playing a trombone).




There were many choices of massages from foot to back to a full body massage; a soak in 14 spring-fed hot pools, a lay on sand or pebbles for heat therapy and the rock studded foot bath as seen here. Sounds easy but it takes grace and poise to walk on the strewn rocks that are there to massage tired feet, while keeping your kimono up out of the water. Did I manage? Well......

One place we looked in, but didn't spend the money to go in, was a pool you sit beside with your feet dangling in the water and little fish nibble off the dead skin on your feet. Ummmm...

We came home late and tired but with lots of good memories and happy massaged feet!

Second Mile People

I love Isobel Khun’s book called Second Mile People. I am in Japan right now facilitating a two week workshop and finding my own second mile people.

I have been to Japan 8 times but still a friend met me at the airport. She had to come an hour train journey to meet me, yet did it gladly.

I arrived to a warm room with flowers and hand written welcome note on the desk from the Center managers.

One supper time I was thrilled to see a Japanese friend who was a volunteer helping serve the meal, even after a busy day at her office. I had met her once in Manila and then at this center 2 years ago. That time I had lost a contact and this new friend not only took me to the optical shop but actually paid for my new contact lens!

I have been here 8 times but rarely get out of the conference center to explore the sights of Japan. This Sunday one of the office secretaries is planning to take me to a special place for a Japanese traditional bath. Taking her day off to give a visitor a treat.

I thank God for my second mile people.

Christmas Giving

This Christmas I have heard the challenge over and over again to reconsider our gift giving. Do we REALLY need the gifts we get? Is the stress of finding the “perfect gift” worth it? Consider the majority of the world who would love the gift of three meals a day; a regular paying job to support his family; tuition money for their children for college; a cure for AIDS that is killing off their family one by one….I could go one and on.. so could you.

So this Christmas, my husband and I are sending our gift money to each other to help Filipinos who have lost their homes in a flood. The staff in our Manila based office pooled their exchange gift money and is giving it to a family with a blind girl who is also now diagnosed with epilepsy and has no medical insurance. One friend is giving his wife a goat that will live in India to bring some livelihood into a village family there ( and did it on line with a reputable organization). Others have already stuffed gift shoe boxes to send to poor children through the Samaritans Purse.

Christ gave us the ultimate gift- his life for the ransom of our sin and it was a sacrificial gift. He is our example. Life is richer when we give!

A story that moves me

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston , Texas . Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, "You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it." Then he thought, "Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet."

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, "Here, you gave me too much change."

The driver, with a smile, replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town? I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. Just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change.

I'll see you at church on Sunday."

When the preacher stepped off of the bus,
he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, "Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter."

Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read. This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as Christians and will put us to the test!

Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself "Christian."

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Empty Spaces

We all have empty spaces in our lives. Sometimes other people find them for us or in us, circumstances reveal them or we just feel something missing and we go looking for it, whatever it may be. It is when we crave for something or have a deep dissatisfaction deep down inside.

Sometimes we try to fill these empty spaces with things- like money, education, new car or even a new hair cut. Or we try to fill it with people- husband, children, best friend etc. I find I try to fill it sometimes with food- you have heard of comfort food right- entertainment, or other fun activities. God showed me this week that the only thing that fills the empty spaces is his unfailing love. It is like water that flows in and around the cracks and gaps in my life. Other things just make more spaces!

If you have discovered some empty spaces in yourself lately, let God fill you up with his unfailing and unconditional love. There is nothing more satisfying.

I am Canadian

As I was growing up in India my eyes watered and nose ran because I often had a cold- we lived 7,500 ft above sea level. In the Philippines my eyes watered and nose ran because of allergies- hay fever. In Canada my eyes water and my nose runs because of the COLD. My passport tells me I am Canadian so I am trying it on for size this year.

Richard and I went to our first hockey game where you actually pay to see them play. I was bundled in my sweater, coat, blanket and gloves and looked behind me. There was a couple in shirt sleeves- alright they were teenagers trying to impress each other. A little further up on the bleachers was a mom (or was it grandma- hard to tell these days) with a little one bundled in coat and blanket. As I cheered on our home town team , heard the scraping of flying skates across the ice, sang the Canadian anthem…I felt Canadian.

As I have said in other blogs, we are learning what a deal Tim Horton’s is for a lunch of homemade soup and sandwich. Richard and I find it the best place to grab a cup of coffee with old and new friends. We are learning to eat more meat as it is served to us- portion sizes I mean. We were taken out to breakfast the other day and shared a normal order and it was STILL to much for us. The other day we were served fruit soup- wow that was good- soup of peaches, cherries, apricots, strawberries and I don’t know what else. Top it with a little yogurt and mmmmm that is good!

The malls are SO small compared to what we have in Manila, but I guess it is refreshing to go to the till and only be number 2 in line and nobody behind you! We are a small town but still there seems to be great events to go to continuously. Concerts, hockey games, sleigh rides, hockey games, choir festival, hockey games, ladies teas, hockey games. Ok you may have guessed that our church family is pretty into hockey. It might be because our pastor is the chaplain of the team!

So in many ways it is easy slipping into Canadian life- it fits well. At least indoors!