Brief Situation Update

It has been many years since we posted on here.  A lot has happened.  I’m (Steve) the pastor at Redeemer Bible Church in Owasso, OK.  Social media has changed a lot since we started this blog, and so has our original intent for what this blog would be.  So, this blog is now just an archive of some of our thinking and life events in years past.  If your are interested in what we are doing these days we and our church can be found on FaceBook, and you can check out our church at redeemerbible.ch.

What a Week! Again and again and again…..

This morning God reminded me of a week we experienced several years ago, so much so that I went hunting for a copy of what I had written about it.

You see, this week I am facing another challenging, faith-stretching time. But that is nothing new.

On Saturday night we were awoken by the phone ringing; it’s Never a fun thing when the phone rings at that time of night.  It was our son Stephen calling from California. I answered the phone; he wanted to talk to Steve and asked him to take the phone into the other room.  (Stephen is fine)

Tomorrow Steve and I get on a plane for California on an unexpected trip with sadness, but knowing that God is loving, kind, and sovereign; we can Rest and trust in Him. His timing and provision is always perfect. Yesterday I didn’t think I would get to go, but God has provided. God brought Timothy home Exactly two weeks before He knew we would need him to help Catherine hold down the fort this week. He is so good to us, always.

We have also been experiencing an ongoing trial from God since last February that almost had us undone, but He has sustained us, kept us, strengthened us, used His people to encourage us, and provided for us. Maybe I will write about it sometime; maybe not.

This morning, when I located the long ago written article, I was amazed at the date on it – February 2, 2008 – EXACTLY 7 years ago TODAY. It made me realize, these hard things, they aren’t new; it is part of life. It is the process of being sanctified on this earth, and the adventure continues . . .

Here is the Article from all those years ago,

February 2, 2008

As I sit outside in the hospital courtyard waiting for Timothy to come out of surgery, I feel compelled to write this journal of our week (to be e-mailed later).

This has been one of the most trying weeks of my life, but knowing that God is faithful and sovereign, and that this is His plan for us, has made all the difference.

On Monday morning it began – we were finally getting a borehole (well). City water is very expensive, and we can’t afford to water the yard. Also, city water isn’t always dependable. Everyone on our street hits water between 25-30 meters. At 7 meters, we hit rock. The gray dust from the rock started to cover the yard and seep through the cracks in windows (which there are a lot of) and doors. All day Monday it continued. Tuesday around noon we had to stop drilling at 100 meters due to finances (we had planned on a 45 meter well). Still no water – only rock. Now we have one DEEP hole in our yard, no water in the well, and a HUGE mess to clean up both inside and out. We will probably lose the grass we do have and some of the plants.

Tuesday at lunch the kids and I were talking about the dry well. Stephen said we should celebrate – I agreed. God is sovereign and He knew all about this. Kimberly said we were biblical – our house is built on the rock. My desire was to “blow off” the rest of the day, get McDonald’s for lunch, etc. Instead, we did what we should – stick to the budget, make sandwhiches, and get on with the major job of cleaning up. We concentrated on God’s goodness – food to eat, a roof over our head, etc.

Wednesday morning some of the kids and I were heading out, my car window broke – it slid down in the door. The passenger side window had done the same thing a few weeks ago; Steve had got it up and taken the handle off so we wouldn’t roll it down, as it won’t roll up. We headed back home – couldn’t go anywhere until Steve got it back up (and the passenger one AGAIN as it slid down as we pulled into our driveway).

Wednesday afternoon we received our itinerary for the plane tickets to Israel – God is SO gracious in providing for us to go to the GMI missionaries conference in June. The problem was – they had Luke going on the correct flight, and the seven of us going on a different one! The bottom line is – Swiss Air would charge us about $200 a ticket to change to the correct flight. Steve decided to switch me to Luke’s flight. So, we all fly from Jo’burg to Zurich together; three hours later Luke and I continue on to Tel Aviv. The rest of the family will have a 16 hour layover and arrive in Tel Aviv at 3:30 a.m. the day the conference begins.

Wednesday afternoon we had a major blessing – we found out that God was providing some funds for us to take care of some things – Stephen’s wisdom teeth, fixing our bathroom, etc. We didn’t know then that we would need some of the funds for other things.

Wednesday night Steve and I were talking about how thankful we were for good health, a roof over our heads, food to eat.

Thursday morning my mom called from the States to tell us that our credit card company called, and we needed to call them because of potential fraudelant charges – turned out to be nothing.

Thursday evening we had some students over for dinner and to watch a soccer match – even though we didn’t feel like it with the week we were having. With God’s help, we just kept plugging along, and a good time was had by all.

This brings me up to today (Friday). Everything started out as normal – up with Luke at 6:00, breakfast with Michael at 7:00, etc., when at about 7:45 we heard a big crash and Timothy calling for help. I didn’t think too much about it; I thought he dropped something on the tile floor. He started calling calmly for me, so I handed Luke to Kimberly. As I reached the hall, I saw a lot of blood on the floor. Timothy was fairly calmly asking for help and a towel.

Timothy had been trying to scare a cat outside his bedroom window – he “tapped” the window, and it shattered. The result was two very bloody hands and cut wrists. He was dripping blood everywhere. He wrapped a towel around his wrist and applied pressure while I drove to the hospital. They wrapped both hands and arms up, and we waited for the doctor. After a LONG time, still no doctor, and Timothy said he couldn’t feel his right pinky. The nurse said the doctor was hung up at the public hospital in town and sent us to our doctor’s office. Our doctor realized Timothy’s tendon was cut on his pinky and he needed surgery – back to the hospital we went.

God graciously put a good friend in our path. She is a nutritionist and sees patients at the hospital. She stuck with me for a good portion of this morning – helping expedite things, getting me something to eat, praying with me – God is so good!

Timothy should be out of surgery soon – the doctor said he should make a full recovery – praise God!

We have had a lot of teaching times with the kids this week – what a great God we have! I am so thankful that I have kids that trust in Him as well. Timothy’s emotional state is fine, Kimberly is “holding down the fort” at home – when I called her, Luke was asleep and she was having Bible time outside with Catherine and Michael.

I’m so thankful for His provision, protection, and perfect timing.

Many Christians (espcially in Africa) would say we are not in God’s will, because He isn’t blessing us. In fact, many Africans would say we are cursed. We KNOW, however, that blessings come in all shapes and sizes. We are thankful to be serving right here.

Please continue to pray for His protection and provision for us!

Because of His GREAT love,
Karen

P.S. Timothy was released from the hospital about 9:00 p.m. We are so thankful that he should have a FULL recovery in about six weeks, and that we didn’t have to spend the night in the hospital. On the way home, the headlights went out — .

Grey Black Grey White Grey

On our journey through this world our mental and emotional conditions and experiences are wildly varied. What is wildly varied is often frightening because it is not neat and simple and so it is mysterious and unknown and that is terrifying. People prefer to forget how many options are open to them in a widely varied world. Simplicity is of great value and there is comfort in knowing there are just two worlds and two ways. People don’t want grey areas. Being black and white gives the illusion of comfort because it gives the illusion of being simple and clear and understandable and controllable. This, in turn, provides a person with the illusion of protection. A wealth of possibilities and uncertainty about the path ahead breeds dread.
Those who clarify the world for others, who divide life into two ways, black and white, good and bad, are praised as prophets and great teachers and lovers of humanity. They save people from confusion and hard choices. They offer a single choice, a right choice, a wise choice, a best choice and this choice is easy to make because any other choice is presented as wrong and evil and leading to a wretched life. To walk on the path of black and white is difficult and full of daily failure and is ultimately impossible, but the choice to do it is easy and always presented as the right choice. The black and white path is celebrated as simple and praised as right. Most believe they are helped by the black and white path.
Those who speak of our complicated existence and our many possibilities resonate with few and are a help to even fewer. But, truth is rarely simple. Truth is infinite and to say it is simple and to present it as simple is to limit it and deny its nature. And, wisdom is difficult. Wisdom must be sought and fought for and defended once it is found and then held on to every day. Wisdom does not come easy and often does not come at all. Not all simplicity is wise, nor true. Simplicity and the black and white path can be very wrong, very untrue.

The Imitation of People

Imitating people who exhibit godly character is beneficial to our own walk with God. Peter, Paul and the writer of Hebrews all asked believers to follow their examples of pursuing Christ, 1 Cor. 4:16, 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thes. 1:6; 2 Thes. 3:9; Heb. 13:7; 1 Pet. 5:3.

I was considering who I know that I admire, who I look at and want to imitate as I wander through this world. My admiration has never been directed at those with large and far reaching ministries. Many people I admire would definitely be considered insignificant to the world and, sadly, they would be viewed that way by most of the church as well. But, I admire them greatly and I have no doubt that God will reward them significantly, though hardly anyone notices them in this world. They have labored in obscurity and continue to do so. They don’t have a big ministry, are not wildly successful, won’t produce any profound or lasting works, most will die on the verge of poverty and will be mourned only by their immediate family and a few close friends. And they will be forgotten within two generations of their death, but they are great people and I am thankful for knowing them.

I know older godly people who have been faithful in ministry and faithful at home, and younger people who are working at mastering their minds and their desires at a young age and are working at growing in faithfulness to God. I admire people who remain true to their convictions though it cost them dearly; people who endure hardships, suffering, difficulties, sins, and failures and still are not bitter and cynical; people who have lost their dreams and bear heavy burdens through life and yet still don’t lose hope; and people who love others when their love is not returned. So many unknown and unpopular people have been a great encouragement to me.

A Note on Culture and Cultural Churches

Most people in cultural churches – most – don’t, when you get right down to it, do a lot of particularly evil things. They just get carried away by new ideas, like dressing up on Sunday and telling people it’s all about them, or dressing up in jackboots and shooting people, or dressing up in white sheets and lynching people, or dressing up in tie-dye and playing guitars at people. Offer people a new cultural creed with a costume and their hearts and minds will follow.