August 8, 1998
Have you ever wondered why Jesus was so ticked when the disciples pushed away the children that wanted to come to Him? I have been thinking a lot about that lately.
I can just imagine these children all running full tilt straight for Jesus. Then one of the disciples looks up and thinks, "What are these kids doing here? Don't their parents know that Jesus has better things to do with His time - more important people to see." And reaches out his hand in a shooing motion. "Get away! Get away! Jesus is too busy for you."
Then Jesus looks up, stands up and says "Hold it! Hold it right there." He reaches out to the closest child and pulls him forward. And the child that in his hurt already has dirty streaks forming from the tears that are running down his face, suddenly has the joyous sparkle return to his eyes as he realises Jesus wants him. Then I can just see Jesus kneel down on the ground, eyeball to eyeball and wiping away those dirty streaks, smiling and talking all the while.
The mothers are there looking on, smiling. They know about how much a kind word and a gentle touch means to their children. Others though, are standing around wondering why all the fuss about the children, especially when there are all these IMPORTANT people around.
So what was it Jesus was thinking when he saw these children being pushed away. I wonder if maybe He knew that if those children were not allowed to come to him when they were young, they would have no desire to come to Him when they were teenagers, or adults. And isn't that where we are finding ourselves today.
Many of today's generation of North American children have never entered the inside of a church. By the time they are entering school, there are some who have never heard the Name of Jesus, except in profanity. As children they were never taken to Jesus and now as teenagers and adults they have no time for Him either. Statistics tell us that the generation that is presently growing up will be the most violent to ever exist.
So what are we doing about it?
It comes back to the children. We need to reach a child while they are young. The Catholic Church has a saying that contains a tremendous amount of truth. "Give us a child until they are seven years of age and we will have him for life." I can almost hear Jesus saying, "Bring a child to Me and let him really experience My love and he will never leave."
One of the difficulties we have always had with itinerant ministry is the lack of role modelling that is lived before the children. When you are with them all the time, they know whether or not you really live what you teach. This is one of the best ways to reach and teach a child, because when they know you love them, they want to model you. This has been one of the reasons why we have been trying to settle in one place. We wanted the children we worked with to see that serving Jesus was a wonderful life. We still believe that modelling is the best way to teach and reach children, but this year God has rearranged our thinking on it.
Mimosa was a ten-year-old Hindu girl who spent twenty minutes in the presence of Amy Carmichael. During this time she was always accompanied by her Hindu father who had no intention of changing his ways - nor of allowing Mimosa to change either. Mimosa left that encounter knowing two things:
There is a God.
God loves me.
Mimosa had no education. She could not read. She had never seen, nor heard of a Bible. Yet from that day she refused to follow after the Hindu gods. She preferred to be beaten than participate in idol worship.
Mimosa's parents married her to a man who was lazy, and who had lied about his wealth. She discovered that he had no money and that he was in tremendous debt. The culture in which she lived believed that it was what you had that was important - not what you owed. Yet she refused to live this way. She worked hard to pay off her husband's debt.
Mimosa knew no Christian. She never entered the door of a church. For over twenty years she followed God without even knowing His Name. And all this after spending only twenty minutes in the presence of a godly woman.
If God could do this, then He could use us to influence not only the lives of children in a weekend, but the rest of the church as well. We believe that God has dropped into our hearts a new program called Ignite the Fire. It is a weekend packed full of evangelism, outreach and teacher training, and prayer.
So we are excited about what God is doing in our lives. Joel was praying in the wee hours of Saturday, May 30 about where our family was going. He felt that God was directing us to go back on the road full time. Normally on a Saturday morning Joel would go off to work without seeing the girls until lunch time, as they would be using their day off to do exciting things, like sleep. This particular morning they were all up. So he felt it was a good opportunity to share with them where he felt God was directing us. Immediately they responded with an excited "YES!"
Later that night, just as we were preparing to go to bed, I came across something interesting in the book I was reading about William Carey. On May 30, 1792, he was preaching a sermon from Isaiah 52:2,3.
Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.
When I read this to Joel he became very animated as it was confirmation of how he felt the Lord was directing us.
We knew we still had a major problem though if we were going to be travelling full-time. Our little car that had been fine for our family when we bought it five years ago was now too small for three teens in the back seat. It had served us well, only now I wasn't sure whether it would take more faith to believe that God would provide for a new vehicle or that He would make sure this one arrived at our destination. In exactly one week we had our answer. Our 5 passenger car grew up and became a 7 passenger extended mini-van. We are still amazed at the goodness of God every time we enter that vehicle. And another amazing thing is the air-conditioning works.
We are still surprised how much difference that makes. On these long trips when it has been sweltering outside, we have been relaxed and comfortable. Instead of arriving somewhere exhausted and windblown, we are arriving ready to go.
We are going to be home schooling again. The three girls are thrilled. High schooling does have me a little bit nervous though. There are a lot of new options now, one of them being computer teaching with the curriculum on CD-Rom. Anya will be going into her third year of high school (grade 11), Charity her second (grade 10) and Rhian will be entering grade six.
With the computer schooling and extended travelling we are anticipating the need for a laptop within the next few months. Pray with us that God will provide not only the funds but also the right computer.
We are also seeking guidance for our accommodations. We are anticipating that we will need a motor home, using the van as our equipment trailer. We are making plans to be on the West Coast of the US and Canada, including a mission trip into Alaska, in February - April 1999, and really feel that having our own place would benefit everyone.
In case you haven't figured it out already, we are thrilled with the new direction in our lives. For the past several years we had been trying to settle down while the girls made it through high school. Yet every spring the travel bug would hit us. We would see those planes flying overhead and wonder where it could be taking us. We would take a one hour trip and feel it had been much too short. Wendy's and McDonald's even seemd to be calling to us, "Eat here! Eat here!" Instead of visions of sugarplums, we would see the waves rolling in while we sat in the ferry line-up, thinking "This is the life!"
I can pass on Wendy's and McDonald's, but look out ferry line-ups, 'cause here we come.
I can just imagine these children all running full tilt straight for Jesus. Then one of the disciples looks up and thinks, "What are these kids doing here? Don't their parents know that Jesus has better things to do with His time - more important people to see." And reaches out his hand in a shooing motion. "Get away! Get away! Jesus is too busy for you."
Then Jesus looks up, stands up and says "Hold it! Hold it right there." He reaches out to the closest child and pulls him forward. And the child that in his hurt already has dirty streaks forming from the tears that are running down his face, suddenly has the joyous sparkle return to his eyes as he realises Jesus wants him. Then I can just see Jesus kneel down on the ground, eyeball to eyeball and wiping away those dirty streaks, smiling and talking all the while.
The mothers are there looking on, smiling. They know about how much a kind word and a gentle touch means to their children. Others though, are standing around wondering why all the fuss about the children, especially when there are all these IMPORTANT people around.
So what was it Jesus was thinking when he saw these children being pushed away. I wonder if maybe He knew that if those children were not allowed to come to him when they were young, they would have no desire to come to Him when they were teenagers, or adults. And isn't that where we are finding ourselves today.
Many of today's generation of North American children have never entered the inside of a church. By the time they are entering school, there are some who have never heard the Name of Jesus, except in profanity. As children they were never taken to Jesus and now as teenagers and adults they have no time for Him either. Statistics tell us that the generation that is presently growing up will be the most violent to ever exist.
So what are we doing about it?
It comes back to the children. We need to reach a child while they are young. The Catholic Church has a saying that contains a tremendous amount of truth. "Give us a child until they are seven years of age and we will have him for life." I can almost hear Jesus saying, "Bring a child to Me and let him really experience My love and he will never leave."
One of the difficulties we have always had with itinerant ministry is the lack of role modelling that is lived before the children. When you are with them all the time, they know whether or not you really live what you teach. This is one of the best ways to reach and teach a child, because when they know you love them, they want to model you. This has been one of the reasons why we have been trying to settle in one place. We wanted the children we worked with to see that serving Jesus was a wonderful life. We still believe that modelling is the best way to teach and reach children, but this year God has rearranged our thinking on it.
Mimosa was a ten-year-old Hindu girl who spent twenty minutes in the presence of Amy Carmichael. During this time she was always accompanied by her Hindu father who had no intention of changing his ways - nor of allowing Mimosa to change either. Mimosa left that encounter knowing two things:
There is a God.
God loves me.
Mimosa had no education. She could not read. She had never seen, nor heard of a Bible. Yet from that day she refused to follow after the Hindu gods. She preferred to be beaten than participate in idol worship.
Mimosa's parents married her to a man who was lazy, and who had lied about his wealth. She discovered that he had no money and that he was in tremendous debt. The culture in which she lived believed that it was what you had that was important - not what you owed. Yet she refused to live this way. She worked hard to pay off her husband's debt.
Mimosa knew no Christian. She never entered the door of a church. For over twenty years she followed God without even knowing His Name. And all this after spending only twenty minutes in the presence of a godly woman.
If God could do this, then He could use us to influence not only the lives of children in a weekend, but the rest of the church as well. We believe that God has dropped into our hearts a new program called Ignite the Fire. It is a weekend packed full of evangelism, outreach and teacher training, and prayer.
So we are excited about what God is doing in our lives. Joel was praying in the wee hours of Saturday, May 30 about where our family was going. He felt that God was directing us to go back on the road full time. Normally on a Saturday morning Joel would go off to work without seeing the girls until lunch time, as they would be using their day off to do exciting things, like sleep. This particular morning they were all up. So he felt it was a good opportunity to share with them where he felt God was directing us. Immediately they responded with an excited "YES!"
Later that night, just as we were preparing to go to bed, I came across something interesting in the book I was reading about William Carey. On May 30, 1792, he was preaching a sermon from Isaiah 52:2,3.
Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.
When I read this to Joel he became very animated as it was confirmation of how he felt the Lord was directing us.
We knew we still had a major problem though if we were going to be travelling full-time. Our little car that had been fine for our family when we bought it five years ago was now too small for three teens in the back seat. It had served us well, only now I wasn't sure whether it would take more faith to believe that God would provide for a new vehicle or that He would make sure this one arrived at our destination. In exactly one week we had our answer. Our 5 passenger car grew up and became a 7 passenger extended mini-van. We are still amazed at the goodness of God every time we enter that vehicle. And another amazing thing is the air-conditioning works.
We are still surprised how much difference that makes. On these long trips when it has been sweltering outside, we have been relaxed and comfortable. Instead of arriving somewhere exhausted and windblown, we are arriving ready to go.
We are going to be home schooling again. The three girls are thrilled. High schooling does have me a little bit nervous though. There are a lot of new options now, one of them being computer teaching with the curriculum on CD-Rom. Anya will be going into her third year of high school (grade 11), Charity her second (grade 10) and Rhian will be entering grade six.
With the computer schooling and extended travelling we are anticipating the need for a laptop within the next few months. Pray with us that God will provide not only the funds but also the right computer.
We are also seeking guidance for our accommodations. We are anticipating that we will need a motor home, using the van as our equipment trailer. We are making plans to be on the West Coast of the US and Canada, including a mission trip into Alaska, in February - April 1999, and really feel that having our own place would benefit everyone.
In case you haven't figured it out already, we are thrilled with the new direction in our lives. For the past several years we had been trying to settle down while the girls made it through high school. Yet every spring the travel bug would hit us. We would see those planes flying overhead and wonder where it could be taking us. We would take a one hour trip and feel it had been much too short. Wendy's and McDonald's even seemd to be calling to us, "Eat here! Eat here!" Instead of visions of sugarplums, we would see the waves rolling in while we sat in the ferry line-up, thinking "This is the life!"
I can pass on Wendy's and McDonald's, but look out ferry line-ups, 'cause here we come.
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