Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

Archive for April, 2007

Dana and I love our morning coffee but we’ve found it can easily be a whack to the wallet if we’re not careful. Go figure we developed a taste for an expensive brand long ago. Millstone Colombian Supremo is our favorite but isn’t sold at our favorite price, so we decided to try some different brands. The first was Donut Shop Coffee sold at Sam’s Club. The comparison? I’d rather have recycled Folger’s. But, our next was a big hit.

A quick Google search led me to the above website. Coffeebeandirect.com offers their very own line of coffee including our prized Colombian Supremo. The price difference? Millstone was about double the price. The taste? Millstone is now a thing of the past!

So, if you’re a coffee drinker, I recommend coffeebeandirect.com to you. (no royalties were paid to us for this endorsment… but I can’t say we’d refuse it.)

Today’s good: Dana and I went birdwatching this morning and saw two amazingly beautiful birds for the very first time. An indigo bunting and a scarlet tanager. The detail God has put into Creation is flabbergasting.

One of my mostest favoritest things in the world is for Dana to fix me a meal. I can’t explain it, I just absolutely love it. It has been a great pleasure to experience her growing culinary skill, but much to the dismay of my growing culinary gut. Mealtimes have grown to be a favorite recurring event in our marriage.

Thank you, my Love!

Today’s good: Our entire morning was spent at Mill Grove United Methodist Church speaking at 2 worship services and 4 Sunday School classes. We met some astounding people and were encouraged out the wazoo by their words and gestures. Thank you, Mill Grove! We enjoyed spending the morning with you so much.

This week has invoked many emotions for both Dana and I. Since the whole 10%-leap-in-support-in-only-24-hours deal that God pulled off, it has pretty much smacked us in the face that God is going to have us living on a different continent in 3 months. We are now entering the stage when our minds and hearts start to inventory the people and things we’re really going to miss.

I titled this post We’re losing a lot because we are. I don’t want to fake it. We are losing easy contact with those we love. We are losing high quality roads with somewhat decent drivers. We are losing being able to go to our home church. We are losing a plush leather couch, loveseat, and recliner. We are losing familiarity with a culture in which we have lived our absolutely entire lives. We are losing a way of life. We will still be Americans everywhere we go just like how we’ll be citizens of heaven everywhere we go. But contrary to the heavenly belonging, living as an American lives will be reduced to nearly nothing.

It is starting to get hard. It is starting to really hurt thinking of leaving our lives here. Our days are winding down and it is impacting us as we grasp more and more how much we are leaving behind.

This isn’t a doom and gloom post because it is written as I sit under my faithful umbrella of hope. That is where I live. Not hope just as in I’ll-be-in-heaven-one-day hope or I have hope that everything is going to be all right. I speak of the hope I have in the One who is my Hope. It is so amazingly comforting knowing that as we step onto the plane at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and leave 60+ combined years in the United States behind us, that we’re going wide open with everything we’ve got to see what God does with us. It is comforting. He is comfort… no matter what happens.

Today’s good: The quilting group had us visit this morning to give an update.  They’re a group of older young ladies whom just make us feel so welcomed and loved.  We gathered for a group prayer time as well and they even had us in the middle of the room as they laid hands on us and took turns praying the kinds of prayers that can make you cry because you see how much another person cares for you and what you’re doing.

We paid a recent visit to our date book and noticed that 3 months from our goal departure date (July 30) is on top of us! Talk about wide-eyed. God has really done some amazing things in the past 24 hours. Our support percentage has gone up 10% to 68% in that short period of time by the hands of four new partners. So, to catch you up and to share what obviously is a GREAT today’s good… there you go!

I had a little time to listen to one of my podcasts I downloaded recently from Andy Stanley @ North Point Community Church just outside of Atlanta, GA. If you have never heard him speak, now’s the time because this is a great message on how to pray. He breaks down the key passages in which Jesus specifically addressed prayer and its purpose. It is less than 45 minutes long, so take some time and enjoy it!

Today’s good: I got to spend a couple of hours in the park with my sweety this morning and got to see a bird we haven’t seen before. The day got even better when we got a $100/month partner! That puts us over 60% of our support pledged!!!!

Today’s good: We solidified some plans to go to Orlando in early June for a partnership development opportunity.  I was able to help Dana by putting together a personal journal for her.  We had the chance to relax today.

We visited our home Sunday School class this morning.  While there, we discussed our reactions to the shootings at Virginia Tech.  One comment someone made was regarding our culture’s obsession with shock value.  In this past week’s case, the indication of such is how much we saw and heard about the gunman, why he may have done it, what his past was like, etc.  Although we heard mention of the victims’ lives, it was in no comparison to the mention of the cause.

Local news is the exact same way.  On most nights one would have to hope for a simple glimpse of positive things going on in our world.  I’m going to try to change that by being intentional in each of my posts to mention something good from my day no matter how big or small it is that God has done.  Some of the good things I mention may seem futile but that’s what I want to change about myself…. discounting God’s tiniest gestures.

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father (James 1.17) and I want to fully experience that.

Today’s good: We got to see two of our good friends at church today.  We don’t get to see them much so we were really excited when they invited us to go out to lunch.  What a beautiful day to sit out on a patio at a Chinese restaurant!  To top off the experience, our friends bought our lunch.  Thank you guys.  We feel loved and love you, too.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Matthew 28:19

I attended the Global Missions celebration Wednesday night at our home church.  While we were visiting with people before the service a thought came to me about the great commission in light of what I have learned about the number of people groups and languages in the world.

I noticed (keep in mind this is a missionary typing this) that I would feel somewhat overwhelmed at the task of going to all the nations.  Man… this is a big honkin’ planet!  To look at that through a single set of eyes… well, the task of going to ALL the nations then pushes the threshold of the impossible.  Let me tell how so.  There are currently about 7,000 known languages in the world which can be considered the same as 7,000 different people groups.  So, I’ve been given the task to go to all the nations, to all of these groups because that is to whom nations in the verse refers.  Okay, so if it is a requirement for me as a follower of Jesus to go to all the nations… you now see where the impossible starts to creep in?  7,000 different people groups…….    wee little Jonathan…….

If I visited one people group per day, I would spend the next 7,000 consecutive days, or 19+ years just going.  Wasn’t there a part in there about making them disciples, too??  I don’t think that burden is what God has in mind.  I have a point to all this, really.

The Great Commission is just one example of a biblical command that has the potential to overwhelm us to the point of stagnation.  I’ve experienced a lot of things in my life that have done this to me due to my battles with depression.  Take a look at it: we love God, God says go to all the nations… oh my goodness, I’ve got to go everywhere!!!!  My main point is that God has monumental sized plans with tiny cooperative participation.  This means He is not calling anyone of us to personally go to 7,000 different people groups.  He is not telling us to go individually; He is telling us to go collectively.  His plan involves participation of the body — many different parts contributing to the same cause in different ways.  Dana and I are going to serve 10 of the 7,000 in southwest Tanzania.  My bet is that God is asking you for less.  Read that again.  My bet is that God is asking you for less.  Don’t think I typed that to induce guilt as a motivator.  Forget that.  I put that out there that you might not fall victim to being overwhelmed.  Don’t fall victim.  Find your people group opportunity.  Could be here.  Could be way over…… wherever….

This is a cool website I found that has links to TONS of bird cams around the world. Take a moment and check out some unbelievable free video. www.birdwatchingblog.com

My prominent emotion is hurt. I hurt for the families who not only unexpectedly lost loved ones, but lost them in such a way as this. I’ve also dealt with anger and vengeance. I want to invoke pain on Cho based on what I believe is right and wrong. He has brought monumental pain and grief on an entire nation and beyond. But, fortunately vengeance is not mine or anyone elses which is a good thing since we do not know perfect justice. God does.

Most of my grief lies beyond what the family and friends of the victims are experiencing. My grief stretches beyond the grave because of the number of people who have now passed the point of no return in spiritual life. Their eternity consists of experiencing something far worse than what terror Cho brought to them. Sadly, they now have God’s wrath and justice on them. I wish that on no one… not even Cho Seung-Hui.