Baby Gray comes to visit!

So a week and a half ago we had our good friends, the Ryans, up visiting! If you have ever spent time with the Mike and Lisa, you can imagine what a blessing it was for us. They are certainly a model to me of authentic faith, honestly wrestling with what God is teaching them, and how to see the Kingdom of God in a complex world. They are creative in ways I can't even begin to think about, and it is refreshing. We love them dearly - a difficult goodbye, one of the first among our closest friends. They have a 5-month-old boy named Gray who is adorable and full of smiles.
Thanks Mike and Lisa!

Gray had all kinds of smiles for us, almost as many as his proud Papa.

We brilliantly thought we should wake up Noah from his nap by putting Gray in the crib with him. Unfortunately that was way too strange for Noah, and he got upset, but they were good friends by the end of the day.

Laura and Lisa - housemates at JMU, now Moms together!

Two cute kids and two proud parents

After a great week

Wow, what a week it has been....and this crazy snowstorm to cap it off! Matthew and Kerry got out this morning before the weather started, and we miss them already. Sorry to all the folks who we might have seen today - after driving home from church in the snow, I realized it was better to not encourage driving in this mess.
Amazingly, our good friends Mark and Rachel (former housemate of Laura's) had already driven in from Kentucky with their two adorable boys, so we had a wonderful time with them! (of course, pictures to follow later this week)

For now, we will begin to get caught up on the last two weeks of pictures. Time is slipping away before our departure, and we're starting to realize just how soon our lives are going to change.
Here are a few shots of when Laura's parents and Grandmother came to visit. Happy Monday!

We only wish they all could've stayed longer!

Noah loves holding on to his Mom and Baba

Too long!

We have had an amazing last couple weeks. To start, we bought our plane tickets! We will be leaving from Arlington on Wednesday March 7 to drive to New York, then leaving at 5:00am March 8 to fly to Lima. I can't believe that is less than 2 weeks away. We are so thankful for all of you who have prayed with us and encouraged us along the way.

We have had lots of family and friends in town - two weeks ago Noah's Great-Grandma Mary was here, along with Baba and Papa (Erickson). Last weekend our dear friends Mike and Lisa came to visit with their precious little boy, Gray. And all this week we have had a fantastic time with my brother Matthew and his girlfriend Kerry. Lots of pictures to follow.

Finished several great books recently, and continue to process what it means to be going overseas to serve the Kingdom of God. Blogs to follow. In the meantime, here's some interesting reading about C.S. Lewis, and another interesting blog about poverty.

Podcasts, etc.

Things have been busy, and we have not taken as many pictures lately - we will work on that. I was definitely inspired by the Nolls' blog, and I'm going to try to get some video up here. That would be especially fun when we're in Peru.

Anyway, Noah is just on the verge of walking. This morning he took 4 steps! Only Laura was around to see it, and he has been reluctant to repeat the feat, but it's coming. He's just so fast crawling that it's going to be hard to convince him that walking is better.

Lastly, I just listened to a really excellent discussion of sorts on Derek Webb's podcast. If you're into that kind of thing, just search the itunes store under podcasts for Derek Webb, and check out episode 12. You don't have to have an ipod, and best of all, it's free! The discussion is about the gospel and justice, a lot of what Derek has been writing about recently, and it definitely both challenged and encouraged me.

Books on Culture - Part 2

Incarnational ministry - perhaps a quote or two from the books will help shed some light.

From "Transforming Culture":
"Missionaries have succeeded in bringing a biblically informed worldview, but one that is thoroughly contaminated by their culture. Is it possible to bring a truly transforming gospel, or are we always limited to reproducing our own cultural reflection of Christianity wherever we carry the message?"

and from "Ministering Cross-Culturally":
"It is because of cultural blindness that we must become incarnate in the culture and thus in the lives of the people we wish to serve. We must begin as a child and grow in their midst. We must be learners and let them teach us before we can hope to be teachers to them and introduce the Master Teacher to them."

The third book, "Teaching Cross-Culturally", was the most helpful to me. It focused on concepts of the incarnation as applied to the practice of teaching. It offers more practical counsel than the others, so for a teacher hoping to teach in Lima, it was very compelling. The author found that her approach to the classroom, while successful in the white, middle-class context in which she was raised and began her career, was ineffective in an inner-city school, and required even greater adjustment when she went with her husband to serve on a remote island in the western Pacific. Expectations for everything from the role of the teacher and type of assignment to the nature of learning itself are culturally bound. A teacher of any kind in another culture must first recognize their own cultural biases, learn those of their students, and seek to bring all under the Lordship of Christ in order to truly love those they are with. Many teachers or missionaries will mean well but find rejection if they are not careful to understand before seeking to be understood.

I highly recommend these books for anyone working among another culture, or for anyone who simply wants to examine their own cultural lenses in the name of being transformed into the image of our Savior.

Books on culture - Part 1

I just finished reading a terrific book, the latest in a series by professor and missionary Sherwood Lingenfelter. He has spent his life studying cultures and the ways, for better or worse, in which missionaries approach them. I have read two of his other books, and it is interesting to watch the progression. In "Ministering Cross-Culturally" (1986) and "Transforming Culture" (1998), lays out a grid for understanding how differently people see the world, and what a missionary might need to do in order to hear and be heard in a new culture. For this latest work, "Teaching Cross-Culturally" (2003), he shares the writing with his wife, Judith, applying concepts from the previous works to the classroom.

Throughout the books, I really have been stretched by the perspective they bring - the necessity of what is called incarnational ministry. This means that Christ did not accomplish His ministry from afar, but came to be with us, feeling and suffering as we do. He left a comfortable place and was incarnate, taking the very nature of a servant. In our case, it is the comfort of our cultural norms we are called to abandon, or at least evaluate. Even many "Christian" norms are just cultural biases that need to be scrutinized and brought under the correction of scripture and the heart of Christ. When we are building any cross-cultural relationship, we must become learners of a new perspective when it comes to areas like work, property, authority, time, gifts, etc. Each culture addresses these things differently, and each has good contributions but is still flawed. As we serve, our challenge is to examine where we are truly bringing Christ, and where we are merely trying to import our American cultural notions. This is true whether we are headed to a remote jungle village or to an underserved ethnic group in our city.
Stay tuned....

Pictures

It's been a while since we put pictures up, and while we haven't taken many lately, here's a few of Noah from the last month or so. He gets cuter every day!!

He loves to take all of his books out and "read" them.

Thanks to our good friend and UVA Law student Sam, Noah is now a proud Wahoo.

(but JMU is still his first love)

A few weeks ago, Grandma, Laura and Noah went to a nearby "baby gym" - can you believe there is such a thing? It was a free trial, so they went and checked it out - Noah had a blast!

Noah hugging an Elmo puppet while giving his favorite squinty smile.

It was all so cute we just may have to post some more pictures.

Updates

Hey folks,
Just a quick blog here, busy day...
A few more friends' blogs have been added to the links at the right, and there are a couple that I wanted to highlight.
Bill Yarbrough is the Mission to the World Area Director for Latin America, and he has a great blog. We got to learn from him this summer during training in NYC, and oh how I wish everyone had that opportunity.
Sojourns on the Way Home is by Sara, a good friend of ours from our Philippines trip. She is currently serving with MTW in AIDS ministry in Ethiopia.
Also, under the "other blogs" there is one called Rostro de Cristo, which is the blog for a ministry in Arbolito, Ecuador, where my brother's girlfriend, Kerry served last year.

All fascinating blogs to read - hopefully ours will become more so as we head off to Peru.

Stay tuned for pictures later on tonight....

Isaiah chapter 55

I thought it would be good to give the whole passage I was just talking about. I know my ramblings were long, thanks for reading if you did. I hope it was a blessing. I'm no bible scholar, and corrections, comments, additions are very welcome.

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God,
and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go forth in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills before you
shall break forth into singing
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Isaiah 55

Thoughts on Isaiah

My wife and I were able to enjoy some very sweet time together this evening. It was a sort of replacement birthday for last friday, when my lady was quite sick. Aunt Cindy and Marlea and Harmony came over to give her the present they would have brought a week ago, then Grandma watched Noah while the two of us spent an evening out. We got to go first to the wedding rehearsal of some good friends from church, and then use the last of a gift certificate to share dinner at our favorite restaurant.
As we were talking, Laura shared how she had recently been encouraged in reading the book of Isaiah, particularly the second half, and more particularly chapter 55. As we read it together, I began see why. It is a remarkable passage, full of hope and mercy, pleading for us to come and see that the Lord is truly all-sufficient. There are many familiar verses, ones I have heard used to prove any number of Christian ideas, but I'm not sure if I have seen them in the overall context found here. This is a picture of grace, of a God who will satisfy and bless His people, not because they have anything great - they have nothing (v.1-2) - or because they are morally or intellectually great - they are not (v.7-9). But because of His greatness, He will give life to our souls; in spite of ourselves, He will satisfy us with his words, and grow His life in us like a seed into a plant. It is God, from beginning to end, who will do this - "I will make with you.." - v.3, "because of the Lord your God." -v.5, "He will abundantly pardon," -v.7, "So are my ways higher than your ways," -v.9, "It shall accomplish that which I purpose," -v.11, "you shall...be led forth in peace," v.12, "and it shall make a name for the Lord," -v.13.
As we talked, we realized that is really quite freeing to know that His thoughts are far beyond our own (v.8-9). We don't have to have everything figured out, or consider ourselves great for having read a lot of books, because no matter how much we know, it will be a drop in the bucket compared to the knowledge of our Lord. This not to denigrate the value of learning and knowledge - I'm rather addicted to books - but to remind myself of the greater perspective, and be freed from an unhealthy drive for self-importance.
In addition, those verses are immediately after - and directly related t0 - beautiful verses on the mercy and forgiveness of God. Our thoughts toward grace are nowhere near His! We cannot fathom what it means to "abundantly pardon" the way the Lord does. Yet He calls us come to come and see - "come to the waters", "buy and eat", "listen diligently", "incline your ear", see what great provision there is for your soul! Then a great phrase - "delight yourselves in rich food." Enjoy it! This passage should not produce greater consternation and graveness at the task of trying to please God, but He rather calls us to delight! In fact, the more we understand that we cannot gain this soul-changing life on our own, but that God does it all, the greater our joy will be - "For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace."
Lastly, this is all in the context of what Isaiah started talking about 3 chapters previous. With man these things are all impossible, but there is one coming who will bring salvation, bring joy, redeem His people - all the things that chapter 55 expounds. The servant of God whom Isaiah talks about is Jesus, the one who will change everything and do all this for us. Now He has, and we can rejoice; we can drink and eat, with nothing to bring but our broken souls, and He will restore us.
I need this, my family needs this, my ministry needs this every day, and I am thankful to my wife for reminding me of the Lord's love and mercy.