I am thankful for forgiveness and second chances

Daniel 9 :3-9

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:

“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, LORD, because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

“Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

I Timothy 1:12-17

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

How do we keep people from dying?

I’ll try and steer away from the dying in Mozambique topic, by looking at the question, ‘’How do we keep people from dying?”

Given proper resources, we can do the basics of health education, better information about AIDS prevention, much better nutrition, and better information about health during pregnancy, birth, and raising newborns and infants.

But one of the biggest needs at Maforga, is to get the medical clinic staffed, stocked, and up and running again.

There is a beautiful building, that for a number of years, was home to a thriving medical clinic which was watched over by Joan Goodman “Nana” who looked after patients, sometimes up to 100 per day, even into her early 80s. Nana is still at Maforga, but retired now, and so far, no one has come to take her place.

The building is still there, still beautiful, but the clinic could serve an incredibly vital role again both for the orphanage, and the surrounding villages if it were once again in operation.

Pray for people to be available and open and willing to come and help to work and perhaps train others so that the clinic can be re-opened again. That is one way that we can keep people from dying.

The clinic building, is steps away from the church building at Maforga, and in the end, they serve the same purpose. The clinic, healing from physical disease and death, and the church, healing from spiritual disease and death.

Outside waiting area (this will need some repair, and cleanup.)

Inside, with a large central area, and several private examination and treatment rooms, electricity, running water, showers and toilets.

Mozambican Sunrise

My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.

On being a mom...

Someone asked me how I enjoy being a mom... truth is... I love it. I've always been a little mom... ask my sisters! :-) I have always wanted to be a mother... more than any other thing, any job on earth... a mommy. Thats what I wanted... I think that God has given me this desire, from such a young age, to prepare me for what HE has in store for me now! I was at our church's orphan care group meeting last week, and the leaders showed the video by Eric Ludy "Depraved Indifference." I had seen the video several times before, if you haven't seen it... definitely check it out. It is worth the 8 minutes of your time. Each time I watched it, I was moved to tears... This time was no different. One of the points struck me extra hard this time, it was talking about US being the body of Christ, the actual physical body of Christ to the world. "I work through my body, I am a father to the fatherless through my body, I rescue the week and the vulnerable through you! And if you're not doing it no one is!" God has been preparing MY heart to be HIS body, and move to care for HIS children. He said "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you" (John 14:18). He wants to use me... to be His body, His hands and feet... you know, I say that all the time... and it means something to me, it really does... but, I don't think I grasped how much it should mean to me until just lately... I want to show Jesus to these kids, I want to show Jesus to Mozambique, I want to show them God's love... but, man... thats heavy. Kind of overwhelmed with the magnitude of that. "[God] is longing for an advocate to stand up and say I'm willing God, to fight for what is yours. I'm willing God, burden me." I'm willing God, and I am burdened...

Examples from Daily Life

Daily life in some (or most) places in Mozambique is not ‘’modern’’ Limited access to electricity and running water, the things considered ‘’essential’’ to life by many in the western world.

In many ways, life in Mozambique can be far more similar to life 2000 years ago, during the time of Jesus. Scenes from the Bible seem to come to life and it is easy when doing every day work, to be reminded of these stories.

For instance, one day several boys arrived at our house, and saw these markings on the door and asked what they were.

These are notations that the census takers in use to mark their work. The boys still weren’t quite sure, so I reminded them of the account in the bible, when Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, after Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

Some of those same boys helped with some trees that were badly in need of trimming. We talked about John chapter 15, where Jesus says ‘’I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.’

We even had scapegoats, similar in concept to the scapegoats in Leviticus 16.

Whether it is weeds (Matthew 13:24-30) or wells, or seeds (John 12:24) or snakes, there is something every day that can be used as a lesson to remind us of what the Bible says about life.

Feet that proclaim peace, good tidings, and salvation

In the last post, I made mention of what Kees, who has been in Mozambique some seventeen years now, said to me. ‘’This is Africa. Every day, you must be ready to preach, to pray, and to die.’’

The last point was driven home to me nearly every week that we were there in 2011.

The moment we arrived, in March, our drivers were receiving text messages, that one of the under-two week-old babies needed to go to the hospital. That baby died a few days later, and Sarah went to the funeral on the fourth day that we were in Mozambique.

On another occasion, someone brought a very sick baby from a town 25 miles away, walking from the road to get to the clinic, which has not been operating for about four years. The baby was sick and ashen, and was driven to another clinic, but died on the way there.

One ministry of the Bible School run by Kees, is to visit the prison on Friday of each week. The entire class, 25-30 people visit, and minister to the prisoners. On one occasion, due to illness, or perhaps weakness from hunger (prisoners are not fed by the prison system, but by family or outside help) one of the prisoners died in a meeting there.

On another day, we received news that one of the workers at an orphanage down the road, someone we had visited with and worked with, had taken ill suddenly, and died of a heart condition that evening, because his normal medicine, had not been available. He left a wife, and two small lovely children.

Car and truck wrecks are common in Mozambique. On one occasion a truck missed a curve and hit a house, destroying the half nearest the road. Miraculously no one in the house was injured, but a woman passenger in the truck was killed.

One evening, two men in a village less than a mile from Maforga were feuding, and one was pushed, or made to run into traffic, and was killed.

We heard of at least three relatives of people that we worked with, that died while we were there.

Life expectancy is still about 47 years in Mozambique, and infant mortality, is quite high (about 180 of every 1000 children die before the age of five.)

However, the one death that hit closest to home for us, and others at Maforga, was that of Martha. Martha, was a lovely woman, competent, and hard working, who loved God. She would come early in the morning each Wednesday, to clean our home. She loved to hold and hug Jacinta, and little Hannah when she was born. Martha cleaned several houses at the mission, and was working hard to save her money after losing her husband to illness the year before.

Martha’s hard work wore her down. She had anemia, and had Malaria three times in the first half of the year. She had not been feeling well, and pneumonia was suspected. She had also accidently stepped on a nail, and tetanus was a worry, but she slowly had recovered from that. After a frustrating several weeks with no real answers from the local hospital, she continued to weaken. Finally it was determined that she had tuberculosis. She did not respond well to the treatments, and just a week or two before we left, Martha died, somewhere around the age of 35.

In our area it was generally considered to be polite to remove ones shoes before entering a house, to leave the dirt and dust outside. Martha would leave her sandals outside our door, and one day I took this picture.

It reminds me of Isaiah 52:7

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

We are there in Mozambique to help with both physical needs and spiritual needs. Though Martha died a physical death, she is one of the success stories, as she died knowing that her sins were forgiven by Jesus Christ, and that because of his death and Resurrection, she has conquered death.

We never know when our time will come

We never know when our time will come

Luke 12:16-21

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

The first week that we arrived in Mozambique, in March of 2011, one of the missionaries there said, ‘’This is Africa, every day, you must be ready to preach, to pray and to die.

I think that sentence sums up three biblical thoughts, we need to be ready to preach (I Peter 3:15 ‘’ Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”) to pray always (I Thessalonians 5:17) and to be ready to die. Luke 12:16-21 above.

Late last fall, in one weekend, there was a rash of headlines related to American sports, in which people were dying, some young, some old, and all unexpectedly.

On Friday, five people from Oklahoma State University on business for the women’s basketball team, were killed in a plane crash.

That same day, a young student and ski champion from Scotland, studying in Oregon, was riding his bicycle and was hit by a car, and died the following day.

On Saturday, a young woman was hit and killed by a truck while tailgating before the Harvard – Yale football game at Yale University.

That same day, a band major in Florida died, after a hazing incident by fellow band members.

The following day, Sunday, a University of Arkansas football player, was found collapsed in his dorm room, and died of a previously undiagnosed heart ailment.

The next day, on Monday, a young baseball player for the Seattle Mariners, Greg Halman, died, after being stabbed to death by a family member.

Over this same weekend, hikers, hunters, fishermen, died of accidents or natural causes, all over the US and Canada. In all of the above examples, ranging from 18 to 80 years of age, one can guess that not a single one of these people woke up that morning, knowing that it would be their last day on earth, or how it would happen.

Statisticians calculate that on average, about 155,000 people die, every day, around the world. It’s the normal and inevitable conclusion for all of us in the physical world, but the question is, are we ready for what will be required of us after death?

Romans 14:10-12

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.