When I did Mission Year, my mind became completely focused on living a 'missional' lifestyle. I became obsessed with practicing social justice in the name of Christ. I was angry at rich Christians. I was angry at rich churches. I didn't understand the ignorance of some belivers (even though I was 'one of them' just a year prior). I didn't understand churches that didn't 'do' outreach, or didn't focus on poverty, AIDS and other justice issues.
After meeting and marrying my husband, I think I have become more aware and angry about other issues in Christianity that deserve my attention as well. Marc knows more about the Bible and theology than I think I ever will, and he has continually brought me back to the Scriptures and has challenged me in ways I'm not sure he realizes.
I Timothy 4:11"Command and teach these things. 12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching."
What happens when we start practicing social justice as the church but loose sight of the main objective of the church - to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, some would say doing these good acts is preaching the gospel ('Preach the gospel, and if necessary use words' - St. Francis of Assisi.). I would agree to some extent, but still believe wholeheartedly that it's possible to do these good deeds without truly understanding why we are doing them. We cannot neglect preaching the word and knowing the word.
Michael Horton wrote a book called 'Christless Christianity' (read an excerpt here: http://www.christlesschristianity.org/images/CC-Book-Excerpt.pdf) in which he talks about the incredible problem in American Christiainty of preaching good morals and being a good person without the preaching the good news of the life, death and resurrection of our Savior. I believe this can be a result of becoming so focused on other causes - even good causes, and then we make the assumption people already know the redemptive story of the gospel. Some highly influencial Christian leaders are calling for 'Deeds, Not Creeds'. I'm sure these leaders to not intend to completely neglect the Creeds, but how about some balance, huh? Don't we need both? Did not Jesus himself do miraculous wonders AND preach the gospel? Matthew 4:23 "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people."
I was focused on 'deeds' when I came home from Mission year. Marc has helped me to see the significance and importance of 'creeds', and I am so grateful to him for that. I think I am finally at a point in my faith that I'm seeing how these can work together, without becoming grossly imbalanced. This is extremely important to me, especially as our church is striving to become more 'mission minded' in our community.
My hope for this trip is that this core group of church members will have our minds and hearts challeneged to not only BE the hands and feet of our Savior, but to truly KNOW our Savior and his word. I hope we can come back to GR with more understanding of what that might look like as we support our brothers and sisters in the DR, and also as we engage in our community.
Our Bible study this past week (Beth Moore's study on Daniel) had a lesson which touched on the sufficiency of Scripture and how God has given us His Word which contains all we "absolutely must know and must have". It was a challenge to me and I had to ask myself how much I really know of the Bible. It's easy to be deceived into thinking you know a lot after years in the Christians schools & working in a church, but I know it's not true. I was challenged to start memorizing scripture again. I spent almost every lunch break when I lived in California looking over note cards of scripture. My goal was to memorize Philippians. That is still on my list of 73 things to do before I die (coming up with 100 is hard!). I've decided that I'm going to start working on this goal again. Feel free to ask me how it's going when you see me!
We leave in 22 hours from Grand Rapids, please pray for us as we journey to and from the DR!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Republica Dominicana: Worries
Two weeks from today I will be either sitting in an airport or airplane, on my way to the Dominican Republic. There are 29 parents and students from our church going on this week long adventure. We have been meeting periodically to talk about the trip and to learn more about the culture that we will be learning about while there. Each of us have been given a special 'DR journal' to process our thoughts and feelings about the upcoming trip.
One question we were asked was about our fears or worries about the trip. My first thought was more to do with what I was leaving than where I was going. I'm leaving Isaac for 8 days. This is a big deal to me, and probably harder to do than what I've been admitting. Going to Colorado last summer while still nursing was very difficult, but I'm not sure how much it phased Isaac. I wonder if Isaac being older and more aware will affect him this trip. Perhaps not. I trust he will be fine, and I'm leaving him in good hands...many good hands, actually.
I think the language barrier is a worry of mine too. I took 2 years of high school spanish & 1 year in college. My last spanish class was 11 years ago. I know I'm going to get frustrated with not remembering more. Perhaps it will spark my desire to study spanish again. It is one of the items on my 'bucket list'.
We have 29 very unique individuals going on this trip. There are a few minor situations that I'm not necessarily worried about, but maybe have a heightened sensitivity to. First, we have a student going with an incredibly severe peanut allergy. The food there is often prepared with oils which are not always labeled. Second, there is a gentleman who needs electric for a 'sleep' machine (I have no idea what they're called) and apparently the electric goes out quite a bit at night. Third, being a vegetarian, I'm a little concerned about the food as well. I'll be bringing my own stash of goodies just in case. Most of these situations I could be worried about, but they also remind me of how spoiled we can be in the USA.
Coming up next - hopes for this trip.
One question we were asked was about our fears or worries about the trip. My first thought was more to do with what I was leaving than where I was going. I'm leaving Isaac for 8 days. This is a big deal to me, and probably harder to do than what I've been admitting. Going to Colorado last summer while still nursing was very difficult, but I'm not sure how much it phased Isaac. I wonder if Isaac being older and more aware will affect him this trip. Perhaps not. I trust he will be fine, and I'm leaving him in good hands...many good hands, actually.
I think the language barrier is a worry of mine too. I took 2 years of high school spanish & 1 year in college. My last spanish class was 11 years ago. I know I'm going to get frustrated with not remembering more. Perhaps it will spark my desire to study spanish again. It is one of the items on my 'bucket list'.
We have 29 very unique individuals going on this trip. There are a few minor situations that I'm not necessarily worried about, but maybe have a heightened sensitivity to. First, we have a student going with an incredibly severe peanut allergy. The food there is often prepared with oils which are not always labeled. Second, there is a gentleman who needs electric for a 'sleep' machine (I have no idea what they're called) and apparently the electric goes out quite a bit at night. Third, being a vegetarian, I'm a little concerned about the food as well. I'll be bringing my own stash of goodies just in case. Most of these situations I could be worried about, but they also remind me of how spoiled we can be in the USA.
Coming up next - hopes for this trip.
Monday, March 16, 2009
A few less chains...
Since Marc and I got married, it has been our goal to become debt free. We both carried debt into our marriage and have incurred a bit more over the years (i.e. still paying off St. Mary's from when Isaac was born), but we have slowly but steadily reduced our debt.
This past week, we have paid off 2 debts, one of which we have been paying on for almost 4 years. Today, I am celebrating and praising God for his faithful provision to us.
Debt makes me feel chained up. I feel less freedom to give and to help others because we have our own 'financial woes' to deal with. I have many people in my life that I would love to help and I cannot wait until we have more freedom to do so.
Paying off debt is a huge joy for me. I feel like a few of these chains have fallen off. We are gaining more freedom.
I can't wait to someday call up Dave Ramsey & declare "We're Debt Free!"
This past week, we have paid off 2 debts, one of which we have been paying on for almost 4 years. Today, I am celebrating and praising God for his faithful provision to us.
Debt makes me feel chained up. I feel less freedom to give and to help others because we have our own 'financial woes' to deal with. I have many people in my life that I would love to help and I cannot wait until we have more freedom to do so.
Paying off debt is a huge joy for me. I feel like a few of these chains have fallen off. We are gaining more freedom.
I can't wait to someday call up Dave Ramsey & declare "We're Debt Free!"
Monday, March 9, 2009
A day of new things
Saturday was a beautiful day.
Marc and I woke up rearing to get on the road and check out several car options that we had looked into. We heard the official news that after Marc's accident on Wednesday, the Malibu was totaled. We drove to Kalamazoo and found a nice little Corolla but wanted to check out a few others. On our way to Holland - actually, about 5 minutes before we arrived at a lot, State Farm called to tell us our payout on the Malibu. We were expecting maybe $500 and were anticipating using all of our tax refund to buy a car. I spent much of Wednesday - Saturday in prayer about the whole situation. I was trying to remain positive because at least we had that $ coming in to use. I was stressed and upset that we would not be able to use that money for an Emergency fund and to pay a little debt, and was pleading with God about it all. Well, we received $3200 for the Malibu. I wept when I found out. We ended up buying a mini-van at the lot we were on our way to for $3500 out the door. AMAZING! It's a 98 Toyota Sienna, and is a little nicer than our current van. So yes, we have 2 green mini-vans and we still have most of our tax money to build up that emergency fund and pay off a debt!
The next new and cool thing was our dinner plans. We had our friends Simon & Judy
over to teach us how to cook Korean food. I'm not sure I could do it on my own, but it was a fantastic experience and the boys enjoyed a real Korean meal - not take out. Their stomachs seem much bigger when Korean food is involved.
I've saved the best for last. The most exciting thing is that my niece, Charlotte Ayleah Cook was born. Leah and De Wayne are the very proud parents of a baby girl, which I think surprised most of our family. We were all 99.9% sure it was a boy. She is beautiful with a perfect little head of black hair, sweet little fingers and toes and the cutest little baby noises. Well, not all her noises are cute, but, you get the idea. I am so proud of Leah - she was a champ through it all and is already such a great mom. De Wayne is already on diaper duty and has stepped right into fatherhood.
My little note to Charlotte:
My dear niece, I love you already and can't wait to discover all about you in the years to come. You have incredibly strong parents, and are blessed to be born into your family. We are blessed to welcome you into our extended family. I hope that you will learn to take the beautiful things from our family and make them your own, leaving the broken things to the side. I pray that you will grow healthy and strong with a passion for the Lord that both of your parents possess. May you find your identity, your strength, your gifts and salvation in Jesus Christ, and may you serve him with all that you are. I'm praying for you and will continue throughout your life to lift you up to our maker.
love,
Marc and I woke up rearing to get on the road and check out several car options that we had looked into. We heard the official news that after Marc's accident on Wednesday, the Malibu was totaled. We drove to Kalamazoo and found a nice little Corolla but wanted to check out a few others. On our way to Holland - actually, about 5 minutes before we arrived at a lot, State Farm called to tell us our payout on the Malibu. We were expecting maybe $500 and were anticipating using all of our tax refund to buy a car. I spent much of Wednesday - Saturday in prayer about the whole situation. I was trying to remain positive because at least we had that $ coming in to use. I was stressed and upset that we would not be able to use that money for an Emergency fund and to pay a little debt, and was pleading with God about it all. Well, we received $3200 for the Malibu. I wept when I found out. We ended up buying a mini-van at the lot we were on our way to for $3500 out the door. AMAZING! It's a 98 Toyota Sienna, and is a little nicer than our current van. So yes, we have 2 green mini-vans and we still have most of our tax money to build up that emergency fund and pay off a debt!
The next new and cool thing was our dinner plans. We had our friends Simon & Judy
over to teach us how to cook Korean food. I'm not sure I could do it on my own, but it was a fantastic experience and the boys enjoyed a real Korean meal - not take out. Their stomachs seem much bigger when Korean food is involved.
I've saved the best for last. The most exciting thing is that my niece, Charlotte Ayleah Cook was born. Leah and De Wayne are the very proud parents of a baby girl, which I think surprised most of our family. We were all 99.9% sure it was a boy. She is beautiful with a perfect little head of black hair, sweet little fingers and toes and the cutest little baby noises. Well, not all her noises are cute, but, you get the idea. I am so proud of Leah - she was a champ through it all and is already such a great mom. De Wayne is already on diaper duty and has stepped right into fatherhood.
My little note to Charlotte:
My dear niece, I love you already and can't wait to discover all about you in the years to come. You have incredibly strong parents, and are blessed to be born into your family. We are blessed to welcome you into our extended family. I hope that you will learn to take the beautiful things from our family and make them your own, leaving the broken things to the side. I pray that you will grow healthy and strong with a passion for the Lord that both of your parents possess. May you find your identity, your strength, your gifts and salvation in Jesus Christ, and may you serve him with all that you are. I'm praying for you and will continue throughout your life to lift you up to our maker.
love,
Auntie Gretchen
Thursday, March 5, 2009
More Highs and Lows
Today, I feel as though the lows in my life are far outweighing the highs. I know that isn't the truth, but perhaps writing them out will help convince me.
Low: Marc got in an accident yesterday. We're waiting to hear if the Malibu is totaled or not. Either way, it's going to cost lots of money we wern't budgeting to spend on something like this.
Low: Marc's hours may get switched. It'll potentially make things much more chaotic for him with the potential of driving to and from work twice a day. It also may mean adjusting my home/office hours.
Low: Headaches. I think I'm becoming stressed. I'm also tired. Tired of constantly being on the go and when I'm not, feeling too tired to get anything productive done. I wish I could be more steady. I wish I were more of a morning person. I wish I was disciplined enough to follow a strickter schedule with my time.
High: Marc was okay, although a little sore, after his accident & so was the other driver. It was a blessing that he didn't have Isaac with him. Marc hates the Malibu, and if we have to buy another car, he may like it.
High: God really has provided. We are getting a good bit back in our taxes. Me, being the budgeter that I am, already have every cent designated toward different debt or our ER fund. We should get our taxes back tomorrow, in time to either buy a new car or pay for the Malibu to get fixed. I HATE that it will push back some more debt being paid off, but I thank God that this didn't happen the day after I paid things off & we had only a small ER fund to work with.
High: I had a fantastic weekend. I was able to see my cousin Julie, aunt & uncle, grandma, several college friends and one of my best friends and her family. Friday was a super busy day with tons of new places and people for Isaac. He was a champ and I rewarded him by letting him sleep in bed with me all night. He wanted nothing to do with the pak N play. We had a great time playing with Hannah & Dylan and loved spending time holding new baby Ella.
High: The Biggest Loser. It may sound dumb that this show has become a highlight of my week. It's WAY more than just the show though. It's the experience of having me, Kerri, Jane, Molly, Josiah and the occasional head pop in from Tim or Jung that really make it a highlight. I look forward each week to being able to relax with good friends while being inspired (and sometimes annoyed) with Bob & Jillian.
High: I am reminded that I have been blessed with good friends. Friends who text to say they're praying. Friends who watch Isaac at the last minute for me. Friends who drive me places when we're down to 1 car and who let me borrow clothes. I am grateful.
Let's see what the next week brings.
Low: Marc got in an accident yesterday. We're waiting to hear if the Malibu is totaled or not. Either way, it's going to cost lots of money we wern't budgeting to spend on something like this.
Low: Marc's hours may get switched. It'll potentially make things much more chaotic for him with the potential of driving to and from work twice a day. It also may mean adjusting my home/office hours.
Low: Headaches. I think I'm becoming stressed. I'm also tired. Tired of constantly being on the go and when I'm not, feeling too tired to get anything productive done. I wish I could be more steady. I wish I were more of a morning person. I wish I was disciplined enough to follow a strickter schedule with my time.
High: Marc was okay, although a little sore, after his accident & so was the other driver. It was a blessing that he didn't have Isaac with him. Marc hates the Malibu, and if we have to buy another car, he may like it.
High: God really has provided. We are getting a good bit back in our taxes. Me, being the budgeter that I am, already have every cent designated toward different debt or our ER fund. We should get our taxes back tomorrow, in time to either buy a new car or pay for the Malibu to get fixed. I HATE that it will push back some more debt being paid off, but I thank God that this didn't happen the day after I paid things off & we had only a small ER fund to work with.
High: I had a fantastic weekend. I was able to see my cousin Julie, aunt & uncle, grandma, several college friends and one of my best friends and her family. Friday was a super busy day with tons of new places and people for Isaac. He was a champ and I rewarded him by letting him sleep in bed with me all night. He wanted nothing to do with the pak N play. We had a great time playing with Hannah & Dylan and loved spending time holding new baby Ella.
High: The Biggest Loser. It may sound dumb that this show has become a highlight of my week. It's WAY more than just the show though. It's the experience of having me, Kerri, Jane, Molly, Josiah and the occasional head pop in from Tim or Jung that really make it a highlight. I look forward each week to being able to relax with good friends while being inspired (and sometimes annoyed) with Bob & Jillian.
High: I am reminded that I have been blessed with good friends. Friends who text to say they're praying. Friends who watch Isaac at the last minute for me. Friends who drive me places when we're down to 1 car and who let me borrow clothes. I am grateful.
Let's see what the next week brings.
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