Some Thoughts About Passion

from Seth

I recently re-watched a movie called Gattaca.  In addition to its insightful look into a frighteningly possible future, the movie provides a fascinating perspective of what it looks like for a person to have genuine, single-minded passion.  Vincent, the main character, has just one dream, a dream that he has had since he was a little boy.  His dream is to become an astronaut, to visit other planets, to see what the universe looks like from somewhere other than the surface of Earth. Unfortunately, he finds himself in the disadvantaged situation of having a poor genetic prognosis.  He is expected to die by age 30.  Who would invest massive amounts of time and money into training an astronaut who would be dead that early?  Despite this setback, however, Vincent never gives up on his dream.  He pours all of his heart and soul and life into pursuing this dream, and eventually he succeeds. (If you want more details, rent the movie.) :)  He gave this one dream everything he had.  From the time he got up in the morning, until the time he went to bed at night, everything he did was aimed at realizing his dream. 

After I finished watching this movie, I got to thinking about that kind of passion.  How often do we see Christians who live their lives with this kind of passion?  How often do we see followers of Christ who believe so strongly in the value of obeying Him that they live every minute of every day in pursuit of His will?  And how much more important, how much more lasting, are God’s purposes for each of His children, as compared with Vincent’s dream of being an astronaut?   

Even so, when I find myself waking up in the morning, only rarely is Jesus the first thing on mind.  Only rarely is opening my Bible at the top of my list of things to do during the day.  And even as I engage in matters directly related to my desire to follow His will, I find that I am not always focused on Him and what He wants me to be learning from any given situation.  Shame on me!  I have a thousand times more reasons to pursue God with all my heart and mind and soul than Vincent had to pursue his dreams!  So what holds me back?  Why do I not give him everything I have and more? 

I’m afraid I do not yet have an answer.  But what I can say is this: the past is over and gone.  It cannot be changed.  The future, however, is yet to be seen; it most certainly CAN be changed, by the decisions I choose to make.  I pray that God will give me the strength and passion to follow Him as best I can in everything I do, everyday.  Who knows?  Perhaps one day I will get a glimpse of what it is like to live with the kind of passion that Vincent showed in Gattaca.

History of Missions

from Laura

I just finished reading the book From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: a Biographical History of Missions by Ruth A. Tucker.  (She is, by the way, a professor at Calvin Theological Seminary, which I found extra cool, being a Calvin grad myself.  She also has a blog about the book.)  The book was recommended to us last summer by the Danylaks, a (now former) missionary couple to whom we turned for wisdom and advice when we began the process of becoming missionaries ourselves.  I got it for Christmas and have been working my way through it ever since, in small chunks.  I now want to pass the recommendation on to you!

In terms of content, this is a great book for anyone who wants to know more about the history of missions.  Tucker writes in short biographies of a wide variety of missionaries, clustered into sections by geography or chronology.  This format means you can read it in chunks, as stories.  The section introductions provide a broad sweep of God’s work in a particular era or area, and the stories flesh it out.  Tucker does a nice job of being both intellectual and understandable for the general public.

Deeper than information, though, are the messages carried in the stories of past missionaries, and this is really why the book is worth your time.  I was struck by the simultaneous frailty and strength of the missionaries God has sent.  Every one of them was human—flawed or annoying or just plain weird—and each was convinced that God wanted more people to know Him.  They did amazing things and dumb things and sacrificial things and disrespectful things, trying to carry God’s Word where it was not known.  And because God is God, He made use of pretty much ALL the things they did to draw people to Himself.  It was so sad to read about how missions work sometimes became a part of the degradation of a people or the disintegration of a culture.  Satan has used openings where he could.  But much more often, things that should NEVER have worked, worked out for good anyway.  That’s the reality of God’s stories.  That’s the kind of Boss we have!  It makes me feel a whole lot better about being human—flawed and annoying and just plain weird—and still trying to do something to bring God’s kingdom to people who don’t have it, or to strengthen God’s hold on the hearts of His kids.  That’s what we’ve all been called to do; that’s what God's people have been doing, all along; and that’s the route God has chosen to do a lot of His kingdom work.  If you don’t believe me, just pick up Ruth Tucker’s book!  The history of missions should be proof enough for anyone and encouragement for all God’s people that He will use a submitted life—yours included—for His glory.

Priorities and promises

from Laura

At the very beginning of this school year, as Seth and I were filling out applications for Faith Academy and starting up conversations with mission agencies, I made a commitment. My commitment was to my students this year, that I would not cheat them of my best work, even though I knew then that this would be my last year at Holmes. At the beginning, keeping that commitment had mostly to do with my perspective. I had to make sure that I didn't get so caught up in the excitement of teaching at Faith that I began to look negatively or grudgingly on the challenges of teaching at Holmes.

Once we were accepted by TEAM and began to have training and support-raising responsibilities, I had to start considering my time. For the most part, I have solved this part of the problem by splitting my life into two quite distinct halves-- Holmes life and Philippines life. I've generally separated these two lives by location. For the most part, school is school. If I have schoolwork to do, I stay late and do it there. At home, almost everything is focused on the Philippines. My commute takes me from one world to the other. It's a little surreal, but it has worked out all right.

This past week those convenient lines have begun to blur, and I'm realizing that keeping my commitment to this year's students is going to take renewed solutions over the next two months.

The first blurring factor arrived in the Teacher's Lounge on Tuesday when my Drama job at Holmes Middle School appeared on the job postings bulletin board there. A number of my colleagues already knew about our plans-- I told the administration at the beginning of the school year and started telling others in January, after we were officially accepted as TEAM missionaries. But with my job officially and on-paper vacant, anyone who doesn't know yet is finding out. I really enjoy the conversations that come up. They mean, though, that my "school is school" focus doesn't work so well anymore. I'm just waiting for the day when my students figure out that I'm leaving...

I noticed another change on Wednesday of this week. At our staff meeting that morning, virtually none of the topics applied to me because almost the whole meeting was about next year. Suddenly, I am an observer in those discussions, not a stakeholder. I truly do care about my school, but some of the planning and paperwork is just not important to me at this point, and I will need to watch out for how that may affect my attitude.

Looking ahead, I know that the balance between my lives will shift even further in just a few weeks. When the musical is over, I intend to use that regained time to brush up on my French and begin learning Tagalog. Also, Seth and I are just starting to set up meetings with groups or individuals who are potential supporters, and that will demand my evenings more and more often. As the school year wraps up, even some of my Holmes life will become future-focused as I figure out what to take away with me, and how best to organize the things I will leave behind for someone else to use. Keeping my priorities straight will get complicated, especially as my students will be increasingly summer-focused themselves.

So, today, I am renewing my commitment to my current students. I see the pressures and responsibilities that might draw me away from them, but I will fight back. I'm not sure what it will take or how it will look over the next two months, but these students are still my job and my calling from now until June 8. My promise remains that I will not give them less than my best.

A week in Belize, Central America

by Seth

Just a few days ago, I returned from a week-long missions trip with a team from my home church, Elk Grove Baptist Church. Our goal for this trip was to build a new house for an older lady named Lucia in a small village in Belize called Gales Point. There is only one church in the village, and a bare handful of the men attend services there. Even fewer of them are committed Christians. Basically, it is a village that very much needs to hear and see the Gospel message at work, which was the main reason for our trip.

Our flight down was … interesting. We flew out from O’Hare at 3 AM on Saturday morning, March 20, and after two stops in Guatamala and El Salvador, we arrived in Belize around 10 AM. Two hours later, we were on the road for the Belize Mission and Retreat, which was our home for the duration of our stay in Belize. The BMR is a beautiful facility on the shore of the Caribbean Sea, but it is very remote. All of their fresh water comes from rain, and all of their power comes from solar panels, meaning that both water and power had to be rationed carefully to avoid running out.

The entire trip was a learning experience for all 9 members of our team. We had to learn to be patient with a very different approach to construction than we were accustomed to, and we had to learn to cope with using lumber that was rather badly warped. One of the most common phrases I heard from the villagers that were helping us build the house was “I can live with that.” Their whole approach to building the house was simply to make the best out of the materials at hand. Overall, the feeling was one of casual acceptance of less-than-perfect circumstances.

For me, specifically, I was humbled by my lack of skills. Let’s face it: I cannot swing a hammer straight to save my life. I bent more nails than I ever thought possible. Nevermind that the wood was tropical hardwood (much harder to nail into than pine). The fact remains that I was terrible at hammering those boards together. Yet somehow, God saw fit to use me, and even to give me some measure of proficiency by the end of the week, which I can only attribute to His grace, because I certainly could not have done it by myself. As a side note, you'll notice that my skin is very prone to sunburn, which is why I look so silly in this picture. Gotta protect the neck and all, even if it is with a pink bandana borrowed from Jessy.

God also challenged me to make some changes in my life back here at home. Being away from all the normal distractions of daily life, I realized that there were some things I tend to spend my time on (internet games, television, etc) that I didn’t even miss when I was away from them in Belize. I also realized that there were far more important things I needed to be doing with my time back home, so I have been in the process of pruning these extraneous things from my life. It is not an immediate change, but I am seeing God help me make these changes, and I have been much more satisfied with how I am spending my time these past few days.

I think that is enough for one post, but I just wanted to share some of the things I did and learned from my trip to Belize. I went down there to inspire change in the villagers there, and I hope I did have an impact on them. But, in the end, I think the person who was changed the most by the trip was me.