Thanks for the reminder, God

Do you ever need to be reminded about God’s blessings?  I think God knows we do.

Moses knew.  Just after crossing the Red Sea and escaping Pharaoh’s armies, do you know what Moses did?  Exodus ch.15 says that Moses led his people in a song to the Lord.  Turns out the whole song is a review of everything God had done to bring them out of slavery: how He was merciful, how He parted the waters and saved them from their enemies, how they had gone through times of great struggle, and how He had taken care of them.  It’s a reminder song of God’s blessings!

Last weekend, after our services, I was thinking to myself that we’d had a good weekend of worship, but how I really wished that this or that had gone better, maybe we should have done this song here, that song there, etc.  Maybe people would have responded more intently if we’d sung one more chorus (or one fewer).  Now part of that IS my job – to assess things for improvement, but I think last week I was probably obsessing on the assessing more than normal.

Here comes my reminder about God’s blessings.  We had a large group of African missionaries visiting our church that weekend, and many of them sang with us during the services.  Rushing up to me as I was heading out the door, our guests from Africa were gushing over how powerful, meaningful and wonderful our worship had been and what a great honor it had been for them to participate with us!  It continued on facebook, as I saw their friends from Africa commenting on pictures they had posted.  It was as if they’d just been on stage with Hillsong, Chris Tomlin or the Brooklyn Tab Choir!

God was reminding me of His many many blessings in relation to this aspect of my life.

How often does God have to remind YOU to be thankful for all He’s given and done?  Well, let me be a little bit of Moses for you this week.  No matter your life circumstances right now…God IS blessing you!  Think on them this week.  You will have a better appreciation for God’s love and care for you.

My church shrunk from 900 to 19 members in ONE DAY, and why that’s AWESOME!

Last Sunday at our church, we had our first “Full Stage Weekend” of the fall.  FSW is where we fill the stage with nearly a hundred worship leaders in the praise band, choir and orchestra.  In our own humble way, we musically represent the bigness, the greatness of God to our congregation on days like this.  It is truly powerful to shout and sing just how great our God is with nearly a thousand people over the course of the weekend!

But the next day, a strange thing happened.  An amazing thing.  After all of those hundreds of people left the church campus, five couples (bringing a pack of nine children) found their way to my house on Monday evening.  All strangers, for the most part, but with a common desire to share life around the Bible with other families.  My big church got small — and I believe it’s what God intended for us from the beginning.  Acts 2:46 describes the early Christian church:

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

Well-known pastor and theologian Alistair Begg points out that these early followers of Jesus modeled for us both formal and informal types of worship.  He notes that within the framework of the temple courts, their worship was likely to be more structured, and while in their homes, their worship was likely more unstructured and spontaneous. What a beautiful balance we see in the early church!  Regular participation in a larger, corporate worship setting is important, but only part of what God wants from His followers.  Sharing your faith journey in regular, home-based groups is the other, often missing piece of the Christian community puzzle.  You can hear a terrific message on worship from Begg here.

If you have ever been part of a healthy small group, you know that it isn’t just a nice thing to be a part of, it is essential.  It is life-changing and faith-affirming.  If you’re not in small group, join one!  Your big church will shrink — and that’s a GOOD thing!

Hiding God’s Word

I’ve never been very good at memorizing words, even song lyrics.  Melody, form, chord structure…no problemo.  I’m thankful that God blessed me with a great memory for music, and I can remember note for note just about any instrumental piece I’ve ever played.  But the lyrics to any song I sang last week, even after rehearsing and singing the song over and over again?  Forget about it!

Thankfully, some songs have imprinted themselves on me so strongly that I can’t help but remember the words.  And not only do I remember them, but they become part of the fabric of my daily life.  Nearly every day, I thank God for His faithfulness when I hear in my head “morning by morning new mercies I see!”  And when times are difficult, I find myself singing “whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul!’”  What a comfort and inspiration those lyrics have been to me throughout my life.

But as I said, memorization is difficult for me, and I’ve really never been very successful at memorizing God’s Word.  Oh, after a minute or so, I can find the passage I’m looking for; but even after 36 years, I don’t have very good instant recall.  So last week when our pastor challenged our church with some basic scripture memorization, I knew it was a wake up call for me.  The challenge verse was Ephesians 2:8 (NLT)

God saved you by His grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

Just one week of memorizing that simple verse, and I can already feel its impact in my life!  If you have never really taken up the challenge of memorizing scripture, let me encourage you to do it with me.  You can begin with this simple verse, then go from there.

I’ve even learned this lesson from my daughter.  Last week, we walked into a store where a toy bear was playing Jesus Loves Me.  Lula began singing right away!  (watch the video) Just like King David, she is already hiding those good words of God in her heart.  Hopefully her Daddy will catch on, too!

Peru: Wrap-up video

Sitting in the Lima airport, waiting for our 1am flight back to JFK airport.  We’ll get home Tuesday around noon.  Long night ahead of us.

Here’s a brief wrap-up video of our time here in Peru.  If you’re following this blog from NHUMC, you saw this in church this last weekend.  Thanks for following us on this great opportunity!

Click to watch the video!

P.S. – One more Peru post coming soon…some amazing pics from our whirlwind last-day trek to Machu Picchu!

Peru: Some Great Pics

Just a few recent pictures here.  Still having a great time, but battling slow and non-existent internet connections.  I thought yesterday, “How spoiled am I, that I should be annoyed that I don’t have consistent high-speed internet—IN THE RURAL ANDES MOUNTAINS!!!”  God is good!  Hope you enjoy the pics!

Morning worship

Line up!

Not for the faint of heart!

In the OR

Every Cactus Has Its Thorn

Local grocery shopping

Lynsey as Sherpa Mom

New friends

Alpaca stare-down

Alpacas make Lula happy!

Mountain surprise

Daddy needs a rest

Pooped out

Peru: Week 1 Wrap-up

Another great couple of days here in the Andes!  A few quick updates from today…

AMAZING HIKE TODAY! With the help of a borrowed baby hiking backpack from our newfound Austrain friends, Lynsey, Lula and I set out on a 3-hour hike in the mountains.  The views were stunning–see a few pics below!  Already at nine-thousand feet above sea level, we climbed an additional two-thousand over the course of the trek.  Lula was happy in the pack (for most of the time), and enjoyed seeing the cows, horses, streams, fields, flowers, mountains, houses and children along the way.

As great a time as we had, however, we were struck by the poverty of the people who inhabit these mountains.  Near the beginning of the hike, we encountered a young girl, maybe six years old, working in a field and watching over a handful of cows.  I showed her my camera, asked, “Esta bien?” and snapped a picture at her approval.  I showed the girl the picture I’d taken; she gave a beautiful big smile and sheepishly said, “Gracias,” as we went on our way.  Further up the mountain, she and an older woman came riding up the narrow trail on a horse, assumably on the way up to their village.  The Quechua people are by and large quite friendly, but timid.  And to me, they do seem to be aware that their lives are difficult by most standards.  Not that I think they resent their lives; they actually seem a very happy people, but at once a people familiar with hardship.  Please remember these precious people in prayer.  Pray that the good news of Jesus will spread throughout these beautiful mountains, truly one of God’s landscape masterpieces.

BEAUTIFUL WEDDING TODAY!  It was a whole-hospital affair today, as the chapel, balcony and foyer were flooded with hundreds of people, dressed in their Sunday best, came to witness a beautiful wedding cermony of two Peruvian hospital workers.  Complete with bridesmaids, unity candles, and Pachelbel’s Canon in D, in many ways I felt as if I were at a traditional Christian wedding in the US (all in Spanish, of course).  The joy was palpable in the whole place, and I was honored to participate.  An American missionary living nearby (who is also a tremendous classical pianist) and I (who USED to be a pretty decent trumpet player) played the standard bridal marches by Wagner and Mendelssohn.  In the middle of the service, I led my rag-tag quartet of German missionary kids in an original composition for the cermony.  It was just fine (inside joke there).  Actually, they played very well, and seemed to enjoy the opportunity to perform together.  Last thing about the wedding…  After the ceremony, the wedding party left to take the obligatory pictures when the presiding pastor, after seating the attendees, proceeded to preach for another TWO HOURS!!!!  I will NEVER complaing about long weddings again!

LULA’S FIRST SURGICAL ASSIST…  This next event has already become one of my favorite family moments!  As the wedding was beginning, I was sitting next to the piano at the front of the chapel.  We were about fifteen seconds from playing the processional when I saw Lynsey out of the corner of my eye.  She was holding Lula in a side doorway, out of sight of everyone but a few people and me.  I was immediately alarmed as I realized she was making a stitching motion!  She was going into surgery!  My eyes grew large, and I shrugged…she smiled and understood that I was simply unable to leave without making a huge disturbance in the wedding ceremony.  After the (very long) wedding, I learned that Lynsey and been called to an emergency surgical procedure, for which Lula had to SIT JUST OUTSIDE THE OPERATING ROOM!  The door was open, Lynsey was talking to her the entire time, and she had a toy farm set that a nurse brought to her.  We’re calling it Lula’s first surgical assist–what a memory!!!  See Lula in her surgical gear below!

We’re obviously having a tremendous time here in Peru.  Thanks to all of you for praying for us while we are here (keep it up; we think we’re all getting a bit of a cold).  And PLEASE remember to pray for the Quechua people, whom we are hoping to serve here.  God is soooo GOOD!

Peru: Amazing Days 2-3

It’s been a great first three days here in Curuhuasi!  The weather is wonderful, and we have spectacular views from the hospital compound.  We’ve enjoyed spending time with the all-missionary medical staff, many of them long-term, others short-term like us.  The hospital founders are a German couple who had little in their pockets, but an amazing vision for a state-of-the-art hospital here in the poorest part of the Andes.  Many of the missionaries here are German, with others serving from the US, the UK, Singapore, Australia, the Netherlands, Peru and other countries.

The predominant people group throughout this region is known as the Quechua.  The Quechua people are the descendants of the Incas (among other pre-colonial peoples), and have long been the victims of persecution since colonial times.  One-hundred percent of the the patients at Hospital Diospi-Suyana are Quechua, many of whom travel for days to be seen here.

Our days begin with a worship service at 8:30 (I’ve been learning to play the cajon, a Peruvian box drum).  All of the patients waiting to see doctors come into the chapel (a hundred or so), sing a few songs in Spanish, hear a gospel message delivered in Spanish, then sing a few songs in their native tongue, Quechua.  Lynsey then goes to see patients, schedule surgeries, and perform surgeries throughout the day.  So far she’s removed several gall bladders, treated some severe burns, and performed a few other procedures.  The people seem very grateful that she is there…I hear she really made a young boy’s day by bringing him a beach ball post-surgery!  (Hope to post a picture next time).

After the worship service, Lula and I go and have breakfast in the common-area kitchen.  There are four alpacas on the campus, and Lula LOVES them!  Going to pet them has become our post-breakfast ritual. Every day at 3:00, I go into town to give music lessons to four missionary kids.  They began playing brass instruments a year ago, but since their teacher left, they’ve had no instruction.  They seem to enjoy our hour and a half sessions, and we are all playing together at a Peruvian wedding ceremony on Saturday!  How bizarre!  These are terrific kids, but there are some serious gaps in their musical education.  Receiving a quality education of any kind is definitely one of the biggest challenges to being children of missionaries, so please remember these kids in your prayers.  (We’re going to be hitting the theory pretty hard next week, so they can hopefully continue to progress as musicians without a formal teacher).

Today after our morning alpaca-ing, Lula and I met a remarkable young missionary couple.  Brendan and Erin Connally are full-time Christian missionaries from Seattle, living in the nearby town of Abancay.  Erin, a dentist, travels around to rural villages with a full clinic setup, providing much needed dental care while promoting local Christian churches.  Her husband, Brendan, is a linguist who is working with local authors and writers to create Christian publications in Quetchua, as well as a full translation of the Bible into Quechua.  Although there are an estimated 9-14 million speakers of the language, only recently have there been efforts made to translate God’s word into this language.  Only a year ago, the Old Testament was finished, and Brendan’s team hopes to complete the New Testament translation for distribution in August 2012.  To read more about, and to support this great missionary couple, please visit them online at www.theconnallys.com.

A few pictures here (click to enlarge):

1) Lula helping to stuff bags full of goodies for the local kids club, run by the hospital (she wasn’t thrilled, however, to part with the new boxes of markers, coloring books and other toys!).

2) Lynsey and the Connallys at lunch in the “canteen.”

Thanks again for checking in.  Visit again this weekend, and keep the Quechua people (and us) in your prayers!