Ten Years of Provision, Part 2 (Building Networks)

   One significant need we all have is a network of people we can trust and go to and those who encourage us when we are down.  When we move to a new location, building a network takes time and involves being open to people we don't yet know.  We did have a small head-start, since my sister and my husband's cousin lived there already.  They could answer some of our early questions.
   In the small town we moved away from my husband had many family connections, and our church community was also a big part of our lives.  That is why spending a Sunday in our new city while we were arranging Bible college enrollment and other details was important to us.  It was not really about "church shopping," as some people term it.  We decided to attend a morning service at the congregation close to where we were hoping to live that was part of the same type of church we were already familiar with.  That Sunday morning there was a guest preacher full of zeal along with heart-felt congregational singing; we knew the Holy Spirit was at work there, and there was no doubt this was the place for us.  After the service coffee was served in the gymnasium.  There a senior lady noticed we were visitors.  Sharing a little bit about why were moving, she launched into an encouraging story about God's provision for her own son who, mid-life and with young children, returned to school to become a pastor.  It was easy to feel that these were "our people" and that we would be loved here.
   My husband had a strong feeling about not misusing this network.  It would have been easy to approach the deacons and find out if any of the business owners were looking for an employee. Instead, he applied for jobs that may not consider his years of experience in a family-run business.  In hindsight, he said working in the retail sector for over two years taught him as much or more about dealing with real people as his Bible college courses in counseling did.
   Building up the church network meant becoming involved.  We joined a planning group for summer outreach, a construction-themed Vacation Bible School.  We took our turn helping in the nursery on Sundays.  We invited families and our children's new Sunday school friends over.  We wanted to be a blessing; as we did so we also found ourselves being blessed.
   Another network we were deliberate about cultivating was Christian school.  Up until our move, I had been home-schooling our son at the kindergarten level, with the intent of sending him to Grade 1 in the fall. Since we were moving in April, that would be a five months without many peer connections for him, so we made inquiries about enrolling our son in Kindergarten for the months of May and June.  The school approved our request, and this helped our family integrate into another welcoming community. Later, when all our children were enrolled, it was also the place I could resume my teaching career.
   My next post will share how we were blessed by moving to a specifically multicultural city.

Related posts:
(choosing the school) Room for Special Needs
(going back to teaching) Turtle on a Fence Post

Ten Years of Provision, Part 1 (House and Job)

 

April 6, ten years ago my family and I moved 170 kilometres west of our previous home base, to the city where we now live.  I know that we live in a mobile society, where people often relocate for reasons of work or opportunity.  Still, our move was a little different.
   Three weeks prior to moving, we had no housing lined up.  The day we moved we had no job prospects either.  What in the world were we thinking?
   We knew God had called my husband to a change in direction. No longer would he work in the family business he had always known nor live in the house he had been brought to as a newborn.  It was a time to step out in faith and see where God would lead us.  To make a transition into more of a helping profession would require education, so my husband enrolled at a Bible college that offered a one-year certificate program (part-time, it would take two years in all).  He started to complete some prerequisites by correspondence so that in September he could begin the program.  The plan was to find part-time employment and cash in some of our retirement savings to supplement this meagre income.  Since our youngest child was just over a year old, I would continue to be a stay-at-home mom and earn a little child care income.
   Finding housing was a story in itself.  We had made contact with a cooperative housing project in the early winter and arranged to take a unit they would have available April 1st.  However, in the middle of March the superintendent called and informed us that the tenant whose unit we were to get was fighting the eviction notice and everything would be delayed.   This did not give us much time to spare.  The next available opportunity, when my husband had to take a work shipment into Toronto in the wee hours of the morning, he continued west to the city we would move to.  He called a property management company from the yellow pages (its name was Provident) and asked if he could see some rental units that were available.  The agent would be doing a tour with another potential client and invited him to join along.  They looked through several three bedroom semi-detached houses that all had a similar layout.  The rent would be just under $1000 per month, but all the units available for viewing were set for a May 1st move-in.  "Well," the agent said, "there is one unit set for April 1st, but we can't look at it.  We did not give the current occupants 24 hours notice."  My husband told her he would take it, sight unseen.
   The next thing this company wanted to know was employment information.  There was none to give. Next, proof of savings.  Most of our savings was not in a traditional bank, so it took some extra time to verify that it was all legitimate.  On March 17, we received a call from our new landlords that everything was in order. One more glitch they were concerned about was that it would not be repainted in time for an April 1st move-in. That was fine, because our plan was to move on the 6th anyways.
   Within two weeks of moving, my husband found a job at minimum wage (then $7.00 per hour) at a retail store.  Those first two years we always had enough to pay our bills.  Thus began journey that was humbling and faith-strengthening at the same time.
 
Related post:
Making Ends Meet

Grace Notes

   In the early 1990's I was convinced after watching a particular documentary to cut all ties with mainstream, popular music.  I was told that rock music at its core led to rebellion and disorder.  This posture of condemnation was relatively easy for me to accept because I wanted to live according to God's standards and this black-and- white way of looking at a genre of music was at least simple.  It did not demand discernment.
   More recently I have been enlightened about the problem with such a posture of condemnation.  Andy Crouch says of a posture: "It is the position our body assumes when we aren't paying attention, the basic attitude we carry through life" (Culture Making, 2008, p.90).  Having this one stance does not give us the flexibility to respond appropriately to a wide range of musical  offerings, as just one example of culture.  When we condemn, we will never have the opportunity to see grace notes in mainstream music.  Using three examples of musical groups I used to listen to and enjoy, I'd like to share some of the notes of grace I found when looking more closely.

ABBA

When I recently attended a concert that combined a symphony orchestra with an ABBA tribute band from Sweden, I readily admitted to my children that ABBA's music was not very deep lyrically. This pop group from the 1980's sang mostly about relationship triumphs and tragedies to very catchy melodies.  I attended this concert with my two sisters as a nostalgic outing from our younger days.  For one of their encore pieces, the orchestra and tribute band played "Thank you for the Music."  When the lead vocalist introduced the song, she dedicated it to the original ABBA, which had provided them with the music they were performing. But if you think back to the original ABBA, who were they saying "Thank you" to? Some of the words are:

Thank you for the music 

The songs we're singing

Thanks for all the joy they're bringing

...

I've often wondered how did it all start

Who found out that nothing can capture a heart

Like a melody can

Well, whoever it was, I'm a fan.

   I call this a grace note; even though the songwriters do not name God, they recognize that music is a gift. When you receive a gift, you say "Thank you."  God is the inventor of music and its ability to capture a heart. When I hear or hum this song, I can direct it towards "the giver of every good and perfect gift" (James 1:17).

Supertramp

   This was another of the bands I enjoyed in my teens and early twenties.  Between 1970 and 2002 the band released eleven albums, but the style changed somewhat with the departure of Roger Hodgson in 1983.  While most Supertramp songs feature the traditional rock piano, drums, guitars and the less traditional saxophone, one song I'd like to highlight is accompanied only by a 12 stringed guitar.  "Even in the Quietest Moments" is the reflection of a human being when all the noise of our radios and televisions is silenced. Some striking lines are as follows:

The music that you gave me
The language of my soul
Oh Lord, I want to be with you
Oh won't you let me come in from the cold

.... 

And though your door is always open
Where do I begin, may I please come in, dear 

   Songwriter Hodgson has an ambiguous "you" and "dear" that cannot be directed to any human person.  His references to sun, rain, the stars and the ocean are hints of the transcendent.  Who is he talking to but a sense of creation/Creator that he is unable to fully grasp?  He knows there is more to this world than what meets the eye.  And yet he admits to being distracted: "For there's a shadow of doubt/That's not letting me find you too soon."  A person who knows this Creator can legitimately use this song as a prayer.

Eagles and Don Henley

   I used to know all the Eagles songs by heart.  Some are quite scandalous, such as "Take it Easy" with its casual attitude to relationships-- "I've got seven women on my mind/Four that wanna own me/Two that wanna stone me/One says she's a friend of mine" followed by a drive-by encounter with an eighth. Yet, on one of Don Henley's solo albums, he features a poignant song about forgiveness called "Heart of the Matter." Another grace note is his version of the 1880 hymn "The Unclouded Day."  

O they tell me that he smiles on his children there

And his smile drives their sorrows away

And they tell me that no tears ever come again

In that lovely land of unclouded day

His original audience may not have even known it was a hymn!  Yet this song represents the longings any human can identify with, a place where the Sun of Righteousness smiles upon us so that there are no more tears. 

   Here's where I come to a conclusion.  Christian musicians do not have a monopoly on spiritual songs. While I support Christian contemporary music, I am growing more favourable to performers who play in both churches and taverns.  Canadian singer-songwriter Jacob Moon says it well, "God's really just opening some doors for me to share my faith and my point of view, and just be a visible Christian amongst people who don't have any faith, or any particular faith, or a bunch of different faiths or whatever it is" (Christian Week article "Moon goes 'undercover' with tribute to musical heroes," by Aaron Epp, March 2014).  Music can be a place where we can find common ground and unexpected grace.

 

Not a Waste: the Short Life of David Brainerd

   David Brainerd (1718-1747) lived in New England for all of his twenty-nine years.  From the time of his conversion at 21 years of age to his death from “consumption” or tuberculosis, Brainerd dedicated himself to the service of God.  This included mission work to Native Americans living in the region of present-day New York and New Jersey.  As he preached and taught among them, he saw revival taking place.  

   The most direct information we have about David Brainerd comes through his missionary journal that was published by the Honourable Society (Scotland) for Propagating Christian Knowledge (1746) and his personal journals that were edited and published by Rev. Jonathan Edwards as The Life of David Brainerd (1749).  I took it upon myself to read as much as possible of the latter publication in preparation for this post.  When reading the journal edited by Edwards I was struck by a number of things:

• When David Brainerd wrote these entries he never intended for them to be published.  Although he gave reluctant consent on his deathbed, Brainerd was surprised that they would be of any benefit to other Christian believers.  As a result some of the content made me feel like an intruder to private thoughts and struggles.
• I’m quite sure Brainerd suffered from a significant mood disorder.  At the time, “melancholy” was used to define the dark periods of a person’s life.  At least a couple of days per week he tells of a debilitating sense of unworthiness.  One example: “Saw myself so vile and unworthy that I could not look my people in the face when I came to preach” [1]
• His single-mindedness was reminiscent of St. Paul: “I thought I wanted not the favor of man to lean upon; for I knew Christ’s favor was infinitely better, and that it was no matter when, nor where, nor how Christ should send me, nor what trials he would still exercise me with, if I might be prepared for his work and will.”[2]
• He is a man torn at times between assisting the Native people who come to him “under deep concern for their souls” and the exhaustion that comes of their “incessant application to me for help.” [3] This missionary needed an assistant! 
• He refers to other Europeans whose nominal Christianity and harsh treatment of the Natives made it difficult to share the gospel.

   Dr. John A. Dreisbach said, “This book by Jonathan Edwards was the first biography written in America that achieved wide notice abroad as well as at home.”[4]  It influenced some of the biggest names in mission work in the coming centuries, including Adoniram Judson (Burma), William Carey (India), Henry Martyn (India), John Wesley (founder of Methodism in England and USA), J. Hudson Taylor (China) and David Livingstone (various locations along the Zambezi River in Africa).

   Although David Brainerd’s lifespan was considerably short and fraught with suffering, his devotion to the Lord urges us to seize each day for God’s glory.

---

[1] The Life of David Brainerd by Jonathan Edwards, Yale University Press, 1985 edition, January 1, 1744 entry, p.232.

[2] The Life, April 12, 1742 entry, p. 160.

[3] The Life, January 13, 1746 entry, p. 354.

[4] https://www.gfamissions.org/missionary-biographies/brainerd-david-1718-1747.html

Guest Post by Erudina: The Meaning of Stewardship

Front view of Dios Es Mi Paz church, after the service

Erudina is an elder at Dios Es Mi Paz (“God is my peace”) church.  She has a Master’s Degree in Education and serves as the principal of a public high school in Santo Domingo.  She is a widow with three children; she has experience with community development and youth work. Erudina prepared and delivered this message on January 26, 2014 in Spanish. This post is based on notes I took from Pastor Mario’s phrase-by-phrase translation into English.

   Stewardship is a universal principle, but it is even more relevant for believers.  The Greek word for stewardship is oikos, which means “household” or “disposition to care for a household,” and “one who is in charge.”  Christian stewardship is watching over God’s belongings.  We are heirs in Christ of all God’s belongings.  In our lives we are stewards of the following:

• money
• physical and mental health
• work
• entertainment
• time
• skills
• spiritual gifts

   Stewardship is a very wide topic, but we will focus on one aspect—skills and abilities.  There is a variation in the amount of skills people have.  Some think it has to do with our IQ, but skills go beyond that.  God gives us each talent that we have.  The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14 –30 teaches that the quality of our service is how we use our skills and abilities.  According to Scripture, everyone has some skills.  We are born with natural skills through our genes, but our upbringing affects the development of our skills.  As we grow up we may barely notice our skills due to our external conditions.  When we develop our skills (through education and experience), we expect to be compensated for that, but whether paid or not we are to use these skills for service.

   Some special skills are given to do special work that God want us to do.  In Exodus 4:10-17 Moses protests his inabilities, while God emphasizes His own power.  Sometimes, like Moses, we think we don’t fill the shoes or fit the requirements.  But God will give us what we need.

   I Corinthians 12 mentions gifts of the Holy Spirit.  They are supernatural gifts to expand the church and spread the gospel.  Some people do not have much formal education, like Peter and John, but they can do wonderful things through the Holy Spirit.

   Sometimes we are tempted to bury our talents, but we should not give in to these temptations. We need to use these gifts in the church.  We can discern God’s will through the Holy Spirit, reading His word, seeking advice from brothers and sisters in Christ, pastors and leaders.

   We need to avoid selfish desires and any sins so that we can use our gifts.  Open your eyes to the opportunities.  How can we help those who are in need of healing, encouragement and care?  We are called to shine in our community as true representatives of Christ:

·        Being faithful in daily life, getting rid of pride and selfishness

·        Do what’s right without being conscious of it

Don’t waste your talents and gifts by getting involved in sinful activities.  This can happen when we use our skills to accumulate wealth.  “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33 NIV).  We need to follow God’s lead.  When we waste our skills we lose out.

   Our work will be revealed by fire, as it says in I Corinthians 3:10-15.  Let’s use our skills to build things that will last and are worthwhile.  Some problems in the church are the result of wasting gifts.  Some examples are:

• seeking compensation and advancement in careers rather than service
• seeking spectacular gifts without having victory over sin in our lives
• false worship that is actually religious entertainment

   The parable of the talents shows that the one who had five talents multiplied them to become ten talents.  When we develop stewardship in our lives, it will help us grow in Christ.  Then we will hear these words at the end, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter the joy of your Lord.”

Hand-up for a Ghanaian School

   A friend of mine is temporarily living in Ghana while her husband is employed there on a construction project.  Her four children are attending a Christian elementary school that lacks many of the resources we take for granted in North America.  One great need they have is adequate school desks.  These desks can be made and purchased in Ghana.

   Instead of just asking for money from the outside, the students were brainstorming about how they could raise money for desks.  One Ghanaian girl, aged about twelve, offered her sewing skills for this cause.  She will make small purses (with a zipper and strap) for $2 CDN apiece. 

The purse is 14 cm by 8 cm, with a longer shoulder strap 

She is also willing to makes dresses for $15 CDN.  Dresses can be made to the size of the girl (length & waist measurements) and according to a preferred colour for the skirt and matching bows (give first and second choice).  Based on the design, it appears that the bodice comes only in black.

Summer dress with skirt going down to the knee

Close-up of layered skirt

Close-up of bow

This is where I come in, as an advocate for fair trade and honourably assisting individuals in need.  If you would be interested in ordering one of these items, you may contact me by email harriette.edit@gmail.com.  Arrangements about how to exchange the goods and money will be made on an individual basis.  

Marvels of Newborns

We rightly think of newborns as helpless creatures dependent upon the care they receive from the adults in their lives.  However, in the past five days I was reminded by two newborns (a six week-old and a three month- old) and two medical doctors (my uncle and my cousin) of the remarkable set of reflexes given to infants that help them adapt to life outside the womb and survive in it.

Here are just a few of the beneficial reflexes newborn are born with:

• While the developing infant has lungs, she does not need them until birth. The breathing reflex “even before the umbilical cord is cut”[1] allows her to make this transition to a world with air.  The ability to sneeze, hiccough, cough and thrash are also vital to breathing in newborns.
• A newborn has no experience with eating through its mouth.  Yet when a baby’s cheek is stimulated, he turns in that direction, opens his mouth and begins to suck anything that touches his lips.  An additional aid to the newborn is that right after birth, his mother’s breast smells like amniotic fluid, the familiar environment that the baby has known.  In my cousin’s words, “It smells like home!”
• The proximity of our windpipe and esophagus makes choking a dangerous possibility even for adults.  The gag reflex begins in newborns and, thankfully, never leaves us.
• Newborns can lose heat rapidly, so parents are given instruction about swaddling them and guarding their temperature at all times.  However, tucking legs close to the body, shivering and crying are reflexes that enable a baby to conserve heat.

   I remember being impressed watching the news in 1985 after the devastating earthquake in Mexico City.  Up to a week after the tremor, the survivors that were found were newborns.  How is this even possible?  According to a New York Times article at the time, pediatric specialists “generally attribute it to the fact that newborn babies have an excess of body fluids and are metabolically prepared for stressful events at the time of birth. In addition, because the nature of their entombment was somewhat similar to being in the womb, doctors have speculated that the infants probably experienced less of the terror and shock that can so quickly drain away the life of an adult in a similar situation.”[2]

   We all began our lives so vulnerably, but how amazing that we were designed to rise to the challenges before us.  It is no cliché that the birth of a child is laden with miracles.

---

[1] http://www.reocities.com/route66ok2000/devpsych5/devpsych5.html; chapter summary of pages 130-136, point 8.

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/16/world/mexico-s-entombed-babies-win-the-fight-for-life.html