My Father's Joy Weblog

There is a painting that I really like. It is one that I never tire of looking at. This painting is by the child prodigy Akiane and was painted by her at the age of 11. She entitled it “Divine Knowledge.” Akiane’s description of the painting is very good, although different than my own personal interpretation. The painting is of a young sculptor who is in his early to mid teens, probably around 16 or 17 years old. Although the boy is holding a chisel in his hand and is sculpting, it reminds me of the young Jesus, during the in between years. We know Jesus as a baby, as a young boy in the temple, and as a man with a mission. But we don’t know a lot about Jesus between the ages of 12 and 33, other than that he was the son of a carpenter and a carpenter himself.  A lot of the pictures of Jesus that I have seen usually portray his divinity in some form, whether it is a shiny face or a halo above the head. This picture reminds me of Jesus as a man. Young, strong, and determined; living as any other man would have in that time. He had to work hard, just like everyone else. He wasn’t just some dreamy man that walked around with kingly look, but an ordinary man in an ordinary town. This painting got me thinking about Jesus during the “in between” years. He had to wait until the time was right to start his ministry. We all have waiting periods in our lives, and none of us like those periods a whole lot (at least, not that I know of). We all want to be out there, living out our vision, not here waiting. But even Jesus had a period of waiting before he could start his ministry. Whatever God has called us to do, we all have a period of waiting. Why did Jesus have to wait? I mean seriously! He’s God’s son and already knows everything. I can understand us having a waiting period of growth, etc. What growth could Jesus have? He had a period of waiting, none the less. A period of working and communion with

His Father. So in our periods of waiting, we should also be working wherever God has placed us (not necessarily at a job or career) and drawing closer to our Heavenly Father. Akiane’s title “Divine Knowledge” is fitting, because God has divine knowledge and we should trust Him.

To view the painting that I have been speaking of, go to http://artakiane.com/gallery.html and scroll down to Age 11.

The painting is 5 over from the left of the screen in the second row. It is titled

“Divine Knowledge.”



I was packing my 8 year old brother’s bag the other day, like I often do when he is going with my parents on a trip. But this particular evening as I was packing his bags it dawned on me that one day very soon I will be packing his bags so he can fly all the way across the world, away from me. I’ve always packed his bags with very little thought, knowing in that a couple of day or weeks, he’d be coming back. But I suddenly realized that the time was fast approaching when I would be packing his bags not knowing when I will see him again. It could be 6 months, a year, or more. I’ve never been away from my parents for more than 3 weeks at a time, much less my little brother. I told myself when my brother was born, that I would do my best not to leave him to grow up like an only child…that I would try to stick around for as long as possible. Little did I imagine that he would be the one leaving. God knows I would follow if I could.

I think one of my greatest fears is finally coming true. My family has always been my security blanket, the only one I’ve ever really had. My entire life one of my greatest fears has been to be separated from my family. I’m not being separated completely, as my brothers will still be with/near me. Thanks be to God! The truth is, though, that mom is my most valued counselor and a true friend. And I am very much Daddy’s little girl. And Bobby…well, I simply can’t imagine life without him. I don’t know what I’ll do with him gone. Thankfully, God is the one person in my life that I will NEVER have to say “goodbye” to.

But God is good and He has a plan. I look to Him and put my trust in Him. It is, after all, His story. I only hope that, by His grace, I can set aside my self, putting to death my selfish desires, and bring Glory to Him. He is Holy, set-apart. May He be Glorified in everything.

Strength and Determination

We should have our spiritual swords drawn and stand  ready for what ever may come our way.

I have been reading in Isaiah 11 this week and I noticed that verse 2 talks about how God’s Spirit rested on the shoot from the stem of Jesse (Jesus). The verse went on to talk about what characteristics Jesus has and I wanted to take a closer look at them, because we are to be imitators of Christ, so these should be our characteristics as well. The one that really struck me was that Jesus had the spirit of strength. The notes in my bible pointed me to 2 Timothy 1:7 which says “for God has not given us the spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” Another word given in my notes for timidity was cowardice. This indicates that we are not to be cowardly, but rather strong. We are to have a spirit of power and love. Another word given for discipline was sound judgment, so we are also to have sound judgment or discipline. This verse reminded me of Luke 10:19 and James 4:7

Luke 10:19 says “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on Serpents and Scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” This again tells us that we need not fear, but should stand strong. And James 4:7 tells that when we resist the devil, he will flee from us. Resisting the devil does not indicate timidity. Ephesians 4:27 tells us not to give the devil an opportunity in our lives, and Ephesians 6:11 tells us to put on the full armor of God so that we can stand firm against the devil. These verses are telling us to prepare for battle, not draw back in cowardice. All these verse tell us to be strong warriors of the faith and not cowards, and yet Christianity today is very weak and cowardly. We want salvation and to follow God’s call while it remains comfortable, but there are very few who are willing to have a spirit of strength and power. Most of us are cowards.

As Samuel Rutherford said,

“There are some who would have Jesus cheap. They would have Him without the cross. But the price will not come down.”

My friends, remember “you cannot stay where you are and go with God.” Let us adopt a spirit of power and strength, not cowardice. Let us have a good backbone, wills of steel, determination no matter the cost. For there will be a cost.

“Men of prayer must be men of steel, for they will be assaulted by Satan even before they attempt to assault his kingdom.” ~ Leonard Ravenhill

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, and I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.  Remember the word I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.” John 15:18-20

As many of my friends and family know, I find great enjoyment in children. A soft kiss on the cheek, a loud squeal of delight, the quick embrace of a child, a long cuddle before bed, the creative stories they tell, the animated account of their latest field trip, their not-so-funny jokes that throw them into fits of laughter, and their all around contagious delight in everything all throws me into raptures. Once again, the children in my life have not failed me. There is another lesson being taught to me by them. And I am here to share this lesson with you. I am so grateful that God has given me such love for children, and the ability to interact with them with such careless freedom. It is only by His gifting that I have room in my heart for them. And I know that my life would be so different without them. So, once again, bear with me.

Because of my interaction with children, as a baby-sitter and as a friend (and yes, I consider myself friends with babies and young children), I have been learning a lot about life, parenting, sin, joy, patience, and homeschooling. I have interacted with children from public, private, and home schools and have had opportunity to notice the differences in them. I also have had opportunity to observe the different parenting styles and seen the affects of those, as well as observed the different personalities different children have. I won’t go into my observation between the different schooling and parenting choices, but I will tell you what I have been learning about homeschooling…from children.

Before I do, I would just like to say that I have always enjoyed being homeschooled. I have always thought that I would homeschool should the Lord give me children of my own. However, I had never really given homeschooling a whole lot of thought other than “yes, I will also homeschool.” I have had the opportunity over the last year to help tutor children from two different familes; my own, and another homeschooling family. I have learned so much from these opportunities.

Because I work every morning, I have not had a whole lot of opportunity to help my Mother homeschool my brother. But there was a period of time when I had several mornings in a row off of work, and I was able to be involved with his homeschool. I really enjoyed those mornings helping my Mother teach my brother. Bobby is a lot like Danny was, always moving and wiggling. Daniel was pulled out of school because of some learning disabilities that the school in Asia was not equipped to handle, and I really don’t think Bobby would do well in a public school either. It is so great to be able to work with him and not force him to sit in a class room for hours on end.

My other experience with tutoring has taught me so much. Sitting there with the two other kids helping them with their home work has been such a joy for me. It has been a great opportunity to observe how another family other than my own “homeschool.” I just love the creativity I see coming out of these kids. The older one is able to read and write, etc. and the younger one is learning to read and count. One day I brought some games to play with them (when they’re not doing school) as a change of routine, and I was surprised and pleased to see how it became a great “school” lesson for them. The game included dice, so they both had to count the numbers, and it was a great counting tool for the younger child. It’s awesome when you can take a game and turn it into “school,”  sometimes without their knowledge I play games with these boys, and one of the boys likes to write reports and stories to go with the games. I was reading his latest report recently and thought “Wow, this is awesome! He doesn’t even need a creative writing assignment. He already does it on his own!”

Seeing the creativity oozing out of these three boys, along with having my eyes opened about how you can “homeschool” has really taken my excitement for homeschooling to a completely different level. I’ve always known in my head the things I’ve been learning through experience, but experience teaches in such a different way than head knowledge. I think I have now made Homeschooling my own, in that it is no longer just a way to teach your kids. It is a legacy to be passed on, a lifestyle to live. It is something to be excited about, not just part of your routine.  I think sometimes us Homeschoolers can base our decision to homeschool on the fact that our parents homeschooled, just like we Christians sometimes assume that we’re Christians just because our parents are Christians. Or maybe we decide not to homeschool our kids, because we haven’t caught the vision of what homeschooling could really be. I think we need to take homeschooling and make it our own. We need to really think about what homeschooling has meant to us, and what are some things we would like to do with our kids. What are the things we enjoyed about homeschooling, and what did we not enjoy? Don’t base your decision on homeschooling off of your parents, but off of your own experiences and calling. It excites me to think of a unified family working and learning together. What excites you? So all you Homeschool Grads out there, allow me to challenge you to make homeschooling your own.

I am a Columbus baby.  I was born on October 12 1989 and have always been proud of  being a Columbus baby.  So today I turned 20.  It’s funny, you know, how people look at ages. Everyone gets excited about 13 because you’re now a teenager. At 16 you’re old enough to drive a car, and for most families, to date.  At 18 you get the privalge to vote among other things. I found being 18 and 19 to be interesting ages to be at. You were considered to be both and adult and a teenager. Talk about confusion! So was I an adult or a teen? I was both? Okaay.  Now that I’m 20 the big thing is that I’m not a teenager anymore. 21 I’ll get more privaleges (or are they?). The funny thing is, each year that I hit I still feel the same way. It’s not like I miraculously change.  Seriously, if I’m not ready to drive a car on October 11, 2005 what is going to make me ready to drive a car on October 12, 2005? I have a hard time seeing why age is such a big deal. I should stop rambling now for all you people who aren’t reading this anyway.

I was talking to a very lovely person about youth and the apathy they have in their relationships with Jesus Chrsit the other day, and it got me started thinking on it. I told her that I think a lot of the apathy that comes from youth is that they don’t realize that worth of Jesus. If you give a diamond ring to someone who does not realize the worth of diamonds, they’re not going to care a whole lot about it. They might see that it’s shiny and put it where they can see it, but not actually think about it much after that. Whereas someone who is aware of its worth will take care of it and will be thinking of it constantly. Today’s youth are like those who don’t realize the worth of the diamond ring. They think Jesus is nice, so they put him where they can get to him easy when they want or need to, but they don’t take care of their relationship with Him. They don’t try to develop it. Those of us who realize Christ’s worth take care of our relationship with Him.

Then there are those of us who know how much diamonds are worth, but really don’t care a whole lot about them. I mean, seriously, I would be just as happy with a jade ring as a diamond ring. We know how much Jesus is worth, but we don’t have a great amount of personal interst in Him. We know we need Him, but we don’t like to take the time to take care of our relationship with Him. We have too much to do.

Anyhow…this allegory of mine may or may not work, but I decdided to share it anyway. I mean, why not eh?

5 years ago, I learned something. I learned that my family is not invincible. Sometimes the loss of a loved one does not always mean a death. Sometimes that person you love is very much alive, but you lose someone to something other than death. 5 years ago I lost my sister, and I learned that my family is not invincible as I had always believed.  This lesson has left its scar on me  and I have clung to my family all the harder for it. I will be forced to be separated from my parents and little brother in a while, and it pains me to think of it. But God is good, and His plans are greater than my own.  Perhaps it is good, for it may be that I have not yet learned to cling to God and not my family. Maybe there is a reason I am learning that people and families aren’t invincible…not even Christian families. To God be the glory.

This video is so full of urgency, passion, and determination. I want to speak with such passion, to live with such determination, and to act with such urgency. I hope to live out C.T. Studd’s words “Some want to live within sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”

Hope for the hopeless

I was reading in Isaiah yesterday for my Bible Study, and I came across a passage that really encouraged me. It reminded me that our God is both good and merciful. While he was warning Ahaz of the role Assyria would be playing in Israel’s future, and telling him of the disaster that would befall on Israel, he also gave them hope. But not only did He give Israel hope, but he gave the entire world hope. All of fallen man now has unlimited access to Creator God through His Son, and God is continually reaching out to the lost of this world.  When I read this passage, I was immediately reminded of the millions of men, woman, and children in slavery around the world today. Did you know that there are more people in slavery today than in any other time in history? Men, Woman, and Children around the world have been captured or sold into slavery and are living in darkness today with little hope to keep them going. I have often found myself discouraged wondering how I can help the little girl who’s Daddy (the very man God put into her life to protect and guide her) sold her to be a sex slave at the age of 6 so that he could take care of the rest of the family. How do I help the little boy who works all day in forced labor to pay off a debt his father left? Whose hands are raw and bleeding, and never gets his 15 minute break and goes without lunch or dinner most days.  And the young man who was forced as a little boy to become a soldier in Africa and is now scarred by the battles in more than one way? The truth is, I can’t do anything for them. But God can.

The People who walk in darkness will see a great light;

Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.

You shall multiply the nation, you shall increase their gladness;

They will be glad in Your presence as with the gladness of harvest,

as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.

For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, and cloak rolled in blood,

will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father; Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Confuse, O Lord, divide their tongues,
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰Day and night they go around her upon her walls,
And iniquity and mischief are in her midst.
¹¹Destruction is in her midst;
Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets.

This verse was shared with us by one of the missionaries in Watts. He talked about how David was inspired to write this about his city, and how today, thousands of years later, it describes Watts as well. I would like to thank all of you for your prayers this last week while I was down in Watts with World Impact. When my team went down there, we weren’t quite sure exactly what we were going to be doing, because we didn’t get the schedule until the day before. To sum it up quickly, we did a lot of maintenance and fixing up at the Watts World Impact center, spent some time in Skid Row, and helped with their Kid’s Club.

4 out of the 5 cars that we left Lemoore with arrived in Watts at around 2 PM. We lost a car along the way to a flat tire, so they didn’t arrive until around 4. We spent the majority of our time at World Impact doing yard work, cleaning, fixing things (garage doors, lights, air conditioners, dryers, sound systems, etc) organizing rooms, and other miscellaneous things like painting and setting up coat racks and blinds. At the Watts center they have several “interns” who either come for the summer or for a year who work in the community. The also have missionaries who live in the community, so the guys did a lot of yard work for the missionary couple there (Glen and Sharon). They really needed us to do this work that they really didn’t have the time to do themselves, because they are out in the community reaching out and making disciples. As a MK, I had no problem seeing the importance of the work we were doing there. I know that helping the missionaries in a way that frees them up to do their work is just as important as sharing the gospel with some one. We were only there for four days and couldn’t establish lasting relationships in the same way that they can as full time missionaries. We aren’t called to go out and get “converts” and then just leave. We’ve been called to make disciples. Our work in Watts gave the missionaries more time to do that.

Along with our “projects” we were privileged to help with their “Kid’s Club” that the interns run. On Tuesday we also spent some time in Skid Row, the area of town where the majority of homeless people are.

I’m going to tell you about skid row first. When we went to skid row we were split up into five groups of 5 (roughly). We had a paper with a list of activities we could do. My group chose 3 of the activities. Our first was to visit the Union Rescue Mission. Our second activity was to take an extra lunch and sit down with a homeless person and share lunch with them. And the third was to go to the flower district, buy a flower and give it to a homeless woman. We all got a late start on heading to Skid Row, so we didn’t end up having a lot of time there. We took the metro, and that took a while. Our first priority was the Rescue mission, and by the time we got there one of the guys in my group was really hungry. Since everyone else seemed eager to see the Rescue Mission, and it wasn’t all that important to me, I stayed outside with him and we found a homeless guy to eat with. We had to team up in twos to share our lunch, because we didn’t want anyone out by themselves. The man we ate lunch with had just had his 62nd birthday. His name was Isaac, and he seemed to be quite familiar with the Bible. John (the guy I was with) and I had a hard time catching everything Isaac said, but we got the idea that he’d had a rough life (surprise!). He was raised in Texas and had been married at some point. He was on parole and does not have contact with his family and is very lonely. He was a very interesting guy who seemed really nice, but obviously liked to pick fights. One minute he would be waving at everyone and smiling, and the next minute he would be yelling.  He pointed at all the missions surrounding us and told John and I that Watts “doesn’t need food.” It “needs spiritual food.” John and I didn’t share the gospel with him. We just listened and I got the idea that although Isaac is very familiar with the Bible and its content (he even made a reference to the character of Sarah when he heard my name), he does not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He was making bible references one minute and cussing, drinking, and staring at passing girls the next. He told us that he cries sometimes because he is alone and his friends on the street ask him why he is crying. He said that everyone needs someone to love them besides God. I’ve been praying for Isaac since I met him, and I’d appreciate your prayers for him too. I wanted to do more for him. It’s never to late, even at 62 and I believe that he’d have an amazing ministry if he gave his life over to Christ, because he knows so many of the people on the street.

Another part of the trip that I really enjoyed and learned from was helping with the Kid’s club. Tuesday afternoon they had “Kids club” which was a little like VBS. They had three stations; crafts, games, and bible. I went to the World Impact interns before it was time for club to see if they needed help setting up, so I was put in charge of the crafts. At first I kind of thought I was just setting up the crafts, but then I realized that Peter (the intern in charge) had assigned me as the craft teacher. I really had a fun time doing that, although I couldn’t keep track of all the names that came through the room. I got to play with the kids a little bit before club began, so I knew that I should know some of the kids names, but I didn’t remember them. Wednesday night they had Bible club during the adult meeting for the kids. They didn’t have as many kids, so Peter and Ross (the interns) said they didn’t need help. But one of the girls (Katie) and I ended up helping out anyways, because of some problem kids that they had. We really enjoyed that, and then after club was over we played with the kids again. There were these two adorable little girls who had the whole team laughing. There names were Lanora and Uriah, and they were cousins. They danced for us, and they were really good. Lanora has a ton of personality and she announced right off that she “don’t like white people.” One of the girls on our team (Merideth) announced that she wasn’t white, she was Mexican. Lanora’s response: “I don’t like Mexicans.” She made an exceptions for white folks though. She like Lauren (a girl from our team) and she “loved” Peter. She said she didn’t really like Ross though. I told her I wasn’t Mexican and she looked at me and said “You is Mexican!” She told our Pastor that he wasn’t white…he was pink (it wasn’t said as a compliment either). Lauren, Lanora informed us, was a pretty pink. Someone asked her if she listened to Beyonce and she said “How do ya’ll know ’bout black folks music!?!” She informed us that L’l Wayne is her boyfriend and Chris Brown is her brother. Anyway, after Bible club on Wednesday night, Katie and I got to play with Lanora and Uryah for a while. We helped Peter take the girls home, so we got to see what their neighborhood looks like. They were really fun girls. They were having Kids Club again on Thursday, but we were supposed to be gone by then. We didn’t end of leaving until later, so we got to help for a part of Kids Club. Before Kid’s Club started, we got to play with the kids again. I asked Lanora if I was still Mexican and she looked at me funny like and said “No, you ain’t Mexican.” When we left Lonora and Uriah threw themselves on Lauren and I and wouldn’t let go. Uriah’s birthday was on Sunday (we left Thursday), so she asked me if we were going to be there on Sunday. I felt bad telling her that we wouldn’t be coming back. I wanted so bad to promise to come back and see her someday, but I knew I couldn’t promise that.

For those of you Thailand folk, the Watts center reminded me a lot of the Mekong Center in Chiang Mai. I felt like I was at home and I belonged there. Leaving Watts felt like leaving home. The entire time we were at the center, I almost felt like I’d gone back to Thailand in a way. I was very sad to leave.

I’m praying about going back to Watts as a summer intern next year, so I’d appreciate it if ya’ll would pray with me.