Evendays

I’d never met Nadine outside of her home. She was a member of the Geneva church and we went to sing at her place 2 or 3 times. D. and B. went often for a visit. R. and L. would take her to the park in her wheelchair, giving her fresh air, dropping off the cassettes of sermons, praying with her, giving her husband a break from the constant care.

When I was a kid, these older members were called “shut-ins”. I can remember taking communion to Sister Rice on a hot Sunday afternoon, or Dad and Mom visiting another lady that lived in nearby Clovis.

We sang praises to God one last time today in honor of Nadine. She died last Thursday. D. and R. spoke of her faith, a faith carefully nurtured by the Spirit of God, the Bible and communion with the Saints.

Do “brothers and sisters” still visit shut-ins? Is there still a “ministry” that remembers them, making sure they get the both kinds of communion with the Body of Christ? I’m sure there is, and may God deeply bless those who do it.

There’s this boy who’s just turned 13 who is as sweet as can be, at least when he’s around us. His parents don’t get along (a big understatement) and divorce papers have been filed. Mental problems. Spiritual problems. Several months ago they asked us to keep the boy rather than put him in foster care. Our family voted “for”. I was the last to be convinced.

Recently, the mom called, in dire straits, asking us to keep the boy for 4 days before his summer camp. She’d had enough of him. We said sure and I picked him up.

In less than 72 hours, we became the mom’s enemies. On day 3 she picked up her boy and told us (with several Bible verses thrown in) that there would be no more contact. That we were hypocrites. Nothing but a sham.

And as a parting shot, if we wanted payment for keeping her boy, just send her the bill by mail.

So we’ve kind’ve been moping around the last couple of days, wondering how it could have been done differently, how we should have responded. And, of course, we continue praying for the boy’s family.

We have 8 Harding University students with us and they will be staying until Wednesday evening. Their professor, Dr. Robert McCready, has been taking them about Europe the last few weeks and they’ll be in France till the end of the month.

This morning, two minutes after their arrival, they went to Daughter’s English class and took the place by storm! Daughter’s classmates got to do one-on-one interviews with the Americans and did they ever make a lot of noise. Daughter’s teacher was very happy to welcome the group. So much good communication taking place!

Afterwards, the group had a great lunch (prepared by Wife) and hit the streets stuffing mailboxes (legal here) about the websites we’ve set up which host short articles about “looking for God”.

Tomorrow, a group of us will be at the nearby Protestant Reformed church for their morning prayers, then 5 or 6 of the old ladies from the neighborhood will come over for tea with the group of young people. Son 2 and Daughter have invited the group to lead the High School sack-lunch Bible study, before we head to the nearby rest home for an afternoon of singing and contact.

Come join us.

I’ve spent at least 2 work days getting a flyer ready for our short Geneva campaign in June. Dr. Robert McCready will be in Switzerland with a small group of Harding University students, all of whom study French. They’re here to help small churches in Switzerland, France and Belgium.

About 18,000 of the flyers will end up in people’s mailboxes in the neighborhood where the church meets. There’s an evangelism committee which prepares logistics and such, and we usually get a good turnout from the folks from church. Most visitors are friends we have invited, but we always meet 10 or so new people from the neighborhood. Others sign up for Bible courses or just ask for a free Bible.

It takes a lot of work, but last year we met a family from the neighborhood and they were converted. They have a Bible study at their place now and some friends come with their questions, looking for answers, reading the Bible together.

Our conference is entitled: “Me, I want to… believe… hope… love.” I’ll also be preparing a web site for the conferences, along with two pages of “studies” that readers can consult.

 

We host a meal about twice a month, where people can come to the house, eat Wife’s good cooking and practice their English afterwards when I lead a discussion on a Bible text. Normally, it’s just our family with one or two people from church and a couple of visitors. The discussion lasts an hour, but participants habitually stay for a tea and “biscuits”. Although we’ve been doing this for 15 years, it hasn’t been a very successful program. It hasn’t grown and, to tell the truth, there’s about an evening a year when no one comes.

Confession: I tend to judge our home meetings, Bible studies (catechism), even Sunday worship times and LKT meetings as rather insignificant. Yet I know the people who come are significant. L. comes from the next town over. She’s totaled her cars three times in the last 4 years. She traveled by bus-train-bus last night and brought me a book published in 1845… A. has come since the beginning. She was one of my first students in the language school where I used to teach… H. attends, always bringing something to eat… M., a Muslim, came for years, but her job and grandchildren make it hard now…

Last night we were thirteen. S., J., and a neighbor who came for the first time were present. We spent an hour on 1 Corinthians 13… Reminding me, of course, love sees no individual, or event, as insignificant.

I got to talk to "Mary" yesterday and things are not good. She is now in a mental hospital and heavily drugged. When we talked she said she was very tired and didn’t want anyone to do anything for her.

Thank you for keeping her in your prayers. This is a tough one. We have been praying so much that her voice go away. And now she’s worse off than ever.

Haylina, one of your sisters from Marseilles, is in a hospital bed dieing from cancer. She has a boy who is 16 and another who is about 9. Their father is violent and has never taken care of them, so the Marseilles church has stepped in. They are caring for the boys now, and after, they will do all they can to “adopt” them so they aren’t split up. They will also be able to continue living with their spiritual family.

Even though we hate sickness and death, once again they bring out the best in God’s people and become opportunities for displaying grace and compassion.

Mary* became a Christian about 3 years ago. She moved to another part of Switzerland last year and I encouraged her to dedicate herself to a local church in that part of the country (where there are no churches of Christ). She found a charismatic group not too far away and has been attending there ever since. We study the Bible by phone once a week, working through portions of the New Testament.

Mary hears a voice. It’s quite destructive, has led her to eating problems, lack of self-worth and much grief. She once asked me if I thought the voice was demoniac in nature. I told her I didn’t know, but would pray with and for her.

The voice continued after she became a Christian. She sought help from the local pastor and he assured her of what I couldn’t, that is, the voice is demon-inspired. She has asked for healing… The pastor there has prayed for her.

Recently, an acquaintance had a dream about Mary’s voice, and through this situation Mary was advised to attend an African Pentecostal group. Their pastor claimed that Mary had something in her that was destroying her, but that she  couldn’t be healed because her faith wasn’t great enough. (Her local pastor has told her the same thing.)

We talked yesterday. Mary was quite broken up. God has been very active in her life. She has grown, has joy in her life, has made some difficult moral choices, has prayed every day for liberation, but she is not free of the voice and does not understand why. On top of that, she has learned from two of her spiritual guides that her slavery is her own fault (lack of faith) and this has inflicted deep spiritual hurt, doubt and tears.

I know she has at least the faith of a grain of mustard. I think the prayer, “I believe, please help me in my unbelief” is sufficient for God to act. If demon possessed, it is not her lack of faith but that of the exorcist that is called in question.

Mary and I will speak on the phone again tomorrow. Your input… your prayers… would be appreciated. We can discuss this more in the comments section.

*Of course, not the person’s real name.

For some people, the opportunity comes around every day. For me, it happens about twice a year. And when it does, I tremble.

It’s when you tell the story of Jesus and they hear of his death for the first time. And then they read about his resurrection.

No other Jesus-event seems as foreign, as strange or bizarre, as does the resurrection. Many people can handle a virgin birth. A miracle man? It’s a stretch of the imagination, but doable. But a murdered man who comes back to life, tells his friends to touch him and asks them for a bite of fish… This is indeed foreign territory.

When Paul brought it up in Athens, the Greeks slapped their thighs and wandered off. But others… They ponder. They wonder. They ask themselves if perhaps, just maybe, it might be true.

And we watch expectantly. And we pray.

On Friday and Saturday, I spent a little more than 24 hours near Macon, France with about 30 servants from the different assemblies of churches of Christ from France, Belgium and Switzerland. The Bible studies were encouraging and the 3 panels on different challenges facing churches in our part of the world were helpful. The one on the “sexual morals and evangelism” was very, very good. I’ll have to write up a resume of it for you some time.

Sunday morning was spent in prayer. Thanks to each one of you who prayed for the Lausanne church. (If you forgot and still wanted to pray, it’s never too late…) It was a good moment for me as we prayed as a church for sins, the future and about church ministry.

Later, I caught up on the Harry Potter books and I eagerly await his death in the 7th tome. In December I will try to finish every book I started in 2006 but haven’t quite finished. I count at least 5 of them.

Thanks for dropping by.