Ryan + Amanda + Sophia + Samuel = Bush
After 18 days of on dutyness we are excited about a day off!! Being on duty means to be available basically 24 hours a day. So, that translates into 480 hours on duty!! Too bad we don’t get paid by the hour!!
We’ll go off for our four day weekend on Monday. It will be, as Caitlin used to say, “like sweet honey butter biscuits from church’s” . . . or something like that.
I (ryan) will be traveling to Peru September 8th. Along with two Dave H. and Marty M. from Geyer Springs, we’ll be assessing the damage caused by the recent earthquake in the villages that Geyer Springs has adopted.
Needless to say I’m very excited about this opportunity. Amanda is excited for me, but sad that she is not able to go.
It’s strange. We’ve spent half our married life in Peru. We had Sophia there. I guess we have some roots there . . . and we miss it.
God is good. He put us in Peru and now he has put us here at the Promise House. And he has been faithful to give us what we need, namely, himself.
Here at the Promise House we have a verse of the week. The girls memorize it and we try to incorporate it into devotions and things we do throughout the week.
The girls each got a index card Monday morning that said:
Dear Resident’s Name,
Trust in me with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge me, and I will make your paths straight.
Love, Jesus
Can you guess the verse?
My whole life in one sense, has been an experiment in how to be a portable sanctuary — learning to practice the presence of God in the midst of the stresses and strains of contemporary life. Some people who read my books are surprised that I have never been drawn to a monastic life, as important and valuable as that way of life is. For me, the great challenge has always been to experience the reality of God in the midst of going to work and raising kids and cleaning house and paying the bills.
- Richard Foster, Prayers from the Heart. p. xi.
That’s pretty much what I want my life to be. A continual practice of the presence of God. Nothing fancy. Nothing spiritual. Just life the way it was intended to live. Dang, I’m terrible at it! Thankfully, Jesus is very patient with me.
Today was my first day of class. I’m taking 3 classes this semester. Two online and one at the Baptist building (an extension of SouthWestern). The class at the Baptist building started today. It is New Testament Greek I. I haven’t formally studied Greek since my sophmore year at OBU. That was 8 years ago!!! There is a prerequisite to this class that I haven’t taken, but I talked the registrar into letting me take it because I have studied Greek before . . . . (drop of sweat).
Thankfully, I was inspired by Dr. Sills to study Greek so I have studied a bit the last six months. I led a group of Southern seminary students on a trip to Cuzco last fall. Over the Peruvian cuisine each night I was convinced that Greek would be a great thing to know. I’m glad I now have the chance to study it with some accountability.
These little guys have survived over 4 months at the Promise House!!! That’s pretty amazing. They are now on their fourth owner . . . which just so happens to be me. I actually need to rename them . . . because their original names have been lost. So, let me know if you’ve got any suggestions!
Sophie loves the water. So, she loves taking baths. I’ll wash her hair and stinky booty at the first and then just let her play for a while. I’ll read stories to her while she plays. For a while, she was on the verge of starting a bad habit . . . going #2 in the tub. Not a fun mess to clean up. Happily, she hasn’t done it in weeks!
Jesus lived in this broken, painful world, learning obedience, through the things that he suffered, tempted in all the ways we are, and yet remaining without sin. We are, to be sure, reconciled by God by Jesus’ death, but even more, we are “saved” by his life (Rom. 5.10) — saved in the sense of entering into his eternal kind of life, not just in some distant heaven but right now in the midst of our broken and sorrowful world. When we carefully consider how Jesus lived while among us in the flesh, we learn how we are to live — truly live – empowered by him who is with us always even to the end of the age. We then begin an intentional imitation of Christ, not in some slavish or literal fashion, but by catching the spirit and power in which he lived and by learning to walk in his steps.
- Richard Foster, Streams of Living Water. Pg. 1.
Amanda and Sophia went to the Wonder Place with a group of moms and kids last week. This place is awesome! After seeing the pictures, I wanted to go there and play! Here’s the website.
You can see a few more photos of Sophia at the Wonder Place at our flickr.
Marty Mote, Dave Hughey and I traveled to Peru on September 8th in response to the earthquake that shook southern Peru on August 15, . Our plan was to spend a few days in the mountain villages of the Andes that Geyer Springs FBC had been working in over the past 4 years to assess damage. Also, we hoped to visit the hardest hit coastal towns of Ica and Pisco. Below are some pictures that I took and excerpts from the notebook I scribbled in throughout the week.
09 Sept 07 :: 9:00 pm
Day 1 / Huaytara
We awoke this morning and had breakfast at Hotel Santa Cruz where we stayed the night. It feels so strange to be back in Peru. Almost surreal. I guess I didn’t realize how much I loved being here. It feels like coming back to your childhood home after being gone for a long time. Everything I see brings back a memory.
We picked up a few boxes of supplies at the IMB command center in Lima that we will deliver at the end of the week to the missionaries at base camp in Ica.
Chinca was the first town we came to today that was really affected. We could tell that a lot of work had been done, but the streets were lined with huge piles of mud bricks, broken pieces of wood and trash.
We made good time to Huaytara, so we were there well before sundown. This gave us plenty of time to ask around about damage. A local pastor took us to his church to show us the damages there. The movement of the ground had caused huge cracks in the walls. So much so that I could see sunlight coming through the cracks.
Damage seems fairly minimal here. There is some structural damage, but nothing like the coastal towns.
We finished the night by teaching “I’ve Got the Joy” to a 12 year old girl named Lisbet who runs the hostal we are staying in.
Lisbet
Sophia loves this thing. She’ll push it all over the place. She does, however, have some trouble going in a straight line. Also, it seems to need some new brake pads! Here’s some live footage.
Samuel is busy today hanging out with his mom, making dirty diapers, and drinking milk.
He seems to like the outside world. He is, however, a little tired after the LONG day yesterday.
It’s amazing to see, after so many months, what God has been knitting together.
I am, O God, a jumbled mass of motives.
One moment I am adoring you, and the next I am shaking my fist at you.
I vacillate between mounting hope, and deepening despair.
I am full of faith and full of doubt.
I want the best for others and am jealous when they get it.
Even so, God, I will not run from your presence. Nor will I pretend to be what I am not. Thank you for accepting me with all my contradictions.Amen.
- Richard Foster, Prayers of the Heart. p. 4.
After a long, emotional day of trying to dilate while at the same time trying to keep the baby’s heart rate normal the new mom is undergoing a c-section. Our supervisor called us a few moments ago asking us to pray that the procedure would go well.
Understandably, she is very upset after such a long day. She had sincerely hoped that she would be able to give birth naturally.
If you want to understand Christ’s words and relish them fully, you must strive to conform your entire life to His. What good does it do you to be able to give a learned discourse on the Trinity, while you are without humility and, thus, are displeasing to the Trinity? Esoteric words neither make us holy nor righteous; only a virtuous life makes us beloved of God. I would rather experience repentance in my soul than know how to define.
-Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ. Book 1, Ch. 1
It’s pretty hard to roll out of bed most mornings. But, when you’ve got something this adorable waiting on you, it’s a lot easier. We got a pretty big kick out of this one. Sophie managed to get one arm out of her PJs sometime during the night. This is what we saw when we went to get her out of her crib.
One of our girls is scheduled to be induced at 7am tomorrow morning. That’s just 10 hours away . . . and she’s pretty nervous. Tonight we had her graduation. That’s when we celebrate the coming of the new kiddo and congratulate mom for making it at the Promise House. They also get lots of presents!
Hopefully I’ll be able to post a few pictures of the new kiddo sometime tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.
Things continue to move forward here at the Promise House. The girls are now back in school. One of our girls is scheduled to be induced tomorrow morning. Another is dilated to a 2.
Sophia has been a little sick the past couple of days. It seems like every time she goes to the doctor for a scheduled check up she comes home with something.
I have begun three seminary classes. Two at SouthWestern extension here in Little Rock, and one via internet from Southern. I’m excited about studying again. I’m taking Applied Ministry, NT Greek I, and Introduccion al Nuevo Testamento I.
If we were as diligent in uprooting vices and planting virtues as we are in debating abstruse questions, there would not be so many evils or scandals among us . . . Certainly, when Judgment Day comes we shall not be asked what books we have read, but what deeds we have done; we shall not be asked how well we have debated, but how devoutly we have lived.
-Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ. Book 1, Ch. 3.
Today is the girls’ first day of school. We’ve only four girls in the house at the moment. Two are unable to attend school because they are so close to their due date. There is a inducement scheduled for this Thursday morning at 7:00. I’ll keep you updated on that.
But, I’ve got to tell you that we are very excited about school starting. Now I understand why my parents were always excited about it. Praise the Lord for school!!!
School is also starting for me (Ryan) too. I’m taking a couple of seminary classes long distance style this fall.
Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation. He mourns that we do not draw near to him. He grieves that we have forgotten him. He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence.
And he is inviting you - and me - to come home, to come home to where we belong, to come home to that for which we were created. His arms are stretched out wide to receive us. His heart is enlarged to take us in.
The IMB investigation team has returned to Lima after spending several days in the most affected areas. Here is Debbie Brinkley’s report:
God is always faithful but there are occasions when His faithfulness slips over into miraculous. These last 48 hours have been one of those times.
The amazing interventions began shortly after the 7.9 Richter scale earthquake that occurred on Wednesday evening, August, 15, 2007. On Thursday morning, we made plans to travel to the area of southern Peru that was hardest hit by the earthquake in order to do an evaluation of the needs and how we could be most effective in providing disaster relief. We didn’t want to show up empty handed when we knew people would have desperate needs so . . . click here to keep reading.
Sometimes obedience downright hurts. Sometimes obedience doesn’t have a happy ending. Jesus wants us to obey him because we love him and because he is our God. Yet, I sometimes find myself agreeing to obey reassuring myself that God must have a big prize in store for me.
I lived on three acres growing up. Mowing the lawn was a constant battle starting in April every year. I remember the first time I mowed the whole 2.5 acre field by myself. As I sat daydreaming, somehow it occurred to me that surely I was going to be greatly rewarded for doing this. I was convinced that my parents were, at that moment, planning my reward. By the end of the three hour job I had myself convinced that a wonderful prize awaited me inside.
When I finished, I parked the mower and bounded inside. As I entered the kitchen through the back door, I eagerly looked around for my prize. I checked the counters. I looked at my parents faces expecting to see a warm glow of pride toward their incredibly helpful son. Nothing. There wasn’t anything. No prize. No “Wow! You mowed the lawn! Great job son!”. Nothing. Then it occurred to me: I’m supposed to mow the lawn out of obedience. It’s not about what I can get. It’s about fulfilling my duty as my Father’s son. And there was satisfaction in that.
Obedience. Sometimes, that’s the only thing that keeps us where we are. Jesus put us here. We are just fulfilling our duty as our Father’s children. And we are learning to be satisfied in him alone.
Sophia got a surprise visit from her Grandparents from Lamar. Grandma had her belly laughing with some fake sneezes.
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