Sophia and I made it to Crossett on Thursday after an uneventful 3 hour road trip.
Truthfully, I’ve never experienced the death of a close family member. The closest would be my granny, who died at age 95 while we were in Peru.
But, no one that I’ve ever been around on a fairly regular basis and that I was really close to has died. Neither have I been involved in a situation like that. I never really knew Nemi very well, but this family in Crossett is as close as any and for the first time I am seeing on a personal level what such a devastating loss can do to a family.
The Jordan family is absolutely heartbroken. And being here with them has caused my heart to ache for them. They are broken and confused and angry and all the things that go along with a losing someone like this.
But, the amazing thing is that they are turning to Jesus with their pain and sadness and anger. God truly is bringing good from this horrible event. It is making me love him more just to get to witness their response. Imagine that . . . through Nemi’s death I am being drawn closer to Jesus.
And that is really just the tip of the iceberg. People are asking for forgiveness from one another, relationships are being healed, hearts are turning back to Jesus, and hearts are yielding to Jesus for the very first time.
“Jesus, please bring good out of this situation. May you be glorified in this situation” is a prayer that you might pray when something like this happens (I did.) but not really have the slightest idea of how it could come to pass . . . . “the situation is too horrible, no good can come of this” is what the practical side says.
But, 5 days after Nemi died that is exactly what is happening.
There’s a great article in Home Life magazine this week about living space, the lack of living space that is. This family of four starting out in a small trailer home 10 years ago. It wasn’t the plan to live there this long . . . but they still do. Here is an excerpt of what the mom had to say about it.
Sure, I dream of having a larger home where I can entertain and host family holiday gatherings . . . My family and friends continue to drop helpful hints about floor plans or affordable building options. We smile, thank them, and stay with the plan God has for us. When the time comes, we’ll have a new house. In the meantime, we’ll continue to tithe and give to build his kingdom. We will not sacrifice that part of our worship for any house, large or small.
I do not want to someday hear my Lord say, “Sherri, why were you so worried about your house on earth? Didn’t you know I was preparing a mansion for you?” . . .
Jesus talked about an eternal perspective. He talked about living life with a proper view of how short it really is . . . and how long eternity will be. It’s not about what we want. It’s not about comfort or all this stuff we spend so much time and energy on.
It’s a little late . . . later than I had planned to be awake. In just a few hours I’ll be snapping that little ray of sunshine into a car seat and driving to Crossett to join our family in mourning. Christ is our hedge and foundation. He is our very breath. He is our hope, our joy, and our comfort.
Sophia’s got a new friend! His name is Dekari and he is the son of one of our volunteers. Sophia absolutely loves him! She chases him all over the house.
Here are couple more pictures of Nadalie. She’s just a few minutes old in these two photos.
Nadalie and her mom will be with us here at the Promise house for two more days. They will be placed in a foster home closer to family on Thursday.
Loving God, I choose this day to be a servant. I yield my right to command and demand. I give up my need to manage and control. I relinquish all schemes of manipulation and exploitation
For Jesus’ sake,
Amen
Richard Foster, Prayers from the Heart. p. 26.
Amanda left with her mom and rest of her family late last night for Crossett. I spoke with her this morning and she said that everyone was doing ok.
Sophia and I will be joining them in the next couple of days for the funeral. Thank you for your prayers.
Nemi died 15 minutes ago at UAMS. Thank you for your prayers. Please take a moment and ask Jesus to comfort Nemi’s two daughters, her husband, and her parents.
It’s not something that we can really make sense of . . . . because it doesn’t make sense. But Jesus is still Lord. And in our confusion turn to him, our Lord.
There is a picture of Nadalie up on the kiddos page.
Most of you won’t have a clue who this is, but we would appreciate your prayers anyway. Nemi is one of Amanda’s cousins. She is currently in UAMS. She is in very critical condition and, frankly, doesn’t seem like she is going to live much longer.
Please ask Jesus to heal her. Also, pray that her family (especially her husband and two teenage daughters) will turn to Jesus in their confusion, anger, and sadness.
Thanks.
Nadalie arrived at about 9:15pm Sunday nite. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. and is 19 in. long.
I’m a grandpa again!
One of the girls went into labor this morning!
It looks like I’ll be a grandpa again before the day is over. Jennifer said something like 30 family members have shown up at the hospital!!!
I’ll put some pictures up of little Nadalie as soon as I see her.
It’s weird. I really don’t understand why things go like this. I truly do want to follow Jesus and give him every corner of my life. And, there are days when I feel like I’m really close to him and I can see him working in my life and every conversation becomes a prayer and every movement becomes an act of worship.
Then, things change. I don’t feel him. I don’t see him working. Prayer is limited to a forced few minutes a day. Worship becomes an arduous chore.
Why?
Dave H. and I were talking about it. He said the same thing happens to him.
Why would something so satisfying and meaningful (walking with Jesus) get buried under daily routine?? Is walking with Jesus, practicing his presence, supposed to be forced sometimes? I’m really not sure. I don’t want to try to ‘recreate’ times like those just to feel good.
I don’t know . . . . it’s all kind of confusing to me at the moment.
Kevin Shearer is a missionary for the IMB in Lima, Peru. I had the chance to get to know him during our two years there. Here’s an excerpt from his blog . . .
Then I wandered down a narrow alley till I found Judith. Judith is a beautiful 18-year-old (approximately) who just gave birth to an even more beautiful baby girl. “Come see my baby,” she said, excitedly. I stooped and went into the small straw mat hut with dirt floors. Theirs is better than some; they have three rooms. It was warm enough inside (thankfully). There, in the middle of the only bed they own, lay that precious baby. Judith looked up with proud, but pleading eyes. “Please pray for Chris; she has a lung infection and a blood infection.” I did. Chris cried all the way through, sneezing from time to time. I told Judith I would be back. Judith has her own health needs. I know some doctors who plan to help meet them . . .
You can read the whole post here. Kevin plants churches in the ever-expanding city of Lima.
I love the fall. And I’m really excited it’s almost here. We haven’t experienced an Arkansas fall in about three years, so we’re going to make the most of this one!
We took a big blanket out to Pinnacle Mountain and let Sophia run all over this grassy field. Click here to see her in action.
We spent a lot of time in the truck traveling from village to village. At one point I had to get a little fresh air and a change of scenery. So, I hopped in the back of the truck while Dave snaked through the mountains towards Ica.
Driving through the mountains in Peru is quite an experience. I took a few minutes of video from the back of the truck that will give you an idea of the experience. Click here and here to see.
I’m back in the U.S. trying to get caught up on greek homework and watching college football.
It was awesome to get off the plane and see my beautiful wife and daughter waiting on me. I missed them like crazy.
The trip was amazing. I was able to see a lot of friends. I didn’t realize how much I missed that place.
Marty, Dave and I were able to collect a lot of images and information and will hopefully be useful in inspiring people to share their resources with the folks in Peru who have suffered as a result of the earthquake.
I’ve added a page to the blog and put there photos and excerpts from some things I wrote down throughout the week. Just click on the ‘Peru Journal‘ link above.
Marty, Dave, and I arrived back in Lima this afternoon.
The six main villages that Geyer Springs has adopted are in pretty good shape. There is a lot of structural damage, but no one was hurt during the earthquake (except for one boy who broke his arm while running out of his house).
Many of the houses, however, are now uninhabitable according to the government engineers that have made there way through these villages. We came across one village that had a long homemade tent in the plaza where almost a hundred villagers were living.
Downtown Ica was in pretty good shape. We were surprised to find that life seemed to be going on as normal. However, when we went to the neighborhoods of Ica we found street after street of rubble where there once were houses.
On our way back to Lima today we drove into Pisco to check on some friends of Marty. Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw there.
Pisco was the closest major city to the epicenter. It was complete and utter devastation and destruction. I can´t even describe it. It was like a war zone.
I´ll put some pictures up and post more about the week in the next few days.
We fly back to the U.S. tomorrow night.
I’ve always heard Jesus was a carpenter. Most people think that’s a given. I did. But really, the greek text says “artisan”. So, a lot of folks assumed that was a word worker and, in a lot of versions, it is translated as such. But, he was just as likely a stone worker. In fact, Nazareth had a lot more stone workers than carpenters due to the nature of building that was going on during that time period.
Here’s a funny pic of one of our girls having some fun with the tissue paper from all her presents after her graduation.
This can be a very emotional time for our girls. They’ve been saying they want to leave the Promise House for months. And, then, when the time comes they realize that they are going to miss it. They find out that they are sad to leave.
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