“Ridiculously Beautiful”

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I had never heard the word combination “ridiculously beautiful” before but it worked. The other week my wife Patty and I were hiking and reached our destination of a mountain lake with legs aching and hearts pounding. As we contemplated our turn around a family bounded down an unmarked trail. When we asked what was ahead and if it was worth continuing on the father in the family exclaimed with a huge grin that there were a number of hidden lakes, it is “ridiculously beautiful!” He encouraged us to go on, and promised that just beyond the snow and a slight climb the path gets easier and we wouldn’t be disappointed.

Inspired by his words we ventured ahead to encounter one of the most breathtaking hikes ever experienced. My words won’t do it justice so you will just have to come with sometime and then you will understand “ridiculously beautiful!”

As I contemplated the phrase that inspired Patty and I to further our hike I reflected on the powerful use of words to encourage others in their life journey. My thoughts went back to Lesotho Africa and the time at the Good Shepherd Center. Diane, one of our leaders, shared her own life journey with the team and the teen moms in particular. She too was a young single mom facing some impossible mountains trying to raise her daughter on her own. Yet God’s powerful love moved the mountains before her and made a way when it seemed there was none.

Diane’s story broke down walls and the moms opened their hearts to her and she became known as “mom” to the girls at Good Shepherd. Diane ministered to many that week but one teen mom in particular. This young girl shared with Diane her battle of depression and hopelessness and on the very last day wrote a heartfelt letter and thanking Diane specifically for the loving impact of her words.

As I returned to the Good Shepherd Center two weeks later I met and prayed with this young lady and I heard how Diane’s words forever changed the course of her life. Before Diane and our team arrived in Lesotho this teen mom had thought about giving up her baby, even selling the beautiful child because she was so overwhelmed trying to raise this child with such limited resources in a country overtaken by poverty. Yet because of a testimony from another single mom that included many talks, hugs and tears, hope entered the situation. This hope enabled her to keep her child and journey ahead knowing God’s love would not leave her or her child. What a beautiful picture! A teen mom embracing her baby with an infectious smile birthed by hope, yes she could continue on the path ahead, it was “ridiculously beautiful!”

May our Good Father use you today to encourage someone to keep hiking up the mountain into his faithfulness and find Him “ridiculously beautiful!”

And let us consider how we may encourage one another on toward love and good deeds… Hebrew 10:24

The Psalm 73 Answer

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On the morning of July 7th I was reading Psalm 73 and then later in the day I was alerted to the violent eruption in Dallas. Here again was yet another report depicting a world hemorrhaging with pain and violence. I went back to Psalm 73 that evening and thought about the Psalmists honest struggle with the injustice and evil that seemed to flourish while the followers of God floundered,

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, (Psalm 73: 2-3). 

And the more the author thinks about the apparent prevailing of the wicked the more depressed he becomes:

All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning…When I tried to understand all this it was oppressive to me, (Psalm 73:14,16).

Can you identify with this uneasy tension that feels like nausea in the gut? When you reflect on Isis, Paris, Nice, racial unrest, Orlando, religious persecution, our political situation, and on and on, how is your faith? I’ve just returned to the states after spending a month in Africa and I hear about Von Miller, a talented Denver Bronco football player paid 114 million dollars to play 6 years of football while my friends in Lesotho Africa can’t find a job or eat a single meal a day, and I ask myself, “Where is the justice?” Yes, I’m a true blue Bronco fan but it is getting harder for me to swallow as the disparity is beyond extreme.

All that is going on in our shaky world can cause the strongest of faith to shatter just like Asaph, the writer of this song. But praise God for where his search into all of this evil and injustice brings him:

“till I entered the sanctuary of God…,” (Psalm 73:17).

Right there is the Psalm 73 Answer! The answer to the problem of evil and injustice will not be found in a political solution, military action, or more education. It can only be understood in the presence of a Sovereign God. Yes, the world will say that is ignorant and simplistic, but those who have followed the Psalmist into the House of the Lord to turn their eyes to King Jesus who is at the right hand of the Good Father know. They will join in and sing out the truth found in the glorious ending found in Psalm73.

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

 

 

Adoption

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The River Chapel was overflowing with volunteers, Beautiful Gate staff, government workers, house moms, and two families holding two healthy Basotho boys clinging to their new parents for an adoption ceremony. Even though it was a chilly morning in Lesotho Africa, the room heated up quickly as the festive celebration began. The housemothers, those who helped raised these two young boys, began the morning with songs, prayers, and of course dancing. The joy was contagious in the room, as the Beautiful Gate Staff knew these boys were going to godly homes where they would be nurtured and loved for the rest of their lives.

At one point house mom Ma Judith, who helped raise one of the adoptive boys from birth, shared about the blessing he had been to the Beautiful Gate family. It was a bitter sweet moment as she reached out her arms to hug the young child but he held tight to his new parents who he had just spent the week with. How hard it was for Judith to let go but as she turned around she led the ladies in another dance around the room rejoicing that the boy has already adapted to his loving home.

As I write this blog 10 days removed from the adoption ceremony I can still replay the scene in my mind in vivid detail. It truly was a spiritual experience for many reasons. First of all it was a God honoring day for the Beautiful Gate staff whom daily sacrifice to take care of (Matthew 25:40). It was God the Father saying, “well done good and faithful servants.” You could almost hear Heaven cheering in the chapel that day.

Secondly it was a day where a river of love flooded the room with powerful emotions of the Father’s love. As I leaned against a sidewall I watched tears flowing generously from volunteers, staff, and the families that were adopting, as well as several from our own team as we sat as bystanders. This is what happens when “true religion” takes place and God’s Kingdom breaks forth with joy that goes beyond words.

As both parents took pen in hand and signed the official papers making the long and costly adoption final, I pondered what my Abba Father did for me. How as an orphan child separated by my sin, shame, and a sickening spiritual death, he reached out to me through His only Son Jesus and purchased my life through His perfect, costly blood. The words from a song kept going through my mind during this ceremony, “I’m no longer a slave to sin but I am a child of God.”

That Friday morning in Lesotho Africa my soul was once again awakened to my own costly adoption and with great joy I joined in the singing and dancing giving praise to a good, good Father for His perfect love given to me His son.

“In love He predestined us to be adopted as his son through Jesus Christ …to the praise of His glorious grace,” Eph. 1:4-5.

 

1 Thing – “The Place”

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“Where have you experienced Holy Ground?” This is the question asked to each individual on the past three Africa Teams as we have journeyed and served together. I have loved hearing the response by others as they shared their Holy Ground experiences. Allow me to mention a few:

  • Listening to the Besotho people sing, dance and worship.
  • Hearing God speak to them during a sermon.
  • Praying over a deaf street boy and watching God restore his hearing.
  • Sewing, washing, and cooking with teen moms at the Good Shepherd Center.
  • Taking care of orphan children at Beautiful Gate.
  • Watching a double adoption service at Beautiful Gate.
  • Listening to the testimonies of orphan high school students at a retreat with Bountiful Hope Foundation.
  • Looking at the stars in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Gazing at a waterfall in the mountains.
  • Meeting Sister Constance who has worked tirelessly to help orphan high school students.
  • Building a Green House at Good Shepherd Center.
  • Playing soccer in a youth prison.
  • Handing out audio Bibles in villages.

This is just a taste of the Holy Ground encounters experienced by our teams. I wish I had room to share them all.

Each member of the team read Draw the Circle, The 40-DayPrayer Challenge, and Day 39 spurred this question about Holy Ground. In Day 39 author Mark Batterson shares how Jewish scholars used to debate why God would meet Moses in the burning bush. Why not a palace or a pyramid in Egypt? Why such an obscure place?

Here was their conclusion: “to show that no place is devoid of God’s presence, not even a bush on the back side of the desert.” So the scholars gave God a name, The Place. They said, “God is here, there and everywhere,” (p. 217).

For me personally there are several places or pictures where God showed up and I truly experienced Holy Ground. One would be the fact that two students gave their lives to Christ; another would be the powerful healings by the finger of God, also the Father’s glory falling at the orphan high school retreat. I would also add to my list donating Bibles at a women’s prison and I could go on and on.

But there is one scene in particular that symbolized a penetrating picture I will not forget of The Place. As our team was walking back from a hike to an indescribable waterfall we passed through a remote village. It was here that a team member stopped at a dilapidated shack that served as a bar for the local people and handed a young man a solar powered audio Bible in the Sesotho language. As she turned it on for him and he heard the Word read in his language his face lit up with pure joy and others who were just hanging around leaned in to listen as well. The bar became Holy Ground, The Place where Abba Father showed up to share His letter of love, to share hope in a remote village where the mode of transportation was horseback.

Remember no place is devoid of God’s Holy Presence, God is “here, there, and every where.” I pray as we get ready to fly back to the states this team and all the teams will remember that the same God that powerfully showed up in Lesotho Africa is alive and well in their schools, neighborhoods, soccer fields, bars, and where ever their paths may take them.

 

 

 

 

 

1 Thing – Dwelling in His Presence-Africa

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Despite the fact that Tim has traveled to Africa more than twenty times, I am experiencing Lesotho for the second time, however two years in a row. The fact that I was the last to set foot on the soil of Lesotho in our family of five was because Tim and I both felt that experiencing life from a different cultural perspective was important for our kids and so we offered the opportunity to each of them. Apparently our three kids were up for the challenge as each of them was able to travel with Tim to Lesotho, our oldest daughter even studied for a semester in South Africa during college. Our youngest daughter has been to Mexico more times than Tim and I combined and not sure if it counts but our son is currently spending the summer in Iowa and a semester in Chicago next year.

“ONE THING I ask of the LORD this is what I seek that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple,” (Psalm 27:4)

As far as I can tell dwelling in the house of the Lord can happen in any country, virtually in any place and any time. Dwelling in my opinion is being, BEING aware of God’s presence wherever and whenever, sure the church building may be a wonderful place to find God’s presence, but truly it goes beyond that. Dwelling is experiencing, it is relational, it takes time and energy, in many ways it is BEING STILL and knowing I am God. Although on Sunday the team we are traveling with joined the local congregation and sang that song with a lot of volume and action, it was a long way from a peaceful and quiet chorus, however it certainly could be categorized as focused, engaged and being very aware of God’s presence.

What about the newly arrived infant, barely a month old that came to Beautiful Gate Care Center on our first night arriving with the team. The fifteen of us had a very different journey of packing, planes and changing time zones. This precious baby girl had a journey that included being left who knows why and where? Could the presence of God be evident in such sadness? This baby tightly wrapped in a warm blanket and lovingly placed in the arms of workers at the care center has a new home and much hope. Each student had the privilege of holding this little one and gazing into her eyes before she fell asleep. The loving arms of our Savior held this little one and without a doubt revealed the presence of God.

What about the sunset at the top of Lancers Gap? Hearing the wind amongst the barking dogs and honking taxis was the presence of God there as sheep wandered past on the hilltop and echoing voices could be heard in the background? Yes, yes the scene was breathtaking as the sun dipped below the mountain and the sky changed colors and the temperature dropped. Yes, God’s presence was evident in such majesty.

I could go on with other specific examples of my time here in Lesotho, but those of you have opened your heart and life to others whether that be across the street, from another age group or religious affiliation knows what I am talking about. Those of you who have traveled to Israel, Africa or even Lesotho to visit, no rather “experience or BE” apart of Beautiful Gate can attest to dwelling in the presence of God. You don’t have to travel to Lesotho to know what it is like to experience God, but consider yourself invited if you ever decide to come!

May you DWELL….BE….EXPERIENCE….KNOW GOD at this moment, wherever you are and whatever life may hold at the moment.