Kinmen Team 2011-2012 - A Page is Turned

“’Do not be too sad, Sam. You cannot always be torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do…I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them…your part of the Story goes on.’” These are Frodo’s final words to his dear friend and comrade Sam in The Return of the King, as they are getting ready to part ways and experience new chapters in their lives.

We are living a great tale – a tale of the sovereign King Jesus extending His reign of mercy to hearts in every tribe and tongue and people and nation. It’s a story, with a grand plot and with purpose and significance in every twist and turn and in every word and deed and entrance and exit of every character. It’s a war, waged with a self-sacrificing love that wields the gospel after the example of our Commander, with many fronts and many battlegrounds. It really is a beautiful story, how it weaves together heartache and sorrow and partings and greetings and new and old so that all of it is essential to the completion of the final goal and seen to be infinitely worth it at the end. In the story of this great war, which will carry on until our God’s final victory at the consummation of it all, there are many characters. Many soldiers, who come and go in the telling, but who each have their own unique roles in the fight.

And in that great story that encompasses and makes sense of every seemingly pointless, random event in this world, there is a chapter about a little island 3 miles off the coast of China. An island called Kinmen. The battle for human hearts has been waged here for thousands of years, and I believe with all my heart that the final, decisive victory is still to come. This front in the war has seen many warriors come and go. In this story, many characters have had to come and go in the telling…people who come from all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of nationalities, with all sorts of personalities and gifts, but who have one thing in common – a love for our Savior King and for the people of this little island that some would call insignificant. But we know better. Because He’s chosen us to spend and be spent for these people, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We all have had different roles in this story – some are Kinmen people whose hearts have been captured by the one true God and whose hearts break because for the most part, He isn’t acknowledged on their beloved island. Others are Americans, some of whom love Kinmen from afar because of the stories of those who have been there, and without whose prayers Kinmen may never be won for Jesus. And then there are those privileged ones who have been called to GO to this little island and be poured out as a drink offering for the sake of its joy in Jesus.

This is dedicated to my team members from last year who have been called away from Kinmen for a time. Whether you were in Kinmen for one year, two years, five years, or seven years; whether the Author of the story of your life ever calls you back to serve here again; no matter where you taught or who your friends were or what your burden was…your part in the great story of Kinmen being won for Jesus was, and remains, indispensable. Every role is indispensable. Because for a reason only He fully knows, He has chosen to use each of us to make His Name glorious. “In the Lord our work is NOT in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

And this post is dedicated to the new team of 2011-2012, because your part in the story is just beginning. Because of you, I am even more convinced that Kinmen has a special place in our Father’s heart, because the people He calls to serve here are always special. Your enthusiasm for His kingdom, willingness to serve, and immediate love for this island bears witness to the fact that it is nothing less than HIS calling that has brought you here, and I feel incredibly privileged to see how He’s going to use you – US – to further His cause still more and push back the forces of darkness still farther.

Jarita, Raechel, Cami, and Bek ~ you are not forgotten. And whether or not you ever set foot on our precious island again, rest assured that nothing is in vain. By His grace, you’ve left a mark on Kinmen…and Kinmen has left its mark on you.

Eunice, Christina, Bethany, Peter, and Johnny – let’s see what our God has in store for us this year. What victories He will give us for His glory and for the sake of the people of Kinmen. If God is for us, then who could ever stop us; and if our God is with us, then what could stand against?

Another page is turned in the story…what elapsed on the pages that have already been turned will never be erased, and will make sense when we all get to the end. As for the pages that have yet to be turned…we don’t know what twists or turns or joys or sorrows they may hold, but we know who has written the story.

And that is enough.

“As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight” (Psalm 16:3).

“At last the three companions turned away, and never again looking back they rode slowly homewards; and they spoke no word to one another until they came back to the Shire, but each had great comfort in his friends on the long grey road” (Return of the King).

“…we were torn away from you, brothers…in person not in heart…” (1 Thessalonians 2:17)

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).

Trusting the One who holds each thread of our lives and makes sense of them all,

Bethany

home in Him

haven't updated in a while...that's what happens when too much happens and I don't know where to start. I usually just never start, which is a habit I want to break. I still don't know where to start, but I figure a good place would be to say...I'm home. at one of my homes anyway. and thinking about what it means to only have my home in Him. because tying yourself down to a place or a job or a person or a group of people and calling that place your "home" in the permanent, this-is-where-my-heart-is sense has a tendency to make you rely on whatever makes that place home for you. and the fight of our earthly life is to only set your heart and hope on Christ. so for now...I'm home in Him.

naked, exposed...and loved

"Every time you remember that you are out in public, then you live an out-in-public life. “I AM WITH YOU” means you’re always out in public. In order to sin, you’ll have to drown out the voice of reality, put your fingers in your ears, and switch channels to the fantasy channel, the lie channel, the death channel. And even if you switch channels and sin by high-handed choice, you will still be in broad daylight before God’s searching eyes. You can shut your eyes and plug your ears, he’s still right here. You’ll never get away. And you only have to open your eyes, listen, and turn around in order to find help. After all, he who loves you says, “I am with you,” mainly to encourage you."

~David Powlison

husks and ashes

"Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ's purpose toward the world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ's undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards." ~J. Campbell White

allen

he just graduated from 6th grade, but looks more like a 16 year old.

spiky hair. earring. (it's real, unlike most wanna-be-punk 6th grade boys)

his mom is a mail-order bride from vietnam, his dad is the taiwanese equivalent of a redneck.

two brothers...one's a troublemaker in junior high now, one's in 1st grade and is still sweet.

I've never heard anything but filthy, crude, spiteful words come out of his mouth. never seen anything but hate and darkness in his eyes. never seen him treat another human being with anything other than cruelty and roughness.

at Easter, I told his class about One who came to die...One who came to save them...One who can give them new life. One they desperately need. One [I hope] I would die to see them meet.

allen scoffed occasionally, but was unusually quiet. listening...considering.

until, at the urge of a Voice inside my heart, I went directly to him and told him,

"allen. 耶穌愛你. 你相信嗎?" (Jesus loves you...do you believe that?)

I've never seen a child - or anyone, for that matter - with such a violent reaction to the news that Someone loves him.

his eyes were filled with nothing but pure hatred. he scoffed. he spat. he was literally shaking in his seat.

in the middle of his fit of repulsion, he could only spit out the words "不相信" (I don't believe it), along with an array of foul words in both Chinese and Taiwanese that I wouldn't want to repeat. something in him completely, totally despised both the name of Jesus and the thought that He loved him.

in my natural self, I would only want to turn and run from such hatred and darkness. it scares me, because it's so beyond me. he's so beyond any human help.

but the same Presence in me that made my heart incline toward allen in the first place told me to remain calm, to stand my ground, to respond to his rejection with patient, firm, resolute love that wouldn't back down.

so instead of giving up on him like everyone else does, and turning away from him like I was tempted to do, I said, "不管你信不信, 耶穌愛你. 祂真的愛你." (no matter if you believe or not, He still loves you...He really loves you)

"我不相信, 我不相信." was all he could say...almost like he was trying to convince himself that it wasn't true.

I pray that one day, when he doesn't know if anything else is true, he'll remember those words...and come home to the One who made him.

that's allen. he graduated last monday. but his face will always haunt me.

darkness is brief

Across the field and through the trees
of Ephron, slumped upon his knees
Beside the cave of Machpelah,
The old man scorned anathema
For love and kissed the ivory lips
Of his dead wife; then laid the strips
Of silk and linen on her face,
As beautiful today with grace,
He thought, as when Abimelech
Desired her once, without a speck
Or blemish to this day, but now
As cold as snow upon the brow
Of Mount Moriah. Abraham
Thought to himself, "This time no ram
Caught in the thicket for her life,
You spare my son but not my wife."

He rose with Sarah in his arms
And laid ten thousand days and charms
To rest within a Hittite cave,
And in the dark paused once to save
The union for a moment more.
But in the dripping dark before
His mind the awful scene arose
Again: first one, then two plateaus
The boy and he, alone he thought,
Had climbed Moriah while he fought
The tears and coughed away the sobs.
He felt again the way it throbs
Behind the eyes when there's no vent
To grief. The wild bewilderment
On Isaac's face when he perceived.
And then the fear, deep unrelieved,
That his own son might curse the Lord
And tear his flesh against the cord
To save his life; and kick and bite
And scream and writhe with all his might
Like any ordinary boy.
But Isaac knew he was the joy
Of this old man. By wonder born,
By wonder he would die, and scorn
The pain and look into his eye
With childlike trust and say goodbye.

"The greatest moment of my life,"
Thought Abraham. "O precious wife,
The darkness of this cave is brief,
And we've been trained in strong belief:
‘Is anything too hard for God?'
And should we not now kiss the rod
And wait until the angel voice
Express the everlasting choice
Of our appointed substitute?
This time, my love, it did not suit
The sovereign will to interpose
A ram for you—or me—He chose
Instead to test me once again
If I will trust him now as then?"

Then father Abraham walked out
And spoke these words without a doubt,
"As sure as I stand in the light
The Judge of all the earth does right.
The Lord is not God of the dead
But of the living, as he said."

C.S. Lewis on the dignity of human souls

It is hardly possible for [us] to think too often or too deeply about [the glory] of our neighbor . . . It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. (The Weight of Glory, pp. 14f.)