The Joy of Discovery

As I sit here, I can hear the high school band on the field across the road from our apartment practicing for tonight's graduation ceremony. For many this is an exciting time of year. I got to attend another graduation a couple weeks ago, thanks to the kind invitation extended to me by two friends: Justine (whom I met when I hired her to help me learn Lingala) and Emily. Emily and Justine work with a ministry called the Tabitha Center. There are many similarities between the Mitendi Center I often write about and the Tabitha Center. Both reach out to at-risk women and offer discipleship and job training. Here are a few photos from our day.

I have been to a few major celebrations here, and music is an essential part. Sometimes a sound system and DJ are hired and sometimes, as in this instance, a local band is hired. Personally, I prefer the bands. 

Dressing up is also a key part of any celebration here. I have no idea who this fellow is, but I thought his tie modeled after the DRC flag was cool. 

My lovely friend, Justine. I am really grateful to have met her this year. She is passionate about her faith and about helping women in Kinshasa. 

Emily is also one of my newer friends here. She received a gift in appreciation for her service to the Tabitha Center. She blows me away with her talent and her compassion. 

There is no joyous celebration quite like a Congolese joyous celebration, so here is a little sample of the excitement of the day. When the graduates paraded in, I started crying. Their joy is just so contagious and I was really happy for them. Sorry about the quality. It was the only way I could get it small enough to upload for you.

A.A. Milne, the author of the Winnie The Pooh books, once wrote: "One of the advantages of being disorderly is the JOY of discovery." It's true, too. I am surrounded these days by a great deal of disorderliness. Mostly of my own doing, but some can't be helped as we are packing and preparing for furlough and because we live in a place that often lacks order. I've been going through papers and folders and scanning back ups of things that are important. The other day I was going through some old genealogy papers I had printed twelve or thirteen years ago and found this on the backside of one:

All these years I never knew that was in my files, so it was a joyous discovery. I know without a doubt which child did the drawing, and I am sure at that tender age she didn't know what she was drawing on, or that way in the future it would bring a smile to her mama across the ocean who misses her so much. We love what we do here, but we can't wait to see our grown kids and the rest of our families again. Maybe I can even get them to draw me a picture.

Please pray for the people who live here in the midst of disorder, that they will have the joy of discovering new life in Christ and peace that passes understanding. 

"For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace..." I Cor 14:33a

Stretched Too Thin

A while back my son's middle school had a big event with water balloons, food, games, etc. Afterward, I found this and thought it looked cool (because I'm weird that way). The rainbow bands are evidence of tension and stress. The balloons were stretched or filled beyond their capacity and burst.

We all face hard situations and sometimes feel like we are on the verge of hitting or surpassing our limits, about to break like those balloons. While I believe it is good and healthy to be transparent about things like stress, burnout, relationships, etc., I also wonder if sometimes we sabotage ourselves with the power of suggestion and our drive to diagnose and help ourselves. 

Occasionally, I receive free Christian books for Kindle. Several recent titles I received deal with such topics as burnout, stress, expectations not being met, failure, forgiveness, disillusionment, and disappointment. They all had lists of symptoms so readers could self-diagnose. It occurred to me that the more focused I became on some of these, the easier it became to "see" myself in them. My grandmother used to say if you look hard enough for something, you'll find it. I began to feel like maybe I wasn't helping myself any by spending my time focusing on all that stuff. Maybe I wouldn't feel so tightly stretched mentally and emotionally if I spent less time and energy fixating on the problems.

Yes, I live in a hard place and have stress and fatigue. Yes, I have had unrealistic expectations and the ensuing disappointments. We all have. But I am learning that the solution is not to jump on the burnout bandwagon or the stress train, but to go to Jesus. Continuously. He promised if we turn to Him with our weariness of all the stupid stuff in this world, He will give us rest. 

Those books I read were all good and were written to help people. I would even recommend some of them to others when appropriate. But I think I have had too much of a good thing lately, and it began to supersede the best thing in my thoughts. For now I am giving myself a rest from the "self-help" genre of literature. One less thing to stretch my mind around. I tend to let them have too much prominence in my considerations when I should be thinking on what God has to say to me in His Book.

An Umbrella Story

Jill and I went to the Mitendi Center recently so she could check on some repair work that had been done, check on the programs, and so we could work on a new project. Jill needed photos of the students, so we spent the better part of a day taking photos of several grade levels. 

It was cosmetology day at the center and the girls were practicing with one another's hair.

I love going out there and this was no exception, even though it was a HOT, sunny day. After a while, Benedite was sent to hold this umbrella over me. I felt pretty silly, but it seemed important to everyone so I allowed it. Good thing I did, because I was already sunburned and it probably prevented painful blisters for me.

In church yesterday, our pastor was explaining the word "submission" as the act of placing yourself under something or someone else, so in a literal sense I was submitting myself to the umbrella. Once I did that, I was under the umbrella's protection and it was my shield from the harsh rays of the sun and from the heat. Since Benedite was also submitted to the umbrella, we got to enjoy each other's company and have the pleasure of working together. It isn't so difficult to place yourself under something (authority) or someone (God, our spouse) when you know it is for your own good, which is how Biblical submission in Ephesians 5 is supposed to work.

The women and children at Mitendi are under the authority, protection and guidance of many committed Christians who love God. They have a HARD job and face many challenges both personal and ministry-related. Over the years I have prayed this verse many times for my own children because I knew the importance of Godly teachers, leaders and examples in their lives. Please pray this for the students at Mitendi and for all of the people who are involved in any capacity of the ministry. Pray that these children and young girls will have the courage and trust to submit themselves to those God has sent to guide them. Pray that their shepherds will all be/remain fully submitted to God and have hearts for Him.

"Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who

will lead you with knowledge and understanding." Jer. 3:15

A Day of Joy and Thanks

Saturday was a celebration day for the Mitendi Women's Center! At the end of the last two-year term, one group of girls chose to extend their training another six months because they wanted to improve their literacy skills. Their hard work and dedication paid off - they tested well above average when they finished! A graduation ceremony was held at the center for them and I was blessed to be able to attend. This was a more personal event for me than some I have attended, because I had met these students on previous occasions and it was excited to see how they have grown in skill and confidence and to celebrate with them.

God's Word was read, His name was praised, and His work was proclaimed. The CBCO ladies who oversee and volunteer at the Center, along with Jill, the school administrator, the pastor, and others who were involved in the ministry gave testimonies, recounted the history of the Center, and recounted the girls' accomplishments. There was a choir from the church in Mitendi and the Mitendi Center. After all the formalities, there were refreshments, photos, music and dancing. There was so much joy and happiness for these girls! Here are photos of some of the people who oversee and/or help with the Mitendi program:

And photos of the graduates:

The girls designed and sewed their own dresses for graduation, as well as their caps, tassels, and sashes. 

Another reason to celebrate: the wall is finally finished around the Mitendi Center! Effort to put up a wall began as a way to address multiple challenges: safety and security for the girls and young women, protecting the CBCO-owned land from outside attempts to take over portions of the land, and protecting the gardens from goats and other animals. The wall is now up. After the graduation revelries, we went out to the new gate for a photo. A few of us stayed and prayed together, thanking God for his protection and provision and for the testimony He has given the Mitendi Women's Center in the community. 

Please keep the new graduates in your prayers as they continue their journey, the current students that they will persevere and grow in their relationship with Jesus and in their skills, the land case that should have been over a long time ago yet is still ongoing, and for the ministry itself, Jill, and all the staff and volunteers.

"You Have Memories"

Ever used Facebook's "On This Day?" At the click of a "You Have Memories" button, you can see everything you ever did on Facebook on that particular day of every year since you joined the web site. It's genius on the part of Facebook. What better way to feed our tendency toward self-absorption and keep us posting and reposting so as to ensure the popularity of their site and attract sponsors and advertisers? And Facebook makes it easy by telling you that "You Have Memories" every day, so you don't forget to look at them. 

It can also be an eye opener. I have looked at mine a number of times and had varying responses ranging from face palms to groans to pleasant trips down memory lane to timely reminders of lessons learned. Sometimes I look at things I posted waaaaay back when Facebook was relatively new and I can't believe I thought anyone would EVER be interested in that. Ever. 

"writing letters today"

"doing homework"

One nice thing about On This Day is that I can delete that garbage. No one wanted to read it once, let alone a second time. I did not join facebook to punish my friends.

Other times I look at posts and see things I wish I didn't: negativity, criticism, anger. I try to evaluate whether I am still the same person who wrote that post and do I still have the same attitude. If not, I thank God. If so, I ask Him to keep working on me and change my heart. 

Sometimes I see posts from people who encouraged me just when I needed it and I am reminded how loved I am and that maybe I should take a moment to let them know I love them too. Or I see posts that remind me of something significant that happened and how God showed Himself in it. That happened today when I saw that "On This Day" four years ago, Emily used my facebook to post a prayer request. I posted our family's little adventure here: Daniel's Bottle Bucket Battle a few days later. It's a story about a night that could have been much, much worse than it was, but turned in to a testimony of God's care for a little boy and his family, and His power to orchestrate even Kinshasa traffic to His will. 

Facebook makes it easy and tempting to live in the past rather than embracing the present and anticipating the future. But it can also remind us that the God who was with us in all those past events is the same God who is with us now and will be with us as we face the future!

My 2016 Prayer For My Kids and Mitendi

Normally, if I step just outside the front of our apartment, this is my view. I can clearly see the flowers in my yard, the road that runs in front and to the side, and the building across the way. It is the nicest view we have ever had from our windows since we came here and it is a real blessing. 

Biting flies and mosquitoes that carry diseases like malaria, chikungunya, and yellow fever are abundant here and because of that, periodically steps have to be taken to reduce the risk. This week a company came in to spray for the flies and mosquitoes. 

During the spraying, we stayed indoors. This was my view out the front window (apologies for the screen).

Wherever the man in the "hazmat suit" walked with his smoker, a thick wall of fog/smoke was left in his wake. Soon we couldn't really see anything until the smoke had time to clear. The fog was a temporary obstacle, blocking our ability to see what was right in front of us. If we had tried to walk through it, we wouldn't have known which way we were supposed to go and might have even gotten hurt.

As 2016 began, God impressed on me to pray two scriptures for my kids this year, as well as for myself and my husband. 

"Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people." Isaiah 57:14b

"I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go." Isaiah 48:17

Lord, please remove any obstacles that stand between my kids and their relationships with You, and/or their relationships with others. And when they can't determine which way to go or see the reality is beyond the haze of their present circumstances, I pray You will direct them and teach them and that they will learn to trust your direction and hear your voice clearly. 

I would ask if God has directed you to this post, please pray these verses for your missionaries.

But why stop there? I am still very burdened for the Mitendi Center and the legal and spiritual battles they are fighting to keep their land and continue this vital ministry. Please pray for Mitendi Women's Center and those who are involved in the leadership, administration, and legal representation. Pray that God will direct them and that in 2016 He will remove ALL the obstacles out of the way of HIS people. 

A Small Reflection to Mark the Day

Arrived in Congo five years ago today. After our crazy experience in the airport, we rode in a van with Garth Pederson and Brian Writebol to our new home. It was dark and there were little fires everywhere lining both sides of the road because there was no power. The fires gave light, drove away mosquitos, and cast an eery glow on the myriad of half-finished or half-destroyed buildings, roadside kiosks, piles of garbage and people. Combined with our fatigue from 36 hours of travel it all seemed very apocalyptic and we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into and how in the world one family could make even a drop of difference in a place like this. We can't but God can, and He does. Thankful we get to be part of it!

Cool Beans - Five Years in DR Congo!

Kinshasa is a large city with some serious traffic!

In the evening on October 11, 2010, we arrived in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo to begin our assignment here. Five years ago! A lot has happened in just five years, both in Congo and in our family.

When we joined MAF, in July of 2008, our family looked like this. We spent two years raising ministry support and attending language school and other training.

We arrived in Congo looking like this.   After our Canadian winter our Florida tans were long gone. And of course the kids were bigger.

We have experienced one election season in this country and face another in the near future. We've learned to be flexible about things like electricity, water (none today), sanitation, and sleep. We have felt the joy of making new friends and the pain of saying goodbye when they left. We've seen our two oldest graduate and return to the states to further their educations, and felt the pride of their accomplishments mingled with the sorrow of not being able to be there for them to help them along. We've had the pride and happiness of seeing our son get married and getting a new daughter. We have lived the guilt and grief of loved ones dying while we were separated from them by thousands of miles, including my mom, my grandmother, my uncle, my mom's cousin, a great uncle, one of David's cousins, and a dear friend. 

We've also seen God perform miracles and met people whose lives have been transformed by Him. We've had opportunities to be involved in God's work here and meet incredible people He has placed here for such a time as this. We've prayed and worshipped with people from all over the world and been places we never imagined we would see. We've heard the gospel preached in a minimum of four languages here and observed that in each language, amen is still amen! We've worked harder and prayed more than we ever had before. We've faced health issues, including a surgery for David and one also for me. We've had our faith challenged, we've been brought low, and God has lifted us up and strengthened us. 

We are so thankful that God brought us here! We look forward to continuing to serve here as long as God in his generosity and wisdom keeps us here! God has given us a ministry team of incredible, faithful friends that makes it possible for us to be here by praying for us and financially supporting our ministry with MAF.

Now, for a little fun to mark our celebration. The Mitendi Center has been growing food for itself for some time now. They have also acquired a couple new residents:

The female arrived first. She was purchased with the idea to breed her and use the additional pigs as a source of income for feeding and upkeep as well as for food.

Breeding animals is generally much easier to accomplish when you have one of each gender, so a month or so later the male was acquired. They have a bit of growing up to do before they are ready to breed, but the girls at the Mitendi Center are learning to prepare the right kind of food for them, to care for them, and to develop a mindset of investing in their own future.

Last time I looked in on the piggies, I captured this with my phone. I thought it might be fun to ask people to come up with captions for my photo. So, please do comment below! 

Celebrating God's Greatness

I have wanted to share about this for a long time but we got so busy settling into our new  apartment and then helping Daniel transition from home school to the American School here that it is only just now happening. It seemed like whenever I had time to blog, that was also the time that Daniel needed my computer to do homework.

In August, The Women's Ministry arm of CBCO (Congolese Baptists) celebrated 50 years in ministry! I am not an official CBCO missionary or associate, but I do have the priviledge of being a volunteer, and so I was invited to attend the five day celebration. Due to transportation issues, I was only able to attend one day. That was disappointing because I had looked forward to this for a long time, but I still feel grateful that I got to be there for a small part of it and especially that the ladies even thought to invite me.

I am also especially grateful that the day I got to attend was the day of the march (parade). Getting permits to have a march is a big, expensive process in Kinshasa, so there aren't many opportunities to participate in one. This was my first. Jill and I, marching with thousands of Congolese ladies, were not. conspicuous. at. all. I had a blast!

We had a marching band, even!

The worship team. Excuse the bad photos. The lighting was terrible.

There was a special choir of women from several different churches. That's the choir in the background. This choir had many, many participants.

The congregaton. Over 5,000 women attended. Some travelled from the interior, which is no small sacrifice. 

We heard several guest speakers, including my friend Jill, but it was all in Lingala so I can't tell you much about the messages. I can tell you that there was an abundance of joy, gratitude, and enthusiasm. These women face circumstances that are unbelievably difficult on a daily basis, and they were overjoyed just to be there in God's house celebrating and worshipping together. The theme was "God has done great things for us" and the speakers recounted some of those things in their talks. 

When it came time for the offering, that too was a joyous event. There was no solemn, grave-faced passing of the plate. All 5,000 of us got up and while the worship team played music and danced, we marched and/or danced up to the front to place our offerings on the table. Most were singing. All were smiling. I realized that even for those who only had 500 francs (about 45 cents) to give, they saw it as a great privilege to show God their gratitude for his grace and work in their lives by giving to Him. It made me cry and it made me think with shame of times in my life when I have taken the privilege of meeting in God's house with other believers for granted or been ungrateful in my heart even in the very act of giving with my hands and saying thanks with my mouth.  

Beautiful Feet

On this day, twenty-two years ago, we welcomed our firstborn into the world. On this day, seven years ago, we officially became missionaries with MAF. Both have been amazing rides so far, a blessing and a priviledge, with lots of ups and downs, lots of laughs and lessons.

I am amazed when I see God's handiwork in the lives of ALL of my kids. I am humbled when God provides for them and cares for them and I realize how much time I waste being anxious for them instead of trusting Him.

I am also amazed and humbled by the believers in Congo who love God and have a passion for reaching their lost countrymen. I count it a privilege to be in a time and place where I get to meet and work with nationals whom God is using to make disciples. 

People like the women who keep the Mitendi Women's Center going, the teachers and staff who volunteer at the Mitendi Primary School, and pastors like the two in the photo above. In this photo they are preparing for a baptism service. The pastor on the left also spends time regularly teaching Bible discipleship at the Mitendi Center - and is likely the best or only father figure many of the girls have ever had.

National pastors face many unique challenges here in Congo. Please pray for them.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Rom 10:15

Change of Plans

This year we've had more than the usual amount of stress and struggles, so we took a few days away to celebrate our 25th anniversary and decompress a little. The plan was to come back refreshed and ready to tackle moving to the new apartment. We had a generous window of time before the old house had to be vacated so we were going to pace ourselves and not make it into something that was harder than it needed to be, even for Congo. 

Sometimes, plans change.

We arrived home at about 1:30 in the morning and before we even entered the house we could smell that something had burnt. Our guard said the electric cable had burned. No surprise. We generally pay for burned cable to be replaced about once a week. So we went on inside and were greeted first by stronger, migraine-inducing smell and our normally white floor was black with soot.

We walked a bit further and found the cause. When the electric cable burned, it caused a big spike in the voltage. One of our voltage regulators couldn't handle it and caught fire, burning completely up. The fire traveled up the wall and into the breaker box, doing quite a bit of damage there.

The walls are concrete, but if the fire had gone just a few inches higher, our wood ceiling would have caught fire and it would have spread throughout the house. If we had been home and it had been worse, Daniel could have been trapped in his room because in Congo, all the windows and doors have bars on them. 

So. Change of plan. With no power, and no relief from the smell or the heat, we decided to begin moving immediately. Right now we are borrowing the home of some friends who are away and moving as much as we can each day by making multiple trips in our car. We also have to clean the soot off every single item in the house, books, photos, furniture, you-name-it, before we can pack it. And David has work at the hangar - so it is slow going. 

This is very inconvenient. But we are thankful that we get to describe our experience with that adjective instead of words like devastating or tragic. God protected our family and our property, and we are humbled and grateful.

Rebooting the Blog

Where have I been you ask? Actually, no one asked, but just in case someone wondered, I'm still here. Several months ago I took a little break from blogging and fully intended it to be just a little break. We were tired and stressed and felt a need to simplify and reduce demands on our time in order to "huddle in" as a family. Then my mom died and for some time after that the blog was the furthest thing from my mind. Losing mom turned my world upside down and it will probably always remain at least slightly off-kilter. It is just a fact that life without her will never be the same.

Through the last several months and all the different stress factors we were experiencing, I progressed from feeling like God was silent and distant, to confusion and devastation, to comfort and hope. God showed in both big, obvious ways and small, quiet ways that His love for me is immense and unwavering, even when my faith is wobbly and frail. 

For as long as I have been a Christian, I have understood God in the context of the relationship between a father and child. That isn't incorrect, but it isn't the whole picture either. God also nurtures and cares for his children in the same way a mother does. I don't know why that would surprise me, since God created mothers and the role of motherhood. But it did change my thinking. In my day to day life here I encounter many who are orphaned or abandoned. It brings to mind, and to my prayers, that God is a father to the fatherless. There are certain things though that fathers seem to do better and certain things that mothers seem to do better. God can do them all. He IS a father to the fatherless, but he also meets the needs that only a mother can fulfill. 

For this is what the Lord says:

“I will extend peace to her like a river,

    and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;

you will nurse and be carried on her arm

    and dandled on her knees.

As a mother comforts her child,

    so will I comfort you;

    and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”

When you see this, your heart will rejoice

    and you will flourish like grass;

the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants,

    but his fury will be shown to his foes.

Isaiah 66:12-14

I am still active in the Mitendi ministry. In some ways, sharing my grief with the women here, even though it was awkward for me, has deepened my relationships with them. They have all experienced loss. They can't relate to my culture or my background but they can relate to my loss. 

We are in the middle of packing and preparing to move, so maybe this isn't the best time to recommence with blogging, but this is when I finally felt prompted to begin again, so bear with me. We'll only be moving a few kilometers, but we will be in a much less stressful situation, which will give us a little breathing room and more energy for focusing on ministry, so we are excited about this.

What's Going on in Kinshasa?

Most common view on computers and phones in Kin this week

Explaining fully all that has been going in here in Kinshasa over the last week, while people in the U.S. were focused on the State of the Union address and the alleged NFL cheaters, would require more time and history than one blog allows, but here is the "short" story. President Kabila is serving his second term as president of DRC. The next election is scheduled for 2016 and the constitution specifies that a president is limited to two terms. There have been speculation and accusations for some time that supporters of President Kabila would attempt to change the constitution in order to allow him to continue on as president. 

A week ago, the National Assembly (comparable to our House of Representatives) passed a bill requiring a census to be completed, and the wording of the bill tied the completion of the census to the presidential election. DRC is huge, mostly rural, and lacking infrastructure. A census could take up to three years to complete and would thus delay the elections. News of this became a catalyst in an already tense environment. With the Senate still facing a vote on the bill, Monday began with news of demonstrations, looting, and unfortunately, injuries and deaths.

Depending on the source, the number of people hurt or killed varies a great deal but there is no dispute that people have died. The government blocked text messaging and internet. A week later, we still cannot send text messages and while internet has been restored to businesses and banks, no one who uses a sim card for their internet data has access yet. MAF has satellite internet, and an unexpected ministry opportunity came up in the way of helping other missionaries get internet communication so they could continue to function and communicate with their staff during the communications blackout.

The Senate vote was delayed more than once but finally on Friday they passed the bill, AFTER modifying it so it now stipulates that the census needs to be taken but is separate from, and cannot interfere with, the election schedule. Since the Senate made changes to the version that was passed by the National Assembly, a commission has to reconcile the two versions and Parliament will have to vote again, presumably by Monday because Monday is the close of the current Parliamentary session. Even so, the changes that the Senate made to the bill have appeased the opposition and things have calmed down for now.

For those who know us and are concerned, let me try to reassure you that we are safe. The protests have largely been concentrated in just a couple of locations, neither of which are near our home or the hangar where David works. Our planes are still flying. Our neighborhood has been calm. After staying home all week just as a precaution, we finally ventured out on Friday to see friends and get groceries. Well, we tried to get groceries. Seems everyone had the same idea to take advantage of the lull and stock up. We expats love things that remind us of home, so while there were plenty of cans of weird veggies, this photo shows what the potato chip aisle looked like. The bread aisle and meat section looked the same.

For most people living here, this week has been much more than a disconcerting moment, an hour of indecision, or a few days of inconvenience. Many did not venture out for fear of being shot or arrested and these folks do not have refrigerators full of food and barrels of water. Hunkering down for a few days is a costly decision. They earn their wages and buy their food literally day to day. Many could not go to work because taxis did not run. Many this week are mourning and planning funerals. Many, including a friend of ours, have witnessed shocking brutality and violence and felt powerless to help.

Please pray for the people of Congo and for the upcoming Parliament vote. Pray that we and other missionaries here can be a light in this dark and hurting place and point the way to the Prince of Peace. 

More information:

Deadly Crackdown on Protests
Congo Senate Bows to Protests
DRC Halts Internet Access and Phone Services

Separation and Reunion

Yesterday, we held our annual Christmas outreach at the airport where MAF's hangar is. In addition to MAF and other aviation groups, a large portion of the airport is for military use. Each year we host a service with music, a gospel presentation, and refreshments. We also distribute gospel tracts and Scriptures.

We had a large crowd this year and several decisions were made for Christ. 





Maurice, one of our long time national staff, was the "emcee."

The choir from the International Protestant Church of Kinshasa (IPCK),
led by my friend Sandy, a fellow MAF wife. They were fabulous and sang in Lingala, Swahili, French and English!

Passing out Scripture literature and refreshments.

Have you ever experienced the anticipation of seeing a loved one you've been separated from? Maybe planned a trip to see them and gone through the process of packing, buying gifts, etc? Or perhaps you invited them to come see you. You rearranged furniture and cleaned house, bought gifts and their favorite foods, planned things to do together, did your best to make an environment for them that said "you are loved and cherished." It didn't even seem like work and you didn't worry about the cost, because you were doing it for someone you loved. Maybe even as you did so you were reminded that Jesus is preparing a place for you to one day come home to.

Being away from those we love is painful, painful, painful. Even just the anticipation of a reunion is cause for joy. Last Sunday our pastor shared a thought from Max Lucado that Jesus would rather die for us than live without us. He loves us that much. And that is why He chose to come here. The little card in the photo above says it all: Jesus is the real reason for Christmas. 



This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. - 1 John 4:10

Have a joyous Christmas!