Posts filed under 'Renee's Blog'
As we approach our third winter here in Mongolia, I am reminded of a dilemma that we face on an ongoing basis. What do we do about the street children?
In our family devotions last week, Bernie referenced the verse where Jesus tells His disciples that if someone takes their coat, they are to give their shirt as well. “Give to everyone who asks of you…” (Luke 6:29, 30). Cori then raised the question that we wrestle with internally all the time. “If this is what Jesus said, why don’t we give money to the street children?”
Wanting to make sure my daughter is well informed and well trained, I looked at her and gave her my best answer.
“I don’t know.”
And I don’t. Oh, I know what I tell myself. They just have to give it to someone else who will use it to buy vodka (true almost all the time, though I have seen them use it to go buy food). I know that if I gave money every time I was asked, pretty soon we would have nothing left and would have to return to the US and work at McDonalds.
We’ve tried just giving them food, and do this sometimes. But this isn’t really a long term solution. Imagine sitting in one of the nicer restaurants with your husband on your anniversary, and one of the street children slips past the hostess and stands at your tables and looks at your food and says, “I’m hungry.” I wanted to get up and give him my chair. The waiter came and shooed him away, but my appetite was gone. Yet, what would happen to the restaurant’s clientele if everyone gave in to the street children who came in? Then you’d have a restaurant owner out of business.
Not long ago, the young guy that we have singled out caught me as I was going into the grocery store. He offered to wash my car, but I didn’t have time as I just planned to run in and run out. So he rubbed his stomach and said, “I’m hungry.” I nodded, and he knows us well enough to know that we usually try to buy him food. Then he looked at me, and placed his order. “Ham.” Well, that didn’t set so well. I wanted to buy him a package of spinach or a carrot or something.
How do you move from giving out bread to seeing them realize their need for the Bread of Life? How do we as “rich” Americans bridge the gap between our world and theirs? I leave the encounter and go to a warm home. They leave and go who knows where, some to homes, but others to sleep under the streets by the warm pipes. Especially when you know that is not the purpose God has sent you to this city to fulfill.
Jesus stated that the poor would always be here. But He didn’t leave us a detailed plan of how to deal with this. Oh how I wish He had. I ask myself, “What would Jesus do?” I DON”T KNOW. Obviously even He did not meet the need of every poor person.
This past summer I was sitting in church and had purchased a bottle of juice to drink because it was a hot day and there was no AC and little breeze. We were singing and a little street girl came to the doorway to listen. I turned around a saw her and smiled. She saw the juice in my hand and held out her hand for it. I was sitting toward the front and didn’t really want to take it back to her (and honestly didn’t want to give it up – I had already drank half of it). But every time I would look back she would hold out her hand. Needless to say I didn’t enjoy the service very much. On one hand it wasn’t a good precedent to set, but on the other, I felt guilty for not giving it to her. I shared this with Bernie later. He had given the message that day, and he told me that she had hung from the wrought iron bars and listened to the entire sermon. Perhaps had I given it to her she would have just left. Or maybe I just feel better if I tell myself that.
But back to our devotions. This is what we shared with Cori, after honestly sharing our own inner struggle. For us it has boiled down to this. Walk in the Spirit. The Spirit of God knows the will of the Father. There is a quote from one of our Christian forefathers that has meant much to us. “Learn to detect and obey the inward impulse of the Spirit of God.” It always comes back to this – a daily surrender of my life to God. When I am in the right place, walking in fellowship with Him, His Spirit will lead me, even in these little things.
That still doesn’t make it easy. It doesn’t mean we don’t still wrestle with it, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. I don’t think God wants us to boil our lives down to formulas and policies, even though those are sometimes necessary and helpful.
The big issue is for the church here. Please pray with us for a healthy, growing church that in love and compassion can do so much more than hand out a bag of peanuts. Pray for the church in Mongolia, that out of their love for God and compassion for people they would bridge the gap and share bread, thus paving the way for relationships where the Bread of Life is shared as well.
October 22nd, 2008
Thanks to the Internet and particularly social networks like Facebook, we find ourselves connecting with people with whom we had long since lost connection. So, for those of you who are new to our website, we’re going to borrow from our friend Kellie’s blog and make our Friday Fotos a “Flashback Friday” and bring you up to speed.
After our marriage (yes, we understand this is way back but bear with us) in 1989 — making next year the big 2 - 0 — we spent three years in Memphis in secular employment and lay ministry in an Alliance church there. We both felt called to missions and were taking time to adjust to life together and see exactly where we were to go.
Jonathan joined us in 1992 and just before his first birthday Bernie accepted a call to pastor a church in Franklin, Tennessee. Yes, we know. It was a surprise to us as well, but a very clear direction. God’s reasons for that were His own, but His wisdom in that was abundantly clear as we learned how to walk with Him in His work.
Cori was born our second year in Franklin. Faith Community Church was a great place for a young family and we got to walk through the parenting process with many good friends. It certainly had its ups and downs, but we loved our church family and totally enjoyed pastoral ministry.
As a matter of fact, it was our desire to stay there a very long time. But….
During our 13 years there we were able to take quite a few short term missions trips. This was something that had been an important part of our life as singles, and was a double blessing as a couple. There was still that spark deep down that had never died, however, so each time we would visit a field, we would be open to God. Was He calling us there? It seemed like no matter where we went, we always returned with a certainty that we were exactly in the place God would have us be. With that certainty came peace and joy.
That is until November 2003. As part of her ministry on a Missions Mobilization team through the C&MA national office, Renee’ took part in a conference in Thailand. Each of the eight team members were requested to lead an extension trip before or after that conference and of course as we are a team, Bernie was also able to participate (actually he did most of the work). We requested the China extension, but two other members who had been before were given those two trips. However, since you go through Beijing to get to Mongolia we were told that if we led that trip we could have a few days between to see China.
We had no idea that would be the life-changing trip. As a matter of fact, Mongolia was the first country we visited where Renee’ didn’t even want to go. We were barely here for a week. But that week we were able to spend with the Mongolian believers, became something we couldn’t forget. Just this week when asked her first impression of Mongolia as short termer replied, “I feel like I’ve come home.” Aaahh, we know the feeling.
When we returned home this time, we no longer had that sense that pastoral ministry in Franklin was what we were supposed to do. We had sat with little groups who were amazed that of our small team of seven, four of them were pastors. They just couldn’t believe there were four pastors in one room. There were very few pastors here, as a matter of fact few men believers.
God never wastes a situation. We would never say that God put us in pastoral ministry only to prepare us for Mongolia. God doesn’t do that. However, we see now that His purposes for us there were for more than ministry to that congregation. It was to prepare us for next assignment. As a matter of fact, most of our previous experiences have in some way been part of His training. We believe that is always the case for all of us.
So, to sum this up, we went home and after a few weeks we talked and realized we were both still not able to put Mongolia in the past. So we prayed. We had several reasons why we could not come to Mongolia. We’re grateful for those hurdles. We saw them come down, one by one, as God confirmed His call. In the fall of 2004 we made the phone call to the candidate office of the C&MA. We spent the next year in the applicant process. In December 2005 we were officially approved and in January 2006 dropped the bomb to our family and friends. We left the US for Ulaanbaatar July 24, 2006.
Now our newbie readers know The Rest of the Story.
September 20th, 2008
It has been my desire for many years now to come to the end of my time here on this planet and know that the life I was given was not wasted. I think this message came to me first from a sermon by Joseph S. Carroll, the Executive Director of the Evangelical Institute of Greenville, South Carolina. Mr. Carroll frequently preached from the passage in John 12:20. “Unless the corn of wheat fall into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies it brings forth much fruit.”
It’s a message I find myself needing to hear over and over again. Interestingly enough, it was the final message of our Field Forum and I needed to hear it that day as much as I ever have. I’ve found myself too often recently worrying about my life here and now and what I like about it and what I don’t. It hasn’t taken long to realize that just because I have made sacrifices doesn’t mean I am on a daily basis dying to my life in this world. And that is the only way to a fruitful, unwasted life.
I was reminded again that when the corn of wheat dies it produces much fruit. The potential of an acorn is not just a tree, it is a forest. At the same time (August 7) I was hearing again the message I heard first from Mr. Carroll, that dear servant passed into the presence of his Jesus.
I have sometimes wondered how many who truly believe will enter into the Presence of the Father and actually hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Certainly not all will. But if anyone I have ever known personally will hear those words, it will be Joseph Carroll. At the early age of 18 he determined to be a corn of wheat. From his service in the Australian army in World War II to his ministry to missionaries in Japan to his years in a small Bible school in South Carolina, pouring his life into young men and women, his life was not wasted.
The fruit of his life has resulted in trees on every continent (except of course Antarctica). There are at least four here in Mongolia. I don’t know about the others, but if this tree stands firm, it will of course be by the grace of God, but it will also be because I learned from Mr. Carroll how to live. Here are just a few lessons that I learned from him that have carried me through 15 years of ministry:
Life reduced to fellowship with Christ makes the complicated simple
It’s too soon to quit
All is in Christ by the Holy Spirit. All else is nothing.
3 essentials: Living by faith, looking unto Jesus, unceasing dependence on the Spirit of God.
The Christian walks on two feet: surrender and faith
You can trust His heart when you cannot trace His hand (this is one that the Mongolian girls are learning to hang on to)
I owe him more than I could repay, more than I could ever express. But I know that nothing would repay him more than that I also live the unwasted life of a corn of wheat.
“I want to die and let you give
Your life to me that I might live
And share the love you gave to me
I want to share the love that set me free.” (Keith Green)
August 12th, 2008
Okay! Okay! I admit it. I am just going to have to come clean and I’m not doing a blog about my laundry again. Did I just hear some of you ladies give a big sigh of relief (Julie)?
I love a good crisis. You know how when you are driving down the highway and traffic is blocked in both directions, one side because of an accident and the other side because of the rubberneckers? I’m causing the problem. Not the accident, the other direction. I’ve now laid it all out there. I am a rubbernecker.
I loved it in the US when something would happen and it would go to 24 hour news coverage. While most desperate housewives were crying about their soaps, I was glued to the tube. If Lisa Patten ever retires from News 2, I will feel like I’ve lost a friend. We’ve tracked many storms together.
Now that I’ve made my true confessions, do you have any idea how hard it was for me to stay indoors the last four days? I wanted so badly to go check things out. I was really ticked when the Mongolian government forced the local TV stations off the air and I had to watch CSI Miami instead of the Mongolians throwing Molotov cocktails. Hey…Bernie was gone, the kids were gone and the dog was asleep. What else is a night owl supposed to do?
If my parents were aware of the riots at the time they were going on, they probably would be surprised to know I didn’t go check things out. I come by this honestly. When I was a little girl growing up in rural Tennessee, it was a big deal if the fire sirens went off. Those were exciting times. You see, my dad was the insurance agent for a large percentage of the town, and it was only right that he should follow the fire trucks and be there to assess the claims and assure his clients that they would be well cared for. Sometimes I got to go with him. Later when I was old enough to drive and hang out with friends, I would run into him there.
Here is a favorite Majors’ family story for anyone still reading. We took a family vacation through New England, including Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. For those of you over 35, you may remember a news story revolving around Senator Ted Kennedy, and the unfortunate death of a young woman at the Chappaquiddick River (if you don’t Wikipedia it). We had a rental car and had taken the ferry over (two of them if I remember correctly). We were in the area and decided to drive and see where this had taken place.
Now Nancy Drew (oops I mean me) immediately became suspicious when I saw that this river was about as deep as the water that stands in your driveway after a gulley washer. I wanted to drive across the bridge as well and see what was on the other side. My Dad, good sport that he is, thought that was a good idea. My Mom calmly pointed out the sign that said “Four wheel drive vehicles only” which our rental wasn’t. I don’t remember if my brother took his nose out of his Hardy Boys mystery long enough to weigh in or not. Curiosity won out over common sense and we drove on over. We probably weren’t five yards from the bridge when we ceased all forward motion. There wasn’t any reverse motion either. The only motion I remember was my Mom’s lips saying “I told you so.”
Suffice it to say, we made the last ferry by the skin of our teeth after paying some guy money to pull us out with his winch. As it turned, you could see the thoughts turning as well, primarily something about stupid southerners and not being able to read. All I have to say about the matter is “What in the world was Kennedy doing that night?”
So…hopefully the calm that is over Ulaanbaatar is around for a while, but if you should see on the news that they are rioting again, don’t be surprised if you see a short, red-headed foreigner with a camera in the middle of the whole thing.
July 7th, 2008
Most of my close friends know that my least favorite chore is laundry. When we get to heaven, I really have a bone to pick with Eve. Pain in childbirth and laundry – I’m not sure which consequence of the fall is worse. The childbirth pain is rough, but it doesn’t last more than a couple of days at the most…and it results in more laundry.
Doing laundry is such a long process and the further you get into the process the worse it gets. I don’t really mind the sorting part – that’s kind of like a game. Then the machine part isn’t so bad. But when you get to the folding and putting away, that’s just no fun at all. Probably the worst of all is the socks. I might enjoy the matching part if there was always a match. It seems like ever since I left home as a college student I have had a “sock bag.” The sock bag is the place where the socks with no mates go. Sooner or later some of them turn up. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure there are socks in my bag that has been waiting for a mate since those college days.
I’ve learned something since moving here. The explanation I have always heard is that the socks actually go missing in the dryer. Like there is some kind of black hole there or a mysterious suction device that snags them up never to be seen again. Perhaps they are hanging out with all the emails that have ended up in cyberspace somewhere instead of the intended mailbox. I have proved that is not true. How do I know? Well, primarily because we don’t have a dryer. We hang our clothes on racks to dry. Yet in the last two years, socks have been disappearing at an exponential rate. So maybe the washing machine has actually been absorbing the socks, but shifting the blame to the dryer. We have one of those, so it could be a possibility. Of course, just because I find socks between the couch cushions and under the shoe rack doesn’t mean anyone should take personal responsibility. But to be fair, I must share the conclusion that the dryer definitely has gotten a bum rap.
(This is our current dryer. The photo above is the dryer we wish we had…)
June 28th, 2008
Previous Posts