In anycase, while we were in the States I re-read a biography written by Mrs. Howard Taylor (Grand-daughter of J. Hudson Taylor) about J.O. Fraser called “Behind the Ranges”. Those who know me, know that the life of Hudson Taylor has had tremendous influence on my thinking about Christianity, missions and spirituality. His biography (also written by his grandaughter) is second only to the Bible as to the impact it’s had on my life.

That said, I must also highly recommend this little volume about another of the great men of faith who labored with the China Inland Mission, if you can get your hands on it (it’s out of print). There is something quiet and powerful about the life of this man, who labored among the Lhisu people without visible fruit for years. He was a man of faith and a man of prayer … and it was the insight into his prayer life that was most powerful to me in this book. The chapter entitled “The Prayer of Faith” (which was also released as a small book on prayer several years ago – but also out of print) may be one of the most important treatise on prayer written in modern times. Here are several quotations from the book which I found helpful, and my prayer is that you might find them helpful, as well.

Concerning Language Study:

The temptaion is is to be content to use words which nearly express your meaning, but not quite.

Concerning Prayer:

(Our) work does not exist in curio exhibitions, lantern lectures, interesting reports, and so on. Good as they may be, these are only the fringe, not the root of the matter. Solid, lasting missionary work is done on our knees.

Concerning opposition:

I know enough about Satan to realize that he will have all his weapons ready for determined opposition. He would be a missionary simpleton who expected plain sailing in any work of God.

Also concerning opposition:

I have given way to discouragement, dark discouragement, far too much in the past. Now I know rather better, and thoroughly agree with the assertion ‘all discouragement is of the devil’. Discouragement is to be resisted just like sin.

Concerning pragmatism:

Do we spend much time waiting on God to know his will before attempting to embark on His promise?

Concerning Spiritual Power:

Every time you take the earth standpoint – think as men think, talk as men talk, look as men look – you take a place below the powers of darkness. The mastery of them depends upon your spirit abiding in a plane above them, and the place above them means knowing God’s outlook, God’s view, God’s thought, God’s plan, God’s ways – by abiding with Christ in God.

Again, concerning prayer (and opposition):

The aim of Satanic power is to cut off communicaiton with God.

I found these quotes coupled with the story of his life challenging, as well as encouraging. I commend this book to all of our readers, if you can get your hands on a copy.

Also you might check out the docu-drama on the life of Fraser put out by the good folks at OMF. I haven’t seen it, but think it looks intriguing!

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles i to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11

For the past six weeks we have been sojournering. We spent Christmas vacation taking a break from Mongolian winter and were reunited with friends and family in America. It was a strange feeling for me. I must say that I felt that I was resting in Rivendale, particularly when we were in Franklin having coffee or Irish pubbing with old friends. It was happy reunions and “many meetings” which made it almost a homegoing. Almost.

We visited family. My Dad met us at the airport and my Mom met us at the door of their home in North Georgia. Again it was a wonderful resting place for us after a long journey. And not just a long journey of 24 hour flying, but a long journey of 2 1/2 years living in a foreign land. We were free to rise early and nap and recover from jet lag and reaquaint ourselves with Starbucks and “The Cheesecake Factory”. We then went to Adamsville, TN to the home where Renee’ spent most of childhood years, growing up. It was where she called home. Her “Shire”, in a sense (although she would never approve of such blatent ‘Lord of the Rings’ metaphore). We spent a wonderful Christmas with her family and were so happy to see them – to be with them – again. It was good to be ‘all together’ for Christmas, and we were sad when it came time to say ‘goodbye’. These sojournings could also have been catagorized as something of a homegoing. But not quite.

We visited a different church almost every Sunday, all of which were churches that are close to our hearts; good friends are there. We felt very much ‘at home’ in each of these churches. Perhaps a real ‘homecoming’ has everything to do with connecting with Christ’s body. Yet, that wasn’t quite it, either.

Several people asked me while we were Stateside, “So where do you ‘go home’ to? Is coming back to America ‘home’ or do you feel like you’re going home when you go back to your apartment in Mongolia?” Renee’ and I talked about this several times while we were traveling together. Our mutual answer to that question is “neither”.

Mongolia is not our home, and can never be because this will never be our own culture, language, society, or people. No matter how well we adjust here, no matter how long we stay here, no matter how fluent we become in the language.

On the other hand, we now know that we’ll never really be ‘at home’ in America. It’s not a culture or a society that we can be comfortable with. Plus no place is the same. When we’re in the States now, it seems that everything is in flux … and we don’t see an end to that feeling. All four of us are learning that the life God has called us to also contains “many partings”. We say goodby a lot. When that happens it can be difficult to figure out where home really is.

So 1 Peter helps a lot. It’s a truth that I’ve known my entire Christian life. It’s a truth every Christian should live according to. I am just now beginning to understand how LARGE this truth really is for me. I am not and never will be at home on this earth. In no place. Never.

What this vacation has helped us to see is that we really are okay with that. Christ calls us to be satisfied sojourners. We’re exiles, living out God’s purpose and will for our lives on this earth. The “Grey Havens”, whatever that may look like for us, is where home really is found. Ultimately (not to be cliche’), it’s where Jesus is. So I am okay with not feeling at home anyplace. In fact, I am now convinced that our lack of feeling at home here will make make our real Homegoing that much sweeter. All will be well as ends better.

Those who are astute, probably saw the previous paragraph for what it was: a disclaimer; not about the election, but about our ability to assess things accurately. That said, this is my observation: as the world increasingly wants to separate itself from things Christian, we as Christians want to increasingly try to reign them back in. Renee’, what in the world are you talking about now? No, I’m not just rambling as I wait for the pizza dough to rise. I do have a point.

I see and hear people talking about the need to “Keep Christ in Christmas.” As more and more places of secular employment move from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” and as our cities are allowed to put up “Holiday trees” instead of “Christmas trees,” I understand the frustrations.

However, I can’t help but wonder if the issue isn’t that we are insisting on non-believers keeping Christ in Christmas. Perhaps we need to address what we as believers take out of Christmas. We know that the Holidays are becoming increasingly secularized. Could the reason be because those of us who profess to follow Christ have allowed the secular in first? Perhaps we need to ask ourselves: what is the most important thing about Christmas for us? If we answer “Christ”, we must honestly assess how we spend our holidays and ask if that is what others see in us. It is so easy to allow other things to be most important. Obviously, that includes gifts and material things. Could it be the food? Family? Traditions? Sentimentality?

Our family deliberately never celebrated Santa Claus for this reason. There can only be one center, and we knew we would never be able to keep Christ there with Santa around. That is what we had to take out in order for Christ to be where He ought to be during the Holidays. I invite you to join me in asking God if there is anything in our lives that needs to go — “Take ________ out of Christmas.” Only then can Christ truly be the center.

When the phone call came today, it wasn’t just any ordinary Saturday. It was Cori’s birthday and in less than an hour, she would have friends arriving. Not only was the pizza not finished, but I didn’t even have her cake in the oven. Never have I been so unprepared for one of my children’s birthdays. To top it all off, I just wanted to go to bed. I have somehow managed to come down with four different ailments at once (which I won’t go into). So just finishing this task would take more energy than I really had.

Ah, but that’s not all. I had promised Jonathan two weeks ago, that we would host a Christmas Open House (okay, I confess, I love it – normally). Because I’ve been sick, I haven’t been able to do any advance preparations. So that is ahead. And sometime in the next 48 hours I had to finish laundry (without a dryer, remember) and pack, while leaving a clean house for the two Mongolian girls who will be staying here with Sadie.

As soon as I heard the ring, I thought to myself, “We can’t do anything else.” The Mongolian lady started talking to Bernie about the center and water. This would be the place to tell you that after months of renovations and endless shopping trips, the UB Student Center officially opened last night. This past week had gone so well. After the initial trips when we couldn’t find anything that worked, things were falling in place, right down to the cups with sheaves of wheat and the thermoses that matched the wallpaper. Bernie and Onon and I were so pleased to see the fruit of all our weeks of work. A lovely, peaceful place was finally ready for students to come and find a quiet place to study. Then next month, when we arrive back from the US, we could start scheduling events.

We knew that the heater in the front room had been leaking, so Bernie finished what he was doing and grabbed a few towels, expecting to go wipe up some water. He never dreamed he would open the front door and walk into a sauna. The radiator, heated by scalding hot water had burst in the middle of the night and was spraying water into the room. It was literally raining in the room from the steam that would condensate on the ceiling. The walls were wet. The furniture that we spent hours shopping for and having built was wet. Everything was wet.

With the help of teammates, Dennis and Eric, Bernie and Onon spent the next couple of hours cleaning and assessing the damage. The floors that Bernie has labored so long on will have to be redone. The ceilings that Soggi had painted for us will have to be repainted. We are hopeful that the wallpaper will not have to be replaced. Bernie’s guitar is fine (Hallelujah!) but we don’t know yet about the keyboard. The new rug is wet, but should dry, as we hope will the upholstered chairs. We believe that the wood furniture will still be usuable.

So, human nature automatically calls up the question: “Why did this happen?” and even, “Why, God, did You allow this to happen?” The question is not wrong — as long as the heart believes. We have the opportunity to choose to believe that God is on His throne. He was not taken by surprised. He was not out-maneuvered by our enemy who seeks to kill, steal and destroy. He chose to trust us to trust Him. To know that He is more than able to work this for good and for the glory of His kingdom. We’re not sure how or when. We don’t even know if we will ever be able to say, “Oh, this is why God allowed that to happen.” What we do know is that by His grace we as a team give thanks – not for the mess, but for the God Who is able to triumph in spite of the mess. We give thanks for timely words from Scripture that are there before we know we will need them. And most of all, this Christmas, we give thanks because He is Immanuel, God with us – even in a sopping wet Student Center.