They all looked up at me, some in expectation, many in skepticism, perhaps all secretly hoping that this weekend would bring some peace to their wounded worlds. This past weekend was our conference for the girls of the Miskolc Children's Home. We brought them to our village -- a good two hour trip from their institutionalized home.
The walls were raised high and perhaps re-inforced when they arrived of Friday night. Many were determined not to let anyone in. And it would be naive of any of us involved in the planning or ministry to expect that a 36 hour getaway to break through walls erected by more than a decade of hurt and pain. Our ministry is not a weekend, a series of sessions, or even the bible study Russ leads every week. It has to be long-term, consistent and loving, or it is worth little. These girls have experienced affection for a moment, but have not known a love that truly endures.
And so we talked a lot about love last weekend. Yeah, we talked about boys, and what they want. We talked about ourselves and what we seek in a relationship. And the difference between the two. But if there was any message that I pray the girls took home with them, it was the message of the last session -- the message of God's love for them.
We looked at several true stories from scripture -- Leah, the ugly one who was unloved all her days; Hagar, the used; and David's daughter Tamar, raped by her own half-brother. They are harsh stories, dysfunctional families that remind us all too poigniantly of how imperfect our world is. They are stories to which these girls could relate.
We looked at Mary and Martha and wondered together why Jesus arrived too late. And we discovered what Jesus does when he sees us in our pain. Just like with Mary and Martha, he weeps for us. The God who created heaven and earth sees us in our pain and his heart breaks. And he weeps.
But he does not stop there. He also longs to bring us restoration, but he will not force it upon us. We must be willing to take him to that ugly place where we have buried all our pain. We must be willing to roll back the stone so that he can bring resurrection to the ugly rotting dead things of our lives.
I left the conference wondering if it was even worthwhile -- if any message broke through. I watched as many of the girls left with those walls still strongly barricaded. But as I look at them, perhaps I am looking at the wrong place.
Isaiah 45:22 challenges us to: "Look to Me, and be saved". Through this conference we continually directed the girls to look to Him. We strove to show them they are now alone in their suffering, and more than that, there is a God who truly finds them precious -- like treasure. And his love does not fade. It is truly Agape.
Maybe I need to stop looking for instant gratification in spiritual ministry. Instead, I need to simply look to Him. "Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God," Oswald Chambers wrote in his devotional slated for this date. But other things vanish too: our arrogance, our insecurity, our need to be a "success", our need for instant gratification in our spiritual walk.
The Lord cries out, "Look to Me." Why do I look everywhere else except at Him?
I only need to lift my eyes and I am made complete in the spectacular view.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Do You Know What You are Asking?
"You don’t know what you are asking!" -- Mark 10:38 (NLT)
In Mark 10:46-52, Jesus healed a blind guy named Bartimaeus. It is a story most of us have heard from childhood. You know the story:
Jesus sees him and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“My rabbi,” the blind man answers with the obvious, “I want to see!"
On Sunday, our pastor, Bodi, who is also a medical doctor, explained exactly what would have to happen in the intricate complexities of the eye for a blind man to completely receive sight instantaneously.
First, consider how complex the eye truly is:
"The human eye is enormously complicated - a perfect and interrelated system of about 40 individual subsystems, including the retina, pupil, iris, cornea, lens and optic nerve. For instance, the retina has approximately 137 million special cells that respond to light and send messages to the brain. About 130 million of these cells look like rods and handle the black and white vision. The other seven million are cone shaped and allow us to see in color. The retina cells receive light impressions, which are translated to electric pulses and sent to the brain via the optic nerve. A special section of the brain called the visual cortex interprets the pulses to color, contrast, depth, etc., which allows us to see "pictures" of our world. Incredibly, the eye, optic nerve and visual cortex are totally separate and distinct subsystems. Yet, together, they capture, deliver and interpret up to 1.5 million pulse messages a milli-second! It would take dozens of Cray supercomputers programmed perfectly and operating together flawlessly to even get close to performing this task." (Lawrence O. Richards, It Couldn't Just Happen, Thomas Nelson 1989)
So Jesus would have to heal the man in a way that brought all these complex systems into proper order, restoring all damage. But that alone would not be enough to restore his sight. Even if the eyes were instantly healed and placed in proper working order, he would not be able to see until the brain re-learned how to interpret all those impulses, like an infant learns to see in its first few months outside the womb.
So the healing had to reach far beyond his eyes and into his brain. And it did. Instantly, everything fell into perfect working order, all damage restored AND the brain supernaturally knew how to interpret all these new signals.
When Bartimaeus cried out, "I want to see!" He did not know all that he was asking of Christ. He wasn't thinking, "Hey Jesus, could you get all those millions of cones and rods in my eyes to start working properly along with fixing the problems with the retina and optic nerve and then make sure the brain can interpret the signals so I can see." He simply wanted to see. Jesus understood the complexities of what he was asking but He did not bat an eyelash. He just did it. And Bartimeus eye's instantly beheld a world that he had previously known only by sound and touch.
However, in the scene before this (Mark10:35-40), two of Christ's disciples made a spiritual request. They wanted to be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. It is not necessarily a bad aspiration. Aspiring toward spiritual greatest on some level is a good thing, right? And Christ does not chastise them for the desire, but instead He responds with chilling sobriety, "You do not what you are asking."
Indeed there is a price to be paid for spiritual greatness, for it is not like the greatness of this world, regardless of culture. It requires humility, sacrifice, and pain. A tough journey. It was a request that involved what Christ would have to bring them through. And Christ appropriately responds, "You do not know what you are asking..."
But as I reflect on these two requests, I begin to realize that in all those requests that we so readily throw up to heaven, we rarely truly know what we are asking. Even the little things that do not seem so remarkable or miraculous, those things our Lord does not hesitate to answer, often require his workings in things far beyond what we think we are asking.
And all the more in our spiritual requests. We see only the glory and not misery and wilderness we will have to pass through to reach it. We do not know what we are asking.
Perhaps we would do well to reflect a little more on the magnitude of God's workings and what He has called us to in this life.
May we begin to grasp with sobriety what we are asking as we utter supplications to our Lord. For when we begin to understand what we are asking, we will begin to understand more of who He is.
In Mark 10:46-52, Jesus healed a blind guy named Bartimaeus. It is a story most of us have heard from childhood. You know the story:
Jesus sees him and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“My rabbi,” the blind man answers with the obvious, “I want to see!"
On Sunday, our pastor, Bodi, who is also a medical doctor, explained exactly what would have to happen in the intricate complexities of the eye for a blind man to completely receive sight instantaneously.
First, consider how complex the eye truly is:
"The human eye is enormously complicated - a perfect and interrelated system of about 40 individual subsystems, including the retina, pupil, iris, cornea, lens and optic nerve. For instance, the retina has approximately 137 million special cells that respond to light and send messages to the brain. About 130 million of these cells look like rods and handle the black and white vision. The other seven million are cone shaped and allow us to see in color. The retina cells receive light impressions, which are translated to electric pulses and sent to the brain via the optic nerve. A special section of the brain called the visual cortex interprets the pulses to color, contrast, depth, etc., which allows us to see "pictures" of our world. Incredibly, the eye, optic nerve and visual cortex are totally separate and distinct subsystems. Yet, together, they capture, deliver and interpret up to 1.5 million pulse messages a milli-second! It would take dozens of Cray supercomputers programmed perfectly and operating together flawlessly to even get close to performing this task." (Lawrence O. Richards, It Couldn't Just Happen, Thomas Nelson 1989)
So Jesus would have to heal the man in a way that brought all these complex systems into proper order, restoring all damage. But that alone would not be enough to restore his sight. Even if the eyes were instantly healed and placed in proper working order, he would not be able to see until the brain re-learned how to interpret all those impulses, like an infant learns to see in its first few months outside the womb.
So the healing had to reach far beyond his eyes and into his brain. And it did. Instantly, everything fell into perfect working order, all damage restored AND the brain supernaturally knew how to interpret all these new signals.
When Bartimaeus cried out, "I want to see!" He did not know all that he was asking of Christ. He wasn't thinking, "Hey Jesus, could you get all those millions of cones and rods in my eyes to start working properly along with fixing the problems with the retina and optic nerve and then make sure the brain can interpret the signals so I can see." He simply wanted to see. Jesus understood the complexities of what he was asking but He did not bat an eyelash. He just did it. And Bartimeus eye's instantly beheld a world that he had previously known only by sound and touch.
However, in the scene before this (Mark10:35-40), two of Christ's disciples made a spiritual request. They wanted to be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. It is not necessarily a bad aspiration. Aspiring toward spiritual greatest on some level is a good thing, right? And Christ does not chastise them for the desire, but instead He responds with chilling sobriety, "You do not what you are asking."
Indeed there is a price to be paid for spiritual greatness, for it is not like the greatness of this world, regardless of culture. It requires humility, sacrifice, and pain. A tough journey. It was a request that involved what Christ would have to bring them through. And Christ appropriately responds, "You do not know what you are asking..."
But as I reflect on these two requests, I begin to realize that in all those requests that we so readily throw up to heaven, we rarely truly know what we are asking. Even the little things that do not seem so remarkable or miraculous, those things our Lord does not hesitate to answer, often require his workings in things far beyond what we think we are asking.
And all the more in our spiritual requests. We see only the glory and not misery and wilderness we will have to pass through to reach it. We do not know what we are asking.
Perhaps we would do well to reflect a little more on the magnitude of God's workings and what He has called us to in this life.
May we begin to grasp with sobriety what we are asking as we utter supplications to our Lord. For when we begin to understand what we are asking, we will begin to understand more of who He is.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Trophy or Tool?
Have you ever wanted to be God’s trophy – all shiny and sparkly with the glory of heaven? The kind of thing that’s put on display, under glass for all to admire. For those who aspire to excel in the public area, be it through music, preaching, teaching or writing, the longing to be God’s trophy in some shape or form rushes through our veins with a fury.
But I cannot find a single reference in scripture where God calls us to be his trophies. We are instead called to be “witnesses” (Acts 1:8), “disciples” (Matt 28:19), “vessels “(Romans 9:21), and “implements of righteousness “(Romans 6:13). In short, we are called to be tools.
Tools are far less glorious things than trophies. They dwell not in showcases, but on hooks, in boxes or in drawers. They aren’t necessarily so interesting to look at. They aren’t pretty. And they can have no ambition unto themselves. They are wholly dependent, serving no purpose at all, unless they rest in the Craftsman’s hand.
Oswald Chambers writes: “If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, ‘God has called me for this and for that,’ you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests.”
So what does that mean? That the singer should never sing again, the preacher never again expound the Word, the writer never again place word on paper? I don’t think so. But I do think it challenges us all to consider WHY we want to be God’s trophies? For this is not a call of God, but a call of self.
We would be better suited, however, if we stopped thinking of ourselves in the use of our gifts as trophies and began to see ourselves a mere tools. That requires a death of our own ambition for the sake of His ambition to be realized in our life. But is that really so much of a sacrifice?
For in the end, a trophy is terribly hollow, cold, and untouched, and untouching vessel. It tarnishes with time and even the safety of protective glass cannot change it. But a tool regularly experiences the warm magic of the Master Craftsman’s touch as He uses it to fashion something beautiful in the lives of others.
May we learn how to simply rest as tools in His hand that He might use us to craft His masterpieces in this world.
But I cannot find a single reference in scripture where God calls us to be his trophies. We are instead called to be “witnesses” (Acts 1:8), “disciples” (Matt 28:19), “vessels “(Romans 9:21), and “implements of righteousness “(Romans 6:13). In short, we are called to be tools.
Tools are far less glorious things than trophies. They dwell not in showcases, but on hooks, in boxes or in drawers. They aren’t necessarily so interesting to look at. They aren’t pretty. And they can have no ambition unto themselves. They are wholly dependent, serving no purpose at all, unless they rest in the Craftsman’s hand.
Oswald Chambers writes: “If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, ‘God has called me for this and for that,’ you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests.”
So what does that mean? That the singer should never sing again, the preacher never again expound the Word, the writer never again place word on paper? I don’t think so. But I do think it challenges us all to consider WHY we want to be God’s trophies? For this is not a call of God, but a call of self.
We would be better suited, however, if we stopped thinking of ourselves in the use of our gifts as trophies and began to see ourselves a mere tools. That requires a death of our own ambition for the sake of His ambition to be realized in our life. But is that really so much of a sacrifice?
For in the end, a trophy is terribly hollow, cold, and untouched, and untouching vessel. It tarnishes with time and even the safety of protective glass cannot change it. But a tool regularly experiences the warm magic of the Master Craftsman’s touch as He uses it to fashion something beautiful in the lives of others.
May we learn how to simply rest as tools in His hand that He might use us to craft His masterpieces in this world.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tapasztalatok: Aldi és Ifjúság
Aldi magyarorszagon most. És én nagyon szeretem Aldit.
Miért?
Lehet mert sok Német dologok tudok venni ott -- mint fekete erdei sonka vagy német csoki. Ez egy jó okot, de nekem, egészen másmilyen okok.
Lehet mert legolcsobb tonhal és nem nagyon draga lazac. Ujra, ez egy jó okot. De nem eleg nekem.
Én vásárok Aldi-ben, mert szerinti Aldi, nagyon fiatal vagyok! Ez igaz!
Oktoberben, elment az Aldi-re venni bort. Amikor fizettem, a pénztáros azt mondt hogy, "Személyi igazolvány, kérek szépen."
Én mondtam hogy "tessék? Csak egy kicsi beszélek magyarul."
A pénztáros mosolyogot és azt mondt hogy "passport?"
Megzavarodott voltam. Miért szükségnek az útlevélem? Soha történt elott.
Akkor a ferfi mögött engem azt mondt hogy "Mi baj? A hölgy 30 éves legalább!"
"Ahhhh, értem," gondoltam. "I'm being carded!"
Én mosolyogotam. "Nagyon öreg vagyok!" Én mondtam hogy. Mutattam az útlevélem. "40 éves leszek marciusban!!!!!"
Nagyon vicces volt, goldoltam. De amikor elmeséltem Russell-tol mit történt, kacagot!
Szerint Russell, ez az új értékesítési módok. Aldi pénztáros kell mondani az öreg hölgyek jónak és fiatalnak látszik. Akkor öreg hölgyek az Aldiben akar vásárni.
Lehet Russell helyes. Lehet csak egy új értékesítési módok.
Én azt mondom hogy ez egy nagyon jó értékesítési módok. Munkadik!!!!!!!
Miért?
Lehet mert sok Német dologok tudok venni ott -- mint fekete erdei sonka vagy német csoki. Ez egy jó okot, de nekem, egészen másmilyen okok.
Lehet mert legolcsobb tonhal és nem nagyon draga lazac. Ujra, ez egy jó okot. De nem eleg nekem.
Én vásárok Aldi-ben, mert szerinti Aldi, nagyon fiatal vagyok! Ez igaz!
Oktoberben, elment az Aldi-re venni bort. Amikor fizettem, a pénztáros azt mondt hogy, "Személyi igazolvány, kérek szépen."
Én mondtam hogy "tessék? Csak egy kicsi beszélek magyarul."
A pénztáros mosolyogot és azt mondt hogy "passport?"
Megzavarodott voltam. Miért szükségnek az útlevélem? Soha történt elott.
Akkor a ferfi mögött engem azt mondt hogy "Mi baj? A hölgy 30 éves legalább!"
"Ahhhh, értem," gondoltam. "I'm being carded!"
Én mosolyogotam. "Nagyon öreg vagyok!" Én mondtam hogy. Mutattam az útlevélem. "40 éves leszek marciusban!!!!!"
Nagyon vicces volt, goldoltam. De amikor elmeséltem Russell-tol mit történt, kacagot!
Szerint Russell, ez az új értékesítési módok. Aldi pénztáros kell mondani az öreg hölgyek jónak és fiatalnak látszik. Akkor öreg hölgyek az Aldiben akar vásárni.
Lehet Russell helyes. Lehet csak egy új értékesítési módok.
Én azt mondom hogy ez egy nagyon jó értékesítési módok. Munkadik!!!!!!!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Gotcha Day!
On Saturday 15 November the Chun family celebrated GOTCHA day! That's two years since the day we got Niki. It was a day full of fun and surprises, topped off by a raklett(sp?) dinner and a decadant chocolate cake with vanilla pudding filling. Here are some photos of the event.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The World According to Andi
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Declaring DEpendence Day!
Well, elections are over. And as Americans whinny "woo hoos!" or wail "boo hoos!" over the results, I find myself worlds away pondering, not the glories of independence and the stars and stripes, but the sanctity of dependence in the Christian life.
Dependence? Ick. It reeks of weakness and helplessness -- void of security, self sufficiency and all those things we cherish most. For those of us who are Americans, our culture and national history and pride are rooted in independence. It represents a fundamental element of our national identity. And as a result, I fear, it oozes over into our understanding of the Christian life.
But let me throw in a curve ball. What if God never created us for independence?
Think about it. From the earliest days of creation in the garden, when the world was perfect, man was not independent. He was truly DEpendent on God for everything and he knew it. God provided his food, his water, and even his companionship. Man recognized God as truly Jehovah Jireh.
It was man's demand for independence that got him into trouble there.
Now we go through life masquerading under a facade of independence, but are we really so independent? Children depend on parents, husbands on wives and vice versa. Families and individuals depend on their jobs. Many older people depend on social security... etc. The list goes on and on.
So it is not that we are truly INdependent. It is simply that we are independent of God. Perhaps one's true god is what he depends upon most -- be it one's work, one's belongings, one's money, one's romantic interest/spouse/ child, or even a presidential candidate.
I recently read the book, The Shack. In it, William Young paints a beautiful representation of the interdependence of the Godhead, rooted in the purest deepest form of love and fellowship. He longs for us to tap into it, but that comes only if we surrender that independence that charms us most -- which is little more than dependence on things other than God himself. It demands a breaking.
Oswald Chambers put it this way in Monday's devotional: "Has that breaking of my independence come? All the rest is religious fraud. The one point to decide is— will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable— 'I have been crucified with Christ . . . .'"
Want to do something radical? How about declaring DEpendence day. Ironically, that day of surrender may bring the greatest victory your life has ever known.
Can we say, "I want dependence!" Dependence, no matter what God asks me to walk through, however the brokenness may come, I give up the right to know "why"all the time. I make the choice to simply depend.
Dependence? Ick. It reeks of weakness and helplessness -- void of security, self sufficiency and all those things we cherish most. For those of us who are Americans, our culture and national history and pride are rooted in independence. It represents a fundamental element of our national identity. And as a result, I fear, it oozes over into our understanding of the Christian life.
But let me throw in a curve ball. What if God never created us for independence?
Think about it. From the earliest days of creation in the garden, when the world was perfect, man was not independent. He was truly DEpendent on God for everything and he knew it. God provided his food, his water, and even his companionship. Man recognized God as truly Jehovah Jireh.
It was man's demand for independence that got him into trouble there.
Now we go through life masquerading under a facade of independence, but are we really so independent? Children depend on parents, husbands on wives and vice versa. Families and individuals depend on their jobs. Many older people depend on social security... etc. The list goes on and on.
So it is not that we are truly INdependent. It is simply that we are independent of God. Perhaps one's true god is what he depends upon most -- be it one's work, one's belongings, one's money, one's romantic interest/spouse/ child, or even a presidential candidate.
I recently read the book, The Shack. In it, William Young paints a beautiful representation of the interdependence of the Godhead, rooted in the purest deepest form of love and fellowship. He longs for us to tap into it, but that comes only if we surrender that independence that charms us most -- which is little more than dependence on things other than God himself. It demands a breaking.
Oswald Chambers put it this way in Monday's devotional: "Has that breaking of my independence come? All the rest is religious fraud. The one point to decide is— will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable— 'I have been crucified with Christ . . . .'"
Want to do something radical? How about declaring DEpendence day. Ironically, that day of surrender may bring the greatest victory your life has ever known.
Can we say, "I want dependence!" Dependence, no matter what God asks me to walk through, however the brokenness may come, I give up the right to know "why"all the time. I make the choice to simply depend.
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