Reposted emails: The Mark of a Christian?

Okay, I admit it. I sometimes get annoyed by the dozens of emails I receive telling me that I have to forward a post to at least 12 people or I am not a real Christian or that I am ashamed of Jesus. Today, someone's facebook status read:

"They may want to take Christ out of Christmas, but they can never take Christ out of me. If you are proud to be a Christian and are not ashamed of Christ then post this as your status for 1 day as a light to the world. Most people will be to (sic) ashamed or scared to do this. This was posted by a friend. If you agree, copy and paste to your wall."

Before I go on, let me state a few things clearly. I am exceedingly grateful for the gift God offered me that first Christmas. I know that I am nothing apart from Christ. However, on principle, I never forward these types of posts. Here is the reason; forwarding an email or reposting a facebook status is not the mark of a Christian; rather, it is love for others (John 13:34-35).

Francis Schaeffer, who wrote the brief, but influential, "The Mark of the Christian" stated it this way, "What then shall we conclude but that as the Samaritan loved the wounded man, we as Christians are called upon to love all men as neighbors, loving them as ourselves. Second, that we are to love all true Christian brothers in a way that the world may observe. This means showing love to our brother in the midst of our differences — great or small — loving our brothers when it costs us something, loving them even under times of tremendous emotional tension, loving them in a way the world can see. In short, we are to practice and exhibit the holiness of God and the love of God, for without this we grieve the Holy Spirit.

Love — and the unity it attests to — is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father."

So, rather than forwarding that email, bring a meal for a co-worker you really don't like, go shovel your neighbor's walk, or spend some time at a youth center. I promise these activities will be more luminous to the world than a mass email.

You can read The Mark of the Christian here.

Word and Deed

In reading the Gospels, I am regularly struck by the power of Jesus words. As I posted recently, words are powerful and Jesus' are particularly so. But as I read John 6 this morning, I was struck by Jesus' actions. I think a key to understanding this is found in verse 26. "Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." It appears many were first drawn to Christ because of what He did for them. This allowed the opportunity to share His words. He fed them, body and spirit.

The early church understood this message. In Acts 6, the apostles (elders?) called together all the disciples and they appointed 7 brothers (deacons?) to minister to the physical needs of the widows-both Hebrew and Greek. They recognized this as an essential part of the growth of the early church.

We too, are called to minister to others by serving them. Consider Isaiah 58:6-10:
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.

The whole book of James also calls us to minister to others. James 2:14-16 reads "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?"

We are to "pour ourselves out" for others. It is true that it is by grace alone that we are saved, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). With that said, although our works do not save us, they may open a door for us to introduce others to Christ and so lead them to a saving faith. So let us serve others as we share with them about the love of Jesus.

God's Timing

God is in the details- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Tomorrow morning, my mother and I will board a plane for New York City to pick up Tessa who will be arriving on a plane from Africa. We should arrive about two hours before Tessa. We will leave 6 hours after we arrive. Back to Minneapolis--an additional passenger in tow. There are many details, but God is in control of them.

Consider the last several months--God has been ever present. Last summer, we felt a sense of urgency to get our home study done quickly, but God slowed the process. If He hadn't, we would not have been able to adopt Tessa. In October, we were given a much quicker embassy date than we anticipated. Later, because of Heather's cancer, we had to adjust some of our paperwork--in fact, it had to go through 4 different federal offices. We were told that the average time for processing on the second step was 2.5 months. Ours took about 2 weeks. I was told the third step would take 2-4 weeks. Ours took 4 days. We had to rely entirely on God to provide an embassy date for getting Tessa's visa the following day. It was given.

Another unusual circumstance was that our social worker was supposed to come back to the USA last week. Due to unforeseen circumstances (another child's visa not coming through), she stayed in Africa an additional week. We were still unsure because the flights from Africa to the USA didn't fit with our her schedule. In fact, she emailed Heather earlier in the week and said "I just don't know how that I can make this work, I am sorry." Things changed and she adjusted her schedule again. This provided enough time to get Tessa's paperwork through 3 different offices. Barrier after barrier has been knocked down. Heather spoke with a travel agent yesterday who marveled at the rapidity of our process the mercurial changes and asked how it happened. She replied, "we have over 100 people praying for us."

I have been jointly praying for God's timing, but also a December 17th embassy date, fully aware of the hurdles, indeed the earthly impossibility, of it happening. The heavenly irony is that we didn't get a date on the 17th, we got one on the 16th, which I believe was God's clear message to me that He loves me, he loves Tessa, but that He is in control of the clock.

We couldn't do it.
Our social worker couldn't do it.
Only God could.
And He Did.

For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
-Habakkuk 2:3

Waxing Contemplative

Wax--to grow or become as specified.

A conversation with some fellow men this morning has had me considering changes God takes us through. As an introvert, one stated that his nature leads him to desire solitude. As a salesman, he does not fit their typical gregarious personality, yet still thrives in the role. Before his conversion, he preferred quiet weekends at home, yet as he has grown in his faith, he has recognized the benefit of social engagement, indeed thriving during busy weekends spent with fellow believers.

I am opposite. Most of my life has been spent in the pursuit of others, of relationships. I have always believed that I grow most in community. Unfortunately, this extroverted tendency has led me to downplay the necessity of social reprieve and contemplation.

Cancer has forced isolation upon me. I have much less opportunity to interact with others, which carries with it a certain sadness. Most of the time, I notice my countenance darken the longer the isolation persists. This feeling is compounded as my mother-in-law helps us out because my wife, an introvert, has many of her social needs met during the day. The mother-in-law/cancer combination leaves little her with little leftover social energy.

An increased desire for contemplation was an unexpected gift. I use this God-given time to mull things over. I am able to process God's word and how it relates to my life. I am able to pray for God's will and his guidance. I pray that God uses these times as a way to deepen my faith and to draw my closer to Him and, somewhat ironically, to others.

Jesus spent much of his adult ministry literally surrounded by people, pressing in from every side. He poured His lives into them. He poured His life out for them. Yet, there is unmistakable evidence that he found time away, time to contemplate and pray. Christ recognized the importance of time alone with His father; I pray that I continue to learn this lesson.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.-Mark 1:35

You Never Let Go

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I’m caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won’t turn back
I know You are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We’ll live to know You here on the earth

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

He knows

She has no idea who we are yet. She lives out her daily routine under the watchful care of her nannies, oblivious to the fact of how her life will change in a few short weeks. I suspect that her life is one of regularity now, encompassed by some interaction with the other orphans and the nannies, but rarely with the outside world, apart from the occasionally annoying flashbulb popping in her face.


















We have some idea of who she is. We live out our lives in a daily routine, now occupied by chemotherapy, patient seeing, daily lessons and play, oblivious of how our lives will change. We may feel as though our lives have some regularity (if nothing else, chemotherapy and the additional treatments add a twisted sort of routine). We interact with friends, with our church, and with doctors. We wait with excited anticipation for her arrival, yet not know when that will be.






















God, in His omniscience, knows her and knows us...intimately. He knows when she will be here. He knows how our routines will mesh. He knows how she will graft into our family tree. What, for us, is exciting and at times anxiety provoking, He already has planned out for our good. He knows.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.-Psalm 139:16b (NIV)

Faith in Storms

Heather has been reading a devotional entitled Proven Promises by Howard Vanderwell. She received it from my aunt Ann, who had breast cancer many years ago. This morning, she read a devotional entitled "Faith in Storms" (p.27). We were both moved by this reading, so I wanted to share it in its entirety here.

Faith, by its very nature, cries out to be exercised in those times in life when the storms are the most severe. As a matter of fact, faith seems to be more at home in sorrow than in the calm.

Jesus' message to his disciples in this Galilean storm is very simple yet profound. "Yes, I understand you fear. But I expect you to say, 'I see the waves, and I feel the wind, and I know the boat is tossing, and I even observe the water coming into the boat.' And then I call you to say 'but'...'but I see Jesus and I trust his care.'"

And His message to many of us is the same. He meets us in our valleys and says, "Yes, I understand you fear. But you must learn to say 'but'. You must say, 'I heard the doctors reports, and I feel the pain, and I know the threat of malignancy, and I sense the disappointment of it all...but...I see Jesus and I trust His care of me.'"

Faith does not hide from the storms. It does not try to rationalize them away. Faith stares right into the face of all storms and then say "but...I also see Jesus...and I trust Him to care for me."

The devotional may be ordered from:
Dr Howard D. Vanderwell
3770 Black Creek Drive
Hudsonville, MI 49426

Samson's Weakness

As a young boy, I found great joy listening to the story of Samson and Delilah at my grandmother's side. She would read me tales of kings, and large fish, and a perfect garden, but none intrigued me like the story of Samson. In my memory, Samson was the strongest of the strong, informed partly from the Bible story, but also, I assume from the caricatures presented through Hanna-Barbera renditions of Samson & Delilah or their short-lived series, Young Samson and Goliath. Samson was a long-haired, ultra-masculine body builder type who never backed down from a challenge. He was, in my understanding, without weakness.

As an adult, I have developed a richer appreciation of the story of Samson. His physical strength was indeed without equal. He tore apart a lion with his bare hands (Judges 14:6). He killed 30 men and took their garments (Judges 14:19). He even killed 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15).

Story after story in Judges 14-16 testify to Samson's physical prowess. Intermixed, however, we also read of Samson's prominent weaknesses, which I missed as a child. As I have pondered these two stories, Samson was beset by two significant sins that face many men today--lust and pride.

When Samson first to be married, he saw a Philistine woman and requested her for his wife. His parents asked that he consider someone from his own tribe. Samson is unrelenting, saying "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes." He appeared to lust for her, which affected his ability to accept wise counsel. Although this experience allowed opportunity for Samson to exercise God's judgment against the Philistines, in the meantime, he was taken advantage of and his wife was given to another man. Later, Samson goes in to a prostitute in Gaza and is nearly ambushed by the Gazites.

"After this he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah" (Judges 16:4), again a woman not of his tribe. This woman, Delilah, was to be his downfall--first because of lust and later because of pride. Delilah continually pesters Samson about the source of his strength and he continually lies to her. When he finally does reveal to her the source, she cuts his hair and calls in the Philistines. He attempts to rise against them, not knowing that God had left him. They gouge out his eyes and set him as a slave.

His prayer in 16:28 finally reveals a sense of humility, "O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes" and God once again strengthens him because he acknowledged that his strength was from God and from no other source.

I pray that men today would learn lessons from Samson. Not that Samson was an Ultimate Fighting Champion, but that lust and pride led to his blindness and enslavement, and ultimately to his death. Samson's strength, and ours, comes through our weakness and the Lord's strength and good favor.

For the Moments I Feel Faint

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
-Isaiah 40:28-31

I am not someone prone to weariness. I am an optimist who typically only experiences occasional bouts of the blues and they rarely last long. Yesterday was one of those dark days. Heather has been experiencing wave upon wave of side effects from surgery and chemotherapy including multiple infections, back pain, nausea, and fatigue. Every time it seems that she is getting better, something else comes along.

I was looking forward to yesterday. A day of Thanksgiving. A morning spent in the woods with a good friend. A reprieve. I prayed that I might make it through the morning hunt, that Heather would feel well, that my children would behave, and that I would come home refreshed.

Despite a brisk morning and a deep chill, on the drive home I felt good, but then I found out that a friend had to come to take the kids. Heather could not manage the 6 hours I was gone. I felt irritated, worried, and guilty but more than anything, I felt the weariness that had begun to abate seeping back in. I felt weighed down again. When we went to bed last night, Heather asked me if I was okay. I told her that I felt overwhelmed with all of the responsibility on my shoulders. I was that young man who fell, exhausted.

This morning, I awoke with a renewed sense of calm. I was reminded yet again that I will not make it through this on my own, but only through God's uplifting strength. As I read Isaiah 40 this morning, he reminded me that as I wait on Him, He will be my supply, my strength, my source.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Cherished Father,
Thank you for creating in me a heart designed for gratitude
and this year, in particular, for reminding me
to be grateful

I thank you for the undeserved gift of your Son.
I am utterly broken whenever I ponder the cross
and Jesus' sacrifice
and Yours
That saved me from an eternity of despair

Thank you for the gift of my wife
the woman whom you have entrusted to me
who has remained my joy
and my love

Thank you for my children
who live with vitality and passion every moment
and who look bravely to the future
casting a vision unclouded by doubt or fear

Thank you for adopting us as your children
demonstrating that we are true heirs in your kingdom
and allowing us to share that gift of adoption
with one of your precious little ones

Thank you for dear family and friends
who help us, support us, and love us
who we met on this journey
and who walk with us along the way

Thank you for secure employment
and a desire work diligently
to provide support for my family

Thank you for teaching trust
encouraging hope and
deepening faith
through Heather's cancer

Lord, above all
I thank you for your never ending mercies
which remind me forever of your greatness
and instill hope that endures no matter what storms we encounter