Family Joy

My last posts took place in South America. This one is from South[ern] America--Mississippi.

My greatest joy of the past month (June) was not my birthday, or Father's Day; my greatest delight was sneaking down to Peru to surprise my baby girl at her graduation from high school.

We had pulled Melissa out of her school, The International Christian School of Lima, to bring her home for an unexpected furlough, known in our circles as "stateside assignment," or "STAS." ICSL was kind and allowed us to continue her studies via correspondence. With that assurance from them I promised Melissa I would do all in my power to allow her to return to march in her class's graduation.

But there was not going to be enough dollars, Euros, or Soles, to get all three of us down there. God was kind to us (he always is) and provided buddy passes for Pam and Melissa. So down they went. At the time we got those passes, it looked impossible for me to join them. The airline pilot who gave us those passes, though, had another one he could share; and he shared it with me.

Being the devious person I am, I chose to keep that information between Pam, the pilot, and me. So, two days before graduation, while Melissa was taking her final exams, I sauntered into the building. No words can describe the shock, joy, and exhuberation Melissa showed when she looked down the hallway and saw me.

No words can adequately describe Pam's or my joy and pride over Melissa's accomplishment.

So now our lives will change; Pam and I will return to South America in a couple of months. This time we go without children. It's a bittersweet feeling. We are both excited and sad. It's been something like 25 years since our nest has been empty.

Those events made for a very full June. Now comes July...

Finishing Well

Like many sports fans, I watched the game tonight; the BIG game. And what a game it was! I was pleased with the intensity that both teams displayed, especially the Giants. Until the last quarter. It seemed they felt being ahead was good enough. It seemed like their passion melted into medicocrity. To be sure, they picked up the pace in the last 2.5 minutes. Sort of. Maybe. But the damage had been done. The clock ticked down. With one minute to go, Eli Manning made it interesting.

Sports historians and fans won't remember the losing team for long. They will remember the winning one, though. That is what we do; we remember winners.

The Giants could have been the team we remembered. If they had finished well, we would have remembered them. If those first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter had been played with the same passion as the rest of the game, then we would be talking about the Giants now.

That is what I want to do. I want to finish well. I don't just want to begin well; I want to end well. To be sure, I want that to happen about 40 years from now, or when Jesus returns--whichever comes first. It doesn't need to end today!

What does finishing well mean for me? It means preaching and teaching with more depth and understanding than I did last year. It means loving with more passion than ever. It means proclaiming the gospel with more urgency than I had as a young man.

For every Christian, finishing well means a greater intimacy with Jesus. It means being so in love with the Lord that we delight being in his presence more than anything else. It's not unlike Moses, when he sat in the niche in the rock on Mount Sinai as God passed by, showing him his glory. It is not unlike Enoc, who walked with God and one day just walked on into God's presence, where he remains to this day.

Maybe it's age I hear creeping up on me; but I find myself taking stock and paying more attention every year, every month, even most weeks. I want to be sure I finish well.

You can finish well, too. But to finish well you must begin well. You must begin with a repentant heart and with a faith placed in Jesus alone. After all, it is Jesus who died for your sin. It is Jesus who was buried and raised from the dead.

If you have placed your faith in anything else--say, a particular church, or keeping the commandments, or your own good works--then turn to Jesus now. Place your trust in him and call on him to be the Master and God of your life.

Begin well.

Live well.

Finish well.

Don't Look Back!

The frightened family packed up in the middle of the night. They could only get out with what they could carry, nothing more. The messenger gave them one stern warning: don't look back. In the bedlam and meelee surrounding them, the four of them wormed their way to the edge of the city. There were no cars to be found. There was no bus to take. This family would have to walk. Onward they trudged, fumbling and stumbling down the unlit road.

Before long, the family heard the commotion behind them. They heard the horrid screams as men, women, and children died under the fire bombs that pelted the city. When they hesitated for a moment, Dad suddenly rebuked the family, "Don't look back!" As they maneuvered through the darkness, the nameless wife and mother could stand it no more. She had to look. Most of her life had been invested in that city. Her friends were there. Her house was there. Her furnishings were there. So she dared look back. And in that one instance of regret, Lot's wife became a pillar of salt, forever frozen in time. Why? Because she craved and delighted in what she no longer had. And it cost her. It cost her two daughters. It cost her husband.

To my knowledge, that scene has never again been repeated. But how many times do we look back with remorse over what we had, not taking time to take stock and think about what we have?

Many among Israel, those who left Egypt with Moses, looked back with longing for the flesh pots of Egypt. It was symbolic of craving the sinful life. They died, wandering in a wilderness never intended for them.

Jesus said that a man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is not a worthy disciple; he said that man is not even fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).

That is looking back with remorse. There are those who also look back with delight. Paul wrote of this in Philippians 3. He spoke of all he had before he knew the Lord. He spoke, correctly so, of his bragging rights. Then he said he would forget that which was behind and press forward. Sometimes that is incomprehensible to me. Other times I think I can grasp a little of it.

One of my friends was driving my wife and girls to the airport one day. As he turned to the right at the corner, a bag in the back seat began to totter towards one of the passengers. He looked back while he turned, grasped the bag, and tried to right it. He forgot he was turning a corner. The truck continued right; this is a mechanical law regarding steering wheels. Much to my friend's dismay, the journey was suddenly interrupted by a large tree that stood in the way of the truck. Now to be fair to the tree, it was on the sidewalk. To be fair to the sidewalk, it did not extend into the right-hand lane. It is what happens when you drive while you are looking back. That is looking back with carelessness.

I know a Christian woman who had one story to tell me each time I visited her. She was in her 60's by then. She still had a lot of physical and emotional strength; just ask her family. Yet, when it came to spiritual things, this woman could only look back. She could only tell me what she used to do some 30 years earlier. She had not done anything since then. I wanted to shout to her, "Don't look back!"

What does that have to do with missions somewhere in South America? It's kind of simple, perhaps too much so. Some of us have bragging rights. We have done well. We have seen a lot of professions of faith; we have planted some churches. We could be tempted to relax and rest on what we have done. If we are wise, we won't look back.

Others of us did not do too well, if you measured things statistically. We tried; but, based on some definition of "success," we were anything but successful. If we look back, we could be tempted to discouragement. We could succumb to those voices that accuse us of failure. If we are wise, we won't look back.

Where should we look? Wherever Jesus is! Look there. Fix your vision on him. And go where he says to go. You may not turn into a pillar of salt by looking back; but you could find yourself running into a tree. So don't look back!