Summer Continued

At church Sunday I was encouraged by the pastor's topical message on idolatry. He began with 2 Kings 17:41a, “So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images.” I don't want to be like “these nations” and I still praise God I've put down the greatest idol of my life and experienced blessing and sanctification because of it. I noticed that some of the statements and points in this message were similar one he preached years ago titled, “Identifying our Baals.” I remember it well and made sure to get a copy of the CD because it was used of God in a profound way to begin to reveal to me the idol I once loved... the carved image of sorts in my life. This past Sunday served as a kind of bookend to the earlier sermon. I could sit and rejoice this time because God had done a great work in my heart. My heart belongs wholly to Him first before any woman or any romantic interest. A refreshing Sunday morning.

This summer has been emotionally challenging and yet as I've seen God's gracious and preparatory hand in all of it, the challenge has been seasoned with an abiding joy. I continue to meet with my married friend for accountability and prayer each week. After some good counseling and much prayer I'm sure the marriage is doing better and much healing is taking place. I praise the Lord for that so much. I continue to pray for them and other marriages, relationships, and couples that aren't couples yet... that they may not live in the fairytale of “happily ever after,” but in the reality of “for better or worse, till death do us part.” Real life isn't usually a like a Disney movie. We need the resolve to love despite and before the problems come not in the midst of them. We need a love that flows not from fickle feelings and preferences, but from the love of and for Christ Himself... because if it begins with Him it also begins with a commitment to honoring Him in the covenant of marriage. I'm not there yet, but I'm already learning that there may be times in marriage when our love for each other will not be enough. The Lord and honoring Him may be the only love we have to carry us through. In those times if we're too wrapped up in our own selfish belief that marriage is for our sustained happiness OR if we're so wrapped up in love for a human being that we miss God... it won't last. I've been able to read a book this summer called, “Saving Your Marriage Before (and after) it Starts” By Les and Leslie Parrott. While the book needs to be more openly Christian and relies on research and expert studies for some things, I think the wisdom and experience by this Christian couple are great for anyone who wants to be married some day. Apparently there's a workbook that goes with it. I hate workbooks, but I think this one might be worth it. I would only recommend it to Christians though. The book tries to be evangelistic, but falls very short of a clear gospel presentation.

This summer I've also been spending a lot of time with my mom. Her seizures have stopped, but last Wednesday my sister and I took her to the doctor. It's hard because we know she doesn't have the money to pay for the doctor and likely won't, but the alternative is that she gets no medical care and we couldn't allow that. Hard decisions. She went in because her stomach had swollen up to where she looked pregnant. In fact I told her she should've told the doctors during a test, “You know I really think it's a boy.” She's usually resistant to going to a hospital but she saw something on TV that scared her. My sister and I saw this as an opportunity to take her for what we knew was likely a different problem. She's had two boyfriends in the past die because their alcoholism shut down their liver and it burst inside them. Apparently she has been on her way to the same thing. She stayed from Wednesday to Friday. It turned out she was low on a lot of vitamins. She doesn't hardly eat anything. So they pumped her full of vitamins. The swollen stomach was exactly what we'd thought. Her liver was having a hard time filtering fluids so they were filling up her stomach. They drained some of the fluid in a painful operation. They found an infection in her liver and pancreas due to excessive drinking. She's also having trouble controlling her bladder. In some respects the children have become the parents now. She's still weak and still swollen, but she's eating more. We're hoping the prescriptions will help. While she was at the hospital my sister and I poured out the alcohol and even found the little amount of leftover drugs and 4 or 5 pipes that I tried to trash years ago. Those are now disposed of.

Through all this it's been good to grow closer to my sister. We had to search for her birth certificate and we looked through a large chest that contained years of photos that only a mom would have. It was a trip through memory lane for sure. We found high school photos of my mom, pics of my sister and I together when we were young... some of the photos stolen sneakily of us while we were sleeping next to each other. I took some I wanna put up on facebook when I get back to campus. My sister and I went out to eat, went to see the new story movie, all in between visits to see my mom in the hospital. We also went and paid the bills for my mom, took money out of the bank, bought groceries, and budgeted a bit. We felt like roommates for a few days. My mom asked me to mow her lawn as I'd offered a while back. So Monday I went home for some supplies and returned to her house. My sister and I spent about 4 hours on yard work. Her backyard was a forest of weeds, holes, and anthills. We trimmed branches, mowed, and did plenty of weed eating. I'd never used a weed eater before, but now I know how for sure lol. I taught my sister how to use it and the lawnmower. She still isn't strong enough to pull the rip cords. It was cute to watch her try though. I'm at my house now with my dad (sister lives with mom) and Lord willing I'll spend another week over there in early August before returning to school. It's been nice to minister to my mom and sister this past week. I've shared the gospel with them many times and in many ways. They know the truth. They just haven't received it. Please pray with me that the Lord will use my actions of love to confirm the greater love I have for their eternal destiny. It's now a matter of supporting with my hands the message I've shared with my mouth. I've also seen this as an opportunity to get a taste of home ownership and life. It's been a joy to be the man of the house they don't have... to do the yard work, to help with budgeting, to run errands, to be there as emotional support, to help with dinner, and to play a board game before bed. It was like a taste of life with my future family. During yardwork I told my sister of how that weed eater was hard on my forearms. She asked if I could do this for a job. I told her I think I could get used to it.

The other part of my summer has been devoted to a little preaching. I preached 1 Samuel 17 on David and Goliath. It was an encouraging and rich study. It was exciting to tackle such a familiar story with the tools I've learned from Bible college. I get to preach again in about 2 weeks. I'll continue in 1 Samuel 18. Thankfully I've got almost 2 weeks to prepare this time. The Lord is doing so much in my heart this summer and I'm SO excited to see what He'll do in my life in the next few years ahead. After preaching chapter 17 a woman at church said, “I know of a church that needs an Associate Pastor.” My curiosity asked further. She was referring to our our church. I only wonder what God will do in the near future. Something else that's funny... last december a lady at church tried to set me up with an older woman who taught at a Bible college in New York. I was naive to what was going on at first. We never spoke though. I wasn't all that excited when they referred to her as “crazy missionary lady” lol. And this summer I was told my mom's friend had a daughter that was also 25 and was studying “religion” (whatever that meant) and that she would be at some church event I was planning to go to if I didn't work. Part of me is thankful I was working that day! Anyway... still praying. Still trusting. Still doing ministry. Still putting the Lord first. I know the details of my life are in His hands and I can't wait to unwrap the good gifts of a sovereign God when they are given at just the right time.