Sabbath Time

We are taking a couple days of Sabbath time this weekend. Dan usually studies at least a half day on Saturdays and sometimes longer, but we've decided to enjoy a "normal" weekend of rest and relaxation. Nancy will do some sewing and reading, and Dan will mostly piddle around the house, watch some football, and enjoy some time with Spanish. We will also go for a walk each day, taking advantage of sunshine and highs close to 60. We are thankful for the concept of sabbath and glad that God not only invented it but also endorses it. Monday and Tuesday of next week will be two intense study days as Dan writes a position paper for his healing class. John and Tara will arrive Tuesday evening for a Thanksgiving visit (gloria a Dios!), and Dan wants his paper finished before they get here. After Thanksgiving the focus turns to making revisions to his dissertation proposal chapter, working on a group project in the healing class, and making final preparations for his proposal defense in mid-December. Please pray for God's hand to guide this process. Thank you for your continued prayer partnership with us during this time of equipping! Many Blessings, Dan and Nancy

Proposal Chapter Submitted

We are celebrating the submission of Dan's dissertation proposal chapter last night. Hurray! The next two weeks he will focus on catching up with assignments for his healing class, then he hopes to have his proposal defense in early December. If this proceeds according to plan, and without too many revisions to the research and writing schedule that he is proposing, he will be released to begin his research late December. Thank you for your prayer support during this arduous yet enjoyable time of equipping. And thanks be to God for God's incredible faithfulness and provision.

Relational Dimensions of Fully Flourishing Life

A couple days ago we talked about Fully Flourishing Life in Jesus Christ. Today it behooves us to think about the relational/communal dimensions of new life in Christ. What is the relationship between my experience of fully flourishing life in Christ and your experience of it? Can a person experience the life that God intends outside of relationship? Is our experience of God’s fully flourishing life somehow linked with our sensitivity to, and ministry with, others? How privatized can the experience of life in Christ be? How communal should it be? Miroslav Volf has written a book titled Exclusion and Embrace, in which he talks about the human tendency to fear and loathe "the other," because the self is under threat of disappearance, loss, and death. In response to the fear of losing our "self," we respond to others in one of four ways. We try to conquer then, or we isolate ourselves from them, or we relate with them contractually, or we surrender to them (meaning we capitulate, but don't enter into true mutual relationship).

Volf suggests that this impacts our participation in "life flow," meaning that when we respond in one of these four ways based on our fear, we block the possibility of life flowing from us to others, and from them to us. He encourages us to embrace others with love. Vitally important, however, is that the love we must embrace them with is not our own love, but God's love flowing through us. It's suicidal to try to give our own love to others. We can only love others when we move into and get hold of God's love for ourselves. We must love out of God's supply of love and life. When we do this, then we can give the gift of true God-love, and we know that we are doing this when we see that the other person is coming alive and thriving. A core dimension of truly flourishing life in Christ, therefore, is that we help other people blossom, flourish, and thrive. Ask yourself, therefore: Do I help other people thrive? The life that God intends for all of us cannot be experienced or shared outside the scope of relationships, nor at the expense of other persons.

Trading our Sorrows

I heard a short teaching time last night related to healing, based on the worship song, “I’m Trading My Sorrows,” which includes the chorus, “Yes, Lord, Yes.” The presenter referred to the fact that healing is often closely related to how much we say “yes” to the Lord, but that it also relates to how fully and honestly we embrace (say "yes" to) our suffering and sorrow. There are times when we suffer and endure sorrow due to decisions which other people make rather than due to our own choices. This can cause deep feelings of anger and resentment. For healing to occur in our lives, we must come to a point where we acknowledge and own those feelings as being real, rather than keeping them pushed down. God won’t heal things that we insist on hiding from Him.

Once we acknowledge and own the feelings, we must choose to say “yes” to our unjust suffering. We must choose to embrace it, accept it. In this sense, we not only say “yes” to the Lord, but we also say “yes” to our sorrow and suffering. There are things in our lives that we simply have to surrender to, and then God can redeem them. He cannot redeem them if we keep saying “no” to them. Integrity and truth have to come together. Because Jesus became a man of sorrows He can take our sorrows. If we will deal with our sorrows with truthful acknowledgement and integrity, we can trade our sorrows for the joy of the Lord.

Fully Flourishing Life

As part of the Spirit's receny teaching in my life, I have pondering the notion of Fully Flourishing Life. Especially in light of the numerous references to life in the gospel of John, it seems to me that too many Christians have an undernourished view of the gospel. They follow Christ "somewhat," perhaps with integrity but also a bit half-heartedly, with the result that their lives are "moderately touched" by Jesus, but not truly transformed. The question I would raise is this: are you experiencing the Fully Flourishing Life that God intends and desires for you? Or have you settled for less? This not only impacts you, but it also impacts the non-Christians in your life. If you do not understand and experience the Fully Flourishing Life that God-in-Christ makes possible, you won't be able to share that life with others. The Greek word for "gospel" means "good news." We might ask ourselves, therefore, what is "good" about the "good news"? "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10 ESV).

The Gift of the Body of Christ

Today we are grateful for the gift of the Body of Christ, the fellowship of believers. What brings this to mind is the experience we had over the past couple weeks. Two weeks ago we were planning to drive to Milledgeville, Georgia to visit for a couple days with our good friends Virgil and Jo. Through a phone call, however, we found out that Virgil's mother had been moved to the Serenity Room in her nursing home in Vidalia, Georgia, to live out her last few days. After thinking and praying, we decided to drive the next day to Vidalia so that we could support Virgil and Jo during this time. It was a great joy to be a part of their lives during this important phase in their journey, and we are grateful that God made this possible. We sat with them some in the nursing home, as they provided 24/7 care for "Miss Nell," talking, laughing, plus reading Scripture and singing hymns to Miss Nell. She went to be with the Lord last Thursday, and the funeral was this past Monday. Miss Nell's church (Tabernacle Baptist) was very supportive during this time, with pastoral visits, a covered dish meal, and a beautiful funeral service. Additionally, the local UMC helped find a family who could host us for four of our nights in Vidalia, which saved a lot of hotel money. So in the midst of this situation, two congregations, two pastors, a particular family, and untold numbers of invidual Christians, were used by the Lord to be an instrument of His love for Virgil, Jo, their family, and us. There is great room for improvement in how churches in the USA understand and live out the gospel of Christ, but there is also much to celebrate, and we experienced that personally over the past two weeks. Thank You, Lord, for people in the USA around the world who love You, and in so doing, are our brothers and sisters, who also love us. Thank You, Lord for the gift of the Family of God.

Passed the Quals!

Good news - Dan has found out this week that he passed his Qualifying Exams. Thank you for your prayers a few weeksk ago when he was in the midst of preparing for and taking the exams. His next big task is to write his dissertation proposal chapter, which is due in 20 days. Much Love, Dan and Nancy