Take Time to Consider What Great Things God Has Done.

I came across this crazy video this morning of a lady using her cell phone to video tape a couple of trucks driving down the road when all of a sudden one of the trucks hits a 2x4 which propels it through her windshield! CRAZY! I would have screamed and soiled my pants! The drivers name is Wendy Cobb and you can read her story here.



Wendy’s video got me thinking about all the close calls I’ve had in life and the fact that life itself is a blessing. Actually, when I think about it, God has blessed my beyond measure!

One of the things I’ve learned (and am still learning) over the years is the importance of counting my blessings. This is a great faith exercise. Sometimes I will even make a list of the things I’m thankful for today. Samuel reminded the people to do this same thing in 1 Samuel 12:24:
“But be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you.”

It’s easy to be negative - to point out the wrong - to get discouraged. But, when we stop to consider all God has done it changes things. I heard a pastor say, “your uplook changes you outlook.” I agree.

So, what are you thankful for today? Have you every made a list of the amazing things God has done in your life?

Trail Riding

Saturday was the opening day of turkey hunting here in Tennessee. Up to this point I had only turkey hunted in Missouri - one of the best turkey hunting states in the nation. Finding a spot to hunt around Nashville has proved to be a challenge. But, I did find one friend who allowed me and my brother to do some hunting on their property in Cheatham County. It’s basically 1,600 acres of beautiful rolling hills and woods that run along the Harpeth River.

Needless to say, we didn’t see or hear a turkey. But we had a blast driving the logging roads in my brothers jeep. Here are some pics of our trail riding experience. Hopefully the next hunting trip will also allow us to bring home some wild turkey meat!

Transitions

To say the last two years have been a stretch for our family may be a huge understatement. About two years ago I left the church I had pastored for 6 1/2 years to work with International Missions in Nashville, Tn as a program director. We pulled up our roots, packed up our belongings, put our home on the market, and made the leap to the music city.

This meant a new school for our girls, transitioning our ministry, a new teaching position for Julie, and renting a home until the Missouri house sold. As I look back, it’s so obvious how God opened doors and carried our family through those times of transition.

God provided Julie with a great teaching job in the Nashville Public School system. The girls transitioned back to Donelson Christian Academy and quickly made new friends. After living several months with family then in some friends basement we found a wonderful place to rent. We began to attend our former church The Donelson Fellowship where I served as Minister of Adults for five years. The campaign I worked with went well and after its completion I was able to transition into another position with The Hanna Project. Huge blessings.

And, the transitions continue - and yes, He is with us each step of the way.

Here we are, two years later, and we are moving again. This time its because we have found a home to purchase just south of Nashville in the town of Nolensville. As you can well imagine, we are pretty excited about unpacking our boxes, many of which have stayed packed up for the last two years. We are so thankful our home in Missouri sold and that we were able to find a new place to call home.

Karlee is graduating from High School in a couple of months and praying about which college to attend.

Kassidy and Klaire will once again be moving to a new school system next year. Not so easy for Kassidy as she will be entering her 8th grade year with all new friends.

I have to be honest and say that I’m hoping we can get moved and settled over the next few months. And yet, part of me understands that I’m learning life is full of continual transitions. God never promised things would be easy. And, as challenging as we may think our lives have been over the past couple of years - it’s nothing compared to what some people are facing today in Japan, Africa, or countless other parts of the world.

As I was praying through things this morning, God led me to a devotional written by Rick Warren. He used the following passage as his focus;

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 2 Corinthians 3:5 (NIV)

The title of his devotion was God Can Even Though I Can’t. Again a great lesson for me today. Here are two quotes by Rick that I liked;

“The only way you will fulfill God’s destiny for you this decade is to rely on God’s strength. And that means you have to confess ‘I can’t’ before you can agree ‘God can.”

"God wants you to start taking steps toward your destiny. Ask him to teach you to hear his voice and then believe that he will guide you through the decisions and details of your life."

Life is full of transitions and change. Each day is a gift and an incredible opportunity for us to continually learn to follow Christ and to lean upon Him for our strength.

What are some transitions you have been going through and what have you been learning as you go through them?

Amazing perspective from Japan - Shocks, Aftershocks, and Meltdowns

Please take a moment to read this amazing perspective from a missionary family serving in Japan. Then, take the time to pray and please consider giving to help their efforts.

Here's a direct link to Ruth's blog. ruthnasia

Shocks, Aftershocks, and Meltdowns

Six full days have passed since the earthquake and tsunami, and I think I've done fairly well until today. I guess a meltdown was bound to happen sooner or later.

In the past week, life as my family and I have experienced it for the past 25 years in Japan has become almost unrecognizable. We've always joked about not being "real missionaries" because of all the conveniences, electronic gadgets, and luxuries that are available to us. One of our favorite pastimes as students in language school was to try to come up with things to complain about -- it was hard!

With a suddenness that leaves us dazed, we have (like the Velveteen Rabbit) finally become real! Blackouts, aftershocks, alarms and sirens. Grocery stores with no food, gas stations with no gas, trains parked at the station. School closed until further notice because of power shortages and unreliable train service.

Our family of 4 decided to treat it like one big adventure. We got out our bicycles, candles, flashlights, and emergency backs. We cuddled around our pre-charged laptop and watched episodes of "Castle" during our scheduled blackout time. We made stupid and probably inappropriate jokes whenever possible. "All over baby, whole lot of shakin' goin' on"... "Ewww Dad!! I thought you said you didn't have any gas!"

The truth is we were trying to keep things as chill as possible for the sake of our girls. The images coming to us on the news were too horrific to comprehend. At some point we realized that watching the coverage continually couldn't be a positive thing for a 10-year-old. Unfortunately, that point was after she had seen a video clip of the entire town of Minami Sanriku being wiped out and fleeing people being swept out to sea while their neighbors watched, screaming "Run faster! Hurry! Just a little further!"

We learned that our favorite vacation spot near Sendai was destroyed by the tsunami. Our hearts bled for the people of that quaint little seaside town and the loss of the most perfect place we've ever found on earth. "That was my happy place," said one of our daughters. "That was the only thing in my life that I thought would never change!"

Did you know that after experiencing earthquakes and aftershocks every few minutes for several days, you start to imagine things? Every truck that goes by and rattles the windows, every gust of wind, every time a family member walks around upstairs, you become convinced it's another quake. As a matter of fact, when you get really still (and scared), even your own heartbeat can make you think you're having a quake!

We took time throughout the day the gather together and pray for God to pour His mercy and compassion on the thousands who were suffering and grieving. And each night, we calmed ourselves and prepared for bed by praying as a family. For two nights in a row, just as we were ready to go to sleep, strong aftershocks sent us scrambling for winter coats and emergency backpacks. So much for a calm and restful night's sleep.

The first two nights after the big quake, we all slept in the living room. It just felt better to be together. Amy, our high schooler, went to her own bed on the third night. Caroline hasn't been willing to sleep in her own room yet. Each time the ground shakes, she needs Mom or Dad to tell her "It's okay... go back to sleep."

Our neighborhood has an "early warning system" which is designed to sound an alarm to give a few critical seconds' notice of a major earthquake. Day before yesterday, we were unnerved 3 times by the alarm and an announcement on the loud speaker saying "Take cover! A big quake is imminent!" The quakes that followed almost immediately weren't really as scary as the alarm itself.

We've been learning and reading that sustained stress affects people in different ways. At times, some of us have been a little snappy. (That might be a bit of an understatement!) Not only have we all been out of our regular routines and kinda on top of each other, but we're all feeling the tension and uncertainty of our situation. One by one, we've done some really weird things to cope. Caroline didn't cry over the graphic images on TV, the scenes of utter destruction, or the deaths of thousands of people. But to hear that her Saturday outing to the amusement park was cancelled caused an emotional meltdown. (A friend shared that her 11-year-old son hadn't cried either until his Lego project fell apart.) With a hundred things needing to be done, I stopped to pick some flowers from the yard and make an arrangement for our supper table. Why? I have no idea. I just needed to make something pretty.

Meanwhile, we were receiving steady updates on the possibility of a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant.

Actually, we all handled that fairly well for the first few days. Our home in Western Tokyo is more than 150 miles away from Fukushima so we felt we had nothing to worry about. Surely they would get the situation under control soon. We prayed many times for the brave workers that remained at the plant despite great personal risk. We prayed, too, for the people who were evacuating and those sheltering in place in a 30 km. radius of the plant.

I said we were handling that fairly well, and that's true. At least until yesterday when we received this emergency alert: "Remaining workers at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant have been evacuated. All efforts to cool the reactors have been abandoned." What?!!! We could all be in serious trouble here! (They've since sent those brave workers back to their posts.)

Then came the Exodus -- no, not THAT one. I'm talking about reports we started getting of foreigners who had decided to "get out of Dodge!" Caroline cried when, one by one, her fifth grade friends emailed her that they were leaving Japan to go home. I couldn't blame them. Most of her friends are from South Korea, a short flight from Tokyo to safety. The French and German embassies moved from Tokyo to Osaka. Then came word from missionaries with other agencies that they were either leaving or had a contingency plan to leave. Around mid-day today, we were informed that the U.S. State Department was evacuating dependents and some personnel. At 4 p.m. President Obama ordered charter planes sent in to aid in the evacuation of private citizens who wanted to leave.

So... the meltdown in Fukushima caused a meltdown in me. I kinda lost it for awhile there. It was my amusement park/Lego moment. I was ready to hit the "eject" button. "Scotty, beam me up!" It wasn't pretty.

But we spent today volunteering at the command center for C.R.A.S.H. (Christian Relief, Assistance, Support, and Hope) My husband Donnie manned the phone lines, inputing data from those calling to volunteer in various parts of Japan. I was drafted for the Media and Press committee. Amy was asked to serve in the area of Emotional Support & Training. She will be able to lend a listening ear to other children and teens who are trying to cope with this crisis.

We learned that supplies are to start arriving by the container-full tomorrow. Base camps are being set up in Sendai and other places near the devastation to distribute supplies as they come in. A million dollars is needed in the next week to get these life-sustaining items to those in desperation. All of the workers are volunteers, most of them missionaries who never expected to be doing this kind of humanitarian work in Japan.

We ended our day at CRASH with a time of worship. "You're the God of this city... You're the King of these people... You're the Lord of creation, you are! Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city." There were many tears by many frazzled yet faith-filled people.

One of my missionary friends said, "I'm not going anywhere... I gave my life to Japan a long time ago." And I heard myself say to another friend, "We've spent 25 years trying to find the felt needs of the Japanese in order to minister to them. I would hate to have to leave now, when the need is so great."

I don't know what will happen tomorrow or how the drama at the nuclear plant will play out. I may be on a plane out of here at any time. We are very much in prayer that we will have discernment and clear guidance from the Lord. We take very seriously our responsibility to protect and care for our girls. We also take very seriously our calling to the nation of Japan. It's a complex situation we find ourselves in, fraught with layers and layers of things to consider. We will do whatever God tells us to, whether that means staying or leaving. But I don't feel like "melting down" anymore.

It was great to be reminded tonight: "No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny."

Posted by ruthnasia at 10:50 AM