The Pastors' Day Off

We arrived in Caygayan de Oro Philippines early one Sunday morning via an overnight boat. We were given the day to get settled in and then met with our host missionaries Otho & Janice Cooley that evening. We asked to get orientated to the city the next day and visit the churches we would be working with. We were told that would have to wait till Tuesday because Monday is the pastors' day off. No problem, we would check out the Bible school where we intended to put in a tilapia pond and garden. The 6,036 sq ft, 2 story building, North Central Mindanao Bible College, which will house and educate nearly 100 students at a time preparing for full time ministry, is under a construction halt. However, when we arrived there were nearly a dozen workers present. We entered the building to find, with shovels, tampers made of tree trunks, tools in hand, sweat on their brow; the pastors on their day off. Some coming from as far as 75 kilometers away, there they were, working. A local pastor and graduate of the college at its present location, came by with vegetables that one of his church members had given him the day before, he donated it to the feed the pastors who were working. Another graduate came by with gifts in hand and offered to cook lunch. The scene of the church being the church began to unfold before us and we were humbled, so for the past few days we've joined alongside the heroes of the faith, my shovel doesn't work quite like their's and my tampering is a two woman job, but together we work so more can know Him. Thank you pastors of the Philippines for your example and service!!!

My Paw Paw

Exactly 3 weeks ago my paw paw went to be with Jesus. It's been hard for me to be on the other side of the world and grieve and work and lead all at the same time. I can't say I think about him any more than I used to, I can honestly say I thought about him every single day and still do. Thanks to Skype I've been able to talk to him from every country I've visited as a missionary. I learned so many lessons from him and I'm sure will realize many more as time goes on. He is sorely missed today and the tears just keep coming, but thinking about him doesn't make me sad because just about EVERY memory I have of him makes me laugh out loud! He's left a strong legacy of faith, love, and fortitude behind and I'm happy for him, to be at peace and rest and health and in the arms of Jesus, just a little selfishly sad for myself! I love you paw paw!

(Letter my little sister read for me at the funeral March 7, 2012)

Greetings from the Philippines. As I sit here thinking of my paw paw and what to say to you on this day, I so wish that I was actually there with you to say it. Plus with my little sister reading this I am assuming that anything I say about being the favorite grandchild will be deleted. I was very close to my paw paw and will miss him very, very much, but a few weeks ago he called to tell me that if anything were to happen to him while I was overseas I did not need to fly home. I adamantly disagreed with him believing that I would be able to get there no matter what to honor him, plus I figured he was lying about not wanting me to fly home I mean I really am the favorite grandchild, but it turns out there are promises you cannot keep when the Filipino government has your passport & it’s a 24 hour flight to get home. So, I am grieving with you all across the seas and celebrating the life of my paw paw here in the Philippines.

At first when I came to terms with the fact that I would be unable to make it home, I thought oh no, paw paw is going to be taking names of who is not there and I am going to be in big trouble! But the more I thought about it, I’m fairly confident that he is not in attendance today. At first thought I imagined paw paw instructing Jesus on how to appropriately hook the boat to the back of the truck to locate the best fishing holes in his new home. Poor Jesus! I sure hope Jesus doesn’t try to talk to him while they’re fishing, he always told me I couldn’t go because I talk too much and would scare the fish away! But then on second thought I imagine the beauty of heaven and the glory of his savior’s visible presence is fairly AMAZING and that we, NOR fishing are on his radar at this very moment!

The Bible tells us that heaven is where God is and therefore a place where I’m sure we’d all like to be today and hopefully a place where we will all end up.

Psalm 16:11 says that, In His presence there is fullness of joy and at His right hand there are pleasures forever more.

As much as I am going to miss my papa, it brings me great joy to think about Him there in the presence of God and experiencing FULLNESS of JOY for the first time ever and all those pleasures that are the right hand of His father, that paw paw can now partake in.

The Bible also describes heaven as a place with streets of gold, where everything is new, and shines like jasper, it talks a lot in scripture about the gates of heaven. And as I try to imagine my paw paw making his way thru those gates, no serious scenario comes to mind, they are all quite comical. You see,

One of my favorite things about my paw paw was his incredible sense of humor, he is probably the funniest man I’ve ever met. You really never knew what he was going to say! Most of the time my granny would just shake her head and say she was sorry when he talked! I tend to think I take after him. Between me and Brittley I’m pretty sure my paw paws witt and hard headedness will live on for many more years. In case you’re wondering who Brittley is, it’s my cousin Brittany, but my paw paw called her Brittley for no known reason, but likely the same reason he called pizza pizzell. This is another reason I know I was the favorite grandchild I mean at least he knew my name!

My favorite imagined image of my paw paw entering the gates is him running straight to my brother Michael Jr. and those of you who didn’t know him very well are imagining him hugging him and loving on him, for those of you who did know him very well you know he was likely looking to find my brother first because he probably owed him money! I laugh thinking of my older brother hiding behind a really big angel.

I hope you are not appalled at my use of humor today, as I believe my paw paw would be appalled if I did NOT use humor today. At a very serious ER visit the dr. continued to ask him if he knew who I was, the dr was trying to assess his mental state at the time and paw paw continued to tell them he had no idea who I was, and would smile at me every time the dr. would look away. Then as they were preparing him for a serious procedure they asked him if he had had any alcohol that day, which he most certainly had not, he proceeded to tell the nurse he was trying to cut back and had had only a case that morning and then when asked about some bruises on his arms, he continued to state that we beat him regularly. So today I believe I am making him proud from afar.

Something else you need to know about my grandfather, he had selective hearing, when he did not want to respond to someone he pretended he could not hear, you could yell straight in his ear and he wouldn’t hear you, but it was astounding that he could always hear the faint noise of my granny sitting down. And once he heard this noise he would automatically be in need of something! Which she would always get him!

I am glad that he did not use his selective hearing yesterday morning and that he was able to hear his heavenly Father saying Come home my son. I have been preparing a place for you.

You see, Philippians 3:20-21 says this about heaven, “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies, so that will be like his glorious body.

You see, I am sad that my paw paw will not be in his chair when I get home from the Phillippines so I can kiss his head and hear him tell me to be mean. But I am so excited that I know he is with Jesus today and that God’s word is true when it says in Revelation 21 that God will wipe every tear from their eyes. That there will be no more death or mourning or crying and no more PAIN, 48 hours ago my paw paw was in a lot of pain, today he is free of that pain, he is made well, he is made whole. Revelation 21:7 says that because my paw paw overcame and had his name written in the Lamb’s book of Life that he is right now inheriting all of heaven and that God will be His God and paw paw will be his son.

Then in Revelation 22 the very last chapter of God’s word it says that then the angel showed John the river (so I know my paw paw was jumping up and down when he got this part of the tour!) the river of the water of life as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb right down the middle of the city… and then it describes a pretty cool garden.

Even though my heart is breaking right now, I talked to my paw paw last week and I told him we were gardening here in the Philippines and he told me good he sure hoped I learned how to work then I could help him with his tomatoes when I get back. He usually ended our conversations with “Be mean.” But last week he ended it with ,”I love you.” When I read in scripture about how beautiful heaven is about how we will all be completely healed and full of joy when we get there, and that there’s a garden… I know my paw paw is happy and whole. And while I firmly believe heaven is going to be a place of rest and relaxation especially for my Granny after over 60 years married to my paw paw, I believe for my paw paw one of the hardest working men I’ve ever known that he’s working hard today because that brings him joy and is now able with his new heavenly body to plow up a garden without tying the plow to my granny. So when we get there we should expect to see the most beautiful garden we’ve ever laid eyes on, but I’ll leave you with a final word of advice, when you get there and you see how beautiful it is, I would NOT dare to pick even one of his roses!

Lessons Learned from @loswhit: Part 1

"I really put her in her place!" Lessons learned from @loswhit part II

I recently read a blog by @loswhit, you should check out his blog. He’s the guy who made his lil’ Asian son cry when he told him he couldn’t be a single lady in my last post!

His poor parenting aside, he’s a hilarious guy, oh and he’s a worship leader too. (But best known for making his kid cry and over tweeting during The Bachelor!) Anyway, he wrote a blog entry chastising himself about his behavior with a McDonald’s worker who evidently didn’t give him enough ketchup! Basically he showed his “butt”; he was jerk and since I’m NEVER guilty of such I have to use his story! Ha!Who’s NOT guilty of such? I mean aside from my sweet mother of course?!

I WILL say I am much better than I used to be- and NO NOT at putting people in their place!! At that I used to be an EXPERT, in fact, in high school people would have me write scathing letters to their enemies. I was that “good!”

Unfortunately even as a youth pastor I was more than adept at putting you in your place! Sigh! Poor freshman forgot his sleeping bag one time on an overnight and I put him in his place so hard I think he cried. I apologize, Aaron La Puma and appreciate and applaud your service in our armed forces. While I’m at it I’ll go ahead and apologize to all the students and faculty of ECA, and to the youth and volunteer staff of IOA for ever putting you in your place between the years of 1999 and 2005. SMHIS- Shaking. My. Head. In. Shame.

You’ll be happy to hear that my people encounters from 2006 to present have vastly improved or at least that’s been my goal. He’s still working on me, to make me what I ought to be- that was for YOU Columbia First Assembly Daisies Class 1985! But @loswhit’s blog got me to thinking. As Christians we are called to put people in their place. Their place as a child of God that is! As coheirs. The book I’m reading (Generous Justice) says we’re supposed to take it to another level even. It’s more than introducing them to Christ or responding in crisis or the handout here and there- it’s getting them to the place God wants them to be- life and life more abundantly. So put people in their place! Just not like @loswhit- he makes kids AND McDonald’s workers cry!

The Banker, The Baker, The Photograph Maker

(I've been "blogging" in my journal since January and finally have the internet connection to publish a few, hopefully this will give you a small glimpse into our journey together thus far!)

They’ve arrived. The Baker, The Banker, and The Photograph Maker! My 5^th @cohintern team. Intern teams are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get! My first team was 12 women, age 18 -71- estrogen filled to say the least.

My next team was only 3, the Indian, the home schooled rock star, and the vegetarian. We had to love one another, I mean if you moved to the other end of the dinner table you were still sitting with the same people.

Summer held 18, 17-21 year olds, they broke out into song on any occasion, from show tunes, to Back Street Boys, to worship choruses! They continue to bring me joy!

My fourth team was 5 girls and a guy; poor guy! “Richard!!” was yelled on EVERY occasion in which we needed help!

And now this crew! 6 college grads, they’re an older bunch which means they like to go to bed early like me! Yay!!! However, I’ve never seen such an array of straw papers fly across the dinner table, at least not since my days of working with jr. highers. They’ve left their careers as a banker, a baker, a school teacher, church staffer, university administrator, & photographer extraordinaire to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love on the Fatherless, & to break the chains of injustice; you know, Jesus stuff! And please believe they are letting their hair down while they do it! It’s like recess for adults around here!

Oh and P.S. They’re ALL Amazing!