As many of us celebrated Easter this past weekend, I'm sure we were thinking a lot about Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Many of us have grown up celebrating Easter our whole lives. Most likely, we've always known about Jesus, even though we may not have believed right away in what He did for us.
So I know most of you have heard the Easter Story dozens, if not hundreds, of times before. But here's a different re-telling of the Easter Story. It's a re-telling from a man named Paiye. Paiye lives in Indonesia on the island of Papua. Just 20 years ago, these people were living in complete spiritual darkness. They had no hope, no peace, no Jesus, and no Easter.
Missionaries from New Tribes Mission have been working among Paiye's people, the Moi, for several years now. After they learned the Moi language and culture, they taught the Moi people through the main stories of the Bible, working from Creation to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and many of them believed in what Jesus did for them. For the first time in centuries, we finally had Moi brothers and sisters.
Paiye shares the Easter Story in his own words. Listen and be blessed by his simple, powerful faith.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Our Garden
Over Thursday evening and Friday morning, Clint and I planted a garden beside our house. We had tons of fun! We can only plant certain things that will grow fast enough for us to harvest them before we leave in July, so that made it challenging, but it was fun to try to find things that we could plant. We ended up planting turnips, radishes, carrots, lettuce, peas, green beans, tomatoes (which may take longer), cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. They may not all grow, but at least we were able to enjoy the process!
Since we didn't have a hoe, we ended up breaking up the ground using a shovel and an ax. :D Ha! So classic! I wish I had gotten some pictures. And guess who used the ax? ;-)
When I mentioned to Clint that I was going to write a blog post about our garden, he was like, "Cool. You should write about how our garden is like the tribe we're going to go to."
I was like, "Huh?"
And he explained. Just like our garden, the people in that tribe will need to be prepared. They will need to have the soil of their hearts tilled by the Holy Spirit. There's lots of roots. Lots of rocks. Lots of dirt clods. We can't break those up. Only God can. We'll be planting the seeds of the Gospel in the soil that God has prepared. We'll care for those seeds, nurture them, water them. We may have to wait a long time to see any fruit from our labor. But in the end, those seeds will grow only by the grace of God. Not by our works, but by His.
Wow. I love how God's creation can teach us so many lessons. And I know we'll discover so many more through this garden. I can't wait to post updates as the little seeds begin to grow! At least, I hope they do. :)
Since we didn't have a hoe, we ended up breaking up the ground using a shovel and an ax. :D Ha! So classic! I wish I had gotten some pictures. And guess who used the ax? ;-)
When I mentioned to Clint that I was going to write a blog post about our garden, he was like, "Cool. You should write about how our garden is like the tribe we're going to go to."
I was like, "Huh?"
And he explained. Just like our garden, the people in that tribe will need to be prepared. They will need to have the soil of their hearts tilled by the Holy Spirit. There's lots of roots. Lots of rocks. Lots of dirt clods. We can't break those up. Only God can. We'll be planting the seeds of the Gospel in the soil that God has prepared. We'll care for those seeds, nurture them, water them. We may have to wait a long time to see any fruit from our labor. But in the end, those seeds will grow only by the grace of God. Not by our works, but by His.
Wow. I love how God's creation can teach us so many lessons. And I know we'll discover so many more through this garden. I can't wait to post updates as the little seeds begin to grow! At least, I hope they do. :)
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Look at the Lilies
I've been thinking a lot lately about the passage in Matthew 6 where Jesus tells His followers that they shouldn't worry about their physical needs. God knows each one of them, and He takes care of us.
Verses 28-30 say, "And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?"
With the spring flowers popping up all over the place, I was reminded today of how amazing God is to take care of each of those flowers and clothe them individually in the most stunning displays of colors. I love that! He is so caring, even about the tiny details of life.
That's been such an encouragement to me as we've started preparing for moving overseas to Papua New Guinea next January. God cares about us. He isn't just distant, looking down from above and hoping that we do a good job with what He's called us to do. Instead, He is concerned with every detail of our life, even down to what we eat and where we sleep. What an incredible God we serve!
Verses 28-30 say, "And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?"
With the spring flowers popping up all over the place, I was reminded today of how amazing God is to take care of each of those flowers and clothe them individually in the most stunning displays of colors. I love that! He is so caring, even about the tiny details of life.
That's been such an encouragement to me as we've started preparing for moving overseas to Papua New Guinea next January. God cares about us. He isn't just distant, looking down from above and hoping that we do a good job with what He's called us to do. Instead, He is concerned with every detail of our life, even down to what we eat and where we sleep. What an incredible God we serve!
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