It seems that a major transition for the Wallaces is coming soon. And, as it tends to go, when you think you might be leaving a place, you begin to notice things you didn't before. My summary of life here often focuses on the constant heat and how much we sweat. But today, I felt differently. Life on the equator seems precious today.
At 6:30am, I was standing outside in our courtyard and I could hear at least 4 different species of birds giving their morning wake up calls.
Later this morning I took our girls to the botanical gardens. Wildlife and plants most can only see in books were teeming all around us. Thousands of vivid flowers that the best photographer can't capture popped out at me.
While I was taking it all in, this phrase from a praise song kept playing over and over in my head. "You made it all. Said "Let there be!" And there was, all that we see." The simple power of those words! Somehow I want to unpack them, but I can't do any better than that. How great is our God!
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
In light of the Sept. 11 anniversary, I read this very moving article composed by John Piper about the testimony of Lisa Beamer. I started to post another article instead, because this one almost feels too personal. But life lessons seem to be so much more poignantly spoken by those who have lived them. If you are challenged by this and want to hear more, enjoy a wealth of resources at Piper's website, www.desiringgod.org.
A 9/11 Widow Trusts in the Sovereign Goodness of God
By John Piper September 11, 2002
Psalm
On Sunday, September 8, 2002 John Piper preached from Romans 8:35-36 with a focus on the commemoration of the calamity of 9/11.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’"
He argued that Jesus Christ is mightily loving his people with omnipotent, moment-by-moment love that does not always rescue us from calamity but preserves for everlasting joy in his presence even through suffering and death.
After the exposition, he said, "Let’s let Lisa Beamer bear witness to this sovereign love. Her husband Todd was on flight 93 that went down in
What follows are the ten "Lessons from Lisa" that he gave his people as an extended application and embodiment of Romans 8:35.
1. Embracing the sovereignty of God brings strength and hope.
Lisa: "God knew the terrible choices the terrorists would make and that Todd Beamer would die as a result. He knew my children would be left without a father and me without a husband . . . Yet in his sovereignty and in his perspective on the big picture, he knew it was better to allow the events to unfold as they did rather than redirect Todd’s plans to avoid death. . . . I can’t see all the reasons he might have allowed this when I know he could have stopped it . . . I don’t like how his plan looks from my perspective right now., but knowing that he loves me and can see the world from start to finish helps me say, ‘It’s OK.’" (Modern Reformation, 24-25)
"If we believe wholeheartedly, each moment, that our destiny rests in the hands of Jesus Christ – the one with ultimate love and ultimate power – what do we have to be concerned about? Of course, our humanity clouds this truth many times but hanging on to glimpses of it keeps everything in perspective." (Modern Reformation, 31)
2. Don’t presume to know better than God how to run the world. It is pride.
Lisa: "My faith wasn’t rooted in governments, religion, tall buildings, or frail people. Instead, my faith and my security were in God. A thought struck me. Who are you to question God and say that you have a better plan than He does? You don’t have the same wisdom and knowledge that He has, or the understanding of the big picture." (World, 25)
"We also aren’t privy to the perspective he has and shouldn’t claim to know better than he does what should happen and what shouldn’t. . . . Faith means that, regardless of circumstances, we take him at his word that he loves us and will bring us to a good result if we just trust and obey him. Obviously, the ramifications of this understanding have been tremendous for me since 9/11." (Modern Reformation, 25)
3. God has a good purpose in all the hard things that happen to his people.
"God’s sovereignty has been made clear to me. When I am tempted to become angry and ask ‘What if?’ and , ‘Why us?’ God says, ‘I knew on September 10, and I could have stopped it, but I have a plan for greater good than you can ever imagine.’ I don’t know God’s plan, and honestly, right now I don’t like it very much. But I trust that He is true to His promise in Romans 8:28: ‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.’ My only responsibility is to love God. He’ll work out the rest." (Decision, 8). Beneath her signature Lisa writes Genesis 50:20, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." (Modern Reformation, 30)
4. Death and suffering press in on us the perspective of eternity.
Lisa: "September 11 has shown me the reality of eternity in a dynamic way these past few months. When I’m overwhelmed with sadness at what I’ve lost in this life, He is quick to give me His eternal perspective. ‘Lisa, this life is just a blip on the radar screen compared to your future with Me in heaven,’ He says. ‘The best thing that you can imagine on earth is garbage compared to what awaits you.’" (Decision, 8)
5. God’s distribution of suffering is not equal, and one hard thing may prepare for another.
When Lisa was 15 her father suffered an aneurysm at work and died the next morning in the hospital. Lisa: "When my father died, faith wasn’t so easy anymore. . . . I spent five years asking why, expressing my anger saying it’s not fair, before God helped me realize that he is who he is all the time – in good circumstances and bad. He is all-powerful and all-loving, but that doesn’t mean that as a citizen of this fallen world he protects us from every ‘bad’ event." (Modern Reformation, 25)
What a witness to God’s goodness and sovereignty the world would be missing today if God had not prepared Lisa Beamer for this loss by the death of her dad!
6. God’s love takes care of us right now in our suffering, not just later.
Lisa: "He knows that I am a hurting and in need right now. Every day He provides encouragement and resources just for me. Little things show me that He is with me: a Scripture with just the words I need to hear, a call from a friend when I feel lonely, help with a task that I can’t do alone, or a hug and ‘I love you’ from one of my children. God’s love is truly sufficient to meet any need that I have." (Decision, 8-9)
7. Calamity calls for quick practical love like meals and baby sitting.
Lisa: "The picture of the church as the hands and feet of Christ, with each person having a special gift, has been well portrayed to me these last months. In the beginning, it was immediate and practical help I needed – meals, child care, managing phone calls, and mail. Now that we’re out of the crisis mode it is rebuilding help I need – counseling , encouragement, prayer." (Modern Reformation, 28)
8. Quiet, confidence in God’s power and goodness through suffering create occasions for witness.
Marilee Melvin said of Lisa, "Her disarming quiet confidence in God’s purposes must be the reason Larry King has had her on his show eleven times." (Modern Reformation, 30)
9. Trusting in God’s sovereign care in all circumstances frees you from greed and releases love for others.
Money started to flow in to Lisa Beamer. Some letters were simply addressed, Lisa Beamer,
Her freedom for others comes out in another way: "My family and I mourned the loss of Todd deeply that day . . . and we still do. But because we have a hope in the Lord, we know beyond a doubt that one day we will see Todd again. I hurt for the people who don’t have that same hope, and I pray that they will see something in our family that will encourage them to trust in the Lord." (World, 26)
Lisa’s way of encouraging people to trust in the Lord is sometimes so straightforward that Newsweek magazine called it "stern and even a little grim." She wrote in her memoir, "You think you deserve a happy life and get angry when it doesn’t always happen like that. In fact you are a sinner and deserve only death. The fact that God has offered you hope of eternal life is amazing! You should be overwhelmed with joy and gratitude." (Newsweek, 42)
10. Without God the world is hopeless.
With hundreds of others she attended the memorial service in
So, together with Lisa Beamer and the apostle Paul and Jesus Christ himself, I plead with you, Don’t factor God out of your life, or Jesus Christ who died and rose and reigns and intercedes for all who trust him, that we might have eternal joy with him in the presence of God.
The quotes are from:
"Let’s Roll [excerpts from her book]," World, Vol. 17, No. 31, August 17, 2002, pp. 20-28.
Lisa Beamer, "The Hope I Know," Decision, Vol. 43, No. 9, September, 2002, pp. 6-9.
Ann Henderson Hart, "Finding Hope Beyond the Ruins: An Interview with Lisa Beamer," Modern Reformation, Vol. 11, No. 5, September/October, 2002, pp. 24-31.
Evan Thomas, "Their Faith and Their Fears," Newsweek, September 11, 2002, pp. 36-48.
Friday, August 11, 2006
I've been an infrequent "blogger" this summer! I think some pictures are in order most of all-- I haven't posted any from my parent's visit, any from our month in
I recently made a valiant, but largely failed effort to overcome the "mafan" factor. In Chinese, this is a word that captures "pain in the rear" better than any words I know in English. Unwittingly, so many of our decisions about family life with children seem to revolve around "mafan"-- How much of a hassle will this be? So I drew a line in the sand and decided-- I simply can't decide not to do things because they will involve "mafan". The attempt to prove to myself that I had, in fact, overcome this gripping force resulted in a family vacation, a three day hop-across-the-bay to
My conclusion now is that I'm not sure a relaxing vacation with small children exists. They are worth the effort, definitely, but "relaxing" shouldn't be one of the adjectives used to describe a vacation at this stage of life. So we were asking more philosophical questions like "What is restful?"; "What is a vacation supposed to accomplish?"; and "At what age (of the children? or the parents??) is traveling not such the affair?" A few of our friends with older children nodded knowingly, sympathetically, affirming our findings. It really wasn't all that bad. Pictures for future scrapbooks were taken, children were entertained, and parents were humbled.
So I'll leave you with some shots of our happy moments!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Potty Update
You're dying to know, about Kathryn, aren't you?? Today was the day. I woke up and decided we can't wait till we get home. I walked in her room and said "Kathryn, today--no more diapers." Kathryn in all her drama, upon the announcement, replied “Oh, mommy, that makes me really sad.” But I must grant her that diapers have been with her for her entire life, so it might be some kind of traumatic event to part with them. But she is more than ready. This has been a long time in coming. Then she asked me if she could help me throw them away. So, that’s what we did. (I later recovered them of course.) We saved one for nap time and bedtime, but as far as she knows, no more diapers her size exist in the world.
At breakfast (7:30) she drank all her apple juice, an orange juice box, and some sprite. So it HAS to come out, right? So I keep waiting. 8:30, 9, 9:30, 10… still claiming she doesn’t need to go. Another 30 minutes, and she says her tummy hurts. I bet it did, holding all that in! At 10:45, she sat down and started going tee-tee. I’m not joking—she went for the next 30 minutes, a tablespoon at a time. She got a big kick out of emptying the potty each time. All of this tells me that she has extremely good bladder control, because she could hold it, and could also go a small bit at a time. So this morning went well!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
This Child is Ready to Use the Potty
All right, that does it, no more diapers for Kathryn…as soon as we get home! This is the kind of entry that she would die of embarrassment when she’s 13, but I doubt this blog thing will really stay around for that long.
If any of you have been around us much lately, you know that potty training has been a major ordeal with Kathryn. This otherwise brilliant child has been completely resistant to any suggestion of giving up her beloved diapers, at least until kindergarten. Just after she turned 3, (since she knew that big 3 year old girls used the potty), she told me, “Mommy, I am a big girl, but not a really big girl. So maybe I’ll use the potty when I’m 5 years old.”
Truth be told, the first time Kathryn used the potty, (a fluke though it may have been) was at 18 months. Shortly before Ellie was born, she showed an interest, we bought a potty, and wallah!, we had tee-tee. But everyone said “Don’t try to potty-train when you have a new baby.” “Don’t try potty training when you’re moving.” “Don’t try potty training when there is any major change in your home.” So facing all of the above, we put the potty away. A big mistake, I’m afraid!
Now, I've realized that if I wait for a time in our lives where there is no travel, no change or "newness", then she truly will be 5 before she is diaper-free. But this dialogue has caused mommy to draw a line in the sand.
“Kathryn, do you need to go poo-poo?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh, great! Let’s go sit on the potty!”
“No thanks. I want to go in my diaper.”
(A minute passes.)
“Kathryn, are you done going potty?”
“No, there’s more coming. Don’t worry mommy, I’ll tell you when I’m done.”
(Another minute)
“Kathryn, are you done now?”
“Not yet…See, mommy, first comes the poo-poo, and then comes the tee-tee that makes it all wet…See, here it comes!... Ok, mommy, all done! You can change my diaper now!”
I know you'll want an update, so don't worry, I'll keep you posted.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Food for Thought
"The whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing. What you desire ardently, as yet you do not see." -Augustine
"Hope, in its properly Christian sense, means a sure and confident expectation that what has been promised to us will finally blossom in all its wonderful glory." -Alister McGrath
"We are starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is a greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self." -John Piper
"In the gospel, we see and savor the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And this kind of 'seeing' is the healing of our disordered lives." -John Piper
"The whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing. What you desire ardently, as yet you do not see." -Augustine
"Hope, in its properly Christian sense, means a sure and confident expectation that what has been promised to us will finally blossom in all its wonderful glory." -Alister McGrath
"We are starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is a greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self." -John Piper
"In the gospel, we see and savor the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And this kind of 'seeing' is the healing of our disordered lives." -John Piper
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
These Things I Love About
*This morning, after dropping Kathryn off with a friend, I came home and broke the key off in our door. After a brief moment of panic I went to the gate guard, and he called a locksmith. "It'll be 4 mintues." I braced myself for a long wait. Really it was only about 10. Within 30 minutes, and a mere $10 later, I was back inside. Can't beat that!
*Being a Texan, I have to mention this. Right outside our back gate in this city, there is a wonderful yet unusual sight-- "Peter's Tex-Mex Grill." I'm not kidding. And you know, it's not that bad. The best part is, the most expensive thing on the menu, fajitas, is $6. No, I take that back. The best part is the chocolate-peanut butter milkshakes. No, truly, the best part is free delivery!
*Although this desire for Mexican food will always be with me no matter where I live, I can say since we’ve returned that even Singapore is a poor (albeit expensive!) substitute for real Chinese food. As I was talking about hopes for connecting Kathryn to the culture, a wise friend suggested that I try to do this through food. Why didn’t I think of that?? So winding my way through the Chinese grocery store, I decided to go for the Chinese snacks rather than your typical crackers. Now, she loves red bean paste buns. Better than that, she keeps asking for more yummy Chinese treats. Thanks, Ann, it’s working!
More to come…
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