Christmas Pictures

Our older brother Jonathan is here for Christmas and our last weeks here, and even better he brought along his girlfriend Emily! We've enjoyed having them with us for our last Christmas in Guyana! They have helped to brighten the last days of packing and goodbyes. Yet with or without earthly loved ones, we have Emmanuel, God with us, whom we have celebrated. He is with us always. (I posted something about that on my blog Thoughts.)

Here are some pictures we took yesterday, after we got home from the traditional 6:00 am Christmas service!

It's so much fun to have Emily here - almost like having a sister!

Thanks be to God for his many gracious answers to prayer and all his mercies toward us!

Moving

"You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then He is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm."

- Robert Murray McCheyne

We are moving out. The house is jumbled and emptier by the hour. This picture was taken yesterday as we packed up all the kitchen stuff.

The above thought from Robert Murray McCheyne, has come to mind many times over these past days, and I sing, "Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land... a shelter in the time of storm."

In a few hours, Lord-willing, the first installment of our family will be leaving to stay somewhere else until we fly on Friday. Strange days, tired days, busy days are just more days to take refuge in Jesus - the rock in a weary land, the shelter in the time of storm, the One who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

"The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint."

- Isaiah 40:28:31 ESV

Let Me Hide Myself in Thee

Monday, November 13, 2006

Today we went on a trip to the beach. (By the way, don't picture some absolutely gorgeous tropical beach. Guyana beaches are mostly clayey brown sand and silty brown water, and garbage :-( But they do have some vestiges of beauty.) We had a quiet, relaxing time and traveled toward home in the glow of a brilliant mass of sunset clouds, silhouetting myriads of coconut trees. Driving on in the deepening dusk, we were all singing, "Rock of Ages" the last verse:

"While I draw this fleeting breath
When my eyes shall close in death
When I soar to worlds unknown
See thee on thy judgment throne"

- Augustus M. Toplady

There was something ahead of us. Daddy slowed to a stop as we saw a motorcycle laying on its side in the middle of the road and people gathered at the scene.

"Talk about 'soaring to world's unknown' I said, and pondered the helmet and stray motorcycle parts clustered by the road's edge.

As we passed by with a hymn and an accident stirring our hearts, we were sobered by the reality of life and death. "While I draw this fleeting breath," Daddy murmured. It's probable that the rider survived, but how quickly life can end if God wills to cut it short. How easily we forget that our life is brief, and our footsteps are ever treading the crumbling brink of eternity.

We never did finish the song; there were two more lines, and I thought about them as we traveled on.

"...When I soar to world's unknown
See Thee on Thy judgment throne
Rock of ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee."

Let me hide myself in Him! Jesus, the atoning sacrifice for my sins. Jesus, my righteousness in the sight of God. Jesus, the everlasting rock of my salvation.

"Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to Thy cross I cling."

Jesus has borne my judgment, and in the day of judgment I shall be hid in Him. There is no wrath awaiting me at the edge of eternity, but only infinite love and infinite glory and entrance into the infinite joy of the Lord - because of Jesus. Thanks be to Him!

"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." - Revelation 1:5b-6 ESV

Yesterday afternoon.

A picture of me with most of the kids who come to my Bible club, hanging out by the river. (Please excuse Jason) :o)

All these children live in Glasgow and none of them come from good homes. They like to come and play on the sandy strip (see right of picture) near our house by the river and have almost become like family. It's hard to think of leaving them in just a few weeks. But for the grace of God, they will continue in the footsteps of their ungodly parents.

But for the grace of God -and that grace is a mighty grace. God can use the Bible verses I have taught them, to bring them to saving faith in Jesus, despite their poor upbringing and life circumstances. The sovereign grace of God which I entrust my soul to, I can also trust for their souls. There is a sweet place to rest.

~ ~ ~

"...and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." - 2 Tim. 3:15 ESV