Kids say the darndest things

I was having breakfast this am at Starbucks with my little princess Paige. As we usually do, we talked about the joys and challenges of the world of an 11 year old and a 52 year old. I was giving sage advice about how to deal with her problem of blushing when giving a presentation in class (an 11 year old challenge but one that I have much experience with). I was quite pleased with some profound analogies, advice and sayings that I was slowly weaving into the life of my young daughter – feeling quite impressed with the father that I had turned out to be. At one point, appearing to process the latest morsel of advice she said “did you do that?” Well... no, I had to admit, I did exactly what she had done (been anxious and self conscious about the problem) but I sure wish someone wise had given these tidbits to me!

As we moved on in the conversation I asked what God was teaching her these days (a question as it turned out that should have preceded all of the above). She said that a verse had been given to her both by her teacher at the end of the year and by her friend at camp this summer and that she had been thinking about what it meant for her in her life. The verse was from Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight.”

Well, her simple innocent statement and recitation of this verse was like a simultaneous light going on and gentle slap in the face from the Lord. I could just hear Him saying (with an affectionate chuckle) “you think you’re so smart with all your “understanding” in this situation and here your young daughter has demonstrated deeper understanding than you”. With a more humble demeanour I said to Paige “maybe we should have started our discussion there”.

Maybe before immediately moving to my understanding and wisdom in trying situations I need to stop, take a breath, acknowledge Him, and begin to lean into Him and His trustworthiness. Thanks to my Paige for having ears to hear from the Lord.

Blackberries!

I had a wonderful hour of blackberry picking with my youngest daughter Paige today. It is so amazing that God has graced us with such an abundant crop without a bit of our own planting, cultivating or maintaining. The "icing on the cake" was spending time with Paige (another of God's wonderful graces to me) marveling in the caches of succulent purple berries and creating a blackberry crumble together to boot. The coup de grace will be sampling the finished product. What a great day! God is good!

Famous

There is something exciting about seeing your letter to the editor printed in the paper. My 5 seconds of fame!

By Dan MacIntosh, Vancouver Sun August 27, 2011 The only thing more maddening than the B.C. Liberal party's handling of the HST fiasco from start to finish is Finance Minister Kevin Falcon's characterization of the $3-billion price tag for the HST reversal as a "manageable bump on the road." I'm not sure what parallel universe of roadways he travels on, but in my world $3 billion is more than a bump.

It is more than a little disconcerting that he would treat taxpayers' hard-earned cash so casually and callously. The idea of spending that much of British Columbians' money to fix a problem that the Liberals created rubs me the wrong way. Maybe if one deals daily in numbers with that many zeros the amounts seem insignificant, but this small bump looks like a rather large mountain from my vantage point.

I hope that going forward, before encountering any more "manageable" bumps, Falcon and his crew will choose their road more carefully.

Dan Macintosh


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Despite+being+triumph+democracy+anti+vote+financial+pain/5317084/story.html#ixzz1WFGEKjEu

Things I learned in Mexico

Things I learned in Mexico:

1. Missionaries like Juan and Alicia, George and Stacey are inspirations to me – their “sold-out-edness” to the will and mission of Jesus. I have a lot to learn!
2. Material riches do not = happiness. I know this is cliché but it is so reinforced each time I go out on foreign missions
3. It is a joy to serve and be part of a big vision. The vision of orphan babies in loving care made each Ikea drawer assembled and each trim piece painted a joy.
4. Jesus loves me. When I meet him face to face, there will be no need for hope and faith (faith = “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” – Hebrews 11:1) but love will persist (1 Cor 13:8-13). He loves me deeply and forever. My perception/understanding of that is partial and there is a deep longing for more.
5. I have a great extended family with which God has encircled me. The Hanschkes, Joslynn, my wife and kids are great! It was so great to get to know each of them better.
6. It’s a dirty desolate place – makes me wonder if a little irrigation / gardening / garbage cleanup would infuse more hope, self-respect and richness to their lives. I longed to get out of the dust and onto a patch of cool lush grass.
7. Safety is beyond my control. When all else is stripped away my fundamental dependency is on God and his sovereignty, love and grace. Even if I die (stray bullet? How often do I think of that reality in Langley?) I win.
8. It is hard to create a spiritual conversation. The best I can do is try to create space and opportunity and pray into it. I don't do this well.

Resurrection

It has been a couple of years since my last post so I thought I would resurrect my blog. I'm unsure why but over the last couple of years, I have written/journaled significant moments in my life - I seem driven to the written word - to documenting life's lessons. Just as unclear to me is why I haven't posted them or why I am chosing to begin again at this particular moment.

I won't psychoanalyze this moment too deeply but will simply "blog on". I don't think it's as important whether anyone actually reads this as it is for me to go through the process of processing. I find this is best done through writing.

Perhaps the resurrection of my blogging interest has to do as well with standing once again on the cusp of a mission trip (certainly that was the catalyst for the creation of this blog). Marguerite and I with our two youngest kids are going to the Tijuana area to do a one week mission trip at an orphanage with an organization called Jugo ministries. For me, mission trips seem to be one of the crucibles that God uses to refine me. Mission trips tend to burn away some of the "stuff" of life and help me to look beyond the immediate to see the important.

In this particular instance, because we have inundated with multiple news reports of the dangers of going to border towns in Mexico, it has caused me to question the wisdom of such a trip. The values of service, caring for orphans, going where God calls are all stacked head-to-head against the value of personal safety and protection of the ones that are in my care.

The fundamental issue for me could perhaps be framed in the question "is God really calling me to this mission?" Because if the answer to that question is "yes" then we truly have nothing to fear. God is in control and is a loving God who will not allow anything to come my way except that it will work together for good for me! The ultimate goal being the conforming of myself more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus.

The reality is that there is nowhere that is completely safe (even my home in Langley). While we do not go seeking dangerous situations, we do step boldly into areas where God leads trusting that we are in his loving hands. The reality is that we are completely victorious as Christians. Nothing can separate us from his love - "neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation". Even the worst-case scenario (imagine random bullets, injury or death - believe me I have!) is not a defeat. Even in death we win! As Paul states, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Death no longer has any sting - it is "swallowed up in victory".

This is the fundamental reality that we move forward in. He is sovereign. He loves me (Jesus loves me this I know). He takes care of me.

Cameron

As we wind down our trip (and this blog) on our last evening in Zambia I wanted to dedicate this post to my son Cameron who has lived this adventure with me.

I used to say that skiing/boarding was the perfect family activity because you have your children captive audience for parent-child interaction for a whole 10 minutes up the chair. I now realize that that is a far distant second to a one month mission trip with your son. What an amazing experience it has been sharing this trip with Cameron! It was great sharing with him in the medical end of things – to show him my world (with a Zambian flavor of course). I love teaching and so being able to share medical knowledge and experience with my son has been tremendous. To see him go from someone who got lightheaded at the sight of blood to someone who was drawing blood numerous times in the lab, and doing a thoracentecis (draining fluid through the chest wall) was exhilarating for his physician Dad, as is his interest in a medical career as a possible path for himself.

It was also great just living life together for the month. Life is fairly slow on the mission field and we often found ourselves in the evenings sitting together (talking, reading, playing DS or watching The Office season 2). We had times of reading the word together and praying for each other. We shared a lot of laughs together and some real adventure (hiking around Mukinge, sharing the wonder of the safari, flipping a boat white water rafting down a level 5 rapid on the Zambezi). Watching him develop a friendship with Humphrey (clerk at the hospital) and patiently teach him some guitar was also very cool. Overall, it was neat to get to know each other at a deeper level. It has reaffirmed my pride in, and love for, Cameron – he is an intelligent, sensitive, good natured guy with a great, fun personality – it is exciting to be not only his father but also his friend and confidant (hopefully he also feels that I qualify for that designation).

I would highly recommend a similar adventure for anyone - beats the chairlift hands down!

Risk

Touching a leper, being within coughing distance of someone with presumed TB, drawing blood or doing an LP on a known HIV carrier, traveling the roads in Zambia, walking in snake territory at night – all of these are risks that we have encountered here that we would not ordinarily face in Langley.

Just one week ago, the missionary couple next door to us was subjected to a home invasion and was held with their 3 young children at gunpoint (AK 47) while all their cash and their vehicle was stolen. Thankfully, no one was hurt and they seem to have been spared major psychological trauma.

When Marguerite and I were here 20 years ago we heard stories (some of which we saw first hand) of hardships that the missionaries had undergone for their commitment to their calling. One physician had lost wife and child to illness (cerebral malaria and another illness), 1 couple had lost their 16-year-old son to a crocodile attack. While we were here an American missionary teacher lost his life in a car accident and his wife sustained a spinal cord injury. He left 3 small children behind.

One may argue that similar things can happen in Canada and I would grant you that, but the fact remains that there are many more health and safety perils here than in our part of the world. To say nothing of the “risk” as a missionary of loss of prestige, career advancement, financial security and the like.

Why would people expose themselves to such risk? We live in a world of risk management where one is always trying to minimize potential harm to self and loved ones. To go to Africa with your family seems, on the surface, to be naive at best and foolhardy at worst.

What I have found almost universally about the missionaries I have encountered is a holy recklessness and disregard for self that is motivated by a higher calling – that of pouring out their lives to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the poor and less privileged. They take as their model our missionary God, who, saw us in our poverty and depravity and entered a foreign and unwelcoming world and dimension, our world/human history, to live and die for those in need. They take as their mantras the apparent recklessness of scripture – the calling to be “living sacrifices” and to “find one’s life by losing it”.

It is only by having a clear sense of God’s calling to such a life, and only by clear trust in his ability to ultimately take care of us no matter what happens, that such a self sacrificing lifestyle can be considered. While we are to do all that we can to protect ourselves and our family from adverse outcomes, we also need to realize that our lives and health are in the hands of one much more powerful than us and one that cares for us more deeply than we can imagine. True joy and security comes not in safe roads, or powerful medicine or the size of our RRSP but in being in the center of God’s will. It is only with that knowledge that I can set foot outside my door in the morning whether it is here at Mukinge or at home.

We are not promised a carefree, stress free, danger free life as Christians. In fact, we are assure that ”in the world you will have troubles” but we are also assured of Jesus’ ongoing presence with us and our ultimate hope of eternal life – indeed in this sense, Jesus has overcome the world.