All things to All people

    Narcissa Whitman and her husband embarked on, what would be known as, The Oregon Trail, in 1836. They had heard stories that the Natives were begging for the Bible and Narcissa had a life long dream of being a missionary. Yet, when she got there, she found life to be very different. She didn't understand their culture and they resisted change in all of it's forms. What had been a dream for her became a nightmare, that ended in a massacre, known as The Whitman Massacre.

    At the same time, Henry Spalding and his wife traveled out with them.  They ended up in Idaho. While there they were very successful. They baptized several of the leaders of the local native tribles and taught many of the tribal members about the gospel. The women loved Henry's wife and would follow her around her home to see how this "white woman" lived and did things. Spalding and his family went on to have a successful mission. 

  The Whitmans and the Spaldings were friends and came from the same church family. The Spaldings were affected by the Whitman massacre on many levels. Besides emotional, their youngest daughter was a survivor of it. Because of the Whitman massacre, their mission organization called off all mission work in the area and the Spaldings had to find a new and more creative way to reach the people, and they did, they did not stop.

    Why where the Spaldings a success and the Whitmans a failure? Was it because the Cayuse were just a brutal tribe with impossibly hardened hearts, while the Nez Perce were peace loving and open hearted people? No. It was because the Whitmans were not willing to follow Paul's advice to be all things to all people where as the Spaldings were. The Cayuse's were upset with the Whitmans as they brought no gifts to them when they arrived, per Cayuse tradition. The Whitmans couldn't or refused to understand why that was a big deal. The Whitmans wanted the Cayuse to give up everything they knew and model their version of Christianity. Narcissa found everything about the Cayuse to be vulgar and savage. She even banished them from her parlour for fear of it being over run with fleas and filth.

    The Spaldings, on the other hand, loved the Nez Perce and met them where they were. Henry worked to translate the Bible into their language and encouraged them to only give up what conflicted with scripture, not everything about their lives. Eliza loved the women of the tribe and happily allowed them into her home. Despite all that ended up happening to them and those they loved, they continued to work towards saving the Native Americans for Christ and Spalding's church were sponsors and supported relations with the US Indian Affairs agent.

    Learning of this struck a chord with me. Paul wasn't the only one who called us to be all things to all people. Christ did as well. As a matter of fact, God emulated it in the most perfect beautiful way. In taking on human form as a helpless baby, to a poor family, in shaky circumstances. He could have simply saved us with a word or a wave of his hand. He could have saved us by showing up already as an adult and doing all the things he ended up doing in the new testament, maybe even in a week.... But he didn't. He knew the importance of relationships, the importance of being able to relate to those you came to save. He knew this because he made us and he made us to relate to us. He did not come in with trumpets. He was not born in a palace to a King and Queen and servants to attend to his every desires. He was born on a cool night surrounded by animals, feed and dung. He was born to young and poor parents. The first to come and see him were shepherds who were stuck pulling the night shift. He lived through many of the same experiences we did. The death of his earthly father, brothers and sisters who didn't always get along and having to work for a living. He lived according to his Father's word and yet also blended in with the rest of the culture, another face in the crowd.

To be successful in reaching people for Christ we must follow this example. 

"I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some" 1 Corinthians 9:22

What is there to fear?

    I had a friend stop by for a surprise visit yesterday. It was a really pleasant surprise and stirred up fun conversation. Yet, out of all the things we talked about one thing set a stirring in my heart. It was only one little thing they said, but it really struck me. "I'm really concerned with the level of fear people have over Muslims. I don't like where the public dialogue is going."

I don't either.

    The members of the extremists groups are doing an excellent job at terrorizing all around them. The governments are chasing shadows and people are now afraid and distrusting of anyone different.The religion of Islam is diverse and varied, much like any religion and the majority have no desire to hurt others or take over the world, etc.  Yet, in the public sphere, all those of the Muslim faith are either terrorists or not being true to their religion. What's disconcerting about that is that the terrorists believe this too. ISIS and other extremists groups believe themselves to be the only true followers of Islam and relish in killing anyone they consider to be apostates. That includes other Muslims. 

Here are some interesting facts: 

1) The majority of terrorists come from Arab nations... But less than 15% of Muslims are Arab or live in the Arab countries.  Asia has more Muslims than the Arab countries. 

This is important to pay attention to because the majority of the terrorists are coming from the nations of Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Sudan. (The Syrian refugee crises is another conversation for another time, perhaps)

2) The Muslim majority are appalled by the terrorists. Terrorism cannot be justified under any valid interpretation of the Islamic faith. The entire Qur'an, taken as a complete text, gives a message of hope, faith, and peace to a faith community of one billion people. The overwhelming message is that peace is to be found through faith in "God", and justice among fellow human beings. Muslim leaders and scholars do speak out against terrorism in all its forms, and offer explanations of misinterpreted or twisted teachings. 

This is important to really think about because there have been many, in Christian past, who have twisted scripture to justify brutal acts of terrorism. It would be extremely foolish of us to behave as if the Crusades were some how not really terrorism or not really the same as now etc. Okay, that's true, it's not as bad as now... if we are at least allowing that people could readily identify a crusader whereas we can't readily identify a terrorist. But, many more were tortured, killed and had forced conversions by those claiming to be fighting on behalf of Christ than our current situation. We must keep that in mind. We must never forget that humbling fact.

3) Muslims are taught that Jews and Christians still worship the same God. While we know that to be wrong, it's important to keep it in mind when figuring out how to think about Muslims and how we can approach them with the truth in love. Throughout the Qur'an, Muslims are reminded that they are not the only ones who worship God. Jews and Christians are called "People of the Book," meaning people who have received previous revelations from the One Almighty God that we all worship. The Qur'an also commands Muslims to protect from harm not only mosques, but also monasteries, synagogues, and churches -- because "God is worshiped therein.

 - Yes, in their end times their "savior" will show the Jews and Christians as wrong and destroy them.. BUT, the Qur'an teaches that it's that "saviors" job, not the Muslims of the current time. I know that sounds like I'm just making insignificant distinctions, but they are considered important distinctions to your average Muslim. 

4) Many believe that Muslim is the fastest growing religion out there today. Not true, Christianity is. Praise be to God for that.


Why do I say all of this?

Let me start with what I'm not trying to do first.

1) I am not trying to defend Islam as being a viable religion that will see you enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There is only one way to do that and that is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and being redeemed by his saving Grace.

2) I am not trying to lull people into a false sense of comfort "oh don't worry, terrorists aren't that big a deal." etc. NO. The terror cells are a huge concern, and rightfully so. 


Here is what I AM trying to say.

How can we reach the lost if we are afraid of them, so afraid of them that we will no longer allow ourselves to get close to them or them to us?

How can we reach the lost if we are so afraid by a few that we turn our backs to the larger number; that we are willing to label all as suspect because of a rotten few?

How can we have proper dialogue on how to solve the terrorist problems if we decide to give them what we want and say they are Muslim or that they are proper representations of the religion... Especially when statistics and evidence shows the exact opposite?

How can we properly pray for a lost community if we pray as if all of them have possible desires to kill us? Especially when the reality is that these extremists are very happy to kill their own (who aren't living up to their standards). Muslims are being terrorized by these extremists just as much as we are (if not more).

Will we allow these current events to shape our feelings and views on those different from us or will we continue to reach out to God, reach out to His Word for help? Will we allow ourselves to be victimized by these terrorists or will we joyfully pronounce that God's victory is already won and live lives of joy and not lives of fear?


These are the stirrings of my heart lately.

When you say "I can't" and God says "You can."

Reasons I can not be a missionary:
1) I have trouble controlling my tongue.
2) I'm fiercely independent.
3) I love my job.
4) I don't want to eat weird food.
5) I don't want to be far away from my family and friends (including church family).
6) I can't learn another language.
7) I'm too proud to ask for money.
8) Speaking of which, we have debt.
9) I can be a gossip sometimes.
10) I can hold grudges.
11) I don't have a great relationship with my atheist brother.
12) I'm snarky.
13) I'm not good at those typical missionary women things (home schooling, sewing, cooking, baking, being quiet and looking pretty, singing, staying at home, leading a women's bible study etc.)
14) I'm not good at praying out lout.
15) I don't read my bible every day.
16) I don't pray with the kids every night.

I could keep going on and on for quite a while, but I think that should paint a clear enough picture. For all of my life I have been a creature of habit, only venturing out when it suits me. I always thought living in another country might be fun, but only if I had to give up little. Missions would mean God was asking me to give up a lot and, well, that was just plain out in my mind. My husband is another story all together though.
Matt has had missions on his heart for quite some time. He actually chose his current career (plumbing) so that he could be useful no matter what country God led us to. Because I love him, and I'm open to possibilities (even if it's just a crack) I explored thoughts of mission work with him. We prayed for missionaries, we took a class called "Perspectives" (which is all about missions and what's going on in the field) two times. Each time, Matt was more pumped then ever and I was left shrugging my shoulders. "Only if my list of demands is met," was my thinking. Even then, I went on two missions trips (without Matt) to our friends up north in Canada and, even with that experience I shrugged my shoulders. Matt dropped it. He knows better than to try and push me into something. I'll only resist harder. Plus, we both agreed that if it was right, God would change my heart. So I kept banking on God doing nothing about it and Matt kept praying that God would.

God won.

A few months back I was reading up on my missionary friends, Sam and Anna. They are helping with the Geneses Trust down in Port Shepstone, South Africa. I've been following their journey for a while now, and boy has it been a journey, but something stirred in me for the first time. A tiny whisper "I could do that. We could be a part of that." I shook it off. I just miss Sam and Anna. I like the idea of being near the ocean. I like the idea of no snow. That's all this was. South Africa isn't safe. You yield at stop lights at night to prevent yourself from being an easy target to car jackers. As a woman, I can't just go hang out and have quiet time at an empty beach. We would need dogs for security reasons, and the dogs would have to come in at night so they don't get poisoned. The AIDS rate is high as it all sorts of petty crime. I'm used to being independent. I'm used to not worrying about my kids wandering around or leaving the dogs out for a while at night. I haven't locked my car doors in years (I never keep anything valuable in there anyways). Going there would be ridiculous.
Then a little later, our Pastor made an announcement about Sam and Anna coming and I felt another stirring in my heart. "Oh just be quiet, Amber" I continued to keep it quiet. I knew better, it had to just be because I'm missing Sam and Anna. I'm just itching for an adventure, that's all it is.

Yet when Sam and Anna showed up and shared with everyone about what they've been up to and what they're working towards, I couldn't keep quiet anymore. I grabbed a little piece of paper and wrote "I think I would be open to us going to help Sam and Anna." and I nervously handed it to Matt. Let's just say that Matt was over the moon about this. We had Sam and Anna over and drilled them with questions. Later that week we met with their South African Pastor, Trevor, and drilled him with questions. It's been a bit of a whirl wind since then. In a good way.

My excitement and anxiety has continued to build, for all of the great things that come to mind, 10 equally scary or bad things come to mind. The big ones being the safety issues and the ever growing list I put above. However, each time those things find a voice, God silences them with His words. Think of every major player in the Bible (with the exception of Christ), all of them were EXTREMELY flawed. Some worse than others. There were liars, adulterers, cheaters, thieves and murders among them and yet God used them all. It's the flawed people that God uses. Then there have been the following verses that have come to mind:

Matthew 10:37 "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me"

2 Timothy 1: 7-8 "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.  Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,"
We are currently working on taking an exploratory trip for the month of June and, already, God is helping shape me and teach me on how this works. 

1) Patience- Yes, we've set up a Gofundme page but that's a slow process. For a control freak like me, that's difficult when you want to just book and reserve everything immediately to ensure smooth sailing.

2) More Patience- While our parents have done an excellent job of keeping their fears on the more quiet end and their support on the more vocal end, not everyone has been that way. From relatives who are convinced we will need flame throwers on our cars to keep us safe, to kid friends telling the boys that they will get Ebola and killed by ISIS. 

3) Even MORE Patience- It's difficult to stay focused on the moment. Thoughts keep running towards what we should do after June. If it works out, will we sell our house? What will we do with our dogs? How will we handle school? We'll have to quit Scouts... We need to find an organization to work through. How long will this all take? How will our kids handle the long wait let alone the transition they'll be going through? How will we fund the training I will want to take? Maybe I should start looking into those things now.... No, I need to wait. One thing at a time.

And so, we wait. We wait and we pray and we pray and we wait. We are in God's hands and will wait on his timing.