An Eye Toward Canaan…

This morning I listened to the online version of the testimony of the daughter of some friends of ours.   This couple was part of the college ministry staff at our old church.  Their daughter Ellie has a burden for sharing her testimony with young college-age singles, to encourage them to exercise humility and invite accountability in their dating relationships.  God has helped her to work through issues of guilt, pride, and forgiveness after she ended a corrupt relationship with a non-Christian, only to find that she was pregnant.  I think her testimony also holds some powerful lessons for parents and friends of those in ungodly relationships.  Her parents saw their constant prayers for quick repentance answered, and they were able to see their grandchild as a blessing.  Their godly attitudes toward her repentance allowed for healing and grace in her life.  Her friends’ unhelpful approach can serve as an example of what not to do (and point us to a better response) for those of us who don’t know how to handle a friend’s decline into sinful habits.  So, I think this testimony can encourage married and singles alike.  One more note: Ellie was never a “rebellious” child but a Christian young woman raised in a Christian home who has a good relationship with her parents.  So, godly Christian parents: yes, it can happen to you!  As I hope to be a parent one day, I hope that I (and Brian) will have prayerfully considered this enough to have the gracious response that Ellie’s parents had.

Please note the lastest addition to my blogroll: Steins in Zambia.  I’ve found another family ministering in East Africa!  They are, like the Dykstras, originally from Minnesota, and (also like the Dykstras) are living in Lusaka.  They are with Action International, a ministry that focuses primarily on street children and orhpans.  They arrived in September and are expected to stay for one year.  They have four children, and their most recent blog captures pictures that their daughter Julia drew of their time in Zambia thus far. 

Thanks for humoring my fascination with American families in East Africa!

Since my junior high small group has been on my brain of late, I will record one of our several ironic conversations here:

Me: We love God but we fear him, too.  How do we love someone and fear them at the same time?

 Girl 1: I don’t know.  I don’t get it.

Me:  Well, can you think of something that you love but that is also awesome or a little frightening?  [working on the metaphor of a loving father who also has the authority to discipline in my head]

Girl 1: No. 

Girl 2:  It’s like King Kong!  He’s loveable but scary.

Girl 1: OH!  I get it.  That makes sense.

Well, glad we cleared that up!  Amazing that the metaphors I would NEVER in a million years think of are the ones that make sense sometimes.