Saturday, November 16, 2013

Does God Have a Belly Button?


Recently we decided to have a family worship on a Sunday morning. (We had been doing a Bible study with another couple then, but it got moved to Tuesday morning.) After worship, we were going to visit our friends, Rod and Ceci, so I was busily baking a coffee cake to share before we got started with worship.

I was interrupted when the doorbell ran. Rod wanted to know if they could come by and visit us. There was no electricity in town…and quite honestly we have one of the most comfortable houses in town because we've been able to make some modifications, like insulation in the "attic."

Half an hour later, Rod and Ceci were comfortably sitting in our dark living room. As I served hot coffee and coffee cake, the doorbell rang again. And a little later it rang again. Our “family” worship turned into worship with four of our friends.

Clay told the story of the first sin from Genesis and then we talked about what it means. What do you like about the story? What do you not like? What can we learn about God? From there, we tried to answer their questions about who is God, and why He created us.
 
“Did Adam and Eve have a belly button?”
 
          “Does God have a belly button?”

“If Eve sinned by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, does that mean that knowledge is sinful?”

So many verses…

“Be perfect as I am perfect,” but yet I’m a sinner, saved by grace!

 So many Bible stories…

          The Flood, God chooses Abraham, Jesus’ command to love the Lord and your neighbor...

                   “Do you sing to the Virgin Mary?”
                             “No. She’s dead.”
                          
“If God spoke directly to Adam and Eve, can he still talk to us today?”

 
“Should we worship individually or corporately?”
 
“Does the Bible tell us how many minutes we should pray every day?”

I think the best part was listening to them confer in ZK, discussing what they believe. And then, asking us what we believe and what the Bible says.

I can only pray that God brings more of those “interruptions” into our lives.

November Thankfulness


As always, the month of November is a great time to reflect thankfulness. And we have so much for which to thank the Lord!

We started a list of answered prayers from this past year and we want to share a few highlights…

  • We started praying almost a year ago for the house that we would rent in Pine Hill. We prayed for 2 bathrooms, space for a schoolroom, a fenced in “private” yard where the kids could safely play, a tree for a tree house, and a house that would provide a place for the kids to play during the rainy season.
  • We prayed that our neighbors would accept us into the community.
  • We prayed for friendship among the ZK people.
  • We prayed for open doors to be able to share the Gospel.
  • We prayed for language helpers who could help us learn ZK
 
It’s truly awesome to think about how God answered these prayer requests. Our home is a place of refuge and a warm place to welcome people in out of the rain and cold.  Few homes have more than one bathroom in Pine Hill, and although it may seem trivial, God found us the perfect home with two bathrooms! And we have plenty of room for the kids to play, inside and outside. There’s even a tree house out back!

Our neighbors have been amazing. They take care of Rex when we are gone for a night or two.  They bring us handmade tortillas and tamales. They smile at our attempts to greet them in the ZK language…

You know you have a friend when they come to check on you when you’re sick.  Our language helpers, Rod and Ceci, have become friends. They have invited us into their home and they are concerned for us. They want to see us be successful in the ZK language too.

This Thanksgiving season, we are far from our friends and family in the US, but we are surrounded by God’s love.