School 101

I just returned home from an engaging meeting at the Seminary. My husband and I were invited to speak to the students about our life/marriage/parenting in the ministry. Our time with them went well and brought back many fond memories of Burgessville as well as the challenges and difficulties that can sometime arise in the home of a pastor’s family. Following our discussion a lunch was served which gave opportunity for informal questions.

Driving home from the Seminary my thoughts went from the various conversations that had just taken place to a conversation I had with someone this week who was asking how one could prepare themself to help/counsel other people. What lessons could I share, what books have I read, and what advice could I give? How does one know what to say when someone comes for help especially when it’s an “unexpected” conversation? How could the young people be reached and talked to regarding the problems they face? As I reflected on our meeting and as this conversation came back to me, suddenly as if a light was turned on, I could somewhat see the bigger picture.

If you want to impact the lives of other people, I counseled this person, it is vitally important to read and study written material especially the Word of God. If our minds are saturated with the Word, the Lord often brings words from Scripture to our remembrance during counseling sessions which can prove to be an invaluable tool. Read and study the Word daily. Also, the Lord has given much wisdom to men to write books for our learning and knowledge and we would be foolish not to be very well read on many subjects in order to help others. I then tried to give other practical lessons that I had learned over the past 13 years.

While all this is true and important what came to my mind on the way home today was the importance of School 101. There is often a need to go to “school” ourselves in order to learn invaluable lessons which we can in turn use as instruments in impacting the lives of other people. This is one of the most invaluable means that God uses in our life so we can impact the lives of others. And what I further realized is that there are seasons when we are very useful in God’s kingdom but then there will also be seasons when we need to take a step back as we “go to school.” Often this school is called, “The school of Afflictions, Trials and Temptations.” It is here that we learn the deepest, most profound lessons. Lessons about who we are and who God is. Lessons which painfully root out some of our deepest sins so that we can be made humble. Lessons which teach us more about God’s character and His care for us. Lessons which teach us the importance of daily striving against the Devil and temptations. Lessons which  test and strengthen our faith.

I think I can liken this school to our earthly school. Some classes are easy and fun and others are what we would call brutal. Because of their intensity, they cause us to work, sweat and often lose sleep. So it is spiritually…the easy lessons are the books we read and knowledge we gain from them. The hard courses are the ones we need to learn in the classes of affliction, trials, and temptations.

As I saw this big picture I wondered why we at times complain so much when we have to go back to school? If we could really grasp this way of thinking wouldn’t we be more willing to enter into this classroom as well, knowing that if we are faithful the Lord will lead us to a richer knowledge of Himself? Don’t we see that if our desire is to serve we will need to be conformed ourselves? Will we not be able to be used in a much greater way then in His kingdom? Let us encourage one another to not be fainthearted when we need to go back to the “classroom” but rather rejoice knowing that many before us have entered the same school in order to be trained for the service of furthering God’s Kingdom. Keep courage and enter these seasons in the classroom relying on Him.

The Storm

Have you ever driven down the highway and off in the distance you saw dark menacing clouds clearly indicating there was an impending storm approaching? I remember driving from Iowa to Canada one year and off in the distance (because of the very flat land) we could see several thunderstorms. Two of these storms were producing twisters which would come out of the clouds, spiraling towards the land only to retreat back up into the storm. I’m sure directly beneath those clouds there were people watching, hoping that these twisters would not indeed touch the ground. As we drove down the highway we too, of course, were hoping that we would not have to drive through the middle of one of these storms.

There are times in our life that we can see in the distance an impending storm approaching. We can try all kinds of tricks to try to avoid these storms. Maybe we just bury our head in the sand and hope it goes away. Maybe we try to run the other way hoping it doesn’t catch up to us. Maybe we gloomily sit and wait for the “disaster” to strike. Let’s face it….storms are not fun. Maybe they are fun to watch from a distance but when they come closer….

To be honest, in personal life it’s not fun being in the middle of a ‘storm’. I am in the middle of a storm and today is a day where I can see a bit of silver lining but this storm isn’t over yet. I too have asked myself…why has God sent so many storms in my life? What is this storm trying to teach me? Am I such a slow learner? Will there any good come out of this? Do I dare to continue to ask God to conform me to the image of His Son? If so am I just asking for more storms? What do other people think of God when they see another affliction on my life?

I don’t know the answer to all these questions but there are several that I have worked through. Each storm that the Lord allows to descend upon His children are sent with a hand of love. This thought has comforted me so much through this present storm. Am I willing to be patient and submissive through this storm? How can I not when it comes with love? He has promised to never leave nor forsake and He has promised that underneath are the everlasting arms. This is such a great comfort. With this comfort I can sleep in between the attacks of heart spasms and not lay awake anxiously awaiting the next one. My husband asked me that the other night “how can you go back to sleep after this happens?” It’s these promises that make me relax and able to fall asleep until the next attack. My life is in His hands and this is my greatest comfort.

I also know that the longing of my heart is to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ and I cannot stop asking God to do this in my life. It was only several weeks ago that the Lord made me very aware of a sin in my life and that awareness caused me great grief and sorrow, almost more than I’ve ever felt over any sin before. As I worked through that all I thanked the Lord for showing it to me in such a way and then I vividly thought…ok…hopefully now I can sail on smooth waters for awhile. But even before that thought had passed entirely out of my mind another thought came right on its tail…NO…I need to continue to pray to be conformed to His image fully knowing that it could me more trials…but not realizing they would come so quickly.

And so dear friends do not pity me…the Lord is and will take care of me. But please continue to pray for me that in this storm I would remain faithful to Him…speak well of Him…be a good example of a sufferer…not complain and come through with less self and more of Him flowing through my entire being.

4290 Orchard Creek

The 5:30am alarm came all too soon on Monday morning.

 It would be the last time our alarm would ring in Burgessville…just another last. In a few minutes we would take our last shower, eat our last breakfast, watch for the last time the cow and her calf quietly munching on their breakfast and listen to the birds chirping ever so merrily. They didn’t understand the mixed feelings that we were feeling…they were too busy singing. Everyone threw their sheets and blankets in box #324…one of the final boxes to be packed. We felt like we were packing for a very big holiday but as we joked we knew this was just something to comfort one another for for the pain we were feeling. Soon it was 8:00am and the final items were put into the Semi-truck and several “last checks” were done throughout each room of the house. As each room was given the “all clear” the door was shut. People started arriving and our minds began swirling. The moment of truth had come; it was time to depart.

Last farewells were said…tears were shed…one last trip through the house was made and the caravan of vehicles made their way out of the driveway, leaving 13 years of memories behind.

The caravan itself needs some explaining. First went the truck. Following him was our van, Rachael in her car, Micah in his car, Jeremy and Aje in their car and last Henk & Michelle Vrugteveen in their truck. As we slowly drove out of Burgessville we spoke little…each buried deep in our own thoughts. We decided to go to the border on our own and meet at the duty free by Port Huron. At that point my husband would go with the trucker and we would each take our vehicles and meet together again 30 minutes beyond the border at the rest area. This plan worked well. The truck went ahead and our little caravan went through the border without a single problem. We stopped at the first exit and all got gas and some food. Soon we got word from the truck that they were going to have to go through the X-ray machine and go in to fill out some paperwork which they did without too much trouble. Again our plan worked and about an hour later were all together at the rest area.

This time we and our kids decided to stick together which we did the rest of the way to Grand Rapids.

About 2:45pm the surrounding neighbors of 4290 Orchard Creek must have thought an army was moving in. All of our vehicles arrived and finally the truck. The kids took a quick look around the house before the flurry of activity began.

By 6:00pm the truck was empty and we and those who came to help were exhausted from the heat, a mixture of emotions and hard work.Reality did not sink yet and by night we fell onto our mattresses ready for sleep.

The next days were days of discovery and this discovery continues to surprise us till this day. 4290 Orchard Creek is a very interesting place. In this house one can actually get lost...in fact one little visitor couldn’t even find a bathroom and resorted to using the stair landing as a port a potty. If you do get lost and someone tries to find you this can also pose a problem as there are two separate stairways to the upper level so as one goes up one the other person is going down the other and so the search can continue.

The third night in our new house I went to go upstairs to get ready for bed and walked in our master closet only to find my husband’s entire wordrobe (including about 30 dress shirts which I had so carefully tried to preserve so as not to iron them all again) laying in a crumpled heap on the floor. The inside of our closet is made up of metal white shelving and the previous owners didn’t understand the concept of putting braces into studs. Thankfully, I have another week before his work begins to re-iron.

And then there is Grand Rapids water. If we drink the water out of the tap we can almost imagine being in a swimming pool. So we toyed with the idea of buying our water but that just seemed weird as well as expensive so we were told to get a Brita filter which we did. But this only made the water taste like the chlorine level was low in the pool. So we decided we could use the water from the fridge system but it took about 2 minutes to fill your glass. Finally, we had the bright idea of finding the filter in the fridge and changing it. So my husband went to the store got a filter, looked up how to change the filter for our particular fridge and took it out. The sight that we saw about made us all want to throw up thinking we had actually drank that water. The filter was a combination of black and green when it was supposed to be white. For the next several hours we hardly would drink any water because the thought of that filter was so horrible.

And so life continues here at 4290 Orchard Creek. My dear husband is the world’s best Mr. Fixit man and hardly takes any time to sleep he’s so busy fixing “It.” "It" being finishing off a under the stairs closet and installing a under the stairs unit from Ikea.

 

Previous Owners


 

Completed Project



"It" being installing cabinets above the washer and dryer. It being putting up shelving in the basement.



Previous Owners



 

Completed Project



"It" being putting up numerous pictures and the like. The latest “it” project was to try to find out if our flower beds actually had any dirt or plants under the 4 ft tall weeds. Of course tackling this project on 100 degree days may not be the smartest, but when we stopped for the day we just jumped in the shower and drank some of the water and could imagine that we were swimming. On the second day of this project it seemed to be there were some other issues that needed addressing so Mr. Fixit went at it again. I stepped in the house for a few moments and when I went back out he was repeating the words "Uh oh" and I saw him covered with water and mud looking bewildered at a broken sprinkler line that was spouting water and mud. Apparentely there were other things under the 4ft weeds.

At this point I seriously wondered if he thought the list was getting too short to he had to make a new fixit project. Well the old farmer in him just got down in the mud and dirt and started digging…mud literally from head to toe until the break was found. Yes the rest is history…back to Home Depot once again.

Anyway we bought a sectional for our family room but haven’t gotten a kitchen table and chairs yet. This hasn’t been a problem, as we have a patio set, until it rained most of the day today. Old mean mom won’t let the kids eat on the new furniture so tonight we used the kitchen island as a table and had a stand up supper…makes life interesting.

All kidding aside we are settling in. Last wednesday had been a very hard day as Jeremy & Aje and Micah left us…it was a struggle for all of us. We are looking forward to when they visit us again and are thankful for Skype. As far as the unpacking goes I think about 80% of the boxes are unpacked and things are coming together nicely. By Sunday reality began to set in for most of us. Sunday was a hard day. We missed church in the morning as my incision became infected and we had to go to the Dr.  But in the end it was a blessing in disguise as he also took out the stitches which he said were put in a special way as it was a high tension area and I think if my husband had to do it, as was planned, we probably would have needed marriage counseling. Sunday afternoon was a time of no work and we all could think. Burgessville was much on our minds. Our thoughts were drawn to how much we really miss our children as well as everyone in Burgessville. As I sat outside quietly reading I again heard the birds singing their songs. They didn’t know what thoughts were going through my mind but it didn’t matter…they have a mission which is to sing and that’s what they do. We too have a mission...to impact the lives of the student body at PRTS and so with God’s help we will press on in our mission. Dear friends in Burgessville…press on in the mission which God has laid upon your path…we love you!