Constantly Amazed

I don’t know how He did it. I really still can’t figure it out.

After Amy and I had been here in Indonesia for 90 days, we looked at each other in despair and said, “The last three months has been so hard, how will we ever make it three years?” After six months, we still weren’t comfortable here in this country, but at least we were much more comfortable with our job. Then we had the miscarriage. With the hopes of seeing our first child gone, we both devised fantastic plans for escaping the country (such plans seemed necessary considering the school keeps our passports locked up for just such a circumstance and exit visas take time to obtain and require approval by the government). We projected our anger, grief and sadness onto a country we already disliked. Add to that the discouragement and difficulty we were already experiencing and you can understand why we very badly wanted to leave Indonesia and never return.

But then something happened – somehow, without us even noticing. Only two months later, we found ourselves saying things like, “I actually feel at home here now.” Or even, “It would be good to go home and visit, but I don’t think I could ever go back to stay.” It surprised us to hear those statements in our own voices. Even stranger, we both attributed our new attitudes to the miscarriage. In some bizarre heavenly exchange, God took tragedy and pain and turned it into peace and joy. How does something like that happen? I wish I could tell you, but I don’t understand it entirely myself. Perhaps that’s why Scripture speaks of the “peace of God which surpasses all understanding.” I suspect it has something to do with our response to the miscarriage. While we had the initial burst of anger that comes with trauma, we quickly turned to God for comfort. One of the wonderful things about the isolation of this place is that we have nowhere else to turn but to Him. We quite simply felt we would no longer be able to handle our circumstances in this place unless God took care of us. And He did.

A turning point occurred when we remembered the prayer we made when we first became pregnant. We told God that this child belonged to Him – we were only stewards – and therefore He may do with this child as He pleased. While it grieved us to lose our child, we realized it was God’s right to take His child into Paradise early (imagine going straight to heaven without ever having to experience the pain of this world). Somehow, in the great scheme of things, this was what was best. At this realization, our anger vanished and our pain disappeared. It was…miraculous. We had submitted ourselves and our child to God and He had responded by guarding our hearts and our minds. But it didn’t end there. God was strengthening our faith as He also stretched it. For only through sorrow can we really know God’s faithfulness. Without it, our knowledge of His faithfulness is only academic. To truly “know” something means to experience it for yourself. And so, we came to understand that losing our child truly was best for both us and the baby. If I had not experienced this myself, I would not have believed it even possible to say such a thing.

As it turns out, God’s promises are true. He is faithful through adversity. There really can be rejoicing in the midst of pain. It is possible to patiently endure suffering. He always provides exactly what we need, though not necessarily what we want. Sometimes God’s desire is to carry us through our circumstances rather than change them. But we can be sure that though He may not grant us our wishes, He will be faithful to His character – and His character is good; so completely, wonderfully good.

One World

One of the things I love about living in this ex-pat community is the diversity. Yesterday, Amy and I went to have lunch at a new Chinese house-restaurant that’s run by a Malaysian man. While there, we heard conversations in English, Korean, Dutch, and of course Indonesian. This diversity is most evident here at the school and at church, and along with this globe-trotter community comes a heightened awareness in global issues. For instance, this past Sunday, our tiny church prayed collectively concerning the current political unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain and Iran. This is particularly relevant here since the nations involved are Muslim. Indonesia is the most populated Muslim country in the world and often looks up to the more strict Islamic nations. In fact, there is a movement going on here that wishes to install Sharia law in all of Indonesia. Just a couple of weeks ago, a violent riot erupted at a court house in Temanggung, just a few miles from here. A Christian man was convicted of blasphemy against Islam and given the maximum penalty of 5 years in prison. However, the crowds thought the verdict too mild and demanded his death. The riot spread to the rest of the town wherein the angry mob attacked a priest, set two churches on fire, destroyed a Catholic orphanage and a health center, and incinerated multiple vehicles including a police truck.

On Sunday after worship, our church broke into small groups to study and to share prayer requests. Just in my group alone, we had a request to pray for friends who had been beaten and kicked out of China while others were imprisoned after police raided their home and found Bibles and other literature used in spreading the gospel. Another asked for prayer for a Dutch missionary family serving in Kenya who was from his home town in the Netherlands. The family helped care for orphans through a YWAM mission center in Nairobi. Just a few days ago, a band of robbers raided the complex killing the husband and raping his wife in front of their two children. Others asked for prayer for the people still missing after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand this past week. He’s a Kiwi and his wife is Brazilian – they used to live and work in Christchurch and likely know some of those who perished. Still another in our group, a woman from Costa Rica, asked that we pray for her as she tries to educate the local people in how to stop human trafficking. Being amongst these people has certainly broadened our global awareness.

Our dorm daughters are also varied in their cultural backgrounds. We have one American who knows virtually nothing of America since she has spent most of her life in Indonesia. We have three girls who are various mixes of Indonesian and European. And we have three others who are Korean. Because of this, news items concerning Germany or Switzerland often get attention around here; while the current political stress between North and South Korea is always a volatile topic. Though the governments can't get along, the people still matter, so our school is having a charity concert this weekend in order to raise money to help children in North Korea. It also makes me very happy to know that our church gives 100% of all the tithes given to assist unreached people groups. How many churches can say that? This place certainly serves to humble a person and pull them out of their own culture-centric view and provide a larger scope to things.

With all this diversity inevitably comes misunderstanding – usually due to the language barrier or some cultural misunderstanding or faux-pas. And, while frustrating, these situations are often opportunities to learn new things and gain greater understanding of one another. Luckily, for the sake of harmony, most people are willing to forgive cultural mistakes and ignorance. It seems to me it’s a tiny glimpse (albeit a very hazy one) into what heaven might be like – different people from different nations interacting together. Only in heaven, we will all be as one – unified as citizens of God’s Kingdom. I can hardly wait!