No More Mystery!

“Behold”, “Look”, “Notice”,

“Surprise”, “Know This”,

“Consider”, “Be Sure”,

“Take Note”, “See”

Roughly speaking, it was about 2000 years before the birth of the Christ child when a certain son asked his father on their way up a mountain,

"Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. (Genesis 22:7b, 8)

Now, as we sit, roughly speaking… 2000 years after the birth of the Christ child, we read the acclamation, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” We have a 4,000 year vantage as we consider this father-son conversation between Abraham and Isaac. God’s direction to Abraham was clear. Abraham knew “what” to do, with “whom”, and “where” to do it. But, God had woven into His instruction “mystery”. The Lord said nothing concerning “when”, “why”, or “how”… leaving a “mystery”. 4,000 years later, our tendency is to minimize the mystery of God’s direction to Abraham, because today we know what happened. However, back then, Abraham exercised great faith and experienced God’s divine “twist”, as Abraham realized that it was all a test. But to us, it is a great foreshadowing of the Messiah, even prophecy about God’s Messianic provision. For nearly 2,000 years the sons of Abraham lived in the mystery, asking, “When would God provide a lamb?” and “Who would the lamb be?” The mystery, like a crescendo, added to a growing anticipation.

This ought to be our backdrop as we read what John the Baptizer (Jesus’ cousin) shouted-out, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” At last… the answer to Isaac’s question from 2,000 years earlier… Mystery revealed! The angels heralded it; the star illuminated it; even the magi unraveled this mystery. But, no better words, than these 5 words from cousin John, could reveal the mystery of the Messiah. And, what a shout it must have been. We’ve all leaped to our feet and shouted to express an emotion. Picture a heated argument, a defending attorney in court, or sports fans at an arena. It is as if John’s chief purpose in life was to express with all his being who the Messiah is, for his expression also started with a leap. John, while in his mother’s womb, leaped when the 2 expectant mothers, Elizabeth and Mary, greeted one another. John leaped, but retained the shout for nearly 30 years. So, when he shouted, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” I imagine it echoed off all the surrounding mountain slopes. It still echoes today and is the mission of YFC: “…to communicate the life-changing message of Jesus Christ to every young person…”

Thank you for your prayers and gifts as we together reveal to the youth of Honduras, and around the world, and as we point to Jesus and acclaim, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

Our Most Recent Mystery

Could Our Honduran Foster Kids Spend The Holiday Season In The USA?

Last year Kim and I announced to our family in Memphis that after 8 years in the foreign mission field we will be home for the 1^st time for Thanksgiving, Christmas and `09 New Year’s Day… and, we’ll try to be here with our Honduran kids for everyone to meet & know. We knew that the process for them to travel with us would be complex. Birth certificates had to be corrected (they had multiple errors). Honduras passports had to be obtained. Then, visas from the US Embassy had to be granted. Our prayer was that if God wanted them to travel with us, then He would make it happen. My 4 Honduran children and I entered the registry of persons in Tegucigalpa in May, as the starting point to this process 7 months before Thanksgiving, so that we would have plenty of time. And, for 7 months we lived in “mystery”, as to whether or not God would make it happen. We prayed faithfully and we asked others to pray with us through this process. As parents, Kim and I “coached” our kids to have faith and to trust God regardless of the outcome. If we can travel together God is good, but if we cannot… God is still good and worthy of our praise. True faith is trusting God during seasons of mystery and trusting Him when He does something different than what we want.

Indeed the process was complex. In a word, our 2 oldest foster daughters (Michelle & Nuri) could not obtain Honduras passports. Being without living mother or father, their maternal grandmother has legal custody of them. But, her last names are different than the last names of the girls, so Honduras immigrations would not let the grandmother sign for their passports. There was no solution to this problem, so they could not travel with us. The 2 younger boys were able to obtain Honduran passports and eventually visas to enter the USA. But, the 7 month mystery continued until 1 day before our travel day when we received in-hand the visas.

The Lord taught me some life-lessons through all this. Allow me to briefly share one with you. Don’t confuse faith in God with optimism. Consider, again, the Abraham/Isaac story (refer to front page). Before Abraham and Isaac headed up the mountain Abraham said to his servants to wait here and the boy and I will return. Hebrews 11 is a commentary for us that Abraham thought that he would kill Isaac and that God would raise him from the dead. That is not what happened. Abraham was optimistic in the midst of a mystery, but God did not “fill-in” the details. There was no “Thus saith the Lord…” Now, faith comes from a Word from God. When God is silent and mysterious we must optimistically trust him. But, just like Abraham’s conversation with his servants keep your optimistic ideas to yourself. They are not to proclaim as “the word of the Lord”. Abraham did not say what was in his mind that they would go up the Mt., he’d kill his son, then God will raise him from the dead. Faith is reserved for the “word of the Lord” because it will come to pass. This is not to be confused with our optimistic thoughts, because we might be wrong.

I was in a similar position for 7 months. I know that God would have Kim and I raise these 4 kids, but to travel to the USA for the holidays… we had no “word from the Lord”. We were tempted to change our optimistic thoughts into the “word of the Lord”, but this would have been wrong. I even had to buy airline tickets based on optimism, based on what I thought would happen, but I could have been wrong and could have wasted our much needed money.

Praise the Lord! Kevin and Jimmy were able to travel with us to the USA and spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and soon New Year’s Day with us. Thank you all for praying with us and for supporting us as we minister to youth in Honduras (the kids in prison, the youth at the city-dump, the Tolupan Indian youth), but especially to our foster kids during this very exciting time for them.