The Seabourns

Archives for July 2008

The next step in the journey

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“M” had many questions about God. He was returning from two weeks in Columbia visiting his family. He is a senior manager with a major telecommunications company and has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years. As we flew from Atlanta to Dallas, I explored areas where our lives are similar. We both trained as electrical engineers. I am familiar with his company campus in Plano, having friends who work there and having visited the campus. He teaches data security courses at a major university as an adjunct professor. We both think deeply about spiritual things.

“Why would God tell Abraham to kill his son Isaac as proof of his love for him?” “Why would God tell the Israelites to wipe out other nations?”

“M” has knowledge of the Bible from his Catholic education. But he does not personally know the loving God of the Bible. As we continued to talk, I realized there are some barriers in “M’s” mind that need to be bridged as he continues on his journey toward Jesus. I need to become a bridge builder to help him over these barriers.

“M” had not heard of C. S. Lewis nor his book Mere Christianity. With his permission, I sent him a copy with a note about our conversation. I invited him to email me with his thoughts and questions as he reads the book. I am becoming a guide to help him on his journey.

I have been greatly helped in thinking about evangelistic opportunities by training from CoJourners. Understanding the roles of Explorer, Guide, Builder, and Mentor help me sharpen my ability to connect effectively with others.

Our flight did not start out as an evangelistic mission. As we boarded the flight in Orlando, Kay and I were looking forward to meeting grandchild #3, Luke Andrew. The plane pushed back and moved out on the taxiway, then sat. And sat. And sat. It rained hard. Flights were not allowed to depart. The pilot shut down the engines to conserve fuel.

What do you do when you are waiting for two hours and you know you will miss your connecting flight? Henry Blackaby says that what you do next reveals what you believe about God. Is this a time to get mad at the airline? A time to take out your frustration on the attendants? Or a time to recognize that we are on a grand journey that is daily orchestrated by the God of the universe?

We did miss our connecting flight. We were put on standby for the fully loaded 7pm flight to Dallas.
Successfully getting on the flight, I was seated next to “M”. I don’t know how this twist in the journey will turn out, but we are on an exciting journey under God’s sovereignty. Stay tuned…

… and please pray for “M” as he begins reading Mere Christianity. Pray that his eyes are enlightened and his soul is inflamed by the God of the universe.

Missionaries Anywhere

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Living in 2008 is an exciting adventure. We have the privilege of being missionaries everywhere. And anywhere. I just helped a young lady who lives in Bristol, England. You might have  thought I was in Singapore. Well, actually I’m sitting in the Minneapolis airport on my way home to Orlando. “O” lives in Bristol but had contacted us through one of our websites. She wrote,

I just recommitted my life to Christ. My question is , in the bible it says when you are baptised is the time you turn away from your sins and is the time to recieve the Holy Spirit. i did not receive the baptism i pray at home , does it work pray at home ?

Great question! Does it work to pray at home to repent and turn to Christ? It was fun to help “O” with answers to her questions and to share some things that have helped me in my personal growth.

I also had an opportunity to talk with “T” on the flight from Singapore to Tokyo. He’s from Sri Lanka, traveling to San Diego to begin college studies in the U.S. I “happened” to have a Conversations CD prepared by Faculty Commons (formerly Christian Leadership Ministries). It contains several conversations with professors about important topics to students and includes opportunities to explore the spiritual side of these issues.

It’s been a good trip. Looking for opportunities to be an ambassador helps alleviate hours of sitting around in airplanes and airports. But right now, I’m ready to be home!

From Singapore

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Orlando to Detroit to Tokyo to Singapore. If this were a trivia travel question, it would be over in a few minutes. In reality, this is a journey of 30+ hours. I definitely think it would be more fun to have been an explorer traveling the northwest passage rather than sitting in a seat on Northwest Airlines.

I’m in Singapore without my favorite traveling buddy, Kay. She’s staying in Orlando for this trip. And when I get back, Abby and Lucy will have brought their parents to Orlando for a few weeks! Our children, Daniel and Michelle, have a break in their training and preparations for Central Asia. They are spending their break with us in Orlando.

We’re meeting in Singapore to continue planning and implementing the global measurements solution. The system is providing tremendous information to leaders allowing them to make wise decisions based on real-time information.

Recording the amazing results of ministry is very encouraging. Remember the feeding of the 5,000? The feeding of the 4,000? The appearances of Jesus to Peter, then the twelve, then to more than five hundred as Paul recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:5?

God cares that his activities are recorded accurately. We can exalt and celebrate God’s activities in our world.

There is another use for accurate information. We can empower leaders to decide wisely. Where is God most at work? Which strategies are most effective? What locations are more responsive? How can we best deploy our personnel and our funding to help fulfill the Great Commission?

That’s what we’re working on in Singapore.

10 Words to Live By

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Problems. Difficulties. Disappointments. Life is full of them. What are some of the various ways people comfort themselves during life’s difficulties? How do we connect God’s love to the difficult circumstances we sometimes face? How does God’s providence play out in our daily lives?

John & Lynn are good friends who have been a part of our journey through life for over 35 years, beginning when Kay, John and I were students at Texas A&M. Lynn was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. As they thought they were ending the chemo, they learned that Lynn need more chemo treatments. They said, “We began this [breast cancer] journey recognizing it as a divine disruption. This week certainly was a ‘bend in the road’ that we did not see coming, expect or want…”

John preceeded us to Africa by about a year. When Kay and I first arrived in Nigeria 31 years ago, John wrote to us:

There are some things God wants to teach you that cannot be learned quite as well anyplace else on the face of the earth.

One of the foundational lessons we’ve learned during our life journey is summarized by the Apostle Paul.
Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul gives us 10 words to live by.

Rejoice always. [2 words]
Praywithout ceasing. [3 words]
Give thanks in all circumstances [5 words]
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

I remember this as the 2-3-5 plan to joy in life. There is an active command, and a clearly defined scope.

Gordon MacDonald writes:

Discipline is the act of inducing pain and stress in order to grow into greater toughness, capacity, endurance or strength. So spiritual discipline is that effort of pressing the soul so that it will enlarge its capacity to hear God speak and, as a result, to generate inner force that will guide and empower one’s mind and outer life.

God presses my soul so that it will enlarge it’s capacity to hear God speak. God presses my soul so that my soul will have a strong inner force that will guide and empower me, both in the inner mind and in my outer life. God desires tough children, children with capacity, children who can endure, children who are strong.

Heidelberg Catechism eloquently identifies God’s providence in our lives:

What do you mean by the providence of God? (Question 27)

The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.

What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence does still uphold all things? (Question 28)

That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.

All things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. Our response: patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, placing our firm trust in our faithful God and Father.

Paul takes it a step further. We are to be thankful in all circumstances. We are rejoice in everything. We are to have a rich, never-ceasing inner conversation with God.

A couple of weeks ago, we were waiting to hear from our children Jonathan and Meredith about the birth of grandson Luke Andrew. At about that same time, Molly Ann Mutz was born. She is the granddaughter of Dennis and Barbara Rainey. The Rainey’s give leadership to FamilyLife, the family ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. You may have heard Dennis on the radio or read one of the many books they have authored..

Molly was born a few days before Luke. She was born with congestive heart failure. She didn’t cry for the first 4 minutes of her life. Then additional testing revealed a very rare and very destructive abnormality of blood vessels in her brain. Over 50% of her brain was permanently damaged. They learned that after 15-20 surgeries, she might have a few brain functions. The families spent days hoping and praying for a miracle. After 3 days of testing, this young couple has to make a very difficult choice. They decide to not pursue the several very dangerous and complex brain surgeries and remove life support later in the week.

You have to read Dennis’ story and Barbara’s story of that week. I still weep my way through it although I’ve read it many times. I weep because it’s sad. I weep because it’s full of joy. I weep because God is so gentle and loving. I weep because evil is so everpresent, but God is so overpowering.

About a year ago, Kay and I were in India. We got word that our granddaughter Lucy had meningitis. The bacterial kind. The bad kind. The kind that can leave permanent effects like loss of hearing. Kay and I struggled with feelings of being half a world away. But we had God’s words. We had His promises.

During that time, I remembered what Christian author John Eldredge wrote in Chapter 1 of Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive:

[We] were born into a world at war, and [we] will live all [our] days in the midst of a great battle, involving all the forces of heaven and hell played out here on earth. … Until we come to terms with war as the context of our days, we will not understand life. We will misinterpret 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us. It will be hard to believe that God’s intentions toward us are life abundant.

Have you come to terms with war as the context of our days?

10 words to live by. The 2-3-5 plan. They have served me well for many years.

Rejoice always. [2 words]
Praywithout ceasing. [3 words]
Give thanks in all circumstances [5 words]
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Thanks, John, for your advice long ago. I’ve learned that they don’t apply just to geographic places. They also apply to circumstancial places. There are some things God wants to teach you that cannot be learned quite as well anyplace else on the face of the earth.