May I grieve?

At first, I was going to call this post "May I rant?", but realized that what was happening in my heart was more grief than rage.

It seems that at every turn, I am seeing more and more of my JCM classmates leaving the truth. There is a loss of holiness, loss of separation from the world and some seem to be even embracing "enlightenment and spiritualism". Now, while I could go down a side path on how enlightenment is anything but, I am going to try and stay on topic.

I think most of us at JCM probably had pretty much the same experience. The same teachers, classes, chapels, and opportunity to change. So, how does it happen that so many are walking away and I feel that because of my time at JCM, I will never walk away. I'm not doing very good at putting this feeling into words, but I feel like my heart weights 1000 pounds inside me. I remember in a class, during my freshman year, the teacher telling us that statistics said that a high percentage of us would eventually backslide. He encouraged us to make up our minds then that we would never consider giving up, no matter what. When he was talking to us, I thought in my head, "Well, that's not me. I don't care how high the percentage is, It's not me!" And it isn't nor will it ever be me. But, my question is, "What were the others thinking?" I know it was a moment that most of us remembered because we discussed it after class and just a couple of years ago it came up in a conversation with a friend from JCM. She is still in the truth and she said that she pretty much thought what I did.

Another friend recently ask me, "What happened? How is it that people I never thought would backslide have backslidden?" And to that, I can say, I truly wish I knew. Because if I knew, maybe I could be of more help. Admittedly, I am ashamed to say, I have a hard time knowing what to say to people who have spoken in tongues and felt the incredibly awesome Spirit of God and even studied the Bible for three years that turn away from it. People who have not tasted and seen the goodness of God, I can get that.

I realize that we have an adversary that strives daily to confuse and pollute our souls and minds. But how is it that so many who know the truth are deceived? Once I learned my colors, you would have a hard time convincing me that a red shirt is really blue. It seems that the same principle would apply.

So, here I am not knowing what to do (Yes, I am praying. I do know that much!) and just grieving in my heart. Even for people that weren't close friends. More so for people that were my friends. Ones that I spent weekends with and stayed up late talking to and studied together with and graduated with. And when we went our separate ways, I was sure was they were going to be doing great things because I knew how much time they spent in the prayer room. They were the friends that called me out when I missed too many mornings in the prayer room.

At this moment, I can imagine how the 11 disciples must have felt when Judas sold out Jesus. How they must have grieved and wondered if they could have changed things and questioned how they missed the clues and so do I.

The craziness of MKs

Most of the time, my kids seem like normal little American kids. Sure, they are picky about their Chinese food, request soup and rice more than they request McDonald's and say "Dway bu chee" instead of "I'm sorry". Yes, they would look at you like the world was over if you tried to serve them minute rice. But, for the most part, they are very American. However, within the last 10 days, their MK-ness has really shined through.


Case 1:


The other day I found taco shells, the hard kind, at Costco. We always eat soft shell tacos because it is next to impossible to find the hard kind. So, I excitedly bought them and came home ready to have "real tacos". When I sat the table for dinner, Abbey and Ethan both wanted to know where I got the "big chips". They liked the tacos, but preferred to eat the "big chips" without anything in them!

Case 2:


This past week has been Chinese New Year. At the local cultural center, they had tons of booths and games and train rides set up. We took the kids over to have a little fun and after awhile, they started noticing that 80% of the kids around them were eating ice cream. Well, it was a fun day, so we went to get some ice cream, too. These were the options available:

Vanilla
Chocolate
Vanilla and Chocolate swirl
Strawberry
Green tea
Strawberry and green tea swirl

What do you think the little MK's chose? Here's a clue to help you:
Yes, that's right. They chose green tea and strawberry swirl! I'm sure that the older they get, the more this MK-ness will show up. But, you know what? That is a good thing!

Jing Hwa!

Some of you who read this live in Taiwan, so an "update" on Jing Hwa may not be really interesting to you. However, if you think that I have left anything out, please feel free to post it in the comments section! For the rest of you who might be wondering if Jing Hwa is still wondering the Earth, I am happy to say that she is. Here's a picture to prove it.

She is the official translator in our church. That basically means that she is translating for someone during every service. She is still tons of fun and her English still has a southern accent! We haven't found her a husband yet, but if you know a great guy that is willing to move to Taiwan (*ahem* Please note that we aren't willing to let her move away) then send him over to this blog for a little look see. She is always joking that she needs to give me a picture of herself for my house so that when I have the English Home Meeting I can introduce her to any good guys. Well, Jing Hwa, This is better! I am introducing you to the world!

The other night we all went out to a little restaurant beside the ocean. We drank Chinese tea and ordered dinner and drank more Chinese tea. Before we knew it, we had been there for over 4 hours! Thankfully, it was a very laid back place where customers are expected to linger. She really is a wonderful blessing to our church and to me personally. To all of you who have said hello, I have passed those thoughts along to her.

A Dangerous Milestone and the Discovery of Pirate Bones

Well, it was bound to happen sometime. It happen to Chris 9 times, every time involving his face. And Ethan does love to be like his BaBa. Sunday night after church, Ethan took a tumble down some steps. That wasn't the bad part. The bad part was that he had a little car in his hand and he put his hand up to block his face. The little car collided with his forehead and made a terrific gash. I was at the bottom of the steps when he turned around, tripped and fell back down a couple. I picked him up and blood was dripping onto the steps and my sleeve. So, all of us in our church clothes headed to the local ER. By the time we got there, it had stopped bleeding and I personally hoped that they would hand us a band-aid and send us home. But that was not to be the case. They handed us a form to give to the X-ray tech and said for us to come back for stitches. Three stitches in all. I have to say that Ethan was the most courageous child I have ever seen. He didn't fight the doctor and went in for the x-ray by himself! After stitching him up, the doctor showed us his x-ray (which was fine, praise God!). Ethan immediately wanted to know whose pirate bones those were. When he found out that they were his, you have never seen a little boy who was happier! So, now he keeps admiring himself in the mirror and saying, "I'm a pirate because I have pirate bones and I'm tough!". Had all of this happened to our daughter, you would have heard the screams in America and that would have just been when she realized that she was bleeding. She probably would have wanted to skip school and be on a self-imposed bed rest until the stitches came out. I don't care what anyone says, boys and girls are total opposites! It's not a Mars/Venus thing, it is more like a Mercury/Pluto thing! (Just for the record, I know that Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore, but it should be!)

Welcome to the world of 2009!

Yes, yes, call off the search and rescue teams, I am still alive. Here's a little update on the last month. And I do have tons of stories I want to write. If I can just remember them all! So, here's the recap:

The Christmas Musical: Awesome. No other word describes it. Just awesome! The scene where Mary sang "A Baby Changes Everything" and then right after that the Angel and the narrator sang, "Mary, Did You Know?" was so incredibly powerful. Even in our practices I just felt like weeping. Our turn out was wonderful. We had 83 for our Sunday Morning performance and 90 for the Sunday night performance. And most of those were not repeats. I am trying to talk Chris into letting us do an Easter Musical.

Christmas: Too much food! But it was great to spend it with family. Abbey and Ethan ate more candy in that one single day than they had eaten in the last year! My favorite gift? My bread machine!

New Year's: We spent it with our church family. In our service that night, we took communion and really rededicated ourselves. Then we all headed out to Starbucks for some coffee and then back to the church. We ended the year with testimonies about victories in 2008 and prayer. Of course, we "ended" 2008 about 13 hours ahead of most of you!

VACATION!: Right after the new year, we took a 3 day family vacation. It was the first vacation we have ever taken with just the four of us. We went down to the beach and wasted time playing around. We came back with sand in our shoes and our faces sunburned and can't even explain how much fun we had.

We still have a little more celebrating to do. Chinese New Year, which is THE BIGGEST holiday of the year is coming up in a little over a week. And before that, someone will turn 30!!!! I expect to feel just like 29 and I am not getting old. I'm not!

So, here's to a great and successful 2009. Just remember, if your goals are easy, you will always have a sense of success. So, I'm not setting a goal of 50 pounds to lose this year, but a goal of 5 pounds! That way, if I forget, I can squeeze it in at the end of December. Don't forget, you heard it here!

English Bible Class

Just a quick update on my English Bible Class. We had our Christmas Party on the first Friday of this month and had a record attendance of 50 people! I am so excited! Yes, they did all fit into my house and the game of naughty Santa took light years, but it was incredibly fun. I didn't really teach this time, but rather just told the Christmas Story and explained why it is so important to Christians. Lots of this students are coming to our Christmas Musical (the reason behind my deserted blog!) and I am so praying and hoping that something wonderful is going to happen!

Questions about God

Today we were sitting in church during the worship time and Ethan got to thinking about Jesus. He suddenly got up, came over to me, and began asking questions.

E: "Does Jesus wear clothes?"
Me: "Yes, he did."
E: "At night, does he put on his PJ's and go to sleep in his bed?"
M: "Yes, he did put on his PJ's and go to bed."
E: "What kind of bed did he sleep in?"
M: "Well, maybe he slept on the floor on a mat with his blanket." (yeah, I was guessing, but it sounds good!)
E: "How did Jesus go up when he went to heaven?"
M: "He just rose up like this." ( I picked him up a little to demonstrate) "And when you get Jesus in your heart, you can maybe go to heaven like that one day too."
E: "Will there be a big ladder for me to climb up all the way to heaven?"
M: "Nope, you will just rise up like Jesus, maybe."
E: "I'm gonna get Jesus in my heart and get baptized. Could Jesus baptize himself?"
M: "No, remember the story from Sunday School about John the Baptist baptizing Jesus?"

And that comment got him to thinking about Sunday School and Lord only knows what else. Just when you think that they are totally not getting anything from Sunday School, your kid pops up with questions like this. Since I am one of his teachers, I know just how much he tries to goof off in class! It seems most of the time that he is more focused on sitting by the right person (Amber) or not sitting by someone (Amber again, their relationship is complicated to say the least! I'm going to blog about that soon!) than listening. So tell me, really, could Jesus baptize himself?