The Next Chapter
This pic’s from Timothy in Ghana.
There’s a story here. Hmmmmm.
Timothy says that’s the Methodist church in the back ground. A very typical sight in the extremely poverty stricken area. Makes me think: what are we saying here in the States with our exceeding wealth and mega-buildings and mega programs and mega institutions?
We’re sure missing our boy today… on his birthday, and every day. Hannah made a birthday cake for Timothy, put it on the Red Plate… we lit the candles and sang the ‘happy birthday song’ while the camera was recording. So, here we are, early this morning, singing to our boy… 7500 miles away.
Happy Birthday, Timothy. We’re missing you! From all of us, with love.
We received a great letter yesterday from our boy, Timothy, in Ghana. Happily, we received a phone call from him yesterday afternoon as well! God is so merciful to us, each one… just the moment we have a need: He’s already there.
So, here’s a link to Timothy’s page… letters are on subsequent pages.
I’m sorting and filing piles and piles of papers, letters, pictures and cards here today… so strolling down memory lane does not allow much time for blogging. More later.
I was wondering… how long ago was it that we remodeled our upstairs bathroom? A couple of years? Three years? Already? Here’s what was happening in the month of February 2005
Timothy sent new pics… here’s the latest from Ghana and other pics, too – his page here. I love making pages for our children… their adventures and the Lord’s work in and through them. God is faithful. Always.
Timothy’s really working to acclimate to the culture and people of Ghana to get to know them and serve so that he can more fully relate to them and to proclaim the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, his work continues… talking with locals, getting to know them and their families, helping the missionaries there and getting the missions training school ready and well… and becoming a local. ;o)
He’s really pretty incredible with a few buckets of paint. :o)
This is his room now… it will eventually be a ‘boys dorm’ when the young men come to stay and study at the mission’s training school. I think Timo’s pretty pleased with the outcome of the room… it looks to me like a Ghanaian team room. :o)
Now we see why he brought soccer balls and wants us to send more. He uses them to start up conversations – and then friendships are begun. He gets attention by simply being there – but I’m thinking that he is getting attention because he is *living* there. The Lord says to *occupy* till He comes.
O, may we all be found *occupied* with the Lord today – not preoccupied with all the stuff of our plans.
I’ve added a letter and some pictures to Timothy’s pages on our site.
Our son Timothy is a missionary in Ghana, West Africa, and I’ve made a couple of pages for his letters and updates, pictures and contact information. I hope you enjoy them…
I’ve loved talking with him on the phone… just hearing his voice is a delight to me and such an encouragement as he shares the wonderful ways the LORD is blessing and providing for everything that’s needed there. It’s been a tremendous blessing, too, to hear of God’s provision and how He’s working in the lives of some young men Timothy’s talked to in the last week.
Of course, as Timothy loves soccer, it was sure a treat to see Ghana’s team win the first match of the African Nations cup. Timothy said that the streets were jam-packed with people cheering and hollering – so happy for that victory!
Anyway… here’s his page and here are his letters and photos.
No time to blog…………………………………. I’m so living.
I’ve been cleaning tonight. I decided to face the inevitable. I hadn’t been up to Timothy’s room in the last couple of days and so I decided to go up… to stand there… and then to sit among his stuff. It was interesting to spend time there — sort of assessing the life by what’s left behind, or to see what’s been important to him. One wall of the small bedroom is lined with bookshelves and on them are rows of books… dozens of missionary biographies and commentaries among a variety of other manuals, Bible studies and, generally, anything that pertains to evangelism, to missions, studying the Word and to the walk of faith.
On the floor were receipts, packaging and tags from last minute purchases. Some single socks. He’d removed the sheets and bedding and had some stacks of pants and shirts for the brothers to rummage through. and And then there is a small wooden train… miniature cars that stretch the length of one of the shelves. On the desk are gifts from Mexico and Africa and there are seashells. And a beach hat. He travels light. I smiled again at what was so obviously important and not imortant to him all his life — it was never a lot of stuff, never collections or showy things. I couldn’t decide what to pack away in the rubbermaid bins Wes brought home this afternoon for me to use for packing — I had asked him to bring three or four – now I see I won’t need all of them. I was going along systematically putting into the bins things I knew he’d likely want to look through someday – cards, pictures and some important papers. I know it might seem soon to be doing this, but in a family with this many youngers, it’s best to get important things put away before they walk away.
I decided to keep a few outfits in case Timothy needs them when he returns — though he had asked me to just let the other boys have all of his stuff — somehow I wasn’t ready to see that happen. Things were all going smoothly as if he were returning in ten minutes and then I was struck with the thought that he was not coming back soon and will likely never come to live at home again — the reality of the permanence of all of this is suddenly overwhelming. I thought: omygoodness – what? is this for real? (I know this happened when our oldest boys left home… but that was well over nine years ago — and they live +/- ten minutes away!)
I decided to take a break. As I made my way downstairs, I could smell the delicious aroma of fresh chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm, mmm, mmmmm. Ahhh… another boy has mastered great cookies! I smiled… sort of a melancholy smile as it dawned on me that the day would come that I would be cleaning this boy’s room, too. I don’t know how many times I need to be reminded that this activity of launching children has happened and will happen several more times. I realized again that motherhood means lots goodbyes. Keenly aware once again that no matter what: time slips away quickly and we must let them go… we hold the babies in our arms for a little while; we hold their hands for a season; we hold them in our prayers every day but we hold them in our hearts forever.
I’ve spent a bit of time mulling over a conversation I had with a young mom some months ago – a woman I don’t know but I felt a bit of kinship with her through the course of our brief conversation. She was lamenting the plight of young mothers and the heavy load of each day. She was feeling overwhelmed and uninspired — overworked and unprepared for the task of motherhood and homekeeping. While she talked, she commented a number of times that she so looked forward to the days ahead when her children would be older and things would be easier — days when she wouldn’t be so tired and the children wouldn’t be so hard to take care of… I told her the same thing that I told a mama just last night: It goes so fast. You may not think so today and I know you’re real tired, but hang on — press on — it really does go so fast.
And, I’m thinking it really doesn’t get easier.
It gets different, maybe, but it doesn’t get easier.
What?
No.
No, I didn’t tell her that. But I should have.
I think that’s why we walk by faith and not by sight… for the days that aren’t easier.
We just returned from Portland. The trashcan full of empty Starbucks cups, orange peels, granola bar wrappers and baggies of bits of remaining mashed sandwiches tells part of the story. It seems as though a week has passed since 5:00 am. The long drive home is just one of many distractions for which I’ve been thankful so far this year. It’s as if each distraction has been a special gift from the Lord – each has been a necessary thing, a necessary interruption or a necessary trial or testing of faith. I’ve wondered if I hadn’t had, or if we hadn’t had, all these distractions or interruptions, would I/we have been able to handle the emotions of these days? I know (without doubt, really) that God would have carried us without the distractions, He would have comforted and directed regardless the interruptions, but I also see how He allowed these things to lessen the impact or to actually obscure some of what might have been seen, heard or felt in the days leading to our son’s departure.
I’ve often said that anywhere in the world is safer, better, healthier in the Hand of the LORD than out of it. This isn’t an attempt at positive thinking or persuasion, I do truly trust that there is no place I’d rather be and no place I’d rather have our children be than in the hand or in the will of the LORD and surely, there is not a more fearful, dreaded place than outside the will of the LORD. Faith and trust doesn’t mean the absence of heartache or sorrow.
So, this morning when I hugged Timothy ‘goodbye-for-now’ I was keenly, albeit painfully, aware that God’s blessing was on him, that he was in the Hand and will of the LORD and that God would, at once, protect, guide and provide for him. It never fails that the hustle and bustle and schedules of airports are a subtle distraction to the impact of the moment and the overwhelming, raw emotions. So today, even in the midst of all of that, I kept determining that I’d be aware of each of the children and Wes’s heart for his boy — you know, remembering: “it’s not all about me” and I’m not the only one left behind.
Somehow, other trips were easier (and thankfully, there have been many through the years) and it was somehow easier knowing Timothy would be home again. But this time, unlike former trips and adventures, the separation is more permanent. Other times were short-term mission’s trips, school and work related. This isn’t just another trip, but the beginning of the rest of his life. Now, that may sound dramatic — especially since I/we sincerely believe that everyone, or every believer, rather, is called by the LORD in some manner, to preach the gospel whether in word or in deed. Timothy, like other ‘career missionaries,’ will not have an additional vocation but will be working full time in service to the Lord.
Now, it’s even later in the day and reality is beginning to set in. I’m missing Timothy so much this evening I feel like I cannot breath. His absence, as is true in his presence, is strongly felt. His clothes in the dryer was just one example of strong reminders that he was just here and equally so that he is not. He told all the boys they could have all his clothes and shoes and other things he left out. His bedding was in the washer – I suppose in an attempt to make things easier for me. I smile that no chore for him would be hard to do tonight… somehow doing the laundry is giving me the feeling that I’m still doing something for him. Even though no one will be sleeping there tonight when the freshly washed sheets are put back on his bed.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll have enough done on the webpage where I will begin a journal chronicling his life as a missionary in Tarkwa, Ghana, West Africa. I did this sort of journal for Kathryn when she went to Uganda last year and will add to it when she returns next month.
When Timothy lands in Accra tomorrow, he will travel north, about 120 miles, to Tarkwa where he will live. Initially, it will be both culturally and geographically challenging to him – but he is eager to be there, eager to learn and eager to expereince all that God has for him. His goal and plans are to assist the missionaries he’s traveling with, and to preach the gospel and make disciples — that’s the Lord’s command in Matthew 28 and, in addition, that’s where the missionary’s experience will be so valuable and encouraging. They’ve registered and are establishing a missionary school with the goal of cross cultural training and more importantly that the school will support itself and be operated completely by Africans. This is not a temporary ‘humanitarian aid’ program, but a life changing, training and equipping for ministry and self-sufficient or self sustaining school learning how best to use natural African resources. The resources are rich and abundant, the people are open to the gospel.
After a time of settling in, establishing the school, etc., with local believers working in the mission school, from there he will go with the experienced missionary further north seeking to reach unevangelized tribes and people groups. This is where the cross cultural training will prove to be invaluable: local believers reaching other tribes.
We pray for his work there… we pray for God’s blessing, provision and protection and we pray for good health and strength for them all. Most of all, we pray the Lord will receive great glory and that many will come to know and serve Him through whatever way the Lord uses Timothy.
To God alone be the glory.
Great things He has done.
more later…. —-pamela