Letting Go

It is almost September again, the time of year when mothers and fathers are sending their children off to pre-school, kindergarten or college for the first time. Some children will laugh and run right into their class. Some will hang on tightly to mother's or father's hand. Some parents will be celebrating their new freedom; some will be mourning the loss of a childhood. Whatever the scenario, I've come to realize that letting go of our children is a natural progression of life.

I remember several years ago when we dropped our son off at college for the first time. We packed all his worldly belongings into a 1995 Ford Taurus and headed for Biola University in La Mirada, California. He was almost 21 at the time and had worked and gone to junior college for several years before transferring to the university. He was ready to go and I felt confident that he would do well there. I was ready for him to go; ready for him to experience life outside of our small town; ready for him to know what it is like to live on his own; ready for him to meet new people and make friends whom he will hopefully have for a lifetime. And yes, ready for him to meet a "nice Christian girl" and settle down. I was ready to let go.

Letting go is a process. Their first step, their first sleep-over, the first day of school, to their first trip without you is a progression of trust for both parent and child. The child trusts that mom and dad will still be there when they return and will joyfully welcome them home. The parents trust that the child will remember what they've been taught and wear clean underwear.

Each new adventure our children have tests our parenting skills and our faith in God. It is through the raising of our children that we learn about God and about ourselves. Our children teach us how to live and love like Jesus. We learn what it means to love unconditionally. We learn how to care about someone other than ourselves. We know how it feels to love someone enough to give our life for that person. We learn how to trust God more completely as we must now trust him with our most precious possession. We learn how to pray.

After my son Joel preached at our church for the first time, I received many compliments. "You have done a great job parenting", people said. "You have raised him well." The truth is he has raised me well. He has made me a better parent, a better person.

They say when you become a parent your heart is never again your own. I suppose this is true as it feels that a part of my heart is now at Biola. The humorist Erma Bombeck said children are like kites. "You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you're both breathless ... they crash ... you add a longer tail ... they hit the rooftop ... you pluck them out of the spout. You patch and comfort, adjust and teach. You watch them lifted by the wind and assure them that someday they'll fly. Finally, they are airborne, but they need more string and you keep letting it out. With each twist of the ball of twine, there is a sadness that goes with the joy because the kite becomes more distant, and somehow you know that it won't be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that bound you together and soar as it was meant to soar -- free and alone. Only then do you know that you did your job."

I am ready to stand back and watch my son soar to new heights and a new direction knowing that his kite string is still fully in hands of his Heavenly Father.

As I finished this article my phone rings. It is my son. He needs my help, he frantically says. "What is wrong!" I reply. I am already calculating how long it would take me to get to La Mirada. "I've gotten a piece of dental floss stuck in my tooth and I can't get it out!" he exclaims. As I try to contain my laughter he continues, "It is not funny, Mom! I have class in an hour and this piece of floss is so big you could hang something on it."

Ever the loving supportive mother, I give him some tips on removing the floss, but not before I ask him to send me a photo of his predicament with his camera phone. As my cell phones beeps again with the incoming photo, I sigh. "Ah, my son still needs me."

Theres No Place Like Home

"Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times and say "There's no place like home, there's no place like home…"With those words, Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz is transported back to her beloved home in Kansas.

The word "home" evokes warm memories and feelings for most of us. Home is where everyone longs to be. Where we are loved, nurtured, and unconditionally accepted with all our faults.

After the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade center all the travelers who were stranded just wanted to go home. It did not matter where home was or what it looked like. Home could have a high-rise apartment in Manhattan or a farmhouse in Kansas. They just wanted to go home. Did you know that God makes His home in you? Jesus told the disciples in John 14:23

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

God makes His home in us! Imagine the Creator of the universe living inside us! What a privilege and honor to be the dwelling place of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord.

In our home on we have entertained many guests from missionaries to the town mayor. When those occasions occur, I drive my family nuts by insisting that the house be spotlessly clean. When I consider that the God of creation makes his home in me, I realize how little I pay attention to the cleanliness of His home – me. Just as we need to clean our earthly homes every day so we need to clean our spiritual lives every day. Sin creeps in one cobweb at a time.

Many years ago we had a roof leak in our home. The leakage caused some plaster to fall down from the ceiling in the entry way to our home. It left a barren patch of lath boards about two feet by three feet. Each day I would come home and look up at that barren patch wondering when it would get fixed. It was left in disrepair and pretty soon I stopped noticing it. Months later someone would come over and comment on the hole in our ceiling. "Oh", I'd say, I'd forgotten it was there." Sin is like that. If you live with it long enough you don't notice it.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 7:1

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9

We need to cleanse ourselves and God's home on a daily basis, not just of the little sins but the big ones too. Often we focus in on the small sins in our lives and overlook the obvious larger ones. Are we treating our families with love and kindness? Are we following His commandments? Are we living for God and not the things and pleasures of this world? Are we staying sexual pure in mind and body, whether married or single? Do we allow anger, envy, and pride keep us from glorifying God?

Take a daily inventory of your spiritual life. It is easy to let the world's standards become ours. Jesus gives us in the book of John a different definition of home. He did not have an earthly home in his adult years. Christ was at home with God no matter where his body was. Jill Briscoe says "Home is the will of God for the child of God." The most wonderful earthly home would become a miserable dwelling place if we are living outside the will of God.

God makes His home with us but He is also preparing another home for us. Christ said in

John 14:2-4, "There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know where I am going and how to get there." (The Living Translation)

This world is not our home yet many of us put down roots like it is. We try to fill our longings with material and worldly pleasures.

"Most of us find it very difficult to want 'Heaven"' at all – except in so far as 'Heaven' means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts would know that they do want and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise." C.S. Lewis

The world does not satisfy for we were made for another world. Our eternal home is with Christ in heaven and as pilgrims on a journey we long for that home. Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz had the power to go home all along and did not know it. We have the power to be at home with God every day while on this earth and the privilege to spend eternity in His presence.

Oh to be home! To bask in the presence of the Almighty- To be free from our earthly pain – To be reunited with loved ones – To see and touch the nail scarred hands – To worship at the throne – to be Home!

"These last few days! Every little nuisance every stale or tiresome bit of work every feeling of that estrangement which I never quite get over in another country serves as a delightful reminder of how different it will all be soon. Already one's mind dwells upon the sights and sounds and smells of home…."

In The Good Old Summertime

About the middle of June on a warm summer day, thousands of children wait with anticipation. They anxiously watch the slow ticking clock. Somewhere in the background, a teacher's voice drones on and on. They do not hear the words as they wait expectantly for The moment to arrive. The moment when they will all experience the euphoria of "Summer Vacation."

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the '60's and early '70's. The "Valley" at that time was suburbia at its finest. The streets were safe and clean, the schools were safe, and there was no such thing as gang violence. Most of us had dads that worked and moms that were home. The "Valley" in the sixties was the hub of many a western movie, especially Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry. Life, as a child, was good, simple, and fun.

The day after school got out I would bug my mom to drive me to the local library. She usually dropped me off as I would spend hours searching for just he right books for my summer reading. I would check out 8 books each week (the maximum you were allowed to check out) and take them home. I would settle myself on my bed, or out in yard on a blanket if the house was too hot, and read to my heart's content. When I finished my pile of books, I would return to the library and choose some more.

During my childhood, summer was play time. We would gather near the home of April Showers (that was her real name) and play baseball, dodge ball, and football. When it got too hot we would go to my house where my mom always had home-made Popsicles in the freezer made with a plastic Tupperware set and Kool-aid.

Once a week we were allowed to go to the local pool to swim for the afternoon. Admission was 25 cents which seemed like a lot of money to me then. Our pool had a high dive which was my favorite. I loved the excitement of jumping off that high tower and feeling the pit of your stomach lurch up into your throat. Once you came up for air though you always had to dig your swimsuit out of certain places but it was worth the "rush."

Summer vacation seemed to last forever. Next to Christmas, it was the best time of the year. But September always came. Nine long months we had to wait until summer came again.

As good as summer was, it pales in comparison to what Heaven will be like for those who know Jesus. Revelation 21:2-4 talks about the New Jerusalem which is a picture of what Heaven eaven will be like.

"And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever." Rev 21:2-4

The endless joys of summer vacation cannot compare to spending eternity with God and having the joy of living with Him. Hebrews 12 describes heaven as the "city of the living God," where there are "thousands of angles in joyful assembly."

Christian artists, MercyMe, have written a powerful song about the day we arrive in heaven.

I can only imagine What it will be like When I walk By Your side I can only imagine What my eyes will see When Your face Is before me I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all I can only imagine

I can only imagine When that day comes And I find myself Standing in the Son I can only imagine When all I will do Is forever Forever worship You I can only imagine

We can only imagine what that day will be like. But I imagine that it will be an endless summer vacation in the presence of the living God!

The Greatest Mystery of All

Summer is here; the most anticipated time of year, next to Christmas! For some it means family vacations, trips to the beach and the lake, ice cream for dinner, or lazy days at home. For me summer has always meant summer reading! When I was in grade school I couldn't wait for summer to arrive for it meant that I could spend my days reading endlessly (after my chores were done of course). I would spread a blanket outside under the big shade tree and devour the latest mystery I had borrowed from my local library. When I begin a new mystery I can hardly wait to get to the end of it so I can discover the answers to all the secrets.

There is one mystery that I have discovered though that continues to baffle and amaze me. It is found in the book of Colossians. Paul writes to the church at Colossi about a mystery which has been kept secret for generations. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:10-11 that even the prophets of old wondered about this mystery and wanted to know when this mystery would be revealed.

What is it?
This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God's people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. Colossians 1:26-27 (NLT)

The mystery is first that the gospel message, the good news of salvation, is not just for the Jews only but also for the Gentiles. That's most of us! And second, that the Creator of the Universe, the Son of God, the visible image of the invisible God, lives in us.

When we come to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He comes to live in us. And in Jesus lives the fullness of God. There is a popular movie out where one character is called "mini-me." Mini-me is a mini version of the main character. Jesus is not a mini-God. He is all God. "For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ." (Col. 1:19)

These concepts are so wonderful, so profound, that Peter says in the book of 1 Peter these are "things into which angels long to look." Angels long to understand, know, and to experience this mystery. But it is a mystery preserved for you and me. Christ in you; the hope of glory.

I have a difficult time wrapping my brain around this. It is not just that Jesus lives in me, but that he would want to live in me. Somehow he guides me, directs me, and empowers me to do the things he has called me to do. Because of this mystery, I am able to experience the very presence of God, an experience most of the world is longing for.

Frederick Buechner says it better than I in his book the Magnificent Defeat.

"For what we need to know is not just that God exists, not just that beyond the steely brightness of the stars there is a cosmic intelligence of some kind that keeps the whole show going, but that there is a God right here in the thick of our day-today lives who in one way or another is trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around down here knee deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world. It is not objective proof of God's existence that we want, but the experience of God's presence. And that is also I think the miracle that we really get."

As I mediate on the fact that Christ lives in me and I live with Him, it causes me to be profoundly grateful. I am grateful for all I have, for all He has done for me, and grateful for the very breath of life He has given me. It also keeps me on my knees in humble adoration for the miracle and the mystery of Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Come and See

“As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and then declared, "Look! There is the Lamb of God!" Then John's two disciples turned and followed Jesus. Jesus looked around and saw them following. "What do you want?" he asked them. They replied, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" "Come and see," he said. “John 1:36-39 Come and see. It was more than an invitation to see where Jesus lived. It was an invitation to see how Jesus lived. The two disciples, John and Andrew had been seekers for a while at this point in the scriptures. They had been following John the Baptist. Now Jesus comes on the scene and John fulfills his role as messenger and directs the disciples to the Lamb of God. And what do Andrew and John do? “Then John’s two disciples turned and followed Jesus.” No debate, no hesitation, no looking back. They turned and followed. Jesus then tests their motives with the question, “What do you want?” Doesn’t Jesus know everything? Surely He knew what they wanted. I think he wanted the two disciples to voice what he knew was in their hearts. “Teacher, where are you staying?” implies we want to learn from you and we want to go with you. It is then Jesus issues the divine invitation to come and see. Later in the book of John, we see Andrew bringing his brother Simon Peter to meet the Lord. John also at some point brought his brother, James to meet Jesus as evidenced by the fact that throughout the gospels where you find John, you will also find James. Come and See. I want this to be the anthem of my life. Jesus issued the invitation to John and Andrew. John and Andrew issued the invitation to James and Peter, and the four of them took the invitation to the world. As Bob Bennett said so eloquently in his song, “Come and See,” “Come and see, come and see Come and see a Man from Heaven Come and see, hear Him speak He has seen the face of God Come and see, come and see This Jesus of Nazareth Come and see the One that we Have heard of all our lives.”© I want my life to be an invitation to meet Jesus. I have come to realize that the invitation is given in quiet ways. It is given with a smile to the cashier and a “thank you” to the clerk. It is given by holding open a door for an elderly woman or to a mom pushing a stroller. It is given by serving my family and my neighbors. After ten years, I am just beginning to know my neighbors. I have struggled to love my neighbor across the alley, Christina. She is quite eccentric and a bit odd. She wears clothes that are too big, speaks a mixture of English and Spanish and has only a few teeth. She collects junk (mostly the neighborhood cast offs like our old recliner) and piles it into her backyard. She has two Great Danes who stay in the house all the times and 20+ cats that live outside. Her cats like to use my backyard and at one time my dirt basement for their litter box. I saw Christina as an annoyance not a neighbor. She has started to lose her memory lately. She has come to my door many times to tell me about our house which she thinks she owns. I came home the other day and she was outside with only a flannel shirt on. No shoes, no pants, no underpants. I gently took her by the arm and escorted her into her home to help her find some clothes. She asked my name and where I lived many times in the course of our conversation. She told me about her life in old Mexico and how she used to be a rich woman. We had a lovely conversation and I thanked her for letting me visit. Several days later I found her wandering down the block late at night looking for her daughter. She was worried because her daughter had not come home yet. I walked her home and we discovered that her daughter was indeed home and did not know that her mother had left the house. Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. When asked, “who is my neighbor,” Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan and ended it by saying the neighbor is the one who showed mercy. “And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." (Luke 10:29) That is why I will not judge Christina or her daughter. I have not walked in their shoes. Nor will I try to “fix” their problem or rescue her from what some may see as a bad situation. I will care for her, try to keep her clothed, feed her, and bring her home. I will show mercy and I will show love, and hopely my life will invite her and her daughter to “Come and See.” “Follow Me, Follow Me And I will show you My Father Follow Me and you will see The Heavens opened wide Come and see, come and see Come and see this Man from Heaven Oh, could it be? Could it be We will see the face of God?” © W/M: Bob Bennett & Michael Aguilar© 1982 Straightway Music (ASCAP) used with permission

Grace In A Desolate Place

If you ask most Christians to define grace, they will say “God’s unmerited favor.” Ask them how that impacts their daily walk with Jesus and you are liable to get a blank stare. We know what God’s grace is but how does that flesh out in our daily lives?

One of the most profound examples of God’s grace is told in 2 Samuel 9. It is the story of David and Mephibosheth. David has just been crowned King over all of Israel after 25 years of running from Saul and fighting his enemies. He and his family have moved into the palace at Jerusalem and there is peace in the land, albeit temporary. David is pondering his life and he asks a servant “Is anyone in Saul’s family still alive that I may show them kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” The servant replies yes and David bids the servant to go and bring him to the palace.

The servant travels to Lo-debar, “land of the dry pasture”. He finds Saul’s grandson, Mephibosheth, “the shameful one”, living with a distant relative as he is crippled and cannot provide for his family. Mephibosheth obeys the call of the king and goes to the palace. Most likely he was frightened and uncertain as to his fate. I’m sure he thought, “Oh no. This is it. David has found me and now I will be killed.” It was common practice to kill off the family of your enemies so that they would not try to overthrow the throne.

David, however, extends grace to Mephibosheth. He tells Mephibosheth in front of all at the palace that he will return to him all the lands and wealth of his grandfather Saul. He then instructs the servant, Ziba and his family to farm the land for Mephibosheth and give all the food to Mephibosheth’s family. “But,” David adds, “Mephibosheth will dine at my table.” “From then on Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem and ate regularly at the king’s table.” 2 Sam. 9:13

What an incredible picture this is of God’s grace towards us. David sought out Mephibosheth, his enemy (the shameful one), and showed him grace because of his loving kindness. There is nothing neither lovely nor righteous in Mephibosheth that makes him worthy of David’s love, yet David seeks him out for the sake of another (Jonathan). Mephibosheth is given a room in the palace and a place at the king’s table. David adopts Mephibosheth and makes him part of the royal family. He receives all the benefits that one born into royalty would receive.

In the same way God seeks us out, we do not seek Him nor can we as we are shameful and crippled in our sin. Before we are redeemed we are enemies of God residing in a desert. There is nothing neither lovely nor righteous in us, yet God plucks us out of our sinful, desolate place for the sake of His son Jesus Christ. God gives us a room in His palace and a place at His table. He adopts us and we become part of His royal family

God our Savior showed us how good and kind he is. He saved us because of his mercy, and not because of any good things that we have done. Titus 3:4

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1: 5

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:10

God cannot love us any more than he does now, and He will not love us any less no matter what we do. Nothing we do can increase or decrease God’s love for us. This is grace.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Why would God treat us this way, ill-deserving as we are? 2 Samuel 22 says that God “…reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. He led me to a place of safety; because he delights in me.”

The Creator of the Universe, the Most High King, delights in us. He wants to spend time with us. What does that mean for you and me in our daily lives? It should mean that we want to spend time with our Father who is loving, kind, generous, and merciful. Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle says this about grace;

“God’s grace and love transforms holiness. We are not trying to be presentable so that we will get picked for adoption. We are the kids that are so well loved that we want to obey our Dad because he’s the best. We want to follow our Dad because we trust him. We want to honor our Dad because he’s been so kind, and since he has already given us his last name, we want to live in such a way as to bring honor to his name. God adopts into his family that is the church. He gives us the name of Christian. He chooses to do us good. It is his kindness that leads us to repentance, and it changes us into different kids.”

God’s grace changes us into kids who obey their Father because they want to not because they have to. Grace transforms our daily walk from one where we check off a to-do-list to a life that freely loves, serves, and gives.
What was Mephibosheth’s reaction to David’s grace? Later on in 2 Samuel, David is forced to flee Jerusalem. Mephibosheth does not come with him and David is told by Ziba the servant that Mephibosheth has betrayed him. Believing this to be true, David gives Ziba, all of Mephibosheth’s wealth. When David final returns to the palace sometime later, Mephibosheth greets him with dirty, torn clothes and an unkempt appearance, a sign of mourning. David asks him why he did not come with him. Mephibosheth says that Ziba deceived him and that he was unable to leave as he was crippled. David does not know who to believe so he splits the wealth between the two of them. Mephibosheth, however, is as a man who understands grace. “Give him all of it” he says, “it is enough that I get to dine at your table.”

God’s grace allows me to be free from the comparison trap. It does not matter what I have or don’t have. It does not matter if He chooses to bless others and not me. It is enough that I get to live in the palace with the King and dine at his table.

Whose Life Is it Anyway?

The movie The End of the Spear tells the true story of five men, Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed Mcculley, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian, who, in 1956, were killed by the Waodani Indians of Ecuador while trying to share the gospel with them. Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel, and Jim Elliot’s wife, Elizabeth eventually went to live with the tribe and succeeded in sharing the Gospel with the very men who murdered their brother and husband. Rachel Saint lived out her life with the Waodani people and was often visited by Nate’s son Steve. Upon her death, Steve traveled back to Ecuador to preside over Rachel’s funeral and gather her belongings. Steve reconnected with the Waodani people and their leader, Mincayani, whom he calls Grandfather. In a very dramatic moment in the movie, Mincayani takes Steve to the very spot where his father was murdered. There Mincayani confesses that it was he who murdered Steve’s father, Nate. “I took your father’s life,” Mincayani confesses. After struggling with his emotions, Steve replies. “You did not take my father’s life. He gave it.” Luke 9:23-24 Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.” What does that mean for me and for you? What does it mean to deny ourselves daily and follow Jesus? Back in 1956, for five men denying themselves meant moving to Ecuador and living with the Waodani people that they might win them to Christ. That decision cost them their lives- their futures. They never lived to see their children born and grow up. They never lived to see the Waodani people embrace Christianity and become a people of peace instead of violence. Some people would say their wasted their lives. In this passage in Luke, Jesus poses some probing questions to challenge our assumptions about what is most profitable and worthwhile. Every decision we make in life will determine the type of person we are become. These decisions mold our character and to some extent determine our future. Are we going to live for ourselves? Are we going to pursue success as the world defines it, wealth, large houses, trendy clothes, the latest ipods, cell phones, the best car, etc. Or are we going to live for Christ fully committed to him and ready to lose our life for His sake. My Life or God’s? It is a choice we make many times each day. The cashier gives me back too much change. My life or God’s? A car cuts me off on the freeway. My life or God’s? A friend deeply wounds me. My life or God’s? A family needs financial assistance. My life or God’s? My physical health has taken a turn for the worse. My life or God’s? My spouse walks out on our marriage. My life or God’s? Given the choice to serve yourself or serve others as Christ would, what would you choose? Robertson McQuilkin is one man who knows what it means to lay down your life for another. Mr. McQuilkin was president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary for many years when in 1978 his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. By 1990, His wife’s illness had progressed to where she needed full-time care. Robertson resigned his position to care for his wife. He writes this of his decision to resign, “When the time came, the decision was firm. It took no great calculation. It was a matter of integrity. Had I not promised, 42 years before, ‘in sickness and in health . . . till death do us part’? It is all more than keeping promises and being fair, however. As I watch her brave descent into oblivion, Muriel is the joy of my life. Daily I discern new manifestations of the kind of person she is, the wife I always loved. I also see fresh manifestations of God's love-the God I long to love more fully.” When someone asked Robertson McQuilkin if he regretted giving up his career to care for his wife, he replied,“I don't feel like I've given anything up. Our life is not the way we plot it or plan it. And so I guess all along I've just accepted whatever assignment the Lord gave me. This was his assignment.” Jim Elliot said “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim lost his life in 1956 along with Nate Saint at the hands of a Waodani Indian named, Mincayani. Mincayani now travels the U.S. with Steve Saint, grandfather and grandson, telling others their story of redemption, forgiveness, and how to find true life. The choice in yours. Your life or God’s?