"Tomorrow's Sun"...a poem for a dark Today

Fast-forward for a few moments, from 20 years ago...to now.

 I'd like to share with you a trial that our family is going through, particularly our son Dan...about whom I've been writing.  He's been having migraines, and had an MRI done.  It was a big surprise when they found something that looks like a tumor in his brain.  They did a biopsy, and the results are still not certain.  The first assessment was that it's a low-grade tumor (not aggressive, and very slow-growing), which has a better prognosis.  In cases like these, it is often enough to just do the resection, so that additional chemotherapy, etc., isn't required.  Part of the sample was also sent to outside experts, and their first reaction was that it did not look like tumor tissue.  (Although, that doesn't mean it's not!)

Dan and his lovely wife KC, with their three children, were gearing up for a big move, relocating from Washington state to San Antonio, TX, so it was a hard time for this to come to light.  As I write this, they are in the middle of the long trip, and Dan continues pretty much as if nothing was wrong!!!  He's a strong and determined person, and I can't imagine him not putting up a fight against this invader...whatever it turns out to be.
        
 Not long after getting the news, I wrote this poem, not only for Dan and KC, but for all of us who are lifting them up before God, and cheering them on.  (You can imagine how KC is feeling!  Dan is only 39.  They've been married for only 12 years.)  But also, I'm sharing this poem so that if any of you who are reading this find yourself in a difficult, dark time, you will hopefully be encouraged, too.

    Tomorrow's Sun

Easy it is in light to bless
your love with a grateful voice.
But when pain pulls the blinds down around my nest,
then praising's a harder choice.

  
               So dark it may be around this place
               that I cannot see the way.                                                                            

               But I don't have to see to trust your Grace,
               or to fall to my knees and pray.

              Delayed though the daybreak seems right now,
              as if night will never be done,
              in the shadow You eagerly show me how
              to run towards tomorrow's Sun!
                                                                                                                       ***** -Becky Rhon *****


"Tomorrow's sun" has already begun to shine!  One day, right before I started reading one of my devotionals, I asked God to please give me something that would speak specifically to Dan's situation.  Only a few seconds later...there it was!  I was amazed!
 
          "When He heard this, Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for                         God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.'"  (John 11:4)

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Then more good news! Dan and KC, for the first time, had decided to apply for housing on the military base, but the waiting list is very long, and could take many months to get around to them.  Imagine how surprised they were when they were offered a four-bedroom house almost immediately.  It's a great scenario for them:  it's close to Dan's work and his medical care, there's a swimming pool only a block away, and there are lots of kids around, so Noe, Micah and Eli won't have trouble finding friends to play with.  KC enjoys meeting new Army wives, and usually develops a ministry with those who are interested in studying the Bible.
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Tomorrow's SUN...towards which we are running!  Look at it in the light of Malachi 4:2:

         "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.  And  you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall."

                         And Psalm 84:11 says:  "For the Lord God is a sun and shield."
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Be encouraged!!  The Sun that rises with healing in its wings is shining for everyone who runs towards it!

Christmas in October!

At least we only had to wait six months to see Dan again! He finished a semester of college, and we couldn't wait to go to the airport to pick him up in December.  We knew that, once he us left this time, it would most likely be only a once-a-year occasion. But after he finished the school year, he and a good friend of his decided to enlist in the U.S. Marines! They would be starting Boot Camp in November (I think), so the two of them planned to come down here to Ecuador for a couple of weeks in October, knowing that they wouldn't have a Christmas vacation at all.                                                                       

We started counting the days. We decided that since Dan wouldn't be able to come in December, we would have an early Christmas!  We borrowed an artificial tree from some friends and had it ready.  I started playing Christmas music. (Dan's friend left a week before he did, so that we four could have a family time.)  As much as possible, we did everything we usually did at Christmas.                                                        

Christmas in October!  It was fun, and the having of it was a great help when December came around...after all, we'd already had Christmas together, the four of us!  So it wasn't as difficult to be without Dan then.

One of the many things for which we're grateful to God  is that once our children left home to pursue their education, we were able to get them down here to spend Christmas together virtually every year (whether in December or not!)  in spite of our very low financial support.  Somehow, the money always could be found.  God had truly given us "the desires of our heart"!
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I can't imagine how missionaries in earlier generations, particularly those who served in places like China or India, managed to say good-bye to their children for several years at a time!  Back when there were no airplanes, and travel overseas was just that...over the seas, on a ship...it took too long, and was too expensive to have the family all together very often.  Once the kids were past where their parents could teach them, they headed to the home country for their education. I'm SOOO glad God let me be born in these times instead of those! 

But sometimes I wonder...could I give up seeing my children (and now my grandchildren) as often as I do (which is still only once or twice a year - a lot less than most of you see yours!) if by doing so, someone else came to know Jesus?  He's never asked that of me yet (praise be!)...but if He did?  I think I probably could.  I bet you could, too.  But what about this:

    Years ago, in Australia, an elderly missionary who had worked for a long time in the Far East told us  about something that happened in their school...and I have never forgotten it.  One night they were surrounded by military forces, and were in danger of their lives.  They were on the terrace roof and, as believers, were praying and encouraging each other, knowing that they might be facing their death.  One young girl had moved away from the group a bit, and was crying.  The others tried to comfort her, to help her be strong in spite of her fear.  But she answered that she wasn't afraid!  She was crying because, she said, "I am not worthy to die for my Lord!"  
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Makes one think, doesn't it?  Thanks for joining me!  See you next time.

                                                                     

"No, don't bring more people to our church", said a pastor.

Weird, isn't it?  I don't know what was wrong with him, but something was!!  It was as if he put up a sign on the church:  

One of Germán's brothers and his family had been in contact with some people who were interested in studying the Bible and learning about God, and they talked to their pastor about taking them to church.  But the pastor said he didn't want any more people; he had enough as it was!  (It wasn't a very big church at all, so what was his problem?  I believe he just wasn't interested in the added responsibility.)

So they decided to start a home meeting.  The interested people could come to their home, and they'd have a weekly service.  Then they asked the pastor to at least help them out with some Bibles.  No, he wasn't going to help with that, either.  They were on their own.  

Along with most pastors, we see one of the functions of the church as that of being a lighthouse, shining God's Light for those souls who seek, desiring to find and know Him. I think this was the first time I had ever heard of any pastor who didn't hold that view!

After my brother-in-law's family had proceeded a few weeks with the home group, they realized they needed someone with more Biblical preparation, so they asked Germán if he would come  to the meetings to give the sermons.  This eventually grew into what is now Nueva Creación Church.  This was in about 1993 or 1994 - can't remember exactly.  The church has never been very large, has had its periods of lower attendance or higher attendance, and has had its ups and downs.  But many people have come to know Jesus as their Savior through this ministry! 

We have never had a building of our own, either.  We have always met in borrowed or rented locales.  It's a poor church, and simply can't afford to build.  BUT...everyone whom God leads to its doors is welcomed; no one is turned away. And if someone needs a Bible, we'll see that he gets one!
                 
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Jesus said it: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  (Matthew 7:7)  We can do that with all confidence, because He also said:  "whoever comes to Me I will never drive away."  (John 6:37)

Maybe we should ask Him to help us have a similar attitude.  How many times do we avoid helping others, listening to others?  We might even turn them away.  Now, there are sometimes very good reasons - we can't "be there" for everyone!  But sometimes it's just that we don't feel like it...or are tired...or don't really care all that much about a particular person...or it seems like too much of an effort...  

I think we should ask God to give us discernment  regarding whom to reach out to...and then pay attention to Him, so that when HE sends someone He wants us to help, we don't end up like that pastor and think, "I don't want to be bothered.  Let him/her go somewhere else."
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I hope from the bottom of my heart that YOU know from personal experience what it's like to "knock" and have The Door "opened to you".  If you haven't, remember...He never drives anyone away!
 
God bless you!  See you next time.

So hard to let him go...TO DAN, a poem

(Thank you for taking a detour in The Journey with us, as I shared the last four posts about my mother and her passing away, going to be with Jesus and our father.)

Let's go back to Quito in the '90's, to the time when we had to say a difficult goodbye.  During our famous three years in Dallas, Dan had finished through 11th grade, so he went into 12th here in Quito, graduating from the Alliance Academy, as all my siblings and I had done.  He planned his future moves, and we watched the necessary separation start to evolve.  He had to go on to build a life of his own, but our home would feel disoriented for a long time.  I cried when his plane took off as he left for the States.  In the next few weeks, every time I saw someone in the distance who looked like Dan, or walked like him, I got tears in my eyes.  Debbie missed him sorely, a fact that surprised her now-seventh-grade friends.  (There's a six-year age gap between Dan and Debbie.)  They thought she'd be thrilled to have her big brother out of the picture!  Maybe some siblings are that way, but not these two.

This was before the advent of Skype and at a time when e-mail was rather primitive, to say the least. For e-mails, one had to write out the messages one wanted, and only then try to connect to the internet so that the messages would leave!  We usually had a long list of phone numbers that would make this connection, and if one was busy, you went on to the next..or the next...until you finally succeeded. (And if someone else in the house picked up the phone before you were done, it broke the connection and you had to start all over again!) WiFi was still a long way away! Besides, not everyone had computers back then, much less e-mail service.  We depended a lot on regular snail mail.  How we longed for Christmas to come, so that Dan could come home to us!

One great advantage to having our kids so far apart in age was that the "empty nest" didn't have to happen so abruptly.  Our son left, but we still had our daughter for six more years!  Some time after Dan left, I wrote this poem.  (His middle name is Isaac, hence the reference to "Laughter".) Rereading it now, twenty years later, having watched Dan forge his way into maturity, with a solid profession, a lovely wife, three beautiful children...it still seems relevant.            
 

                                                   TO DAN

                                   You came to us, our Laughter-boy,
                                    a promised anthem, starry toy
                                    that spilled into our parent-time
                                    your eager rhythm, restless rhyme.

                                    You grew with us, our Laughter-son,
                                    and helped our family foursome run
                                    up hills, down valleys - highs and lows -
                                    our hands outreached to hold us close.

                                   They say you left, our Laughter-child,
                                    and yet you're with us all the while.
                                   We sometimes watch, sometimes take part -
                                   your Maker's mesmerizing art

                                   that spins your day and weaves your tale,
                                   that bids you land, and then set sail.
                                   We're here for you, with heart unfurled,
                                   as now you learn to face the world

                                   with prophet-eyes that seek the whole,
                                   with poet's strength and dancer's soul,
                                   as life is whirled from soft ballet
                                   to breathless break-dance ricochet,

                                   from rousing rock to lullaby,
                                   from joyful shout to angry cry,
                                   from table scraps to cake and cream,
                                   from nightmare's ghost to Eden's dream...

                                  You'll dance them all, my Son, and we
                                   will love you through each act and scene.
                                   Our footsteps wait...and with yours blend
                                   to join His Dance that has no end.
                                                                                                 -Becky Rhon

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If a mother can be so torn inside saying goodbye to her son, even knowing that she'll see him some months later at Christmas...but also knowing that, in addition to good times,  he would go through tough times and problems - because that's how life is learned,  I can't even begin to imagine how God the Father felt when He sent his Son away!  He knew He'd see his Son again, but He also knew He had to undergo difficult and cruel things...because that's how Life could be gained for us.  Amazing love!

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Thanks for joining me!  See you next time.  God bless you.

CROSSINGS AND COURAGE - my tribute to my mother at her funeral (My mother is...Part 4)

                          
                                      CROSSINGS AND COURAGE


When we kids were small and we lived in the jungle, Mom was afraid of crossing the rivers over "bridges" often made of one or two fallen, sometimes slippery, tree trunks...but she did it anyway, many times, because it was a part of the life to which her Savior had called her...and she loved Him.

When we grew up, she was apprehensive as each one of us left the nest, crossing the threshold into a life of our own; but, having prepared us as best she knew how, she let us go...because she loved us.

When our father crossed from this life to Eternity, she feared being alone, but she released him into God's arms....because she loved him.

We all go through life with fears of our own. It's not always easy.  Mom depended on the strength she drew from God, and from our dad.

                                   Yes, she had her fears...but
                                    she walked on, in spite of them...
                                    she gave herself, in spite of them...
                                    she trusted, in spite of them...
                                         because she loved.

                                   And is this not true courage?
                                  For this courage, I honor her!

She's Home! (My mother is dying...Part 3)

This afternoon, my mother finished her dying and began truly living, slipping peacefully into the glorious kingdom of Heaven.  She kept us guessing to the end!  She had ups and downs, rallies and declines.  When they figured she would pass away within about 3 to 9 hours, my younger brother decided to go get a much-needed nap.  An hour later, she left.  So only my sister and older brother were with her at the moment of her release.  We were called as soon as they thought she had a few hours left, but even if we had started out immediately, we wouldn't have reached her in time to be there, too.   So we will wait until tomorrow to drive the 1 1/2-hours to Winona Lake.  We had wondered if we would have to make yet another extension of our tickets, and I was counting my different medications to see if I had enough to last a few more days.  But now our wondering is over, and our celebration can begin because we know where she is, and that she is truly happy, together once again with my father, and - best of all - with her Savior.

Tomorrow afternoon we will have the viewing, and the funeral will be Saturday afternoon.  We know it doesn't give people much time, and not everyone who would like to will be able to come, but it was the only way to work it in before we leave for Ecuador once again. Next month, there will be another celebration of her life, when all the family members who can will meet at a park for a picnic and a time of sharing stories and comments about her.

I am writing out what I want to say at the funeral (I couldn't speak without crying, so someone will read it for me), and also a poem...which I will include in the next post.  Until then, please keep praying for us.  Thank you so much for your support and prayers!

Just curious, God! (My mother is dying...part 2)

When we left Winona Lake to come back to our daughter's house on Saturday, we stopped in to see my mom one last time.  A few tears surfaced as I realized it might be the last time I'd see her alive.  On the way out, we talked to the head nurse, who said she felt Mom was on the verge of her final downhill slump, but still going to be around for a while, and that if we were away this week with Debbie and Steve, we wouldn't miss anything.  I wondered how Mom's poor heart could go on working at all!  How had she managed to speak, sing along with us - just snatches, to be sure, but sing she did! - and ask for specific songs, and eat her strawberry ice cream!


Today, only two days later, my sister told me that last night Mom took a severe nose-dive, is only barely responsive, and is on morphine continuously. One of my sisters-in-law is a nurse, and it's her opinion that our mother might be in Jesus' arms, and greeting our father, as early as tonight. 

We had planned to all drive over (along with Debbie, Steve, Liliana and Miriam) for one final visit on Wednesday, thinking that we simply wouldn't be here for her death and funeral.  We had been wondering what God was doing...I mean, He worked it out for us to be here, covered the fee of our ticket extensions and everything, and my younger brother also was able to be here and extend his ticket...but if it was for the purpose of us all being here when our mother dies, why is she suffering on? We are scheduled to leave in a week, and my brother this Friday. What are You doing, God? (Just curious!)

Now, with this development, it looks like it could very likely turn out like we thought He was going to make it turn out! 

I can also see another gift He has given us, which is every bit as important: as we've been going through Mom and Dad's personal effects, we've been able to talk and laugh and cry, (but mostly laugh), remembering events from our common past, finding things we didn't even realize existed...and things we made Mom as children that she never got rid of - she kept them for decades...because her children made them for her!  We found things like her high school year book, her baby book, and Pogo comics from 1952!  She left me our grandmother's china.  We have been discovering more of who our parents were, and how they may have seen the events in our lives, from their perspective. What a lovely gift!

Thank You so much, Lord!