Renate's Reflections

One of the things I enjoy about furlough is seeing the Christmas lights and lighted decorations on lawns. People in Brazil may hang a string of lights on their upstairs window, but nothing compares to what Americans are able to do simply because they do not put a wall around their houses. Shrubs are covered with the lights that seem to form a blanket over the top. Windows and doors are bordered with multicolored lights that outline the house. Some have the lighted reindeer and Santa lawn decorations. One house down the street even covered a large anchor in the yard with white lights. It seems there is no end to options if you want to put out some Christmas decorations. And, I can best enjoy them while riding down the street at night. They can make a trip to the local Walgreens a pleasure and I’ll miss them when they’re gone. It seems to me the lights take on a whole new measure of “prettiness” when they are covered by a blanket of snow. Last night was our first significant snowfal

My father-in-law, a 60 year veteran of active missionary service, made an interesting comment in a recent conversation.  He said, “In our day missions was about geography.” I’m inclined to agree with him. Fifty or sixty years ago missions was about geographical locations. Missionaries went from church to church and presented the need for the Gospel in Africa, South America and Asia. It was about geography. This got me to thinking about our role in missions today and made me wonder if we’ve lost sight of the true purpose of missions. So, I went back to the father of New Testament missions, the Apostle Paul. He made three missionary journeys recorded in the book of Acts. My Bible even has a map of the route he took on each journey. We read the accounts of what happened in many of the cities. And, we logically conclude that missions is geography. We go to a location, preach the Gospel, build a church and then move on to another location. But then I read the books of Romans and 1 and 2 Cor

                I’ve been working with a personal trainer for the last several months. He’d been working with my husband for several months already and it was making a definite difference for him, so I decided I would try it. My initial emotions swung on a pendulum. They started with, “Are you kidding me? I can hardly move.” to “OK, I guess this is not so bad.” One day as Marcos was putting the weights on the leg press I gave him a dubious look and said, “You, my friend, are an eternal optimist.” There were 50kg of weight on it that he expected me to lift. He laughed and said, “Sit down.” Turns out I was able to do it and he probably could have added another 10kg. I keep this in mind as he barks at me like a drill sergeant while I do ab crunches on the mat.             The fact is that these few months with the trainer have made a difference in several areas. First, I’m losing inches fast. He targets the areas that need the most work and combines the right amount of weight with the i

I live in a noisy country. There is no snow and all the buildings are made of concrete so sound bounces all over the place. And while I don’t necessarily miss the cold and snowy winters of Michigan and New York, I do miss the silence a good snowfall brings. It’s always been one of the things I noticed first thing in the morning after a snowstorm; the silence. It just makes everything seem so peaceful and it gives me pause to reflect on what the Lord has done in my life. Silence and Solitude is another spiritual discipline I have recently worked to develop in my life. The concept was new to me in the sense that I did not realize it could be developed for the purpose of spiritual growth. Then, of course, I had that moment when the palm hits the forehead and I said, “Well, duh! It’s all right there in the Bible.” Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (NKJV). The psalmist understood that knowing God better

Pursuing a master’s degree in education is a dream that is becoming reality. I’m about 2/3 of the way through the program and it’s been challenging, often frustrating, but in all, an extremely rewarding learning experience. My most recent class was a side step from all the education courses. It concerned the Dynamics of Spiritual Growth and reading Donald Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life was one of the textbooks. Over the next few blogs I would like to highlight some of the disciplines I found most meaningful. Not surprisingly, Bible intake was the first discipline treated in Whitney’s book and took up two chapters. Whitney says, “No Spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word” (p. 28). What had not occurred to me before reading the book were the many ways in which I could “take in” Scripture and it wasn’t that the concepts were new or even radical. I just hadn’t stretched my thinking beyond reading and studying. So, I was encouraged to