• Well, not here at this website. But here, "very present," in the person of our breathtakingly beautiful Savior, the Lord Jesus, who cries out, "Come, thirsty soul, and drink! And then find that you become a spring for my Living Water."

    Even someone who has already trusted Him for eternal salvation? Yes!

    What joy!

Should my life be centered around the gospel?

By Rebecca | Published: August 28, 2010

“So what do you mean by gospel?”

My friend was taken aback by my question. She had just been talking about the importance of living a gospel-centered life, based on the transforming power of the gospel.

But I had been feeling some concern that gospel is becoming more and more of a buzzword in the church, and as such is beginning to lose its meaning, which is beautiful, and take on a meaning it was never intended to have.

Am I really supposed to be living a gospel-centered life? Does the gospel really have transforming power?

Gospel means “good news.”   All Christians know the basics there: because of Christ’s death on the cross, my sins are forgiven. Yes, good news indeed.

But the Good News of Jesus Christ goes much higher and wider and deeper than that. Jesus Christ’s perfect life fulfilled all the law for me. His atoning death procured forgiveness for me. His powerful resurrection provided for me new freedom from sin. His glorious ascension provided gifts for me, primarily the Holy Spirit to empower me to be able to pour out a sweet fragrance before God. His victorious seating provided a seat for me, where I am now. Immeasurable riches of grace. Incomparable kindness through Christ Jesus.

All this is incredibly good news. Astounding news. Forgiveness and more, much more. But still, it has no more power to transform my life than wonderful news written up in a newspaper, like the end of World War II or something. A young wife whose husband has been away at war can’t continue to center her life around that news, or be truly transformed by it over the many long days to come.

The centering is around a Person. The transforming comes through the Person. Is it important to say that I live a Christ-centered life rather than a gospel-centered life? Is it a crucial distinction to urge people to remember that they are transformed by Jesus Christ Himself rather than His gospel?

Maybe we can ask the young war bride who holds a newspaper in one hand and her husband in the other.

But beyond all comparison with an earthly husband, when my life is centered around Jesus Christ, He transforms me—from the inside out—providing a sustaining joy. I find my life in Him and He lives His life in me.

This is the Good News. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We live it. We proclaim it. And we hold it in its rightful place.

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So where’s the fruit?

By Rebecca | Published: August 15, 2010

“I want more fruit, Lord. I want much fruit.” My prayer ran more or less along the lines of that vague reference to John 15. It was summer, and my parents’ blueberry bushes groaned with fruit. I was jealous. In the Love of Christ, my roots ran as deep as those. Of the Water of Life I drank long and often. Yes, I have fruit, but I’m hungry for more. Where is it?

As is commonly the case with these Hard Questions, I prayed and pondered for a while before receiving an answer. Then somewhere I heard a brief reference to the sower and the seed, my favorite of Christ’s parables.

Some seed fell on hard ground, where it couldn’t take root at all. That’s not me. Some fell on good ground, where it brought forth much fruit. That’s the one I want to be.

The seed is the Word of God. The beautiful Word that I meditate on. The Word that gives me joy.

Some fell among rocks, which kept the roots from going deep. No, I knew my roots went deep.

But there was one other. The one in the thorny ground. One afternoon while I was resting and meditating on the vast ocean of my Savior’s goodness, it came to my mind. Honestly, I had never fully distinguished the rocky soil from the thorny soil, because well, they were just both bad. But now, for the first time, I thought about how the rocks affected the plant at the root. But the thorns, what did they do? They affected the plant at the neck. The thorns choked the Word of God that it would . . . become unfruitful.

As soon as those Words came to me, my eyes flew open. The Lord had shown me something hugely important.

I knew the parable well enough to know the reasons. The cares of this world . . . and the deceitfulness of riches . . . and wasn’t there another one? My fingers ran to read it for myself in Matthew 13. No other words there. . . . over to the parallel account in Mark 4. The lusts of other things. These are what choke the Word of God and cause it to become unfruitful.

My immediate heart reaction to these accusations was self-justification. “I don’t think I’m guilty of this one or that one, Lord.” But the Spirit gently communed with my spirit to lovingly rebuke me. “Yes, I want to allow You to show me the thorns, wherever they may be.” Cares of this world . . . even the seemingly good and important things that pull my eyes away from Christ . . . deceitfulness of riches . . . not just money, but the stuff it feels like I need . . . lusts of other things . . . other things besides material things, which covers just about any possibility of any sin in the book.

And so the Lord worked, brought me to repentance in a variety of ways, brought me His sweet forgiveness and restoration and even the Lifting Above that He refers to in both the Old and New Testaments.

One evening I rested in His arms before going to sleep, and the riches, the lusts, the cares swirled around me. Especially the cares. But I somehow felt lifted above, and filled with joy in the love of my Savior.

An incident in Hudson Taylor’s life came to mind, when missionaries with his China Inland Mission were having many troubles . . . and there were problems with the Chinese government . . . and he held a huge stack of letters he needed to answer . . . when the cares of this world pulled at him like hundreds of Lilliputians.

And Hudson Taylor laid his hand on the stack of letters and leaned back and closed his eyes and began . . . singing. His favorite hymn.

Jesus I am resting, resting in the joy of what Thou art. I am finding out the secret of Thy loving heart.

John 15. What did Jesus say was the secret of Much Fruit? If you abide in Me and I abide in you. That’s when you’ll bring forth much fruit. That’s when your fruit will last. That’s when you’ll see amazing answers to prayer. That’s when your joy will be full.

What a mysterious and ineffably beautiful thing it is to abide in Him. Jesus, continue to teach me this glorious truth.


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Passing the torch from one missionary to another, part 2

By Rebecca | Published: August 1, 2010

A few days ago I received an email from Papua New Guinea, sections of which I’ve abbreviated and included here:

For years now we’ve been wondering how to contact Dick McLellan. I was personally challenged into mission work through Dick’s testimony back in 1978 when I was 22 years old and a student at Word of Life Bible Institute in Australia. I remember thinking that if God could use a “red-headed, freckled, middle-aged Aussie” in the harsh Ethiopian sun, then He might be able to use me as well. I knew without a doubt that God wanted me to go into missions.

Then Dick spoke to us from Rom 10:13-15 … “How can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?”

How will they hear unless someone is sent! As a young believer I had always expected some kind of a “call”… but I never got one. I learned later that the call is for salvation (v14 above), once we are called, God is able to “send” His people. I saw the need and God sent me.

After Dick challenged us through his experiences with the Bodi people and the Word of God, we entered training in 1979. In 1986 we came to PNG and have been here for 24 years.

We’ve never had the opportunity to see or chat with Dick since that day and would love to contact him again and encourage him in how the Lord has worked in our lives. It would mean so much to us to encourage this elderly Christian statesman and let him know how his ministry in the 1970’s has had an impact on the lives of Papua New Guineans for the last 24 years.

I was doing a search for him on the internet and your web page popped up. I did read the sample chapter from “With Two Hands” and was encouraged again, after all these years, to hear about how the Gospel is going out in Ethiopia.

It was my joy to pass along contact information for Dick McLellan, but even greater joy to ponder how our lives and words—all of us—may be used in ways we never even realize in the furthering of the kingdom of God.

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Passing the torch over three hundred years

By Rebecca | Published: July 18, 2010

Our friends, Odell and Beth Summer, are preparing for a particular mission field in Thailand. Who laid the groundwork for that mission field?

In 1695, August Francke, a direct product of the Reformation, founded an orphanage in Prussia and supported over a hundred orphans on faith alone.

Years after Francke’s death, a young man at the university where he had taught picked up his autobiography and was deeply and profoundly influenced. He went on to found orphanages in England that became known all over the world. That man’s name was George Mueller.

While Mueller’s orphanages were thriving, housing over a thousand orphans on faith alone, a young man visited them and in turn was deeply and profoundly influenced. He decided to found a mission board that would never ask for funds but would depend on God alone for all their needs. That man’s name was Hudson Taylor.

A young man listened to Hudson Taylor speak and decided to leave his fortune and his promising future to join Taylor’s China Inland Mission take the gospel to China where it had never been heard. That man’s name was C. T. Studd.

Studd spoke at a conference and deeply and profoundly influenced a young man who left all to take the gospel to China, working among the Lisu people of the western mountains. This man’s name was James Fraser.

James Fraser returned to the States briefly and spoke at a conference where a young woman was deeply and profoundly influenced. She left all to go to China and bring the gospel the Lisu people, first in China and then, after the Communist takeover, in Thailand. During this time she wrote a number of gripping and inspiring books about God’s work in her life and in the lives of the people. This woman’s name was Isobel Kuhn.

Isobel Kuhn and her husband John had a daughter named Kathy, who married another man who had gone to northern Thailand to bring the gospel to the tribal people there. That man’s name was Don Rulison, and as of this writing he is almost a hundred years old and is still living in Chiang Mai. Their children are still working for the Lord there as well.

After Kathy’s death a children’s home and boarding school was established in Chiang Mai and named after her, Kathy’s Home. Our friends Odell and Beth are hoping to be able to leave the U.S. next spring and become the overseers of Kathy’s Home.

Over three hundred years and across three continents, we have traced the work of God, as one generation proclaims His works to another.

Have you ever thought about how the gospel came to you? It started with Jesus, who spoke it, as a fountain of life, to the apostles. They took it as a glorious gift to many people, who carried it, one by one, like a precious treasure, to many other people, who passed it along, like a fire catching hold, to many more.

One by one, from one person to the next, like a roaring blaze, like a rushing river, the gospel traveled across the lands, around the world, taking root like a tree in the heart of one person after another. Then finally, like wind blowing from the east to the west, it came to someone who told it to someone who told it to someone, who told it to you.

—from chapter one of With Two Hands: Stories of God at Work in Ethiopia

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I reviewed a book on Amazon

By Rebecca | Published: June 26, 2010

. . . and I want to do that more, especially important books that for some reason or other are failing to receive enough notice. I think there are probably other readers like me, who before buying a book want to read the Amazon review. So there needs to be one on the page!

Free and Fulfilled: Victorious Living in the 21st Century involves a discussion among several well-respected authorities on what it really means to live a victorious Christian life. For readers who are already familiar with the subject and want to understand how people with different views address it and live it out, this book is very helpful.

Here it is.

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Why I’m writing the “Hidden Heroes” series

By Rebecca | Published: June 11, 2010

The first book in the “Hidden Heroes” series of missionary stories has recently come out. The second has just been accepted for publication. This seems like a good time to tell you the philosophy behind the writing of these books.

First and foremost, they aren’t supposed to be about “exciting adventures in another land” or “strange coincidences” or even “life lessons from a tribal people.” They are about the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Second, I want them to always start with a western missionary, who will be the common thread through all of the individual stories. This is because my primary audience is western children, and if they’re anything like the way I was as a child, they’ll want to read about someone that they can relate to, from a life similar to their own, who leaves that life for the glory of God.

But thirdly, and this is a huge BUT, I emphatically do not want that western missionary to be a “hero” any more than any of the other Christians in the book are heroes.

Which leads to the next point: I want to emphasize as much as possible, the great national Christians, the ones who will never write books, who most often will never even speak outside the boundaries of their own land. I want to show their own sacrifice, their love for God, their burning desire for others to know the great truth of the gospel.

My audience is children. But in designing the books as family read-alouds, with questions at the end of each story, my audience really goes beyond the children to include the parents. I’m writing for families who want to be pointed together to the glory of God.

I unabashedly want amazing stories. Because we serve an amazing God. And we need to be often reminded of that great truth.

I am waiting for God to bring me these stories. I told here how He did that with the first book.

The heroes are “hidden” in the sense that they aren’t household names, they haven’t already had a hundred books written about them, their names may be known to only a few. But in Glory, as they and we throw our crowns at the feet of Jesus Christ alongside Hudson Taylor and George Mueller, which heroes will really be hidden?

Every one of us, my brothers and sisters. Every one of us.

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