Just Passing Through

One of the blessings we've enjoyed over the years is getting to meet brothers and sisters from all over the world who come to Madeira for holidays. After the advent of time share, we found that many of these people began coming on a regular basis, usually once a year, or sometimes more, sometimes less frequently.

It was while we were visiting this week with one such brother who first came to our services back in 1984 that I once again thought about how many people have passed through our church in the last 28 years. The number of tourists who visit one Sunday, perhaps two, and who may return to Madeira, or perhaps not, would be in the thousands. Even as small in number as our church is, we have seen regular attenders and members that number in the hundreds. Where are they now?

Like any church, we have had drop outs, disciplinary actions, and deaths. Perhaps because of the nature of our location, being an island with a history of emigration, many of our former members have moved on to other continents. More than one has said that they learned many things about God and Christian living while they were with us. So far, the number of native Madeirans in our membership is relatively small, and obviously we have the challenge of evangelizing the island we are located on. However, we may have just as great a role in instructing and discipling those who are passing through, whether for one Sunday or one year, whether they come from mainland Portugal, South Africa, or South America.

In fact, and according to Hebrews 11, all of God's people are just passing through, anyway. We're passing through this world, looking for a city that has foundations; no matter how long we stay at any one place, it will never be truly our home. We're all passing through, although we may not pay much attention to that fact until a sudden death or a short visit of loved ones reminds us how brief our passage can be.

There and Back

I suddenly realized that it's been two weeks since I blogged. We got back from Rome a week ago today, and a week away means two weeks' work to be done on return! Or so it seems.

We had a marvellous time in Rome, and it was educational. More about that when I can get my thoughts better organized . . . and my photos sorted through. Just wanted to make an appearance for the sake of any who are stopping by the blog and let you know that all went well.

Some of you have asked about Jackie. The bone marrow test was only done last week, and it will be another two weeks before the results are back. One of her doctors tells her she has cancer in the blood, but it's not leukemia. He ordered this test to confirm his suspicions. One of the doctors looked at the last test results and basically said that according to the numbers she should be on her death bed. The results were "terrible". He couldn't imagine her looking so well. She's even started driving again.

The church here has been praying for God to demonstrate His mighty power in this case, that many others would glorify His name. We thank the Lord for all of you who join with us in prayer for Jackie.

More about Rome in the next day or two.

Tomorrow - Rome, Tuesday - Home

Abbie's birthday is this Saturday, and I told her I'd take her out to an Italian restaurant. It took her a while to realize I meant a restaurant in Italy!

We will be in Rome for 5 nights, our first trip to Italy, and one of the few we've made in Europe in our 29 years of living in Madeira.

We're looking forward to being with Bill and Maria Teresa Standridge on Sunday. He went to Rome right after the war and ended up starting a church there. He met and married an Italian girl, and tomorrow is their 49th wedding anniversary, I understand. They were in Madeira to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary (see how long ago that was!) and we had lost contact with them. After making the reservations to Rome, I thought of them and was able to contact them through the internet.

So... next posting will be in about a week. By the way, we are still waiting on a final diagnosis of Jackie's problem. Her doctor has requested a bone marrow test, which he believes will confirm his suspicions. The test was to have been the first part of this week, but it didn't happen. We'll keep you informed.

A Couple of Personal Observations

Observation #1: The sad reality of illiteracy

If I looked long enough, I could find the illiteracy figures for Portugal and Madeira, but I don't have the time now. They are among the highest in Europe, so it is not uncommon to see people at the post office or bank, especially the elderly cashing their pension check, who can't even sign their name. They have to put their fingerprint on the check to endorse it. This is less and less, true, fortunately, but there are still many who can't read.

Yesterday a lady was in my office to have me help her with her tax returns. She and her husband lived many years in the U.S. and worked long enough to get Social Security payments. He died this past February and our consular office has been working to help her get the various benefits she is entitled to. As she signed the one of the forms yesterday, she commented on bank charges and tax liabilities, "I can sign my name, but I don't know how to read. That doesn't mean I'm a fool and lack intelligence, though!"

She asked me to write down when she should come back for the next tax report. I wrote: "Come back in April 2006." She couldn't read what I wrote, but she would show it to her niece, who often comes with her to the office. MJ is right: her problem is not a lack of intelligence, but I can't help but think how different my life would be if I didn't know how to read!

Observation #2: A Sort of Death

I was still working on the computer in the wee hours of this morning when an e-mail from Mom arrived. It had finally happened! After a number of postponements over the past few months, the sale of the family farm had been finalized earlier in the afternoon.

I guess I lived on the farm less than anyone else in our family, since I'm the oldest child. Then, too, we left the U.S. for the mission field in 1972, and our contacts with the old home place have been few, short, and far between. We moved on the farm in 1956, so that's 49 years Mom lived there. Now she has a house that's more modern and better located, closer to my brother and sister.

From the moment Mom decided to sell the farm early this year, it (meaning the role the farm would have in our life now) took a serious turn for the worse. Then Mom bought the new (to her) house and moved. "It" was definitely dead. The life was already gone out of it, so the closing was more like a kind of burial, the earth falling on the coffin, the visible sign of finality.

We live in a world where we are often called upon to bury loved ones; but just because we have to bury them, doesn't mean we forget them. These few lines are my tribute to the farm and to the grace of God and the faithful Christian parents He gave us. In all honesty, the house, as a structure, would not merit the praise of builders; if there are fond memories of the farm to be cherished, it is because Mom and Dad by the grace of God gave a humble farm an air of divine glory.

If you happen to drive by the old place, I guarantee you won't see that glory I'm talking about. You had to be there.

Map

Click on map for enlarged, printable version.
Para ampliar, fazer um clique no mapa, que poderá ser impresso.

My Screen Is Too Small

Not long ago, a colleague sent a photo of his family by e-mail, and I wrote him back thanking him for it. It was really good of him and his two sons. I remarked that his wife must have been behind the camera, and to tell her we missed seeing her. It was only later, when I opened the file to show Abbie the picture, that I noticed the scroll bars at the bottom and the side of the screen. Aha! there was more to the picture than I first thought. Not only was his wife "hiding" off to the right, but their third son was, also. Well, he had entitled it "Family Picture." That should have been my first clue. I quickly fired back another e-mail and admitted my mistake.

I'm sure it's happened to you. Someone sends you a photo via e-mail and the file is so large that the whole picture won't fit on the screen. It reminded me of man's attempts to understand God. No matter how we try, we'll never get the whole picture on the screen. That doesn't mean we can't catch real and true glimpses of God and His nature, though. The initial view I had of the family picture was true and accurate, just incomplete.

Creation is one of the ways God has revealed Himself to us, but sin has smudged the lens, scratched the film and created a fog that keeps that image from being clear to us. Not only is creation marred by the effects of sin, so that what we see is not in the state God originally created it in, our own spiritual vision has been affected. "Blindness in part is happened..." not only to Israel, but to mankind as a whole.

Taking the comparison a bit further, perhaps we could say that Jesus, God Incarnate, is as close as we get to a reduced image of God, one that comes closer to fitting on our screen...a true image of His nature, but clothed in human flesh, giving but an inkling of His full glory that allows us to see the Father.

Sadly, many have "clicked" on to an image that's been falsely labelled as "God". Satan has many such images to offer, and no amount of focusing or image editing will produce a true picture.

In the case of my colleague's picture, I used the scroll bars and was able to move around the image and see all of the family members. In man's dealing with the various sources of the true revelation of God's person (whether through nature, the Bible, or the person of Jesus), I wonder whom I pity most: those who are frustrated because they can't see the whole picture of God at one time, so they give up even seeking; those who reduce Him to a thumbnail size they can conveniently transport at will; or those who forget to use the scroll bars and think that what they see is all there is to God, and woe to others who suggest there is more to God beyond the narrow limits of their screen.