The Year of the Thorns

I never seem to know what year it is in Chinese . But as we've just had the start of the new lunar year, I saw some news reports about this being the year of the rabbit. Does this mean it's going to be a good year for rabbits?

As for the signs of the Zodiac, I haven't the slightest clue what sign we're in now. If I tell you I'm Sagittarius, don't be too impressed. Except for knowing the names of some of the other signs, that is the extent of my Zodiacal knowledge. But this could be the Year of the Thorns.

I am not one to put much (or any) stock in dreams as being portents of the future or divine messages for the present. That goes for visions (visual images while awake), too. But...

At one of the last Wednesday night prayer meetings of 2010, as various members of the church took turns praying, my head was bowed, my eyes closed, and I "saw" a stalk or branch with thorns growing out of it from all sides. The thorns appeared, one after the other, some of them becoming quite long. They grew rapidly, like in those multi-framed timed exposures of flowers opening in the space of a few seconds, when in reality they take 24 hours to open.

I opened my eyes to put the image out of my mind, but when I closed my eyes again, the image returned. The whole process was repeated yet another time or two. Was this a warning that the coming year would be full of thorny situations? Somehow I felt it was. A few days later I had a similar experience, although the particular thorn-bearing stalk was different. The thorns were much the same.

Perhaps this will be a year of particularly strong testing. It will not get easier before the Lord returns, and we should be thankful to be exercised little by little to grow in grace and faith for the times ahead.

In January I got an e-mail from a young, mentally-disturbed man, who over the past years has considered Americans and America his heroes. Now, suddenly, he has come to the conclusion that I have betrayed him to the authorities, so he wrote me to say that "they (the voices in his head?) have informed me you and your family will die because of your treason." Nice thought for the start of a new year. Is the danger real? I don't think so, but why the sudden change in attitude?

There was already a thorny problem arising in the church. I cannot go into details here, but it became so serious that our church had to remove all her support of Pastor Moiséis and his family, who arrived from Brazil in December 2009. Our prayer had been that his coming would lead to the expansion of solid Bible-teaching churches on the island. At the moment, we are unable to have fellowship with him and the work he is doing. But ultimately, it is divine fire that will try the work of each man, "of what sort it is". (1 Cor. 3:13)

This decision to cut off support was especially difficult for Abbie and me, because we experienced the same thing from churches on a large scale. As far as we know, nearly all the support Pastor Moiséis receives comes through our church, so you must know that the decision was not made without much prayer and overpowering reasons. It was a last resort, a thorn. It is thorny issues that lead to last resorts.

If this is indeed the Year of the Thorns, we can only rejoice in knowing our faith and confidence in God will grow because of them. Of course we have the right to ask God to remove the thorns, as Paul did. Of course, God still has the right to say, "No", as He did to Paul. (2 Cor. 12:7-9)

(Post begun on January 24, published February 19)

New Year News

I had intended to go back and catch up on news I didn't get around to posting last year, but following Paul's example, "Forgetting the things that are past...", I'll start with a clean slate, except to say that God's hand was evident throughout 2010, and we expect it to be no less so in 2011.

First Sunday of the New Year: to counterbalance the expected lower-than-normal attendance on this day (especially being the 2nd day of the year) due to some of our members who go to the mainland to spend holidays with their families, there was a large increase in our Russian-language services---attendance doubled! (From 3 to 6)

Abbie & I with our Russian-language congregation in December:

(front) Lidia and Pedro, Nadezhda (in back)

The newest attendees are two neighbors of Pedro and Lidia, Helena and Svetlana, and one of the Ukrainians I've been ministering to for three years or more. Mykola was just released, and although he has been ordered to voluntarily leave the country, he has filed an appeal with the immigration services, asking to be allowed to continue living in Madeira. Another Ukrainian lady, Larisa, who lives next door to the church, came once to church, then went to Ukraine for a couple of months. Her husband died in late November and we pray she will begin attending regularly when she returns to Madeira at the end of this month. I'm challenged to work harder on my Russian. This may be a new direction taken by the work in 2011.

Last night, we presented the English version of this year's Christmas cantata. Besides the choir members, there were no more than 10 members of our church present (because the service was all in English), but every seat in the church house was filled. Friends, family, colleagues from work, visitors to the island...we were encouraged by the number of those who came to listen, some of whom we know never go to church anywhere, anytime.

We cannot pretend there are no challenges. The financial crisis is affecting the work, mainly in that we see no way to continue sending out monthly mission support of approximately $3000. We know that none of our missionaries is meeting all their expenses as it is, and to have to reduce our support will only make it more difficult for them. If God's hand was evident last year, there will be even greater evidences of it in the year ahead of us.