A little thing called the "VRI"

So, if you're Southern Baptist, you may have heard what's happening with IMB these days. It's a little thing called the VRI. Essentially, IMB is cutting 600-800 overseas and home office positions to regain a healthy financial position. This is a good thing, and I applaud our leaders for the courage to take these very necessary steps.

What this means, though, is that during "Phase 1," IMB is offering a voluntary retirement incentive to overseas workers and home office staff who are at least 50 years old with 5 years of service.

That means I'm qualified.

I've joked over the past few weeks that at least I'm qualified for something. I just didn't expect it to be retirement.

In the days between the announcement and receiving my packet yesterday, I've had time to think and pray a lot about what this means for me personally.

Most of all, it's OK. I see it as a new opportunity to trust God. In many ways the VRI decision looks no different than other perplexing situations I've faced, situations that taught me to completely depend on Him, including the decision to follow His call to serve overseas with IMB in the first place. Throughout our lives and particularly over these past 16 years with IMB, He has led us every step of the way: From Powell, Tennessee to the Philippines. From the Philippines to South Korea. From South Korea to Thailand and from Thailand to Richmond, Virginia. We never moved on a whim. We always sought Him, and we are convinced that we are in this place at this time for His purposes. He knows what He's doing.

So, what does trusting God look like to me? Here are five practical applications:

1. Don't get sucked into the negative. I can't believe the number of blog and social media posts I've read that play up the negative and look for the hidden agenda in all of this. Really? How does this kind of rhetoric get us where we need to be? 
2. Position yourself to respond to God's direction. When we were praying through moving from Powell to the Philippines, I often prayed, "Lord, don't leave us alone until we are where You want us to be." I never want to be so encumbered or tied so tightly to a place or a position that I'm not willing to allow God to redirect me. This positioning might look different in different circumstances and seasons of life, but it's an important step for me to allow God the space to work. 
3. Explore options. OK, so I hadn't planned for this "thing." It may not be happening in my timing. What's next? I can't know where God is leading if I'm not willing to explore options. Granted, I don't have to follow through on any of them, but at least it helps to be aware of the opportunities. One of them just might be God's perfect plan for this time.  
4. Relax. This is always one of my favorites. Take a deep breath. Focus, and remember Who is in in control. Although it sounds like a cliche, He really isn't surprised by any of this. And He will finish what He has started in my life. 
5. Wait. So far, I can honestly say that I have no idea what God wants me to do with this. I also know that He will make His path clear. And if He chooses to remain silent, I'll stay right where I am. Moving when God intends you to stay can be just as disastrous as staying when God wants you to move. I try to follow this time-honored advice: If God is silent, trust the last word He gave you. He will speak when He is ready.  

So I'm trying to take my own advice: Travel light and wear comfortable shoes, ready and willing to go or stay as God leads, however that looks, whenever He's ready. 

Thanks for your prayers!

Travel light! 

Journal of a missional mom, Entry #5: WHERE?

Talked to the IMB consultant again. There's a job that fits Cody's business skills in a place he told us not to name on the Internet. 

Seriously? 

WHERE?

#missionalmom

Follow this fictional mom as she experiences God's call to the nations and figures out what to do about it. Based on a compilation of experiences of real-life moms called to the nations, we'll post periodic journal entries over the next several months so you can follow along as if the story is happening in real time.

Travel light: Freaking out

“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God carried by the Levitical priests, you must break camp and follow it. But keep a distance of about 1,000 yards between yourselves and the ark. Don’t go near it, so that you can see the way to go, for you haven’t traveled this way before.” 

Joshua 3:3-4, HCSB

When is the last time you found yourself in a new place? Maybe it was a move to a new neighborhood in your city. Maybe it was a move to a new state or even a new country. In a new place we often have to learn the quickest route to the office, the best grocery store and the nearest elementary school. For some, moving to a new place may mean learning how to pay the electric bill, figuring out the resident visa requirements and studying the local language.

But maybe your move wasn’t a physical one. Maybe your move was a lifestyle change: Your youngest child moved off to college. You retired or started a new job. Your spouse died — or walked out. 

Is your new place causing you to freak?

Like spinning in a circle blindfolded, life changes can cause us to feel off-balance and out of control. We may feel confused and disoriented, as if our head might explode. We might be freaking out.

After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan River and move into God’s Promised Land. They were moving into a new place, fraught with promise but also with uncertainty. As they prepared for the move, Joshua gave them wise advice: Position yourselves so you can see the Ark of the Covenant — the place where God’s presence dwells. Otherwise, you might become disoriented; you haven't traveled this way before.

Like the Israelites, the best way to survive the uncertainty of change is to position ourselves to see God. The path you’re on may be new and unfamiliar to you, but He is with you. He will guide you. 

Travel light, and follow Him.


#travellight



This week's reading: Deuteronomy 24-34, Psalm 91 and Joshua 1-11.
Post #12: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God's Word.

Travel light: Dealing with change

“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness. The Lord your God has been with you this past 40 years, and you have lacked nothing.” Deuteronomy 2:7, HCSB

Graphic provided by sayingimages.com

We’ve all been there. The phone call, the conversation, the meeting when suddenly you realize your life is about to change.

Over the years, change has come to our family a number of ways, through a variety of avenues. Some changes have been thrilling and exhilarating. Others have been difficult, even heartbreaking.

In 13 years serving as international Christian workers, we moved houses five times and countries four times. In fact, we joke that every time our company reorganizes, we move: more than five years in the Philippines, four and a half in South Korea, three years in Thailand, and now just over two in Richmond. Rather than leveling off, the pace of change seems to be accelerating.

Living missionally is much like a journey through an immense wilderness. In this life God has called us to, we learn not to hold possessions or positions too tightly. Things change — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

But through every twist and turn our journey has taken, God has watched over us. He has led us. He has never, ever abandoned us, and He has allowed us to be a part of some pretty amazing things.

As the Israelites stood on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, they had no idea the many other changes in store for them. They were only dealing with one: transforming from a nation of sojourners to building a nation in the land God had promised. Learning to live in community. Learning to honor God in the process.

We, however, are still living as sojourners, making Jesus known among the billions who have yet to hear, inviting people to join us in our journey of faith and looking forward to the day when the journey is over. One day, we will all come together as the family of God before the throne of God.

Until then, travel light and wear comfortable shoes. The journey isn’t over. 

#travellight



This week's reading: Deuteronomy 3 - 23.
Post #11: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God's Word.

Travel light: Audacious prayers

“But if you don’t drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become thorns in your eyes and in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you live.” Numbers 33:55, HCSB

As we move into the places God has for us, we must deal with the sins and issues before us. Otherwise, they will continue to enslave.

I stood on the top of a mountain in the city where we lived in northern Thailand. We’d been there a few months, and colleagues and I had come to the top of this mountain to pray over the city. I’d not yet found a ministry, but on that mountain, I prayed an audacious prayer: “Lord, shut down the sex industry in my city.”

God took that prayer and grew it into an entire ministry to exploited women and children in that city — a ministry that continues to this day. Some women and men have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Some have been baptized. Some are no longer involved in prostitution. Through the faithfulness of Christian workers, the gospel has been shared with countless women and men in the city's red light districts. Light is penetrating darkness in some of the city’s ickiest areas.

Finding the place God has for us involves confronting the issues and sins before us. Christian workers who move into a new area often spend time “mapping” the area — understanding the culture, the language and the sins that enslave. These often differ from people group to people group. If Christian workers fail to help a people group confront and drive out their “cultural sins" as they are growing in their faith, those sins will maintain a foothold and may resurface later to enslave them again.

The same is true in our own lives. Instead of “cultural sins” we sometimes call them “pet sins.” What sins are such a part of your life that you fail to recognize their power over you? Gossip? Gluttony?  Selfish ambition? Materialism? Greed? The list goes on.

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” Jesus said in John 8:32 (HCSB). With the help of the Holy Spirit, take some time to “map out” your own heart and examine the sins you take for granted. Then, ask God to help you drive them out so that you can be free to be all that He created you to be. Remember, He wants the best for you, so that through your life you can make Him known.

This week’s reading: Numbers 23 – Deuteronomy 2

Post #10: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word.

#travellight

Journal of a missional mom, Entry #4: Feeling insecure!

Oh, God, what have we done? (And I mean that as a prayer!) 

Met with the IMB consultant. Shared our call. 

He shared the process. Lots to think about: 

• Getting out of debt. 
• Staying healthy. 
• Thinking about the kids.

We need to be sure. "No pressure," he says. 

I'm sure, I think. 

I'm also petrified.

What if I don't have what it takes???

 

#missionalmom

Follow this fictional mom as she experiences God's call to the nations and figures out what to do about it. Based on a compilation of experiences of real-life moms called to the nations, we'll post periodic journal entries over the next several months so you can follow along as if the story is happening in real time.

Journal of a missional mom, Entry #3: Really??

Stuff is happening. Called IMB. They sent paperwork. We filled it out and sent it in. Whew! Now they want to meet with us. 

Is this REALLY happening?

 

#missionalmom

Follow this fictional mom as she experiences God's call to the nations and figures out what to do about it. Based on a compilation of experiences of real-life moms called to the nations, we'll post periodic journal entries over the next several months so you can follow along as if the story is happening in real time.

Travel light: Justice matters

“God saw the Israelites, and He took notice.” 

Exodus 2:25

The issue of human exploitation is as old as the fall of man. Satan exploited Adam and Eve’s vulnerabilities in the Garden of Eden, and with their fall, the human experience was forever marred. From there, human exploitation subtly weaves its tentacles through the stories of Cain and Abel; Abram, Sarai and Hagar; and Joseph and his brothers.

Throughout those stories, however, we see a God who cares for hurting people. When Cain thought no one was looking, God saw and executed justice on Abel’s behalf (Genesis 4). To Hagar, He was “the God who sees” (Genesis 16). To Joseph, He brought good out of evil, to bring about “the survival of many people” (Genesis 50:20).

In keeping with the theme of justice for the oppressed, the Book of Exodus begins with the Israelites in slavery in Egypt. They cried out in their misery, and God took notice, sending Moses to rescue them and foreshadowing the coming Messiah, Jesus, who rescues us from the slavery of sin.

January is human trafficking awareness month in the U.S. This month, your heart may have been touched with poignant stories of men, women and children victimized by human trafficking and oppression. You may have been compelled to take some sort of symbolic action. While these actions certainly help raise awareness of the problem, remember this: Not a single victim will be freed because we disappear from social media or mark a red X on the back of our hand.

But God will take notice as we cry out to Him on behalf of those who are oppressed.

This week's reading: Genesis 48-50, Exodus 1-15
Post #5: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word.

#travellight

Journal of a missional mom, Entry #2: What's next?

This is getting weirder. In the chaos of kids and breakfast and gettting out the door, Cody said this morning, "We need to talk." Met for lunch. He's feeling called, too. 

WHAT'S NEXT???

OPEN!!!

#missionalmom

Follow this fictional mom as she experiences God's call to the nations and figures out what to do about it. Based on a compilation of experiences of real-life moms called to the nations, we'll post periodic journal entries over the next several months so you can follow along as if the story is happening in real time.

Travel light: Wounded

"Jacob went on his way, and God's angels met him." 

Genesis 32:1

Through detours and false steps, Abraham still managed to pass his faith to Isaac who passed it to Jacob. In each generation, God reveals himself, calling us to journey with Him. 

Jacob's life also involved detours caused by his own deception. On his return to Canaan, Jacob was no longer the deceiver. Fourteen years of indentured servitude and warring wives had left their mark. Humbled by his years with Laban, he prepared to meet Esau, his twin whom he had defrauded of his birthright and his father's blessing.

Like Jacob, our experiences humble us. As Christian workers in cross-cultural settings, we learn just how little we know. Cultural confusion, community drama, even political unrest may leave us off balance and feeling unprepared. 

Before Jacob could meet Esau, he first had to wrestle with God. God, in His grace and mercy, wrestles with us through our insecurities, our ignorance and our fear. The purpose of this wrestling is two-fold: to teach us to depend on Him and to help us face our enemies with the grace He provides. 

The wrestling will leave its mark, to be sure. Like Jacob, we may walk with a distinguishing spiritual  limp for the rest of our lives. Jesus called this "pruning" (John 15:2). But what a privilege to be marked by God as one who has fought through the hard questions and learned to trust Him more. 

This week's reading: Genesis 30-47

Post #4: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word.  

#travellight

Journal of a missional mom, Entry #1: Go WHERE?

Weird thing happened last night in Bible study. 
Felt God say, "I still want you to go." 

GO WHERE?

#missionalmom

Follow this fictional mom as she experiences God's call to the nations and figures out what to do about it. Based on a compilation of experiences of real-life moms called to the nations, we'll post periodic journal entries over the next several months so you can follow along as if the story is happening in real time.

Journal of a missional mom

Want to impact the nations? Trying to figure out what that looks like? Follow this fictional mom as she experiences God's call to the nations and figures out what to do about it. Based on a compilation of experiences of real-life moms called to the nations, we'll post periodic journal entries over the next several months so you can follow along as if the story is happening in real time.

Be sure to sign up to follow me on email to be notified when new posts appear! The first one starts tomorrow!

#missionalmom

Travel Light: Living through the hunger months

“Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.” Genesis 12:10

Who led Abram to Egypt? No one. When famine came to God’s Promised Land, Abram didn’t consult God. Instead, he freely chose to leave God’s Promised Land when things got tough. 

Sometimes in crisis we act too quickly. Logically, Abram’s actions may appear justified, but Abram failed to include God in his plan. He forgot that God had called him and led him to Canaan. Abram was where God wanted him to be, famine and all.

Like many of us, Abram had difficulty believing God when times got tough. Instead, he acted out of his own strength and intellect. While we don’t want to ignore our intellect, we also don’t want to rely on it to the extent that we stop listening for the voice of God in difficult circumstances.

It takes more faith to wait than to act. If you are where God wants you to be, stay put, even when famine comes. If He is silent, rely on the last word He’s given you.  By moving to Egypt, Abram made a significant detour in his faith journey.

The good news is that God did not abandon Him there. God was with Abram, even on the detour.

This week's reading: Job 40-42, Genesis 12-29

Post #3: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word. 

#travellight

Travel Light: Two things to remember when adversity comes

“Job’s wife said to him, ‘Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!’ ‘You speak as a foolish woman speaks,’ Job told her. ‘Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?’ Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.” 

Job 2:9-10

Early in the journey, almost from the very beginning, we realize that life may not go as we expect. Job’s story is one of Scripture’s oldest. From the very beginning, it raises the questions: How will we respond to adversity? How will we live our faith when those closest to us encourage us to curse God and die? When the worst happens — the death of a child, a serious illness or a significant distraction — how will we respond? Job’s story emphasizes two reactions:

Job did not lose faith in God. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” he asked. Through all his trials, the Bible records, Job did not sin “in what he said.” He did not lose faith in God.

Job questioned himself. “Teach me and I will be silent,” Job 6:24 records. “Help me understand what I did wrong.” While Job didn't lose faith in God, he wasn't so sure he could trust himself. Had he sinned? Were all of the struggles he was experiencing his fault?

When we encounter adversity or failure on the journey to make Jesus known, the temptation is to try to figure out where we messed up. “I moved too quickly.” “I shared Jesus too soon.” “I misunderstood the cultural cues.”

Sometimes our failures and adversities are not necessarily our fault. Remember, Satan wanted to test Job not because of Job’s mistakes, but because of his faithfulness. In the same way, failure and adversity may be Satan's response to our faithfulness to make Jesus known.

Consider this: the gates of hell, described by Jesus in Matthew 16:18, are stationary. They do not move. We rarely experience spiritual opposition when we are doing nothing. However, when we are making Jesus known, spiritual opposition increases as we approach the “gates of hell” and encroach on enemy territory with the Good News of Christ. 

So, as you begin the journey, expect adversity but do not be overcome by it. Remember, the testing of your faith builds the endurance you will need to take the Gospel to the darkest places on the planet. 

Get ready for the workout. 

This week's reading: Job 17-39

Post #2: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word. 

#travellight

50 years: What now?

This week marks the beginning of the second half-century of my life. From the time I committed my life to full-time Christian service as a 14-year-old, I’ve wanted my life to count. I want to make a difference. As I look back at the last half-century and forward to the next, this is how I feel:

1. Profoundly grateful

According to a study by Harvard Medical School, children who contracted cancer between 1979 and 1982 are the first to survive childhood cancer. Prior to 1979, kids who got cancer simply died. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease in 1981 and am part of that first group of cancer survivors. I am profoundly grateful that God has allowed me to reach the half-century mark. I am even more grateful that those years have been filled with the blessings of family and friends across the globe and the wonder and privilege of seeing Him work among all sorts of people in all sorts of contexts.

2. Eager to serve

As I look to the future, I am also eager to serve. As the Israelites stood on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of the way God led them through 40 years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:32). As we stand on the edge of a new era in my organization with new leadership and vision, I am both terrified and exhilarated. Although I don’t know how all this will play out specifically over the next few months, I know that God will prove Himself faithful, and I am eager to be a part of His plan, however it looks.

3. A little confused

And finally, I’ll admit that I’m a little confused. Looking back, every decision and experience in my late teens and twenties was uniquely designed by God to move us where He wanted us to be. Through my thirties and forties, we knew, in spite of the challenges of international living and ministry, that we were where God wanted us. When we chose to come back to the U.S. in 2012 and transfer to full-time staff in November 2014, we could sense God’s leading.

But since we’ve been to the “ends of the earth” and experienced God’s presence and power in inexplicable ways, what now?  Every sermon and plea that calls for workers to make Him known tugs at my heart — because I’ve been there. I understand the need. I get the urgency. The harvest IS plentiful, but the workers are few. But instead of “there,” I am “here,” by God’s leading. So questions remain: How do we best exalt Christ in the “normalcy” of day-to-day life in America? How do we make Him known among those who've yet to hear in the ordinariness of mortgages and car payments and 40-hour work weeks and after school activities?

I don’t pretend to have this figured out, but I am certain of this: the promise of Philippians 1:6 is just as true for me at age 50 as it was at age 14. He will finish what He has started. I just need to trust Him.

So at 50, this is where I stand (so far, without a cane): trusting Jesus is enough. The rest is just details.

Travel light and wear comfortable shoes!

Ann

Travel Light: The reason for the journey

"Then Cain went out from the Lord’s presence ...”
Genesis 4:16

Cain chose his own way. Then, banished by the Lord for his sins, he went out from the Lord’s presence. Today, more than 4 billion people in more than 6,000 people groups are living in what Nik Ripken, author of “Insanity of God,” calls a “pre-Pentecost” environment: with few believers and few, if any, churches. In these settings, many people have yet to experience the Holy Spirit’s power among them. They are living outside of the Lord’s presence.

Jesus made the journey to our world to reconcile all people to God, the Father. He came to restore what sin destroyed. At His ascension into Heaven, He commissioned His followers to take this Good News of reconciliation to those living outside of God’s presence. Reaching these 4 billion people is our responsibility, whether they live across the street, in the world’s largest cities or in the most remote villages.

The journey, however, will not be an easy one. Making Jesus known to those who have never heard often invites misunderstanding and persecution. For Jesus, the path to reconciliation meant death on a cross. For us, it means dying to self—taking the risks to make Him known.

This week's reading: Genesis 1-11, Job 1-16
Post #1: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word.

#travellight

Travel light with me in 2015

It’s an overplayed biblical cliché: life is a journey, a race, a marathon. But it’s true: God calls each of us to a journey — a journey of relationship that involves obedience, surrender and adventure.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”

How will you respond to God’s call to the journey? Will you travel light by laying aside those things that hinder you (Hebrews 12:1)? Will you choose “comfortable shoes” that prepare you to take the Gospel of peace to the hardest to reach places in your community and around the world (Ephesians 6:15)?

Over the next 52 weeks, I hope you’ll join me on a journey to discover the missional lessons found in a chronological reading of God’s Word. Resolve with me to be the Jesus follower who sees the bush afire, gasps at the glory in the common and commits to the adventure of relationship with the God who calls you.

Save the blackberries for another day.


#travellight

Four ways to pray for Christian workers when hell breaks loose

We’ve all been there: those days when we think it can’t get any worse. We’re out of coffee. The stinky P.E. outfit didn’t make it into the washer. Thanks to the dog, the white pants have muddy paw prints. It’s raining.

Maybe it’s worse. Your child is diagnosed with cancer. A parent needs hospice care. Without warning or explanation, you lost your job, your spouse walked out or your teen rebelled (in a really stupid way).

Read more »

And speaking of Typhoon Haiyan ...

WBIR Channel 10 news in Knoxville, Tenn., is running a series of stories all this week on Knoxville native Kim Cruse and her relief efforts in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan. As a native East Tennessean who also lived in the Philippines, WBIR asked me to describe life there and the impacts of the typhoon. It was a privilege to share a little about the place I once called home.  Here's the interview:

Pray for Japan!

"And they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped." Exodus 4:31 


Pray that the Japanese will see God's concern and compassion through the efforts of IMB missionaries. 
Pray that they will believe, bow down and worship Him alone.