Paul Richard Garrett 1927-2010

On April 25, 1927, Paul Richard Garrett was born into this world. On February 6, 2010, he went to be with King Jesus. A lot of things happened in his nearly 83 years of life. Most importantly, God saved him out of his sin. But he also married Joan, fathered Deb (and two other children), and became a grandfather to me. He left behind three children, twelve grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Most importantly he left a legacy of love for his family and commitment to Christ. I often think that if my grandparents had not taken my mom to church, where she could hear the Gospel and believe, my life could be very different right now. I do not take that for granted at all. My grandpa was an avid sports fan, enjoyed telling jokes, and loved his church. He was a humble man who cared about people. Even in his final hours he spent much of his time asking about his family members and learning more about their lives. One of my brothers was able to see him on Thursday, and he said that it was evident that he was clinging to Christ as he neared the end. He knew he was going to be with Jesus.

My mom told me that the grief will come in waves. And it has. There are moments where I am living life as normal, and there are moments where I am overcome with sorrow and disbelief that he is really gone. As I have gotten older, I have grown to appreciate the heritage of my family, and I loved being around my grandpa. My parents moved to Florida after my grandma died to be near him, and he became a part of our life as a family. It feels like there is a void now. But I think that is what death is supposed to feel like. Death reminds us that things will never be as they once were. And it is an ugly feeling. As my dad says, “it is unnatural.” This is not how things were supposed to be.

As sorrowful as yesterday morning at church was, I worshipped knowing that my grandpa is worshipping in a way that I cannot even imagine. Our corporate worship was a mere shadow of the pleasure that he is experiencing right now in the presence of his Savior, my Savior. And that is our hope. We will see him again. But more importantly, we will be with our King one day. Even though I knew all of these things, I still wept through singing because I can’t get to him. Not yet, at least.

He will be missed, terribly. He was a good grandpa. There won’t be anymore jokes at family events, there won’t be anymore moments where he tries to slip money into my hands (he was always so generous), there won’t be anymore hugs. But we know our goodbye is not the end. And I praise God that we have hope. One day our faith will be sight. Until then we wait.

One Way to Save a Life

For almost all of the two and a half years that I have been in Louisville, Carl "Chip" Stam has helped shepherd my heart and mind to worship God. Whether through leading chapel worship at Southern or leading Sunday morning worship at church, he has helped me prepare my heart to receive God's word.

He has also been battling cancer.

It's hard to put into words how much Chip and Doris Stam have, through living their lives, helped me see the goodness of God even in the midst of suffering. I am so grateful for their testimony.

Now Chip is in need of a stem-cell transplant and he needs a match. And you can help. If you have given blood before this is not too different. You can register online and they will send you a kit in the mail. If you are a match they will contact you when someone needs your help.

I signed up on Sunday night. I hope you do to. And if you can't, please remember to pray for Chip's healing.

Here is the link:

http://www.bethematchfoundation.org/site/TR?px=1247202&fr_id=1440&pg=personal

The coupon code for Chip is: CARLSTAM2010

When I Am Afraid

“When I am afraid I put my trust in you. In God whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”—Psalm 56: 3-4

What fears are swirling in your mind as you begin your week? Is it the paper that is due in that difficult class? Is it the overwhelming workload left on your desk from Friday afternoon? Is it a difficult conversation with a friend? Is it a hard relationship at home or an uncertain doctor’s appointment? Whatever the fear is, one thing is certain: in the mind of the fearful one, it can seem like an impassable mountain.

David had much to be afraid of when he wrote this Psalm. He was fleeing from Saul, the Philistines had seized him, and he was now in enemy territory. He stares his fears in the face and speaks to them: “What can flesh do to me?”

Sometimes our fears are over genuinely fearful things. Sometimes, though, our fears are over a lack of perceived control. So often my fear is translated as, “I don’t trust your goodness in this situation.” When I was single it was fear that a guy I liked would not like me back and then I would be left single forever. Now that I am married, so many of my fears revolve around the future and my relationship with my husband. What if God doesn’t give me the five children I hope for? What if my husband does not make the decision I want him to make?

Many of us spend so much of the moments of fear immersed in the fears themselves. The Psalmist makes a conscious decision not to do that. Yes, the fears are frightening—sometimes rightly so. But in my own life, I have found that I need to spend a lot less time indulging my fears, and more time giving them to God. He knows the outcome of them anyways.

He holds the outcome, and the circumstances of our fears, in the very palm of his hand. They are not lost to him. He is watching over every detail of every fear that we face—big or small. Because of his work for us we can look at our fears today and say with David, “what can flesh do to me?”

Missions Wednesday: Saudi Arabia

Imagine living in a family where becoming a Christian means persecution, and often death. Imagine living in a society where you are the only Christian and there are few Bibles, few avenues for fellowship, and hardly any Christian places to worship your Savior. It’s hard to think about isn’t? Especially hard when many of us pass multiple churches on the way to our own church, or when the local Christian bookstore is not too far, or when we have unrestricted internet access to some of the greatest resources for our own growth. Imagine living in a country where Christians weren’t even allowed to get to you.

Saudi Arabia is such a country.

Saudi Arabia is home to the holiest of holy cities for Muslims—Mecca. 1.2 million Muslims pray to Mecca every day. Persecution is high and certain for anyone who claims the name of Christ in Saudi Arabia. According to Operation World’s 24-7 Prayer Guide, Saudi Arabia is possibly the most dangerous place to live in the world as a Christian.

Prayer Requests:

• There are approximately 50,000 people who believe in Christ in Saudi Arabia. Pray that they would be strengthened in their faith.
• Saudi Arabia is a closed country. Pray that God would provide a way for missionaries to get into the country.
• Pray that the hearts of Saudi’s would be softened to the Gospel.

Goals for 2010: Making My Time Count

Like many people I made goals for the upcoming year. I can’t recall ever making goals for the year before, at least as a believer. But I find myself saying “I want to work on that” a lot, so it seemed only right to make a list of said things, if only to have something to pray about and reflect on next year at this time. As I prayed and thought through the list, I found a recurring theme—time management. Most of my aspirations for my growth this year stem from my own lack of time management and self-control. And namely, my lack of control in how much time I spend online. I used to justify my excessive Facebook use with “it helps me keep up with people.” But did it really? No, it didn’t. Checking status updates and profiles does not amount to a relationship, no matter how I look at it. If I really wanted to be consistent I would actually send a message to the people I wanted to keep up with. And how interesting that one of my goals for the year is to keep up with existing friends and cultivate new ones.

Another goal for the year is to read more. I used to read a lot more than I do now. I love reading, but I find myself immersed in time-wasting browsing on the internet. Now I find myself easily bored with things that are more than “140 characters.” I have gotten used to bite-sized pieces of information, rather than large chunks of truth. No matter how I try and justify it, bite-sized information will never fill me up spiritually—even if it is amazing.

As I start the year, I want to spend more time investing in things that matter; things that are of eternal significance. This doesn’t mean I won’t be on the internet. It just means I will limit my time, so I can use the time I do have for things that last. And it means I won’t blindly use the internet, either. If I see an old (or new) friend on a social networking site, I will ask her how she is doing instead of lurking around her profile. Internet and social networking are not needs. They are gifts that can be used for good and bad. I really pray that this year I use the gifts for more good than bad.

Remembering Mrs. Dubert

Today I am linking to a post I wrote in the fall of 2007 about a dear friend of mine. Her name was Mrs. Marjorie Dubert. The post includes something she wrote about her time as a missionary in New Guinea. Mrs. Dubert was a dear lady, who loved and served King Jesus. And on Wednesday, she was in the presence of her King.

Though I haven't seen Mrs. Dubert in many years, I still kept in contact with her. She was the mother of my mom's best friend, who is like an aunt to me. Mrs. Dubert and I would email from time to time, and she was one of the biggest encouragers of me to attend seminary. I still remember the content of her email when I told her I was moving to Louisville to go back to school. When I was living a rebellious life away from Christ, she prayed for me. She supported every misssions trip I went on. She emailed me. She read my blog sometimes. She was my far-away friend. And I will miss her. Now she is even farther away than she was before. But I will see her someday. Someday when we are all around the table of King Jesus worshipping our Savior forever. Until then, you will be missed, Mrs. Dubert. Thank you for your service to our Christ,

Here is the post. I hope she encourages you like she did me.

Missions Wednesday: Turkey

For this week’s Missions Wednesday I enlisted the help of my sweet husband. He has been to Turkey twice and it is a country that is dear to our heart. So below are some helpful tidbits that he relayed to me about the country of Turkey.

Turkey is the largest unreached nation in the world. For over a thousand years Christianity was the prevailing religion, but now Islam is the official religion of Turkey. There are approximately 66 million people living in Turkey. This is a staggering number. Sixty-six million people, unreached, and following a false religion.

Geography lesson for the day: It straddles two continents: Europe and Asia. I thought that was interesting.

How we can pray:

Pray that God would send missionaries to Turkey to proclaim the Gospel.

Pray that the missionaries who are already there would be encouraged.

Pray that God would open their eyes to the Gospel. Islam is a cultural religion there, and to leave Islam means leaving being a Turk in many of their minds.

Pray against fear in the hearts of Turkish people who have become Christians.