A lesson in humility

This morning, after breakfast, our amazing hosts took us to a mountain just on the outskirts of Comas where we are staying. We were told that we were going there to "pray for the city". I thought, "That's nice. Let's go pray for these nice people."

As we made our way up the STEEP street that lead to the overlook we were to pray from, we were met along the way by an precious and delightful woman named Daisy and her precious son Antonio. They walked with us up to the overlook.




When we reached the top, we took a few minutes to take in the view and take some pictures...



We gathered in a circle and Pastor Enrique shared with us from Psalm 24. He said that we could have gone to a higher mountain to see more of creation, but we came here to see the city. We went up to a mountain, he said, because in the Word, it was very important, spiritually, to go up to a mountain and talk to God. Moses went up a mountain to speak with God and receive the Law. David talks in the Psalms about going to God's holy mountain, Jerusalem. Even Jesus went up on a mountain to pray.

In Psalm 24 it says,

"The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob.
Selah.
Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift {them} up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.
Selah."

As Pastor Enrique spoke about clean hands and a pure heart and then prayed that the Lord would give us these things, I was convicted of my ugly, hateful pride. I am consumed by it in even the smallest tasks of my life. Particularly, he convicted me of my prideful heart where this trip is concerned. That learning songs in a foreign language has not been an uphill battle for me is NOT of my own doing or because of any knowledge or understanding I have given myself, but because of the way the Lord created my strange brain to function. Because of the work of His Spirit in my mind to prepare me for a trip I would otherwise not have been prepared for.

I have not done this on my own, but until today I had not acknowledged that fact. I my heart, I had lifted myself up as special, intelligent, capable. In fact, I am none of these things apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. If I am special it is His hand on me that makes me so. If I am intelligent, it is from the wisdom He has granted me that apart from Him I would not understand. If I am capable it is because "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" and not by any capability I possess within myself. My prayer tonight is that the Lord would change my heart to reflect Philippians 2:3 "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves".

O Lord, give me clean hands and a pure heart that I may ascend the hill of the Lord and stand on Your holy mountain!

Peru update

Well, here we are. A short two weeks from our departure for Peru. We are planning, working, rehearsing (did I mention we are leading worship...IN SPANISH - YIKES!!), praying, preparing, packing. I am very excited, but I would be lying if I said that I was not also intimidated. Reading the information we are given about the church in Comas we are visiting, I am left wondering, "What can I offer them?" These are not people devoid of belief. This is an explosively growing, and expanding church. The Lord reassures me that He has called me to this trip, so I sit. Anxiously awaiting what He will teach me, for I am certain that He will bless the children of Peru through e-camp, and knock me off my feet by what He will teach and show me through them.

For now all I can say is please continue to pray for us. Many of us have not reached our fundraising goals yet (myself included). We are trusting in Him who has called us to this work to complete it and I ask each of you to prayerfully consider supporting this trip. If you feel that He is asking you to support our trip you may visit www.fbctn.org/globalgiving and click the "Give Here" button under the picture labeled "Peru Worship Trip". I also ask for your prayers, from now until we return, for our health. A few of us on the team (myself included) have specific health oddities :). (Mines is to do with my digestive system...) Please pray that the Creator of our bodies will sustain our health through the final stages of preparation and throughout the trip. Please pray for those doing the "planning" part of the trip Rob Howard and Philip Morlan. They both need God's grace and peace and His continued reminder that His hand is upon them as the complete the task He has set before them. Last I ask for your prayers for the rest of us who are planning and preparing classes for the kids and struggling to learn songs in a foreign language. Pray as He leads you for all of us. He knows our needs more even than we do ourselves. God bless and thank you, in advance, for interceding on our behalf.

God is...

The Lord has been dealing with me. You see, last summer I studied Daniel and Revelation and blogged about it ALL SUMMER. It was an amazing experience.

This summer I have been in a DEEP study on marriage. It is a Precept Upon Precept study by Kay Arthur called Marriage Without Regrets. The reason He has been dealing with me is that I have NOT been blogging about it all summer. He has asked me, "Was this a less amazing experience?"...ummm...no. "Was it less impactful?"...ummm...definitely not. "Have I taught you less?"...no, Lord..."So then marriage is not in crisis? You don't know anyone who could benefit from the information I am giving you?...Share, My love...write and share"

So, now I begin. This study has had a deep impact on my life. I pray the Lord shows you places in your life where this His teaching on relationship needs to be applied. He has in mine and walks with me daily as I struggle to apply all that He has taught and continues to teach me.

One of the most foundational lessons in the study was the study on Love. Let's start with the fact that we, in English, have one word for love. When I say "I love you" to my husband, it means something different than when I say it to my son or to my sister or my best friend, but still it is the word "love". Not so in the Word. In the Word, God inspired the writers to use different words that all mean different KINDS of love! This way, if we look up the words, there is no confusion about what the writer meant.

So, today we'll look at the 3 words God used that we've translated "love" and one other Greek word for love that God did not use in His holy Word. (The following is copied from the Precept Upon Precept Marriage Without Regrets study published by Precept Ministries)

1. Eros: 1) erotic love, 2) a love of passion that seizes and absorbs itself into the mind, 3) a love of emotional involvement based on body chemistry, 4) basic idea of this love is self-satisfaction, ie - "I love you because you make me happy"; the foundation of it is some characteristic in the other person that pleases you - if the characteristic were to cease to exist the reason for the love would be gone; this type of love looks for what it can receive and only gives in order to receive and when it fails to get what it wants or expects, bitterness or resentment could develop.
Eros is a CONDITIONAL love. God did not use this word to describe love.
2. Storge: 1)has it’s basis in one’s own nature, 2) a natural affection or natural obligation, 3) natural movement of the soul for husband, wife, child or dog 4) a quiet, abiding feeling within a person that rests on something close to him and that he/she feels good about. In the New Testament this word appears in the noun or verb form with the prefix “a” and therefore negates the love and means without this type of love. In other words, it is used as “unloving”. It is also used with our next word and translated “devoted”.
3. Phileo: 1) companionable love, 2) speaks of affection, fondness or liking, 3) responds to kindness, appreciation, or love, 4) involves giving and receiving, but when strained can collapse in a crisis, 5) called out of one’s heart by qualities in another, 6) it is a higher love than “eros” because it is our happiness rather than my happiness.
4. Agape: 1) called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the object loved. It is a love of esteem and evaluation. It has the idea of prizing and is the most noble word for love in the Greek language, 2) is not kindled by the merit or worth of its object, but originates in its own God-given nature, 3) delights in giving, 4) keeps on loving even when the loved one is unresponsive, unkind unlovable, and unworthy. It is unconditional love. 5) desires only the good of the one loved and is a consuming passion for the well-being of others.

So what kind of love do you live in? What kind do you show to your husband? your children? your friends? your family? What about those who “don’t deserve it”? What kind do you think God calls us to? We’ll look at that next time. ‘til then, my prayer for you is that you would be open to the conviction of the Spirit and that He would show you how to love better...like He loves.

Peru, here I come!

***Update: As of today August 13th, $710 has been given toward my trip. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Please consider giving if you have not already, and feel free to forward this post on to anyone you know who might be interested in giving and/or praying for our team. We leave in 5 weeks!

I know it has been a long while since I have posted anything to my blog, but you’ll soon see why! I have spent the better part of this summer working toward a brand new children’s worship camp our church is putting together called e-camp. The “e” stands for “everything” as in “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” Psalm 150:6.

We are SO excited about this camp and the opportunity it presents to share the gospel and teach kids about their awesome, majestic Father in heaven. We were each created for the purpose of worshiping our Creator. The purpose of e-camp is to give children an opportunity to spend a week of their summer in a fun engaging environment where they learn about worship - what it means, why we do it, how to do it and where to direct it. The camp will culminate in a Family Worship Night, Friday night, where the kids will be given the opportunity to express their worship to their Creator. True worship takes practice and discipline. It needs to be explained, demonstrated and taught. We believe that e-camp will be the perfect environment for kids to learn, experience and grow in their adoration of the Father.

We have been overwhelmed at the response to our fledgling camp. We have seen the numbers swell from the 20's to the 30's to more than 90 children registered as we prepare to launch this coming Monday! The Lord is drawing new worshipers to Himself and we simply stand in awe as He moves to accomplish His purposes.

As if this isn’t enough of an honor to work on, the Lord had more (as He usually does!). The same day that our children’s ministry department got the green light for e-camp, our worship department approached the staff member working on it, just in conversation, and told him that our sister church in Comas, Peru had asked the worship and arts department to bring a children’s worship camp to Comas in September! Coincidence? I think not!

So here we are 2 weeks from e-camp and now happily and excitedly planning for “camp-t” - Campamentos Todos. We will be taking e-camp’s format, 16 team members and a documentary crew to Comas from September 18th - 26th. I am overjoyed that the Lord has again asked me to participate in going to another part of the world to love on children!

Here’s where each of you fit in:
Pray!
First, I would so appreciate each of you praying for our team as we prepare and translate e-camp. Would you pray that e-camp would have a deep impact on the worship of the children who will attend. Will you pray for each of our small group leaders as we prepare to teach the children about dramatic speech, percussion, singing, dancing and art, each as an expression of worship. Will you pray also for the hearts of the children that the Lord would prepare them to meet with Him and be eternally impacted.

Give!
Second, there is a cost associated with this trip. The cost to each team member will be $1400. I am asking each and every person who reads this post to consider giving just $10. If 140 of you give $10, my trip cost will be covered! If more of you do this, then the overflow can bless other members of our team and help us with other costs such as the gifts we love to take to the people of our sister church. There are two easy ways to give. First, send a check to Fellowship Bible Church at 1210 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027. Write “Peru trip Mandy Reutter” in the memo line. Second, go to www.fellowshipnashville.org/globalgiving and click on Peru Worship Trip and choose my name.

Thank you all so much for your concern and love for our family, for your prayers and for your support.

Caleb-isms VIII

Shortly after Steven met Francis, we invited her to our home for lunch so that Caleb and I could get to know her. When she came in, she and Caleb started talking, and she asked Caleb if he was looking forward to being a big brother...

Caleb: "Yep! My stister is in ma Phiwapines" (the Philippines - HA!)

Francis: "That's right!"

Caleb: "Yep. That's where Goliath is from...oh..no...wait, that's the PhiliSTINES!"

CRAZY KID!!

Family time in Holy Week

In 2007, we bought a book that has become a favorite family tradition for the Christmas season. It is called "The Advent Book" by Jack and Kathy Stockman. When we bought it, we were added to the Stockman's email newsletter "Celebrations and Traditions" that they send out in correlation to holidays. It gives wonderful ideas for creating Christ-centered family traditions for various holidays. We received one for the Lent season with ideas, also, for Holy Week that has been wonderful.

On Tuesday, the focus was Loving God. Below is the anagram Caleb did (mostly on his own) with Steven. He came up with "Love" and "Trust" all by himself. Steven tried to explain that "Trust" wouldn't work because the word starts with 'T' not 'R', but Caleb was so excited about "Trust" that he told Steven, "It's okay, Daddy, because there is an "R" in "Trust"!"Steven helped out with "Obey" and they both came up with "David". Then they prayed and asked God to help us love Him, trust Him and obey Him and have a heart for Him like King David.

Caleb had the best time coloring the word "Lord" and writing all the words "All by myself"!

This was the most precious time we've had during Holy Week so far. I can't wait until Sunday morning!

Caleb-isms VII

Another example of how much my Savior loves me...

This morning, after sleeping poorly in a separate bed from my sweet husband because he was THAT sick, and being absolutely exhausted not only by the break-neck pace of the past few days and weeks but also by the thought of the content and length of the day ahead of me, this is how my Lord used my baby to wake me up:

Caleb: "It is weeeelll, it is weeeelll, wif my sooouuul...it is weeeel, it is weeeel, wif my sooouuul!"

And mine, as well. Thanks for the reminder, Father. Amen.