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Posted By Andrew on December 2, 2009

Did someone press the fast forward button on life’s remote while I wasn’t looking? I come here to update our blog and the last post is nearly two months old. Sigh. How does this always happen? Anyway, a quick peek into our life during the last two months would seem to be in order for those patient friends and family members who keep checking this site in hopes of finding something new.

One of the reasons I’ve been so remiss in writing is that we’ve been in the unfortunate position of having Mommy largely out of commission with early pregnancy sickness. Although Elizabeth is starting to feel better now and is attacking projects with something like her usual zest, she had a longer than usual period of morning sickness that had her somewhat sidelined. I did my best to help out with kitchen duty, the girls each do their own laundry, and everyone pitched in with cleaning and household chores to make it through that time. One of our biggest reasons for giving thanks at Thanksgiving was that Mommy had finally turned a corner and was starting to rejoin the land of the living.

Jenny and Melody got to go to PA to spend Thanksgiving with Grandpa and Grandma K. They were rather proud of themselves for being big enough to make the trip with our friends Duane and LeAnn, and by all reports they had a fantastic holiday. Elizabeth and I took advantage of their absence to put Gabe at his aunt Beka’s house for the weekend while we headed off to Charleston for a mini-vacation. We had a fabulous time wandering the streets of the historic waterfront area, and enjoyed gorgeous weather as a bonus. Every time we go on one of these excursions, we promise ourselves we’re going to take another one in two months or less. About a year later we find ourselves asking what happened to that idea. This time I’m determined to make it happen, so check back about mid January to see where we go next time.

Another ongoing story in our lives came about as a result of reading a book by Francis Chan. He made an eloquent plea for a radical response to God’s radical love toward us. We had to face the fact that many of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world are suffering and in dire need, yet we’ve done appallingly little to help them. We know they’re suffering, and we say they’re part of God’s family, yet their plight does not move us. What if it was my child who lived on the streets, hungry and abandoned? What if it was my brother who was in prison for his faith? What if my parents had to beg in the streets to survive? I would stop at nothing to rescue them, but such suffering on the part of my spiritual family has generated no radical response.

The most profoundly life-changing statement from Chan’s book was a simply fact, mentioned almost in passing: as long as you spend more on yourself than on your neighbor, you have no credibility in claiming that you love your neighbor as yourself. That thought has haunted me ever since, and I can’t argue it away. While we enjoy a standard of living that is among the highest in the world, some of our brothers and sisters live in abject poverty and suffering, scavenging for food in dumpsters and landfills, living in squalor, and struggling to survive.

How will we ever look those people -those members of our family- in the eye and tell them, “I loved you as I loved myself while I battled other frenzied shoppers on Black Friday to snatch up deals on gadgets I didn’t need at the same time that you lacked basic food”? (Note: I got up early on Black Friday to get one of those deals, then thought of the families of living martyrs in Vietnam, and crawled back into bed. Haven’t regretted it a bit, and VOM offers a great opportunity to bless those Vietnamese members of our family at Christmas.) Can they be blamed for a healthy skepticism when we assure them that we seek those things above, not things of the earth? Jesus said that where your treasure is, there your heart is. Never mind that 99% of American preachers falsely claim that the reverse is true, that you can just keep your heart in heaven and safely lay up all the treasure on earth that you please. The reality is that where you’re investing is where your heart is. Don’t blame me; it was Jesus Who said that.

I don’t claim to know what this means in your life, but I do know our life is changing rapidly, and I’m excited about the journey. “More blessed to give than to receive” is not just a feel-good quote. It’s a reality that is deeply satisfying to experience.

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Posted By Andrew on October 5, 2009

I sincerely thought after writing that last post in July that either Elizabeth or I would share a little update on our lives every few weeks. As you can see, it hasn’t happened, so once again we have a great deal of catching up to do. Here’s the summary:

In the past few months, my sister Joy came to live with us and rescued me from drowning in work. Jenny celebrated her eighth birthday, Elizabeth celebrated her thirtieth, Gabriel exuberantly celebrated his third, and I reluctantly tolerated my thirty-fourth. We celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary and rejoiced at God’s goodness. We enjoyed hosting many weekend guests, and hope there will be more to follow. We saw our new business grow so rapidly that we had to play musical jobs for a little while; when the dust settled, I was finally managing just my own company, while each of my two brothers was managing one of the rental companies I had previously been involved with. This new arrangement freed Joy to pursue a long held dream—discipleship training with YWAM in Milan, Italy. We bade her farewell, happy to see her dreams coming true, and sorry to see her leave us. When she sent back pictures, we tried not to envy all the wonderful cultural experiences she’s getting. We reveled in the reduced work load that allowed us time for the relationships we’re learning to value above all else. Predictably, I promptly filled up some of that spare time with a commitment to serve as the editor for Harvey Yoder’s books. We enjoyed having my brother Motz and his new bride as our neighbors. We had a lovely camping trip with our church—so much fun that we’ve planned another church campout in two weeks. We met people and heard sermons and read books that inspired us to a relentless pursuit of God’s fullness, and we’ve experienced more of His blessings than we thought we would in a lifetime. We’ve had to repent as His working revealed the filthy rags we thought He would be pleased to receive. We’ve been amazed at what He could do through us when we quit trying to provide the power to do it. We’ve experienced some of the most meaningful church life we could ever hope for with a group of very imperfect people who nevertheless love one another deeply. We’ve rejoiced to see God at work in that church, setting people free to be His hands and feet and mouth to bless us. We finished our year-long building project and made notable progress on the remodeling that will eventually turn the former kitchen into a library. We said that we would sell this place and move rather than ever build another addition onto it. Immediately thereafter, we sheepishly began discussing the best options for eventually adding another bedroom. Hey, the baby we’re expecting in May will have to sleep somewhere, right?? And finally, before Joy left for her six months abroad, we had her take some family photos. Enjoy.

Gabriel is full of mischief but eager to please.

 

Melody wants to hug away the cares of the world.

 

She’s a dreamer.

 

Jenny is passionate and loyal.

 

And beautiful.

 

It’s fine with me if you want to say it out loud: “How did he end up with such gorgeous children?” Search me. It must be their mother.

 

Our youngsters keep us young.

 

Two of Gabe’s great loves—Mommy and bear.

 

Secrets.

 

Celebrating the first nine years of ‘till death do us part.’

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Posted By Andrew on July 19, 2009

When we transferred files from our old website to the current one, we certainly didn’t guess that months would go by before we found time to blog again. I thought you might understand our long silence if I listed everything we’ve been busy with during that time, but was concerned that my computer didn’t have the memory necessary for a list of that length. I opted instead for a few pictures and brief summaries of some of the people, events and projects that have kept us hopping.

First of all, there was the year-long task of building a kitchen and dining room to better accommodate the steady stream of friends and family whom it is our privilege to entertain. We completed the basic structure fairly quickly, then took a long break to save up up the necessary funds for completing the interior.

My mother (who will be thrilled to see her painting uniform online) brought a few cousins and spent a day or two helping us paint. True to our usual form, we slipped off to the paint store a few weeks later, having changed our minds about the color on the right side of the above picture. We didn’t make a dramatic change, just chose something a little less yellow that blended better with the accessories we were finding.

 

Tom Croker patiently suffered through the process of building our hickory kitchen. The difficulty of working with such hard wood was offset by an unexpected bonus: the cabinets double quite handily as a storm or bomb shelter.

Right in the middle of all that, our widowed neighbor, Grandma S (who lived on the property adjoining ours, pictured above) contacted us to say that she could no longer live by herself and was moving in with a daughter and would we be interested in buying the property? We’ve wished for a number of years to have a little more land for our growing family, and this property seemed like the perfect way to expand. We knew that the owners kept several cats in the mobile home, and that on their front porch they fed thirty stray cats from all around the neighborhood, but reasoned that we could clean the feline contamination…ahem.

The real estate deal we agreed on let us buy the property at a steep discount, then spend the remaining balance of the agreed price in building an addition for Grandma S at her daughter’s house. Perfect. Now I had something to do in my spare time.

It was far too big a job for my spare time, so I subcontracted most of the job to capable workers like Joey, seen above.

Another factor that confirmed this was the right time to buy the property was that we had some new friends from Tampa, FL wanting to move to SC. We had been scanning all the ‘For Rent’ listings for months, and realized we could provide that new home they were seeking. They had to travel to SC around the middle of June for a medical appointment, so in order to spare them making that long drive from Tampa too many times, we arranged temporary housing for Emil and Natalie D so they could move on their next trip. I borrowed my brother’s truck and trailer, drove to FL to pick up their belongings, and brought them to their temporary home.

 

The travel trailer worked fine for sleeping quarters, but as a home, it left much to be desired. It was crunch time as we raced to finish Grandma S’s addition so she could move out of the mobile home and we could take possession and start cleaning and remodeling the home for the new tenants.

We were so busy for the next few days that I completely forgot to take pictures of the whole process, which is a shame, because what happened next bordered on the miraculous. With capable help from Emil, who is an accomplished remodeler, and many hours of help from our wonderful church family, that cat-infested, dark, filthy mobile home was transformed into a light, clean, cheerful dwelling in just four days. All the interior surfaces were transformed. Walls and ceilings were painted, floor covering was replaced throughout, sagging cabinets torn out and replaced, and everything cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned again. During the process, the mild distaste I’ve always had for cats was transformed into a deep, enduring loathing of the filthy animals. Their constant washing is a careful ploy to fool the gullible into thinking they care about cleanliness. They don’t. They’re as filthy as pigs, and they shed hair on every square inch of a house with an obnoxious generosity that has to be seen to be believed. It took countless washings, scrubbings, bleaching, and treatments with industrial strength odor-neutralizing enzymes to even reach a point where you could walk in the front door without stifling an impulse to gag. If you’re into cats…well, I can only hope that you will see the light in time to break free from their evil clutches.

Outdoors, Elizabeth took charge of restoring what had once been a beautifully maintained lawn when Grandpa S was still here to care for it. The most urgent priority was simply to tear out or cut down half the trees and shrubs so the remaining ones had a chance to thrive. Then it was time to begin watering, which exposed the fact that the well pump was failing. Emil and I spent a day replacing the pump, a day in which I grabbed every spare minute to do car shopping online, because our trusty old Honda minivan had finally failed us.

Eventually we got water flowing, found a new set of wheels, and then could turn our attention back to the neglected building project. It is now lacking only a few pieces of trim and some cabinet pulls to be completed, and we are breathing a lo-o-o-o-o-o-ng sigh of relief as life returns to some semblance of normalcy.

After years of cooking in a cramped kitchen, we are enjoying the wide open spaces in our new room. The window seat along the far wall provides lots of storage, but also provides seating when the extension table is stretched out to feed a hungry crowd.

I won’t bore you with more stories of what we’ve been doing, but we have just come through the busiest six months of our life, no question about it. We are very grateful for God’s sustaining grace in less than ideal circumstances, but are also eager to move beyond that stage of life. Elizabeth and I felt that we were long overdue for a getaway, so last Thursday we took the back seats out of our minivan, popped an air mattress and camping supplies in the back and struck out for the northwestern corner of our state. We checked a few state parks along the way, but they were all too crowded to suit us. Eventually we landed on Keowee-Toxaway State Park where every single tent site was empty. We gratefully strung up a couple of hammocks, collapsed into them, and just reveled in the peace and quiet.

After a few days of camping, hiking, kayaking, and most of all, relaxing, we returned home feeling at least ten years younger in spite of the worst case of sunburn either of us had ever seen. That secluded cove we found on Lake Jocassee provided a great opportunity to sunbathe while eating chocolate espresso beans and talking, but it cooked us to a well done state in the process. We are recovering slowly, having healed to the point of being able to wear loose clothing and walk without excruciating pain. We can’t wait to do it again, although we WILL take sunscreen along on the next adventure.

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Posted By Andrew on May 6, 2009

A few months ago, we chose not to renew our perpetualhoneymoon.com domain, and moved everything to our new www.antbib.com site. Unfortunately, my IT specialist did not transfer our folders, so when the domain expired, we lost our entire blog history. (Or as he says, our entire hog blistery.)  We were able to recover some files (thanks, Google cache!) and are basically starting over with our blog. I’m pasting in below what was my most recent post, originally dated February 14, 2009.

I’ve heard and read a lot of definitions of revival in the years since I was first privileged to be part of a group that experienced it (Him). My favorite definition is from the title of a book by Brian Edwards, where he defines it as “a People Saturated With God.” You could make the argument that Christians should always be saturated with God, but let’s face it- very few lives convincingly demonstrate such a reality. I’ve also heard it said that what is commonly called revival should simply be the normal Christian life. That sounds good, but again, let’s face what is reality, not what should be reality.
The fact is, history demonstrates convincingly that there are times when God chooses to work among ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Remarkable things happen as God reveals Himself outside the normal experience of most of His children. There is a deep sense of God’s presence, a reverence for His holiness, and profound gratitude for His love and goodness during times of revival. Sometimes supernatural signs and wonders accompany revival, but they are never to become the focal point. It’s about Jesus, and relationship with Him, and voluntarily exposing every area of darkness in one’s life in order to walk in the Light.
I mentioned that I was privileged to see just such a move of God more than ten years ago. It profoundly affected my life, and I’ve never been able to be satisfied with the status quo in Christianity since then. On several occasions in the past weeks, I’ve shared the story of that revival with different groups of people, and I said I’d give my right arm to see God display His glory in that manner again. Well, I still have my right arm, but He’s done it.
We’ve been experiencing what I can only call revival in the past week. Of course, it began long before then with many prayers, tears, and repentance. Over the course of a few months, we saw evidence of God at work in numerous individuals in our church. We wrote in a previous post about our children being drawn to God in response to His working among us. Each new manifestation of His power and glory only served to deepen the hunger of those who were already longing for Him.
Last Sunday, our usually predictable service was turned upside down as God showed up to meet with His children. We saw wonderful evidence of His power as He restored relationships, destroyed strongholds, rooted out sin, and filled people with His own Spirit. It was a glorious experience, and the next night we got together again just to give Him thanks and testify of His working.
After a long period of testimony, prayer, worship, and praise, I took the children outside to give them a little break. Jenny and Melody were full of questions about what they had been seeing. I told them, “Normally when we come to church, someone leads the singing and someone has devotions and someone preaches, but it’s people who are doing everything. Once in a while, we get things right, and God does everything better than we ever can. Some people call it revival when God is doing everything by Himself.”
Melody’s response has already been preserved in our Kiddie Quotes page: “Daddy, one thing I can see is that revival makes church a much better place.” I can’t say it any better myself. Revival certainly does make church a better place, and I’m convinced that God is waiting for the chance to do similar things in many more congregations. On the surface, we are about as unimpressive a church as you want to find, a small group with few material resources and no reputation. True to God’s nature, He chose “weak things of the world…things that are despised” to showcase His glory.
I’m convinced there are more hungry hearts out there. Surely there are more of His children who have been praying for Him to move in their own lives and in their group. Maybe someone’s faith will be strengthened by hearing the story of His faithfulness to one insignificant little church in South Carolina. Maybe their prayers will take on new meaning and earnestness. And maybe we’ll hear about another group of nobodies who are “saturated with God,” rejoicing in His grace while hungering for more. May God grant it to all who desire Him alone.

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Posted By Andrew on February 14, 2009

Originally posted February 13, 2009

Elizabeth is in PA for a long weekend with friends and family, and I’m having fun babysitting the three youngsters. Judy (bless her heart) kept Gabe for me during working hours so I wouldn’t fall even further behind at my job(s). I decided to keep Jenny and Melody here and try to supervise their day between phone calls and other boring office stuff.
I’ve observed that many misbehaved children are naughty simply because they are given too much responsibility–the responsibility to plan their entire day with little parental input. Being immature, they make some poor choices about what to do with their day and end up being corrected for what was actually the parent’s mistake. On the other hand, I’ve also seen overbearing parents smother their children and stifle creativity by not granting them progressive independence. I wanted to avoid both extremes, so I hatched a plan that has been very satisfactory so far.
Because Jenny was recently studying the different branches of U.S. government, I told her that she and Melody would be Congress, and I would be the president. They could prepare legislation that would detail their plans and hopes for the day, and bring it to me for approval. I would either sign the bill or veto it, depending how extravagant they got.
Within an hour, they had the legislation on my desk, painstakingly printed in Jenny’s tapering handwriting. Unlike our president, I did have a line item veto, and I used it on one item that created a scheduling conflict, then approved the rest of the bill. The girls are delighted that they were given so much responsibility and I’m pleased at the maturity they showed in their plans. Neither of them has a chance of ever being a real representative or senator, though, as they showed far too much restraint and good common sense in their bill. The clowns in Washington could take a few lessons from a five and a seven-year-old if they really wanted to fix America.
So far, things have run quite smoothly, and I suggest all fathers send Mommy off for a weekend at least once or twice a year, both for her refreshment and so the fathers gain appreciation for the magnitude of a mother’s job.

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Posted By Andrew on February 3, 2009

Original posting February 2

It’s an awesome feeling to be here. Only a short while ago we were brand new parents, full of visions and ideas of how to make those dreams a reality in our home. We were cuddling a baby and then babies, and found ourselves very busy. Parenting ends up being a lot more practical than you ever think it will be while dreaming, but there is much joy to be found in the daily duties as well. We prayed, taught God’s Word, and tried to live out the joyful Christianity every heart craves, all the while wondering how this is all going to happen. Almost overnight, here we are making disciples. What a sobering responsibility!  I’ve enjoyed reading books about missionary endeavors and have marveled at the way a new people group often grasp deep spiritual truths even before they are taught. They often have a way of putting their teacher to shame by their simple acceptance of truth and prove how very simple it all is. We have been experiencing this in a real way with our new followers of Jesus, and it is very convicting.
I know how real and personal Jesus is to me, how ever present the Holy Spirit is to guide me into all truth, and yet didn’t grasp how faithful He would be and how easily He would connect with a childlike faith. Most of the time their hearts more accurately line up with what God has promised to bless and touch than most mature Christians. After Jenny had prayed her prayer of repentance, she sat in silence for a few minutes, then shared this profound testimony, “ I feel like Jesus is just taking a knife and cutting out all of the sin in my heart.” Andrew and I were amazed to see how perfectly she had explained circumcision of the heart without having ever heard it explained. A few days later she shared with me how she had spend a long time praying in her bed the night before telling God she would do anything He wants her to and giving Him all of herself. I told her that we often call that surrendering to Jesus, and was stunned to realize how many who know the term don’t know the reality. Melody was sitting with Andrew one evening and started telling him how she has decided the most important thing she can ask God for is wisdom. Without any prompting she starts asking God for wisdom, and a few minutes later, she tells us, “ I just hear this splat, splat, splat and I feel wisdom coming into me.” We chuckled inwardly at her description, but were sobered by her simple faith that just asks and believes, so of course receives.
These are the kinds of conversations we are having around here. They are keeping us on our toes and providing us with great motivation to grow to be what God has called us to be. One of our greatest desires for our children has been that they would experience God in a very tangible way that affects all of life, that walking with Him would be as natural as breathing and sharing what He’s teaching us would be as common as any other conversation we have together. I’m still learning how to live this way, but it’s thrilling to see the children make great strides toward these goals. There are still a lot of dreams that have not yet become reality. There are many stages ahead that we know will stretch us and make us press into God in new ways. Seeing God’s faithfulness to our children individually has been a great faith-booster though; we can trust Him to lead them as He’s leading us. He has promised to do for them what we cannot, and we believe that the very best thing we can do for their future spiritual success is to have Jesus always busy working in our hearts.

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