Life as a Christian Woman

When you read the above title, you probably start thinking about all the different versions of the Bible that you can buy at your local bookstore:

• King James
• New King James
• 21st Century King James Version
• New International Version
• New American Standard
• Amplified Bible
• New Living Translation
• American Standard Version
• New Life Version
• The Message
• English Standard Version
• Contemporary English Version
• New Century Version
• Young’s Literal Translation
• Darby Translation
• Holman Christian Standard Bible
• New International Reader’s Version
• Wycliffe New Testament
• Worldwide English New Testament
• Today’s New Internation Version

I could go on and on (and on and on!). The 20 versions I have listed are but a few available according to BibleGateway.com.

But while we may have dozens of interpretations to choose from, and the Bible continues to be the most translated book in the world, there are millions of people who have no translation of the Bible in their own language.

As of 2005, at least one book of the Bible has been translated into 2,400 of the 6,900 languages, including 680 languages in Africa, 590 in Asia, 420 in Oceania, 420 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 210 in Europe, and 75 in North America. The United Bible Societies are presently assisting in over 600 Bible translation projects.

Today my daughter brought home a newsletter from school, a magazine called God’s World News Early Edition, specifically written for younger children. As I thumbed through it, I found an article regarding the people of Jamaica. Most Jamaicans speak a language called patois (PA twa). And while many are Christians, none have ever been able to read a Bible in their language. According to the article:

The Reverend Courtney Stewart says that many Jamaican people have never read the Bible. He has hired people to translate it into patois. He wants all Jamaicans to hear God’s good news.

We may think that it is only in the deepest, darkest corners of the world that people don’t have the ability to put their hands on a Bible, but the reality is that this little island nation, where many Americans vacation, most don’t have access to a Bible in their native language.

There are many groups in the process of translating the Bible for different world populations. Pray for them. Pray that their mission will proceed with haste, that all may know the glory of our God!

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
words & music by Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

Turn your eyes up Jesus.
Look full in his glorious face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

There is so much evil in the world. It is heartbreaking and distracting beyond words. The evil that men do to one another has the ability to overtake our senses, overwhelm our ability to conceive of it.

But there is a peace and a sanity that exists in a mind that focuses on heaven. Why? Because we know the ending… eternal life in Heaven.

The song that I reference above, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, is a wonderful example of a life that faces Heaven, yet acknowledges this life is hard, that we face obstacles that may seem overwhelming.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Evil is a fact our our lives, and some Christians have to stare it more directly in the face that we can even begin to understand. Currently, there are Christians world-wide facing the threat of death just for being faithful to our God. Christians in parts of India are suffering greatly, with churches being burned down, and the threat of injury and death very real. But they stand tall in their faith. How? Because they know how their stories will end… face-to-face with our Father God, basking in His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

When we read of the persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we pray. We pray for healing in a world that turns from God. We pray that our fellow Christians will be strong in the face of this evil. We pray that their tormentors will accept the forgiveness and redemption that God so willingly wants to give them. But we must also remember, and be comforted by the fact, that these saints on earth face those who want to destroy them with the courage and knowledge that what awaits them on the other side is a victory… a victory over evil, over evil-doers, and over death itself.

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Those Christians that face this horrible persecution rest on the words above. They are following the Great Commission. They are going to teach those who are lost of a God of love and light.

How many times have we all read of a persecuted Christian, facing death, who is so at peace, so calm? It never fails to confound those who spread evil. But Christians know what those who wish to destroy them cannot understand. What awaits erases what comes before.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

For more information on the persecution of Christians in India, please visit www.yesugarden.blogspot.com. It is written by a wonderful sister in Christ, Amrita. Although I will most likely never meet her face to face on this earth, I look forward to the day that we stand together at the throne of God.

To listen to Alan Jackson sing Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, click here.

Every few days I check out a website called Christian News Headlines (ChristianNewsHeadlines.com). Headlines from around the world that pertain to Christianity or the Christian world can be found there, and a simple click will lead you to the full story.

Today a read a story that I wanted to make you all aware of. A few weeks ago I wrote an article on persecution of Christians in China (Christianity in China, August 11, 2008). While the nation of China put on a beautiful face for the world during the Olympics, and claims to have religious freedom, we know that is not true. For me, the story now has a face.

Two days prior to the start of the Olympics, on August 6, Pastor Zhang “Bike” Mingxuan (known affectionately as “Pastor Bike”) was arrested, along with his wife and a fellow pastor, Wu Jianghe. He was in a hotel getting ready to go pick up some medicine, when the electricity in his room was turned off. Using his cell phone, he called Bob Fu, president of China Aid.

“He told me that the electricity had been shut off, just in his room, nowhere else,” Bob Fu said. “He was talking to me when they came to arrest him.”

It is believed they are being held at Jing Ba Lu Branch PSB office in Zhengzhou City, the Capital of Henan Province.

Pastor Bike came to Christ in 1986, and immediately began doing missionary work in his hometown. But soon, his love for Christ combined with his love for the people of China pushed him to move beyond his hometown to minister to thousands. In 1998, Pastor Bike began riding his bike around China (hence the nickname!), spreading the word to all who would listen. He traveled 10,000 miles, and he passed out simple business cards that read, “Believe in Jesus. Be Granted Eternal Life.”

As you can imagine, he has been a constant target of the Chinese government. And despite opportunities to leave that country, he has turned them down, preferring to stay in his homeland to lead them to Jesus.

Pastor Bike is president of the Chinese House Church Alliance. You may remember that literally millions of Chinese Christians meet secretly in private houses all around the country. He is a bold force in that nation, and has never backed down in his desire to spread Christ’s name. He will cross borders to hand out Bibles. He will openly share the Good News with those under the age of 18, and has led thousands to be saved. In China, these are all crimes. He has also been a key to the creation of the China Prayer Bands, designed to let Christians around the world know of the persecution faced by their brothers and sisters in Christ in China.

The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association have a website, “FreePastorBike.com” where one can sign a petition that will be forwarded to Chinese Ambassador Mr. Zhou Wenzhong. The message the two groups hope to send to the Chinese government is that the world is aware, and will not forget.

I don’t know if an online petition can help. But I do know that we can all join in prayer for Pastor Bike, and for the millions of Christians in China and around the world who are persecuted, who do not enjoy the freedom of worship that many of us take for granted. Christians who risk their lives and the lives of those they love to worship our risen Saviour.

Please take time to say a prayer today…

YouTube/BBC video in which Pastor Bike is featured about 1 minute in Click Here

As I told you yesterday, I am a big fan of the Olympics. Tonight I was watching the men’s gymnastics team event. The underdog U.S. team led midway through the event, and ended up with the bronze medal. The team was not expected to perform well, as they had lost two of their top performers just days before leaving for Beijing.

But perform they did. At one point the team was huddled up. Gymnast Jonathan Horton spoke up and said, “No fear, no regrets.”

That phrase has stuck with me the rest of the evening. What if we could live every single day of our lives with no fear and no regrets.

What would it feel like to be unafraid of what others thought about us and speak freely of the love of Christ? To be unafraid to express our devotion to Him? Even in the free society that we live in here in the United States, we are “afraid” to offend others by speaking of our faith. Somehow it is easier to imagine crossing the seas to spread the Good News than to cross the street and invite our neighbors to worship with us.

And what would it be like to live with no regrets? To look back at yesterday and beyond, and know that we had done all we could to bring others into the Kingdom of God? That we had left no stone unturned in our desire to spread His message of love?

How amazing that would be!

Daily we live with that fear of offending the unsaved, yet by ignoring them we are condemning them to a life eternity apart from God, in Hell. And when someone we know dies apart from God, we regret never having taken the time to speak. When someone passes away, we are so programmed to say, “They are in a better place now.” But are they really? How do we know? Did we ever speak to them about our faith? Share our Jesus with them.

As Christians, let’s make our motto No Fear, No Regrets.

I love the Olympics, I love everything about them. If my family wants to find me anytime over the next two weeks, they know that I will be parked in front of the nearest television, watching everything from fencing to equestrian to basketball to swimming.

In fact, sports I would never dream of watching any other time take on a life of their own during the Olympics!

This Olympics takes on a bit of a different meaning, though. The host, China, has one of the world’s worst records in human rights and oppression of it’s people. And religion is a very touchy subject in the Middle Kingdom.

In China, those over the age of 18 are allowed be be involved with officially sanctioned Christian meetings through the “Three-Self Patriotic Movement” (TSPM) or the “Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association” (CCPA).

The TSPM is non-denominational, and preachers receive instruction at one of 13 sanctioned seminaries, which are Marxist-oriented. The TSPM is widely viewed as a wing of Communism.

Lest you think the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association is a branch of the Catholic Church, read on. The CCPA is an association of Chinese established in 1957 by the People’s Republic of China’s Religious Affairs Bureau to maintain state supervision over mainland China’s Catholics. In July of 1958, Pope Pius XII declared the bishops who participated in consecrating new bishops selected by the Association to be excommunicated. Pope Benedict XVI called agents of the CCPA “persons who are not ‘ordained’, and sometimes not even baptized”, who “control and take decisions concerning important ecclesial questions, including the appointment of Bishops.

But many Chinese Christians also meet in unregistered house church meetings, despite the reports of sporadic persecution. In fact, while the government estimates there are four million Roman Catholics and 10 million Protestants, independent estimates range from 40 to 54 million Christians in China. Most of the growth has taken place in the House Church movement.

The House Church movement began in 1949, following a Communist edict that all religions must register. The registry forces groups to join one of the state-mandated religious organizations, which opens the door to government interference and control. Risking jail and persecution, these groups meet in homes, often in secret, to protect those involved.

On Sunday, President George Bush and his wife Laura attended church in Beijing. They attended the Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Christian church, one of the “official churches” under Communist control. Afterwards, the President made a statement in support of religious freedom in China, a sentiment he has shared with Chinese President Hu Jintao on numerous occasions.

China is at a crossroads. It wants to be a major player in today’s world, and is well on it’s way. Many American companies have set up manufacturing plants in China (General Motors, for instance). With this influx of “foreign” workers, China will have to make decisions very soon about it’s future.

As you watch the festivities and competition, say a prayer today that the leaders of that far away land will have their eyes opened, that Christianity will continue to grow and be able to move out of the shadows and into the bright light of God’s world.

Rather than hit on any particular topic today, I would like to share an experience I just had at my church.

The church that I attend is a fairly large, predominantly white church. We have developed a relationship with another church in our city, a predominantly African-American church.

I’m not sure how the association began, but I am quite sure of the results. And they are fantastic.

Several times a year, our churches get together for worship on Wednesday night. When the service is at our church, they lead the service, music, preaching and all. And when it is their turn to host, our pastor preaches and we lead the music. Yesterday, the members of State Street Baptist came to lead our service, and it was wonderful.

Our churches worship differently, but not dramatically so. We sing the same songs, but with different style. We hear the same preaching, but with different inflection.

And we all worship the same God, the same risen Savior.

The service Wednesday night was wonderful. I get tickled when we have what I call our “meet and greet” part of the service… you know, where we all shake hands and say hello. Well, on Wednesday night there was so much greeting going on, it was hard to get the service back on track!

The pastor, Freddie Brown, gave a great sermon, filled with God’s truth… and a little humor. My favorite part, the part that got me thinking, was when he spoke about Jesus on his mother’s side, versus his Father’s side. Many of us look into our own genealogy, but it was interesting to look at it from the Lord’s perspective.

After the service, many of us stood around and talked. We talked about our faith, we talked about our kids, we talked about sports, whatever. But we talked as one body of Christ.

And that is what I take away from this service. We are all different in how we worship. We are all uniquely and wonderfully made. But we are all bound by the love that our Savior has poured out on us.

We are family, family of the highest order, family of the greatest Father.

We adults can take the simplest things and make them into huge deals; mountains out of mole hills, as my mom used to say.

Look at weddings… what should be a happy union in front of family and friends becomes a stress-fest: what dress are you wearing, will the tuxes match (and fit!), how many are you inviting, what will you serve, what will the music be, traditional or more modern, etc., etc., etc.

Recently I got a lesson in keeping it simple from my daughter. This year at church, her age group has been studying missions and missionaries. I have enjoyed talking with her about it, because I remember (barely!) being her age and being in Mission Friends. I remember meeting missionaries, hearing their stories of exotic places, people and animals. It was all so National Geographic comes to Tennessee.

My daughter has been having the same experiences this year, although with a twist. The missionaries that she has met are members of our church who have given their lives in service to the Lord. She met two separate young couples, one couple serves in Niger, Africa, and the other couple in Southeast Asia. They tell the children stories of the people that they share the Lord’s love with, and the relationships they are building.

Then came the news…

One of our closest friends, a young woman I will call Karen (not her real name), was leaving to go overseas as a missionary. She would be serving in a country that does not welcome missionaries, where it is a crime to renounce the religion of the nation to become a Christian. A country where women are second-class citizens, yet she (and others like her) were called to talk to the hearts and minds of these people.

This didn’t come up suddenly. The entire process takes about two years (from application through training). But suddenly the day was here. Karen sat down with Emilee and explained she would be leaving and wouldn’t be able to see her for several years. She told her we could email and Skype (camera phones to talk to the other side of the world!), but there wouldn’t be any more playdates for awhile. And she told her why she was going, that God had called her into service.

There were a few tears, then the goodbyes.

That’s a lot for ad four year old to understand, isn’t it? Well, not really. It seems that Emi grasped the message quite well, thank you!

I was prepared for questions later that night; after all, when Karen had told me where she was going, I was filled with questions (is it safe, what will you take with you, how will you communicate with the native people, what will you wear, where will you live, is there a McDonalds nearby, etc.).

But Emi didn’t have any questions. I worried she was holding it all in (when was the last time a four year old held ANYTHING in?).

So I kept prodding her, gently, over the next day or two. Finally, I guess she got tired of me giving her the third degree. She turned to me, sighed, and in her very grown up four year old voice, said, “Mommy, it’s really very simple. God told Karen to go tell the people about Jesus, so they can go to heaven.”

Hmmm…I guess it really was pretty simple after all.

It Is Well With My Soul
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

I admit it. My favorite part of church is singing. I love the old hymns and the new music. Christian music can touch me so deeply, so personally. It can lift me up and enrich my relationship with God.

One hymn in particular has long been a favorite of mine, “It is Well With My Soul” by Horatio Gates Spafford. Spafford was a successful attorney in Chicago in the mid-1800’s, with a strong faith in God. But that faith was soon to be tested.

In 1871, his only son passed away (he also had four daughters). Soon after, a terrible fire struck Chicago, and the city was ravaged by the flames. In all, 300 people died and another 100,000 were homeless. Spafford was ruined financially, as he had invested much of his money in the downtown Chicago real estate market. Yet he spent the next two years trying to help the people of Chicago get back on their feet, assisting the homeless, poor, and grief-stricken.

About two years after the fire, Spafford decided to take his family to England to join evangelist Dwight Moody, who was a close friend. There, the family planned to go on one of Moody and Ira Sankey’s crusades, then travel in Europe. But when the time came to board the ship, Spafford had to stay behind due to business. His wife, Anna, and four daughters (Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie) would go ahead and he would join them later.

The ship, the Ville de Havre, collided with an English sailing ship (the Loch Earn) off the coast of Newfoundland, and sank in only 20 minutes. While his wife survived after clinging to a piece of wreckage, all four Spafford daughters were lost.

When she arrived in Cardiff, Wales, Anna sent her husband a telegram containing only two words… “saved alone.”

Spafford immediately left for Europe to be with his wife. While aboard the ship, the site where the Ville de Havre sank was pointed out to him. Upon reaching England and meeting up with Dwight Moody, he told his old friend softly, “It is well the will of God be done.”

Although it is not known exactly when he penned the words to “It is Well with My Soul, ” it was during this time of grief and prayer that the words came to life. The words caught the eye of Phillip Bliss, who was a composer. Shortly thereafter, Bliss wrote the music for the poem and published it in one of the Sankey-Bliss Hymnals, Gospel Hymns No. 2.

When listening to the hymn, what jumps out is the obvious fact that Spafford, while acknowledging the pain and suffering, didn’t dwell on them. The third verse talks of God’s redemption through Christ, and the fourth is a stanza of victory, anticipating Christ’s triumphant return. Imagine… through his own pain and suffering, Spafford takes us through a lifetime in one song, ending with Christ returning for us!

The song has long been a favorite of ministers, from Billy Graham to Martin Luther King. It has been sung for well over 100 years in churches around the world, and is often sung at funerals.

These words, written in pain and suffering, will live forever, as long as Christians have a voice.

I have a great friend who recently left to be a missionary. I am amazed and awed by her. I could never imagine myself picking up and moving to a place where I can’t speak the language, and where my religion is banned, leaving family and friends behind.

But anytime I remarked to her that I couldn’t do what she is doing, she pointed out that I wasn’t CALLED to do what she is doing.

Fair point.

Which brings me to last week. Our church was putting on a musical dinner theatre production to raise money for missions. I volunteered to help where needed, and on the day of the dress rehearsal I wound up scrambling to try to make a fake barbell for one of the characters. Our children’s ministry pastor stopped by to see how I was doing (and to gently make a few suggestions on how to do it better!), when we started talking about my friend. I laughingly said, “she was called to a foreign land to spread the word of God, and I am called to make a dumbbell!” We had a laugh, I finished my project, and the play was a big success.

But it got me to thinking. I had minimized my small part in the production, but there are no small parts in God’s world.

Follow me here:

I made a dumbbell that was used in a play that raised money for missions that makes it possible for my friend to spread the word of God in a foreign land.

Hmmm. Maybe my part wasn’t so small after all.

And that brings me back to all of us. We tend to look at ourselves as everyday Christians, separated by training and calling from pastors and missionaries. But we are all called, maybe not to the pulpit or the field, but to grow where God has planted us.

The reality is that God has placed us exactly where he wants us to be, and we must find our purpose in the place where He has put us. And wherever we are placed, we can share the love of God in ways both unique and understated.

If you are a mom, your family is your mission field (wow, that is powerful!). You are called to be a woman of God and help raise your children to honor Him.

OK, that one was obvious.

But what about at work? If you are living in His will, God has planted you in your job. Grow your seeds there. Place a Bible on your desk (if allowed), to serve as a “silent testimony” to your beliefs. Bow your head before a meal to thank the Lord for his bounty, and that, too, will speak volumes to those around you without saying a word.

And be aware of those around you, those who may be hurting or in need of some love. A young woman named Kelly was on her collegiate cheerleading squad. Lori, another member of the squad, was moody and irritable on a day to day basis, and no one wanted to be around her. One day, out of exasperation, Kelly asked her friend what was wrong. Lori said that she felt alone, believed she was an alcoholic and just didn’t know where else to turn. Kelly ministered to her, got her into rehab, and helped her learn about God’s love for her. Lori accepted Christ, and is doing great these days.

God planted Kelly on that squad long before she knew her purpose there… but He knew. He was already there.

So grow where you are planted. God will use you in unique and awesome ways.

Even if it is making a barbell!