zombies?

last week, during the gathering of believers on sunday, God gave me a glimpse of the reality of the body of Christ... we are the walking dead.  


read this first from the voice translation:
John 12
six days before the Passover feast, Jesus journeyed to the village of bethany, to the home of lazarus who had recently been raised from the dead, where they hosted Him for dinner.  martha was busy serving as the hostess, lazarus reclined at the table with Him, and mary took a pound of fine ointment, pure nard (which is both rare and expensive), and anointed Jesus' feet with it; and then she wiped them with her hair.  as the pleasant fragrance of this extravagant ointment filled the entire house, judas iscariot, one of his disciples (who was plotting to betray jesus) began to speak.  

Judas: How could she pour out this vast amount of fine oil? why didn't she sell it? it is worth nearly a year's wages; the money could have been given to the poor.  

This had nothing to do with Judas's desire to help the poor.  the truth is he served as the treasurer, and he helped himself to the money from the common pot at every opportunity.  

Jesus: leave her alone. she has observed this custom in anticipation of the day of my burial.  the poor are ever present, but i will be leaving. 

last week during the service, the pastor told this story of mary and martha.  i have heard it a million times.  it is still a great story, and i always understood that story to mean that we should abandon the busyness of life in order to sit at His feet... but that isn't the part that struck me the most this time.  he, the pastor, had a very small bottle of the oil described in this passage, when mary anoints Jesus's feet with nard... a precious and very expensive oil... the pastor, just to demonstrate the potency of the fragrance, poured some of it onto a plate in the front of the congregation; it could be smelled all the way in the back of the room.  
but then, there was an invitation to just touch the tip of one finger into the oil while passing it on the way to take communion.  he warned us that the smallest amount, would probably stick with us for a couple of days...  and then as we, the body of Christ, filed by, passing, touching the oil, taking the elements of communion, returning to our seats, one after the other... the aroma of this anointing oil, this precious ointment, began to permeate  the entire room... (by the way, as Jesus talks about very briefly, mary was anointing  Him for burial... )  and the smell of death filled the room... this is when it hit me. the body of Christ, we are dead, yet alive.  in fact, we are most alive, when we are dead.   the walking dead.


listen to the message here:  Ecclesia podcasts (under 'mary got it'

so, it's very late, my kids are finally snug in their beds, and i am sitting here, pensive, tired, and ... trying to figure out how to share all the things that are on my heart.  i realized that a blog is supposed to be almost continuous, flowing, and communicative.  ours have been non of these. so, first, i would like to say i am sorry.  there is actually is a lot that we would love to share with you, our dear friends.  i just have to slow down, to share them.

that i guess is the issue. time. life is running too quickly.  we work so hard to clean, to wash, to meet deadlines, to shop, to provide for our families... for what? in the end, what is it all for? really.  every day, i have a long list of things that have to be done like washing the endless piles of dishes, sweeping the incessant flow of food from the floor, or washing the pile of clothes in the laundry room that multiplies overnight... while my kids, ever growing, learning, listening, and watching are waiting for me to show them, teach them what really matters. love. faithfulness. Godliness.  we are, i am the example they are looking to follow, whether i like it or not.  i have to remind myself, God is my example, and i am theirs.

with that in mind, we have to consider everything. our future is their future. what we as their parents do, or do not do, will shape the experiences, memories, and lives of our children.  what they know of trust, safety, right and wrong.  so, we pray.  we pray for wisdom to make the right decisions for us and for them. our children can voice opinions they may have, but ultimately they must trust us and go wherever we go.  God is calling us, our family, to trust Him in every area of our lives.  we are ambassadors, trail-makers, trusters, believers.  we must live out in front of our children everything we talk about, or they will never trust in what we say to be true. so, we have to trust in God, and... we have to go where our Father tells us to go. and this time, it is ireland......

In November, we were so blessed to be able to go to the west of Ireland, to 'scout' it out and see if that is where we felt like God is calling us.  Our trip was an amazing time of reflection and prayer, exploration and an adventure.  Phillip and I hadn't been away like that together since our honeymoon, and that was twelve years ago!  So we were so excited to have the opportunity to spend time together, but more than that we were able to spend the week with our dear friends.  It was a time for us to pray together, encourage one another, and to listen to God and what he might have for us there.

our week was filled with laughter, tears, prayers and song

most of the pictures from the ireland trip are here if you would like to see:  Familiabrummett

we do feel a real drawing to go.  we learned a lot during our trip and even since about the need for love and community in this country.

Life is a journey.

I say that so many times to people as I converse about where we have been and what God has done in our lives.  What really matters is not what the ground under our feet looks like, but how walk the road that is set before us.

If only we had some sort of GPS directions from God that said, "Go here for a time and then do this, then go there and do this... " or even just a simple, "you have reached your destination" would be grand.  When in reality, we are drawing the map as we go.

When the Israelites were in the desert, God used a 'cloud by day and a fire by night' to give them direction.  Being a mother, I think about the women who had to cook, clean, and take care of children... I imagine that every morning after waking, they had to look outside of their tent to see if the cloud had moved or stayed.  Did they ask their husbands something like, "Is it still out there? Do we make breakfast or start packing?"

The desert trek was like a rite of passage with lessons to learn and battles to face.  It was about the journey.  So it is for us.  We must follow the cloud and learn as we go.

We should have posted long ago. The truth is, life happens, and then we think, 'Oh, I should have shared this with someone." But then life continues to tick-tock on, and nothing was ever written down. So, I am giving up on the perfect verbiage, and am going to do just that... write things down.

Our memories are all we have, really, because in the end the stuff, pictures, and things will not last and are just things anyway, and will never encapsulate the truth of our lives.  Our children grow so quickly that it is impossible for us to even capture a part of it.  Baby books, even when I did keep up with them (with our first, for about a month) could never show my daughter what she was like as an infant.  It could not tell her what she smelled like, or describe the softness of her skin or could it show her dearly I and her father loved her then.  She may be able to remember, however, the love she felt from us, when we hold her in our arms now, because it may feel the same to her.  She knows what the closeness of her mother and father feels like by the way we continually love her, and then she may remember what it was like when she was new.   These are the things I want to jog in my memory... and these are the kinds of things I want to try and describe as we remember ...of what God is doing in us at this season of our lives.  If only to remember, in times when we tend to forget, that God worked out a miracle, HE showed Himself to us in a way that was just for us... and the people who were around us that experienced it with us, because He still is holding us in his arms, loving His children as He always has done....

and the story goes on...

In less than a month, we are going to County Mayo, Ireland, to seek God's direction for our family. Thank you Simon Morrow and Sarai Morrowfor your encouragement and hospitality in advance! 
Would you like to be a part of what God is doing among the Body of Christ? Please, ask God about how He may use you!

September is here, and for some reason, maybe because of school starting or seasons changing, it always seems like a sense of newness, and change fills the air.

Keep Moving Forward

Time has flown by.  It seems crazy how, when you are busy doing, you can lose track.  One year ago this month, we were lamenting, packing and preparing to leave our beloved home in Panama.  Even now, after being in Texas for almost a year, our hearts want to continually look back, remember, stay in what God did in us, then, how He moved, all the great things we experienced in the three years living there.  So much happened, good, bad, and even miraculous to our family.  God first called us to serve, then lead us to Panama, and although we thought that we would be teaching community development,  the truth is that God allowed us to learn how the body of Christ, and community should really function.  We have to continually remind ourselves that it is imperative to remember what God taught us during our stay in Panama; however, we cannot live in the past as if God will never move or reveal himself to us again.  He is moving, teaching, speaking, guiding, leading, helping, and loving us even still!!!  God has new plans for us! We must keep moving forward, always keeping in our hearts the relationships and the experiences God allowed us to have.


Making Memories

The kids and I (Alisha) on Labor Day weekend went to Oklahoma to celebrate with my Great-Aunt Gladys her 101st birthday.  It was a bitter-sweet time to celebrate her, such a godly, faithful, and dearly loved woman of God, who is the last of a her generation.  It was good for our children to have to opportunity to be there for such a grand occasion as this!  We were sincerely grateful that we were able too be a part of this and see her sweet face!


Learning as We Go


Upon our return from Oklahoma, it was time to start.  We began our homeschool schedule just last week.  Although, it might take us some time to really get used to it, we are working hard at it.  Please pray for our homeschool (Pursuit Academy) to be a fun, challenging, and inspiring environment for all of our children, including Ella and Ezra. 


In addition to our homeschool, Phillip has begun taking classes this semester with Liberty University.  We are thankful that God has allowed Phillip to continue his education in such a way, that he is still working full time and taking classes, too.  It has been and will be a strain on us all, however, we are praying that God will give us all the strength we need to endure this time.  Please pray for Phillip as he works as the sole classroom teacher here at Youth-Reach Houston, takes a full class load from university, and still tries to be the best man God wants him to be as the leader of our family.


Connecting

As God continues to reveal His will for us, He provides us with opportunities to share our most recent experiences in foreign missions. Two weeks ago were invited by our church's mission ministry, Ecclesia 360, to sit on a panel with other missionaries as a part of a Q&A session. It was encouraging to be with others who have similar hearts for global missions. As a part of the discussion panel, we answered a slew of questions relating to cross-cultural living, fundraising, preparing for departure, and re-entry. It was refreshing to share in familiar stories of overcoming fears, living in faith, and experiencing life-changing healing.
More about 360? Please visit http://www.ecclesiahouston.org/pages/serve/global-mission/360/ (We recognize God is telling His story throughout the world and He is inviting us to participate in the story. 360 is the global ministry of Ecclesia that exists to inform, equip, integrate, and send persons into this story around the world.)

Have A Heart!

This past week we headed to the Health Museum, where Lily slapped on some rubber gloves for some good, old-fashioned dissecting fun! As a part of our homeschooling, we've been blessed to be able to sign the kids up for some, outside-of-the-home science labs. (Yeah, can you imagine dissecting anything on the dining room table with four kids and a dog? That's comical!) Lily had a blast learning all about the ol' blood pumper. She was blown away when the teacher brought out a real human heart for show and tell. (Way to one-up everyone.) Noah can't wait for his upcoming lesson on bones, maybe the teacher will roll out Keith Richards...by the way, no sheep were harmed in the making of this picture.

Following

We recently talked with our dear friends, the Morrows, in Ireland, and they are as excited as we are about our upcoming trip to visit them in Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland.  They let us know that the forecasts are predicting a very cold winter this year, and we should prepare to dress accordingly, since our trip is scheduled for the end of November.  They also are making a small list of items from the states that they would like us to bring.  Please pray that God will reveal himself  us, the Morrows, and the Body of Christ there in Ballina.  And also, please ask God about how He may be leading you to be a part of this journey with us.


Why Ireland, you ask?

Our desire for this trip is to discover how we may be a part of what God is already doing among the Christian community in Ireland.  Traditionally, it was the west of Ireland that Saint Patrick first evangelized.  And yet in the last several hundred years or so, Christianity has declined significantly in Europe, and atheism and agnosticism have risen.  There is an interesting website dedicated to bringing awarenes to the global church of the spiritual needs of Europe.  Check out the website for more info on this.  http://www.communicationinstitute.us/

Also, Please Pray Specifically For:

Emotional strength.  We miss our friends in Panama. There are some days of sadness, but we are learning to pray though them.

Spiritual, Mental and Physical Health within our family.

Wisdom in teaching our children to be completely committed to seeking God and knowledge.  

That our marriage will continue to be strengthened.

God's continual provision in our lives.  He has shown us that he will never leave us and has always provided everything we need!

For strength to endure and persevere in the midst of the current changes and throughout God's stretching of our faith.

Thank you so much again for keeping up with us.  We would love to hear from you, too!