We are BACK...

Praise the Lord we have returned safely to Indonesia!! What a joy to arrive and see everyone out here again. As of right now we are trying to get readjusted to life and school. The teachers teaching my classes are relieved that I am able to take my classes back as that was an extra burden that had been placed on them. So thankyou to all those who helped.

Arriving home we had to fix our car, a/c, motorbike, washing machine, clock,.... It just seems like in Indonesia if things do not get used they break down. So we are still working on getting our house back up and running.

The kids are loving school again (only two days in) and really enjoying their friends. Arriving back to Indonesia we suddenly have two independent kids. They are making their beds, getting totally ready for school by themselves, tying their own shoes, helping with supper, setting the table. I just can not believe what is happening! Our kids are growing up. We pray that they continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ as well.

I continue to meditate on John 15 and James 4 where we are supposed to remain in Him and draw close to Him. If we do this we will be fruitful and God will draw close to us. This is my desire to be fruitful and be close to God. May we all be drawing nearer to HIM!

Back to packing

Here is a pick of J and Janna

Well our family is back to packing. We will pack and get ready in Herbert and then we will be packing in BC. Our itinerary right now is to fly to BC on the 10th and then fly back to Indonesia on the 15th. Our family has had a great time in Canada/US so far but are beginning to want to head HOME!

Thank you everyone who was willing to take time to talk with us and encourage us. It was great to see each one of you.

Furlough

Well we are almost done furlough and so much has happened. We continue to be blessed by our supporters here in Canada. Once again I must apologize for the lack of writing in here, (excuse time) but furlough is one crazy time!!

We have been in the provinces of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and all of the states between here and California. Lots of visiting and sharing the vision that we have of continuing the work of keeping Missionary Children Educated. It is quite a goal and Hillcrest International School is doing a great job at meeting this vision. Janna and I continue to feel called and are excited about returning to Indonesia.

We leave on Sept 15th and will hit the ground running as school has already been underway for almost a month. We are so thankful for the teachers that have been teaching my classes while I took this time to meet with supporters and try to find some time to relax and get rejuvinated for the coming years.

I just continue to be struck by the power that the Bible has in our lives. I am currently reading and studying through James. Wow! While studying James you will be moved to change your life. I am still trying to wrap my mind around James' message, be joyful during the hard times. The Lord has won and we MUST believe that He wants the best for us.

Next post will most likely be from Indonesia!!

Canada, home or visiting...

We have returned to land that Janna and I grew up in and thought that we understood. Living in Indonesia for 7 years has opened our eyes to so many new things and areas in our lives that God would like us to grow in. You are always excited to come to Canada and eat some of the foods that you love (even though your stomach does not like them), to drive on a different side of the road, and to see the country side that you grew up with. But the real reason that a person comes "home" is to meet family members and refresh and take a cultural break.

It is absolutely amazing to see family and hang out again. Family is so important to a support structure whether it be in T.key, Indonesia, or Canada. As I get older I continue to realize that family needs to take time, energy, and genuine care. The idea that because we are family we will just get along, is preposterous. I am so thankful I have been born into a family that really puts effort into relationship and spending time together. I sense this same attitude needed in regards to the community of the church. It takes time and genuine effort to get along and be effective as a family. If we are to support each other as families and as a church body we need to show genuine care and selflessness.

We have now been in Canada for two days and I must say that I have experienced some culture stress as I have returned to the country where everything is supposed to be understandable and customer driven. Shopping has been more difficult than expected and of course the jet lag continues to take hold of our kids. So be it Indonesia or Canada the Bible is the place to go. It just once again makes me realize that where ever I go on earth I am still an alien. I just do not belong here, I am here to glorify, to be used, to give up myself for Christ. Our home is heaven and we each have a purpose and a plan that Jesus through the word will reveal to us.

I came across a quote right at the beginning of a book that have just begun that is powerful to me.
He sustains all, but is himself independent of all. He gives to all, but is enriched by none. Such a God cannot be found out by searching. He can be known only as he is revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit through the Word. AW Pink

Powerful stuff. We are on this earth for others not for ourselves. God does not need us. We need him. We should not be striving to be great Christians, we should be striving to be grateful Christians.

I'm Back

I had some feedback that there are some people who do read this blog and so I will continue to comment on it at the same very irregular intervals at which I have been lately :-) Sorry about that I will try to be better at putting updates on here. Thank you so much for your response to my last post.

We just finished the easter long weekend and again got to reflect on the huge gift which God has given us. So thankful to be a child of God. Jesus has risen and he is out there, beside you, around you, .... the real question becomes are we seeking Him. Seeking Him is all we really need to concern ourselves with...being in His will is the best place to be.

I have been studying through the book of John lately and have been struck by how John the Baptist really knew what his role was. John's job was to baptise with water and point to Jesus, he knew that this was his job, he also knew that he was NOT the messiah. John knew his role, his God appointed job. Do we know our roles?? Do I know my role in what God is doing? In order to be effective we must know our role. God we need you to be clear with us with our roles in your plan. We want to be in line with that plan.

Another verse I have been contemplating on is found in John 20:30, 31. The bible is written so that we may believe and by believing we can have life in his name. Listening to someone speak on this book he says that he uses these verses as a summary of the bible. I found this interesting.

May we continue to be followers of Christ by loving God and loving others. We can love others by serving. Darren From Papua OUT!

Last time...unless

I think that this will be the last time that I write on this site unless I hear that lots of people are reading it who do not have facebook. It has been difficult for me to write in both places so I have decided that facebook is the way to go.

Please send feedback to my email address if you object. Thanks so much for your support and we think of you all often.

Back from OE....

We have returned from two weeks in Merauke Papua. What a great opportunity to serve others here in Papua. This year we were teamed up with a missionary on the south coast of Papua. The home of swamps, monsoon rains, crocs, kangaroos, snakes, not rocks, and HEAT! At night trying to sleep sweat would be dripping off my forehead. Trying to sleep while you are in a pool of your own sweat is difficult.

God was at work in the lives of our students again this year. Seeing how the students and leaders change on OE is just an amazing experience. This year another teacher and I led OE and it went very well.

Again I am sorry that I do not write on this site more. Facebook is taking over. If you would like to follow us closer please sign into facebook and look for me as a friend.

Thank you so much for praying for my family over these two weeks.

One month...

It has been more than one month since I have written on this site and it seems that it is getting more and more difficult to do, especially with facebook.

We are more than half way done holidays right now and it looks like the rest of my holidays will be spent doing school things. I travel to Merauke tomorrow to scout out our OE location for this year. I will be there for 3 days with another teacher. Then I get back and right away have a board meeting. Our current director has been in the States for the past year with medical conditions and we just found out that he will not be returning. So once again the school must go into flexibility mode. This seems like our lives out here, flexibility. This at times can be extremely difficult for me, as I would like to make some type of plan. Usually you find that all your time planning something comes up as a waste of time as once the time nears nothing works like you thought anyway. One of the lessons I am learning here in Indonesia.

Well our Christmas went well. We had some neighbours to our house along with some Indonesian friends for Christmas morning where we had waffles and talked about Jesus birth. Jesus is often forgot at Christmas time and so we had a little prayer time asking to remember the meaning of Christmas and what that means to us.

A couple days later we had approximately 20 young people into our house to play video games. They are young people from our church that I have coached in basketball and gone to soccer games with etc. One of them had just returned from a 6 month "mission" trip to the south of the island. Great to see him again.

Some of our friends here have been going through some extremely hard family issues lately and so Janna and I decided to take them to the hotel here for 2 nights. Now I do not think that they had ever been to a hotel and one of their children had never been in an elevator, she was petrified the first time it started to go up. We hope that it renewed them to continue on for the Lord and that we love them and are here to help in any way we can. So much pain around us, we feel like if we can walk alongside of people here that we can show the love of Christ to them. Christ does not promise an easy road and that is why we need fellow believers to come along side and be there for us. What we do not need are fellow believers pointing fingers! So often we get into the pointing and not the helping. To think that I am better than anyone else is a dangerous place to be. CS Lewis calls pride the great sin. Lord take this great sin away from us so that we can be used by YOU.

Talk to you in another month. Or catch us on facebook. Janna has pictures of the things that I have been talking about here. See yah! Thank you all for being people who walk along side us in your support.

Month of Celebration

We have just come back from a long weekend at the beach and it was a much needed time of relaxation. Getting away from the 'normal' is always a good way to reflect on where you are at and where you are wanting to head. I really enjoyed just sitting by the ocean and watching the waves roll in. Absolutely amazing to be mezmorized by the waves.

Paul Juneau and I went a day earily to set up the camp for our families and then spent two nights with the families. Had an excellent time watching the kids enjoy the water and sun. God blessed us with only a little rain during the nights. The tarps had been set up in such a way that no rain got into our tents, PTL. Paul and I had a great time figuring out how to set up the camp. I have now done it a number of times and feel that I am now confident enough to set up camp and that no rain will hit our sleeping spots.

Now is the push til the end of this semester. We have 8 more class days until the final exams. This semester has been amazingly fast. Our family is really looking forward to the break. We hope to not travel anywhere except around Sentani area. Flights are getting more and more expensive within Indonesia and so it is hard to go anywhere as a family.

Well must go to Physics class. Have a great day everyone!

Another year...

Wow life is just flying by... another year of my life has come and gone and now I must celebrate another birthday. I feel that God has taught me so much in this past year I am not sure where to start. This past weekend I spoke at our spiritual emphasis weekend for the high school and I focused on Romans 1 and 2. The books that I have recently been reading, my experiences as of late and sermons... All seem to be pointing to the same type of theme. That is to die to self, stop judging, you are no better than anyone else, you can not do anything on your own.

Romans starts by telling us about the Good News of Christ. Why is the good News so good? Well because of the bad news. The bad news is then explained in the rest of chapter 1 and chapter 2. Chapter 2 questions the Jews on their thinking. You think you are better?? You think you do not do these things?? You think because you have the law you are superior?? Think again. How often do we/I think these same things. The bad news is that bad people are not out there... they are here they are me. I can not be good without Christ, but wait I know the Bible, I have Christian parents, and I am a missionary for petes sake. Doesn't that count for anything?? NO it does not. If we think any of these things save us they do not. CS Lewis says that until we understand that there is a Moral law and a Power behind the law and that we fail at keeping the law, then Christianity will speak. It does not speak to the people who think they are just fine, who know the right Christian speak, who go to church on Sundays, who are missionaries. We must realize that we are sinners at the totality of our being (Bonhoeffer).

Romans points out that there is no room for judgement in the Christian life. Judging means we know better, well yes we know better but do we act better. Not only do we do things that are wrong we encourage others to do the same actions. WOw Romans can hit in the gut. Some other gut hitters are verses like:

• only those who persist in doing good - persist, seeking, these words mean that we are constantly trying to do good. So often I think well if I can be at 51% good and 49% bad when I die then I will be okay. PERSIST
• God will judge your secret life - ahh God is just and will judge our secret life. So the outward appearance that we so nicely put on means nothing?!?
• You teach others, do you teach yourself? So easy to say things but do we/I follow what I teach.

Being in Singapore has opened my eyes to the fact that I can not make it on my own. I need God and my family, friends/others. We can not do it on our own. The western thinking is wrong. We can not be independent, we need others. Lets get out of the darkness that Paul talks about in Romans 1,2 and come back into the light where we can see Christ and can see and love other people.

Long weekend coming up

Our director decided it would be a good idea to have a long weekend this month and so he has given us this Friday off. At HIS there can be months at a time in which there are no days off and so he did not think that we should work for 3 months without a day off and so here we go, long weekend time!

Janna is back and all of her belongings have now reached us. In Indonesia, like everywhere else now, bringing extra bags when you travel has gotten outrageously expensive. So once Janna landed in Jakarta she sent her larger bag air cargo. In Indonesia this is at times risky due to the fact that you basically have no clue when your stuff will arrive. So all that to say I am happy that it came two nights ago. Not that "stuff" matters but it is nice to get.

God has been continuing to teach me how to die to self and how to shephard the flock. He has been teaching me to do, instead of wanting to do. He has been teaching me how to love people. May God continue to teach all of us as we walk together on this earth.

Monday again....

Another Monday with no mom which means for some reason crazy morning. Running around looking for things that the kids need for school, then Jalen will say oh yah dad I need ______. So right when I think we are all ready to go to school more and more things pop up. But once again amazingly we get to school and are not even late. This was the last Monday that we have to do this crazy routine without mom. We are so thankful.

Continuing to learn what it means to die to self. Seems to be the current theme in my life. Die to self, give up your own ideas, God is who we follow. I teach about infinity every single day in AP Calculus, yet I focus on this life here on earth so much. If we truely believe that we are living for infinity then this life will be but the smallest blip. Living for infinity means to follow after what is important which is God. What does God want out of this life that I have here on earth? Nothing else matters but that I do His will. Seek Him. Easy to type harder to do.

Kaya sick

Well last night Kaya was diagnosed with Malaria. Now to get diagnosed with malaria you need to take a blood slide which of course means a prick on the finger. Well I did it once which was fairly tramatic and did not get out enough blood so had a friend help in doing it a second time. I continue to be amazed at how tough our little girl is. She has also pulled out two of her own teeth in the last couple of weeks which is amazing. Please continue to pray for us as we live in a tropical climate. Not all sunshine when you do not have those winters to kill off the bugs. Dengue fever and malaria vs winter?? Which would you rather have? I am not sure of the answer to that. One time with dengue and that answer is easy. One time being stranded in minus fourty on your snowmobil and the answer is easy also.

My story really was that Kaya went to school today for about an hour, after which time her teacher sms me and said that she was sick. She is at a friends house right now as I am teaching at school. Get better soon Kaya!

Bonhoeffer Quote

WHO AM I?

Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly
Like a Squire from his country house.

Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As though if were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equably, smilingly, proudly,
Like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,
Yearning for colours, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighbourliness,
Tossing in expectation of great events,
Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
faint, and ready to say farewell to it all.

Who am I? This or the Other?
Am I one person to-day and to-morrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine!


Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Long Weekend is coming...

Well tomorrow is Friday and this weekend is a four day weekend for us here in Indonesia due to the ending of the muslim fast. We get to have two days for Idul Fitri. Nice! Great timing as I am still feeling overwelmed with Janna gone. This week we began to get into a routine of homework, emails, work, and school.

Still continuing to be blown away by "The Cost of Discipleship". We are nothing, nothing, with HIM, the timing of this book is hitting me while I still can not run with this knee surgery, and just realizing how dependent I am on people and need to be on the Lord. I feel as though God continues to break me down to realize my reliance on Him. Maybe as we have kids and get older we just realize that we are frail, also seeing people sick all around us lately. Without Christ how can we be happy in this life? I am still sticking to my moto of life Positive! To be positive means to be in Christ, because the second I step outside I look to every negative thing that is around me. I see no positive things. When I am in Christ we see everything in a positive light. He died for us, we are made to live forever, that means that the majority of our time will be spent on the other side of this life. Why do we then put so much stock in life!?! Why do I put so much stock in this life?!? Be transformed by renewing your mind. I am feeling lately that everything for me comes down to letting go of self. Letting go of self. Lets be used by God today.

Lord use me, use me, use me, ..... This is my true hearts desire.

Basketball

Our tournament run this year ended in the quarter finals. We ran into the defending champs of last year and we lost. This means that the kids and I now need to get into some type of routine. All of the late nights and long days have left me with a sinus cold and headache.

"The same God who sees no sparrow fall to the ground without his knowledge and will, allows nothing to happen, except it be good and profitable for his children and the cause for which they stand. We are in God's hands. Therefore, "Fear Not"."
Bonhoeffer

God loves us!

GOR Tournament

Another basketball game, another late late late night!! We need to win this game tonight to continue on in the tournament. Hoping we can do it. Kids once again going to friends house. We are so thankful for our friends who are able to help us out. Thanks guys (if you are reading this).

I am exhausted and we leave in an hour. All for basketball and the students well worth it. Talk to all later.

Janna heading to Canada...

Janna heading to Canada. The kids and I saw her off at the airport this morning and then came straight to school. We feel in our hearts that this is the best decision to make. She is going back and will be seeing lots of people. For the first couple of days she will be staying in Aldergrove at my parents house, where she will see my side of the family. Then she will fly to Saskatoon where her brother will pick her up and drive her to Herbert.

Mean while things will continue to roll on here. The HIS basketball is in a tournament in Jayapura at the moment. Yesterday we just won our first game and played extremely well despite only having 2 practices. Right now it is Volleyball season here at school but we can not pass up on this tournament. We will play tues and thursday this week which will finish our round robin play. Lets hope we can make the semis again this year. Now the problem with this tourney is that the gym is not a good place for the kids to hang around, so one of our friends here has graciously offered to help me out. This means the kids will fall asleep at someone elses house as you never know when you will get home from these tournaments. Please pray for the kids it should only be a couple of nights but this is still disruptive to their routines.

Reading Bonhoeffer and being challenged in so many areas. I am nothing, everything I do is through HIM! Lets let our lights shine, BUT NOT FOR OUR OWN GLORY FOR HIS GLORY! Impossible to do with these earthly bodies. Entirely possible with Him.

Basketball??

Well I have entered the HIS team into a tournament which happens in Jayapura every year. Now we are like north american schools in that usually basketball starts later in the year but this tournament is one of the biggest ones around and so we enter it at the start of the school year. This years tournament is not occuring at a great time, as Janna is leaving and the tourney involves late nights. I am so thankful that we have such great friends out here who have already said that they are willing to help in any way possible. Without the friends it would be way more difficult to try and survive without Janna here.

In order to get into the tournament you need to have all kinds of paperwork and of course pay to get in, so yesterday I drove my motorbike to try and find office where I was supposed to submit the paperwork. Like everything in Indonesia things just take longer than you would think. I ended up driving around for an hour and a half and asking multiple people where the place was. Finally I found it and so I started talking to them and showing them all the paperwork I had. They then told me that this was not the right paperwork and that I needed all these other things. These are the little things that we call cultural stresses!!

Lately I have been reading "The Cost of Discipleship" by Bonhoffer and I am currently in a section on the sermon on the mount. Dying to self. Dying to self. Dying to self. What an easy thing to say but an extremely difficult thing to do. What are my motives for the things that I do? Are they to receive some type of praise? Is it so that people will like me? Tough questions that take some true heart searching to come up with the answers. One thing that I am realizing more and more is that I am nothing, God is everything, I can do nothing without Him. I pray that this can be true in my life, that my motives are to honor and glorify God in every little action that I do.

Update

Update:
Knee - seems to be doing fine. Not as painful and not really walking with a limp anymore. Praise the Lord.

Kids - started grades 3 and 1. Still figuring out the best routine for homework and everything that they need to be doing. Both in school the whole day.

Janna - Janna will be traveling back to Canada to see her family. She will be leaving here on Sept 7th and returning Oct 7th. Please pray for me and the kids as we go through this month. We know that this is going to be extremely difficult. But we feel at peace with Janna returning for this time.

So many things going on in our lives right now. Please pray that we will remain focused on HIM! The beginning of the new school year has been a little hard on me as we have had so many things going on in our families back home. There are times when you just wish you could be close to family and now is one of those times, with the death of my grandmother and Janna's dad being diagnosed with cancer. Times like this are when we rely on the assurance we have that we are where God wants us to be. May God bless you all!