Setting the Record Straight

            I’m like one of those people with initials in their names.  Not “M.E.” like Quincy or “M.D.” like Doogie Howser, but PK and MK.  And I don’t know what you’ve heard about us, but pastor’s kids and missionary’s kids are not always the miscreants they’re made out to be.  But hey, I’m certainly not perfect because I’ve done and do plenty of stupid things in my life.  And having your dad as your pastor out on the mission field gives you plenty of stories to tell.

            I suppose at this point I should give you a little bit of background so you know where I’m coming from because after all, knowing is half the battle.  (I suppose actually fighting with all those fancy blue lasers and machine guns would be the other half.)  But I really hate doing this part.  Whenever people ask me that usually-simple-to-answer question for most people, I have no easy answer.  “Where are you from?”  Aaargh! There it is!  I don’t know.  I was born in Spain, grew up in Trinidad and now live in the United States. Take your pick.  This is both the frustration and joy that comes with being a global nomad of sorts. 

            I only spent about a year in Spain so I don’t remember anything of that.  I do remember growing up in the 1980s in the Caribbean twin island nation of Trinidad & Tobago.  (I was on the larger island, Trinidad.)  My parents were Christian missionaries and my father worked as the pastor of the church we were serving with in Trinidad.  I remember hearing about Jesus most all of my life!  I first came to know Him as Lord and Savior when I invited Him to live in my heart and take me as His own as a young child.  I had this great book that taught you the alphabet by giving you a verse for each letter.  I remember the first one was Isaiah 53:6.  “All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”  The text of that great hymn, “At the Cross”, was printed next to the verse with a picture of a little boy laying down this big burden from his back next to the cross at Calvary.  And one night during our family devotions I heard a story about a guy who took his pet pig with him on a cruise.  Apparently the pig fell overboard and the man dived into the ocean to rescue his pig from drowning.  This wasn’t a perfect picture by any means, but it drove home to me as a child just how much God loves us so much more than pigs because He sent Jesus to die for all the wrong and stupid things we’ve done and by rising again from the dead, He proved that He is God.  After seeing the good example of my older siblings, I made the decision myself to follow Jesus at the ripe age of about seven.  And that’s something I’ve been more and more thankful for every day since!

            There’re a couple of funny stories I remember from growing up in Trinidad.  There were all the different slang words that I had to get used to hearing.  When someone asks how you’re going, they just mean to see how you’re doing.  My parents, upon first hearing that phrase, once told a bank clerk that they had come by car and were going by car!  And then there’re those trips you take when you’re “going down the road to come back.”  Sounds like a likely plan.  It just means you’re taking a quick trip somewhere. 

And I sure remember some of the sermons.  As pastor’s kids, my siblings and I got to hear some of the messages over again and when we started hearing Dad preach from John 15 about staying in the Vine again, I remember leaning over to my brother and whispering, “Rerun!”  Or there was the oft-lampooned by our family infamous “hermeneutics” sermon series.  It was also known as “How to drive your church down to nothing” series by my family.  My father preached on Sunday nights about how to read and understand your Bible, which is definitely a good thing to learn.  Unfortunately, my father had a tendency to do a “quick review” of last week’s sermon throughout this series.  By the time the review was over and we had actually gotten into the current message, the service was definitely dragging on.  Sunday nights never tend to be a big attendance for many churches, but this series really drove away people.  What got me was when even one of our deacons, who had been coming each night and taking notes, stopped coming- then we knew we had hit the last straw.  There were some services where my whole family was the service!  My dad did the preaching, my mom played the piano, my sister led the worship songs, and my brothers and I prayed and took up the offering!  At the end of each of these messages, my dad would ask if anyone had questions.  My little brother would always crack us up by raising his hand to ask, “Are we finished yet?”  Though much as we joke about it now, I can still tell you to pray and ask God to give you understanding, keep the passage in context by reading what’s before and after it, and analyze the passage by finding the “Who”, “What”, “Where”, “When”, “Why” and “How” of it, when studying the Bible.  But I have to tell you the joke my father would always use.  Here’s how to make a case for suicide in The Bible. The Bible tells us, “Judas went out and hung himself.  Go and do likewise.  What you do, do quickly.”  The message here is to not take verses out of context!  (And I laughed every time at the absurdity of those verses out of context when he would tell this!)

            And let me just clear up this misconception that seems to float around about us PKs and MKs.  We’re not the finest Christians around, and we’re not necessarily the worst of the bunch either.  I am not perfect nor am I even good.  I do stupid and bad stuff all the time and there’s more instances than I care to recall.  The times I’ve lied, cheated, stolen, entertained sinful thoughts, lashed out in anger, fallen flat on my face in pride or said something really, really dumb all slip back into my consciousness from time to time.  And there’s still junk I did as a kid that I can remember that I’m still ashamed of.  On the other hand, I’ve never shoplifted, vandalized, done drugs, drunken alcohol, smoked a cigarette or cigar, and I’ve rarely used foul language.  (There was this one time as a young kid when I repeated a word I heard on television that I quickly found out was not cool like I thought it was!  I don’t believe I’ve ever said it or most any other swear word since.)  Oh yeah, and I’m proud to say that unlike Madonna’s song, I’m not like a virgin, but I am in fact a virgin and will remain so until I marry a Christian woman.  And I will be faithful to her and God alone.  All this I can do through Christ alone who strengthens me because apart from Him I’m nothing.

            So I guess you can say that life has been a bit different for me than many Americans.  I am an official American, but I’ll always be a Trinidadian in my heart.  I have fond memories of that country.  Growing up in a British school system with uniforms and playing cricket and football (soccer) during recess and lunch was great.  It’s also cool to be able to say I went swimming on Christmas Day!  I enjoyed weather from 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (or more) most every day!  I could go on about the many cultural differences from America, but I think one key thing I learned from living there is to respect and love everyone.  Everyone has an intrinsic value because “God don’t make no junk”, as the saying goes.  It makes no difference what color or gender you are because everyone is really the same.  And The Bible says that once you’ve committed one sin, it’s the same as doing all of them.  So I’m just as guilty as anyone else and can’t stand in judgment of them.  But Jesus calls us to love one another and be His witnesses and I try to do that as much as possible.  I think these are things I learned from The Bible that living in another country helped reinforce at an early age.  If only we could all learn to forget ourselves and think of others as better than ourselves, we would see that we’re all the same on the inside and God loves us all.  It hasn’t always been a normal and peaceful life, but I can’t think of a better one to have. Wherever He leads, I’ll go.

             

Copyright by Nathan Ludwick March 6, 2007

Every Tribe, Nation, Language, Tongue, Race...Until All Hear

I've been in an international mood for the last little while... I watched "Mr. Baseball" on VHS a while back (great movie with a sweet story, but I don't care to see it again due to all the language and locker room scenes...)- and that got me enamored with all things Japan. (Since the movie mainly takes place there.) So, I naturally followed up with the excellent 1989 Sesame Street production, "Big Bird in Japan". :-) And then I watched one of my favorite Quantum Leap episodes- "The Americanization of Machiko" (which deals with the treatment of Japanese in America shortly after World War II).

       Then, I had more international celebrations when I went to the first annual international festival in Greer. It was so great speaking with so many people from so many lands, seeing pictures of their lands, hearing music from their countries, seeing a cricket demonstration :-) and just celebrating the wonderful world God has made. (Later that weekend, I followed up with watching Sesame Street's other travelogue- the 1983 "Big Bird in China". :-) Both of these Sesame Street videos really do a great job of showing some of the famous sights of both lands and teaching children some key words in each language and sharing part of their culture and showing the beauty of their people.) And on Sunday afternoon and evening, I visited the Arabic Baptist Church that meets at my church and enjoyed worshipping The Lord together with them. A sweet lady there translated the whole service into English for me. The pastor delivered a convicting message about the cross and the choice we all must make about who we say Jesus is- I agree with Peter; He is The Christ, The Son of the Living God.

      I listened to the English translation of the many songs they sang in Arabic and was encouraged and moved by the words, all of which were very Biblical and many times taken straight from Scripture- I always love hearing that. :-) And one song actually had "Hallelujah" in it, so I could definitely sing that. And I believe the very first song we sang was "How Great Thou Art". I LOVE that hymn- and its subject, of course. How great God is- truly! It was totally awesome praising The Lord Jesus Christ with my brothers and sisters in The Lord, hearing me singing the verses I could recall in English blended with their Arabic. :-) (I tried to sing some of the Arabic words here and there where I could make them out on some songs. They all had a neat beat- it was interesting hearing authentic Egyptian style worship music. Yeah- most all of the church members are from Egypt- so I got to not only walk like an Egyptian, but sing and do church like an Egyptian too. :-)

           And some Egyptian Christians have an incredible walk with The Lord too and that was very encouraging to me to see-and to talk with Mrs. Rola (hope I spelt that right) at length about our testimonies. It was interesting to hear the contrast, with her coming out of the Orthodox Church in Egypt- getting away from rituals and praying to the saints and Mary, but never really truly being directed to Jesus Himself, Who alone gives salvation. It was a vast difference when she came to put her faith in Jesus and follow Him.

           I have sort of the opposite experience, having grown up with parents who love Jesus and learning about Christ at an early age and following in my sister's and brother's footsteps and coming to first trust Jesus as Savior as a young boy, one night after devotions. I still remember being so excited very soon afterwards to tell my younger brother that I was a Christian now and to tell him how he could know Jesus as Savior too. :-) (He came to make that decision at an early age too. :-))

         I told her how it's funny how Christians with my testimony sometimes make this kinda silly talk about wishing we had a more dramatic testimony. Like, if I had been an alcoholic and abusive to my family and a convicted thief and then had gotten saved and seen Jesus deliver me from all those things- then I would really know in a clear-cut way that He had truly saved me. But then Mrs. Rola reminded me that I have a wonderful testimony because God has blessed me with a longer time to know Him and follow Him. And she even said she was jealous of me for that. It was kinda funny to think about some, but of course she's right. It's like sometimes I've wanted to see something dramatic and drastic to really know Christ truly lives in me and has saved me- and then I got reminded that Christ has indeed saved me from all these things- so that I haven't ever been an alcoholic or gotten drunk (I choose not to drink at all- I did have wine at communion at a church once though- didn't realize it was wine at the time though. ;-) And wow- it has a bit of a sting- I could tell that wasn't grape juice. lol) I haven't abused anyone physically or been a convicted thief.

[Though, to be clear, I must admit, I have been guilty of stealing time and other intangible things at times and of being verbally abusive, among so many other sins.] But Jesus loves me and has forgiven me of all of them because I asked Him to do so. I trust His cross has pardoned me from all of them. Jesus died and rose again to give me salvation and I have put my faith in Him and trust that He has done just what He said He would do and given me salvation.

             As this sweet Egyptian-American lady told me, both of us are like the vineyard workers Jesus told a parable about once. (Matthew 20:1-16) I came at the start of the day and she came at the end of the day- but both of us get paid the same thing. :-) Praise God!

             We both shared about how we try to be missionaries where God has put us and share any part of the Word of God that we can and tell people the Good News of Jesus wherever the Holy Spirit gives us opportunities. That was also encouraging to hear- it's good to know and hear of the many God has out in His fields working and sowing the seed. Sometimes we plant the seed, sometimes we water, and sometimes we even get to see the fruit come up- but it's God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:1-9) The important thing is to be faithful in sharing and let God's Spirit work as He will for the results. Rest assured that every bit of Scripture you can share goes out with a purpose- and God will fulfill that purpose with it. (Isaiah 55:11)

              At both the Arabic church and at the international festival, I thought of the same Bible verse- Revelation 7:9. This beautiful verse speaks of an awesome moment when those of us who know and follow Christ as Savior will stand with Him in a crowd of multitudes that no one can count, which is comprised of some from every tribe, nation, tongue, language and race. What an amazing and beautiful scene- this is a scene of the world as God meant it to be- one people united in Christ and singing His praises for all eternity! And the Paradise Lost in Eden will one day be Paradise Regained in the new Eden- Heaven.

             But even as I consider that scene, while it was a joyous thing to contemplate at the Arabic church with brothers and sisters I know that Jesus has redeemed and will be with me and Him there in Heaven, it was a very sad thing to think of all those peoples from all over the world at the international fair that Jesus also loves and has died and risen for- but who have not yet put their faith in Jesus- and some because they simply have not heard yet. There is still a mission field out there that God the Father has called us all to work. And there is a real Hell and Heaven and those two are the only options for people's eternal destinations. When we have a mission of eternal importance to every human being in the history of the universe, we have a major impetus to get out the Gospel. God is long-suffering and doesn't want to see anyone perish, but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) And He expects us to be faithful and share His message with others. Now, remember- we can't force their hand and make them choose anything. No one has ever been argued or convinced into Heaven by the clever oratory skills of man. (Of which, if he has any- they are all a gift from God to begin with.) It's only The Holy Spirit working in people Who brings them to salvation. But we must be faithful to do our part and leave the results to Him.

"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask The Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.' " (Matthew 9:37-38)

(Note: Definitely pray this prayer- and remember that you're part of the answer to your own prayer. If you have put faith in Jesus for salvation, you are a field reaper- so get busy working in the fields.)

              Don't worry about what you will say- God the Holy Spirit will provide you with that. Just ask God for the boldness to speak when He gives you the chance and for the boldness to follow His lead and make the opportunity when the Spirit leads you to someone who may still need to trust Christ.

           And, of course- make sure to live out the talk too. Live the life. Walk as Jesus did. Love God with all you've got, love your neighbors and love your enemies. Pray for them. Do the right thing even when no one else is and no one else is looking- except God. Seek The Lord while He may be found- draw near to Him and He'll draw near to you. Trust Him and trust His promises. Seize the moment and rescue the perishing.

             And remember that your mission field does not have to be some other country you've never been to somewhere- though it certainly can be- but until God directs you to go there, your mission field is right where God has placed you now. Do good now- don't wait for anything; jump right in and share of Jesus right where you are. And pray for God to work and trust that He will do just that.

              Then one day we will see that scene in Heaven come true and all join in bowing down and praising The Lamb who was slain for all the sins of the world- The Lamb who is risen and stands victorious forevermore! Praise The Lord Jesus Christ forever! Lord, You are forever crowned with all crowns. You are Lord, God, Savior, Brother and Lover and Friend. Thank You for Your love that is SO much more than my paltry definition can ever possibly strain to contain. You are Love itself- and because You have first loved us, we love You. Help us to show Your love to everyone so that all peoples may know You too.