Driscoll's Sermon on Haiti

Total Abandon by Gary Witherall

I've just finished reading Total Abandon: The Powerful True Story of Life Lived in Radical Devotion to God by Gary Witherall. In order for this review to ever get posted, I must keep it short. 


I met Gary a couple of weeks ago and really wanted to read his book (after my best-friend recommended it to me). It hasn't been published in French (yet) and so we may be interested in it.


The story:
Gary and Bonnie Witherall were living among the Lebanese, a war-torn people. Gary discribes how God led both their individual lives to meet one another, led them to Lebanon and finally led Bonnie to pay the ultimate price. While working in a clinic for Palestinian women, she is shot-dead by a gunman.


My review:
I recommend it. I have a few things that pleased me less, but all in all, this is a good book.


I love Jesus because he first loved me. And in the same way Jesus came out of his rightful place in heaven, to live among us, we are called to go to all nations to make Him known to all peoples. So I love mission-stories, because I grow comfortable too easily.
The book is well-written, pleasant (in style) and well put together. The Gospel is clearly there. Gary is portrayed in a very human manner. By that, I would mean that there are times when I'd like to ask him why he did this or that. But that has the advantage of clearly not being polished PR. Gary is the real thing. 
In closing I would say that such recent stories (the events take place in 2002) are good for the church, good for the believers and good for the Gospel. I'm sure much good has come of Bonnie's murder. The description of her funeral service in Sidon, Lebanon is very moving. But God continues to use Gary and Bonnie's death for great good, just read the book to find out.


You can buy it on Amazon

The Difference in the Death of Two People

I was informed of the death of two people today. One is Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop". The other is Christopher Leggett, an American working in Mauritania. The former will be talked about, the latter will remain unknown but to a few. Both are before King Jesus and have to give account for the life they lived in this life.


The BBC gives the report of Leggett's murder by Al Queda Maghreb in this article.

How Do You Break Free from an Addiction to Entertainement?

JT posted this from my good buddy JP: 


1. Seek the Lord earnestly. Pray like crazy that God would open your eyes to see wondrous things out of his law.


2. Immerse yourself in the Bible, even when you don't feel like it, pleading with God to open your eyes to see what's really there.


3. Get in a group where you talk about serious things.


4. Begin to share your faith. One of the reasons we are not as moved by our own faith as we are is because we almost never talk about it to any unbeliever. It starts to feel like a kind of hothouse thing, and then it starts to have a feeling of unreality about it. And then the powers of entertainment have more sway in our life.


5. . . . [T]hink about your death. Think about your death a lot. Ask what you'd like to be doing in the season of life, or hours or days, leading up to meeting Christ. I do that a lot these days. I think about the impact of death, and what I would like to be found doing, and how I would prepare to meet him and give an account to him.


Read the whole thing from John Piper

Celebrating God's Death

Every year at Easter, we celebrate the death of God. But how few of us know this? Again today, in English class, the teacher asked the students what they did at Easter and what it was about. Notice that I was in class on Good Friday. In France we don't even get a holiday.

These past two weeks I've read through the gospel of Mark with a friend. Our goal was twice each week. There are so many mentions in Mark about the deity of Jesus. I would encourage us all to read through a gospel this weekend and stand amazed at Jesus.

Below is Mark's account of the crucifixion of God.

And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whol battalion. ¹⁷And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. ¹⁸And they began to salute him,^(X) "Hail, King of the Jews!" ¹⁹And they were striking his head with a reed and^(Y) spitting on him and^(Z) kneeling down in homage to him. ²⁰And when they had^(AA) mocked him, they stripped him of^(AB) the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they^(AC) led him out to crucify him.

 ^21(AD) And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. ^22(AE) And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). ²³And they offered him wine mixed with^(AF) myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified him and^(AG) divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. ²⁵And^(AH) it was the third hour^[d] when they crucified him. ²⁶And the inscription of the charge against him read,^(AI) "The King of the Jews."

What I Miss Most of the Woman Known to Most as Sophie Kapitaniuk

To you she was Sophie. To me she was 'Mamy'. 3 months have now gone by since she has gone to be with Jesus. The pain has lessened (as it should), but I still think of her often. Here are a few things I'll miss of my grandmother.

• Her prayer. Daily she prayed. On Sundays, at church she would pray "Lord bless your servant," as the preacher stood. During the week I would drop by and ask her to pray for specific things. I don't know what will be the consequence of her prayers. I also cannot say what will now be the consequences of the lack of prayer, in our family, in our church and in our city.
• Her excitement. Though she was 75 years-old, she was easily glad when she heard stories of people taking risks for Jesus. She loved missions because she loved Jesus.
• Her listening ear. I know many women (and men) tend to become talkers as they age. They go on tangents and you just have to bear with them. Not so with Mamy. She really listened. She loved to offer advice, but she always listened. I miss being able to talk to her. I miss reading the Bible to her.
  
• Her presence. At the birth of my youngest cousin I cried at the realization that she would never know our grandmother. When, God willing, I have children, I will not be able to show them to Mamy. She loved children, and few things made her happier than holding babies.

3 months have come and gone. I still think of Mamy daily. I'm simply glad that her suffering is over and that she is happy now. Her love was God and to himself has gathered her. She is in heaven because she trusted Jesus as her saviour.

A Tribute to My Grandmother Sophie Kapitaniuk

The following post is a shortened version of the tribute I wrote to Mamy the week she died:

November 11, 2008

’Mamy’, as we called her, has gone to be with Jesus and is most happy now. Mamy was a pillar and model to me. Her influence upon my life is incalculable because she was a woman of prayer with great faith in God.

Though 75 years-old, she laughed like a child. God and the Bible were her greatest sources of happiness. When I dedicated my life to missions, she was perhaps the most excited of my whole family. In my grandparent's view, missions and the pastoral ministry were the highest callings and they wished to see the world engulfed in worship of Jesus.

The Bible was a daily source of comfort and strength. She savoured and meditated upon God's word each day. Because her sight was so diminished, she had to be read to. I often wonder why God would take away the sight of a woman who so loved the Bible, while most of us, though seeing, do not treasure the Bible as we ought.

By her death, Mamy leaves a void in my life. She was a friend, a prayer-partner, a counselor and my grandmother. Though short in stature, she is high in my esteem. Her treasure was Jesus, and therefore, in heaven was her heart. She lived out Psalm 71:

    "Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come." Psalm 71:18

Though dead, her life will continue to speak. Death was gain to her, so her life was well lived. If there is one thing she would want for each of us, is that we not waste our momentary earthly lives. 'The best is to come,' she told me recently and now that time has come for her.

Much to say but little time to write

I've been silent for several weeks now. My grandmother's death has had something to do in it, but mostly I've just allowed myself to become tired. When physically tired I'm easily discouraged and can even become depressed. Thank God I know myself now and simply do not allow myself to make life changing decisions when I am this tired, as

my feelings are all wrong.

But I've had much on my mind and much that I would have liked to write about. I just never seem to get around to putting it on paper. I'm preaching in my church this Sunday, so I will be obliged to write. I'll certainly put a summary of my sermon on the blog. It will be on Luke 7, the passage where the prostitute pours perfume on Jesus' feet. Also, rather than try to post my thoughts chronologically, the funeral has been grounds for much thought, I decided to just write.

OK, so death is gain, now what?

I've spent the last month studying the letter to the Philippians. The passage that has attracted most my attention is the following:

 "it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:20-21:

I seem to know, realize and appreciate that death is a gain for me. Indeed, death will give me what I cannot have in this world, namely Jesus in full splendour and worth and the ability to appreciate him. In this world, my senses are too dulled by sin to love Jesus.

Now, I must understand what Paul meant by the other part, "To live is Christ". For Paul seemed to express that he couldn't choose between being in heaven with Jesus and staying on earth to bear fruit. For me, the choice is still too easy, so I must seek to understand what he meant.

Tribute to a Great Little Woman

With tears and much joyful sadness, I write a tribute to Sophie Kapitaniuk, my 75 year-old grandmother.

After years of battling illness, her heart stopped last night (Friday 7th November) and the doctors were unable to do anything. She has gone to be with Jesus and I know her to be most happy now. 'Mamy', as her grandchildren called her, was a pillar and model to me. Her influence upon my life is incalculable as she was a woman of prayer with strong faith.

75 years-old, she still laughed like a child to express her joy. God and the Bible were her greatest sources of happiness. She was perhaps the most excited of all my family when I dedicated my life to missions as she had been praying that at least one of her eight sons would become a missionary. In my grandparent's view, missions and the pastoral ministry were the two highest callings and Papy and Mamy wished to see the world engulfed in the worship of Jesus.

The Bible was a daily source of comfort and strength. Because her sight was so diminished, she had to be read to. She savoured and meditated upon God's word each day. I often wonder why God would take away the sight of a woman who so loved the Bible, when most of us see and do not treasure His word as we ought.

Her grandchildren were another source of great joy. She always has loved children. Mother of eight, grandmother of 25 (this number is always on the rise), she loved having children around. Her grandchildren sensed this and reciprocated her love. Offerings of drawings, paintings and countless 'bouquets' of flowers adorned her house. Her smile will be a wonderful memory to cherish until I see her again.

By her death, Mamy leaves a void in my life. She was a friend, a prayer-partner, a counsellor and my grandmother. Though short in stature, she is high in my esteem. Her treasure was Jesus, and therefore, in heaven was her heart. She lived out Psalm 71:

"Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come." Psalm 71:18

Though she experienced suffering that would have made most modern men doubt or renounce their faith, she clung to Jesus knowing that He held her tight. Her heart was for the lost and Bill and Sophie were always on the lookout for an opportunity to tell people about the forgiveness found in Jesus. How often I heard Mamy say, "Bill, give them a new testament!" or "Bill, here is a tract to give to that person!" She also told people about what she had experienced with Jesus, but Mamy was the praying strength in the 50 years of my grandfather's ministry of evangelism.

Though dead, her life will continue to speak. Death was gain to her, so her life was well-lived. If there is one thing she would want for each of us, is that we not waste our momentary earthly lives. 'The best is to come,' she told me recently and now that time has come for her.

There is much meaning in the death of young people

My life as I now know is it is only because God has seized me. I've been allowed to know the greatness of Jesus' love on the cross. He died for my sins the death I ought to have died so that I can now live for God.

But God has also used the death of someone else to lead me on the path of life. Through the death a 17 year old I realized that my life was worthless unless lived for God. The first funeral of my life was for a young woman who'd just celebrated her 17th birthday. I was her age and it left me profoundly changed.

Where would I be today if it weren't for the speeding, drunk driver who killed Mikaela on a warm July evening? I'm thankful for the experience of her death, because I shudder to think how I might have wasted my life elsewhere. That I today serve God is by God's grace, that I was able to spend three years on the Doulos is by God's grace that summer evening.

These memories came back to me today because of a conversation I had with Y*, a girl in my class. I was reading a book and she asked if it was the Bible. It wasn't, it's the Confessions of Augustine I replied. This was the start of a conversation that allowed me to discover the hopelessness of my classmate's life. Her mother is a practicing Catholic and she also used to be, she explained. But when she was 17, her best friend was killed in an accident. They were
driving a scooter together and a driver clipped their bike. With a struggle, her friend managed to regain balance, but then hit a post on the side of the road and died on the spot. Y* survived the accident but attempted suicide which caused her to fall into a coma for three weeks. Since then, she knows she'll die when her time has come but doesn't see the need to believe in a God. They were both 17 years old as I was, but our reactions were very different. Y* was turned away from God and I was thrown into his arms.

There is much purpose in the death of our young people. I pray that Y* would see Jesus and choose joy rather than meaningless misery. I don't know who said this, but it is not a tragedy to die. The tragedy is to die and not be ready.

Why Did God Ever Create Old Age? (Part 1)

My grandmother isn't doing well. She's been through much suffering, in and out of sicknesses, with short lulls in the storms. She fell down last week(again), broke some bones and things have been going down hill from there. I took my bike and went to visit her today. I took my French Bible along so that I could read some passages to her. She loves that and it also calms her down to talk about God.

I read two passages. Psalm 63 first, followed by Philippians 1 & 2. I was reading the passage for several reasons: the great emphasis on joy in suffering, dying well and what Jesus himself went through for our sins on the cross. I nearly cried when I read Philippians 1v21, despite the fact that I was reading in part for that verse. It reads: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

I'm a young man, in the prime of my youth. I take passages like these as beautiful and poignant credos. Here is a motto that a young Christian can build his life on. For it is true that while I live, I live to glorify Christ, but to die is greater still, because it means I'll be with Christ. As a young guy who's been saved by the grace of God, a verse like that is direction for my life. It gives purpose to my every breath.

I came to know Christ through the death of a 17 year-old, when I was only 17. As a young man, verses such as Philippians 1v21 serve as a reminder that my life is short and God may shorten it still by killing me today. But reading such a passage to your 75-year old grandmother who has gone through so much suffering, is a different matter altogether.

Who am I to read such a verse? Yes God speaks through His word, but to deliberately choose such a passage, I felt was wrong. But it led me to question my thoughts. Do I believe that death is gain? Yes, indeed I do, at least in theory. Do I believe that my grandmother knows, loves and is saved by Jesus? Yes, if there is anyone in this country saved, she is. So why do I find it distasteful to read a verse about dying?

Perhaps its because I know nothing of suffering and she's known nothing but suffering? It's true that I recognize myself unfit to speak to a woman like my grandmother about suffering. Yes I believe that a Christian is called to suffer well, but I've never been asked to do so. I've never known a sacrifice, never known a suffering!

Perhaps I feel guilty to be telling my grandmother that death is gain? First, this is awkward because I'm speaking about death. When you're talking with a guy your age, this is not a problem, but when you are in conversation with a dying woman, you cannot just blurt out: "You're dying!" Secondly, I feel it wrong to be reminding her of something I know nothing about. She's probably been near death more times than I've been alive years.

(Photo by Jiamin Choo, in PNG)