Slideshow: Winter New England Trip, II

Here are a few shots of our final days in New England. I'm afraid we got a little lazy about pulling out the camera in churches during that last part of the trip, and most of these pics come from other parts of our travels. We promise to do better! We did have some great services, but you'll just have to imagine those with your mind's eye.

P.S. If you'd like to see the pictures enlarged, double-click on the image.

What's Happening in France: Euthanasia

France is in the midst of a potentially society-shifting discussion on the merits of euthanasia. Presently, the law in France allows a doctor to "laisser mourir" (allow to die) a patient but without actively practicing euthanasia. All that could change with the case of Chantal Sébire.

In early 2008, Chantal Sébire, a 52-year-old retired teacher from Dijon and mother of three, came to public attention when she appealed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy to intervene in her attempt in the French courts to obtain the right to die through euthanasia.

Sébire suffered from esthesioneuroblastoma, an extremely rare form of cancer in the nasal cavity. A tumor had burrowed through her sinuses and nasal cavities, causing her nose to swell to several times its original size and pushing one eyeball out of the socket, completely exposing it.

Appealing on French television last month for the right to die, Sébire said she could no longer see properly, taste or smell. She described how children ran away from her in the street.

"One would not allow an animal to go through what I have endured," she said.

She lost her appeal at the Dijon magistrate’s court on March 17, 2008. Two days later she was found dead in her home. An autopsy concluded that she did not die of natural causes.

Sébire’s case has attracted a lot of sympathy, and some politicians are discussing whether they should try to change the law or at least allow an exception clause for “special situations.”

Cases such as these appear to pit sympathy against “heartless” ethics. In a world that is not moored in absolute morals, we should expect “ethical behavior” to change with the passing emotions of the day.

Please pray for the French people that they would understand that true compassion is not offering a person the gift of death, but the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Celebrating Our Heritage: Northampton and Bridge Street Cemetery

One of the perks of deputation travel is the opportunity to see many historic sites we might never have an excuse to visit otherwise. Northampton has been the home of many famous people. Sojourner Truth (former slave who became a speaker for abolition and women's suffrage) and Lydia Maria Child (who penned the famous Thanksgiving song, "Over the River and Through the Woods”) both lived there. Former President Calvin Coolidge was a lawyer in town and served as Northampton's Mayor before he traveled to the White House. Alexander Graham Bell was there as a teacher in the 1870s. Amelia Earhart spent some time in Northampton learning engine mechanics. Even the creator of the graham cracker, Sylvester Graham, lived in Northampton and is buried in the Bridge Street Cemetery.

However, it was none of those famous individuals which served as the motivation for our detour to the so-called “Paradise City.” We went to Northampton, Mass., to Bridge Street Cemetery for the sole purpose of visiting with two notable servants of God, Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd. God’s servants were used in real places and real-life settings, and so there’s something special about connecting with those settings and places. Both Brainerd’s journal (the first internationally recognized biography to be printed in America and the first full missionary biography ever to be published) and Edward’s biography have had a great impact on my own spiritual life and ministry. (Incidentally, it was Edwards who first published Brainerd’s journal.) Having spent much time in the journals, resolutions and sermons of these two men, I was tickled pink to be able to visit one of my favorite pastors and favorite missionaries in the same visit.

I got there and was chagrined to realize that Edwards is actually buried in Princeton, NJ. (Shouldn’t I have known that?) I was sorely disappointed, because here is something special about standing on the spot from which a saint will be resurrected! We were assuaged, however, by the presence of a large memorial to Edwards standing right beside one to Timothy Dwight—his grandson and president of Yale during the revival of the early 19^th century.

It was also special to see David Brainerd’s grave (lying right beside that of Jerusha Edward’s). He died when he was three months younger than I am right now. I consider myself at the beginning of a course he had already finished by my age. Both Brainerd and Edwards died premature deaths. I’m not living to make my grave a tourist attraction, but these men are a reminder to me to redeem the time and work for eternity. Brainerd had fulfilled the desire he had once expressed in his journal: “I [want] to wear out my life in His service and for His glory.” Is that our desire?

Sadly enough, as I left the cemetery, I found my mind mulling over little more than the Subway sandwiches we were planning to buy for the family and the long road down the interstate that lay before us. The mundane has a way of overtaking the most sublime meditations! In spite of the distraction of the mundane, I hope that the inspiration (and rebuke) that came from our short visit with Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd will remain with me for a long time to come.

(Top Middle: gravestone of Jerusha Edwards; top right: David Brainerd's marker; center of middle row: Stoddard tablet markers; bottom row: Edwards and Dwight Memorials)

The End of an Era for France

Yesterday the last page was turned in a very significant era of French history. Lazare Ponticelli, France's last remaining veteran of World War I, died Wednesday, March 12, at age 110. He was the last of 8.4 million Frenchmen who fought in what they call "la Grande Guerre."

France planned a national funeral ceremony honoring the last poilu (lit. “hairy”, conveying the idea of “tough”), the nickname given to French foot soldiers since Napoleonic times. In nearly every town and village in France there stands a monument with the names of the men in the village who gave their lives in the “war to end all wars.”

Most people find it shocking to think that in one century, a “modern” and “enlightened” Europe, now “free” from the shackles of religion, could lead the globe into two brutal and barbaric wars, the first killing 20 million and the second 60 million.

The First World War, while global in scope, was fundamentally European killing European. This fact helps explain the importance of today’s European Union. The European Union represents man’s attempt to try to secure the future peace of Europe through humanly-devised means. It is supposed to be the “union to end all wars.”

Sadly, while touting peace, Europeans are rejecting the Prince of Peace. Be they wars or unions, human contrivances can never bring the peace that Christ alone provides. Please pray for this nation which is just as self-confident today—and just as blind—as the poilus who took to the trenches in 1914.

March/April Prayer Update

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,

I’m sitting here in Stoughton, Massachusetts, looking at snow outside the window and reflecting on all we have seen and experienced in the last two months. Since last writing we have traveled through 13 states, covered more than 4,500 miles and presented our ministry in 14 churches. We’ve enjoyed sunny, 83-degree days in Florida and a 10-inch snow storm in Maine with a wind chill of below 0. It is somewhat of an irony that we will move to France knowing a whole lot more of the United States than we would have ever known had we chosen never to move away. Traveling is also a special delight to a guy who as a child (and yes, I admit, even now) loved to pour over maps and daydream about traveling to far away places.

South to Florida

We were blessed to begin our travels accompanied by our future co-workers, Michael and Liz Cole. After services in Georgia and northern Florida, our travels together culminated in a very special missions conference in Naples, Florida. The friends we made are too numerous to list, but perhaps you can get an idea of the pleasures we all experienced by what Micaiah said when he realized that we were on the last leg of our journey home: “But I want to go to other churches and play with more children.” After a short visit at home and a weekend in North Carolina, we packed our bags again for this five-week trek through New England.

North to Maine

So far, our winter New England trip has given us new friends in New Hampshire and Maine. The weather has been an extreme contrast to Florida, but we’ve experienced the same warm fellowship. Miriam celebrated her third birthday in the cold country, and Micaiah would play in the snow until he were blue in the face if only we’d let him. Ruth and I have been inspired by faithful individuals, families and churches seeking first God’s Kingdom in their own local contexts.

Thinking globally

While we are all physically limited to our present context, the Gospel is at work saving souls and changing lives all around the world. For the last five years my context has been mostly limited to Spartanburg, South Carolina. I’ve been blessed, challenged and gratified by what God was doing there. But recently I’ve experienced first-hand God’s working in cities across Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Maine. I find it both encouraging and humbling to remind myself that my God-assigned row in the vineyard is but one small portion of what God is doing in the earth. Speaking to saints in North America about God’s work in Europe has, I hope, been used by God to enlarge people’s vision and burden for the global scope of God’s redemptive plan in Christ. While we must all act locally, foreign missions provides a way for God’s people to celebrate and participate in God’s work globally.

Please Pray

Please continue to pray for safety in our travels, that God would fill our schedule for 2008 and that He would provide our support in a way that would magnify His provision. Pray that God will help us to minister and to be ministered to along the journey. Pray also that God would help me complete my doctrinal statement for my upcoming ordination scheduled for June.

Gratefully yours in the service of our Lord,

Tim for the family

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Itinerary

March 2 — Newton, MA (AM);

Salem, NH (PM)

March 5 — Hampden, ME

March 9— Manomet, MA (AM);

Westport, MA (PM)

March 12 — Brockton, MA

March 16 — Fitchburg, MA

March 19 — Berwick, PA

April 2-6—Raleigh, NC

April 9—Clearwater, FL

April 16—Ledyard, CT

April 20—Grafton, MA

April 23-27—Burlington, MA

April 27—Warwick, RI (PM)