Black-Out---For How Long?

Everything is black.  Quiet, except for the dog howling next door and a dim rumble of a motorcycle in the distance.

Nate finishes dinner by
the light of his cell phone flashlight

We were finishing up our dinner when the power went off....again.  Luke tried to find his flashlight on the piano and fell off the bench slipping in the dark.  What are we supposed to do with 3 active boys when the whole house is pitch black?  No fans, no lights, no power supply.

“Let’s go to Mac Do!”  The kids know that Mac Do (Macdonald’s) is open 24 hours and their power is usually on (generators?).  Time for ice cream!  Nate graciously has 3 boys on a search for electricity and treats, while Emily sleeps peacefully oblivious, giving me a chance to blog in the dark.  

Nearly every day for weeks now, we have had to endure a rotational “black-out” schedule for up to an hour or more at a time. It is often unexpected, unknown at what hour or time of day this will happen.

Elijah was reading to Emily
when the power went off

Sometimes we are caught using electric appliances during the day when the fans stop blowing and the iron and washing machine must rest.  Other times we are awakened from sleep due to the blistering tropical heat and sweat that comes with no fans or air con.  Once the power went off just as I was finishing up blending a fruit shake; thankfully it was after I finished and not before.

When the power goes off at night, it is almost like enduring a punishment.  It feels like a dead world, nothing humming or working.  It is like a dungeon, flashlights our only source of light.  We just wait it out until the fans come back on and cool us enough for sleep.

The relief that we feel the moment the lights come back on is like being set free from a prison of darkness.  “AHHHH!!!”  Everything starts humming again, air con is cooling us and the lights bring a lively atmosphere back to the home.  “Yes!  The power is back on!” we always cheer, once our sentence is ended.

I turned off my flashlight for a moment just to see how black it really was.  TOTALLY BLACK.  When all the surrounding city lights are off, it is stunning how black it is.  

A sober thought penetrated my heart---

“What would an eternal power out be like?  

What if the lights never came back on?  

What if I had to go night after night sleeping restlessly (or not at all) with no fans in the tropical heat?  

What if I never had that feeling of relief--at last it is OVER.  

What if darkness NEVER ENDED?”

I remember reading about eternal darkness in the Bible.  

I am reminded of the Plague of Darkness in Exodus 10:

v 21 “darkness that can be felt” 

v 22 “total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.”

I ponder the darkness caused by sin in Isaiah 59:

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you...

The way of peace they do not know...

We look for light, but all is DARKNESS,

for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows...”

But...

 “‘The REDEEMER will come to Zion, 

to those...who repent of their sins,’ 

declares the LORD.” (v. 20)

The Bible is clear, there IS darkness....an eternal power out, for all of us.  We have all sinned.  Our sin has separated us from our God.  We are all born into darkness...spiritual darkness. 

And YET there is a glimmer of light, of hope!  The Gospel comes--there is still time!

The Redeemer, Jesus, HAS come---it is Jesus.  Emmanuel.  God With Us.  He comes to those who repent of their sins and call upon his name.

My heart cries out to God for those who are still in darkness.  While I sit in darkness and think of these annoying power out trials I endure every day, I am struck with the reminder to pray for those who do not yet know Jesus as Lord and Savior.  My suffering in these sweaty dark hours is nothing compared to the agony of eternal darkness that many people are not prepared to face.  

If you do not know Jesus, I urge you, please run to Him and call upon His name to forgive your sin and save you from the Day that is coming.  

If you are like me, and you have given your life to Jesus, then PRAISE GOD that He has taken our blindness and brought us into the glorious light of the Gospel!

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, 

but will have the light of life.”  John 8.12

That’s GREAT NEWS!  This is cause for great praise!  

Me blogging during the power out--how long will it last?

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of DARKNESS

and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

in whom we have REDEMPTION the forgiveness of sins.”

Colossians 1.14

Thank you, LORD, for your unfailing love!  Thank you, Jesus for saving me and bringing me out of darkness into your light of life!  Thank you for redeeming me and forgiving me from my sin!  Thank you for the hope that we can live in a place that is light forever!

Sin has left us in darkness.

Our Savior Jesus has brought us out of darkness.

If you are still in sin, I am praying that this power out I suffered will be worth it just because it made you think about eternal darkness.  I am praying that Jesus will shine His light into your heart so that you will cling to Him and call upon Him.  

“The sun will be turned to darkness...

before the coming of the great and dreadful

day of the LORD.

And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord

will be saved...”

Joel 2.31-32

Let Jesus turn your darkness to light.

He has done that for me.  In fact, my middle name means “light”.  I can praise God even while I am sweaty in the dark, because I know He has brought me out of spiritual darkness into His light.  I know that one Day I will live with Him forever and will never see a dark day again, because the Lord Himself IS light:

“God is LIGHT.  

In him there is no darkness at all.”

1 John 1.5

I leave you with these final words from the prophets, as I wait for the relief of the moment when the power will be restored and I can post this.

“Hear and pay attention;

do not be arrogant,

for the LORD has spoken.

Give glory to the LORD your God

before he brings the darkness,

before your feet stumble on the darkening hills.”

Jeremiah 13.15

Bugs for Breakfast...No More

"Mommy, there's ants in my baked oatmeal!"  Elijah spit out his breakfast and pushed his bowl away.

"No, those are not ants, it's just part of the oats..." I tried to convince him to keep eating, since I had just spent the last hour making the recipe and waiting for breakfast to be ready.  It was the best baked oatmeal I had ever made--maybe because I mashed 2 bananas into the recipe and then took it out at the perfect moment.  

I started picking at my own breakfast, watching little black things floating up to the surface of the milk. What ARE those things???  My own bowl became suspect, and I almost choked on the parts I had already swallowed.  AHHH....what a waste!

I went back into the kitchen to survey the oats.  Yep, there were bugs crawling around.  Well, at least the ones I ate were baked dead!  Some consolation.

As soon as I saw the bugs crawling, I remembered what my college professor, Ken Guenter, had taught us about the curses of Deuteronomy 28.  Isn't there something about bugs in there??  

15"However, if you do not obey the Lord your God...

17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed...

22 The Lord will strike you...

with blight and mildew,

which will plague you until you perish...

39  You will plant vineyards and cultivate them

but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes,

because worms will eat them."

Deuteronomy 28

Yes, Jesus was giving me another parable in life to teach me something about eternal things.  This passage is one of the curses that came in the Old Testament for not obeying God.  We still suffer the curse of sin today.  The bugs in my baked oatmeal are a picture of the curse of sin in our lives.  It's not like I messed up the recipe, it is just that the bugs ruined it.  

God did not make mistakes when He made the world.  In fact it was good.  But when we humans sinned we also brought the curse, which includes bugs for breakfast.

As I watch the bugs floating in my milk, I remember that I have sinned, and that is why my breakfast is ruined.  

As the black living things crawl around the oats scattered on my kitchen counter, I remember that "these things must happen...".   This is just another sign that we are still waiting for something better that is yet to come. 

"These things must happen first,

but the end will not come right away...

There will be...famines and pestilences in various places...

Luke 21.9 & 11

Jesus gives me bugs for breakfast to remind me to lift up my head.  This world is not all that there is.

"When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads,

because your redemption is drawing near."

Luke 21.28

"Mommy, will there be bugs in heaven?"  Only 4-years old, yet Malachi has such great theological questions!  We talked about eternity at breakfast: "No, Son, I don't think there will be bugs there.  It's a place where there's nothing bad, and bugs are bad."

"No longer will there be any curse..."

Revelation 22.3a

I had to scrape the baked oatmeal out of the pan, throw it in the trash, and start over again.  I had to make a new breakfast.  God cares about my breakfast; and He also cares about my eternity.  He is giving me a little parable at breakfast to remind me of the Gospel:  We sinned, He died and rose to redeem us from the curse of sin..  We must look to Him by faith and beyond the bugs, because He is going to make everything new...and there will be bugs for breakfast....no more!

"He who was seated on the throne said,

'I am making everything new!'"

Revelation 21.5a

"I Just Cleaned the Floor!"

Today I was angry at my son.  He and his brother were eating just-baked homemade granola cereal at the table together.  Suddenly I hear a whiny scream.

I look and there is splattered milk and granola sprawling all over the floor.

"Why did you DO that?!"  For one, I don't know what is in his mind, except the constant refrain of my days---fighting and teasing his brother.  But for two, I was more annoyed because the floor was just mopped clean an hour prior.

There was discipline, to be sure, and of course I made him clean it up himself.  But he fought all the way.  I took his hand with the paper towels on all fours and held his hand while he and I wiped the mess together.

Towels.  Trash.  Mess.

While he was in his room, I finished cleaning it the "right way" to do a better job.  Of course having him clean it himself was for teaching, but really it had to be mopped again thoroughly.

I huffed outside to get the mop, and as I swished it side to side, still energized by anger and annoyance I suddenly heard a familiar voice.

It was my Teacher.

I realized the Lord was giving me a parable of myself, my own sin.

I sit in solitude studying His Word.  I let His Spirit fill me and forgive me, wash me and cleanse me.

Then I get up and go on with my day, somehow forgetting what he JUST taught me, and my sin makes a mess of His Spirit's work.

"Anyone who listens to the word

but does not do what is says

is like a man

who looks at his face in a mirror

and, after looking at himself,

goes away and immediately

forgets what he looks like."

James 1.23-24

Yet, His work is not ever finished while I'm still on this earth.  He continues to CLEANSE me and together with ME gets down and dirty to teach me.   And I, like my son, many times go about it fighting and fussing all the way.

But then He gets the Mop of His Spirit and finishes it up.  He cleans me, thoroughly.

I keep getting dirty again.  I keep sinning.  But He keeps cleaning me, cleansing me and forgiving me.

"I will sprinkle clean water on you,

and you will be clean;

I will cleanse you from all your impurities

and from all your idols.

I will give you a new heart

and put a new spirit in you...

And I will put my Spirit in you 

and move you to follow my decrees

and be careful to keep my laws."

Ezekiel 36.25-27

Catching Up to Date

Hello reader.  

I didn't post since January 17th!  February was a rough month for me.  I wrote a newsletter sharing how  we had been fighting sickness, discouragement and other battles.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!

God answered so many of our prayers!  We recovered from all our various illnesses and weakness.  AND!!!  My 2 Fathers (Heavenly Father and earthly Dad) SENT MY MOM to VISIT!!!  

How refreshing it was and encouraging in so many ways.  She was our first visitor in 2 years--we were long due for someone to come see us!

I'll just post a few highlights from the past couple of months.  You can see tons of pictures of my mom's visit on my Facebook album.  It seems like people are posting things all over the internet these days, and you have to try to figure out where they are!  For those not on FB here are a few of my favorite moments....and if you want to check the albums out :

Visit From Grandma Pt.1

Visit From Grandma pt. 2

 Elijah surprised his wonderful Kindergarten teacher, Miss ROSEboom, with 100 Roses on the 100th day of school!  Only in the Philippines!   What a great year it has been so far.

 Another moment with Elijah's class--they had a sharing visit to a local Filipino school to gather with other students their age.  What great experiences!

 And then, the fun began!!  Grandma Bruce surprised the grandkids and showed up in a taxi!  I did know a few days in advance, but it was not many days notice....spontaneous!  What an encouragement my Mom was!

 Grandma meets Emily for the first time!!  A peek in to a sleeping beauty--"I can't help it!  I have to hold her!!!"

 The Beckers 6 with Grandma Bruce have a fun outing to the ocean.  Thank you, Lord, for bringing my mom (and to my Dad for paying her ticket!).  She was such a blessing to us and really helped to bring us out of the valley we were in.

 Mama is proud of Elijah on track and field day!  See more pictures in my FB album:

Track and Field Day

 Fun at the market making discoveries.  Squid for sale.....Mom?  Want some for dinner?

 I loved the special mother-daughter outing I had for a day with my mom.  Such a rare treasure to have such time with her.  I went to the ocean to find her some live starfish, and then we took photos in the salt-water pool.

 Before she left, my mom helped to repaint my wall by the laundry tent outside.  What a lovely quilt design of the Nebraska shape and colors!  Now when she is gone I still think of her.

 Mom also left me a special morse code message.  I must solve and decode it.  Hmmmm...Clever Mom!

A last good-bye to Grandma with Emily.  She also painted this other quilt design on the smaller wall.  Boring cement turns to lively creativity.

Good-bye Mom!  You will be greatly missed!

Thanks for your prayers, everyone.  I have recovered much and am now back "online" in more ways than one, if you know what I mean!!

December Moments

 December was full for us, as it was for most of you!  It is now January 17, and I am finally attempting to blog some highlights from last month!  Here we are having fun as a family of 6 for Emily's first swim!

A tiny disclaimer to ask your forgiveness for my lull in blogging (and thanks to you who have been checking if I have put up anything new!)--I DID try a handful of times to post, and the internet was slow, or the picture wouldn't load, or I couldn't even sign on to blogger.  My excuses, yes, I know, but truly it can be a defeating thing for me to plan on blogging and then have some internet delay.

ALSO I did post some albums on my facebook page of these events, so if you want to see more go see Jessica's Facebook album.

Here we are visiting the Japanese Tunnels from 1942 with our friends.

Our first family of 6 mini-vacation to Eden--we were thankful to have 2 nights at a mountain cabin near our city.  (Mountain does not mean snow--it just means getting higher than sea level for a cooler breeze!).

The Becker guys are ready to go on the big zipline!  Even Luke was a brave little guy.

Love the Philippines!  Cool trees, fun to climb.  Thanks, Lord, for time in Your creation!

Fun to fish for lunch!  Each boy caught a fish, and then they cooked it for us to eat!

We did other fun things like ride horses, go on the ziplines, I rode the sky-cycle, and Nate took the boys hiking and swimming while I napped with Emily.  See the album on Facebook for more.

4 Becker Kids all piled up.  Fun!  Elijah-5; Malachi-4; Luke-2; Emily--6 months.

Finally, on January 6 Emily turned 6 months!  Elijah wanted to be the first one to feed her "real food".  Fun brothers!  What a precious little doll.

Let us stay connected this 2014!  Thanks for your prayers for our family and for your friendship.

Best Book Read in 2013

"Future Grace" by John Piper was the most helpful book I read all year.  It gave me keys to the power of God to conquer sin in my life and to make me more like Christ.  It helped me to understand my faith and the motivation for obedience.  It made me hungry for God and His Word.

I spent 3 months digesting it page-by-page, though with 31 chapters you could read it in a month one chapter at a time.  Watch this 2 minute video from the author, and then put it on the top of your reading list for 2014!

Top 10 Quotes:

• Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it holds out some promise of happiness.  (Loc 282)

• The faith that justifies also sanctifies. (Loc 567)

• Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. (Loc 1307)

• The commandments of God are not negligible because we are under grace. They are doable because we are under grace. (Loc 2918)

• Loving your enemy doesn’t earn you the reward of heaven. Treasuring the reward of heaven empowers you to love your enemy. (Loc 3046)

• The way to fight sin in our lives is to battle our bent toward unbelief. (Loc 4083)

• If you hold a grudge, you doubt the judge (Loc 4899)

• The test of whether our faith is the kind of faith that justifies is whether it is the kind of faith that sanctifies. (Loc 6025)

• The faith that delivers from hell delivers from lust. (Loc 6031)

• Salvation is owned by faith. Salvation is shown by deeds. (Loc 6601)

MK Christmas Special--Elementary Musical

 Last week was the elementary Christmas musical: "The MK Christmas Special."  Here are the students practicing for one last run-through before the big show on Friday night!

Here is a photo that I smile at.  Mr. Becker is directing there, and in front of him is our son, Elijah!  It is the first performance in 9 years here that our son is actually in the program!

 Father and son, matching outfits!  Elijah and I both spotted this shirt in the store, and we knew we had to buy it!  Now they can be twins!

 On the day of the performance it was Miss Roseboom's birthday party in Kinder class.  Elijah is sitting at the far table with the light blue shirt.  Notice that Malachi and Luke wanted to join the class and are sharing a chair as guests.

What a blessing Miss R has been to our school this year, and especially to our firstborn son!

 Malachi loves to bake!  Here are the gingerbread boys ready to share at "Elijah's concert".

On our way to the concert--3 ladies, 3 trays of cookies and 3 kids!

 Let the show begin!  When I see pictures like this I still praise God for His provision of an auditorium with stage, lights and sound!  We did this same musical 8 years ago on wooden platforms on a covered court outside.  What a difference!  Thank you, Lord!

It was great to do the "MK Christmas Special"especially since it teaches our "missionary kids" that there are others like them in other countries around the world, like Latin America, Africa and Australia.

The music was powerful in teaching the kids (and audience) many of the names of Jesus that we can worship: "Jesus the Bread of Life", "Jesus the King of Kings", and "Jesus the Living Water", to name a few!  It was precious to hear our Malachi learning the songs at home too, and his eyes fixated on the performers.

 "Mama is proud of you, Elijah!"

A fun preschool photo of our gingerbread house activity.  Let the count-down to Christmas begin!  Merry Christmas everyone!  We are thankful for YOU!

Emily 5 months

 November 6, 2013 Emily Amor is 5 months!  What a growing lady.

 I love her blue eyes with those purple flowers.  Thanks, Aunt Martha, for this dress!  I saved it until today for her 5 month pictures.  It has been hanging on the curtain rod since you mailed it.

 Mom, we are still using the Phil and Ted stroller!  Now Emily can sit in the front seat!

 Smiles!!!  Mom, here's another outfit from you--thank you!

Nate and I bring Emily on our dates.  Here they are today--precious!

 Here's a little bonus picture that Elijah's teacher took of their class on the day of the 5.5 earthquake last week.  Notice the 2 chairs that moved out of their place while the class was evacuating the room.  I was on the field for my morning run when I saw the whole earth moving.  "He's got the whole world in his hands."

Luke is a precious 2-year-old boy!  Papa hands him a candle during the Christmas party last night.  "Silent Night."  Lord, may each of our children grow to love you more and trust you as Savior.

Totally Christmas

 A week has already flown by since the performance of "Totally Christmas"!  Nate and his high school vocal music students worked hard to prepare for this special night.

Aldeza, Amor and I also performed that night!  I did sign language worship to "Wonderful, Counselor..." and the 2 ladies did a few worship dances to other songs.  Lovely to praise the Lord with dance and singing!

 I love this one with the ribbon dance.

 Candles are always lovely!

Mr. Becker--what a handsome director!  I love to be his wife!

 Later that week, Malachi and I went to choose a Christmas tree.  "Hmmm, should we pick a pink tree? Purple? Blue??  Black???"

Malachi was excited about the cute little green "Linus" tree--2 feet tall for 45 pesos ($1).  He had fun decorating it at home in his room with lights and ornaments!

 Here's our 4 kids decorating our living room for Christmas.  Malachi is working on setting up the nativity, Elijah is sporting the Santa hat while putting ornaments and lights on the little 3 foot 99 peso tree, and Luke is sharing something with Emily.

The boys put "Baby Jesus" on Emily's lap.  She's wondering, 'Hm, what are these crazy brothers up to behind me?"  Fun kids!

For a great free song praising Jesus for this advent, go download this for yourself.  I love this one:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/exultinthesaviorsbirth/