Euans Newsletter

euans newsletter fall 2009 compressed

Hope that you enjoy our update with it’s pictures.  Thanks for your love and support.

Nine Beautiful Years

Love, conflict, finding who you are together and a part, three states, two home renovations, four careers, tears, laughter, Survivor, LOST, C.S. Lewis, letters, phone calls, walks, coffee, food and more food, pregnancy X three, children, music, hugs, struggles towards intimacy, God, growth, pain, victory, relationships, Brussels, missions, seminary, parenting, leading, following, communicating, journey, Jesus…all and more because we said “I do”. Happy anniversary.

Milestones in the Euans family

Two very important events happened yesterday. Eleri (our four year old) announced that she was willing to give up her blankie and no longer suck her fingers!!! That is amazing, and for those of you who know her, she has been attached to those things for so long. I agree with David who said with tears, “I no longer have a little girl, she is growing up!” It is awesome to watch her begin to trust God to take care of her instead of her blankie.

Clive, our 7 month old, signed “all done” at dinner as well. I had been working with him for only a few weeks on it and not even consistent. We were all busy eating and talking when all of a sudden I looked over to see both hands over his head raised to the sky waiting for us to see him. How awesome was that moment.

The pleasure we felt with our children this week must be a little like the heavenly father who rejoices in our spiritual growth.

Please come…

You are invited to hear our hearts through our music and stories. Come experience Belgium with us!

May 1st, 7 pm Tab church

French….a beautiful language…Belgium our home to be!

Yesterday was a neat experience for me. I have a friend from Belgium who is a French teacher and also a musician. We both got together to translate one of my songs into French for the concert. It was a divine moment for me as I heard her singing the words of my song in such a poetic language. I’ve always loved foreign languages, and especially french, but in that space of time God did something in me that was new. Hearing my heart in another language made me feel part of that culture. Feeling like I was part of it made me want to belong, and belonging means for us moving there and living among the people of Brussels. When will that day be? Only God knows, but in my heart of hearts I desire it like never before.

A Response to the Cross

I (David) had the privilege to share some thoughts at a Good Friday service last night. Here are the notes.

We are in the midst of the Passion Week, tonight being Good Friday, so I thought we would look at Christ’s response to the cross. As a teacher at Norfolk Christian I get the pleasure to engage students with the Bible. A couple weeks ago I sent them off all over the school grounds on a scavenger hunt. We had been talking about miracles so they had to read these little rhymes and go searching for clues. Once they gathered all the clues they were suppose to solve the riddle. The answer was “and the greatest of these is the resurrection.” Out of all the miracles they visited Jesus walking on the water, the feeding of the 5,000, or Jesus healing the blind man the resurrection was the greatest. It is the cornerstone of Christianity. Easter is the celebration of this event but we are not there yet in the story. Tonight we ponder the death of Christ and I think the story demands a response. So, “How will we respond to the cross?” The passage I have chosen comes from the gospel of Matthew chapter 16 we’ll pick up from verse 24 and it reads. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

Let us pray.

To me this passage speaks to the heart of what Good Friday is all about. If anyone wants to follow me then do this, he must be prepared to take up his cross. Christ often communicated that this kind of total commitment when talking about the kingdom of God.

To understand this passage however, I think we need to look at the bigger picture. This is the first time where Jesus starts to unfold his ultimate mission to his disciples and they don’t like this a bit at least Peter doesn’t. (read verse 22) He says, verse 22, “This shall never happen to you!” Then Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus uses these strong words to prepare them for the tough times ahead.

If we look at verse 24 we will notice that Jesus says three things about following him. Jesus says that the person must deny himself, that they must take up their cross, and finally that they must follow him. Let’s look at each of these more closely.

1. If anyone would come after me, He must deny himself-

Sometimes this is called “dying to self.” Are we willing to place our wants and desires below that of Gods in order to follow him? It is a call to absolute surrender. Like verse 25 it says, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” This call is tough, it actually is impossible. I think of the passage in Philippians that says Christ made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, it says that he humbled himself and became obedient to death (Phil. 2:7-8).

2. Point number two says to be a follower of Christ you must be prepared to take up your cross-
Christ had not yet gone to the cross so he obviously wasn’t referring to this event. You know lots of people interpret this passage in different ways, but how would his disciples have interpreted it?
To a first century Jew it meant only one thing: Death by the most painful and humiliating way possible. I like how F. F. Bruce puts, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him be prepared to be led out to public execution, following my example” (The Hard Sayings of Jesus, F. F. Bruce, p. 150).

3. The last point is our call to follow him. Following something seems easy enough. Aren’t we trained to follow from an early age? As kids we’ve all played follow the leader but some things in life are easier to follow than others. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus encounters three people who are willing to follow him. It turns out however that they weren’t able to put their own interests aside to do this (Lk. 9:57-62). One said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their own dead.”

The story of Abraham and Isaac is a good example of following God no matter the cost. God tells Abraham to go and take his son Isaac and sacrifice him. Imagine the inner turmoil and the angst that was taking place within him. Knife in hand ready to carry out the sacrifice and then God provides a ram. Do we have this kind of faith?
Are we willing to follow Jesus at the cost losing some friends? What about family members or our reputation? What about our lives?

It’s a fascinating study to see how the major characters respond to the events surrounding the cross. I did this with my students. Some mocked Jesus, some remained faithful to Jesus, some fled from Jesus, one even said will you remember me when you come into your kingdom.

I think the most important response is this though, “If it is possible may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” A second time Christ pleads “if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done” (Matt. 26:39-42).

Do we have a response like this? I know for myself this isn’t my natural tendency. When Joanna and I started perusing missions I had to lay a few things at the foot of the cross. One particular love of mine is drumming. I started playing the drums in fourth grade. I remember getting detentions for drumming on school desks. In high school I was voted the “best musician” in the senior class, I have two degrees in music, I even joined the Navy so I could play music. Drumming defined me, but for me there was a conflict. On one side I wanted to follow God but on the other side it was as long as the drumming came along with it. I remember sitting down with a dear friend discussing the ramifications of being willing to go to a place where drumming was not allowed. I had to set that part of me aside. I don’t know what it is for you but I do know that following Jesus is demands a total commitment.

Maybe the most important question should be how is this done?

Jesus in Gethsemane shows us. While his friends are off falling asleep he is in deep prayer with the Father. He is honest. This sounds like a no brainer
talking about Jesus but he says take this cup from me if it’s possible. He’s authentic in his communication to God. Then finally he says, not my will but yours. Jesus did nothing apart from the Father, he accessed the power of God and recognized that it was impossible to do anything on his own strength.

So in conclusion, yes Jesus

1) Denied himself, he set aside his reputation.

2) He literally carried his own cross to his death.

3) He followed his Father’s plan by surrendering all of his rights.

But he did this with complete dependence on the Father.

Will we do the same?

And now “Unto him who loves us, and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father- to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen (Rev 1:5).

Growing Towards Maturity

Our daughter Adley has needed some help with her speech so each week she meets with a speech therapist to help her pronounce her words and combine them in sentences. Today was a particularly painful session because they were encouraging her to use her words to ask for a puzzle piece before they would give it to her. In the past they would ask her to try but not force the issue as much. Today they were pushing her harder. You could see her struggle to say the words they were asking of her and just when she thought she was finished they would ask her to repeat it again, but this time correctly. As a mom, I sat in the corner knowing that this was best for her because it was growing her to the next level, but at the same time I was hurting for her because I saw how difficult it was. Part of me wanted to scream STOP, but the other part of me knew that this process was necessary.
To me this is a great analogy of our relationship with God. As his daughters and sons he often puts us in a painful and hard place, not because of anything wrong we’ve done, but because he wants to mature us. I love the purpose behind the process of discipline in scripture and that is to train for correction and maturity. Adley was being corrected with her speech today so that she will be able in the future to say things right. What a great God we serve to love us so deeply that he cares enough to grow us for something better! If you are in a hard place today be encouraged that your father loves you.

God’s Hands and Feet

There are more than one blog posts where I’ve shared with you God’s provision for our family. It shouldn’t take me by surprise but it usually does. Maybe it’s because I’m not expecting it, or maybe it’s just that God’s ways are beyond our own. I do believe though, that through these gifts He is giving me a taste of Jesus.
We have been struggling with sickness for the past week. It has been difficult being the mom out of commission, not being able to meet my children or spouse’s basic needs. Through all of this, we have seen God’s hands and feet all over the place. It began on Tues. with a friend willing to enter a germ infested house to care for the kids while I weathered a respiratory infection in bed. What an act of service, of placing the needs of someone else higher than her own. Today she is sick so you can pray for her.
This morning I felt like I needed to take Adley to the Dr. for her asthma/virus and once again Christ showed up. For us it was a neighbor willing to change her plans to be at the house while I took Adley to her appointment. She not only watched the kids, she did the dishes and the laundry. During that time another friend arrived, filled our crock pot with a meal and our fridge with fresh vegetables and fruits, which were badly needed seeing that we’ve been eating things like grilled cheese and baked beans! This afternoon 2 other ladies are or have gone to the grocery to get extra needed items for the family. If this is not God’s hands and feet in action, I’m not sure what it is.
On top of all this, I’ve been able to watch one of the women I’ve been discipling take HUGE steps closer to Jesus. What an encouragement to see her reading the word and learning how to listen to the spirit in her life.
A week back I was identifying with a character in the story where a man was robbed and stripped of his clothes, beaten and then left for dead on the road. Finally after several people coming by and walking past, one Samaritan stopped to help. Today God revealed himself to me through not just one “Samaritan” but four…and perhaps many more I missed.
Have you had a taste of Jesus lately? Maybe you’ve missed it, or not been willing to admit you need Him here, now, relevant to your life. I promise if you’re asking and looking He’s showing up!

I’m back…in more ways than one!

Last week I deleted by accident my facebook page and in an instant through the click of a mouse….POOF I disappeared from cyberspace. It was somewhat surreal, kind of like dying in a way. No one would even know I wasn’t their “friend” anymore because with facebook, you don’t get notified when you lose a friend. I had to not only sign up again, but also invite people to be my friend for the second time. There was an extreme sadness that I experienced when I realized I had “lost” all my friends and disappeared from the lives of those I know and love. As a result of this I’ve been pondering why in the world this facebook thing was so important to me. After all I’m not friendless and I did live before without facebook. Maybe the reason why this was a big deal is because I’m wired as a person (and maybe we’re wired as people) to want to be connected, and not just connected to the people around me who I see everyday, but also connected to a greater audience, to people who can interact and care for me even if they live miles and sometimes countries away.

Are we starved or lacking for community? Isn’t that what facebook is…a large community of people connected together. What if the church was like this? What if we were in community with each other enough to care about the everyday stuff in each other’s lives?

On Monday nights I meet with 10-15 other ladies and I believe that in the space of 2 hours we experience this kind of community. In fact we’ve grown from just 6 women to over 15 if everyone comes. The overwhelming comment I get from why it is they keep coming and bringing others with them is that they are looking for a place where they are accepted and where there is authenticity. Someone said it best: “Church happens between you as you love each other in the name of Jesus. Church is the meeting place of three relationships which say: I am in Christ (personal faith), we are the body of Christ (community), and we are living out the life of Christ (mission).” This is something we long to experience not only in Norfolk, VA but also in Brussels.

In the end, I guess it’s not just about connecting but also about community.

Europe the New Dark Continent

Although Africa was once considered the dark continent by missionaries, many are now beginning to call Europe “the dark continent”.  This was reported on a Christian radio broadcast recently and the entire article can be read at www.mnnonline.org/article/11657.  With less than 2% of the population evangelical Christians, Europe is darker spiritually than it’s ever been.  There are lots of churches in Europe, but few of them are thriving and growing and it’s become a challenge to think creatively in order to reach out to the younger generation.  ”Reach Global’s Rick Burke says many people calling themselves Christians are actually nominal Christians. Reach Global wants to see more believers and a thriving church in Europe. ”  This article encouraged us that other mission agencies are seeing the need in Europe and responding.