November 26, 2012

Merry Christmas!

            Despite the gaudy light displays, the smarmy TV specials, and the unchanging music, we love Christmas.  For the most part people are kinder and the message of all of the above mentioned traditional annoyances is one of love and hope.  This makes sense because Christmas is a celebration of love.  The Eternal God entered time; the Infinite One became a tiny baby; and the immutable Creator chose to grow from a baby to a man.  He did all of this because of His love.  He wants us to be close to Him.  It is no wonder that we see kindness at Christmas.

            During this last year, changes have abounded for the Woods.  We began the year with Michael starting his second semester at Covenant College in Georgia, Robin assisting a Kindergarten class and Vince selling paint in Florida, Britney teaching high school and Patrick assisting a third grade class in Colorado.  But much of this changed.

            In April, Robin and Vince moved to Lander, Wyoming, as Vince was invited to be the Interim Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church—Britney’s home church.  A part of the agreement for Vince’s position was that he not apply to become the full-time pastor.  This meant that he continued to search for another permanent call.  Some dear friends suggested that Vince apply to a church in York, Pennsylvania.  Lo, and behold, Vince was called to be the Pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church.  We will move during the first week of December. 

            We are sad to leave Covenant Presbyterian Church.  We experienced the healing power of love from this kind group of Christians.  Even so, we are thrilled to be a part of Providence.  In many ways, Providence is the church we have sought to build for the last nineteen years.  She has planted two churches in the last ten years.  She has a passion for missions and outreach.  She has elders and a staff that is truly longing to make disciples, not just cultural Christians.  We know that we will have to rely on God’s Spirit, and that is the most exciting part of the whole move.

            During the last year, Robin found a position decorating cakes at a local grocery store.  In addition, she has returned to her easel.  She began studying a new watercolor technique.  She wants to explore more opportunities with her art.  Her first projects are African animals photographed during our two trips to Africa.  Hopefully, we can find some way to market her art work. 

            Michael has about three semesters left to complete his degree in Biology with a minor in Spanish.  His experience at Covenant has stretched him in beautiful ways.  He is gaining a clearer perspective on who he is and how God intends to use him in impacting this world.  Please continue to pray for Michael as he makes decisions about his future.

            Patrick taught at the elementary school until around April.  In June, he went to work for a company that blended a blues/oldies/big band musical group with electronic installations.  It was a very eclectic and great experience for him.  He is now trying to establish himself as a piano/guitar teacher while developing Log Cabin Gaming.  At the same time, he finally started his book on music theory.  Britney continues to teach at James Irwin High School.  She loves teaching.  They continue to find ways to be more involved in their church, Westminster Presbyterian.  Please ask God to guide Patrick and Britney into how they might best use their gifts for God and His kingdom.

The future is filled with hope, because of God’s love.  We would be grateful if you would pray for us.

In Jesus’ love,

Vince, Robin and Michael

Love is Patient

     I want to begin with a mathematical equation. If God is love and Jesus is God, then Jesus is love. In addition if the law of God is fulfilled by us loving, then we can conclude that Jesus gives us the example of what it means to love. That is not to say that we need to do everything that Jesus did, like cleansing the temple or raising Lazarus. We do need to look at how Jesus loved. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 describes loving actions. Therefore, we should be able to find examples of these loving actions in the life of Jesus and emulate those examples.

      Love is patient. Therefore, we should develop patience. Patience, in the context of 1 Corinthians 13, literally means long suffering and is expressed in relationship. Love is relational. The patience, long suffering, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:4 is patience in our relationships with others not just with our circumstances. It is not the patience of Job, who endured tremendous suffering. It is the patience of our Savior, who endured the sins of His people every day of His life.

      Consider the patience of Jesus. He knew the hearts and minds of those around Him. As He walked through the crowd, He was aware of the lustful glances of His own disciples; the judgmental and critical disdain in the hearts of many Pharisees; the lack of faith in those who just wanted a handout. Jesus washed His disciples feet, served them the New Covenant meal of communion, expressed His love for them and then, while Judas was running to the priests to betray Him, heard the rest argue about who was the greatest. In all of this, Jesus was patient. He did not blast them. Usually, He did not even correct them. He simply suffered long. Keep in mind that Jesus is God, so every one of these sins was directly against Him.

      People are not where I think they should be. I have two sons. Throughout their childhood, I pushed them to excel. When they accomplished something I would praise them and then give them a higher standard to pursue. I am not convinced that this was either helpful or destructive. What I do know is that in my heart, I can usually see a higher standard that people can reach. Most of us have a standard that the people around us have not reached. They shouldn’t gossip as much as they do. They should pray or witness or come to Sunday school more. Our list is seemingly endless. Sadly, our lack of love is expressed by criticizing, chastising, and judging them. We then make our sin worse by assuming our criticism, chastisement and judgments are loving. But in reality, they do not look much like Jesus. We see the rare occasion of Matthew 23, when Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and we make that the standard instead of the exception. We jump up to call people broods of vipers because Jesus did—especially while writing in blogs or on facebook.

      I want to develop in my heart, and encourage you to develop, a love like Jesus. People are not where we think they should be, but God is sovereign. He is also active in their lives. Jesus knew what His Father was doing in the life of each person. I need to ask God that more often and then look to see where He is leading them. Maybe I need to rebuke less and prayingly wait more. As I read books that disagree with me, (I worded that carefully for emphasis on my own self-focus), I need to see the good in them instead of the few points where they may err. As politicians and other celebrities fail, I need to pray for them, not point the finger. When a person has a different position, I need to hear them out and understand how they came to their position rather than assume they are ignorant or evil. After all, love is patient.

Early one morning, while I was sitting in my car at the park, I saw a drip of coffee running slowly down my cup. I really did not want to drip coffee on my slacks, so I gently reached for a tissue to catch the drip. As an allergy sufferer, I am reasonably adept at pulling tissues from their box. The concept is pretty simple—you pull the top tissue, it comes out into your hand ready to use while the next tissue lifts out of the box waiting the pull which will put it into service. The concept is simple, its execution is another thing entirely. Having pulled out thousands of tissues in my life, I “expected” everything to go smoothly but on this morning, God had other plans. As I seized the tissue, the entire box lifted up while the drip advanced toward my slacks. Gravity working much more efficiently than me, helped advance the slack soiling drip toward the bottom of my cup. When the box lifted, I turned my body more causing me to jiggle the cup encouraging the drip to attach itself to my clean—but only for a moment—slacks. At this moment I prayed a version of Tevye’s prayer from The Fiddler on the Roof, “Lord, would it be so terrible if the tissue just came out of the box.” Was I asking too much? Apparently, yes. And that is when the epiphany hit me. Yes, it would be terrible for the tissue to come out easily because God loves me too much to allow it. I saw, at that moment, that the little failures of life are designed by God to remind me that I am not supposed to live here forever. In fact, I am supposed to maintain my citizenship in heaven. Peter tells me that I am an alien and a stranger on this earth. How awful it would be, if I became satisfied with life in a sin-cursed world. After laughing, I prayed, “Lord, thank you for loving me so much that you thwart my plans, helping me to set my heart on heaven.” What a freeing thought.