About a week and a half ago, I posted a brief update about Dad and Mom. This post today will step back in time a bit to the beginning of the last journal entries Mom sent, starting at May 13. God has given Dad and Mom much to do and has been their strength and encouragement. Thank you for praying for them as you read.
May 13. 7:00 p.m. Seems like 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. already. Have been running on zero energy since about 4:30. Our flight was delayed this morning — due to the pilot having a medical appointment and also the weather being foggy early this morning. He was hoping to take the Hollands into Karimui before his appointment, but was unable to do that because of the fog. So they didn’t get off until around 11:00, and it was almost 2:00 before we got off. It was a very hot day too.
Our flight went first to Wuyabo to drop off cargo. That strip is mostly flat and is short. But the pilot didn’t have any problem landing and stopping well before the end. There were plenty of people around in Owena to carry cargo, and there was lots of cargo today. It is very dry here. There has been no rain for the past three days, they said. A couple plane loads of coffee went out, and Nuanda went out to town as well.
I took a couple cat naps — one in the office and one or two on the plane — but no real nap today. After we got back, we spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking. Got most of the stuff unpacked and put away. Not our bilum and personal stuff though. I am thankful to be back from Goroka.
“18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:” Ephesians 1:18-21
May 14. Went to bed around 9:30 last night. Had a very good night’s sleep. Thank you, Lord. Enjoyed a very nice nap this afternoon too. Today has been busy, finishing up unpacking, preparing meals, getting lesson plans made for this coming week, talking with people who came for items from town or to buy and sell….
Gibson got the grass cut today. This afternoon Serah did dishes, sorted plastic bags, swept the floors, and husked corn for drying.
"He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom." Isaiah 40:11
…."He carries the lambs in His bosom." Here is boundless affection. Would He put them in His bosom if He did not love them much? Here is tender nearness: so near are they, that they could not possibly be nearer. Here is hallowed familiarity: there are precious love-passages between Christ and His weak ones. Here is perfect safety: in His bosom who can hurt them? They must hurt the Shepherd first. Here is perfect rest and sweetest comfort. Surely we are not sufficiently sensible of the infinite tenderness of Jesus! —Morning and Evening
May 15. It was a very warm, dry day. Lots of blue sky today. Lots of wash too. Serah came after lotu this morning. She wanted to try doing laundry again so I let her do that, and I used the time to work at the computer. After she hung out the clothes, she prepared vegetables. Vinet and Maura came and raked grass. Later Wan and Gibson came. They started making a canopy (awning?) for the office window. It is hard to work at the office desk in the morning because the sun is so direct this time of year. So the canopy should help block the sun a bit. Then they finished trimming the outside walls of the schoolroom.
I swept and mopped the schoolroom floor this morning. This afternoon, Daddy helped me put up some boards on which to tack a time line. I also sorted out the box of work papers Nuanda had brought over here a few weeks ago. And later I cleaned the bathroom.
Serah came again this afternoon and did dishes, folded clothes, and swept floors.
"All that believe are justified." Acts 13:39
The believer in Christ receives a present justification. Faith does not produce this fruit by-and-by, but now. So far as justification is the result of faith, it is given to the soul in the moment when it closes with Christ, and accepts Him as its all in all. Are they who stand before the throne of God justified now?—so are we, as truly and as clearly justified as they who walk in white and sing melodious praises to celestial harps. The thief upon the cross was justified the moment that he turned the eye of faith to Jesus; and Paul, the aged, after years of service, was not more justified than was the thief with no service at all. We are today accepted in the Beloved, today absolved from sin, today acquitted at the bar of God. Oh! soul-transporting thought! There are some clusters of Eshcol's vine which we shall not be able to gather till we enter heaven; but this is a bough which runneth over the wall. This is not as the corn of the land, which we can never eat till we cross the Jordan; but this is part of the manna in the wilderness, a portion of our daily nutriment with which God supplies us in our journeying to and fro. We are now—even now pardoned; even now are our sins put away; even now we stand in the sight of God accepted, as though we had never been guilty. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." There is not a sin in the Book of God, even now, against one of His people. Who dareth to lay anything to their charge? There is neither speck, nor spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing remaining upon any one believer in the matter of justification in the sight of the Judge of all the earth. Let present privilege awaken us to present duty, and now, while life lasts, let us spend and be spent for our sweet Lord Jesus. —Morning and Evening
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” Ephesians 5:1-2