Heritage

Today is my dad's birthday, and I am nearly 2,000 miles away. This has been the most difficult part of our ministry in Arizona - the miles that stretch between my family and me.

I've learned that part of the reason God brought us here was to help us appreciate how incredibly blessed we are. You know, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." I am grateful for the closeness I have with my family now more than ever, and I realize how often I've taken them for granted.

Yesterday was also my Grandma Kirkland's birthday. If you've read some of my earlier posts, you know how much both my dad and my grandma mean to me. They have been instrumental in shaping the person I am today, and their teaching has come from so much more than words. All my life I have seen Jesus in them.

There are so many things I could say about both of them, I would never have enough space to write them all. So I'll do my best to single out one special thing about each of them. (Though I must say, all through college I never had a problem writing long papers, but I found the 500 words or less papers to be pure torture!)

One thing I always remember about my grandma was her unconditional love for everyone she knew. If she ever heard us being critical of someone or making fun of them, as kids unfortunately sometimes do, she would always say to us, "Now, that person has a heart and soul just like you do." She never failed to point out that Jesus loves everyone, and everyone needs Jesus.

And she lived it, too. Everyone in the little town of Perry knew and loved my grandparents. No one was ever turned away from their door. Especially in the summer time, their house, yard and swimming pool were full of people from the church and neighborhood. I've often joked about that fact that Grandma's cookie jar was always filled with Little Debbie's snacks and Oreos instead of homemade cookies, but now I understand why. She would never have been able to leave her kitchen if she were to bake cookies for all the people who came to their house!

No one could rival my grandma in the area of hospitality. They never had a lot of money, but that didn't matter. She would open her home and give whatever she had to give. So many people saw the love of Jesus shining through her. I am just one of the blessed few who get to call her "Grandma."

This is the home my dad grew up in, and I am grateful to both of my grandparents for the precious gift of my dad. My dad will be the first to admit that if you had told him as a boy that he would one day be a pastor, he would have declared you insane and walked away laughing. I can't thank him enough for obeying God's call in his life, even though it led him down a totally different path than he might have chosen for himself.

I suppose that is one of the most important ways my dad's life has influenced mine. I have seen my dad go through some of the most painful, difficult circumstances in his life, and I have always seen him cling to God.

There was a moment a few years ago, when my dad's health had continued to decline. He was trying to adjust to the schedule of dialysis three times a week and still maintaining his calling as the senior pastor of his church. All of his kids watched him continue to serve faithfully, to the best of his ability, even when he was terribly ill. He was committed to doing what he felt God had called him to do, until God called him elsewhere. And so I asked God to give him a way out.

"God," I remember saying, "I don't understand why he has to go through all of this. He just needs to rest. Please, God, make a way for him to retire. He's served you all his life."

And it was as if I could hear God Himself asking me, "Why would he stop now?"

I knew he never would. Until he breathes his final breath, my dad will faithfully serve his God. Because that's who my dad is.

I am grateful to God for providing a way for my dad to have a new ministry. He is now a prayer warrior for Youth Haven, a mentor for many of the staff, and a witness for Jesus Christ in his dialysis center.

When I think about the family I have, I can never thank God enough. What an incredible heritage that has been passed down from generation to generation! My prayer is that someday I will have grandchildren who will say the same about me.

Stefan's First Worship Team Experience

It's no secret that I am passionate about worship.

If you've read my testimony, you know some of what God has done in my life. I worship Him because He deserves my very best offering of worship. I am nothing without Him. I need His strength every moment of every day, with every breath that I take. And so I worship because He is worthy. Because I have nothing to give that is worthy of Him, but just as I cherish a heartfelt gift given to me by one of my children, God delights in my gift of worship.

This is a concept that Lars and I have tried to instill in our boys, too. Sometimes it is a real sacrifice to be on the worship team at church. We love serving at Trinity Church in Lansing, but with a Saturday evening service and two Sunday morning services, it is a weekend-long commitment. Many Sundays the boys have gotten up early and gone with us in order for us to be there on time for the morning run-through before the services.

Most of the time, they don't complain. (Stopping for hotcakes at McDonald's on the way usually helps!) They know that God deserves that sacrifice - a pretty small sacrifice, really, when you stop and think about all He did for us.

They also know that God has gifted each one of us uniquely, and that He desires for us to use our gifts to bring glory to Him. I've often told the boys, "I don't care what you do in life, as long as you do what God wants you to do." They have both accepted Christ as their Savior, and now my greatest desire is to see them live lives that point people to Jesus.

Stefan has definitely received the gift of music. He has an ability with the piano to hear something and fiddle around with the keys until he figures out how to play what he's heard. He has also taken some lessons from a fantastic teacher who is helping him learn how to read music and chord charts.

When we came to Arizona, one of my biggest concerns was that Stefan wouldn't be able to work with his piano teacher for the time we were out here. But he showed a real interest in playing the keyboard during the worship times at Chapel with the Youth Haven kids. For weeks, he nagged me to get copies of the chord charts so that he could start working on the songs. We finally got them copied for him, and he went to work.

Last night, for the first time ever, my son played the piano as part of the worship team in Chapel. One of the members of our programming staff leads the kids in worship as she sings and plays her guitar. On most Friday evenings, we join her. I sing, and Lars plays the drums. It was incredible to look over to my right and see my husband worshiping with me, then to the left and see my son doing the same. And Lukas danced his heart out in worship in the back row.

Here's a small clip of Stefan leading "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever." It's brief because the audio didn't turn out as well as we had hoped, but at least his intro turned out well.



I am so proud of Stefan, not just because he played so well and put a lot of effort into learning the songs. I'm also proud of him for wanting to use his gifts for the Lord. To play music that proclaims the name of Jesus. To show other kids that they're not too young to worship the God who loves them.