Notes on the Journey

Update #8

2011-12-12T11:45:00.002+07:00

Hello,

Since we last wrote an update, there have been some changes that being made.

Last Thursday, we had a hard meeting with our director here at BAIS. During this meeting, we were told that we would need to return to the states in mid-January. These guys had such a hard decision to make here, and we believe that they prayed much about it and have only our best interest at heart. I would hate to have had to been in their shoes in that meeting. There reasonings are sound, and they are taking good care of us with insurance for the next couple of years. They are providing much assistance and care for us through out our time here as well. We honestly believe that these guys made a decision for us that we could not have made ourselves. And, it is a good decision. Living in Indonesia with this cancer would be difficult and good medical care (and David's oncologist) would be a ~2 hour flight away. We are very grateful for our administrative team at BAIS. They are all so faithful to the Lord and pray and dig into the Word. We are honored to have served under them. Thank you so much, Pete, Dan and Charity. We love you guys!

All that said, even good decisions can cause hurt and sadness. We leave a bit of our hearts here in Indonesia. We will miss our friends, church, work, and the students so very much. We will spend the next 39 days RAFTing like crazy with people, foods, places and our pets as well.

RAFT is an acronym for saying good bye well.

R-Reconcile

A-Affirm

F-Farewell

T-Think ahead

We leave for Singapore on Wednesday for follow up appts with the urologist and nephrologist. and we meet with the oncologist as well. We hope that David can begin Chemo at this time, and that the oncologist can have a protocol for David that can be easily transferred to a doctor in Texas or wherever the Lord has us land.

We are already praying about where God will have us. We pray that we will be patient and listen to exactly where and what God wants with this move. This is not an easy move for our kids. They have loved growing up overseas. The US is full of scary unknowns for them. Of course there are happy thoughts like What-a-burger, Taco Bueno, Walmart, drinking from the faucet and other western things. But, Emma mentioned today how much she will miss the mosque calls, and thinks that we will probably end up missing the things the most that annoy us now. like loud grocery stores.... They will miss foods that are not in Texas. They are afraid that people will not understand them. They are afraid of what it means to live in America. Their worldview is different. They are afraid of making mistakes and getting laughed at. and, i thank the Lord, that they are telling me these things. They are great kids. Praying that they can adapt well to yet another culture; the one that their parents know of but they really don't understand.

David is doing fairly well. He has begun having knee pain. This is scary cuz we do not know if it is because of the surgery or because the cancer is eating more of his bone. Praying even more and learning to have to lean on Jesus for all our fears and doubts. We go to Singapore at the end of this week and hope to get answers about the knee.

We are still in a strange place with this new idea of David having terminal cancer. Emma, Jeff, Grace and I have all had struggles waking up in the morning and thinking it was all a bad dream. Only to wake up more and find out it did all happen. Those are the hard moments for me, but God is still there, and He is showing me still how much He loves us.

I have the funny thing of having little movies play in my head.

The latest one is of us standing at the entrance to this path. It is dark, and thorny and ugly with scary trees. and the road is rocky full of holes. These holes are more like abysses. None of us want to take one step forward because we are afraid of tripping and falling into an abyss. We are all standing there looking at each other. Then, Jesus appears from the path. He has a light, but just enough for the next few steps in front of us. He reaches out His hand and tells us to walk with Him. I tell Him the road is rough, dark, scary, and unsure. He smiles at me gently, and then He tells me that He knows the road and that He planned the road long long ago and He knows how to walk it. The first step is the hardest isnt it. The one that says, Yes, Lord, I will trust You to take me down this terrible road. and, yes, Lord, i know that this is a road that was already travelled by you and approved by You. Once we take that step and faith builds on faith. It won't necessarily get happier, but it will still be good, because we are walking it with Him. And, He will lead us to our rest. This is how i am doing day to day. Having to wake up and take His hand and walk. Oh i still see the abysses and they still scare me and the road ahead looks darker and darker, but we are walking in the Light.

thanks for "listening" to me talk about the journey...

incredibly therapeutic to write it out. and, it is keeping me honest. ;-)

Thanks for you prayers and encouragement.

Much love to you guys!

Kim and David

2011-12-10T21:22:00.001+07:00

Welcome to the latest on our Blog.

Below there are a series of updates that I posted on Facebook and then realized a lot of you guys are not necessarily on Facebook.

Please read through our journey over the last 2 1/2 weeks.

It is a tough road but we do not walk it alone. We are amazed by the portions of grace that the Father has poured out on us. Praising Him for His goodness and His sovereignty.

Thanks for walking with us...

David and Kim and the kiddos

Update on David #1

November 24, 2011

Hello friends,

Thought i would update you on David so you can have the details.

We are in the hospital in Singapore.

For those of you who do not know, David has been having increasing R knee pain over the last 4-6 weeks. He had no injury. Th pain and stiffness stiffness just came on out of the blue. Over the last 2 weeks the pain and swelling and lack of range of motion started progressing pretty fast. By Friday of last week David was unable to sustain any pressure on his knee at all and was hobbling around, He went to bed and stayed there for 3-4 days. Everytime he let his leg dangle the pain increased to beyond tolerable.

We were referred to the dr. here in Singapore (this is the same dr who did Grace's knee surgery) and after examining him and reading MRIs and X-rays has determined that David has a tumor in his femur. It is partially in his femur and partially outside his femur.

He is not sure what kind of tumor it is.

David will have surgery on Friday (tomorrow) 25 Nov 2011 to have the tumor biopsied. During the surgery they will do a frozen biopsy to determine what kind of tumor it is. There are three possible scenarios, according to our dr. (and a bone tumor specialist that he has called in to help him)

1. It is an infectious tumor: if this is the case then they will scoop of the tumor and clear the margins on the bone and then clean up around the knee to get rid of all infection. Then David will stay in the hospital for several days to get IV antibiotics. Then, he will take oral antibiotics for at least 2 months to make certain all infection is gone. then after the two months, we will return to singapore to have the hole in his bone reconstructed with bone shavings from his hip. (ouch)

2. It is a benign tumor: if this is the case then they will scoop out the tumor and clear the margins on the femur and immediately reconstruct the hole in his bone with bone shavings from his hip. (again ouch)

3. It is a malignant tumor: if this is the case then they will close the incision until they can study the biopsy further to determine what kind of cancer it is. Then the best treatment options will come 3-4 days later.

Please pray for wisdom for the surgeons in treatment options and the pathologists to see the correct type of cells.

Please pray for David as his pain is quite unbearable without pain meds.

and for David as he comes out of anesthesia. the last time he had surgery (22 years ago) he came out of anethesia very badly.

pray for David and I to have wisdom and peace and a strong witness of God's faithfulness, sovereignty and goodness no matter what the outcome. we want to be a strong witness to the Father and bring Him glory. We know that He is good no matter what the outcome.

pray for us to have grace for the day and not try to think and plan for an uncertain future.

pray for the kids as they are in Bandung and Calgary and hearing everything and not being able to hug their daddy.

please pray for and give God thanks for all our friends in Bandung who are really stepping in and helping us with the kids and classwork

We have seen God so beautifully every step on this journey. He is SO faithful.

Thanks for praying.

I will update when i can post surgery.

Blessings

Kim for all of us Durhams ;-)

Update #2 on David

Friday, 25 November 2011 at 21:04

First, thank you all so much for your prayers and support of us through this. We have been so blessed. and so encouraged. even though we are in a city where we dont know anyone really well, we feel loved and supported and cared for. We have seen God in every single detail. He is such a good and loving Father.

Also, thanks for your patience. We wanted to let our family. know about this before we post this for the world to see. :-)

David's surgery went well. They found that he did not actually have a fleshy tumor but rather it was a pocket of fluid. They also discovered that the hole in his femur measures 3cm in diameter. As they were cleaning out the fluid and scraping the bone to get to the healthy bone tissue, they noticed some "gelatinous tissue" so they stopped and took a section of it and sent it to the lab. The lab report came back as being highly suspicious for malignancy. so they cleaned it all out and sent it all to the lab for further study. We should have those results back on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. He also scheduled David for a PET scan for Monday. This will help to see if there is cancer anywhere else in the knee or the rest of his body for that matter.

Our dr. is still holding out some hope that this is just some really strange infectious tissue, but he admits that this is a small chance. He is so kind. And, we are so grateful for him to keep looking at all alternatives.

He gave us two scenarios (i think he likes scenarios) you all should all meet this guy. he is awesome.

1rst scenario.....the frozen biopsy is wrong and it is not cancer, but rather infection. if this is the case, same as before, iv antibiotics for a while and then 6 months later reconstruct the bone...

2nd scenario.... it is a malignancy and the malignancy is confined to the knee. this is where david and thought it was pretty cool. they will remove the entire knee... and replace it with a prostethic knee that goes under the skin. This is called limb salvage. not too long ago this would have meant an above knee amputation, but now the can save the lower leg and put in a completely artificial knee. is that not cool?

3rd scenario...it is malignant, and there is more cancer other than the knee...if this is the case, well we will deal with that later.

grace for the moment.

we are trusting God with every step. we feel such a peace. we really do. God has been in every single detail. He has protected our hearts each step of the way.

He is sovereign and He is good.

love to all of you. thanks for praying....please don't stop.

praise Him with us for all He is doing. We are so grateful for our community at BAIS who are praying for us and caring for our kiddos. We are truly blessed.

More to come when we know more.

david and kim

Update on David #3

y Kim Durham on Monday, 28 November 2011 at 20:59

Well,

God is sovereign and God is good. And He has promised to never leave us and to walk with us through the darkest valley.

We are about to enter a pretty dark valley.

David’s PET scan shows a probable primary tumor in the kidney, with a spots on the lungs, and an affected lymph node behind the trachea as well as the knee.

This is all we know. Our doctor is bringing in a urologist tomorrow.

We are reeling a bit, but not out of control. We are constantly reminding each other who holds everything together, whose voice rules the waters and the wind and spoke the world into existence. He is healer. He is provider. He is Jehovah, YAWEH,

He is our God.

We are scared. No hiding that. But we are confident too in the fact the God knows all of our steps. He knows our pain, our sadness, our fear, and He is there to hold on to. He is so incredibly faithful. We see in Him in everything here.

My (kim) mind is playing movie reels even as I type this that is kinda like a documentary. With red arrows pointing “here” and “here” and “here” etc. I have no cause to run away or be angry or be in despair. He is there. And He is not silent….

Please pray for our faith to be made strong. Pray that we glorify His name in every move we make.

That is the desire here. No matter what, we show God to be sovereign and good.

Kim and David

Thanks everyone so much for your encouragement

Tuesday, 29 November 2011 at 09:48

You guys have blessed us with your prayers and your words comfort and encouragement.

We are clinging to God like crazy right now. This is not some amazing act of faith on our part really. This is survival. I cannot even begin to imagine how to do this without God. I was telling MC (for those of you who dont know her; she is a very dear friend who does not let me get way with anything) that Peter comes to mind a lot these last two days. Like i can see it like on a movie. The storm is raging, a lot like the storm in The Perfect Storm, and the boat is going kinda crazy and out in the distance they see Him. They see Jesus. He was walking on the water. Peter without even thinking (i imagine him not even thinking) gets out of the boat and starts walking ON WATER. So boldly He did this. But, then, He lost his focus. He looked at the water, the storm, the sky. doesnt really say what he looked at.....He took His eyes off Jesus. and he sunk.

I know that i know that i know if i take my eyes off Jesus, i am going to sink. I am a lot like Peter. I jump first and think later. (those of you who know us well know that david thinks and thinks and thnks and then he jumps too - Could we be more opposite? ;-) ) I digress. I am petrified of sinking. I have sunk many times before and just like for Peter, Jesus reaches out and gets me and pulls me back up. But, i am usually so frustrated with myself, humiliated, discouraged, ashamed. Yes, by God's grace, i am forgiven and cared for when i fail to trust in Him, but the consequences, or better said. the benefits of not losing focus are far greater.

I have faith right now by God's grace. i literally run to Him about every 10 minutes so far since we got David's PET scan results. I run to the Word and to His arms. I cannot imagine the future. When i do, i break down, because i do not know the future. Only God does. So, i need your prayers to not put my hope in the future but to my hope in the Father who knows and planned and sovereignly ordained our future.

So, in essence, we are firm in our faith, but we know sinking will occur if we do not focus on Jesus, the perfecter of our faith. We are not strong. We cannot do this. The only way we make it through this and still bring glory to God is by submitting every emotion, thought and fear to Him and letting Him heal.

i think it is ok to be scared. just take those scared feelings to Him every time so that it does not get a stronghold and gives way to despair or loss of faith or the loss of a compass to navigate through this.

Kim and David

Update on David #4

Wednesday, 30 November 2011 at 11:09

Hello precious friends and prayer partners!

Today is surgery day. (again) At 5pm Singapore time (3am CST, 2am Mountain Time) David will go for removal of his left kidney. It has a tumor of about 6cm that takes up a large portion of the kidney. It is believed that his kidney has most likely lost it functioning anyways. And, the principle cancer needs to be removed to help prevent further spreading and to study the cancer cells to decide on the absolute best chemo therapy. He will stay in the hospital til Saturday or Sunday. Then we stay in Singapore til Wednesday and then if all goes according to plan we get to go back to Bandung for about 10 days. Then we will return to Singapore for a wound check and to begin Chemo.

This is quite the journey.

God has been so here. It has been the most amazing experience to almost feeling Him physically here. Each time i think there is no way i can take one more piece of news, i feel His hand reach out and i know that He knows....

I cannot do this. But, God can through me. I'll say it again. We can trace His steps leading to this moment. We see Him in the present (great drs, amazing BAIS family, peace that makes no sense whatsoever, "stuck" in a city with awesome restaurants ;-) ) and we see Him waiting fo us and with us on the path that lies ahead. He knows the path. We just need to walk it with Him.

As to how to pray, if healing occurs obviously we would be amazed and we know He can do that if He so chooses. But, truly we covet your prayers for faithfulness in the journey. Our number one desire is to glorify Him in EVERY SINGLE STEP of this journey. It will not be easy. We have hard things to decide and to live through. But, what an amazing outcome to have His name be renowned through this. We do not want to waste this opportunity to magnify His name.

In saying that, when we are praising Him and expressing peace and strength, it is so very important to us that no one sees us as strong or peaceful, but that they see God alone. It is inexplicable what is going on in my heart. I am a worrier. I am a doomsday-person. I have never ever in my life felt this sense of God's presence and had the desire to choose the hard road with Him. David has always been that kind of person. So, he is ready to take the journey instinctively. But, again this is the Holy Spirit in David.

thanks so much for your prayers

Kim and David.

Update on David #5

Wednesday, 30 November 2011 at 20:46

Surgery is over. Surgeon came and talked to us and the surgery went exactly as according to plan. They did remove his left kidney and surrounding lymph nodes. There was a tumor that was taking up a large part of the kidney. So no surprise there, but definite verification.

They said that David was stable in surgery and should be up in the room in the next 30 minutes to an hour.

Recovery should go as planned.

Thanks so much for all the prayers.....keep them coming.. :-)

We are through one checkpoint now on to the next.....

praising God for a great team of doctors.

He has been with us all the way.

kim

Update on David #6

Thursday, 1 December 2011 at 10:49

David slept well most of the night, but is in quite a bit of pain. He is trying to move around in bed and hopes to get up in the chair today. Please pray for his pain to managed well so that he can improve and get moving around and heal more quickly. Thanks for all your prayers and support. The next couple of days will be quiet news-wise. But, will be busy trying to get David up walking and moving. We are so encouraged by all of you. Our faith is still strong. We are so amazed at His provision and peace and His grace.

Your prayers and notes have done much to encourage and love on us. God is everywhere in this. How fun to see Him in every step of this.

Love you all!

Update on David #7

Tuesday, 6 December 2011 at 21:13

Hello dear friends

i am wanting to update you on David.

We just had our follow up appointments and they all say he is progressing as expected. Praise God!!! I need to say again how blessed we are to have our doctors here. Jehovah Jireh!

His right kidney is functioning pretty well considering it is doing the work of two now. They expect it to continue to do well. David was referred to a kidney internist because the kidney they removed had some some minor kidney disease. So, they will monitor the right kidney throughout chemo and such.

We will see the oncologist on Dec 15th, but for now we go home (bandung) tomorrow (Dec 7th). Cannot wait to hug our kids and love on them and see friends and learn how to live a new way of living.

We are doing well. Growing and learning. The shock is wearing off. The grief is not as raw (at least for now) We are beginning to plan for the next wee bit for Christmas. Changing our plans from the US to staying in Indonesia and bringing Gracie here.

We are ready to sit as a family and just love on each other. So happy about this.

There is much to rejoice about this Christmas. God's fingerprints are everywhere throughout this whole process. Praising Him through grief has been so good. so new.

i get to feeling out of sorts and i cannot help but just fall into His arms and rest. This is so new for me and i am finding such joy in learning to rest when i want to fight to the end. now, i fight for a bit...kinda like a baby that is fighting sleep... then i just give up and rest and it feels so good. pray that i keep resting my hopes in HIM alone.

Please pray for David to experience continued healing and less and less pain. so far healing is happening really well.

David's peace is inspiring. He is so content. He is sad that the end of this means leaving us way to soon (barring a miracle)but, He has such confidence in the Lord. Love this guy!!!! So blessed to be going through this with him...

You all have been so amazing with your prayers and encouragement.

We love you all so much.

Kim and David

Update #8
11 December 2011

Hello,

Since we last wrote an update, there have been some changes that being made.

Last Thursday, we had a hard meeting with our director here at BAIS. During this meeting, we were told that we would need to return to the states in mid-January. These guys had such a hard decision to make here, and we believe that they prayed much about it and have only our best interest at heart. I would hate to have had to been in their shoes in that meeting. There reasonings are sound, and they are taking good care of us with insurance for the next couple of years. They are providing much assistance and care for us through out our time here as well. We honestly believe that these guys made a decision for us that we could not have made ourselves. And, it is a good decision. Living in Indonesia with this cancer would be difficult and good medical care (and David's oncologist) would be a ~2 hour flight away. We are very grateful for our administrative team at BAIS. They are all so faithful to the Lord and pray and dig into the Word. We are honored to have served under them. Thank you so much, Pete, Dan and Charity. We love you guys!

All that said, even good decisions can cause hurt and sadness. We leave a bit of our hearts here in Indonesia. We will miss our friends, church, work, and the students so very much. We will spend the next 39 days RAFTing like crazy with people, foods, places and our pets as well.
RAFT is an acronym for saying good bye well.
R-Reconcile
A-Affirm
F-Farewell
T-Think ahead

We leave for Singapore on Wednesday for follow up appts with the urologist and nephrologist. and we meet with the oncologist as well. We hope that David can begin Chemo at this time, and that the oncologist can have a protocol for David that can be easily transferred to a doctor in Texas or wherever the Lord has us land.

We are already praying about where God will have us. We pray that we will be patient and listen to exactly where and what God wants with this move. This is not an easy move for our kids. They have loved growing up overseas. The US is full of scary unknowns for them. Of course there are happy thoughts like What-a-burger, Taco Bueno, Walmart, drinking from the faucet and other western things. But, Emma mentioned today how much she will miss the mosque calls, and thinks that we will probably end up missing the things the most that annoy us now. like loud grocery stores.... They will miss foods that are not in Texas. They are afraid that people will not understand them. They are afraid of what it means to live in America. Their worldview is different. They are afraid of making mistakes and getting laughed at. and, i thank the Lord, that they are telling me these things. They are great kids. Praying that they can adapt well to yet another culture; the one that their parents know of but they really don't understand.

David is doing fairly well. He has begun having knee pain. This is scary cuz we do not know if it is because of the surgery or because the cancer is eating more of his bone. Praying even more and learning to have to lean on Jesus for all our fears and doubts. We go to Singapore at the end of this week and hope to get answers about the knee.

We are still in a strange place with this new idea of David having terminal cancer. Emma, Jeff, Grace and I have all had struggles waking up in the morning and thinking it was all a bad dream. Only to wake up more and find out it did all happen. Those are the hard moments for me, but God is still there, and He is showing me still how much He loves us.

I have the funny thing of having little movies play in my head.

The latest one is of us standing at the entrance to this path. It is dark, and thorny and ugly with scary trees. and the road is rocky full of holes. These holes are more like abysses. None of us want to take one step forward because we are afraid of tripping and falling into an abyss. We are all standing there looking at each other. Then, Jesus appears from the path. He has a light, but just enough for the next few steps in front of us. He reaches out His hand and tells us to walk with Him. I tell Him the road is rough, dark, scary, and unsure. He smiles at me gently, and then He tells me that He knows the road and that He planned the road long long ago and He knows how to walk it. The first step is the hardest isnt it. The one that says, Yes, Lord, I will trust You to take me down this terrible road. and, yes, Lord, i know that this is a road that was already travelled by you and approved by You. Once we take that step and faith builds on faith. It won't necessarily get happier, but it will still be good, because we are walking it with Him. And, He will lead us to our rest. This is how i am doing day to day. Having to wake up and take His hand and walk. Oh i still see the abysses and they still scare me and the road ahead looks darker and darker, but we are walking in the Light.

thanks for "listening" to me talk about the journey...
incredibly therapeutic to write it out. and, it is keeping me honest. ;-)

Thanks for you prayers and encouragement.

Much love to you guys!

Kim and David

Durham's in Indonesia!!

2010-11-18T14:11:00.004+07:00

What is the Durham clan learning these days?

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)

We are doing a whole lot of learning. We have really committed ourselves this year to growing in His truth and in our likeness of Him. We have also been desiring a different picture of what that means as a family. The book This Momentary Marriage by John Piper has been an amazing catalyst in the way we think about how our family is supposed to reflect the relationship the Father and has children. It has been humbling for us to think through our lives and wonder how we have been perceived. Have we always glorified the Father with our behaviour towards one another. It has been much to think about. We highly recommend the book to you. Also, we have been learning that He is a sovereign Lord: over finances, health, family, and most definitely our future. But, equally important, we are learning that He is good; maybe not always so easily understood, BUT HE IS GOOD!!! We are so loving that He never stops working on, in and through us. So humbling to realized that He chooses to use us, in spite of ourselves. :-)

David is relearning teaching Math and Sciences. He is finding that he missed it terribly, but He still loves teaching His 12th grade Bible class on Biblical Worldview and Transitioning to life post - high school and back to their home countries.

David and Kim are both learning what it must have felt like to our families as we prepared to leave to come overseas, now that this year we are preparing to send our oldest daughter back over the great seas to the United States to attend college. We are learning much about letting go and trusting the Father to care for Grace much more than we could ever do so.

And, we are learning a lot about faith. All of us are learning about living a life where the only thing that really matters is the glory of the One and Only God Who is to be glorified and magnified through our lives. Learning more and more that this life is not about us, but

about Him!

Praises and Prayer Requests

Grace’s Big News

Grace has received and official acceptance letter from Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is her dream school. So, needless to say she is jazzed beyond belief and is

praising God daily for His goodness. Please keep praying for scholarships. We know that Lord will provide according to His will and we rest in His sovereignty and His goodness.

Emma’s Competition

Em has been having a great freshman year in High School. We are so proud of her diligence and commitment level. Please pray for continued growth in her walk with the Lord and pray that she will continue to make good friends.

Jeff and Homeschool.

It is going great. Please continue to pray for wisdom in dealing with learning differences and for

diligence on both Jeff and Kim’s part. They are having fun and learning at the same time. Learning book stuff and more about each other. So much fun!!!

Abi is loving 1st grade

Nothing could be better for Abi. She is thrilled to be in school. She is still by far the best at tearing down walls between cultures and beliefs. She sees no difference between her and anyone. She talks to anyone about anything..no judgements, no hiding, no fear. I pray that she

matures but never changes. She is such a blessing to us. Gotta love God’s surprises.

Fun times with snakes!

The Lord keeps us safe here. We have found three snakes in our back yard: 2 Cobras and a Rat

snake. Our school security is on constant snake patrol at our school looking for snakes and protecting our kids from them as well. They recently found a reticulated Python. The kids were thrilled when we received a phone call telling us we could come and see it. (See photo) There has been a lot of education on what to do if you see a snake. Abi is so fun when she comes home and tells us what we need to do when we see a snake. :-) We are learning that this is part of life here and are adjusting our habits - like looking down before you take a step....

abi loved the snake so much. wishing she had a little more fear
this thing was over 3 meters long!
not loving snakes at the house, but it was kinda pretty!

Check out my facebook acct for more fun pics of our life here in Indonesia!

thanks so very much for all your prayers and support,

david and kim and the rest of the clan

Contact Info:

David and Kim Durham

c/o Bandung Alliance

International School

Jalan Bujanggamanik Kav. 2

Kota Baru Parahyangan

Bandung 40553

Indonesia

EMAIL:

david.kim.durham@gmail.com

INTERNATIONAL PHONE#

903-704-4148

NICS HOME OFFICE:

(PLEASE USE THIS ADDRESS FOR

ANY FINANCIAL GIFTS )

NETWORK OF INTERNATIONAL

CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

3790 GOODMAN RD E

SOUTHAVEN, MS 38672

U.S.A.

More notes....so sorry that it has been so long

2010-05-03T21:45:00.000+07:00

Dearest Friends and Family,

Rainy season is over. Dry season is in its beginning stages. A few rain drops here and a few showers there but all in all, the rain is a bidding us farewell. Many of my friends are happy about this, but I for one, am sad. I love the rainy season. The smell of fresh rain, the clouds helping to hide a fierce, hot sun, the green grass and beautiful flowers (including my wonderful orchids that a student’s parents gave us), and a plethora of other reasons bring me much joy and much comfort. I am in awe of His creation more during the rainy season.

But, the dry season does have its advantages. I can ride my bike without fear of being doused before I get to shelter. I can count on getting my clothes dry by noon on the clothesline and my kids like to get suntans ☺

OK! Enough about weather

We are doing well. Winding down the school year.

David is winding down his responsibilities as chaplain and member care coordinator. He is excited to return to the classroom on a full time basis next year. We have enjoyed the roles he has had the last two years. We have fed new teachers dinner one Tuesday a month for two years now, and helped guide them through their first year overseas. This has been so fulfilling to us. But, it has also drained David as he has found that he definitely loves to minister to folks in this way, but he really does enjoy the administrative side of things. So back to behind the scenes we go!

He will teach Accounting/Statistics, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Physics, and Grade 12 Bible. He is so glad to be “home” again.

Please pray for the finishing up of the year that he will finish his roles well. And, for next year that he will be able to honor the Father in teaching his classes.

Kim will take on a full time role of homeschooling Jeff. This is NOT a part time job. That has been her new discovery for the year. Jeff has been so patient with her. Love that boy. They are both looking forward to being able to have the whole day to do school and ministry and application of what they have learned.

Please pray for her to have patience with Jeff and herself. Pray for wisdom of when to move on from a lesson and when to stick with it until mastery. Pray for this to be a time for her and Jeff to really make memories (preferably good ones ☺)

The kids are pretty busy themselves

Grace has taken the SAT twice this year and the ACT once. She has had reconstructive knee surgery with the possibility of another surgery next week. She is Eliza Dolittle in Pygmalion this week (two performances) and has her AP US History exam on the same day; then to Singapore for the possible surgery and then back to school for final exams. Aduh!!! Craziness.

Grace is still hoping and praying for an opportunity to go to China this summer to work with children in orphanages or camps. Please pray for the Father’s leading in this. And for Mom who is still learning to let go. Also, please pray for upcoming senior year and wisdom in college choices.

Em is finishing off Middle School and heading to High School. We are glad to see her growing in many ways. She really loves to read. She has been making some good friends as of late and for that we are praising Dad like crazy.

Please pray for the transition into High School to go smoothly and that Em will lean on the Father for EVERYTHING.

Jeff is hoping to add some sports to his schedule next year. He is soooo excited about the World Cup. He has asked me to make sure his allegiance to Brasil is made known to all of you. ☺ That boy loves his World Cup.

Please pray as we said above that home school will be a good experience for him and that he will learn to the best of his ability.

Abi graduates from kindergarten this year. Where did the time go? According to Abi, she is ready to get to 1rst grade so that she can go to 2nd grade. We are telling her to slow down and enjoy the ride, but she feels frustrated being so much younger than her siblings and is feeling the need to catch up. Ha ha.

Please pray for Abi as she is having a hard time focusing at school. And that she will continue to love Jesus and grow in Him.

Thanks so much for praying for us and for supporting us through so many years. Your consistent notes of encouragement and your financial support have humbled us and encouraged us so much.

We are praying for you guys as well!!!

David and Kim for the rest of us Durhams

October Notes

2009-10-29T12:28:00.003+07:00

hello to all our prayer warriors and teammates,

all is going pretty good here. we have really learned alot about earthquakes too. we now feel even the smallest ones that we had missed before because now we know what they feel like. although we have experienced no damage or injuries or loss of life, that cannot be said for many in our host country.

please pray for those who have lost family members, homes and health. please be thinking of those who have gone to help with rebuilding and all that goes with that. please pray for us as we have an opportunity to spend 10 days being more sets of hands and able bodies to help with the construction and feeding and aiding many who have nothing left.

david in the groove of teaching, being chaplain, and member care. he has recently added seminary student to that list. he is doing a seminary online degree with asia theological baptist seminary. it is online classes and seminar classes. he is pretty busy with it all. but, so far it is a good busy.

a major praise here is that he got a HUGE break on his tuition. he is paying about $50 US for each credit hour. this makes each class cost about $152. we are praising the Father for this.

grace is keeping busy. her injury to her knee from soccer remains to be a concern. although 2 readings of her mri show no ligament or cartilage damage, she still feels quite a bit of instability and a feeling as though her leg is going to “snap” (her words). the mri did show bone bruising and swollen bone marrow. we are trying to figure out some rehab on our own. she is doing well in school. homework definitely keeping her busy this year. she is planning on some upcoming trips to give her more of a window into what kind of work she might be interested in doing in the future.

please pray for grace that she will continue to follow hard after her King; asking the Father to glorify Himself through her life. she has had some amazing opportunities here to learn that she truly wants to live her life only for Him. the temptation to take the easy road is there though. so please pray that she will always choose the road that He wants for her, not just the path of least resistance.

emma is doing well except for her allergies. she is really struggling with new allergies all the time. she has had a couple of big reactions since we have returned. we are learning to quickly deal with it with some benadryl. her schooling is going well. she has really become an avid reader. (more like rabid) cannot get her enough books. this is a good thing :-). we are also learning so much about emma the last few months. she is so loving and caring and responsible. we praise the Lord for that and also for her love for Him.

please pray for emma that she will be an avid reader of the Word as well. and that she will learn more and more how to put into practice all that she reads so that she can glorify Him in all she does as well. please pray for em to remember all her meds so that she can keep a good base line with her allergies.

jeff is being home-schooled this year. we are having a blast. we really are. i am learning so much about him and his learning styles. and, i am learning about his heart. oh how i love his heart. he is so in love with the Father. he struggles with being frustrated with his learning difficulties, but he is learning more and more everyday that he is to glorify the Lord with the abilities He has given him. we are also excited to see him begin to take responsibility for his own Spiritual growth.

please pray for jeff that he will not compare himself to others and that he will be focussed only on what the Father expects and desires from him. pray for him that He will continue to have a hunger for the Word and learning how to glorify his Father.

abi is still a hoot. she is learning so much too. kindergarden is her favorite thing. she gets so upset when it is the weekend. go figure. she is learning to read and spell. abi continues to struggle with her fine and gross motor skills and this is causing some problems with art and pe. but, she really does not let it slow her down. she has been a joy to us through some rough patches as of late. she is so naturally funny. we thank the Father everyday for our funny little joy!!!!

please pray for abi to even now begin to understand that she is made for the purpose of glorifying her King and that we will be good examples of that for her and all of our kids.

pray for abi to not become frustrated at her inabilities to draw, color, cut or play sports.

we thank you all for your amazingly consistent support and prayers. we are humbled by you all. thanks so much!!!. we lift you up before our Father as well. please let us know how to best do that.

much love to all of you.

serving Him together

the durhams

earthquakes, famines, and lots of growth

2009-09-08T01:48:00.001+07:00

we have been back for well over a month now. it has already had its tough moments, but the chiseling is welcome. we are content to be chiseled by the Father. we want to resemble His Son so badly. we have talked a lot about learning more and more to depend less on ourselves and whole lot on His grace, His Word and His Spirit. we are so blessed to have a Father Who loves us enough to discipline and nurture and redeem.

well last week, as many of you know, we lived through our first earthquake. i (kim) was home with a sick grace, while david was at school with the rest of our kiddos. about 5 minutes before school was to let out, we all felt a small short bubble pop under our feet and then a small wave and then it was 1-2 minutes of continuous wave-like movement. it was disarming. for just a bit, grace and i looked at each other like one of us was doing something to cause this weird sensation. then, our pembantu (precious, precious lady) grabbed grace and motioned and said something in indonesian (i had no clue whatsoever as to what she was saying, but her face said it all) and she had us all huddled under our doorframe. and here is the funny thing, i began to pray fervently, because i truly had no idea what was about to happen. i was standing there praying my heart out and about half way into it, i realized i was praying in spanish. my grace looked at me like i had lost my mind. ibu was praying in indonesian, i was praying in spanish and grace was silently praying in whatever of her many languages she chose. oh what beauty there is in the family of the Father, where we can all pray in many languages all heard as one by our Maker. so, anyway, the other kids came home with stories galore. abi though could not stand to be alone and asked 1,000,000 questions about earthquakes. she would cry off and on and talk about the fear she had to go back to school the next day. we prayed with her and over her during the night, and she got up the next morning and went to school and had a great day. no tears, but remained cautious. we praise the Father for her having such a wonderful teacher who cared enough to take some class time to talk and pray through the events of the day before.

this weekend, we will have a famine. we are having a 30 hour famine at our school to raise awareness about the abject poverty in this world we live in. pray with us, that the youth leadership team will use the wisdom of the Father to help the youth see that we are to love and serve others because of the overflow of love from the Father in us. and that we do NOTHING in our own names or our own power but all, every little thing in the name, power and love of the Father. oh that we could teach them to learn the lesson that seems to belay me time after time after time; that being we have to stay in an abiding relationship with Him and that through that abiding we grow and grow in our love for Him and through that love, we learn to glorify Him over all things. pray that this message gets across as we talk about His command to love our neighbors, and to care for the poor, the orphans and the widows.

we have been growing so much already this year. and as mentioned above it has not been with out its growing pains. pray for all of us that we daily surrender to Him EVERYTHING that is keeping us from Him. Pray that we read the Word for all it is worth.

we are so very grateful for you all. you are the most encouraging friends and supporters. we are blessed to have you all. praise the Father with us that we are staying consistent in our support. we are right at 95 - 100% of our support. this is such a testimony to your faithfulness to His work here in what the Father has called us to do. your prayers are absolutely crucial to the work here. please do not cease to pray for each of us. we are praying for you as well. let us know if there is anything you would like us to pray about specifically.

praises:

all is well after the earthquake

our health is returning gradually. better each day.

wonderful homeschooling experience for mom and jeff

a great study of learning how to fight for joy....gotta love John Piper.

prayers:

grace and kim are still recovering from a tough bout with the flu

grace missed a week of school and is battling a lot of make-up work

emma is struggling through the possibility of even more friends leaving the school

pray for our school that it will be a reflection of the Father

pray for the 30 hour famine

pray colossians 1:9-14 for us.

thanks so very much

serving Him together

the durhams

david, kim, grace, emma and jeff

another update/ prayer request

2009-04-25T12:33:00.002+07:00

Hello again

wow two posts in less than a month.....

this one is more of a prayer request. please pray with us as many options for a vehicle for the trips we need to take have fallen through. we have looked at flying and riding trains for all our travels and this adds up to approximately $2500 minimum. please pray for wisdom as we look at all our options. we are trying to be good stewards of what so many of you have given. please pray that we will be wise with our funds, and that we will see what it is the Lord would have us do.

we are so appreciative of your prayers and your friendship.

the durhams

is it really already April

2009-04-13T14:04:00.001+07:00

we are so sorry for the elapsing of time with no update from us. we have barely had enough time to stop and rest as of late.

david’s job is full on now. his chaplaincy is taking shape and is continuing to grow as is his role of local member care coordinator. he is really going to have to learn to delegate. he has already been learning that necessity. he is heading up committees on general member care, new staff orientation, and big brother/big sister and new teacher mentors. he is also heading up the rewriting of a new orientation manual for introducing new folk to indonesia. on top of all that he is preparing for next year for heading of the chapel committee and starting of new things for next year. he is busier than he has ever been.

please pray for him to be sustained by the energy that only God can give. as God to help david to grow in leadership abilities and to maintain a vision from the Lord. please pray that no matter how busy things get that he will always seek His time with the Lord FIRST.

kim is continuing to learn to work in a background role. she is finding much peace in it.
she is learning more and more about how to help Jeff, Em, and Abi in there sensory integration issues. finding the time at home to be helpful in reading and learning how to best help them with their schooling.

please pray that kim will continue to abide in Him and to look only at how to best glorify Him and not herself. pray for continued wisdom on raising her kids to follow hard after God and to lose themselves in Him.

grace is facing a busy time ahead. she will be going to a swim tournament in bali on 17 april. then she has an ap exam for european history on the 8th of may, then she is playing the role of amy in little women on the 15th of May and then finals begin a week later. in the midst of all that are projects and life. :-)

please pray that grace will place her trust in the Lord to provide energy and ability. please pray that grace will learn to discipline herself in His strength and not her own.
pray for safety on the trip to bali.

emma is also going to bali to swim for BAIS at the tournament. she also has major projects and final exams coming. she is doing quite well with school this year. her health, however, has not been good this semester. we are still trying to find out what is causing all these major allergic reactions.

please pray for healing and wisdom regarding allergies and also praise Him with us that emma is really seeing God in her life throughout her allergies. she expresses no complaints and just takes it day by day. there is not one ounce of resentment in her heart about what she can and cannot do or what she can and cannot eat. she has been an example to us all of how to seek the Lord’s peace.
please pray for her stress level during the end of May and first of June as these are very overwhelming times for her. (finals and projects)

jeff is really struggling in school this semester. we are praying that we find an answer soon to his difficulties in math. he is trying to maintain a good attitude but feels defeated so much of the time. he has enjoyed playing soccer and basketball this year. he has been voted twice as the most encouraging player on both teams. that makes his parents smile BIG TIME.

please pray for jeff that he will continue to have a heart that longs for God. that he will trust all his days to the One who made him just the way he is.

abi has had a wonderful year. she and our neighbor’s daughter amber have become the best of friends. they are virtually inseparable. abi loves school and cries during holidays because there is no school. (the other kids do not get that at all :-))

please pray for abi because amber will be moving to another island in indonesia and they will not see each other again for a long time. please pray that abi learns to say goodbye in a healthy manner. pray that she trusts the Lord to protect her heart so that she does not begin to shut down of friends who might be leaving.

we survive our best through your prayers. please do not cease to pray for us. the enemy is at work here in this place. he seeks to steal our joy day after day. sometimes he does this through conflicts at work or personal conflicts. sometimes he is more stealth like and does it through our health. other times there is just a sense of discouragement and darkness that just drains us and causes us to stumble under fears
that are not based on the Light.

please pray for all of us that we will abide in Him daily, that we will become “biblically saturated” and “spirit-led”.

so many times we make the mistake of trying to move forward on our own strength or our own wisdom and we fall and it hurts. we are trying to focus ourselves in the Word and through good preaching of the truth (thanks so much jim for your sermons) we also listen to and read a lot of John Piper. he has been so convicting in his love for the Scriptures and his desire to be biblically saturated. he been an amazing example to us. grace loves to listen to him too. we are excited to see our kids grow in the Word.

We are planning to return home to Texas around the 11th of June. we are going to be traveling a lot. we will send a better schedule out soon.

thanks so much to all of you for all that you have done for us and all that you are doing. we do NOT take you all for granted and are so honored and blessed to count you as friends and partners in what He has called us to do.

Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year

2008-12-30T18:33:00.007+07:00

it was another warm CHRISTmas here in indonesia, in both meanings of the word. it was a blazing 93 degrees with a stifling humidity. but it was also warm for the heart. we spent the day with good friends and had very good food. we are always so amazed at the "family" God has given us when we are overseas. i (kim) found myself to be very homesick this year. i think it is the improvement of technology. we now get to see pics of what we are missing. this is both wonderful and sad all at the same time. seeing drew at the family christmas night at FBC was so funny and we even felt like we were there. we laughed so hard our sides hurt just imagining seeing it live. thanks jennie for posting those. we got to see family pictures from kim's side of the family. it was so amazing seeing how everyone has grown, but sad to realize what things we have missed. so sorry Grant that i will not see you graduate and that i never saw a single game of your senior year. i am so proud of you and not so much because of what you do but because of who you are. we got to see pics of haylee all grown up, when we left she was just starting to crawl.

we shared all that above to let you know that even though we are so glad to be where God wants us to be, there are still struggles with missing home and family and friends and all that comes with all that. please pray for us as we are away from family.

we are still in the middle of a great break from school and work. it has been so restful. on friday we head to the beach. this will most likely become a family tradition because of how inexpensive and amazingly beautiful it is. we also get to eat seafood everynight that is caught that day and cooked for us on the grill. yes, we are truly suffering. we are looking forward to a great week of family time with games and times of playing games and talking. oh and swimming and once again attempting to boogie board without planting my face in the bottom of the indian ocean. not a very nummy experience.

we have been praying for all of you to experience CHRISTmas and new years that glorifies the Lord and honors Him and brings much glory to Him and joy to you.

Prayer Requests.

David: for a good beginning to a second semester.
that he will be used by God to bring students to Him and that he can teach them to see and seek His glory.
that he will continue to organize himself better and better so that he schedules do not conflict
wisdom in leadership
beginning seminary soon

Kim: for a balanced schedule of work, study and family time
patience in parenting
being all about Him and not about me.
continued wisdom in being volunteer nurse for the school

Grace: feeling so tired all the time
she is at the halfway point for her support for SeaTribes trip
finish the school year well.
learn to lean on Him and doing only what she knows is her best.

Emma: finish the school year well.
friendships
her allergies are flaring up again.

Jeff: has lost a lot of friends this year. (all moving to other countries). the last friend leaving is his best friend, Karston
finish the school year well.
school struggles

Abi: abi has asked Jesus into her life!!!!!!!!!!!!
pray for her young mind and heart to understand His love more and more
and even at the age of 5 she can start living for, in, and through Him.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and financial support. we are not unaware of the sacrifices you all make with your time and finances. we are blessed beyond all measure and we are asking the Lord to hold you in His hands and protect you and cause you to grow more and more in Him as you live for Him and walk in His way.

thanks so very much

more musings from the durhams

2008-10-27T11:12:00.005+07:00

only one life,
’twill soon be past;
only what’s done
for Christ
will last.

just read that out of John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life. i am so convicted by this book. so many times i find myself fretting over this and that. i get so weary. when i read this, i realized all that i fretted over had little to do with Christ. so convicting. i found myself just pleading with Him to help me focus on what is of Him. i dream of the day when i respond in a manner worthy of His gracious love for me. i am so glad that i do not have do anything (better said...can't do anything) to earn His love, forgiveness or favor. i praise Him daily for loving me, forgiving me and favoring me in spite of my failings. it is this Love that makes me want to do all for Him. This was on my heart.....thanks for reading
now for the update:

Wow!!! ok so we begin realizing more and more that we are “not in Kansas anymore, Toto.” So yeah, we have not had internet more than we have had it.....sad :-(
it has affected us more these last two months more than any other time since we have been here. all that to say.....we are so sorry to have not communicated more.
i have been able to borrow some internet from friends periodically to check email and facebook (the beloved facebook) but that is pretty much it.

we are having such a great time this year. both of us continue to be amazed that He is so amazing faithful to us to give us things to do that fill us up. truly, in all our busyness we are not getting all that tired. it so fun to be doing what He has chosen for us. we get up ready to start the day with a whistle and a spring in our steps. that is fun....thanks for praying because we truly believe that it is the strength of the Father through your prayers that is sustaining us.

david is really growing in his new positions of chaplain and member care coordinator. he is having meetings with individual students on a near daily basis. this is so cool, because he was not sure how many would voluntarily sign up for these 1 on 1 (or 1 on 2) times. turns out he has no free spaces left on his sign up sheet. these students have really shared their souls with him.
please pray for him that the Father will give him His wisdom and His words to share with the kids who need the Love of an almighty Father.
please pray as well for david as he decides on the best plan of action for a distance learning seminary.

kim is having a blast serving up dinners 3 tuesdays each month. the first tuesday is always for new staff (for more orientation and just see how they are doing), then the 2nd tuesday is for a few teachers and spouses at a time (just for food and fun, and the 3rd tuesday is for students (we invite the whole class for food, fun, and fellowship). she loves cooking and watching others enjoy themselves and relax. what a blessing to use the gifts He has given in order to serve others and offer a respite from exhaustion, stress and culture stress.
please pray for kim to seek His peace and remember for Whom she is really doing it all. please pray for our budget as these dinners sometimes stretch it pretty thin...on that same thought please pray for Kim to lay this in the Father’s hands. she needs to remember that He loves her more than anything she can imagine and the He can be trusted in EVERYTHING

grace has once again been chosen to go on the Sea Tribes trip where she gets involved with children and house families as well as learning more and more about culture. She is immersed in it here.
please pray for grace as she does this trip again. there is a lot of prep work for this trip and she will once again need to raise funds for the trip. pray that she will grow to trust in Him more as she sees this trip come to be because of His provision (nothing that she has done herself)

emma is still struggling a bit with her allergies. it took us by surprise a bit, because she had been doing so well since we got here. now, her asthma and eczema seem to be a daily problem.
please pray for His healing touch on her health. also please pray for her as she has middle school struggles as well. especially pray for friendships that glorify the Father.

jeff is having a good year again. he was blessed to keep that same teacher. she is a kind and compassionate teacher. jeff has had some struggles with having good friends this year.
please pray for godly friends and a continued good attitude in school and at home.

abi is asking so many questions about having a relationship with the Father.
please pray for her young heart to accept Him and that she would grow up in Him 

we have been watching the news from home. we are praying for all of you as the election draws near that God will bring to your mind who it is He would have you vote for. it is once again strange to watch our country's struggles from a very long distance away.
we are also watching the economy as it is doing its thing. i have never understood economic things very well, but i am fervently praying that God will bring peace and wisdom to all those who are struggling.

we would sure like to hear how you are doing.........hint hint.......how can we pray for you?

Crazy Busy but Awesome Times

2008-08-26T19:57:00.003+07:00

Hello again.
so sorry for being so long again. please pray for consistent internet and for my web page program to start working again.

I am writing to you from a new blog because my old webpage is experiencing serious technical difficulties. i believe it is still accessible but it is not editing very well.

we are all doing ok here in Indonesia. we are feeling at home. it took longer here than in Bolivia. not sure why. just noting that in a conversation with some friends here. we do love it here. some really good friends and a great job.

this school year is gearing up to be a busy one, but we truly believe that God has something amazing in store for our school. we have almost 200 students in our school this year. this is a huge praise. He is faithful.

our new administration team, Pete and Charity, could use your prayers for strength, wisdom from Him, and energy this year. it is proving to be a busy and tough one early on. they are a phenomenal team. we are grateful for their humble, godly leadership. david and i have partnered with these guys in prayer and accountability.

david is going to need your prayers for wisdom, strength, and energy as well. he is so excited about his role this year. he is so energized to be offering spiritual leadership to staff and students. pray that God will bless him with wisdom and godly counsel.

kim is working as the school nurse and teaching health. this is not quite the stretch of teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) was last year. :-) she is enjoying teaching the class. she so loves to be in contact with the students and engaging them in conversation about their lives and thoughts. pray for good relationships with the students.

the kiddos are having a great beginning of the school year. new friends, new classes and new teachers. we are so blessed to have such flexible children.

thanks so much for all your prayers and your financial support of the work that goes on here at the school. it is such a blessing. we could not do what we are doing here if it were not for you. thanks for being a most vital part of what goes on in our work with these kids at this school.

we are humbled and honored to have you as friends!!!

We got this idea from some friends of ours in Bolivia:

We are reading:

kim: Crazy Love by Francis Chan....highly recommend his podcasts as well.
The Shack by William Young...jury is still out/have not decided what i think yet
My Bible (ESV) daily.....my favorite book
Cost of Discipleship by Deitrich Bonhoeffer...tough read/convicting
Peacemaker by Ken Sande....CONVICTING and awesome

david: Mars Hill Classified Series by Austin Boyd
The Warriors by Mark Andrew Olsen...go Mark, man this is awesome stuff.
Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders
Peacemaker by Ken Sande
My Bible

grace: Black by Ted Dekker
When God Writes Your Life Story by Eric and Leslie Ludy
The Chase by Jerry Bridges
My Bible

emma: The Silver Chair by CS Lewis
Her Bible

jeff: Holes by ?
My Bible

abi. my first Bible by Kenneth Taylor
anything by Dr Seuss

love you guys
have a great day
reflect Him in all you do

david, kim, grace, em, jeff, and abi

Shine Brightly

2008-02-18T14:12:00.002+07:00

Ok so that is probably not the greatest picture of shining bright but i think it will actually be better for a point that was shown to me earlier (besides the fact that i have not infringed on any copyrights :-) )

So anyway, i was sitting at starbucks (surprise, surprise) i was sitting in one of the comfy chairs (another surprise because they are usually taken) and i was doing some prep work for a Bible study on conflict management that i am doing with a new friend of mine. i am also listening to my ipod in order to drown out the starbucksy music. then i look up from the Scriptures and the book, and i see this poster; it says “Shine Brightly” and another one that said “Find Your Glow.” i was intrigued. so i read on (squinting because i am getting older and finding hard to admit that i need stronger lenses in my glasses....again) and it says “Find Your Glow ... with our new tea lattes.” and “Shine Bright...while trying a new tea latte.” Ok, all of you should know that i am a true starbucks fan, but something really bugged me here. starbucks was advertising for great teas by getting us where we live. Everyone wants to shine bright. There is not one person out there that is not looking for their glow. it is just that most do not know what it is they are looking for. and i am sorry starbucks, but it ain’t tea. we are made to seek, to search out that something more that will make us warm, peaceful, and glowing. It is Jesus. It is Him. Nothing and no one else. Not one thing this world has to offer can cause us to shine bright or glow. we were made to worship. our sole purpose in life is to reflect His glory right back to Him.

sitting in starbucks was a wonderful insightful moment. i loved it, i felt like i had some kind of epiphany. the Lord spoke, i listened, i responded. it was awesome. but just as i was thinking how wonderful it was i began to realize even on the “angkot” ride to starbucks i was not showing His glory. i was frustrated cuz i could not sit near the window therefore it was hot and humid and a little smelly. i was irritated when i walked into starbucks because my favorite chair was taken (one, by the way, if i had sat in i would not have seen the posters). i had fussed at grace for something she had no control over right before i left for starbucks. i had let my glow, my ability to “shine brightly” be dimmed by my own interests, my own desires, my own moods.

as soon as i put my focus on myself or even others there is no glory to be reflected back to God, instead i often hinder His plan and most definitely hinder His glory. BUT, when i am putting my focus where it belongs, on Him..abiding in Him, and imitating Him, then i am giving Him what He wants, what He deserves, what He demands. i am giving Him His rightful worship. i am reflecting Him back to Him.

emma had told me before. “mom, be the moon” meaning be the reflection of the Light, not the source.

"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10

2008-02-04T15:01:00.000+07:00

such a familiar verse. one that i was reminded of by reading another blog. i have forgotten that recently. i have been living my life real small lately. i have been forgetting to ALWAYS live it through Him and His power. aaarrrrgggghhh i am so amazed He has not shaken His finger at me and fussed at me good, but no He oh so very lovingly, patiently, and faithfully shown me that i am falling flat on my face at every turn.

i am so glad that He lovingly disciplines us and does not allow us to stay in our path of destruction. what a pity that would be, because then we could not live our life abundantly.

this week is Week Without Walls at our school. this is a time when the students divide into various groups and participate in acts of service or cultural experiences. david is taking part in a group that teaches ESL to young adults here in bandung. he is experiencing joy in this as he sees how relationships are being built. grace is going overnight to an indonesian boarding school which is interested in bridging the gap between their cultures. we are excited to see grace interested in this. emma is participating with a group working with a deaf school and she has learned a lot of sign language and is looking forward to building friendships. jeff is in a group that is going to be interacting with some kids that go to various indonesian schools. he gets to play with them and go out to eat with them. jeff is geared perfectly for this group because of his love for playing and his love for people. abi is helping to cook and fill up "boxes of love" we are so blessed to be a part of a school that serves its community.

please pray that we will "live large" but not in, of or for ourselves but for God's glory and His renown.

please continue to pray for us regarding housing. we need patience, wisdom and a quiet spirit to know what it is God wants for us. (as opposed to simply wanting something for ourselves)

please pray for the school. we are building a new school campus and are praying that the funds will continue to come in for that and that all the builders will be safe.

please pray too for all the changes that will occur because of the move. many families have lived in this current community for years and it is difficult to think about what to do regarding schooling and housing. pray for peace for them.

please continue to pray for our health. this does seem to always be where satan likes to get us. nothing serious, but just nagging, frustrating and tiresome.

we again are so grateful for your prayers and your support. we thank God for each of you.

with much love and appreciation

david, kim, grace, emma, jeff and abi