Anna Resurget

This morning I read something from Charles de Foucauld in Meditations of a Hermit.  “The hour in our life in which we are best empoyed is the hour in which we best love Jesus.  A soul does good to others not in the measure of its knowledge or intelligence but in that of its holiness.”

I was reminded of Timberley’s story about tucking Anna into bed one night.  Anna was not reading as she normally was, but simply staring at the ceiling.  Timberley asked her if everything was okay.  Anna answered, “Oh, Mommy, I just love Jesus so much.”

During lunchtime–I believe it was the day of Anna’s accident–she asked Timberley at the table, “Mommy, what are the spiritual fruit that I lack in my life?”  Then followed a long discussion about each of the spritual fruit, and  an assessment of each person in the family.

Anna was able to keep her relationship with Jesus present in her mind at all times.  She oriented her life based on who she was in Christ.  She chose her clothes based on who she was in Christ.  (It greatly bothered her that when we came back to the US when she was in the second grade, all the girls wore short pants to school as part of a uniform.  She did not like showing her knees and thought that she would have to follow suit.  She chose instead to wear long pants or a skirt.)  She chose the words she said and the way she listened to the words of others based on who she was in Christ.  The walls of her bedroom that surrounded her bed were covered with laminated scripture vereses that Timberley provided her.  She wanted the last thing she saw at night to be some of her favorite Bible verses.

I write these things not to draw attention to Anna, but to draw attention to her Lord.  I would want each nine-year-old girl to know that there is a Savior who loves her.  I would want her to know that it is okay to devote yourself to your God.  I would want her to know that it is okay to dress modestly.  It is okay not to show everyone your shoulders and knees, and more.  It is okay to where a one-piece bathing suit at the swimming pool.  I would want her to know that it is okay to be serious about life.  It is okay to love good music and good books.  I want her to know that it is okay to love Jesus with all your heart.  And if the example of Anna helps to get that message across, then I will tell her story.

Hello, everyone.  Or at least, hello, to readers here.  I have not told you much lately about the doings and goings on of our family.  My recent posts have mostly been about some school assignments written by Anna that I think show something of her soul even when performing a mundane task.  I did tell you some of Timberley’s trip to Indonesia, but not much since then.

Timberley and Sam at the Trinity Spring Concert

Samuel finished his year at Trinity with a bang.  He performed a beautiful solo with the school choir in the song “Shenandoah.”  Later in the same concert, he sang a duet with a good friend, “Here Comes the Sun.”  He also played baseball this past spring.  It was his first opportunity playing organized ball, as was true for many of his teammates.  Trinity Academy was fielding their first team ever.  There was a pretty steep learning curve as they went up against stiff competition right out of the gate.  After early blow outs, things settled down and the team actually wound up with a winning record.  On May 7, the last game of the season, Samuel collected his first hit and made his first put out in the outfield.  He finished well.

At the awards ceremony, Sam was honored with a national Latin honors award for achieving one of the highest scores on a national standardized Latin exam.  He received the middle school choir member award.  He was recognized for being accepted into the Duke TIP program, an academic talent search that covers the southeast states.  The final award of the evening was an award the school presents to the student who most demonstrates Christ-likeness in their work and attitudes.  Samuel won that award for the seventh grade.  We are very proud of him.

Sam at Awards Night with VA Grandma and CA Papa. His awards are in the background.

Earlier this summer I made a trip with a colleague of mine from the seminary and eight of our students to Malaysia.  We spent two weeks there working with international students in Kuala Lumpur and then working with a variety of people in the northern city of Penang.  It was a very good week.  We saw people come to the Lord.  We shared the gospel and answered questions for international Muslim students.  We witnessed an evangelistic meeting in an aboriginal village, in which the whole village came to follow Christ as Savior.  It was a very exciting two weeks.

When I returned home it was Timberley and Samuel’s turn to go.  They went with a youth group from our church to New Jersey where they helped with a World Changers project.  They worked in small groups doing home renovations for needy people in Neptune, NJ.  During the week, in addition to doing a lot of hard word, Timberley’s team was able to witness to their home owner, who accepted Christ.  His wife has not yet made a decision to believe, but she has started attending church with her husband and is much more open than when the team first arrived.

All in all, it has been a productive summer.  It has been a good summer in many ways.  We are just looking forward to it cooling down now!

I recently began a new format for my quiet time, reviving an old practice that Timberley and I had used after we got married.  It comes from a book that she gave me that is basically a guide for one’s daily time with God.  It comes from a liturgical tradition and the Bible readings are based on the liturgical calendar.  The prayer time each day is based on the simple formula: “Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.”  I made a new prayer list with three pages.  The first I used to list needs at our church that I could lift up to God.  The second page is a list of other people for whom I pray.  The third page is a personal list of prayer items.  On the second page I began listing family members, and almost without thinking the third name I listed, after Timberley and Samuel, was Anna.  As I did so, I asked myself, “What do I need to pray concerning Anna?”

First, I pray not so much for Anna, but because of Anna.  I give thanks to God that for nine years he gave us a blessing.  Anna was a joy to be around.  Yes, there were challenges.  Clothing tags.  Her over-zealous (in my opinion) affection for all animal life.  But these were so small in comparison to the joys.  Her music.  Her joy for living.  Her wisdom.  Her contagious love for Christ.  Her deep desire to do what was right and to please the Lord in all things.  Her affectionate love for her brother.  I don’t know how to describe her love for her mother and me.  I know that she thought that all things good came from her mother, and she modeled so much of who she was on watching and listening to Timberley.  And so I thank God for the blessing of those nine years.

Related to the first, but a little different is that I can thank God for the memory of those nine years.  What I mean is that not only did we have that time together, but now God has given me the opportunity to remember, to ponder, to reflect upon those memories.  In a sense, the memories then become something more meaningful than the actual events themselves.  It is not that I am creating a new memory, but rather that as I reflect on past events, I can bring those memories and reflections to bear on present circumstances, and the conversation between the two becomes something greater than the sum of the two by themselves.

Third, I can pray for Anna.  I have said this before, but just because Anna has died, it does not follow that all is finished for her.  It is not as if she has ceased to exist.  Certainly not!  She is waiting  in aniticipation for the fulfillment of all things just as we are here.  Although she is enjoying the presence of the Lord in some way, she is still awaiting the day of Christ’s return “when the dead shall be raised.”  According to Paul, on that day she will rise first and meet the Lord in the air.  And then we who are alive (if that day comes soon enough!) shall follow in her wake.  No, Anna’s life is far from over.  Her hopes and expectations are far from being completely fulfilled.  She has yearnings in her present state that I know not of.  Her enjoyment of the Lord’s presence is perhaps creating in her a more bitter longing, if I may use the expression, since she sees more clearly than I what is to come.  She knows more clearly than I what will be, but what is not yet.  And so I can only imagine that the longing in her for Christ’s return and final victory is more overwhelming for her than for me.  And so I can pray for Anna that all of her longings would be fulfilled soon.

Finally, I believe that even after the return of Christ, when all things are fulfilled, we will not be released from our utter dependence on the Lord for all things.  In fact, I would imagine that we would be even more aware of our constant need for Christ after we have been raised.  And so I can pray that the Lord will continue to look after Anna.  I can pray that he will keep her safe and secure until the end of all things.  I can pray these things not because there is any doubt that God will do them.  On the contrary, I can pray them because I have certainty that God will do them.

[From  Todd: See the post titled “Men Are Just Tools.”  Also, see the link at the top of the blog for “Adventures of Lilly.”]

When I grow up I want to be an artist and a writer.  Daddy said I should write books then illustrate.  I think I’ll get a big house for my 15 children, with 9 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a big yard, an attic, and a basement.  I’ll paint in the basement, write on the balcony, and take care of my children.  That would be the perfect life for me.  Oh yes, I might as well love my husband, too.

THE END

Hello, my name is David.  I will tell you a peculiar story.  In fact, it is a miracle that saved me and my mother from starving.  When Father was alive, I went to a boy’s school.  But when Father died, I could not go.  One day I heard mother crying, so I went to her.  She said, “David, we don’t have any money, and just enough food for one small loaf of bread.”  Just then a man appeard at the door.  “Make me a small loaf of bread, woman,” he said.  “For the Lord says you shall never run out of food as long as you live.” 

And it is that way for us today.