Sunday we went to Joy's parents' church. They have a very good service with blended worship and a good preacher. That afternoon, we met one of Joy's childhood friends and her husband at the Grand Rapids Zoo It seemed an odd place to get acquainted, but it turned out to be a brilliant idea The weather was perfect, the animals were active, and the company was warm and enjoyable. We had a great time.
Afterwards, we went to Rani and Mike's home (that was the name of the couple) for dinner. It was a little like a blind date, since we really didn't know each other. Joy had not seen or heard from Rani since high school forty years ago, and we had never met Mike. But again, it was a marvelous time. We shared our histories and testimonies over meat loaf and mashed potatoes. Rani and Joy talked about high school and children, while Mike and I sat at the dinner table and discussed theology.
I won't get into the details of what we discussed. Much of it is private. But I will say this. This was the second time on this trip that we have renewed old friendships. In both cases, we discovered people with vibrant, sincere Christian lives, who have been beaten up by life and lived to tell about it.
In my book, I write about the third and fourth stages of the Christian life. First comes the Settler stage, which is where we try to be a witness for Jesus in spite of facing the realities of life and the rage of the opposition. Then comes the Sufferer stage, where life seems to fall in on us. This can come through a death, a moral failure, the loss of a loved one or a job, or through some other crisis. All of us had experienced this, had our faith tested, and lived to tell about it.
With God's grace we survived the storms, and were able to celebrate afterwards, and enjoy the zoo on a perfect day in August.
Sunday we went to Joy's parents' church. They have a very good service with blended worship and a good preacher. That afternoon, we met one of Joy's childhood friends and her husband at the Grand Rapids Zoo It seemed an odd place to get acquainted, but it turned out to be a brilliant idea The weather was perfect, the animals were active, and the company was warm and enjoyable. We had a great time.
Afterwards, we went to Rani and Mike's home (that was the name of the couple) for dinner. It was a little like a blind date, since we really didn't know each other. Joy had not seen or heard from Rani since high school forty years ago, and we had never met Mike. But again, it was a marvelous time. We shared our histories and testimonies over meat loaf and mashed potatoes. Rani and Joy talked about high school and children, while Mike and I sat at the dinner table and discussed theology.
I won't get into the details of what we discussed. Much of it is private. But I will say this. This was the second time on this trip that we have renewed old friendships. In both cases, we discovered people with vibrant, sincere Christian lives, who have been beaten up by life and lived to tell about it.
In my book, I write about the third and fourth stages of the Christian life. First comes the Settler stage, which is where we try to be a witness for Jesus in spite of facing the realities of life and the rage of the opposition. Then comes the Sufferer stage, where life seems to fall in on us. This can come through a death, a moral failure, the loss of a loved one or a job, or through some other crisis. All of us had experienced this, had our faith tested, and lived to tell about it.
With God's grace we survived the storms, and were able to celebrate afterwards, and enjoy the zoo on a perfect day in August.
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