Weddings, Graduations, Birthdays, Life, and Deaf

I apologize for the delay in my posting. Life has been pretty busy and intense in the last couple or so weeks. I'm never able to accomplish all that I mean to before I leave for the summer and my new job, though I love it, made it that much harder to get things done.

I left West Lafayette on May 30th, drove through the rain and storm, and arrived in Sedalia, MO for the wedding I was to be a part of there. There was more than one crisis leading up to the wedding, but it was beautiful and it honored God. I'm very happy for my SIL roomie, my sister in Chris, my dear friend, and her husband.

 London & Andrew Brumleve

I left shortly after the reception. I went through the drive-thru at Hardees, filled up with gas, and headed toward Kansas City where I hopped onto I-29 headed for North Dakota. But the time I reached KC it was around 10:30pm. About an hour or so later I decided that I needed to sleep. I slept at a truck stop for about 3hrs and resumed my journey. I only drove for an hour before I realized I needed more sleep. Rest areas are few and far between on that portion of I-29, but when I found one on the Nebraska border I slept like a beast for another 2hrs. By then, it was 6:30am and the sky was light. I felt a switch in my body flip and I was ready for the rest of the trip. 

I pulled into Grand Forks and the University of North Dakota around 2:30 in the afternoon (roughly a 12hr trip excluding sleep), signed into the dorm, unpacked my car, and headed back to Fargo for a graduation open house.

A family of friends were having a graduation open house for their youngest (high school graduation) and their middle child (college graduation). Our families would go camping together when we lived in Minnesota. We've had lots of fun camping and biking times with them and I was glad the open house was on exactly the perfect day for me to make it!

By the time I returned to my dorm, my new roommate had joined my humongous dorm room. Her name is Beth and she's from Texas. I must admit, I was nervous about the roommate I would receive this year. You may recall that London (in the above picture) was my roommate for both previous summers at the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). Beth and I get along splendidly and have had some pretty provoking talks about faith, linguistics, and the deaf community. She's pretty fluent at American Sign Language (ASL) and is evening interpreting chapel meetings as her work assignment. I'm looking forward to getting to know her better.

I'm hoping to reach out more and meet more people this summer. Last year I kind of blocked people out inadvertently and don't want to repeat that. I'm meeting new people and trying new things.

As far as classes go, this summer I am taking 3:
Language Survey
Ethnographic Methods
Sign Language Phonetics

The first two are required for me to do Language Survey with Wycliffe. I plan on telling you more about them when I have a better idea of what they're all about. I wasn't initially planning on taking Sign Language Phonetics, but I thought, "When at SIL, do what the linguists do!" I have no real knowledge of ASL or any other sign language, but sign languages interest me and I won't likely have this opportunity to study the phonetics of signed languages again. Carpe signum = seize the sign. Hopefully, when I start actually producing signs, I can record me signing and post it here.

With all this excitement going on, I forgot that my birthday was on Wednesday until... Monday night. Beth was ecstatic and insisted we go to the Blue Moose to celebrate. The Blue Moose Bar & Grill was my initial plan for birthday shenanigans to begin with, so I did not protest. Two first summer students and a recent acquaintance who is studying her 2nd summer at SIL came with us. We had a lovely, girly time. We ordered dessert since we went after dinner, they sang Happy Birthday obnoxiously loud for me, and a few of us climbed the moose and had our picture taken with him. (pictures to come?)  

I hope to be more specific about what's going on in my classes when I have a better understanding of them. I also have another book review for you. :) Stay tuned.

Have a Moosie Day!
<3

Teach it to your children

In Sunday School yesterday we talked a lot about the authority of Scripture and why it's important. I thought of how I had grown up and how important the Bible was to my own walk with Christ and what that was founded upon.

I never doubted the validity of the Bible. Why was that? Because my parents showed in their words and actions that the Bible had authority and power. To question the Bible or say something in it was untrue was blasphemous. The Bible is how we communicate with God. The Bible gives spiritual food and shows us the way to everlasting life. It is complete. It is good. It endures throughout the generations. It reveals God's character and the Spirit helps us to understand its teachings.

Sitting in Sunday School, I realized that if it wasn't for its stressed importance in my growing-up life, the authority and respect it was given, I never would have pursued Bible translation.

I remembered talking with a friend who told me she felt like passages she read were the same old same old Bible story and that she didn't feel like she was really being spiritually fed. She said she needed a supplement. In horror, I prayed and thought about our conversation on the way home. I asked God to prove to me that His Word was sufficient, that each time I read it, I would find something new every time I spent time in it. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to say that was about four years ago and God is still granting that request.

Without my parents' influence, the Bible would never have been very influential in my life. No, my parents are not 'missionaries' or Bible translators. But they paved the way for me.

Without the Bible, where would YOU be?
I would be lost, scared, and would be lost in sin.

Millions of people around the world don't have God's Word.
This is what pierced my heart for missions. The Gospel is for all.

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation- Revelation 5:9
 
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. - Revelation 14:6 

 Who will YOU tell about it?

Something New

This post is based upon an image I formed in my head around Easter. I've seen other bloggers do this and decided I would give it a shot. Let me know what you think.


I stood crouching. The blade was still in my hand, the body was still at my feet. The blood. It was everywhere. My feet soaked in its pool, my clothes were entirely stained, my hair was drenched, my face, my hands, my arms, dripped of it. What had I done? While He embraced me, I killed Him. Ended His life in the most painful way possible. The one who loved me. I murdered Him.

I fell to my knees and sobbed remorseful tears. They mixed with the blood on my hands and fell on the ground, but it was not enough to wash away what I had done. My body heaved with the guilt and anguish of my actions. My chest contracted so I thought my body would implode. I wailed, but no sound or plea could take back what I did. I deserved retribution. Or worse.

I felt a hand upon my blood-soaked shoulder. A loving, tenderly placed hand. I turned and saw Him. The one I had killed. There were tears in His eyes, but they weren't for Himself; they were for me. "Do you think I couldn't have stopped you?" He asked. We walked away, to a large, strong, running River. He told me the river was called Grace. While He told me the story from His perspective, He bathed my body until there wasn't a trace of blood left. A new garment was placed over me. As I sat at His feet, He told me about love, forgiveness, and faith while He braided my hair. Hope and love filled my heart and a desire to do whatever He wanted.

"I have made you a new creation," He said in His sweet voice. "You are Mine and you are forgiven."

Our Witchdoctors Are Too Weak: A Book Review

For me, biographies are usually hit 'n' miss. I purchased a little biography of Eric Liddell for a few dollars at the missions conference I went to in St. Louis. It's probably the worst written bio I've ever read. Now, I love learning about missionaries and hearing about their work, but it was very poorly written. So poorly written I gave up reading the book about a third of the way into it.

When I was in high school, I read one called "Peace Child" by Don Richardson that I found amazing. I also remember my mom reading missionary biographies about William Carrey and George Mueller that made us cry or laugh at some points.

Our Witchdoctors Are Too Weak was fantastic. Davey Jank is a missionary/linguist with New Tribes in the Amazon working with the Wilo people.

I found the preface misleading, but the purpose of the book is revealing day to day struggles that Davey had. Things like trying to learn a culture nobody else had studied. Things like trying to figure out how the language's counting system worked. The struggles of a missionary and a linguist (yay!). He presents his linguistic struggles in non-linguist (for the most part) terms but still keeps it interesting and amusing for the trained linguist (or so I thought).

Davey is very witty in his presentation of some of his struggles. For instance, he has an entire chapter about his trouble with a particular suffix. But he presents it metaphorically. I laughed so hard during that particular chapter that I forced my brother to listen while I reread it.

I've never read a missionary biography quite like this one.
By far, the last couple chapters were my favorite. Davey is very honest about his feelings of inadequacy and, well, fear of sharing the Gospel with the Wilo people for the first time. I found it really encouraging. I'm not the only one who's gonna feel like they're in over their head.

2 Corinthians comes to mind: "Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (3:4-6).

It's not about us. It's about God. He chooses us for His own reasons. I also think He purposely chooses us because we are inadequate. He uses us to bring knowledge and His Spirit totally takes over from there.


You can purchase this book by following this link.

I'm Adopted

A homeschool family I know recently adopted two little girls from China. I mean they're still in China, recently. You can find their blog here. The joy of the parents, the siblings, and even the families of the siblings (since there's such an age range) is incredible. I started to cry when I saw the pictures of the little girls and how much they already love their new parents and sister but also how scared and confused they are.

It made me think about a conversation I heard between a couple gentlemen from my home church. One of them adopted a baby about five months ago and the other is considering adoption.
     "Our society really looks down on adoption," said the latter. "It really stresses blood relation even if those blood relations aren't healthy." The men continued to talk about particular instances where the home situation or extended family home situation weren't safe or those family members weren't as close to the child as a foster family that loved and wanted to adopt the child. They continued to talk about why adoption's stigma is wrong.
     "I mean, God has adopted us," said the first gentleman. "We were in that bad situation and God took us out of it to His perfect family. He's made us brothers and co-heirs with Christ *[Romans 8:16-17]. That's profound. He doesn't love us less. I'm not going to love my adopted child any less because he's not biologically my kid."

That's roughly how the conversation went. I began to ponder and turn their words over in my mind. I also chewed on a comment one of the ladies in the church had made during Sunday School. We were reading in **Mark 1 when she spoke up about a verse that really touched her.
      "Untying sandals was a job for the lowliest and filthiest of servants," she began. "John's a prophet and a blood relation to Jesus, but he says he's not even worthy to undo his shoes. We put people in the Bible on a pedestal and think they're so great at obeying God, but then what does that make me? If John isn't worthy to undo sandals, where does that leave me? No where near His presence, at the very least. Instead, He bends down and washes my feet."

How is that possible, my friends? Adoption. God has removed you from your sinful situation and given you a new family. A perfect family. Brothers and sisters who have also been adopted, a Brother and friend of Jesus, and, my favorite, a Father. A perfect Father who knows your every need and holds your every tear. You give Him joy.

Seeing pictures of the Chinese little girls who are being adopted makes me think of what God has done for me. A representation of my adoption. He chose me and picked me up even when I was confused and scared. The family rejoiced when all the papers were signed and I was officially His. He loves me as His own Son.

I'm adopted.



*Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

**Mark 1:7 And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

Not Quite 2am, But Feels Something Like It

Once again, I returned home from closing at the Lafayette Chick-fil-A FSU. I parked into a spot no where near close to my front door, juggled the multiple things I was carrying inside until I found my key to unlock the door, looked for Bekah. When I didn't see her, I turned off the kitchen light and went upstairs to my room. The milkshake spattered belt was the first to go, the lemonade and tea stained pants, the chocolate smudged shirt, the gucky black socks were tossed off with disgust. All was replaced with bedtime attire including fuzzy coffee themed pajama bottoms.

I told myself more than once that my next step was to go to bed. Yet here I am, talking to you, because my mind is still working and because I might have something I want to say or express. I'm currently reading The Great Gatsby. I'm enjoying it, it's well written, but its element of mystery isn't fit for this mind this evening. Er, morning.

Life will drastically going to be changing within the next couple weeks. Martha, a wonderful young woman from my InterVarsity chapter, will be moving into my room with me. She'll be taking my place while I'm away at SIL. We'll be here together for about three weeks before I leave. I'm very much looking forward to living with her.

SIL. I cannot wait to go. I will certainly miss home and my loved ones, but God has done great things in my heart there in the past and I look forward to what He has in store for me there this summer. It'll have new and different challenges as well as new and different blessings. I really look forward to seeing my nephews and sister again. Journey is going to be performing at the North Dakota State Fair this year. Maybe I can convince one of them to go with me. :)

After I return from SIL, I'm moving back into the ole Riepe homestead. Mom and Dad are lamenting their loss of a room for storage purposes. I've already insisted that I don't mind a few boxes here and there, but if they're storing it, do they really need it. ;) It will be an adjusting after living away for a couple years. However, I think it will give me the opportunity I've wanted to grow closer to my sister Becca and help out my mom with her motherly duties.  


Either today or yesterday, I was reading in John 11. To familiarize you with the passage, it's when Lazarus gets sick and Mary and Martha send for Jesus. Jesus stays away doing his Jesus thing and Lazarus dies. Jesus finally gets there after Lazarus has been buried in the tomb for four days. When Martha sees Him coming, she runs to meet Him, falls at His feet and says, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (11:21). Even in her hurt, Martha confesses to Jesus that she knows He has the power to resurrect her brother, yet she mourns. Martha returns to her sister Mary and prompts her to go to Jesus. Mary runs to Jesus, falls at His feet and says, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (11:32). Jesus weeps at the grief both sisters have expressed to Him. But then He does the impossible and brings Lazarus back to life. Guess what! We were given a hint this would happen in verse 4 when Jesus said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

Now, I'm not saying that Lazarus didn't really die. The passage removes all doubt of that. When Jesus is talking about 'death' in verse 4, I think he's talking about Mary and Martha. The death of their brother was difficult, heartbreaking (especially when they both believed Jesus could have prevented it), and traumatic. They probably felt abandoned, let down, ignored, and rejected just to name a few of the possibilities. Mary is so hurt that she needs to be prodded by Martha to go to Jesus. Martha tells Jesus she's trying so hard to understand, but she doesn't. The miracle that Jesus did in Lazarus brought Mary and Martha even closer to Him than before. He proved that they could in fact trust Him, even when it seemed like He was powerless. Because HIS plan was better. The more I read Scripture, the more I'm convinced that we only see the little bit we're involved in. We don't see the big picture like God does.

I don't know why my dear friend's daughter is terribly ill and can't seem to catch a break. But she and her family have brought hope, comfort, and joy to so many other people and entire families through their struggles. I don't know why my mother's close friend has endured decades of financial struggles. But she's encouraged my mom and myself (at the very least) that God does provide and that you can trust Him with your finances even when your income is small. I don't know why I grew so close in my relationship to a young man for him to be taken away. But it has taught me to understand how others can hurt so deeply, it's helped me understand how I pretty frequently make God feel, it has humbled me and shown me just how weak and frail I am. I hope I am able to bless someone else with the lessons I've learned and love the unlovable who needs to know Jesus in a real way...

This leads me to wonder: what part of me spiritually, emotionally, is dead and needs resurrection?
What part of you needs resurrection?
Have you rolled the stone from the entrance to the tomb of your heart for Jesus to bring to life?

Definitions

justice. noun. \ˈjəs-təs\
the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments

righteous. adjective. \ˈrī-chəs\
1. acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin   
2. morally right or justifiable 

good. adjective. \ˈgu̇d\
(1) : virtuous, right, commendable <a good person> <good conduct> (2) : kind, benevolent <good intentions> 

[All definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary]    
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He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. --Ecclesiastes 3:10

Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? --Exodus 4:11 

But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." --John 11:4 

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. --Romans 5:3-4
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Through God's wonderful sovereignty, I was able to comfort a dear friend yesterday. As we rested, hand in hand, and shared the sorrows of our hearts, we began to ponder the character of God. Why is a God who is just allowing this trial to happen? We know He can take it away with a breath from his mouth or a touch of His hand. 

As the tears fell and our hands clasped tighter, we began to share verses where the Lord had revealed Himself to us. Some of the verses we talked about are shared above. God is in control. He always has been. He always will be. Has He not made us who we are? Is He not making us into who we will be? 

When we come across struggles and trials in our lives and we see them as unjust or not right or not good, could the problem really be that our definitions of what is 'just' or 'righteous' or 'good' isn't in line with God's definition? Isn't our own understanding clouding by our human nature that is both finite and sinful?

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. --I John 3:2

Saying goodbye to my second mother, I pondered what God's definition of 'just' and 'righteous' and 'good' are as I walked away. In all things, no matter what my definition of these words are, God will still bring glory to Himself, He will still makes things beautiful-- in His time. 

The God who heals infirmities, who is in the business of transforming hearts and lives, who is faithful, Just, Righteous, Good, who delivered a nation from slavery and oppression, will continue to be exactly who He is and will continue to work in me. 

I may never know why my loved one had to endure all this pain, but I know that one day I will understand and know why. When that happens, I 'shall see him as he is.' Until then, I will be His faithful servant.