Moved

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Robert Franklin

“Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4.17, NASB

“But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abind in him?  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”  1 John 3.17-18, NASB

We have moved.  Stacks of boxes now litter a condominium (could be renamed condominimum) as we attempt to adjust a five bedroom family into a two bedroom home.  For nearly one year Michelle and I and our children attempted to sell our home.  We finally gave up and took the house off the market.  Two days later we received an offer that we could accept and we did.  The sale closed about a month later.

We are exhausted.  Between the preparation to move, the move, dealing with the “evil empire” (our bank) and trying to figure out how to make the best use of a third of the space we so recently enjoyed (and filled) we are stretched to the limit in every way.

I am proud.  My son and daughters have done very well overall.  They have willingly let go of their freedom, independence and space so dad can take them on one of his crazy adventures.

I am humbled.  My lovely wife traded the comforts of a home she worked on for nearly eight years to begin again, with much less.  It amazes me how many useful things we acquired had to go away. 

I am grateful.  A lot of our friends helped generously as we went through this process.  Moving requires as many hands as possible and we used the help of a good sized group.  Some of our friends still store “stuff” we have no idea what to do with; stuff that made it past a garage sale and Craigslist.

Why?

I have long held the opinion we had more “house” than we needed.  However, I enjoyed the space as much as anyone else and busied myself with varied and sundry projects.  After going to Uganda, my opinion transformed into a passion.

My family is growing older and more distant from each other.  The busyness of our lives is becoming frantic.  I have witnessed the formation of nearly separate existences as the “Franklin five” go about the duties and interests of the day.  Being connected enough to hurt when each other hurts and to celebrate each other’s joys is a core value of my family.  No cost was too high to pay to make one last stab at creating that kind of a community in my home.

I desperately want all three of my children to have a well-developed and experienced Christian worldview.  Since the “adoption” of three young people in Uganda, I have been scheming how I could arrange for my American family to meet and understand their new siblings in Africa.  The days have become short for me to do anything with all of them together.  This window was open and I prayed ferverently that God would make it possible to experience what I experienced without them  in Uganda…together.

There were many miracles along the way:  We could not have gone if our house had not sold, Michelle was able to “buy” extra vacation from her employer, the condominium was reduced in price at the last minute, Ryan was unable to get a summer position due to the crummy economy, friends sacrificed time and money and resources to support us even without us asking. 

I get one more big opportunity to live out my faith in a way my children can witness, and choose for themselves, whether or not to live flat-out, no-holds committed to Christ.

I must be clear.  The sacrifices made for this move belong primarily to my family.  We were in no imminent financial danger, but if I had been a wiser steward of money in the past perhaps I could have held on to the house and taken my entire family to Uganda.  As it stood just a month ago, Uganda as a family was financially impossible.  Michelle and I do plan on taking advantage of owing less and having less…we will see what God has in store.

Finally, I am haunted by the instruction and challenge given through James and John.  I know I have a long way to go, but I desperately desire to “do the good I know to do” and to be open handed with my Christian family in deed and truth.  I guess I can genuinely say, “I’ve been moved.”

Posted in Current Events, Devotional, International Travel | 3 Comments

Dropping the Baton

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Robert Franklin

“…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…” (1 Peter 3:15, ESV)

During last year’s summer Olympics the American relay teams managed to disqualify themselves by dropping the baton during the transfer from one leg to the next.  These teams were supposed to be gold medal contenders and they did not even advance to the medal rounds (U.S. 4x100m teams both drop batons ).

I recently went to Turkey with a team of very talented friends.  Our primary objective was to serve people we know who live in Turkey…give them a break and some encouragement.  Since we are all followers of Jesus Christ, we also hoped to share the love of God, given through Jesus, with those we came into contact with.

I was on the children’s ministry team.  We were asked to play with kids for five to six hours a day and anticipated to have mostly English speaking children.  The “English” part didn’t happen.  As day one turned to days two and three, we found there was an increase in the number of children who did not speak English as their primary language.  So we used the universal language of play to engage the children.  My team members Mike, Judy and Dana all did a great job of using what they had available to engage children with whom none of us could adequately communicate.

One child “S” and I got along famously.  All I needed was a balloon and a game I had spent countless hours playing as a child.  S and I played for hours and I got to know his mother.  I was excited about the connection and really wanted our host to speak to the woman, perhaps to share the love of Christ in her language.  Our host didn’t see the opportunity at all.  I did everything I could to try to make the conversation happen, but not even a word was exchanged between them.

I was disappointed.  I had hoped for a chance for the good news to go out as a result of our labors and here I though we had opened a door for the local “expert” and “clank,” a dropped baton.

God, in His mercy, didn’t allow me to be overly critical or frustrated, though.  He simply gently and quietly warned me “you’re next.”  I shivered at the Spirit’s word to my heart and purposed to do my best not to be the second team to fail to complete the circuit.

Just like Jesus’ word to Peter was fulfilled, the Spirit’s word to me rang true.  A couple of my team members had made a connection with a multiligual Turk.  He was very friendly and the conversation flowed pretty well–in English!  My team members got the conversation as far as the male-female cultural barrier would allow and it was my turn to take up the baton.

“Clank”

No excuse, no “second chance.”  Just “clank.”   We were out of the race and it was my fault.  This image is now in my heart.  How many times do I fail to take up the baton of someone’s work for the sake of the gospel?  How ashamed I was and how much more now I feel the need to be ready, hand extended, to take up and run.

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A Father’s Heart

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Robert Franklin

Some years ago I was presented with an opportunity for a bit of understanding of our father’s heart toward us. My son had a school function for which it was customary for young men to invite young women to accompany them. My son set his sights on a young lady who, by all appearances, seemed to be an excellent choice and also who would not at all mind being invited by him. Being the gentlemen he is, he found a moment—and just a moment—when he could privately ask the young lady to the event. She answered him not yes or no but replied “I am not going to that event.” My son was understandably confused, but with my encouragement pursued the matter with the young lady. He phoned her the next day and offered to take her to a different event if she preferred, she replied that she and a girl friend already had plans. My son then asked if she would like to do something else some other time—she said “yes” or so he thought. However, during the brief conversation she explained to my son that she was not allowed to date—he said he understood and that he would honor her parent’s wishes.

He immediately wrote a very short and complimentary note expressing his excitement over the prospect of the two of them “hanging” out sometime and reiterating that he understood that she was not allowed to date—but that was ok by him, he just wanted to get to know her better. He brought the note to me; I made some suggestions for revision which he applied to his work. She received the note the next day. That very same night my son entered into an instant messaging conversation with the young lady. She rather harshly informed him that he misunderstood her intentions (she had obviously read his note) and that she did not want to hang out with him. My son was crushed. I was in another room when he received the news. He came and asked me to his room, took care of an unrelated item of business, and informed me of the young lady’s communication with him.

I could tell that he felt like there was something wrong with him, that he failed somehow, that his hope of just being valued enough to be known by a female peer had been beaten down severely. I was distraught. I had guided him through the process, counseled him and encouraged him, but the outcome was horrible—he was hurt, disappointed and left out—again.

I did not sleep well that night, nor the next, it was as if his pain afflicted my heart, perhaps even doubly so since I felt responsible: I had guided his unsuccessful attempt.

How much more our Heavenly Father, in encouraging us to follow His will sees us hurt, disappointed, persecuted or left out.  God is not a general coldly issuing commands to his soldiers on the front from the distant warmth of a war room. He is not a coach, intent on His plan being worked out without variance, screaming orders from the sideline. God is not an employer blithely instructing his underlings regarding the tasks of the day. God is the One who says of us “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25.40)

I understand the meaning of Jesus’ statement far better today.  It is the declaration of a father’s heart.

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Out of Prison, Provided For Day by Day

Posted on December 19, 2008 by Robert Franklin

” And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.” (2 Kings 25:27-30, ESV)

This passage, boring on the surface, is full of meaning and application.  By the way of background, Jehoiachin was king in Judah for all of about three months.  His big political move was surrender of Jerusalem, the holy city, to the King of Babylon.  He and his family (and many others) were deported and Jerusalem destroyed.  The kingdom was no more.  Judah was now a fully subservient vassal state to Babylon.  The prophet Jeremiah let it be known under no uncertain terms that Jehoiachin would not return to Jerusalem and his sons would never sit as prosperous kings over the Promised Land (Jeremiah 22.28ff).

How often I could be compared to this pathetic deposed king!  How many the ways!   For instance, consider this passage as an elucidation of daily need.   Jehoiachin was in exile, a banished monarch now incapable of providing for himself and his family. In my sinful state I had not even a royal title on which to cling.  My hands empty, my status prisoner, my hope lost in the rubble of a life destroyed.  Yet the thought that is presented to me is that the Lord provided through the largess of Jehoiachin’s captor the daily needs of the king without a kingdom. How much more so shall He daily provide for us through the King of Kings our Savior Jesus?

It is especially odd to run across this passage because I was considering doing something different with my personal finances so that my family is better able to live within our means.  I have not been exempted from the financial difficulties swirling round us this year and I am trying to stretch what I have to cover both needs and desires.  I so want the best of everything for my family, but I do not have unfettered resources, so I must learn to sacrifice and discipline myself.  I know that it is imperative for me to become completely debt free and to remain so.

Please Lord let me keep this commitment of heart by the acts of my hands (and pocketbook).

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Wisdom in Suffering

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Robert Franklin

“For there is hope for a tree,

When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,

And its shoots will not fail.

“Though its roots grow old in the ground

And its stump dies in the dry soil,

At the scent of water it will flourish

And put forth sprigs like a plant.”  (Job 14.7-9, NASB95)

The Biblical work called “Job” has fascinated me since I was a young man.  I honestly never got caught up in the “suffering” part of Job’s story because the work itself seemed to immediately tackle much larger, howbeit related, issues.  As I have trekked through the years of my spiritual journey, I have discovered how important Job is to the modern understanding of God and His explanation of Himself, Jesus the Christ.

This image of life from the stump is carried forward to the messianic sayings of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 11.10, 53.2) and applied specifically to Jesus of Nazareth (Romans 15.12, Revelation 22.16).

Those who are in Christ ought to reflect the vitality of his presence in every circumstance.  Even if they, like the tree under the forester’s axe, succumb to be cut off from towering above the earth, the root is still fed by the very source of new life.  The truth is when one whose root is Jesus sees Him face to face, new life is guaranteed (1 John 3.1-2).  The one who has a new sprig shooting up from the “stump”  serves as testimony to the promise, “Abundant life remains.” (John 10.10)

My prayer today is that the Lord would change my heart. I tend to fall into the pit of self-reliance over and over again. My heart’s desire is truly to rest in the Lord; yet the work of my hands rarely reflects that desire.

God help me to be a witness to your life in me. Let those around me know that I drink from the living waters. Allow your presence to shine through. Be grace through me and allow my actions to be extensions of your mercy and testimony to the life that flows from the Root that never surrendered to death.

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Power of Covenant

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Robert Franklin

He sent redemption to His people; He had commanded His covenant forever.  Holy and awesome is His name! (Psalm 119.9, ESV)

“The covenant is a treasury of wealth, a granary of food, a fountain of life, a store-house of salvation, a charter of peace, and a haven of joy.”

Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening : Daily readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.) (August 26 AM). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

We have been indeed blessed by so great a covenant.  Spurgeon’s line reminds me of the immensity of blessing I have received through the covenant of Christ.  I forget so often as I busy myself with varied labors what genuinely is important–more than that–how genuinely blessed  I am just to know Jesus.

Father, allow me to grow in you to the point of living in the knowledge that the gift of the covenant is immense and that basking in the glory of your work is where I must remain.
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