The Carpenter’s Tree - By Megan Whitley

The Carpenter’s Tree 

I stood tall until I was cut down.

Stood united until cut apart.  

They made two large pieces of lumber from my wood, and stored them for a later date. 

The scraps left over were sold to an innkeeper in a little town called Bethlehem. 

He needed a manger, a place to put hay for his animals. I suppose it was a better fate than becoming firewood. 

I stood like that for a while. Getting older and more mildewy. Then one day, an interesting development occurred. A family of humans stopped by the barn. There was a lot of screaming. Then a loud cry. Then the very fibers of my being shook. The life that remained inside of me cried out praise as a child was laid in my frame. The Son of God. Emmanuel. I could tell because He radiated life. But He was scared, He was cold, He was tired. I was confused. How could God be tired? How could He cry? 

The family did not stay long. They moved on, and took My Lord with them. I still do not understand why God was so small, so fragile. He had to be carried. He had to be bathed. And He had to move on. The manger stayed, remembering the gift of God it had held. 

My two large pieces of lumber were stored away for many years. Until they were pulled out, and nailed together. It felt unnatural, to have my lumber nailed to itself, with the grain running in opposite directions. But I could not deny I felt I had a heavy duty to bear. I was important. 

One day, an interesting development occurred. A group of humans stood outside the palace gates. There was a lot of screaming. And loud cries for “justice”. The very fibers of my being shook. This time in fear.

They nailed a man to my frame. With His arms stretched out in surrender.  The life that remained inside of me cried out praise for the man that hung on my frame. The Son of God. Emmanuel. I could tell because He radiated life. But He was scared, He was cold, He was tired. He was in pain. I was confused. Why would God let Himself be in pain? Why would He cry? And why, oh why in the world would He let them do this to Him?

Emmanuel cried out. Forgiveness. How could He forgive them for this?

His life was finished.

I stood on that hill in shame for three days. Then He returned. Walked past the places they had crucified Him and smiled. Patted me twice as he passed. “Well done.” Maybe I’m hearing things, maybe I’m not. Then He looked out over the hill on which His people had betrayed Him and sang praises to His Father in Heaven. Then quietly, humbly, with almighty power, He walked back down the hill, to those people. 

And I praised God for the blessing it was to carry His Son twice. 

Messiah for the Magi

Psalm 105:1

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;

Make known among the nations what he has done.

This year for Advent I am reading “Good News of Great Joy,” by John Piper.  In the devotional for December 8^th, he focuses on the visit of the magi. 

“Messiah for the Magi”

“Unlike Luke, Matthew does not tell us about the shepherds coming to visit Jesus in the stable.  His focus is immediately on foreigners coming from the east to worship Jesus.  So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and ending of his Gospel as a universal Messiah for the nations….At the end of Matthew, the last words of Jesus are, ‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.’

            This not only opened the door for the Gentiles to rejoice in the Messiah, it added proof that he was the Messiah.  Because one of the repeated prophecies was that the nations and kings would, in fact, come to him as the ruler of the world.

            For, example, Isaiah 60:3, ‘Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.’  So Matthew adds proof to the messiahship of Jesus and shows that he is Messiah—a King, and Promise-Fulfiller—for all the nations…”

Then as I was reading Psalm 96, I thought of the different people groups that the Lord has led us to here in southern Spain.  Please continue to pray for…

The Jahanka people from Senegal and Ginea

The Sereer people from Senegal

The Mandinka people from Senegal, Mali, and Ginea

The Wolof people from Senegal

The Fula people from Senegal

The Bambara people from Mali

The Susu Baga people from Ginea

The Susu people from Ginea

The Soninke people from Mauritania

Psalm 96

Sing to the Lord a new song:

Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, praise his name;

Proclaim his salvation day after day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

His marvelous deeds among all peoples.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

He is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the nations are idols.

But the Lord made the heavens.

Splendor and majesty are before him;

Strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations,

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

Bring an offering and come into his courts.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;

Tremble before him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”

The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;

He will judge the peoples with equity.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

They will sing before the Lord, for he comes,

He comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

And the peoples in his truth.

The Nations

Revelation 5:9 “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation’.”

Revelation 7:9-10  After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Pray for us as we learn more about each people group from Africa that we are working with here in southern Spain and the great opportunities that we have to share with these people.  Pray for our friends from the following people groups.  Some of them have no Bible in their language and have few if any known Christians among them.

People group name, country name, (friend’s name)

Fula from Senegal (Umi, Roogiatu, Cherno)

Serer from Senegal (Ami, Fatu, Ndeye, Mamadou, Fabak, Usman, Sidou)

Mandinka from Senegal (Ami, Mariama, Ansu)

Jahanka from Senegal (Maisatta)

Wolof from Senegal (Nguy, Sojna, Aliw, Adama)

Mandinka from Mali (Nassida)

Bambara from Mali (Adama)

Maninka from Ginea (Awa)

Jahanka from Ginea (Mairiamma, Fatu, Dembo, Fatu, Fode, Mamadou)

Susu Baga from Ginea (Jari, Augustina, Devis)

Susu(Malinke) from Ginea (Sona)

Soninke from Mauritania (Mouna, Diary, Hadiatou, Momadou, Lemi, Issa, Fatou)

Three Kings Day

One thing we love about the holidays in Spain is Three Kings Day. After Christmas, and after New Years’ Day, the holidays continue in Spain. On January 6 people in Spain celebrate Three Kings Day. They remember when the three wise men visited baby Jesus bearing gifts. Matthew 2:1-12; verse 11 says, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

Gold – gift fit for a king

Incense – used in the temple for worship

Myrrh – used to anoint or prepare for burial

The three wise men gave gifts to reveal Jesus as King, worship him as Lord, and prepare him as Savior.

Regardless of what time of year it is, may we continue to remember and proclaim Jesus – Emmanuel, God with us.

Faith and Earthquakes

This year in Lorca, a Spanish town about 1 and ½ hours from where we live, there was a large earthquake. Several lives were lost. A team from FBC, Blue Springs, Mo. visited this town and one of the Baptist churches there to learn how we could help because the church was greatly damaged and 90 percent of church members were out of their homes at one time. It was amazing to witness the faith of these church members. They spoke of the damage to the church and their homes and reminded others that they had not lost their lives. One lady said, “no pasa nada.” This is a very common Spanish saying that is similar to our, “no problem.” We heard so many of them say that they knew that God would use this situation for good, and for his glory, and to reach others for Christ.

During the church service, the pastor preached about the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they responded with … “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from you hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

“That is faith.”

The congregation sang the following song …

(rough translation to English)

“My heart trusts in you because I know you

And in the middle of the storm, I am never alone

I can see your silhouette in the middle of the mist

Your grace is sufficient for me even if the world trembles

Every day as I awake your mercy is with me and I can rest

You are the same every day

You teach me to trust in you and your word

My faith increases every morning,

Every day”

Please pray that God will continue to work through this difficult situation to bring people closer to him.

Norma's Story

Norma is from Ecuador. She traveled to Spain many years ago. She is a member of our church in Almeria. When we first came to Spain, she told me how she had felt called to do missions. She wanted to become involved with the work in Roquetas with the African immigrants. She decided to start a class for the African ladies to learn Spanish and some sewing skills. For the first class she had one student. For the second class she had two students. For the third class she had four students. For the fourth class she had eight students. She realized very quickly the need for these ladies to learn to read and write. After a year of Norma’s dedicated work, there are now twelve African ladies who have never been to school, who can read and write. Norma also helps the ladies fill out paperwork to receive food from the Spanish food bank. We give out vegetables, clothes, baby strollers, baby beds and other equipment. The ladies in “ladies class” have also received reading glasses. They are learning to cook Spanish food. Last week they learned how to make Spaghetti carbonera. The week before that they learned how to make American chocolate chip cookies. Norma tells me the story of the day soon after she had arrived in Spain. She was sitting in a bank and praying about her desire to be a missionary. She prayed, “Use me, use me, use me or let me die.” Then she says, “Then I died to myself, and he used me. He is using me with these African women.” Norma is very open in sharing the gospel with the ladies from ladies class. Please pray for her as she continues to allow the Lord to use her. Please pray for the African ladies that they would become interested in having a personal relationship with the Lord through Jesus.

Just be dead

I was doing a missions week at a college during our off field assignment (formally known as furlough.) During one panel session, a student asked, “What do we need to do to prepare for mission work?” Different missionaries on the panel gave different answers. I said that we need to be obedient in everything. The gentlemen next to me paused for a while, and then he said, “You just need to be dead.”

Later during the conference I caught up to this gentleman to thank him for his words. He helped me remember that I just need to be dead; dead to myself. If we are dead to ourselves and alive in Christ, then often all of the little insecurities or things that bother us in life are not as important as simply living life for Christ.

Luke 9:23-24: "Then he said to them all: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.'"

Reconcilers!

Second Annual Missions Conference in Spain

Samuel Escobar, missions Professor in Spain, spoke on the 1^st of May, 2011, at the second annual missions conference in Spain. He spoke on “Las Iglesias y su mission en el mundo,” (churches and their mission in the world.) He spoke on how we need to “learn to see the world with the eyes of God. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21: “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Are we continuing to be reconcilers for God?

Do we see the world as Jesus did? Matthew 9: 35-38, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ “

Are we continuing to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field?” Are we continuing to pray, give, and go for the harvest, for the reconciliation of His world unto Him?

Castles, Cathedrals, and the Kingdom of God

We enjoy visiting different castles and cathedrals here in Spain and other parts of Europe. Our favorite cathedral is Notre Dame in Paris, but the cathedrals in Sevilla, and Barcelona, Spain are also really interesting. We have seen castles in Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, and Spain, varying from different times in history. Some of the castles in Spain date back to Moorish times.Our favorite castles usually consist of only the ruins from the past and we can picture in our imaginations how they might have been at one time. Lately visiting castles and cathedrals has caused me to think about the kingdom of God. We don’t need to live in a castle to recognize God’s enormous blessings for each of us. (Besides – most castles seem to be a bit drafty.J) We don’t need to worship in a beautiful cathedral to really be able to worship God in spirit and in truth.We do need to set our minds on things above and put His kingdom first in our lives.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Luke 12:31 “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

The “things” that will be given is a reference to food and clothing and basic needs that God will provide for us. These verses follow others that are encouraging us not to worry, but to focus on His kingdom.

Daniel 4:3b “His kingdom is an eternal kingdom…”

We are told to pray as in Matthew 6:10 “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

We humankind often focus on the “castles and cathedrals” of this world, but these verses are reminding us that the kingdom of God is worth far more than we could ever have. Are we willing to “sell everything we have” in order to be focused on what is most important?