Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Men

Over the past few weeks, I've shared the Christmas story with many people who have never heard it before. I found this to be pretty eye-opening for the sad state of my heart. My first thoughts, when sharing, concentrated on being understood and I wondered how anyone would believe me when there were so many things about the story that don't really make sense. It felt like I was simply explaining random facts to an old song. Not to say the Christmas story is exactly like a fairy tale, but in a way, it can sound a lot like one when you are sharing about all the angels and such.

Thankfully, I told the story to children. Children love stories and have little problem with fantastic details. In fact, they are usually fascinated with the most unbelievable parts. Isn't it true that most people enjoy fairy tales because they are too wonderful to imagine in real life? It seems like everyone wants to believe in the unbelievable; children are simply more open in their desire. Deep inside we want to believe in something fantastic. Maybe because we were made for faith.

As I continued to share with my classes I found the story taking a new shape in my mind. You know, the Christmas story is fairly mind-bending when you see it with new eyes. But its not so unrealistic as to make you turn away, its wonderfully, wall-implodingly, beautiful. Each part of the story is not randomly there, but a piece in the message God was sending to earth. I started thinking: Why all the angels? Why did he send shepherds as His first worshipers? Why bring the kings from afar? Why was He born in a world so desperate for a physical salvation, when His life has little to do with the liberation they expected?

Then I thought about the angels message:Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger...Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:10-14)This world teaches us that in order to get a message across or to bring about order, we have to be the loudest, the prettiest, or the strongest, and stomp over everyone to be the last standing. Isn't it interesting that peace came in such a humble state? "Peace on earth." Doesn't that seem a little hard to believe at times? That peace has actually already come?

All these thoughts brought me to the stiff realization that my heart was very slow in believing God's message of Christmas. Peace and joy are here. I hope this year you find your Christmas celebrations find out the state of your heart. May you receive the gifts of faith and peace!

(The amazing Nantou team of English Teachers)

Prayer:
-We are so thankful for how God has answered our prayers and brought many people into our lives who want to hear about the Bible.
-Praise God! My schools have been wonderfully receptive of the Gospel this Christmas season and they let me give the children tracts about Christmas. All the kids have been extremely attentive as I shared about Jesus.
-Pray for all those who are hearing the Gospel for the first time.
-Pray for our continued health and unity as a team, as we have many extra activities with our schools this month.
-Pray for the salvation of the Taiwanese people.

Merry Christmas!
Anna

I have a fabulous little brother (who I currently am dearly missing) who is an enthusiastic storyteller. Tim has been telling stories since before he could form words clearly. And as he is now 7, that gives him nearly 6 years of experience. When something happens, or maybe he just hears a good story in a movie or book, he is almost compelled to tell it to everyone around him. I love hearing his stories and, even if I know what happened or heard it from someone else, I want to hear it from him because it will have his own little twists and applications. Seeing life through the eyes of a seven-year-old can be quite enlightening.

This spring, our family had a little encounter with a few kittens. It all started when Hope, nine-years-old at the time, prayed for a cat just before she went to sleep one night. And, this faith-filled child was very specific about the kind of cat she wanted. She prayed for a kitten that Daniel (another brother) would not be allergic to, because he normally has a reaction to animals. Amazingly, through a few abnormal circumstances, Hope woke up to find a kitten had indeed ended up in our living room that morning. We named the kitten Jacob, because later that day we found his sickly brother, who was unfortunately deemed Esau. Well, the story continues because within a few days we ended up finding another kitten and this third one was named Surprise. Eventually, we ended up with only keeping Jacob and it was discovered, to most of us quite shockingly, that Daniel is not allergic to Jacob.

Perhaps none of this should really be such a surprise, after all, Hope prayed very specifically and knew that her Heavenly Father could answer her prayers. I think this is what you call child-like-faith. It assumes a few things that I often forget. One of those things is that God wants to hear what we need. I've been listening to a sermon series by Malcolm Smith on prayer and one of the things he talks about is how, despite God knowing everything, He actually wants to hear it from us. Hope could have thought, "God knows I want a cat and He will give me one if He wants me to have one." But, she didn't. Instead, she told God she wanted one and asked if He would give her one. Its kind of like me wanting to hear a story, that I already know, told by Tim. I love him and I love the way he tells it and the way we connect over that story when he is sharing it, whatever it might be. I think this is like what God feels about us. Just because He already knows what has and will happen, doesn't mean He doesn't want to hear it from us and hear us ask for what we need and, most amazingly to me, He delights in hearing it.

Another part of faith that I learned from Hope was in the way she specified what she wanted. She knew Daniel was allergic to cats, but that didn't stop her from believing that God could give her a cat to which Daniel wasn't allergic. She saw the situation clearly, she needed a specific kind of cat and so that was the one she asked for from her Heavenly Father. Praise the Father! He wants to know the nitty-gritty details and He wants to answer our very specific requests.

Back to Timothy and his stories. You see, the best part of all of this for me, was hearing Tim tell this story to a friend. He went through and gave all the little details of who did what and how all the kittens ended up in our house and, when he got to the part about naming the third kitten, he explained it like this: "We wanted to name the third kitten 'Surprise' because it was so surprising when we found her. You see, the first kitten wasn't a surprise because Hope had asked for that one..."  :)

May you know the Father today! Know Him. Know Him in all your ways. Know Him in the littlest detail. Know Him in the innermost part. He can handle you at your ugliest (Praise Him for that!). He can handle the nastiest lies that you are believing. He wants to hear your desires and needs. Be known by Him and know Him, listening and answering and delighting in you.


You can pray that David and I would know Him this week, for that is our deepest need.

Me and a few of my students on a field trip at the ice cream shop. :)

I must apologize that it has taken this long to write an update on this blog. So hopefully this update will be good. Being here in Taiwan has been much better than I thought it would be. Now that may sound bad, so let me explain. I love Taiwan and I have really loved living here and wanted to live here, but I was not looking forward to teaching. I have been surprised that teaching has been wonderful and a lot of fun. God has been very faithful in his calling upon my life, for I came with a hesitant heart doubting that I would enjoy it. He is a good God, but often we doubt that we will actually enjoy God’s goodness. It is one thing to know that he is good, but it’s another thing to enjoy it. God wants us to enjoy life and to enjoy him. I have found myself doing these very things or at least learning how too. Teaching English may be hard, but it is quite rewarding. The kids are so cute and simply want your attention. God has proved me wrong, for I thought that teaching would not be enjoyable or fun.

Praise God for his faithfulness and his kindness, that he truly wants us to enjoy the life that he has given us.

Keep us in your prayers for the darkness is great here and wants to overcome the light, but praise the Lord that we have overcome the darkness through Jesus Christ.

Peace out everyone

David Lukachick   

Prayer Update

Thank you so much for your prayers! We are extremely grateful for all of you and for all that God is doing! Praise God for a great first two weeks of teaching! I found out that one of my (Anna's) principals is a Christian and it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise because that school is so peaceful and happy. Many of the schools our team works with have Buddhist temples nearby or as part of them. Some of the experienced teachers explained that its not uncommon for the schools with temples to have many children who scream during the entire lesson. Neither David nor I have seen this yet, but some of the other teachers on our team have. Please pray that His light would shine through us into the darkness.

We are so grateful to have many adorable students, but you can pray for continued love and grace in working with each of them as well as the teachers. Also, pray that we would be filled with God's rest and peace as we seek Him and are filled with His Spirit and His Word.

"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen." -Romans 16:25-27

(some of the children pretending to be a Koala bear)

Slimy Serendipity

Anna:
I'm sure you all know that moment when you are slurping a delicious peach lemonade slush and you get your first little slimy chunk of chewiness. You forgot you were in Taiwan and, of course, everything under the "Slush Mouthfeel" section of the menu is going to give you a mouthful of something. And yes, it did say "Mouthfeel". It must be in the English language somewhere, friends. Well, maybe you haven't had the moment, but I just did and, strange as it may seem, it reminded me of the past week of teaching. 

When I knew I was supposed to come teach English in Taiwan, I knew without a doubt that God wanted me to go and I also knew that it would be hard. Those two facts have not wavered, but another fact is slowly gaining dominance in my mind: My Father is good. He never fluctuates in goodness. And while His very Being is good, all that He does is also good. 

When I ordered my slush, I thought I knew what to expect, but then there was the little slimy chunks to take the train of my experience and set it on a whole new track. That was week one of teaching, for me. I started out thinking that I knew what to expect. I knew I was supposed to be there and I knew it would be difficult, but I got a lovely surprise. It was that moment when I stood up in front of the class to teach and all five of my students looked at me expectantly and I knew my God is good. I can't explain exactly how it all connects or makes sense in my mind or even why I realized this in that moment, but somehow its like ordering a delicious drink and taking your first sip and getting the delightful slush with a slimy surprise that in the end is very yummy. After all, who doesn't like chewing a little bit of goop while drinking a slushy?

(Another slimy surprise -A Taiwanese Passion Fruit, very yummy)

The Enjoyable Plane Ride (Sarcasm Included)

David:
What does it take to get somewhere? 

Often I find myself content not going anywhere, but is that even possible? Can you honestly go nowhere? For on your way to nowhere, you are going somewhere. But, what is the point of going anywhere knowing that you are already somewhere? Where am I going with all this? I'm not really sure. But, I think my point is that we are always going somewhere, doing something, even if we think we are not. Sometimes its just more obvious which way we are going. 

When you get on a plane to go to a different country its very obvious that you are going somewhere, especially when you are not flying first class and the seat that you get so happens to be made for a small child and the guy next to you got the same one who is now oozing into your seat. While siting at home reading a book or watching a movie does not feel like you are going anywhere, we cannot be stagnate Christians we are either moving closer to God or farther away, and I hope we all are moving closer to Him. Our lives need to be focused on one thing, knowing God. In all of our travels, in all of our trials, we need to know Him. This is why Anna and I are here in Taiwan -to know Him- not to do ministry, not to make friends or start churches, or even make converts, but to know Him. God is looking for people who will seek Him over everything and when they are willing to seek Him, which will cost them everything, then He will use them for His kingdom. We do not do ministry to know Him, we do ministry because we know Him, which means if we do not know him, then what are we doing? 

Anna:
When I graduated college, I had a big plan to do great things. I was smart enough to know I was pretty dumb, so I thought more college was the answer. When God shut the door there, it was to teach something I probably would not have learned in school. Finding myself in situations I had never desired nor did I excel in, I fell into the true strength of utter dependence on God. 

I thought dependence on God was simply praying for His strength and doing the things He wanted me to do. However, I have begun to learn that it is less about what you do and more about resting in God wherever you are. I can't say I really enjoyed waiting tables as God taught me to depend on Him, but that was the school of His choosing. With all these thoughts in mind, will you pray for us to rest in our Father and know His ways? 

 A Nantou Sunset