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Continue readingThere is something really special about a well-written missionary biography. The story, amazing. The struggles, breathtaking. The triumph of the Lord, it just makes you want to lift your hands and shout, "Glory!"
Here are a couple of missionaries that I have recently read about that were very encouraging.*
I read one about a Japanese pastor who lived during WWII. During that time he was called up to be an interpreter in a POW camp since he spoke English. While there, he witnessed horrible brutalities against the POWs and decided that, while he was Japanese and was rooting for his country to win the war, he could not participate in the beatings or cruelty. Instead, he would do whatever he could to help those in need (like smuggle in medicines), pray with the prisoners, and be a gentle face in the crowd of anger and hate. By doing this he lived out his faith and loved his neighbor as himself.
I really appreciated this man's testimony because it spoke of his fear. Sometimes he even felt paralyzed by it, but he doggedly continued. He knew what he was doing was right and believed that God would protect him. At the end of the war, his wife and daughter were both killed in the bombing of Hiroshima. There was no trace of his home, or them, to be found.
His was a great example of laying your life down for God, and, regardless of what He asks, or allows to happen to you, choosing to say, "You are still good and I will follow you."
Another missionary I read about fought back against the sex trade in Chinatown during the turn of the century. She, as a single woman, would get up at any time day or night and go on a rescue. She stood unwaveringly and fought back against those who would seek to recapture the women. She lived through the San Francisco earthquake, and when she and the ladies had to quickly evacuate, she realized later that they had neglected to bring the papers showing that the woman were free. So, she went back. Back into danger, fire and looting. Back into an unsafe building. Because she believed that freedom was more important.
These are just two of the thousands and thousands of people who have laid their lives down for the gospel. People who experience suffering and despair, but instead of crumpling, find themselves pulling on their Everlasting Lord and standing strong. I find it amazing and heartening.
I read this quote from another collection of stories about missionaries and it really jumped out at me:
Ministry life is often fraught with disappointment. God sometimes allows what seem to be horrendously unfair, sinful, or terrifying circumstances — even major breakdowns in relationships with fellow believers (see Paul and Barnabas in the book of Acts) — in order to move his people into places they would never have considered going before. He has to make the current situation completely untenable, almost physically break Christians out of their comfort zones, before they will leave what is known for the unknown, their dreams for his.
Over the years, and through the biographies I've read I've often questioned how God could let his people struggle like that. Why not pave their lives in gold and have them preach it? But, reading that, and knowing how much my own life has changed with my struggles, I see just a bit why God allows these things to happen.
This is supposed to be an encouraging post, so I'll end with this: through all our valleys and dark places we wander, God is with us. He might be pointing us in a new, difficult, undreamt of place, but he is guiding and leading us. May it be, that while we might not have biographies written about us, if we did, they would bring encouragement and peace to all who read.
Blessings!
Jonelle
*The above biographies will not show up in future Sonlight programs as our review team didn't feel they were up to the Sonlight standard for various reasons. But the stories of these missionaries (and many others!) are definitely worth telling. If you are looking for excellent biographies about missionaries, I encourage you to check out Core F for a great selection of books about remarkable people walking before the Lord. I loved going through that year and the most memorable part were the missionary biographies.
We've been studying 2 Kings, specifically the life of Elisha the prophet. Shocking, to me, is how many times Elisha does things that borrow from the magical realm of the Ancient Near East (learn more in the IVP Bible Background Commentary).
This reminds me of Rebecca LuElla Miller's post on Daniel as the Chief Magician of Babylon.
And today, today is Saint Patrick's Day. This is a holiday to celebrate a Christian missionary. I think that's super cool. So while I don't wear green -- or orange; yet so often find myself in the historically relevant blue -- I love that, at heart, today is a day about missions.
Shamrock
And, it seems, Patrick also embraced magic. It makes sense. Like Christ who embraced our humanity, God loves to communicate with us in ways that we can understand (the one idea I liked from the original trailer of Aronofsky's Noah flick).
I don't find the non-Christian and post-Christian kids I hang out with are much interested in magic. They're more drawn to science and pop-philosophy. I count it a privilege that my Sonlight education prepared me both academically and philosophically for this. I'm always open to learning more and I'm not at all afraid of encountering challenging ideas. I can engage with the thinking of today and find ways to connect it to Christ. And, as if the KJV joke were factual and not farce, if it's good enough for Paul, such an approach is good enough for me.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian
* Naaman's complaint that Elisha didn't come wave his hand over the spot seems to refer to the practice of magicians standing on the river bank and chanting while waving their hands in a circular motion. Elisha didn't feel the need to do this, proving that -- while doing something contextual to the culture -- the power of his God was far more amazing. Fascinating!
Adventures in Odyssey has a great line about tolerance. Frustrated, one of the characters says, "I will not tolerate your intolerance!" It's one of the many brilliant moments I remember from the radio show of my childhood.
Intolerant of Intolerance
Tolerance has a bad rap in my ideological neighborhood. There are solid reasons to dislike it; passivity, permissiveness, and even promotion of sin run wild in these woods. While many who embrace tolerance talk about grace, few discuss the reason for why we all need it. Thus, grace becomes a graciousness toward others (a good thing!) and misses out on the amazing work of Christ to save us sinners (an even more amazing thing!).
But as I revisit The Troubles of Ireland in Gladwell's David and Goliath, tolerance doesn't seem like such a bad thing. Granted, the problem was a mixing of politics and religion -- which happens all too frequently; it was not purely rooted in the Schism of the Church. But what if, instead of clinging tightly to our way, our ideals, our understanding of truth, we adopted a bit of <gasp> tolerance?
What would that look like?
It may look a bit like Lent, actually. It's a Catholic thing, so me -- a Protestant -- is rather disconnected from this beautiful and historically rich tradition. I loved Brianna Heldt's defense of Lent blog post. It was a good reminder that my particular "flavor" of Christianity could learn something from my brothers and sisters in Christ; brothers and sisters I would have killed in the streets as a teenager in Ireland.
This reminds me of my own tendency to forget the humanity of people around me. And while it is true that love is a far higher calling than tolerance, they do overlap in a venn diagram. Missionaries, for instance, choose to enter a society they believe is misled in the hope of sharing the love of Christ. They do this not by loudly proclaiming the moral failings of the people they encounter, but by gently showing the beauty of Christ's love for us.
In many ways, tolerance can give us a moment to learn about others so we can diffuse tension. This is a big part of why Sonlight presents multiple views.
Do you do anything for Lent? Have you been challenged by the tension and overlap of love and tolerance? Have you seen anything about missions recently that has encouraged you to continue to seek ways to be unified with the family of Christ around the globe?
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian
Few have experienced a tour of Sonlight. A few more have braved my monster-less pseudo monster movie tour. And today, my blog-reading friends, you get a rare peek into how amazing Sonlight's warehouse is.
Receiving happens on one end of the building. Shipping is on the other. Boxes of books come in on the west side of Sonlight, make their way through our warehouse, and head out to your home from the east docks. This helps reduce congestion and limits the number of times we have to move boxes and books. Also, wherever possible, we have conveyor belts to make moving stuff a joy.
I Love this Conveyor Belt ...especially the buttons <grin>
I've blogged about our pleasant warehouse before. Swamp coolers in the summer, heaters in the winter, and nice thick padding where we stand turn a concrete and brick box into a comfortable working environment.
Fantastic Foam Padding
We were still growing by leaps and bounds when we finished the building. Looking toward the future, the warehouse had sections of the back wall which could be "punched out" when it was time to expand. A few years later, when that happened, we added an additional warehouse area for longer term storage.
Doorway to the Future
Hope you enjoyed this little peek inside the Sonlight warehouse. Now you know just a little more about where your homeschool curriculum comes from. Anything you've always wanted to know about Sonlight? Ask away. I may not be able to get you an answer, but I'll do my best!
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian
We homeschoolers are an odd bunch, aren't we? We've bucked the trend, set out on our own, and ended up in a beautiful meadow overlooking a shimmering valley ringed by snow dusted mountains. We love it here. In fact, when we meet others wandering the trails of education, we'll gladly share our experiences and talk about these mountaintop experiences. We want others to join us.
The View (not as picturesque a picture as the above ...sorry)
We're thrilled when we discover someone who has also homeschools. Sonlighters share a special bond, reliving stories and discussions and places we've all encountered through our shared homeschool curriculum.
[Just this morning, an eager young man told me excitedly about the books he had recently read in Core B, such as Nate the Great. I agreed; those are wonderful stories!]
I love the homeschool community. Like the awesome dog meme reminds us: You're awesome. I'm thrilled to be part of this crowd.
But I find I dislike the homeschool movement. I mentioned this years ago. Back then I linked to the now defunct blog of Dana Hanley, but thanks to the internet archive you can still read her inspiring post here. Recent events have pushed me even further.
I'd rather avoid the homeschool "movement" altogether.
When I talk about this movement, I'm referring to the ideologies and teachings of certain people who claim to speak for homeschoolers. One of the major complaints I heard from Christians about the Bill Nye and Ken Ham Debate: Ham doesn't represent all of us. Men like Doug Phillips and Bill Gothard both outwardly promoted moral models (and homeschooling) which ultimately put them in positions where they could abuse such power. Then there's the continued controversy over To Train Up a Child. More and more these things swirl around. And the movement suffers.
So does the community.
And it's the community I care about. The movement -- such that it is -- is an extremely fallible system run by imperfect people like you and me. And when people like us get power, things crumble fast.
One of the many things I appreciate about Sonlight is the push to educate, not indoctrinate. We're not here to try to get you to join this or that side. We want to help you and your children learn. We want to help you thrive as you homeschool. We want to be part of your community. And if others have jumped on the literature-based approach to education, it's because it works not because we tried to start a movement.
Put another way: People move in the right direction when you let them walk. Trying to carry them somewhere will not get either of you to the right place.
Looking back on the men of recent history who have promoted and shamed the homeschool community, I'm reminded of 1 Corinthians 1:10 and following. Let's not talk about who we follow; let us walk humbly before the Lord where He has called us. That's not to say that God won't use even imperfect people to help encourage and train and lead you where He wants you to go. But please don't join any particular movement except for the moving of the Holy Spirit <smile>.
My parents are really neat people. But they're also imperfect. Like me. Like you. I'm glad they've never tried to create a system for living.
I was very much encouraged by Amber's post on redemption and grace. May we be part of the community that quickly repents. May the grace of God spill out of our lives and into those around us. May we, as a broken community bound together by Christ's blood, walk in unity... not in step with this or that movement, but spurring one another on to do good stuff.
Sorry, I'm afraid I'm rambling a bit too much. What do you think? Are you glad to be part of a community? Is there a movement you want to be a part of? What's the view like from your homeschool?
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian
Too often philosophy is prematurely dismissed as impractical and irrelevant to everyday life. Sure, philosophy is part of history and we should at least know a little about those ancient Greek thinkers in togas, but does philosophy really matter to us today?
Sonlight's new 520: World History and Worldview Studies package takes a different approach to philosophy. Along with a study of ancient history through early 21st century history, 520 also addresses the topics of philosophy and worldviews.
Why do we include philosophy as part of this curriculum? Because philosophy does matter. It influences ideas the world over, from individual philosophies we affirm to philosophies that have a world impact, such as political philosophies.
While the Bible does warn against "hollow and deceptive philosophy" (Colossians 2:8, NIV), it also encourages us to use our minds (Matthew 22:37; Romans 12:2). Besides, philosophy means "love of wisdom" and wisdom is something the Bible encourages us to pursue (see Proverbs 8, for instance). We can also add that there are additional practical outcomes of studying philosophy. First, understanding philosophy can help us better understand history, especially how ideas shape culture. Second, knowing philosophy helps us avoid the mistakes philosophers have made. Third, when it comes to studying ancient philosophy we can learn about how much human beings can grasp of God's truth on the basis of what theologians call general revelation--insights gained apart from the Bible. Fourth, understanding philosophy can better prepare us to engage the many ideas we encounter on a day-to-day basis in life.
Given the influence of philosophy on history, two philosophy books included with 520 are Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans by Steve Wilkens and Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult by Garrett DeWeese and J.P.Moreland. The book by Wilkens is a fun read, providing an engaging introduction to key philosophers and their main ideas. DeWeese and Moreland provide an important foundational introduction to the nuts and bolts of philosophy, such as how to think reasonably and an understanding of the main areas of philosophy.
French philosopher Descartes wrote, "The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries ... a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts." It is to our benefit to understand and know how to evaluate the ideas that have shaped our world through the centuries.
Robert Velarde
Author/Educator/Philosopher
