Nemeth Notes

...and I'm a gonna make it home tonight...

Well, technically it's 4 months on the road, and I'll make it home 5 nights from now, but it's looking close.

We've been on a whirlwind missionary tour across the United States (well, half of them) since October 18. I had every intention of blogging here and there along the way. Did I forget I'd be in a car with 3 children all that time?

We have been busier than I could have imagined. We have always been the adventurous types, but I think we are more tired of traveling than we've ever been (it'll be over 10,000 miles by the time we get home).

But our hearts are full, and we feel so blessed to be called to this wacky way of life. We are so blessed to get to travel SO many places, and see the face of God in SO many people, and hear of His work in SO many ways. We have an amazing God; today I was amazed at how He created such a diverse state as Arizona. From south of Phoenix, where the hills of the Sonoran desert intersperse with flatlands and the sun shines warm, to Flagstaff, where there was snow on the ground, evergreens, and elk warning signs, to Page, where it is nothing but intensely beautiful red rock formations and wide vistas of almost-nothingness.

But His greatest beauty by FAR is what He has done in people's lives. There is nothing more satisfying than gazing into the face of someone who begins to cry as they tell you their testimony, as they tell you of how the Lord Jesus took them from death to life. The landscape of the redeemed is ever-varied, ever-radiant!

So thanks, Lord, for letting us have a little look-see into some of your workings we hadn't known about before. You are definitely the most awesome Creator, of this world, but more so of your Kingdom.

I lived in an apartment, next door to a witch. She was a normal young mom, about my age, and she lived a normal life, except that she hosted séances in her home occasionally. She didn’t know I was a Christian, because she didn’t know me much, but our exchanges had always been pleasant; I liked her as a person and it seemed she also liked me. One day, after her witch friends had left, I was over. She was very upset about something, even though she was trying not to show it (some friends were still there). I asked her if something was wrong, and if I could seek out “spiritual assistance” in my way on her behalf. She said ok, so I bowed my head and began to pray. “My loving Father in heaven, I thank you for giving your only Son Jesus for us. I thank you for the cruel death He died, simply because of His love. I thank you for … (and from here I began, for some reason, to go into detail about the physical aspects of Christ’s crucifixion). Then she interrupted, “Yeah, yeah, heard that before.” And when I spoke a sentence that was somewhat predictable about the gospel (still in my prayer), she would pipe in, as if she knew the whole story by heart. But she was annoyed at me, and though she didn’t stop me, she started talking over me and ignoring me. Somehow I knew that she had been burned by Christians, and had buried that pain until now. So I asked her about her story. She talked to me, and though I distinctly remember thinking “she may not come to Christ today, but she will come closer”, it was amazing and beautiful to see Christ drawing her to Himself through me.

As I awoke from this dream this morning, all I could feel was the love He has for people like this, who are so lost without Him, and I also felt the joy in sharing His love, and in seeing another new life beginning to form.

Even if she had been a witch. “As such were some of you, before you knew Christ.”

My Jesus, I love you so much and am so thankful for the work you have done, both on the cross and in my life. Wow! You are still working to bring the lost to yourself; give us all a renewed passion for sharing your truth with this lost world. Give us a heart full of love for the most needy among us, such as those caught up in the occult. May we be full of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not full of fear, for your perfect love casts out fear. Thank you!

No, we’re not some kind of computer criminals. We are “hackers” of another kind…as in coughing.

On Labor Day, on my way home from a wonderful weekend at Family Camp at Gladstone, it hit. Seemed like a flu. In a few days, I knew it was more. Bronchitis, then pneumonia. A month later, I’m feeling human again, maybe up to 90%. When I was about 3 weeks along, on day 13 of antibiotics with no improvement, I went to the health food store and found some stuff called “Echanimide Anti-Viral formula”. It’s echinacea with a few other herbs that fight viruses. About an hour after taking the first dose, I felt a difference; if you’ve ever been sick for a long period of time, it’s that moment when you know your body is going to win, even if the battle is still going to take awhile. I also felt led to go back to the health food store the next day to get a better-quality Vitamin C. Those 2 things, accompanied by the Lord’s merciful answer to prayer, were key to getting me on my feet. PTL!

Meanwhile, I was generous with my germs, and gave bronchitis to Jeff, Elliot and Erica, and pneumonia to Isaiah. Jeff was the last to get sick, but was hit with a double whammy: stomach flu, then the bronchitis. So there’s been a lot of coughing around here lately.

Yet the packin’ goes on. We leave for a 4-month furlough on Oct. 18, Lord willing. We will arrive in northern Michigan the day before our 8th anniversary (PTL again!), and spend about a month there. Then a quick trip to downstate Michigan, and from there we’ll spend a month in the Chicago area. Then after Christmas we hit the road for many, many miles (in January? What are we thinking?!), and return back here sometime in February.

One thing about being sick and cooped up in your house for several weeks on end…it sure gets you excited to see friends! We look forward to seeing as many of you as we can.

And hopefully we’ll be leaving our Alberta Hackin’ germies behind.

I’m a world away, but I read about them, and I grieve. Young people wanting to change the world, wanting to be heroes. Taught from their mother’s breast that they are more valuable in death than in life. Mothers claiming to wish that their sons grow up to give the “ultimate sacrifice”.

Sorry, it’s too late.

No matter how valiantly these youth attempt to be, they will never, ever, be able to outdo the Jewish suicide bomber.

He, too, heard the stories from his mother’s arms that He had been born to die. He also knew it intuitively. He was trained in the trades, but that was not going to be his calling. He had a bigger job to do. He had a war to start…and win.

And He knew He had to die. It wasn’t easy to accept, even at the end, but when it was all settled, there was no going back. So, strapped to His death device, He walked, determinedly, up that hill. The world was so unsuspecting. He looked so harmless, so pathetic. How would they to know…

…BOOM. Lightning, thunder, earthquake. Even the temple veil torn from the blast. Gone was the life of this Jesus. Gone was the light from the land. Something had happened. No one was really sure what.

Then He arose! He came back from his own willful death, holding the keys of death! He had conquered every last shred of evil; He had conquered death itself.

And all in the name of love.

All so that we can know the love of the One who created us. All so that we can have our very past blown away, forever abolished by those words, “I forgive you”.

Of course, in the strictest sense of the term, Jesus did not die of suicide. That would have been easier, but He chose the hardest thing of all: to have full power over one’s life, but to yield it, to allow it to be taken. A suicide bomber is too much in control. He knows he will feel no pain; he knows he gets one last shot to be the boss. He is not thinking of saving lives, but of destroying them.

Thank you, sweet Jesus, for the difference You made.

Like Him, many Christians have also died at the hands of others, not only because they cannot deny their Savior, but also because they know their deaths will somehow broadcast Christ’s love and power to the world.

May we always be ready to do the same.

As of September 1st, we are officially

North America Indigenous Ministries

instead of

North America Indian Ministries

www.naim.ca