| In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom recounts her life hiding Jews during WWII and then her time spent in concentration camps after being caught. At one point she is moved from one concentration camp barracks to another. Almost immediately she realizes that the new barracks is infested with fleas, absolutely crawling with them. Corrie’s sister, Betsie, gently reminds her of the Bible passage they read that morning from 1 Thessalonians, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.” Although Corrie knew that there was no way even God could make her thankful for fleas, she stood with her sister and prayed a prayer of thankfulness for each aspect of their new “home,” fleas and all. Only later did Corrie and Betsie learn that it was those very fleas that kept all of the guards away, allowing them to freely share the gospel in the midst of a concentration camp! “My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered Betsie’s bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for,” said Corrie.
This month, I feel like God is teaching me to be thankful for fleas. Well, not fleas exactly, but for other things I wouldn’t necessarily consider blessings. For example, when we first moved into our new house we noticed that the builders had not glued down the laminate floor they put in our bedroom. It’s in three sheets that overlap each other by a few inches. We trip on it. Constantly. I wasn’t thankful. Last week a tropical depression turned into Cyclone Zena literally right above our heads. Water leaked in our house at one wall, pouring in all over our bedroom floor and running down the wall in the living room below. I wasn’t thankful. Our whole family got pink eye this week. First Josiah in one eye, then Craig in both eyes, then one eye for me, then both of Elijah’s eyes. I wasn’t thankful. Craig had an allergic reaction to the medicine he was given for pink eye and his eyeballs swelled and blistered. None of us were thankful.
Well, here we are a few days later. When the cyclone came and water leaked all over our bedroom floor, we were able to pull up the flooring and dry the sub-flooring in our bedroom so that there was no permanent damage. I was thankful. The cyclone came and went, and except for the water leaking and some downed branches our family was safe and healthy. After the cyclone we got several days of beautiful cooler weather, something we have been praying about for a long time. We were thankful. We all spent several days miserable from pink eye, Craig is still suffering and itching. We haven’t figured out how to be thankful for this one yet, but we’re working on it! |
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Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Cyclones, Oh My!
We’ve experienced a whole slew of natural disasters over the last week! On Sunday we had a major earthquake, registering 7.0 on the Richter scale, and then a tsunami warning to go along with it. Throughout the week we had numerous smaller earthquakes including one registering 5.6 and another registering 5.9. On Tuesday night the tropical depression that was passing by turned into Cyclone Zena right over our heads! What a week! Thankfully there was no serious damage to our home and none of us were hurt during any of these events. Praise God!
Most of the damage from Cyclone Zena near our home was water damage, but in the above photo you can see some downed trees as a result of the wind. |
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| The local church we worship with here in Vanuatu, Vuna Mele Church of Christ, worked really hard this year to organize a great Easter outreach. There were services each evening throughout Holy Week and our PBT team was invited to lead the Good Friday service. We really enjoyed leading worship and sharing some special music. Our ni-Vanuatu partner and VISTA principal, Pastor Samuel, shared a special message about Good Friday. What a great reminder that Jesus’ sacrifice was for all people everywhere. We can’t wait for the day when all of the people of Vanuatu can read the Good News in their own languages! |
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Happy Easter from the Bennett Boys!
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A Card Shower for Craig
If you are still interested in participating in the card shower I am organizing for Craig’s 30th birthday (on May 25) but you haven’t sent a card yet it’s not too late! Birthdays in Vanuatu can be really hard without family close by or the comforts of home. A cheerful card or an encouraging letter would go a long way toward making Craig’s birthday special. The Global Forever stamp costs $1.20 (I think) so this won’t be too expensive. Cards should be mailed as soon as possible to:
Katy Bennett
PO Box 275
Luganville, Santo
VANUATU, SOUTH PACIFIC
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The Word for the Month
1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 NIV (emphasis added)
“Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”
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