Une Randonee A La Belle Etoile (An Excursion to “The Beautiful Star”)

by J.D.

Once again, a few wives gave their husbands a gracious “thumbs up”, and the Lord gave us gracious weather, for us to scale another magnificent peak in the great French Alps this past Saturday.  This was my friend Kory and I’s third mountain to hike together, and our first with our good friends and colleagues, Neil and Nathan. 

This was my fourth overall daylong hike, and I’m finding it harder to make comparisons the more I do this.  La Belle Etoile is located in Albertville, home of the 1992 Winter Olympics, and it’s the highest peak I’ve done so far (1,843 meters, or 6,046 feet).  It was perhaps the more challenging one (and “delicate”…translate that however you like), as well, although my hike with Traci to La Croix du Nivolet rivals this one in degree of difficulty. 

We encountered a lot of very steep, slippery trails, and we eventually reached a little snow!  It wasn’t all that long of a hike (roughly 6 hours with several long stops for admiring the amazing views), but we did at one point scale about 500 meters up in just an hour and a half, which is quite short for that much of an ascent (that’s only to say it was very steep, not at all to say that we are all in great shape…).

You can click on any of the photos below for a full view.  Some of you may remember my shots of Mont Blanc (the highest peak in all the Alps) from mine and Kory’s hike to La Dent du Chat.  Those pics don’t hold light to what we saw on this trip!

La Belle Etoile is located in Albertville, France. It’s the high point on the left.

The first 20 minutes was quite the workout! We had to bear crawl up for much of it.

One of the many amazing views we had on the way up.

Much of the hike was along a ridge that grew steeper on both sides the further we went.

We got a preview of sights to come when we reached La Croix de Perillet at 1710 meters. This is our favorite “giant” (and very good friend, at just a mere 6′7″), Nathan.

Great shot of Kory and Mont Blanc

Mes trois amis et Mont Blanc…Neil (center) is my first Canadian friend (congrats Neil!) and colleague in ministry. He was the most adventurous (read: “risky”) of the 4 of us. He’s a true Alpiniste!

Nathan, the most photography-crazed among us, paused to get some shots of the ice on the way up.

Pictures never quite capture all the reality…that slope was long, steep, and (for a wimp like me) quite terrifying.

A shot of the cliffs below La Belle Etoile

The tablet at the summit of La Belle Etoile

Getting a picture with Mont Blanc is like getting a pic with a celebrity…it only happens once in a lifetime

…from the other side…

This is what lunchtime looks like at 1800 meters above Albertville

A popular click…the panorama of the East view from La Belle Etoile

We made a short stop in 13th century (?) Albertville after our hike

Fountain in ancient Albertville

Thought this might make a cool desktop background

Chicken Pox, Stitches, & “Fist Fights”

by J.D.

Parenting is a trip.  From our point of view, it doesn’t get any better than having 3 children, ages 5 and under (when Eli was born, we had 3 kids under 3 years old for three whole weeks…before Madi turned 3).  They’re a source of immeasureable joy.  They’re also a profound test of our sanctification.

But, just when we reach a moment of thinking, “Why do they act like this towards us?!  Why are they so difficult?!”, we’re sobered by how inadequate and, well, stupid we ourselves are as parents.  This year will stand as a frequent reminder of just how difficult we sometimes are on them.

Eli’s chicken pox were no different than anybody elses. It was his allergic reaction to the “pink stuff” (you know, the “medicine” that supposed to “relieve” the itching?) that he didn’t handle well. Those aren’t chicken pox scabs, those are thumb print “burns” where we dabbed the pink stuff on!

“Hey Daddy, I found a great place to rest my feet,” our little princess proclaimed, while riding on the rear rack of Daddy’s rental bike. Two minutes later, Daddy couldn’t peddle anymore, and Madi was screamin’ in pain…her left foot got caught in between the bike frame and the rear wheel. Note to all dads: safety seats and equipment exist for a reason.

Boxers come out of 12-rounders looking better than this! Knowing already that our littlest was allergic to peanuts, we left some walnuts and almonds out the other day for our kids to munch on. We’re not sure which nut laid the hammer on our boy’s face, but it’ll be several years before we schedule a rematch.

A la Croix du Nivolet (To the Cross of Nivolet)

[Note: This last month has been a challenging one for our family, and while we are not quite ready to share what has passed, we ensure that everyone is doing great and we are just about ready to get back to posting more things on this blog.  I'm particularly looking forward to getting things rolling with the series of post on Fighting for the Home.]

La Croix du Nivolet from downtown Chambery

by J.D.

As many of you know from previous posts, Traci and Eli had a short visit back to the States for the funeral of a close friend and to visit family.  That was a month ago, and the trip overlapped mine and Traci’s anniversary.  Our good friends and fellow missionaries, the Fay’s, held to their offer to watch the kids for a full day so Traci and I could hike a mountain together, and this past Saturday we finally got to go.  Many thanks to the Fay family!  You can see pictures of our kids hanging out with Sam Fay on their website.

La Croix du Nivolet is probably Chambéry’s most noticeable landmark, sitting at 1547 meters up.  There’s a very nice lookout around the cross (which is approximately 70 ft tall), and the view’s are incredible.  There are several ways to get to the top.  You can drive to within an hour’s easy walk and park in a nice parking lot.  You can also drive to a nearby ski resort, which would put you within an hour and a half.  Or, if you’re feeling up for a challenge, you can take a bus to a tiny town halfway up the mountain called Lovettaz, hike two hours and climb a nail-biting set of cliffs and ladders. 

Or…if you’re feeling absolutely out of your mind (and apparently we were), you can start at an altitude of about 200 meters at the very bottom of the mountain in a town called St. Alban-Leysse.  This made for what turned out to be the most enjoyably unenjoyable 8 1/2 hours of our lives!  Fortunately, our good friends were up for keeping our kids into the evening.  It was a great time of mutual reflection, meditation, and pondering the future.  I even made up a little tune on the way up, and after nearly turning back at the cliffs and ladders (I have a terrible fear of heights), my song had some real substance to it on the way back down.

 

Une marche dans les montagnes

Vers la Croix du Nivolet

N’arrêtez pas sur le chemin

Finissez au Nivolet!

 

Non-literal translation:

[A walk in the mountains

Towards the Cross of Nivolet

Don't stop on the path

Go all the way to Nivolet!]

Click on any photo for a large view.

An incredible view of Le Col de la Doria

A nice gentleman stopped to take a picture on the trail. Can you believe that scene is real?!

Les Cascades

At the summit of Nivolet

Le Col de la Doria is a mountain just to the side of La Croix du Nivolet that we could see throughout our ascent.

One set of ladders we had to scale towards the end of our trek.

La Croix du Nivolet from downtown Chambery

Panorama to the south of the Cross

Panorama to the North of the Cross

Fighting for the Home

by J.D.

The numbers don’t lie: there is something desperately wrong going on with American “Christian” teenagers between the ages of 18 and 19, or between the start of their freshman year of college and the end of it.  In the 2001 Report to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, T.C. Pinkney said that 70% of teenagers involved in church youth groups stop attending church within 2 years of their high school graduation.  The following year, the Report of the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life reported that 88 percent of kids in evangelical homes leave church at the age of 18.

First thoughts?  Perhaps you’re thinking, “We must be sending our kids to the wrong schools!” or, “What is up with the religious organizations on these campuses?  Certainly, there’s something wrong there.”  Or, for those of you who paid close attention to the target group of the first report quoted above:  “What in the world are our youth pastors doing to set our kids up for this disastrous backsliding?”  While these thoughts and questions may be in need of some serious consideration, there is one question that screams from the far corner of our mind in which we’ve placed it: “What are we doing wrong at home?”

Given the statistics, and the rapidly declining morality of our culture at large, it’s clear that we all need to stop a moment to try and answer that last question.

As you’ve seen from recent posts, I’ve been doing some reading lately on the Christian family.  Madilyn is 5, Jet is 4, and Elijah is 2.  To be honest with you, I’m just now getting around to laying the floor plan for how we as a family are going to make our march towards that traditional “release date”: high school graduation.  Did I suddenly wake up one day and see that my family was a disaster waiting to happen?  No, not at all.  Traci and I haven’t been perfect by any means, but we are often honored by our children’s behavior, conduct, and genuine love for each other and their friends. 

The reality that has become increasingly evident to me is the fact that the 70-88% of supposedly Christian teenagers who are leaving the faith (almost as soon as they leave their homes) are probably all well-behaved, nice, and respectable young men and women.  Morally, it is likely that they are fine people.  They just don’t care about Jesus anymore.  That bothers me, and not just a bit.  That terrifies me.  That means I could take my kids to church every Sunday from now until the year 2025 (792 worship services remaining) and, according to the current trend, there’s still almost a 9 out of 10 chance that they’ll never step foot in church again thereafter.

So, we return to our question, leaving aside the questions about the outside influential sources (colleges & universities, religious organizations, and youth groups).  What are we doing in our homes that’s making it so easy for so many of our teens to leave the faith?  More positively, what can we do to start fighting for the home and creating a place where genuine faith can be nurtured?

I haven’t found all the answers yet, but I have found that there are answers out there: enough answers already to help form a series of posts that I hope you’ll consider reading.  Whether you’re a new parent (or soon to be), a seasoned parent, or a grandparent looking to give solid biblical direction, I am hoping that these posts on “Fighting for the Home” will be worth your while…and worth passing on.  And don’t think it’s too late if you have teenagers who seem all but lost.  As Voddie Baucham Jr. says when approached with this dilemma, “I’ve got four words for you: United States Marine Corps…if the United States Marine Corps can take sully, disobedient teenagers and turn them into hill-charging, order-obeying, adapting, improvising, and overcoming United States Marines without the Bible, then certainly we can do it with the Bible!  There is always hope.”

Here’s a list of what will be covered in this series:

1. The Status Quo in American Homes and Churches
2. The American Christian Parent: How is He/She Different Than Any Other Parent?
3. The Movement: Parents and Churches That Are Taking Back Their Children
4. Worship at Home: Is It Possible? Is It Biblical?
5. Worship at Home: What Might It Look Like?
6. Worship at Home: The Frightful Danger
7. Worship at Home: The Glorious Security
8. The American Public School: When is Enough, Enough?
9. School at Home: Why Would We Do That to Our Kids?
10. School at Home: Must We Be ‘Highly Educated’ to Do This?
11. School at Home: When It’s Just Not an Option
12. School at Home: Where to Start
13. The Church vs. The Home: A Battle Nobody Knows They’re Fighting
14. The Church FOR The Home: How This Partnership Can Win a Nation for Christ
15. Conclusion: More Issues, Questions, & Thoughts

Read It or Not? “Family Driven Faith” by Voddie Baucham Jr.

book review by J.D.

Following up my last read with a contemporary title on virtually the same subject was, I admit, difficult to do at first.  Old Christian books (good old Christian books, I should say) – with their authoritative style, thoroughness, and (often) superior logic and reason - tend to have at least one of two effects: they either leave you completely satisfied with the author’s treatment of a particular subject (not feeling that you need to read anything else on the matter), or they make every other book sound drab or cake-y or elementary.  After reading a 17th-century treatment of family worship by the clear-minded pastor/preacher George Hamond, I did not expect to learn much more from a contemporary pastor/preacher who has grown up in the same world as I have, in a time when the word “family” doesn’t even have a clear definition.

Such was not the case, though, and according to Mr. Baucham there’s a whole lot more to “family driven faith” than just performing worship at home every day (although he does spend a great amount of time making his own “case” for family worship in this book).  Where Hamond’s book focused strictly on family worship and the biblical arguments for doing it, Baucham draws up a wide-view sketch of the American Christian family today, and pinpoints the many flaws in family leadership and family structure.  What is most interesting is how, at the end of this book, he links many of those flaws to shortcomings in church leadership and structure.

While one is led to a solid and sure premise on which to confidently establish worship in the home through Hamond’s book, I found “Family Driven Faith” to be more practical and informative for establishing attitudes and convictions on a wide range of topics surrounding the family.  In addition to discussing family worship, Baucham provides biblical counsel on marriage, parenting, homeschooling, discipleship, establishing a biblical worldview, arranging a worshipful home, fighting materialism in the home, and moving your church towards the cultivation of true, practicing Christian families.  Baucham builds his arguments in the face of a looming statistic that states that anywhere from 70-88% of evangelical Christian teenagers have nothing to do with spiritual matters by the end of their freshman year in college (just a year after they leave the home).

I here recommend a “New (or young) Family Gift Bundle” to all who know and love a family that is just starting out.  ”The Case for Family Worship” and “Family Driven Faith” are a wonderful complement to one another, and would make a perfect gift for new (and not-so-new) parents.  You can purchase both books at monergismbooks.com and have them sent directly.

Conclusion: Read It!  If…you’re a new father or mother, experienced father or mother, pastor, or church leader.

A Poem for Traci

[As some of you know, Traci and Elijah left Chambery on the 24th to attend the memorial service of one of our best friends in Houston.  Of course, we easily gave up our plans to celebrate our anniversary (September 28th) so Traci could be there.  They will be gone through October 9th.  I'd like to think that I'm getting better at preparing for special dates (believe me, I've had to learn the hard way), but this time was a challenge considering my "date" wasn't here with me!  So, this poem may be 3 days late, but I'm hoping to be cut a little slack ]

Your Rays

by J.D.

Days pass far from normal

As I wait for something better

Here on the other side

Though there’s been some lovely weather

 

Your two oldest wander

Thinking of mom with ev’ry step

Their cause for missing you

Too complex, but draining their pep

 

Daily paths pushed aside

Can hardly try to do ‘routine’

Eli, too, though with you

Must know things are a’bit out of sync

 

But the circumstances

Are well worth, for the moment, putting

A great ocean between us

And so we should welcome this time

 

I am so blessed, honored

To say that ‘growing’, just like this,

 Has etched our seven years

Close or far, in this, we are rich

 

Missing ‘our day’ this time

Stirs more than it would have before

But, I’m glad to learn that

This ’share’ yearns your ’share’ more and more

 

Remember that bright day?

First Timothy One-Seventeen

Our verse: we knew little

What that dedication would mean

 

From that dawning to be 

 - Though sometimes blindly, half-hearted –

Husband, Wife, one in Him

Yet d’stinctly nurtured, yet non-parted

 

Eternal, Immortal,

Invisible, the one wise God

We’ve hoped for His honor,

His glory, forever, His laud

 

O how we’ve failed a-plenty!

Three children, now, standing witness

All our foibles, frailties,

Reveal, in contrast, His brightness

 

To grow with you, my dear,

Is showing more precious these days

As I miss without you,

And as I see with you, your rays

 

For you have grown to beam

Increasingly so, it does seem

And I, the kids, we soak

In your rays of Christ’s light, indeed

 

I love you, my sweet bride!  Come back refreshed for your family.  The Lord knows we need you!

Upcoming Projects Page Updated

 

Sunset over Mount Cameroon (from Frequency43 on flickr.com)

 

 You can now view PDF files of our newsletters on the Upcoming Projects page!

Sara in His Hands

When Saints Suffer::When Saints Rest

by J.D.

Traci with Sara in 2007

Few things are more confounding, few things are harder to understand (much less explain), than the reality that our perfect and holy Creator allows His children to suffer (Psalm 80:5).  Not only does He allow it, but He prescribes the dosage (Isaiah 9:1).   And He does so with a purpose (Genesis 50:20), which really can make it all the more difficult to comprehend, because the question often continues to loom: “Why?”

This week, our family lost a dear friend in Sara Sullivan.  Early this year, this radically devout and godly woman of just 28 years was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Not but a few days later, she and her husband Brady learned that they were also pregnant!  Surpassing with ease the feelings of worry and anxiety that would meet any normal set of parents enduring chemo treatments and OB visits at the same time, Sara and Brady chose the road of joyful and prayerful awe as they watched God perform two miracles at once: Sara’s healing, and baby Chloe’s premature, but overwhelmingly healthy, birth.  Sara was already declared a cancer survivor and had spent two days at home with Brady and their new daughter when God performed one last miracle: He took Sara home.

Sara with baby Chloe

While the details surrounding her last moments are best read in her husband’s words, it is bittersweet and altogether good to contemplate the care of our Maker over Sara.  For infinite reasons, God gave Sara the trial of cancer.  Why so young?  Only He knows.  For infinite reasons, God pulled her through it, and gave her a joy that surpasses all understanding (though we can be sure there were tears, too).  She lost every hair on her head, yet she praised the One who could tell her exactly how many.  

Sara at her Deer Park 10-year reunion this year

For infinite reasons, she gave birth to Chloe.  Everyone around saw a miracle in paradox: a perfectly healthy baby nurtured in and born from a body that was battling one “poison” (cancer) with another (chemo).  For millions of infinite reasons, a woman who loved Jesus Christ with her utmost has been called suddenly to meet Him in the highest.  While it shocked us, God, on the other hand, was just simply waiting.

When saints like Sara suffer, God knows and sees everything all the way through, and it is in these times that He is quietly impressing His Fatherly stamp on them.  When saints rest, God brings them into the eternal culmination of what He created them for: unbroken, unhindered, unending fellowship with Him.  Sara bore her Father’s mark in so many ways, and now she gets to enjoy His presence forever.

If you are reading this, please pray for the Sullivan and Haselbarth families. Our love goes out to Brady, Chloe, and all who belong to Sara as they remember and celebrate a life lived in adoration of Jesus.

The Mighty Mile High “Pointe de la Galoppaz”

by J.D.

Last Saturday, I had yet another wonderful opportunity to conquer one of the many incredible “hills” here in the French Alps (read about the trek to La Dent du Chat).  This time it was La Pointe de la Galoppaz, which can be seen from our balcony on the east side of town.  At 1681 meters high, it is just over a mile up.

I enjoyed the company of two more fine men for this marche dans la montagne.  Adam Huntley and Paul Beadle joined me and my previous hiking partner, Kory Fay, for what turned out to be 8 hours of fairly intense inclines and some interesting discoveries.  Though things didn’t look too good from the get-go (it was completely overcast with low clouds all day, and our fifth hiking mate had to miss the trip), I think we all thoroughly enjoyed the challenging trails and the unique scenes that we encountered above the clouds.

Click on any picture for a full view…

Sunrise over La Pointe de la Galoppaz from our balcony here in Chambery

When we arrived at the trailhead, we found this no-hiking sign. Fortunately, there was an alternate route.

A fountain at the trailhead of La Pointe de la Galoppaz

We came upon a heard of cattle (fit with cow bells, tags, and all) as we ascended above cloud level!

Me and my good friends (from left: Adam Huntley, Paul Beadle, and Kory Fay) Note: I’m not really that much taller than my comrades!

I asked if anyone knew how to yodel…didn’t know I’d get a demonstration! Kory’s a pro.

We came to this sign (and fork in the trail) not far from the start. We had a choice between “fort %” or “faible %” (hard incline or easy). Guess which one we mighty men chose going up…(and which one we chose, on wobbly legs, coming down)

Random French Notables – Traci’s Corner, September 2009

Just some random things I have observed about the French culture…

1.  This morning I saw a woman that was at least 65 years old, running past me, headed into the grocery store.  This is so amazing to me, because she was at least 65 years old and she was running!  Wow! She is not the only physically fit personne agée (french way to say ‘elder person’) that I have seen. The majority of bikers that I see on the bike path each day are no longer in their ‘prime’.  I am just in shock.   I love this about the French culture.  At all ages, people are active. 

Recently, I noticed that a nurse that was administering our vaccines at the hospital had what I would consider “Olympian calves”. I am not kidding, they were incredible!   I really considered asking her what her sport was.  Almost everyone here has their ’sport’.  In fact, one of the first questions we learned how to ask in a casual conversation was, “Est-tu sportif?” (Are you athletic?)  Who in America upon meeting someone for the first time would say, “So nice to meet you.  Are you athletic?”

2.  I was at the check out a few weeks ago, and this man and his teenage son were in front of me.  I watched him as he put his groceries up on the conveyor belt, and this is what I saw: brie cheese, fresh mozzerella, tomatoes, zuchinni, gouda cheese, chocolat bar, milk, emmental cheese, yogurt, confiture du lait (caramel), Tomme de Savoie (cheese from the region we live in), coffee, Nutella, croissants, and a few house hold items.  Once again, I couldn’t believe what I saw!  Cheese and chocolate.  That’s it.  This is the typical way the french eat (and we’ve caught on a bit…we, too, very much enjoy the chocolate )

3.  People here say hello to everyone they pass.  It is really nice.  Old, young, teenagers, the homeless, everyone! When you get on the elevator with someone they will almost imediately say, “Bonjour”.  When they get off they will always say, “Bonne journée” (have a nice day).  Even in the dumpster area a man has told me hello, and to have a nice day.  Who does this in America when you are taking your garbage out to the dumpster?   We figured out real quick why the French don’t typically like Americans, or so the rumor goes:  It’s because they think we are rude. 

4.  It is considered rude if you eat all of the food on your plate when you are eating at someone elses home.  If you eat all your food, the hostess will feel obligated to serve you more, and what if she doesn’t have anymore.  Even if the hostess offers you seconds you are suppose to decline and tell them that it was so wonderful and that you have already stuffed yourself beyond full.  This is quite the opposite of what we do in Texas. 

5.  Hugs are very bizzare, and to embrace someone is only allowed for romantic relationships.  This is so hard for me because I love hugs.  Many of you know my dad – He is the huggiest person I know!

Handshakes, on the other hand, are considered very distant, usually only used within the work enviroment.  So, if you extend your hand to someone as a greeting they may be sort of thrown back and assume that you do not desire for your relationship w/ the person to be anything more than the relationship they might have with their boss.  The french do the “bisous”, or the “kiss, kiss” on each cheek.

And as for the “bisous”:  this is not really a kiss on the cheek.  If you really kiss them on the cheek this will also send the wrong message.  You just make the sound of a kiss when you touch their cheek to yours.  You really have to be careful to anticipate which side the other person will start their “bisous”.  I have on several ocasions come close to planting a kiss on the lips of the person I am greeting!  If you see someone you know and they are standing in a group with 4 other people that you do not know, you are expected to greet the one person you do know first w/ bisous and then do bisous with the other four people that you do not know.  This is so funny to me.  In Texas, I would have just said hello once with a little wave to all, and been done.  Nope, you are considered very snobby if you do not greet with bisous to each and every person.  Bisous is done to say hello and goodbye.

I totally blame this way of greeting as the reason why I got the flu last year, just a few weeks after our arrival.  Or…

6.  …maybe it was because of the way we do the Lord’s supper at church.  They pass around one very large goblet of grape juice or sometimes real wine, and everyone drinks out of the same cup!  With the cup they also pass around a little paper napkin (which totally does not get rid of the germs).  If you know me very well, you know that I am a huge germaphobe.  I use to say a prayer of protection from germs along with my prayer of thankfulness each time we partook of the Lord’s supper.  Like all things, I am used to this now.  I see this as one of the ways the Lord is preparing for all the new and even more odd ways of sharing germs in Cameroon.

There are many things that I love about the french culture.  I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me a love in my heart for the French people.  Thank you to all that have been praying for us!  The first 8 mos. were very difficult.  Just within the last month I have felt as if we’ve settled in a little bit.  The sadness that loomed over us for so long is leaving, and I know that this is an answer to the prayers of God’s people. 

I love you all, and miss you! I can’t wait until our next cup of coffee! Traci