Good Friday...

I've been contemplating tomorrow-- Good Friday, the day we remember the death of Jesus on our behalf. Tomorrow we will think of His death and in some ways hold our thoughts there until Sunday when we  celebrate the resurrection. We will ponder pain and suffering in a different light. We'll be reminded of our sin and that the only acceptable payment for sin is death. We deserved death: Jesus died. Sobering. (And yet, Sunday is so close! Easter is nearly upon us, and we do know the end of the story!)

Here in Canada, Easter is so different than what we experienced the last years in the Philippines. In fact, there isn't very much to remind us of Good Friday or Easter at all. I haven't seen a "station of the cross" or noticed people on pilgrimages. Nobody is beating themselves while they walk along the road. Our friends are not making arrangements to climb nearby hills to sit at the foot of a cross. I haven't talked to anybody who is staying home on tomorrow because it is the day God is literally dead. I've seen Easter candy and a few baskets for sale (ok, I don't shop much, maybe there's tons of stuff out there). 

This is a time of year that always brought to the forefront of my mind why we were in the Philippines-- the bondage of many people to suffering for their own sins. And this year, I am reminded of why we are involved in mission aviation-- to free people from that bondage. I am also reminded of how easy it is to take freedom for granted and hardly even celebrate it: may we not fall prey to complacency in this country of abundance!

Reporting...

Garry's been home just over a week, and the time has flown by. It seems there is so much to catch up on, and life keeps moving ahead at an alarming rate. Last weekend the boys played another badminton tournament... fun, opportunity, challenge. It's the basic story of life!

A safety audit is somewhat challenging to do, and getting your thoughts organized into a report can be even more challenging! That is what we've been busy with over the past week. Now Garry is in the editing stage, which is somewhat easier than the initial stages of thinking things through. However, it does require lots of time at the desk, which is not his favourite place to be!

Garry took some great photos in PNG, and I'll be randomly posting them throughout the coming days and weeks. This one looks like where I'd like to be... particularly with the -20 weather here these days! At least we have sunshine, though!

I mentioned in my last post that I had an opportunity to be a part of a panel discussion regarding lie as a missionary. The morning was fun and hopefully informative for those who were there!

Headed home...

Garry left the mission station in PNG around 5 pm our time yesterday. It will take him about 50 hours to get home... long time in transit! He had to spend the night in Brisbane, but that is probably a good thing as hopefully he'll get a good rest before his long flight to LAX tomorrow.

When Garry left for PNG we felt very confident that God had a plan and that we were supposed to be involved in it. The process there has been fun and challenging, invigorating and at times discouraging. There are challenges that need dealt with, but we know the One who has answers. We are incredibly thankful for all God has already done in this process. And we look forward with anticipation to how He is going to finish the process. We trust we can be a blessing and a help to the aviation team in PNG. What a privilege it is to know the God of the Universe and to be involved in what He is doing!

Tomorrow morning I have the opportunity to be involved in a missionary panel discussion at Blumenort's Sunday school. I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say and sharing a bit of what God has done in our lives.

I'm still pondering this blog and how to proceed. If you have thoughts, please share them!

Flight program fun

Good morning! This is one of the things Garry has been doing-- enjoying a ride in the helicopter in PNG! He went on a flight early this week to pick up a missionary family who works in a remote location. And come to find out, the family is related to friends of our in Manitoba! How small the world is!

Garry has actually spent the last several days riding around to different places in PNG, visiting with pilot families, seeing the terrain, and watching how the pilots operate. These have been cool opportunities to connect, learn, and encourage. We appreciate your continued prayers that we would be a blessing to the PNG flight program as Garry spends his last couple of days there before heading home.

On this end I've been thinking through some of the challenges of blogging. Honesty and privacy, the reality of blogging about a life so many of you share in. The challenges of sharing what God is doing when many of those stories as not mine to share. Our ministry over the past few years has moved into more and more ministry to missionary pilot families, and the realities, blessings, and challenges of those interactions are very different than the ones we faced when we were personally running a flight program.

Moving back to Canada has once more diminished the things I am free to share-- after all, many of you live in this community and know one another. The cultural and life challenges we face cease to be interesting when they are so similar to the ones faced by those who read my blog. The everyday opportunities of life are not as easy to share either. The teenager who wanted to tell me about a job he'd found. A new family we connected with that has blessed us by their honesty and interest. An e-mail I received that encouraged me to keep on keeping on. Life questions that we have been able to work through with people. The opportunities we have to share about missionary life in many informal setting and the ways we are attempting to bring the Gospel to bear on the circle of influence that God has given us. The challenges we as a mission aviation team are facing as we seek to adjust to a changing world that we don't always understand.

So, as I ponder these things I wonder if the time for blogging has passed, and I ask myself if I simply need to focus on different things than I have. I'm pretty confident that I know One who has the answers, and I look forward to hearing them and moving on accordingly. Until then, thanks for sharing this journey with me, with us!