Merry Christmas from the Merry's 2009

December 2009

Heading up to Snoqualmie Pass for our annual tree hunt, sipping hot cider and listening to Christmas music, I was reminded of what a fun time of year it is – especially from a child’s eye. I ask the kids once in a while “What’s Christmas all about?” “Jesus!” they yell. Yes - It is all about Jesus!

2009 has been a roller coaster year, causing us to grow in trust and faith in Him. Even in times where we really couldn’t understand all that God was doing, we came to realize that nothing in this world escapes the awareness and redemptive work of our God. As a new friend remarked at Starbucks one day “There’s a reason God brings about our circumstances in life – nothing is without purpose”. As fickle people, we (speaking for myself) sometimes think God has no purpose just because I cannot see and understand it.

Some of our favorite events this year began with one week anniversary/Christmas gift trip to Florida – a cruise and Disneyworld, for Todd and Molly. We had a great time on camping trips with family and friends, Family Camp at Warm Beach, vacation at Lake Chelan, a visit to a water-park, visiting cousins in Pomeroy and several truly life changing conferences and seminars. We all enjoyed attending the wedding of Carlos and Manesseh, where Molly was honored to be one of the matrons of honor.

In October of this year, we began attending City Church in Kirkland. We love our new church family and the teaching from Pastor Judah Smith. After attending Trinity Baptist for 20 years, it was a difficult move and not easily made – especially with all the close friends we have enjoyed over the years. We are grateful for the teaching we had at Trinity and the opportunity to sit under Pastor Seim for all those years. At the same time, we are thankful for the Lord’s direction and know this move to be of God. We look forward to maintaining old friendships at Trinity and making new ones at City Church.

Some of our favorite books this year have been “Convergence, Confessions of a Charismatic Calvinist” by Sam Storms, “The Anointing” by RT Kendall, “You were Born for This” by Bruce Wilkinson, “The Blessed Life” by Robert Morris, “Extraordinary” by John Bevere, The “Enigma of the Cross” by Allistar McGrath and anything by Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, John Piper and John and Lisa Bevere.

Here’s a little “catch-up” on each of us – beginning with the littlest…

“Baby” Merry – While she doesn’t formally have a given name yet, it’s not for lack of suggestions. “Baby” is due at the end of January and is already showing signs of strength and vitality. Maggie knew all along that baby was going to be a girl and is so excited to share a room with her. Silas asks, “do baby, Mommy?” often, wanting to see her move or kick.

Silas (almost 3) continues to be the little man of the house. One of his favorite phrases is “I’m a big man.” When “Mr. Responsibility” isn’t tending to some job around the house, he’s talking to anyone who will listen about “mo-oh-cy-les”. For “buddy nights” with Dad, he prefers to frequent the local Harley-Davidson shop and try out some of their latest models. He is talking more and more and wants to serve, always running to open the door, or push the button or whatever task may be in front of him.

Maggie (5) loves to entertain the family and is truly the cheerleader. Her comments on life include: (big sigh) “I’m falling in love with Silas. He’s a good man. I’m going to marry him someday.” ”Mommy, when I get to heaven I’m going to play with the moon. I am going to bounce it.” She also spent time the other day explaining to Silas that Mommy had to go 60, not 9 on the freeway because we have to follow the “lemon speed” or the policeman will pull us over. Maggie can’t wait for school each day and passes on what she learns to her younger brother. She is a girly girl who loves dressing up, singing, dancing and going to plays. She recently had a special part in the City Kids Christmas performance.

Molly is so happy being a wife, mother and friend. Writing, reading, philosophy, spending time with God, photography, and theatre continue to be her interests and she sometimes feels like the most blessed woman in the world. She loves her home, family, Todd’s great work schedule and learning more about being attentive to the Holy Spirit and hearing from Him. This has truly been a year of excitement in watching God work and experiencing Him more deeply.

Todd has been thoroughly enjoying studying and listening to good teaching. He is now homeschooling and is thrilled to watch Maggie and Silas learn and has found a strengthened relationship that comes from one-on-one time spent together. He continues to lead a small group that meets in our house for dinner and study. Todd loves his job and considers it a blessing everyday to be at Maple Valley Fire. He spends some of his time off working on our rentals as well as cooking, baking and being creative with food, especially when friends come over. He gets plenty of good tips from his fellow firefighters.

We continue to do a lot of writing and journaling. We love having friends over, entertaining, talking about the Lord and lots of happy kids and laughter in our home. We are excited to have all of the Grandparents retired officially as of this year and are relishing the time we spend with them, as well as the time we have alone while our kids get “Grandparent time”. We consider ourselves very blessed and do not take it for granted.

This year we have been thinking about themes of forgiveness, the cross, the “easy and light” yoke that is ours and the kingdom of God, which Scripture defines as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We continue to see that true joy comes from dependence on the personhood of grace Himself, Jesus Christ. Grace being both His favor towards us and the changed life that comes with this gift. We love realizing that we do not have to strive ourselves for the fruit of grace, but instead learn dependence on the Person and power of grace. This is what makes the yoke “easy and light”. And the miracle is that this power is in us because His Spirit is in us.

It is exciting to watch God display this grace in our lives and in the lives of our family. This very evening, Maggie came up the stairs and told us how she started to take a candy, knowing that she didn’t have permission to do it, and then changed her mind and threw it away instead. We told her how glad we were that she obeyed and asked her who helped her to do that. She enthusiastically replied, “God”. When we told her that were proud of her for resisting temptation and choosing obedience and that it was God’s grace in her, her response with a huge grin on her face was, “It’s a miracle!”

What a powerful picture of what God does in us. This is truly why Jesus came as a baby. That He can take people like us who do not naturally want to obey, and move us, by His grace to obedience – not just dutiful, “heavy” obedience because we have to, but joyful obedience because of our relationship with Him – and give us His righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit truly is a miracle. Living by duty, willpower and self-effort is no miracle. But watching our own hearts and the hearts of those we love actually change from wanting to sin to loving to obey and to enjoy our relationship with Him is truly miraculous. We agree with Maggie!

As this year draws to an end, we truly wish you the best this Christmas and a reminder that “It’s all about Jesus”!

Pictures 2009 Jan-Feb

Disneyworld!

Cruise to the Bahamas

Atlantis Hotel

Mishayla's Birthday

Silas's Birthday

Cute Kids!

Pictures 2009 March-June

Cute Kids

8 Year Anniversary - Stanley and Seaforts

Going to Hello Dolly at the 5th Ave.

Todd ready for the Firefighter Challenge at Safeco Tower

Easter 2009

Camping with Pada and Grandma Linen

Pictures 2009 July- Sept

Kids day at Daddy's Fire Station

Fun with the Cousins in Pomeroy - Watchin' the Rodeo

Manesseh's Wedding

Lake Chelan

Pictures 2009 Sept-Dec

The Puyallup Fair

Maggie's Birthday Party

Cousins at Thanksgiving

The Princess and the Fireman
" Mo-oh-cy-le!"
Fun with Friends
Flower world with Grandma Merry

The Day of Small Things - by Todd

Zechariah 4:10 - "For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel."

Israel had finally returned from exile. Remembering the days of prosperity and growth, they were again hopefull of the same progress. Verse 9 says that the foundation of the temple had been built, but the framework was yet to begin. As their 6-month building project drags on for several years, they become all the more discouraged and wonder if they’ve misunderstood God.

Like many situations in life, the foundation has begun, but we have yet to see the progress we expected. The relationship fails to deepen, a friend’s heart is not as soft as it was at the beginning, and a four year-olds’ S’s still look like 5’s. As far as we realize, progress seems slow and the reaping of what we’ve sown seems to be much further than we think. I’m grateful every day that I’m only the seed planter. I don’t provide the sun and rain, ensuring a deep-rooted, rapid rate of growth. I only cast the seed. I do what the Great Farmer tells me, trusting that He knows even now what the end result will be.

As I was thinking on this passage, we were driving across the Palouse of Central Washington. Dark fields of rich soil were just starting to show the 5-o’clock shadow of their winter wheat crop. Farmers with more tenacity than I wait expectantly for the reaping of a distant harvest. Someone who likes immediate results would have hung their head in frustration over the seemingly small growth.

Eventually, Israel saw the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand. It came much later than they expected, but it did come to be sure. For God’s people, that would be evidence of Zechariah’s prophecy (4:9). In the same way, when we are privy to the redeeming acts of our Savior, we are given an opportunity to praise Him and be assured that He has not forgotten, nor will He turn away.

Our God is the Redeemer of all things, I’m becoming all the more convinced of this. There is nothing beyond His redemptive power, nor will He let evil triumph forever. As a friend recently assured me, “God has a reason for doing all that He does”. Even the greatest of setbacks are filled with purpose.

Until then, we are to faithfully sow the seed, love the unlovable, pray for healing, and forgive those who hurt us. Continue to hope, but leave the timeline to Him. In His time, He will make all things beautiful.

Remembering His Faithfulness - by Todd

These past few weeks, I’ve been tempted to recount some decisions I’ve made, wondering if I had really heard from God or if I was just acting on my own accord. “Was that God I was hearing, or was it my own wishes and desires? Was I acting on the prompting of the Holy Spirit, or on the well-intentioned advice of man?” I don’t think this is something that I alone am prone to do.
As I was belly-aching to Him last night, He reminded me of the importance of not looking back on our past decisions. There is nothing I can do in the present day over past choices I’ve made. I’m in the here and now and can only act in the present.

When it comes to remembering our past, scripture is clear, we are to remember the things He has done. After crossing the Jordan, God instructed Joshua and crew to build a mound of 12 large rocks to be a memorial to the generations that would come later (Josh 4:5-7). Samuel was instructed to put up an “Ebenezer” which declared “This far has the Lord helped us” (I Sam 7:12). God knows we are prone to forget His faithfulness and remember our own mistakes. He knows we need to recount His faithfulness, not our blunders.

Paul echoes this in Philippians 3, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”(v. 13-14). I’m sure if anyone was prone to recall past mistakes, it was the Apostle Paul.

Instead of putting confidence in our past successes or failures, we are to press on in hope. Not the hope that comes through our wisdom and great decision-making abilities, but the hope that He is able to redeem all things and prompts us not with a heavy hand of conformation, but with a Father-like nudge in the right direction. I only need be quieter and less restless, more hope-filled, less driven by fear. I’m so thankful for a loving Father who continues to go before us.

Pleasures Evermore - by Todd

Last night, I began reading Sam Storms' book "Pleasures Evermore", which is very similar to Piper's "Desiring God" (one of few books that significantly changed my life). Like Piper, Storms' premise is that if we are really looking for ultimate pleasure, we will find it in God alone. Motivating ourselves toward righteousness through guilt or self-control is not needed, and never very effective. This is the essense of Christian Hedonism - the believer's search for the most satisfying pleasures in every area of life. Psalm 16:11 says "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

CS Lewis says it this way "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not to strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered [to] us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased." (The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses)

Have we lost our hunger for truly satisfying joy and pleasure in life? Have we tried to satisfy ourselves on a diet of religion when we were given a hunger for relationship with Him? I couldn't help but ask myself how many times I've self-medicated myself on the stuff of life that truly does not bring the joy and satisfaction only He can offer (and I was created for). He alone gives us the satisfaction we are looking for, but He does not force it upon us. We need to hunger for it in the first place. Even the best of foods lacks taste to the one who is stuffed with empty calories.

The Green Letters - by Todd

A mentor-friend recently lent me a copy of Miles Stanford's "The Green Letters", aka "Principles of Spiritual Growth". I'd never heard of Stanford till now, but really appreciate his sage advice on the process of Spiritual development. Stanford is a deep writer, reminding me of AW Tozer. Of particular interest, I enjoyed his reminder of what we have already been given through the work of Christ on the cross.

"God is not trusted, not honored, in our continually asking Him for help. In the face of 'my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19), how can we beg for help? Our responsibility is to see in the Word all that is ours in Christ and then thank and trust Him fo that which we need."

Later, quoting from Watchmen Nee, "God's way of deliverance is altogether different from man's way. Mans' way is to try to suppress sin by seeking to overcome it; God's way is to remove the sinner. Many Christians mourn over their weakness, thinking that if only they were stronger all would be well."

In reading this, I'm convicted of the times I've tried to conquer sin by "trying harder", excercising my strength, my understanding, my plan toward freedom. All the while, Stanford contends, Christ tells us that freedom lies not in our exersion of strength, but in realizing how helpless we really are. Only our submission to Him will bring the power we need. As another mentor of mine, Mark Driscoll would say, "We take ourselves too seriously and don't take God seriously enough"

Face to Face, Fully Known, by Molly

Nathan Beau was due to be born on March 10, 2009. The day before his due date, God gave me a special present in the form of a verse.

I’d had a low day emotionally a few days before, and there was a part of me that wondered if that might have been the day he would have been born. There was no reason to be feeling as weepy as I was.

But on the 9th I was perusing a friends’ facebook page and she had some pictures up of her new little one that arrived a few days before. We had shared our exact same due date and both of us were having boys. As I was looking at the pictures, making comments and rejoicing with her, I realized that God had done so much healing in my life. Though I shed some tears thinking about Nathan, they were not sad tears, just thankful ones. Her family picture totally ministered to me as I looked at it.

As I looked at the pictures and thought about Nathan, I began thanking Jesus that Nathan Beau is seeing Him face to face and He reminded me of the verse,

I Cor 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

I love the fact that Nathan is enjoying Jesus face to face, knowing Him fully and being fully known by Him. I can’t wait to be there someday. I am so grateful for God's “birth-date” gift to me in that Scripture. He truly good to me.