Lopez Family Fieldtrip: September 2012

With leaves turning golden and red and then falling to be crunched beneath our feet, and with the smell of chimney's first smoke hanging in the air … it is definitely autumn. And as autumn comes, so does the Remembering Season.

At the Lopez home we are right in the middle of two Remembering Times. Just ten days ago we gathered around the table for a birthday celebration – a feast extraordinaire with a menu designed by our now-15-year-old son … cheesy bread, homemade pizzas and calzones, caesar salad, and finally chocolate-chip cookie cake with chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream. While we gorged ourselves on carbs and sugar, we reminisced and laughed with one another as we shared our favorite Isaac memories. Birthdays are great times to remember, to remember the chapters of our story that have been told thus far.

The second Remembering Time will take place in exactly one week. Almost nineteen years ago on a beautiful autumn day in Kansas City, Missouri, the Lopez family had its beginning in an old stone church with a long center aisle. Vows exchanged, communion shared and then a joyous procession into the chapters to come. What an adventure. Only God Almighty, only the Sovereign Lord of all, only our Gracious Heavenly Father could have written a story like this for me, for you, for all of us.

A few weeks ago at the Kick-off Program of our local PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel), our guest speaker posed this question, “What's Your Story?” Well, I am going to challenge each of us to ask this question, “What is the story God is telling?” Consider the Bible. It is the very Word of God … His Story. He has given us this record of His Story, AND incredibly, He has written us into His Story. Ephesians 1:4 “...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love...”

Before chapter 1, even before the prologue, He chose us and gave us a bit part in His Story. Our scenes are always changing, but the Author remains the same. Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change...”

And all throughout His Story, He reminds us of many things … necessary, life-giving things. The word “remember” appears in over 200 places in the Bible. What does He remind us of? *His everlasting love for us *His good and perfect law that gives us boundaries and provides security and protection *His complete sacrifice – Jesus, God in human form, dying an atoning death on cross, and *The consequences of our choices – Obedience brings blessing, Disobedience cursing, and this will lead to our eternal home, either with Him in heaven or separated from Him forever.

Our Father even set aside specific times, formal Remembering Times called Feasts – the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Passover and even on a weekly basis – the Sabbath. Today, we also have those built-in formal Remembering Times – Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, even funerals. These specific times are not only times for us to remember His Story and what He has done for us; these are also times when His Name is to be made known, His glory to be shown to the nations. Think about those twelve stones taken from the Jordan, the stones of remembrance. We read in Joshua 4, “And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Again, remember, these times of remembrance are not just for us personally; they are not just for us to share with our children; they are for the glory of God...for making Him known among the nations.

And then there are those informal Remembering Times … times around the dinner table as you discuss and remember the things that happened throughout the day … times of getting to know new friends as you share the previous chapters leading you to this particular time and place … getting together with old friends after long separations as you walk down Memory Lane … even children asking for help on homework assignments – do you really need a common denominator when adding fractions... and then there are treasured family albums bringing their own Remembering Times.

One of Bear's favorite things to do is to pull out his photo album, climb up into my lap, and hear the story behind each picture. Do we come to God's Word the same way? Do we climb up into His lap and turn the page, eager to hear the story behind that snapshot?? My prayer is that our Remembering Times would become more and more frequent. Would we consider each day – would we take time each day to remember The Author and His Story? Read anew these words from Psalm 145. Picture this snapshot of Our Author:

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works. The Lord upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. The Lord preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever.

Even after almost 21 months in Europe, I am still amazed that I am writing the following sentence. Last weekend we squeezed in a quick trip to Berlin between school photo shoots with Dad. A few highlights of that excursion are pictured below ... the Pergamon Museum, Französischer Dom, and Gendarmenmarkt. So much history packed into two days. The only disappointment: in a city of 3.5 million, one should be able to use the GPS and find a Mexican restaurant.