My mother, Lydian circa 1936
If you have been following my blogs, especially during the past months, you will have seen that I have camped completely on the book of Habakkuk. The vivid imagery of the words of the prophet have become very personal and a foundation of confidence for me over this year. God, the sovereign, and oft times unfathomable in his purposes One – that God – is the One in whom I rest unmovable even while absolutely perplexed as to his plans and purposes.
How often over the past months have I simply had to say with Habakkuk “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me.”
I have zero doubt as to his sovereignty, or that he is in absolute control; that is not even vaguely my question. Rather, I guess I, along with the prophet, find myself saying “How long, O Lord, will I call for help and you will not hear? I cry out to you, “Violence!” yet you do not save. Why do you make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.”
My heart’s cry is not whether God is sovereignly in control of all things, but rather why it is that He is apparently allowing evil to get an upper hand.
But then I need to quiet my heart with the following truth along with the Psalmist in chapter 37:
My mother and her little brother, my uncle Amos Martin in front of their garden on the family farm “between “Hawkesville and Saint Clements” in southern Ontario
“Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers for they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow to cast down the afflicted and the needy, to slay those who are upright in conduct. Their sword will enter their own heart, and their bows will be broken.
Depart from evil and do good, so you will abide forever. For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
I have seen a wicked, violent man spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found. The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in Him.”
My mother, Lydian and her little brother Amos on their way to school. Notice the honey pails that were their lunch buckets. Mom’s seems a tad beat up. Maybe she was beating on too many of the pesky boys with it?
Or, again returning to the unshakable truth of the prophetic cry of the prophet Habakkuk: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea!”
And: “The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”
Recently I was praying and thinking about what I should write in this blog and the account of the disciple’s meeting of Jesus on the road to Emmaus came to mind – you know the story well (as recorded in Luke 24):
“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. One of them answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one unaware of the things which have happened in these days?” “But we were hoping…” And He [Jesus] said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe.”
The words “But we were hoping” jumped out at me. But we were hoping! That is the sadness of my heart: “But we were hoping.”
How is it that God allows so much evil to apparently get the upper hand and wicked men and women to seemingly gain power and control? But it is in the voicing that very doubt that I must echo with the psalmist: “I have seen a wicked, violent man spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found.”
Also, as Peter reminds us: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness.” To the contrary, “Do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” Rather, He is “patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance”. And if this is indeed so, then “What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.”
My mom and dad; loved by so many. My father is now in Glory
I wonder if the same feeling of acute sadness that I feel about the political, social, and economic events of 2020 is felt in places where poverty and lawlessness are the norm rather than the exception. Recently I was reading in a mission magazine about the persecuted and tortured church in Nigeria and the surrounding region where the inconceivable violence of Boko Haram and other fanatical extremist groups has brought about the killing of more than 8,370 church members and eight pastors in one small area alone, not to mention the countless more abducted and raped, or the over 700,000 people, mostly Christians, displaced by the recent violent insurgence. The absence of security during 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis has allowed these murderous groups to take advantage of the vacuum and to attack vulnerable Christian communities which were locked down and left as sitting targets while governments focused police and military resources on the pandemic. I’m absolutely sure that their prayer and heart’s cry is very different from ours in North America.
I wonder, is it only because we in the West have experienced such good for so long that this year’s events have carried such a crushing blow? Is it only because we were hoping that these blessings; that integrity, truth, justice, and lawfulness would continue without interruption that their loss cuts so deeply?
My mother and Theresa recently, but before her last hospitalization and stroke
And yet, despite what may appear to our natural eyes Jesus Christ is sovereign, and I fully believe that we will soon see him physically seated on his throne as Lord and Supreme Ruler of this old earth. Then Psalms 2 will be physically fulfilled before our eyes:
“Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!”
He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger
and terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
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The close of 2020 brought with it some big changes for the Frey family as well. At the very beginning of December my mother had
A fairly recent picture of my mother with Theresa
a stroke following a number of other complications which placed her in hospital. Because of the severe constraints due to the provincial Covid-19 restrictions this meant that she spent about a week alone in the hospital while none of the family could visit her. Eventually two of my brothers were designated as the family members allowed to visit her on a limited basis in the hospital, and each day, literally, it was a question as to whether she would make it through to the following morning. The stroke left her completely paralyzed on her left side, with considerable pain on the affected side, 100% dependent for all care, and bedridden.
Because of the present Covid-19 climate and the severe restrictions that this caused for the family and for her and because she was designated as palliative with very little more that the hospital could do for her any longer, we came to the decision as a family to bring her home to her little apartment at the independent living complex in Steinbach where she lives, and that Theresa and I would care for her through her final days to her passing. I was able to get a leave of absence from work, and as it turned out we had actually already booked November 27th through December 20th off work as our holiday because we had expected to be heading to Mexico in order to train national teams in eye clinics over that time (as explained in my August 8th blog: “The Lord REMAINS in his Holy Temple: let ALL the earth keep silence before him!”)
Attentive children at the Hidden Manna Children’s Program in Buenos Aires
I arrived in Steinbach (about an hour and a half southwest of our home in Pinawa) on Thursday, November 12th in order to be able to prepare the apartment for mom’s final discharge via ambulance from the hospital on the following day. We had a hospital bed, oxygen, and other medical equipment scheduled to arrive on Friday just before her return. The ambulance finally arrived with her around 11:30 pm on November 13th. For the past four weeks I have given her around-the-clock care, assisted by either Theresa or one of my two brothers who live locally. Due to the code red Covid-19 restrictions Theresa and I are basically prisoners locked into her apartment with access to other family members or friends who want to visit only through window visits where they sit outside in the cold and communicate to us and my mom via cell phones through the closed windows where we can see but not touch. Because we are living under the strict rules of Woodhaven, the independent living home where she has lived for the last several years, we must be extremely careful to obey each nuance and minutia of their restrictions in order not to jeopardize our ability to remain here with her, or to continue our care for her here within their facility. If we were to overstep their rules in any way her only option would be to go back to the hospital again where she would not be allowed to see anyone.
Notice what is being planted into these dear little ones at an early age: “Passion for Missions.” Is it a wonder that the Church of Jesus Christ is advancing here?
She has rallied somewhat over the past month since being home. She remains completely paralyzed on her affected side and fully dependent upon us for all of her body functions and personal attention. Her care requires two people because of the fact that she needs to be turned every several hours in order to prevent pressure sores and because she needs to be changed throughout both days and nights, and she is unable to assist in any way and must simply be log-rolled from side to side in the bed.
This week we were able to get a mechanical lift on loan which allows us to lift her out of her bed in order to transport her into her little living room so that she can sit in her recliner chair and get a break from her bed whenever she feels up to it. This has given her a sense of increased normality again for brief periods of time.
I truly don’t know what the future holds for Theresa and me. It is clear that the present circumstances are not sustainable for the long term for any of us. The little apartment was designed for one person, not three. I am sleeping on a little foam mattress on the floor beside my mother’s hospital bed in her bedroom so that I am available throughout the night when she needs me, and our lives are 100% focused on her care at the present time. It is a joy to be able to serve her, but the present situation will not be able to be sustained for the long term. We’d really appreciate your prayers with all of us for God’s perfect will. Mom is longing to go home to heaven and is struggling with the question of why she must remain here when she so would so much rather be in Glory and not dwelling in her old, painful, failing, and humiliated body. Many times over the past month and a half she has poked her finger through the ever-thinning veil into eternity, but God has never seen fit to allow her to enter, much to her disappointment.
One of the women at the sewing school/workshop. This ministry has empowered so many women and girls
The work in Mexico has been very busy over the past months despite the severity of suffering due to the lasting effects of the drought, the collapsing economy, and the restrictions which have been enacted due to Covid-19.
I mentioned in past blogs that Javier would be stepping down from his position as president of the board of directors of Obreros Unidos para Cosechar (OUpC), the nonprofit that is covering the various aspects of the Mexican ministry. At their meeting on the 3rd of this month there was a vote on new officers of the board as Javier was vacating the position that he has held for many years, and the treasurer also wished to step down from her position, also after many years. The current directors are Adán Hernández Secaida as the president of the board, while Dr. Mario Cázares was voted in as secretary, and Blanca Lourdes Ríos continues on as treasurer. Javier will continue on as a board member only, allowing him time to focus his energy more towards the Pame brothers and sisters in the mountainous regions to the west where his heart really is, as well as to continue his daily work of preaching and teaching the gospel in order to establish leaders in each village where the work of ministry has begun. His burden is teaching and preparing strong and godly leadership to continue the work of evangelism throughout the whole region and beyond.
I am pleased with their choices of officers. Adán is trained as a lawyer but is pastoring an Assemblies of God church in the city of Valles. He is a good brother and I believe he will be a good leader of the team. Dr. Mario’s name has come up often in these blogs as he is the director of Project LAMBS and co-director of the Bible Institute along with his wife Alejandra. He is an anesthesiologist and very active in the local hospitals in the city. He is also a very good brother and will be a valuable player on the directorship of the board. Blanca, who continues as treasurer is a lovely, intelligent, and wonderful young mother of two. Her husband, Juan is a police officer in the city, and both are faithful Christian believers and members of Javier’s church. I have known Blanca since she was a young teenage girl and I am very pleased that she continues in her position on the board. I look forward to seeing where God leads the work under the new leadership.
One of the younger students at the sewing school
The missionary thrust into the western mountains to the Pame tribal group continues with occasional hiccups due to restrictions to entry because of coronavirus constraints. Javier told me that there are few actual Covid cases in the region itself; still entry has been restricted for months at a time over the past year. At the beginning of December they were again able to meet with the believers in the various villages in the Tanlacut area after not having been there for several months. Javier was blessed by the missionary team who accompanied him; both of the brothers also being Bible students training at the farm, Casa del Obrero for whom these ministry outreaches are an active part of their missions practicums.
Their reception by the local believers was also very encouraging for Javier and the team with openness and a hunger for the Word demonstrated by these scattered believers who are very isolated and lacking Christian fellowship and leadership.
What was very discouraging for Javier was what they found when they arrived at the missionary center building at the little crossroad village of Agua Nueva. You may remember that this building was donated a couple of years ago for the missionary work among the Pame people, and we have had the privilege of being able to assist the local Pame congregation with some funds in order to begin renovations on it. Although the work on the missionary center building is a long way from being completed, it is being used for a church building and a place for national missionaries to live when they enter into the region. This time, since Javier and the team have not entered into the region for several months, they were dismayed to find the building broken into, all of their stored supplies and equipment destroyed (not stolen, but simply vandalized), excrement smeared over everything, profanity scrawled throughout the Bibles, piles of feces on the pulpit, the floor, any clothing left there, and their water storage containers, everything throughout smelling of urine, and basically anything that could be was destroyed and vandalized was. It is evident that it was an act of hatred against God and the local believers, as well as of Javier and the national missions teams.
The destruction that the team found at the mission center in Agua Nueva when they arrived
Javier’s comment to me after his return to Cd. Valles was simply “I thank God that he has allowed us to suffer a little bit of the sacrifice and contempt that Jesus Christ himself suffered for us”.
The work of Hidden Manna children’s ministry and the sewing school/workshop continue as well. The women are enjoying their new building, and even though the Covid restrictions have limited some of what they have been able to do, it continues to be a focal center for the women and girls who are able to attend.
The children’s feeding ministry, and the youth and adult training work has also been continuing in person again at the Buenos Aires facility, although they have also been forced to become creative over the past months due to restrictions on meetings. Presently the children are able to come to the center where they are loved upon by Cristina and her team. We pray that this will be able to continue, and that they are not forced to close their doors again.
We rejoice with Javier and Cristina and their boys because they were able to begin living in their new house at the beginning of this month. Javier wrote:
The missionary team ministering to Pame believers in Tanlacut
“On December 3rd we began to move into our new house. We are now living in our new place although we still have not completed the move, and still have much to finish before we can truly accommodate ourselves completely in it. I have been plugging away on completing the finishing details on the house which seem to be endless, and slowly I’m getting a handle on them”.
Javier gave me a bit of a virtual tour inside the house on his cell phone the other day. It looks to me like lots of work needs to be done before one can say that it is finished, but they are thrilled to finally own their own place. There is no paint on the walls, lots of other finishing touches in the cement work needs to be completed, toilets and water still need to be connected, etc., etc., but they are overjoyed to finally have their own place for the first time in their lives.
And finally, as we turn our hearts towards Christmas; may you find great joy and gladness over this season despite the fact that it will probably be one of the strangest ones that you have experienced in your life. I’m guessing that never before were you ever forbidden by law from meeting with your family or friends over any other Christmas, and you probably never saw store isles barricaded off with tape declaring:
The sign of the times for 2020
“SECTION CLOSED: MANITOBA PROVINCIAL REGULATIONS DICTATE THAT THIS SECTION DOES NOT CONTAIN ESSENTIAL ITEMS THEREFORE THESE ITEMS CANNOT BE SOLD AT THIS TIME”.
At least, I never have.
Recently Theresa happened to be in a store when she heard a young boy saying “So what’s the use of coming to a store if you aren’t allowed to buy anything anyway?” A very good point in my books! It happened to be our niece with her young son who was hoping to buy a gift for his little brother, but everything that he wanted to buy was deemed “nonessential’.
But, God is not limited, and I’m guessing that there were not too many holly jolly Christmas sentiments being expressed around the manger when the actual first Christmas took place. I’m doubtful that tyranny under Rome was too jocular an occasion either.
Thank you for your continuing prayers and love for our brothers and sisters in Mexico.
May your homes be filled with the peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ over this Christmas season.
Your brother and sister in Jesus,
Steven and Theresa
