Poured Out

It’s a bit hard to rhyme with Creation Museum, but it’s as close as I can get.  We arrived in Oregon on Thursday after two good flights.  It’s great to be with Melanie’s parents and to go to our home church today.  This evening we went over to her sister and family’s.  The children love playing together and they’d cooked a great meal . . . but we’ll probably remember this visit for adding another chapter in the annals of the Mead/Hickman stomach flu chronicles.  I won’t bore you with our previous history, but tonight Hannah and Joel were both very unhappy (that’s both an accurate statement and a euphemism for something more tangible).  We would really appreciate your prayer for them to both sleep and somehow for the rest of us not to get it, or to show the fruit of the spirit if we do get it (we’re trying to teach them about handling these minor sicknesses by faith, but hopefully we won’t need to be examples for them).  Thanks for praying, we better try to sleep while we can.

Several people have asked about the Creation Museum.  We had a fantastic visit!  We left on Sunday afternoon and drove the five hours down to the Indiana/Kentucky border.  We went in to the museum all day Monday, then returned on Tuesday, before heading back Tuesday evening.

They advise visitors to plan on visiting for two days, and they are right – you need two days!  The children loved the museum (although Joel was a little concerned by one of the video presentations with special effects that were more than he could fathom).  Melanie and I both were struck by how professional the whole operation is (as opposed to the amateurish way Christian things can sometimes be, if you know what I mean?)

In two days we went through the walk-through twice (focusing on the first eleven chapters of Genesis and related matters – Creation, Corruption, the fruit of rejecting God’s Word in society, Noah’s ark, the spread and effects of a worldwide flood, how canyons are formed, the cross-continental layering of rocks, how fossils are formed, how presuppositions influence conclusions in interpreting evidence, what is the evidence for evolution, the dinosaurs – when did they live, what happened to them - the confusing of languages at Babel, where different races came from, etc.)

We also enjoyed multiple shows – a humorous video about faith in evolution, a video about dragon legends and dinosaurs, another about the six days of creation, a powerful presentation of Christ and His cross, and we enjoyed the planetarium so much we all wanted to go back for a second viewing!  Melanie and I also kept drifting back into the bookstore to check out the great resources available (we bought one or two!)  Oh, and then there were the gardens, and the petting zoo (ever seen a Zonkey or a Zorse – reproduction “after their kind” . . .).

We were told to ask for the guy in charge of the museum, who was so friendly and made sure we were well looked after.  He also introduced us to the man in charge of Answers in Genesis in the UK, which was a good connection.

We had a wonderful visit and would gladly travel to get there again in the future if we have a chance.  We really appreciate the focus on the Bible, as well as the encouragement to fully engage our brains as we consider the evidence all around us.  As they suggested at the museum, starting with what the Bible says really does make the best sense of all the evidence in the world around us and in the space around it!

If you ever have the opportunity to get to the Creation Museum, be sure to visit – it is so worth it.  We had a great time and it was a great conclusion to our visit to Chicago.  Today we fly via Denver to Portland, which will be another blessing as we get to see Melanie’s parents, sister and family, and friends at our sending church!

I am sitting here in my aunt Carol’s quiet house, birds chirping outside, 2 kids sleeping, 2 playing “hospital” in the basement.  I can hardly believe we’ve been here in Chicago 2 whole weeks.  Actually, in a certain sense it feels like we’ve been here forever!  Overseas travel is a strange thing . . . when you enter another culture it can be quite consuming.  At times I have felt a little disoriented . . . everything is so American!  Is this really my home country?  So go the ponderings of an American married to a Brit and living in England.  The Americans think my children have British accents and the British think they have American accents.

My aunt has been a very gracious host and we have had some good times of relaxation between visiting churches and friends.  She has taken us to the zoo, a nature centre, several parks, and taken the girls on some special outings to an old mill and also to the American Girl store in Chicago for a special lunch.  Lots of fun!  She and I also plan to take the older girls to see a play of A Little Princess on Saturday which we found out about a few days ago.  I had already planned on doing this classic book as a read-aloud this month, so we are madly reading away to get it finished before the play!  In the midst of our usual challenges of sibling conflict and occasional bad attitudes, the children are having a fabulous time here.

I am very grateful that my migraines have stopped at least for the moment.  I ended up having one, in one form or another, for 6 days straight last week.  After difficult days like these, I tend to be really fearful about getting more headaches and facing more pain, especially in light of the travelling we are doing.  Even before we left on our trip, I felt like God was really working with me in the area of anxiety. So I am currently doing a Bible study with a friend using the book Calm My Anxious Heart (reading it for the 3rd time!) and re-learning many wonderful lessons.  During our time in the USA, I decided to have some verses from Deuteronomy personal theme verses that talk about God “fighting for” the Israelites and “carrying them” as a father carries his child during their time in the wilderness.  I know He has good plans for me and I can trust Him.  As a family we are learning the song, ‘Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus.  I really love the words.  The chorus goes:

Jesus, Jesus, How I trust Him/How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er/Jesus, Jesus Precious Jesus/Oh for grace to Trust Him More.

We’ve seen improvement over the past three days, which is encouraging.  The headaches were too much, but a couple of adjustments and something seems to be working.  Yesterday Melanie and I were at the Missionary Study Class – a monthly missions institution here in Chicagoland (as they call it around these parts).  It was encouraging to be around folks passionate about missions.  Both speakers were focused on the need for and importance of training on the field – amen to that!  This morning we were all at Warrenville and really enjoyed the morning.  This is a three service Sunday morning . . . breaking of bread at 9, Sunday School with classes for all ages at 10:30, then family Bible hour at 11:30 (which lasts 50 minutes, so perhaps it is not actually called Family Bible Hour . . . forgive me Warrenville readers).  Anyway it worked out really well.  I shared about our ministry in the adult Sunday school class, then spoke on 2Tim.3 in the third service.  Afterwards we were hosted by a couple for lunch, but ate it in the church, which also was great as the children had plenty of room to run off steam!It’s Mother’s Day here in the US, so Melanie is getting her second Mother’s Day of the year.  She deserves it.  Speaking of which I should go to the kitchen and take over making dinner . . . I will also offer to do all Melanie’s planned ironing for the next 12 months.

I’m writing with an S.O.S. prayer request.  We arrived here in Chicago on Wednesday.  Friday morning I woke up with a headache, then had one by 11am on Saturday and Sunday.  Amazingly, painkillers dealt with those almost completely.  However, I got one yesterday and another today which painkillers have NOT dealt with.  It is extremely rare for me to get migraines 2 days in a row but this is day 5 in a row.  I am not sure what is causing them -a combo of factors probably (plane trip, body clock changes, different pillows?).  But this is very discouraging for me when I have had so much improvement in the past few months.  Being on our ministry trip alone presents challenges . . . but this is really tough.  The fact that I am sitting here writing this is a good sign (ie that I am not in enough pain to sent me to bed) but probably will need to lay down soon.  I am trying hard to trust that God knows what He is doing.  He is allowing this for a reason.  In the grand scheme of things, I’d rather have physical pain than a lot of other problems in life.  But please could you pray for God’s mercy . . . for healing – forever and especially during this trip ?  And if He chooses not to “remove this thorn” that I will trust Him and be able to live a godly life (ie not being miserable to live with!) despite the discouragement.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

On the positive side, the children enjoyed a fun trip to the zoo with Aunt Carol today.  I’ll try to put up some photos soon.  Tomorrow we meet up with friends from another church during the day and then Peter will share at their church meeting in the evening.

Yesterday we were able to visit two churches – Northwest and Lansing.  We’ve only been to each one once, almost six years ago.  But time flies and it was great to catch up with old friends (not referring to age), and make some new friends.  It is such an encouragement to meet people that read this site regularly and pray for us.  Now we have a couple of days before the next meeting on Wednesday evening.  The children are loving being at Aunt Carol’s, I think she’s enjoying it too.  I think a zoo visit is on the schedule for tomorrow.  Meanwhile I have a couple of days to try and make some progress on a couple of projects that I want to move forward in these days.