Not enough . . . More than enough

Not Enough

Ever had times when there was not enough time, patience, money, energy . . .  whatever?

More than Enough

Or times when there was MORE THAN ENOUGH? Like this delicious dinner we recently enjoyed with Rick Iles at Hanul Pescarilor, a Hungarian Restaurant near the border of Hungary in Romania . . . I could only eat half of my tasty Hungarian Goulash.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband Jim and I traveled to Eastern Europe to speak at a publishing conference for Christian publishers and booksellers in Romania.  We hoped to be an encouragement to the people who attended.  We ended up coming home encouraged ourselves – on several different fronts.

We were excited to see the good work that Christian publishers in Romania are doing in spite of significant challenges and obstacles.

We enjoyed hearing their individual stories – especially accounts of how they came to faith in Christ.

We were intrigued with just how young Christian publishing in Romania is – most of these publishers have been in business less than 10 years.

Rick Iles of LINKS invited us to speak at this conference, and we enjoyed presenting at four different sessions over the course of the days we were there.

One extra presentation I agreed to came as a (pleasant) surprise to me.  The first day we were in Romania (Monday), I was asked if I would be willing to share some devotional thoughts on Wednesday morning.  What made this request a pleasant one was that early that  same morning I had been reading from my One-Year Bible in John Chapter 6 – the account of Jesus multiplying the five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people.  As I was reading, I had this fleeting thought: ‘This passage seems like it would be encouraging to the people we’re going to be spending time with this week . . .’

So when Rick asked me – later that day – if I would give a devotional on Wednesday, it didn’t take me long to decide what passage of the Bible I would read from.

In John 6, when Jesus asked Philip where they could find bread to feed all the people on the hillside, Philip replied “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”  (John 6:7)

Not enough

Andrew spoke up and said, “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish.  But what good is that with this huge crowd?” (John 6:8-9)

Still Not enough

Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people.  He did the same with the fish.  When he asked for the leftovers to be gathered, the pieces filled twelve baskets. (John 6:11-13)

More Than Enough

Many of us have times in our lives when it seems that there’s Not enough.  Maybe it’s a health crisis.  Maybe it’s a challenging marriage.  Maybe it’s the loss of a job.  Maybe it’s a time of depression.  Whatever it is, we have no clue how God will provide for our needs.

I clearly remember the first time I was aware of God’s provision for my Not Enough.

I wanted to attend an Urbana Missions conference over the winter break of my freshman year at college, but I didn’t want to burden my parents for the money.  They were already paying for my college bills.  So I decided to ask God to provide the money if he wanted me to attend.

Several weeks later my mom called from home.  She said that I must have forgotten to cash one of my summer paychecks because the company I worked for had inquired about the outstanding check.  I explained to my mom where I kept my pay stubs, and when she looked in the shoebox in my closet, sure enough, there was the uncashed check sitting on top of all the pay stubs.

Not only did the check pay for the Missions conference, but it also covered my transportation there and back!

That was one of my early More than Enough experiences, and there have been plenty since.  I continue to be grateful that God sees and God provides.  He did it for characters in the Bible.  He has done it for me and for people around me.  And as for the future . . . He has left us these assuring words in John 14:1-2.  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust also in me.  There is More Than Enough room in my Father’s home . . . “

Blessings,

Ellen

Romania, Books, and Belief

My husband and I just returned from a 10-day publishing & speaking trip to Eastern Europe.

Out for a walk in Oradea, Romania

Women we greeted on our walk

Romanian and Hungarian currency in our pockets

A jug of drinking water we purchased from the local mini-mart

A man from the village just outside Oradea

Visiting a gypsy village in Rontau, where Dwight DeLong loves and serves the people

One of the sessions Jim and I did together

Saying ‘good-bye’ to one of our excellent interpreters – Elly

As representatives of Tyndale House, my husband, Jim, and I had been asked to speak on the topics of Company Vision, Branding/Marketing, Couples Working Together, and Time Management.  Jim spoke on the first two topics, and we addressed the last two topics together.  We’ve worked together in Christian publishing for many years, but this was the first time we had spoken together.

The opportunity to visit with Christian publishers from Romania was a rich experience for us.   We traveled there to encourage them, and came away encouraged ourselves.

Throughout our time in Oradea, Jim and I each had memorable conversations with the publishers there.  They are conversations we’re still talking about.  One, for me, was a connection I made with a young Romanian editor, Cornelia.  After dinner one evening, Cornelia and I sat in the hotel lobby and talked for over an hour.  As I listened to her story of coming to faith in Christ, I was reminded of why I feel so passionate about Christian publishing.

When Cornelia was about 13, she began reading books that had been loaned to her mother.  The books had been sent home to her mom by Cornelia’s brother’s teacher.  The school teacher, Iulia, was a Christian woman.  Although Cornelia’s mother had no interest in the books, Cornelia started reading them – and couldn’t put them down.

Cornelia had been going through a stage when her life seemed aimless – she wondered why she was on this earth and what the purpose of her life was.  At one point, someone had suggested to her that she go to a local cathedral and make a wish with a coin.  She decided to go, and found the cathedral to be a beautiful, quiet, and solemn place.  She wondered if perhaps that was what she was looking for.  But when she discovered that the people there were cold and stand-offish – not warm and welcoming – she realized that the cathedral wasn’t for her.

“It was about that time,” said Cornelia, “that I began reading the Christian books that had been loaned to my mother.  As I read the books, I believed.  I realized that God’s grace wasn’t just for a select group of people, but that it was for everyone, including me.”

Cornelia’s mom, who was not interested in the books, asked Cornelia to return the books to her brother’s school teacher.  When Cornelia went to Iulia’s (the teacher’s)  home to make the return, she ended up staying and talking about God with Iulia for several hours.  “My time with Iulia,” Cornelia said, “was catching.”

When Cornelia returned home, her mom was not happy.  But . . . as Cornelia put it, “It was too late.  I’d already believed!”

Cornelia began going to church.  Sadly, there were very few young believers Cornelia’s age.  So . . . she decided to invite her friend, Alina, to come to church with her.  Alina came, and ended up asking her friend Cristina to come as well.  Over time, Cornelia’s friends believed in Christ too, and some years later all three girls were baptized together.

As I sat and listened to Cornelia’s story of searching for the meaning of life and coming to faith in Christ, I realized again how books can be missionaries that take the gospel to places we might never go. 

That is one of the reasons why I am so passionate about Christian publishing!

Blessings,

Ellen

Gone to Ghana

I made a few young friends in Ghana while Jim and I were working at Marketsquare Africa . . . Ethel, Christiana, and Freda – pictured above with their parents, Linda and Francis.  They are bright young girls, and their parents are doing a fine job of raising them.

We traveled to Ghana to represent Tyndale House at Marketsquare Africa – a publishing conference sponsored by Christian Trade International.

I usually assist Jim, but when he has separate  meetings, I’m happy to hold down the fort . . .

At Ghana’s Marketsquare Banquet, we heard and met Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, Presiding Methodist Bishop of Ghana.  If you have time, you can read his thoughtful address about Christian publishing in Africa here: Emmanuel Asante, Marketsquare Ghana

In April, we traveled to Africa with other Christian publishers from around the world.   This particular evening, the electricity went out about eight times during dinner – it brought new meaning to the concept of eating by candlelight . . .

Jude Hama – President of Scripture Union in Ghana – graciously took Jim and me out for ice-cream one night.  He drove us to the Ghanaian Village, right on the western coastline of Africa.  Jude told us that former President George Bush stayed at this seafront resort when he visited Ghana.

Being the ocean lover that I am, I had to take a photo of the beach, even though it was late at night.  The photo isn’t the greatest (that’s an understatement), but if you look closely you can see sand and some ripples of water beyond the sand.  It was the best I could do.  Hey, when you’re traveling on business, sightseeing happens when you have time!

Jude drove us past the Freedom Arch – built after Ghana declared their independence in 1957.  Ghana is a peace-loving nation, and the people there are gentle folk.

I took this photo when we were flying out of Ghana, on our way to Lagos, Nigeria.  At the bottom left is the piece of coastline we had visited and photographed (in the dark!) the night before.  The photo reminded me of Psalm 104:9 – “Then you set a firm boundary for the seas, so they would never again cover the earth.”

Photos and stories of Nigeria and Kenya are coming soon . . .

Blessings,

Ellen

Flying with Four Kings

If you don’t have time to read all of this post, scroll down to the bottom to see photos of the four Kings.

My recent trip to Africa was off the beaten path . . . at least my beaten path.

Which was probably a good thing for a Type A person like me.

Good?  Yes.

Easy?  No.

Was I flexible?  Not enough.

While I was in Africa, I can’t tell you how many times I thought of a quote I’d read on my friend Shelly’s blog:  “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.  An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.”  – G.K. Chesterton

My husband and I traveled to Africa with a small group of Christian publishers.  Each publisher was there to represent their particular company at conferences in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya – the event was called Marketsquare Africa, and it was sponsored by Christian Trade Association.  Jim and I represented Tyndale House Publishers, and it was our goal to further the publishing of Bibles and Christian books in Africa.

We were supposed to have been in Africa for two weeks, after which we had plane tickets to travel to the London Book Fair.  But alas . . . the Volcanic ash from Iceland erupted, and we ended up staying in Africa longer than we thought and totally missing the London Book Fair.  We eventually got a flight out – that’s a story for another blog post.

Missing the London Book Fair was a big disappointment.  The  journey to the London Book Fair is familiar to us.  It’s a well-worn path.  We know most of the clients we see there, and we look forward to meeting them each spring in April.  We hit the floor running on the opening day of the Book Fair, meeting clients at our booth for 30 or 60 minute back-to-back pre-scheduled meetings from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm each day of the Fair.  Meetings continue in the evenings over dinner.  It’s demanding work – especially as we listen to and decipher the varied accents of people from all over the world – but we absolutely love it.  We relish the challenge of trying to help our publishing partners find just the right books for their lines and their purposes.  We  enjoy catching up with them about their families and their companies.  And we enjoy giving them chocolates or home-baked cookies that we bring for them.  This year, though, we missed all that.

One thing that helped my perspective on those events was part of April 26th’s One-Year Bible reading, a few days after the volcanic eruption.  “For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.  He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.”  Psalm 95:4

Hmmmm . . . . I thought.  Great reminder of who’s in control here – even in the depths of the earth.  And God is never surprised about anything.

Our trip to Africa – a location that up until now has been off my beaten path, left me with plenty of new stories to tell.

Today I’ll write about one of them.

After we finished our second publishing conference in Nigeria, we left Lagos’ airport for Kenya.  While we were waiting to board the flight, I noticed that there were a few important looking people sitting off to the side – people with long, flowing robes and official looking hats, etc.  Early in the flight, when the stewards came around to ask us what we wanted to drink, I asked one of the stewards, “Who are those important people up in first class?”

“They’re Kings from Nigeria,” he replied.

I smiled and said, “Now, this request is a little unusual, but if I gave you my camera later in the flight, would it be possible for you to snap a photo of the four Kings?  Could you tell them that a lady from Chicago would like their picture?”

The steward smiled and said that he would get back to me.

I settled down to read for the rest of the flight, thinking that nothing more would come of my out-of-the-box request.  But an hour later, the steward stopped in the aisle by our seats and said, “Madame, the four Kings are waiting for you up in First Class!”

Oops . . . that wasn’t what I had expected.  I had envisioned myself handing the camera to the steward and having him take the picture of the four Kings.  But now I had to get up, walk up to first class, and take the photos myself.

I might have chickened out . . . but I thought of how nice it would be to have those photos!

So I took a deep breath, walked up to first class, pulled back the curtain and looked for the first King.  He and his wife – who later identified herself as the Queen Mother – were friendly and gracious.  I shook hands with both of them and introduced myself.  The first thing they asked me was where I was from.  When I told them I was from Wheaton, IL – a little west of Chicago – the King asked me if I knew where Bensenville was.

“Bensenville?”  I said.  “Oh my, yes!  That’s very close to where I live!”

“Well,” he said, “my sister lives in Bensenville.”

Whoa!  Now if that didn’t make it seem like a small world . . . . . the second King said that he has a sister who lives in Chicago, too!

What I thought was going to be just a few photos turned into almost a half-hour-long conversation with four Kings and one Queen Mother.

Here are the photos I took, as well as some of the information they gave me about themselves:

King of Okpella Kingdom, Edo State, Nigeria.  His Royal Majesty Alhaji (Dr) Andrew Yesufu Eshioramhe Dirisu, JP, Okuokpellagbe of Okpella.  (This is the King whose sister lives in Bensenville, IL. )  His wife, seated to his left, is the Queen Mother of Okpella.

This is the King of Ikare-Akoko N.E., and he also has a sister who lives in Chicago!

HRH Ehizogie Eluojerior, JP, Onogie of Igueben.

His Royal Majesty, Igwe (Dr) Elias U. Nneli, Traditional Ruler of Umueje Town, Anambra State, Nigeria.

After I took the photos, business cards were exchanged, greetings were given, and I walked back to my seat in Economy Class Row 10 – all excited to tell my husband about the Royalty I’d just met.

Flying with Four Kings and a Queen Mother was definitely an off-the-beaten path experience!

Blessings,

Ellen

The Winner of the Give-Away . . .

A Drum Roll, please  . . .

The winner of a copy of One Year Devotions for Moms is CINDIE THOMAS

Congratulations, Cindie!

Cindie wrote a sweet tribute to a woman who was like a mother to her, and I decided to make it the post for today on this blog.

She wrote, “A friend of my mother’s took me in when my parents divorced.  I was 13 and scared of what the future would hold, and I needed someone in my life who could show that they loved me.  Mary was battling breast cancer at the time, but gave me not only a home but the belief that Jesus loved me and heard the cries of my heart.  I watched her struggle with cancer, and her faith in God never wavered.  She mothered me and taught me by example to have faith in God and trust Him for all of my needs.”

I will send off Cindie’s copy of One Year Devotions for Moms today.

The rest of this week, I will continue my posts on my recent trip to Africa!

Blessings,

Ellen