Art of Marriage Retreat

This spring, BBC held two in-town marriage retreats. We used the excellent Art of Marriage material by FamilyLife® that covers many important topics related to our marriage relationships. Eight to ten couples came to each retreat weekend. We watched the six DVD sessions, discussed the topics, as well as included time for food and fellowship. Below are pictures from our first retreat weekend. Unfortunately we didn't get pictures from the second weekend as Mark & I babysat three of our BBC children so the parents could attend. We had a great time with the children who spoke a little bit of Finnish and a lot of Chinese but no English. We hope to make this retreat a regular occurrence at BBC.

Friday night dinner

Saturday Lunch

Saturday afternoon game session - Can husband and wife agree?

BBC Day of Prayer & Fasting

Yesterday BBC held a day of prayer and fasting. What a blessed time of worshipping the Lord and asking the Lord for the needs of individuals, BBC, our city, our country, and the world. Recently Mark has been preaching through Jesus’ upper room discourse found in John 13-17. Several times Jesus mentions in his discourse to ask whatever we will in His name and He will do it. This doesn’t mean praying to God is like a vending machine where we put in our request and out pops an answer to our prayers. Rather in each case, the context suggests that if we believe in Jesus, abide in him, rejoice in Him, follow his commandment to love one another, then we are seeking God’s will and as a result, our requests line up with His will.

 John 14 ¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 15 ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

John 16 ¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

John 16  ²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³ In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. ²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Beautiful Spring in Beijing

A 'Parent' Gift

Our language tutor and some of her students

This year for Mark to continue studying Chinese, we privately hired one of our last year's classroom teachers. She has also taught Derek on the left so one day we all went out for lunch together. It was a great time together and good practice for our Chinese. Before we returned home for Christmas, she told us that they are expecting a child later this summer. At our latest tutoring session we gave her a 'parent' gift (rather than a baby gift) of Shepherding a Childs' Heart. The book is published here and apparently quite popular. We have enjoyed not only our tutoring sessions with her but also our friendship. 

Pictures of friends

Cole & Katelyn - co-language learners at Cheryl's school. Cole & Katelyn host our next Art of Marriage retreat on April 10 & 11.

Dinner at Hua's with (L to R) Josh & Ashley with her parents, Don & Connie, Mark, Anna, Andrew with Andrew's parents Cindy & Scott.

Dinner with David from New Zealand and Lewis from Malawi.
David spent a couple of weeks with us in December and in March.

Our landlady Lili with her husband Albert and their daughter Grace. They came by for a visit one holiday. We had a great time visiting, chatting, talking about where they are from, and answering their thoughtful, interested questions.

A few guys before our latest Guys' Night dinner. Four countries represented here.

Remembering the Redeemer's Resurrection

The Resurrection

Luke 24 (ESV) But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they [the women] went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words,9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles,11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” 25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other,“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Good Friday

How can Good Friday be called 'good'?

photo courtesy of www.shutterstock.com

Mark 15 ³³ And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴ And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” …³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Habbakuk 1 ¹³ [God is] of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong.

 2 Corinthians 5 ²¹ For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.