Issue 8 oct nl
- 1. Continued insidewww.insight.org What a difference it made when God walked into my world with a message I hadn’t been open to before! — Charles R. 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No portion of this newsletter may be translated into any language or reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publisher. Insights is published by Insight for Living Ministries, the Bible-teaching ministry of Charles R. Swindoll. Insight for Living Ministries is an autonomous ministry. Cover inset of Chuck Swindoll: Edmonson Photography. Printed in the United States of America. FROM INSIGHT FOR LIVING MINISTRIES ChecktheInsightforLiving Ministrieswebsiteforthemost currentbroadcastschedule. www.insight.org ONTHEAIR InsightforLivingMinistries 2020IsraelTour March1– 12,2020 www.insight.org / events UPCOMING VOLUME 40 ISSUE 8 Picture with me this scene from one of my favorite stories . . . The year was 1943. A bombing mission was taking place over Germany. The flying crew in this squadron had flown so many missions together, they felt like a family. But they were worried as they approached a heavily fortified area near the border of Germany. As their B-17 Flying Fortress crossed over into enemy territory, German airships swarmed around the plane and heavy anti-aircraft shells began to explode all around. The plane bounced in the sky, and every gunner fought for his life. The chaplain, who had climbed onboard for this mission, looked over the crew and realized it was time to reassure them. He grabbed the intercom and said, “It’s alright, men. Have no fear. God is with you.” Without hesitation, the tail gunner shouted back, “God may be up front with you guys, but He sure ain’t back here!” Suddenly, an enemy shell tore through the tail of the plane and passed out the top without exploding, leaving a gaping hole below where it came in and above where it went out. After a moment of stunned silence, the tail gunner added, “Correction. God just walked in!” I don’t know four words that better describe the first Christmas than those spoken by that startled tail gunner. A power-mad Roman dictator occupied the throne, everything seemed out of control, and terror filled the world. Then suddenly, God just walked in! COMMITTED TO EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNICATING BIBLICAL TRUTH AND ITS APPLICATION During that time, I traveled often for work, and I began listening to Christian radio, looking for answers. I found Chuck Swindoll to be one of the teachers I could really relate to. He was down to earth, from Texas, and a former marine. He rode motorcycles, liked to camp, and talked about football. He resonated with me. Chuck became an over-the-air spiritual mentor for me and prompted me to begin digging into the Word for myself. Kelley: Fast-forward several years to Jim’s becoming an everyday listener through podcasts . . . Daily, he would share what he learned. I wanted to engage with him, so I started listening too. It was almost like doing a devotional together. I listened when I could in the day; he listened as he drove to work. Then we would connect in the evenings and share our thoughts. I started using Chuck’s commentaries in my personal Bible study too. IFLM: Wow! So, you had started having kids in 1988, moved in 1992, and then Joey died in 1994. That’s a lot of change! Kelley: God was working in big ways in our lives through Joey’s death and our time in Madison. We would come home from church and say, “Did you hear that? Do we believe that?” We were really questioning. Up to that point, we had been coasting along. We had made the commitment to raise our family in church, but Jim and I weren’t spiritual leaders at home. Jim: You hit on the key there, Kelley: We had committed to being in church, but it didn’t go deeper. We wanted to raise our family the right way, but we were mistaken about what the right way was. I needed to be the spiritual leader, and Kelley needed to be my helpmate. And together as a team, in our marriage and our lives, we needed to represent the body of Christ. Our time in Wisconsin was refining. We were raising small kids. I was traveling often. Kelley had health issues, but there was no one to help with the kids. Then, in 1994, before my brother’s death, she got pregnant with Anna. The doctor kept thinking there was something wrong with the baby. They wanted to do an amniocentesis . . . Kelley: . . .To give us the option of aborting. That put questions in front of us that we had to answer, like, “What do we believe about the sanctity of life?” Jim: . . . Then Joey’s death was a wake-up call. He died at age 25, not 75. His death made us ask, What are we doing to prepare our children for eternity? God used that time to begin a transformation in us and to teach us who we should be in His kingdom, and He used Chuck’s teaching to help accomplish that. IFLM: Okay, so Anna was born in 1994 . . . and then you adopted in 2004. Take us through that ten-year gap. What prompted you to adopt? Jim: When my brother passed away, we decided to move closer to family in Missouri. Kelley’s a trooper! We moved just two months after Anna was born, in December, from Wisconsin! I was still working for the same Fortune 500 company and had a four-state sales territory . . . so I listened to Chuck a lot more than I listened to my wife during the week! In1995,myotherbrotherandIpurchasedabusiness together. While I worked 60, 70 hours a week to get the new business off the ground, Kelley stayed home with three small kids. The business didn’t flourish at first, and there was a lot of heartache that drove us to our knees. In 1996, in the midst of all that, I made time to go to the first Promise Keepers convention, where I rededicated my life to the Lord. Fast-forward to 1999. The business began showing signs of life. I didn’t have to work every Saturday! We could hire other staff! In 2000, when we could finally take a breath, Kelley and I started talking about adoption. We had talked about it off and on from the time Anna was born on, but the talks got serious then. Two years later, we started the process. Two years after that, on February 9, 2004, we picked up Ganga Grace. Kelley: Honest-to-goodness, I can’t tell you why I had thought about adoption. I had three beautiful children, but in my heart of hearts, I felt like we were going to adopt someday, and Jim was right there with me. The idea stayed tucked away in our minds for years. Then one Sunday, in the bulletin, we spotted an announcement about a meeting to learn about adoption. It was as if God just walked into that sanctuary and said, “It’s ‘GO’ time!” When Jim and I talked after the service, I learned he felt that same tug. So, we began making inquiries about domestic adoption. Let me tell you, the initial call was very daunting! I thought, Can we afford this?!? Then we shared with our family that we felt the Lord’s leading us toward adoption. Jim’s brother said, “Hey, a couple in our church just adopted a child in India. Would you like to talk to them?” And we said, “Sure!” Ganga Grace in 2016, one year before Jim and Kelley’s decision to join Vision 195 and partner with Insight for Living Ministries in India. We honestly didn’t know anything about any kind of adoption! What we did know is that God was telling us to adopt an older child because we had been blessed with three babies . . . Jim: . . . And we found out, through that couple, that there’s not a lot of hope for older orphan girls in India. Generally, they can only stay in the orphanages until they are 14 years old. Their education is minimal, while most of the other children attend private schools. Although the caste system is outlawed, where you come from is still important in India. The color of your skin is important. Your profession is important. In short, a teenaged, orphan girl in India has very limited options. Honestly, as a white, Anglo-Saxon family living in the heart of the Midwest, we hadn’t thought about adopting from India. But, boy, once we heard this family’s story and saw their daughter, it really tugged on our hearts. Kelley: Again, initially, we tried to adopt domestically. But the doors just never opened. And I tried! I was making those calls. I was on top of things. And the doors just stayed shut. Then we met this family and, later, their adoption agency. And God started swinging the doors wide open . . . We can tell you now that Grace is exactly the child God chose for us and created for us long ago! In 2000, God just walked into Jim and Kelley’s world through an announcement in their church bulletin. They knew for certain that they were called to adopt. And when they met Ganga Grace, they knew beyond a doubt that she was their daughter. But they couldn’t imagine just how far the calling God had given them would stretch. Nearly twenty years later, they’re seeing the results of what happens when God just walks in and we say YES! to His surprising invitations . . . Be sure to catch the next edition of Insights to read the rest of Jim and Kelley’s story, learn how the Lord is using their passion for an entire country to lay the groundwork for Insight for Living India, and how He might work through YOUR passion next! by Charles R. Swindoll Saying Yes to God’s Surprising Invitations: One Little Girl, Two Ordinary Believers, 1.3 Billion Souls, continued from inside In the bulletin, we spotted an announcement about a meeting to learn about adoption. It was as if God just walked into that sanctuary and said, “It’s ‘GO’ time!” — Kelley
- 2. Indian O cean Instead of an enemy shell, it was a host of angels who surprised a group of shepherds to announce the entrance of God’s Son. God’s surprise brought unspeakable relief—salvation, peace, and joy. God’s surprises still bring relief. I’ll never forget when that truth hit home for me. It was Christmas Eve,1958. I was a young marine stationed in Okinawa. Our company was on maneuvers and had flown to northern Japan where we had set up temporary barracks. We were on liberty for the holidays, and with some buddies, I had taken a train to Tokyo. My friends had gone off to do what most marines do when they’re on liberty—find trouble. I had chosen to sit alone in a pitiful, small Japanese restaurant, sipping a Coke® and feeling sorry for myself. It was the loneliest Christmas of my life. Lord, I lamented, What am I doing here? I’m 8,000 miles from the one I love the most and all my family. I can’t stand it! I am totally confused about why You brought me here. What are You up to? Suddenly, a song came on over the speakers—in English. The familiar Christmas carol “O Come, All Ye Faithful” filled that Japanese restaurant. My heart stirred as the chorus repeated: O come, let us adore Him; O come, let us adore Him; O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord! It was as if God had just walked into that restaurant, took a seat at my table, and said to me, “Listen to these words. I want you to do them.” God wanted me to adore Him, despite my confusion. He wanted my heart to be open to Him—to say a loud “Yes!” to His will for my life . . . to do whatever He led me to do, to go wherever He led me to go . . . to adore Him above all others, Christ, the Lord. With my veil of self-pity tossed aside, I was flooded with relief. God had to take me as a young marine to Japan to remove all the distractions that normally would have preoccupied me at Christmastime so that I could be with Him and adore Him. I was still physically by myself. My situation hadn’t changed, but I had changed. What a difference it made when God walked into my world with a message I hadn’t been open to before! That night, the direction of my life took a whole new turn. When she read my letters, Cynthia was thrilled to hear what God was doing in me. Eventually, I returned home and began to study for the ministry. God had taken me overseas to show me the value of adoring Him, bowing before Him, and serving Him as Lord. What about you? The holidays can be lonely times for many folks, not just military personnel far from home. If this Christmas finds you alone, watch for God’s unexpected invitation to experience a closeness with Him that you’ve never known before. God just walked in that first Christmas when the world seemed gloomiest. This Christmas, He may surprise you with His loving presence. He may just walk in . . . and, oh, the relief He will bring! What if God gives you a passion for an entire country? “I’ll never forget,” Kelley says, “The day I knew the Lord was calling me to reach India.” Ganga Grace, her adopted daughter from India, was eight years old. It was right after the Christmas when Grace had first understood that Jesus came to earth for her and had asked Him to be her Savior. Kelley and her daughters were out catching the after- Christmas sales, when Grace asked, “Mama, did I hate Jesus?” The question stopped Kelley in her tracks. “No, Sweetie,” she answered with her heart in her throat, “You just didn’t know Him.” As Kelley spoke those words, a sobering realization settled on her: thousands of other children in India— boys and girls just like Grace—would never have the opportunity to know Jesus. For Kelley’s husband, Jim, the calling came later. Ganga Grace was 10 years old. Their biological daughter, Anna, was 13. It happened one ordinary afternoon when Jim checked the mail and found a flyer from an organization that rescues women and girls from the sex industry—most of whom have ended up there through force, manipulation, sale, or the desperation of being an orphan teenaged girl uneducated and alone on the streets. The flyer shared the testimonies of two girls: an Indian girl named Ganga and a European girl named Anna. “As I read their stories,” Jim says, “I couldn’t stop thinking, That could’ve been MY Ganga and MY Anna. And I realized there are so many Gangas in India who will never have the opportunities my Ganga has.” When God Just Walked In, continued from front In the letters Chuck wrote to Cynthia while he was overseas, he shared how God was moving in his heart and calling him into the ministry. That was when Jim and Kelley knew the Lord had given them an unmistakable passion for India. They longed for people all across the homeland of their Ganga Grace to know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the life-changing truth of His Word. Yet, 1.3 billion people call India home. How in the world could Jim and Kelley reach all of them? In 2017, Jim and Kelley began partnering with Insight for Living Ministries to lay the groundwork for Vision 195 in India. Looking back, they realize the Lord had been building in them a calling for this country—and leading them to the way of fulfilling that calling—for decades. We recently sat down with them to learn their story . . . IFLM: How did you first connect with Insight? Jim: Although Kelley and I came to faith as teenagers, we were never discipled or taught to study the Word. By the time we met in college, neither of us was walking with the Lord. We had faith, but it was no larger than a mustard seed when we married in 1983. We were living in St. Louis when our first child, Ty, was born in 1988. Then Clint came along in 1990. We decided to raise our family in church, but we weren’t delving into the Word for ourselves. Then, in 1992, my job moved us to Madison, Wisconsin, where we had no friends or family. We began looking for a church, but they all preached an ultra-liberal theology. We didn’t have the foundation to know why it was wrong, but it just felt off. Then, in 1994, my kid brother, Joey, died in an accident at the factory where he and my other brother worked in Mt. Vernon. My spiritual questions grew. Ganga Grace meets her siblings for the first time the joy-filled day Jim and Kelley picked up their adopted daughter in February 2004. Ganga Grace is in the white jumper with the blue top, pictured at the orphanage in India in 2003. Saying Yes to God’s Surprising Invitations One Little Girl, Two Ordinary Believers, 1.3 Billion Souls Mumbai Nagpur New Delhi I N D I A Bangalore Ahmedabad Visakhapatnam Panji PAKISTAN Jaisalmer BayofBengal Through an adoption of a little girl, God gave Jim and Kelley a heart to reach 1.3 billion souls in India.