8 Items For Christian Parents To Ponder: Along the way he includes a brief but powerful section in which he exhorts parents in the duties they have in raising their children. He wants you, the parent, to seriously consider the responsibility that God has entrusted to you for each one of your children. And, at least for me, each of them felt like a gut-punch. He offers these 8 considerations, asking that you would ponder each one and allow them to motivate you to call your children to respond to the gospel.

Stephen Curry And The Culture of Self-Trust: The gospel transforms our notion of self-worth and identity because it invites us to embrace a sense of meaning and purpose that’s bigger than ourselves. In Christ, we we’re not demoralized by failure or overly impressed by narrow ideas of success, like football tackles or MVP awards or prestigious scholarships and degrees.

How Do I Know I'm A Christian?: Whenever counseling Christians looking for assurance of salvation, I take them to 1 John. This brief epistle is full of help for determining whether we are in the faith or not. In particular, there are three signs in 1 John given to us so we can answer the question “Do I have confidence or condemnation?”

What Does It Mean To "Accept Jesus": Ray Ortlund gives us a very helpful instruction of what is truly means to "Accept Jesus".

7 Truths About Hell: Hell is a difficult reality, but it is something that the Bible teaches, and we can't fully understand God and his world unless we grapple with it. These seven truths should frame our discussion of hell.

9 Things Adult Daughters Want Their Mothers To Know: John Stott notes that Paul’s emphasis falls upon the restraint, not the exercise, of parental authority. He writes, “Children are to obey . . . yet they have a life and personality of their own.” I wonder if these young women and Stott aren’t on the same page. So moms, there you have it, from the younger generation to us older. May we listen and take it to heart.

Each week, Redeemer Church is going to post 2 blog posts each week from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family here in Bellingham for years and moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes have lived in Burundi for the last 8 months and we wanted you to be up-to-date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa.

Below is the Sund's blog post in October from Africa called "Reanimation Update". You can find more blogs from there personal blog here > Beyond Our Backdoor

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Yesterday, the first group of 6 medical students finished their Reanimation rotation at Kibuye hospital.  To celebrate, Stephanie and I inivited these 6 students over to our house for dinner last night.  I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed working with these students.  They are bright, hard-working, eager to learn, kind and compassionate with their patients, they all speak between 3 and 5 languages and switch back and forth with great ease, and each of them grew up in a country ravaged by civil war (something they rarely talk about).

Last night, one of the students who is actually from the D.R. Congo began talking about the teaching he has received at Kibuye and how drastically different it is from anything he had ever experienced before.  The students at Kibuye work with doctors who are patient and kind to their students and their patients.  They are doctors who are humble enough to admit when they have made a mistake and also to admit when they don't know the answer to a question.  As this student was talking I thought I sensed his voice beginning to crack a bit, and then he admitted that he gets emotional when he talks about this.  

It occured to me that with all the changes going on at this hospital with this team of American physicians, perhaps the greatest change is that of atmosphere.  This long-term team (and I hope the short-termers like us as well) are modelling for dozens of students each year what it means to be a physician who is humble and patient, and who treats his or her students and patients as human beings created in the image of God.  And these students will then graduate and go on to be leaders in their hospitals and their communities and I believe they will become the kind of doctors that they are studying under now.  Last night was a great reminder to me of why we are here. 

Five of the six students (the sixth was out of town)

I also got this new fancy stamp!  I am told that you are not a real doctor in Burundi until you have your own stamp.  Also, I could not officially graduate this group of students without this stamp.  What does one need to get ones own stamp?  About $25 and a short trip to Gitega.  No need to show any proof that you actually are a physician.  Next week I am thinking of becoming a neurosurgeon!

Each week, Redeemer Church is going to post 2 blog posts each week from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family here in Bellingham for years and moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes have lived in Burundi for the last 8 months and we wanted you to be up-to-date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa.

Below is the Sund's blog post in October from Africa called "Free Range Children". You can find more blogs from their personal blog here > Beyond Our Backdoor

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I have fond memories of childhood.  The long summer days when I’d jump on my bike and join the other members of the Camouflage Club (previously known as the Clue Club) in the woods near our house to build our fort, climb trees, solve whatever mysteries came our way. We’d be off on our own playing outside until my parents, quite literally, blew a horn signaling it was time to come home. 

I’ve often bemoaned the fact that the world we live in is too different for me to allow our children the same freedoms I had.  When we moved into the our house back in the US I was excited about the woods that lay beyond our fence, “The mysterious beyond” we labeled it and encouraged our kids to go explore.  That is, until we saw the tarp, the sleeping bag, the evidence of a campfire.  We live in a small city, there are many homeless, occasionally they camp just beyond our fence.  Neighborhood kids are fun when home, but often busy with activities, or our kids have activities. If they want to play at a park, I’m there with them.  I don’t want to be a helicopter parent, but in the US it is hard to have free range kids.  

On our first day in Kibuye, Anna, the other 9 year old, asked if the girls could join her for a walk.   “We don’t know, can they? Is it safe?” And so our motto came to be “If Anna’s parents let her do it, then it’s okay, you can too.” And off our girls went with Anna into the woods to walk past tea fields and Burundians hoeing and to find a mound of red earth just beyond the bamboo fence. They spent they next few days shaping the clay into bowls and animals, creating “claytopia”. Ella even had a Burundian boy paint her face with the red clay.  (We like to tease her in saying that we’re pretty sure this means that they are now engaged.) They let Biniyam join them and I unpacked in peace and strange silence. 

That night I had a nightmare in which I was back in the US.  I was unpacking and Biniyam ran into the room, he said some people brought him home and wanted to talk to me. They were from DSHS and they said they had found my 5 year old wandering around town by himself and why wasn’t I watching him? Once awake I found the dream amusing, pointing to the big reason I don’t allow my children to roam free in Bellingham. I’m afraid of other people, that they will hurt my kids or what hassle they will make for me. I fear people looking at their phones while they drive and not watching for kids crossing the street. I trust my kids, I don’t trust the community at large.

But here they have a controlled area in which to roam, and it’s of a pretty good size.  There is one short road and rarely does a car open the barrier and drive slowly through.  They have multiple houses in which to play (for example, I currently have 3 children playing at my house, none of whom are mine, my children are playing at someone else’s). Before school they will often head out and find friends to play with and after school until dinner they’re with friends.  They spend a lot of time in our “art studio” room drawing their characters for whatever storyline they have going that day and then they head outside to act out their stories. They catch toads and lizards, they climb trees, they play chase, they build forts, they solve mysteries. They don’t complain of boredom, they don’t beg for media time, they fall asleep quickly and sleep through the night. This is my favorite part of our life here in Burundi, watching our kids experience this childhood of freedom and exploration. 

Each week, Redeemer Church is going to post 2 blog posts each week from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family here in Bellingham for years moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes have lived in Burundi for the last 8 months and we wanted you to be up-to-date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa.

Below is the Sund's blog post in September from Africa called "Making History Can Be Painful". You can find more blogs from there personal blog here > Beyond Our Backdoor 

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The anesthesia students have been very excited this week.  That is because today, we scheduled the very first surgery under general endotracheal anesthesia at Kibuye hospital.  There has been an anesthesia machine in the OR since I arrived, but it had not been set up or used until today.  This week, Jason and I worked on getting it ready to go, connecting an oxygen tank to one port, an air compressor to another and filling it with expired halothane and expired CO2 absorbent.  So what could go wrong?

After discussing the plan with the students, drawing up the medications and preparing the intubation equipment, I handed my ipad to one of the students and asked him if he would take a couple pictures of the intubation to memorialize this historic event.  So, we injected the induction drugs, and this patient turned out to be one of the most difficult intubations I have ever encountered.  The reason for the surgery was to remove a tumor on his neck.  This tumor was apparently distorting his airway, making visualization of his vocal cords almost impossible.  So, what should have been a 15 second induction of anesthesia turned into a 45 minute scene of chaos and mayhem.  At one point I could not ventilate the patient and so his oxygen level dropped to undectable  levels.  The medical student with my ipad continued to take pictures this whole time, 133 photos to be exact.  And I remember thinking at one point that I REALLY wished I had not asked someone to take photos of this historic event.

Alas, by the grace of God, the endotracheal tube finally found its home, the man had his surgery, woke up and appears to be doing fine, and hopefully our next general anesthetic will go a little smoother than this one.  

A few of the less incriminating photos ..... (Photos below are a slide show, click through them)

How To Listen To A Sermon: So the call is to listen eagerly and expectantly to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, looking for instruction and edification at every opportunity.  But our eagerness must be joined with careful reflection.  Both phases are needed for spiritual maturity and growth in Christlikeness.

How To See Our Differences As Opportunities: But Jesus himself told us to pray for our enemies. Can you do so? Can you understand that different approaches may be needed in different scenarios, like a counselor exercising discernment and care? Even better, can you admit that we need all the compassionate, courageous, and commissioned Christians we can muster to work together out of respect for God’s gifting and in obedience to Jesus? The magnitude of our challenges today ought to dispel the illusion that any one wing of the divided church can go it alone.

The Baltimore Thug Debate: Why It's Not Solving Any Problems: Jesus’ teachings provide answers to the spiritual problems facing African-Americans in Baltimore, as well as some helpful solutions to some of the other challenges currently affecting both black and other racial communities in the city (i.e. blessed are the peacemakers)

How To Shut Down Gossip: Gossip is nasty. It is never good and should be despised by all who love Christ and his church. Instead of being passive and tolerating something that is widespread we should be vigilant to remove something that is destructive and vile. Let’s step our game up and, starting with ourselves, work to shut down gossip.

The Unchanging Truth About Jesus And The Danger Of Following Fads: What was once true about Jesus will always be true about Jesus. You don’t need some clever recreation or refashioning of biblical truth about Jesus. He and the truth about him is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Calling People To The Kingdom Through Feasts: I grew up believing that after I died, I would go to heaven, which would be like an eternal church service. As a teenager, I wasn’t too excited about that. All I could imagine was a bunch of us in white gowns floating on clouds that felt like hard wooden pews. We would forever listen to long sermons and sing songs from red hymnals. Later in life, as I read the Bible, I found out that this is not an accurate picture of our future with Jesus. The Scriptures tell of a day when we will dwell on a new earth and enjoy a sin-free existence, living life fully and abundantly with God in our midst. We will eat, play, create, work, celebrate, and rest in perfect harmony with God and one another. It will all be good and it will all be worship!

Each week, Redeemer is going to post 2 blog posts each week from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family for years who moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes have lived in Burundi for the last 8 months and we wanted you to be up-to-date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa.

Below is the Sund's blog post in September from Africa called "Well Sent". You can find more blogs from there personal blog here > Beyond Our Backdoor 

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One thing about our time in Burundi that I don’t feel like we have properly addressed yet is that fact that behind our family coming here are a great number of people back home who sent us.  We were sent in many ways and by many people.  And I am sure many of the people reading this blog are the same people who provided for us with financial donations, prayers and words of encouragement as well as support in many other ways.  Here are some of the ways in which we were “well sent”.

1. Many people donated generous financial gifts to help our family with the cost of airfare, visas, malaria meds and countless other pieces of this trip.  We are deeply grateful for all of your support.
2. My anesthesia group (Bellingham Anesthesia Associates) gave me the nine month sabbatical to make this trip a reality.  Our CEO also worked on many pieces required for this trip to come to fruition, including health insurance, credentialing paperwork and malpractice insurance issues.
3. Our children’s teachers in Bellingham were generous with their time in helping prepare our family for this time and specifically for helping Stephanie prepare to enter the world of homeschooling.
4. My band back in Bellingham “Runaway Truck Ramp” hosted a surprise party/fundraiser for the hospital here in Kibuye.  It was such a wonderful time with friends from work and our local church attending and giving generously toward the Kibuye hospital expansion project (https://www.whm.org/project/details?ID=19170)
5. The staff at the hospital where I work  threw another party two nights before we left for Burundi and took up a collection for our trip.  Again, we felt so deeply loved by the thought and effort that went into these two parties.
6. The hospital where I work also donated many supplies which I was able to bring with me to use in our work here.  We have already started using the ear tubes!
7. Our friend Ethan volunteered his time and skills as a real estate agent to help us rent our house while we are away.
8. As we were driving toward the airport on our way to Burundi, our dear friend Kim stood with her son Harper on the overpass by our house with a giant sign saying “We love you to Burundi and back!”.  
9. My parents have provided much support for us in many ways, one of which was allowing us to move in with them for the six weeks prior to our departure while our house was being rented.  
10. We have received many e-mails, phone calls and other personal messages of support and encouragement in the weeks and months leading up to our departure.
11. The week before we left, the elders of our local church (Redeemer) had a going away party for us.
12. And on our final Sunday in Bellingham, our church family (Redeemer Church) gathered around us, laid their hands on us and prayed for our family and for God’s work in Burundi. (redeemernw.org)

There are many other ways we were blessed by our friends and family and we want to again say, thank you, thank you, thank you.  We truly feel loved.

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers .... Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:16,18)