Tag Archives: writing

A New Years Resolution I Kept for Sixty-Four Years

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On New Year’s Day, I habitually remember what God, over three thousand years ago, commanded His people to do, “Do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart. Teach them to your children and their children after them.” (Deut 4:9-10.). I also pray David’s prayer, “Teach me to number my days that I may apply my heart unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NIV). Or as the ISV says, “Teach us to keep account of our days, so we may develop inner wisdom.” (ISV).

Six centuries after David wrote this Psalm, a pagan philosopher, Socrates, said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” And more recently, another philosopher, Santayana, said, “He who does not remember the past is condemned to repeat it.”

These truths moved me sixty-four years ago to write daily diaries, keeping account of my life faithfully, so I would not forget what God had taught me. The first thirty-one years were in handwritten diaries, seen in the photo. The rest are all keyboarded on my laptop.
I constantly struggle against our busyness-valuing culture. It takes self-control and discipline to stop and think through the past day and write about people God brought into my life, the failures He showed me, and the lessons He taught me. I also write about what God did for me or through me.

Reading my diaries helps me to make a yearly calendar of family events worthy of being celebrated. Not just the routine birthdays and anniversaries but major decisions, significant happenings in our families and important goals reached in ministry. Usually, when I mention these God stories in a text, email, or conversation, the result is more praise to Him.

New Year’s week, therefore, is an ideal time for me to ask myself some life-examining questions:

  1. What significant experiences have I had in the past and what lessons have I learned from them to apply in 2023?As I am writing my memoirs, I keep in mind the importance of life stories from a lesson I learned years ago: To hear “You’re the grandpa who tells me stories” is still vastly more satisfying than “You’re the grandpa who buys me presents,” and much cheaper.
  2. How can I make the most of the life I have left to write these memoirs?
    My 85th birthday is coming up in a few months, and lately I have read obituaries of people I know who are younger than I am. The obvious lesson to me is to stop spending my time doing things that other people can do, like teaching, preaching, and organizing, and keep my focus on writing my life stories. Isaac Asimov is one of my favourite authors. Towards the end of his life, he was asked, “What changes would you make if you knew you would have only a few more months left to live?” “Type faster,” he replied. I may take that as my motto for the months or years I have left.
  3. How have I dealt with unpleasant happenings, like physical problems, emotional upsets, mental disturbances or deaths among relatives or friends, and how can I do better?
    These negative events can come slowly or unexpectedly. Either way, disability and death hurt. What does God want me to do? Show love practically to those suffering. Be with them, meet their physical needs, and pray that God will comfort and strengthen them. Remind them that Christian Hope is the absolute sure expectation that no matter how things turn out, in the end, it will make sense since God is always in full control.
  4. What about pleasant happenings?
    I need to praise God and share the news so others can praise Him too. This past year Christ’s church in the smaller Canela village (where Jo and I had very little contact) grew to such an extent that they were able to build a brick church and finish the clay tile roof in time to celebrate Christmas inside. Now believers in both villages have a place to gather that is fireproof and dry even during the rainy season.
  5. How can I keep my resolutions for changes and growth in my life? I must not go it alone! I need to ally myself with people who will hold me accountable. My wife Jo is my chief accountability partner. She critiques all my writing, but happily, she does not criticize me as a person. Well, not much, anyway.
    I need others to help me act, but I need to take time to be alone, to remember and to think and to write.

God wants us to examine our lives, to learn from our past, to become wise and to teach our children what we have seen Him do.
May He grant us all a New Year in which He guides each one of us in individual ways to keep account of our days as the first step to growing in wisdom.

 

 

 

Why Write? Some Biblical Reasons

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A Delayed Start
I have nothing but unhappy memories of writing in elementary grades in Holland. No Dutch teacher had heard of hand-eye coordination problems. They were, however, heavily influenced by the then-accepted science of graphology, or handwriting analysis, which was supposed to reveal the writer’s personality and character.

My messy writing proved to them that I was careless, lazy, and probably had a learning defect, so I was forced to spend many hours every week copying out lines of boring text as homework while my buddies were outside playing street soccer. Happily, in this century, graphology is considered a pseudoscience and is no longer accepted as evidence of personality or character defects.

Letter to Oma
I voluntarily wrote my first letter when I was a twelve-year-old Dutch immigrant boy in Alberta. I wanted to please my Oma, my grandma in Holland. I described our old farmhouse home, and the three-kilometres-long cross-country walk with my little sister to the one-room country school, where I loved learning new English words. I told about the firewood I chopped and the water I hauled from the pump by the barn. I wrote about shooting gophers with my slingshot and waking up to the scary howling of the coyotes. I wondered how Oma would like the first letter from her oldest grandson, many pages packed with feelings and experiences.

Weeks later, Dad read Oma’s response to Mom, and I listened to the end, “Much Love from Mother.” Then a P.S. scribbled on the side, “I see Jack’s handwriting is as bad as ever.”

What?! I poured out my heart’s blood on those pages, but all she saw was ink! I never wrote another letter to Oma or to any other relative in Holland. But I did enjoy writing brief diaries and a few stories for school assignments. Then seven years later, I bought a portable typewriter, and my writing life exploded. I could hardly wait until classes were over and I could write my thoughts and ideas that were swirling in my head. And I loved writing letters—not just because I had a distant girlfriend!

Write to Remember
By then, I had become a Christian who avidly read his Bible, and I was excited to find many verses about writing. It struck me that following the exciting story of Joshua leading the Israelites in the battle with the Amalekites, God commanded Moses to write down what had happened as a reminder and to make sure Joshua hears that his victory was due to Moses, holding up his hands in prayer.

I wrote in my short daily diaries the things I wanted to remember, especially the things God impressed on my mind as I read his Word. God told Jeremiah, “Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.” (Jer. 30:2 NIV)

Write to Inspire
I also wrote to inspire myself and others to action after reading that God told Habakkuk to write His message clearly so that anyone could understand it even if they “read it at a glance and rush to tell others.” (Hab. 2:2 TLB)

I still write the stories of what God is doing in the lives of people as a result of reading or hearing His Word in their own language—all to inspire others to get involved in the worldwide Bible translation ministry.

Write to Create
It was still early in my writing development that I realized that every story, letter, or description I wrote was a creative act. Writing is an art form. I start with a blank screen, and after much thinking, imagining, writing, and correcting, I end up with Something New.

In some small way, I created order out of the chaos of thoughts, ideas, words, and phrases until I had done something like what God did in the beginning, to create order and life on earth out of the previous chaos. (Gen:1-27)

Writers write to Remember, Inspire action, and Create. Let’s remember the positive things in our lives to heal, as in my case, unhappy memories. Let’s inspire readers to build God’s Kingdom.  And let us create writing that honours God.

My Summer Blogging Break

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I know this will be a disappointment to all my raving fans, but the time for the annual JSBB has come. Jack’s Summer Blogging Break will last all of July and August. Some of you will survive this enforced fast from my InSights and OutBursts through sheer willpower. Others of you will cheat by dipping into the archives and reading past issues by copy/pasting this address into your browser: www.jackpopjes.com

Work on the Long-Awaited Main Book
Here’s how I will endure these two JSBB months: I will be working on the fourth volume of my memoirs. This one is of the years 1967 to 1990, the twenty-four years Jo and I focused on translating the Word of God with and for the Canela people of Brazil. The temporary working title for the volume is, From Adventure to Mission: Giving the Canelas Choices.

Prepare to Read Great Stories
The book is packed with a huge number of true stories about what God did during those two decades. We experienced so many divinely appointed coincidences that we started calling them “God-incidences.” Our family went through an incredible number of downs, as well as ups. We realized we were in a battle for the souls of the Canela. The spiritual enemies were strong and inflicted much emotional hurt and stress. But we applied 1 John 4:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” As most of you know, although work on the task was often delayed, it all ended well.

Pray for Jo and Me as We Revise and Improve this Book
Although I have written two drafts of what are currently twenty-eight chapters, I plan to revise them all at least three more times. My wife, Jo, who has been gifted with the ability to critique my writing and tell me what needs to be corrected, improved, or deleted, goes through each draft and exercises her God-given abilities with marvelous patience.

It will probably take the rest of the year for Jo and me to complete our part of producing this book. Pray that God will give us the physical stamina and mental ability to finish.

Have a great summer! God willing, I’ll be back with the next blog post in early September.
Many Blessings,
Jack and Jo

 

How God Prepared me to Trust Him

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The Problem
As a Dutch boy, I was proud of being Dutch and our dike-building engineering abilities. By the time I was in Grade Nine in Canada, the Dutch had turned 6,800 square miles (4.5 million acres) of sea-bottom into farmland. Here’s a comparison with Canada: Each homesteader was granted 160 acres of land. The amount reclaimed from the sea by the Dutch would have been enough for 27,200 pioneer families’ homesteads. I should have had plenty of that high self-esteem for which the Dutch are famous. But I didn’t. My classmates often called me Dummy, and I felt that they were right.

I was always the last to be chosen on a sports team. I sucked at carpentry-shop, and was worse in arithmetic. I especially hated being called to the blackboard to solve an arithmetic problem in front of everyone. I always made mistakes, and everyone laughed at me.

I believed in God in a general way. But I had no close relationship with Him. I always felt guilty, either for things I should have done and didn’t do or for something I had done that I shouldn’t have done. So, even when I occasionally prayed that I would feel better about myself, I didn’t expect Him to do much for me. And then, one day, He did.

What I Didn’t Know
I knew all the things I wasn’t good at. But I didn’t realize that God had been preparing me for years to be good at something. He had helped me to develop a valuable skill with words—and I didn’t know it.

Growing up in Holland, I biked to the library every Wednesday to borrow two or three books to read that week. I was twelve years old when we left Holland, and I had probably read 500 books. In the two years in Canada, I read library books in the way fire reads kindling.

The Story
Then came the day in Grade Nine English class when the teacher taught us how to write a letter. I listened with half an ear because I had written lots of letters to friends in Holland, and besides, I had a book open on my lap and was engrossed in a gripping story. The teacher said, “Alright, everyone, take a sheet of paper and write a one-page letter to a friend. You have forty-five minutes.”

I thought of a funny idea for my letter, then looked up from my book. The whole class was scribbling, erasing, thinking, and scribbling some more. I kept reading my book. Suddenly the teacher warned us, “You have twenty minutes to finish.”

I closed my book and wrote a letter to an imaginary friend telling him about my weekend visit to some make-believe cousins who lived on a farm.  I wrote about climbing up the windmill tower. I wrote about chasing pigs that had escaped and about a bull that chased us.

To make the letter unique and easy to read, I quickly drew a little cartoon picture to replace every noun. I filled my whole letter with tiny sketches of fat pigs, flapping chickens, skinny cousins, an angry bull, a windmill, apples, a glass of milk, etc. Then the teacher said, “Time’s up. Hand in your letter.” I signed my letter and took it to her desk.

The Solution
The next day, the teacher said, “I am happy to say that many of you wrote excellent letters. But one of your letters was outstanding. It was one of the most original and best letters anyone has ever turned in during this class. I am putting it up in the school hallway for everyone to read and enjoy. Jack, congratulations on writing the best letter!”

Wow! I hadn’t expected that! What a surprise! It had been so simple, taking only twenty minutes. Even though I stank at many school activities, it was good to know I rocked at writing.  And best of all, nobody ever called me Dummy again.

The Best Lesson
In the last month of Grade Nine, I attended an evangelistic crusade meeting, where I heard that Jesus would forgive all my sins and be my Friend. I gladly accepted this great gift. No more feeling guilty! Yea!

It was then I realized that it was God’s Spirit who had motivated me to read so many books and to love words and that it was He who had given me the idea of using cartoon pictures to make my letter unique. I knew then I could trust Him forever.

 

Try it, You Might Surprise Yourself!

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NOTE: My computer has been down for repairs for two weeks. Although I lost some valuable files, praise God, I’m now back up and running again!

The Vision
At a writer’s conference, I participated in last winter, I saw a fellow author wearing a T-shirt emblazoned as follows: “10,000 Words – One Day!” Is this guy bragging? I wondered, Or is this his goal?

Ten-thousand words is the equivalent of fifteen of my weekly InSights & OutBursts blog posts. That’s a lot of words! For years, I have been keeping track of all my major writing, not just blog posts, but letters, stories, prayers and diary notes. My goal is 1,000 a day, 7,000 a week and 30,000 a month. I usually surpass my monthly goal, except during vacation or when I have trouble with my laptop. (Like just recently!)

The Plan
In June, with a travel-filled summer vacation looming ahead, I was aware of numerous auto-biographical stories rolling around in my head. So, having talked it over with Jo, my partner in everything I do, and with Jesus, the Source of these stories, I committed to meet this 10,000 words goal, not just one day but several days in a row. I had no idea if I could do it. I might run out of stories to write, or get physically or mentally exhausted. I just didn’t know. But I did know it would take intense, uninterrupted concentration, so I made a plan.

The following Monday morning I set up and plugged in our motor home behind the barn on a friend’s farm. No Internet, phone shut off, and several prominently displayed “Do Not Disturb” signs to keep me focused. By 9:00 a.m. I was writing. After a couple of hours, I went for a brisk thirty-minute walk, then wrote again. I kept doing that and by evening, I had logged 10,000 words of first draft, original writing, and had walked five miles. Yippee!

tINY DISTURBThe Result
The next day, I did it again! And the next! By Friday, late afternoon, I had written 50,000 words, and walked 25 miles! I felt great, both in body and in mind, satisfied that I had a good first draft start on my next book of God-honouring stories. Also, I was very surprised. I had no idea I could do this. I hope to do this again after summer, I thought, as I drove home with gratitude to Jesus in my heart.

How to Surprise Ourselves
We all know that our enemy, Satan, loves to discourage God’s people from using our talents and native abilities to accomplish things that bring God honour—things we may have done successfully in some small measure, but hesitate to do in a major way. Sometimes he fills our hearts with a false humility, and makes us think, Oh, I could never do a job that big!, blotting out of our minds the Scripture that says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

I have leaned on that affirmation numerous times in our decades of ministry. Translating a collection of stories from the life of Jesus is one thing, but to tackle the translation of Romans is quite another.

It’s one thing to lead a Bible study in a small group, home meeting, but quite another to travel to a foreign country, and speak ten times at a deeper-life conference to a large congregation, through interpreters. That is certainly another case of needing to lean strongly on Jesus’ strength. And being surprised at the positive result!

Many of us would happily take a Saturday to help a neighbour or a church member renovate his basement, or fix up his garage. But what about going on a two-week missions trip at our own expense and be part of a construction crew to build a church somewhere on the mission field?

Others of us routinely cook meals for our families and occasional guests. What about leading a team of volunteers to prepare 300 meals for destitute, homeless men and women once a week?

Most of us church-going folk put something into the offering plate each Sunday. But how about committing to give a substantial amount regularly to a special project, becoming partners with a missionary, or helping to get a major missions program started?

To surprise ourselves by accomplishing a great task for God requires commitment, and reliance on God’s Word. May God daily remind us that we really “can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.”
But first of all, we need an inspiring vision—maybe from a T-shirt!

God’s Story about Cheryl: How I Blew it as a Dad

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Our youngest daughter, Cheryl, was born with amblyopia, commonly called lazy eye—a condition in children when vision does not develop properly in one eye. When she was two years old, an epidemic of trachoma swept through the Canela village in Brazil where we worked. This is a serious eye disease that, at that time, had blinded six million people worldwide. Most of the Canela and all our family were infected and we worked day and night treating the sufferers with antibiotic ointment.

eye patch CherylWhen we took off Cheryl’s bandages, we saw that our toddler’s lazy eye had turned aside even more. The optometrist prescribed glasses and an eye patch to wear over the good eye to force the lazy eye to work. Each year he wrote stronger prescriptions.

After three years of service in Brazil our director ordered us to go on furlough much earlier than planned. “Your financial support continues to be so low,” he said, “you are borrowing money from other missionaries to buy groceries. Go back home and raise adequate support before you return to Brazil.”

When we arrived in Canada the eye specialist said, “It’s a good thing you brought your daughter in to see me today, her prescription is wrong, her lazy eye needs a different treatment. In another month or two it would have been too late. Her lazy eye would have gone completely blind.”

He prescribed different glasses, as well as a patch, and gradually her eye improved so much that by the time she entered college her vision was near normal.

1-20-P1040389When I finished writing this story, I gave it to Cheryl to read and she exclaimed, “You mean if we hadn’t been so under-supported and poor, you would have stayed for nearly another year, and I would have gone blind in one eye? I never knew that. Dad! This happened 45 years ago, why didn’t you tell me earlier!

Yeah, why didn’t I?

Because I failed in one of the most important duties parents have—to tell their children what God has done for them. All through the Old Testament, God commands His people to remember what He did to benefit them and their families and to tell their children, even to write them down.

Just before singing God’s praise for a long list of things that Hes did on earth for His people, the poet urged his listeners to action, “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord” Psalm 102:18 (NIV).

This incident encouraged me to keep going through my decades of daily journals and find incidents where God answered our prayers, where He protected us, where He arranged amazing co-incidences for our family. I continue to write them up, wanting to leave them as a legacy of God’s actions for our children, grandchildren and beyond.

So, what about you?

How do you remember the God-stories in your family’s life?

How do you pass them on to future generations?