Words

I have been reading through Philip Yancey's new book titled "Prayer: Does it make any difference?" The book's main theme, not surprisingly, is prayer. But, in one of the early chapters Yancey devotes a few pages to the topic of "Does God speak to us?" While on topic, Yancey writes about going to a spiritual retreat the main purpose of which was to listen to God's small still voice speaking to each participant. What he discovered was not that God spoke to him in an audible voice or through any great and life changing event. Rather, Yancey said simply that "I heard no audible voice, and yet at the end of the week I had to agree with Brennan (the fella leading the retreat) that I had heard from God." Apparently, the events of the week, as Yancey and the others quieted their minds, slowed the pace of life, and earnestly sought the Lord convinced him that "God finds ways to communicate to those who truly seek God, especially when we lower the volume of the surrounding static."

In the few days since I read these words, I have been mulling this whole "concept" around in the back of mind. I think I'm like most people who call themselves Christians: I want to believe I'm earnestly seeking God and that God does hear my prayers and that He does speak to me. And yet, when I really think about it, I'm hard pressed to come up with many (any?) times when He's done just that.

Last night I didn't sleep well. Several of us, me included, are battling colds right now. So, during one of my awake cycles I was overcome with a deep sense that I need to make some changes in my behavior. So, as I started to think about what those changes might be, I prayed to the Lord. The prayers weren't eloquent or verbose. Just simple "arrow prayers" I suppose with a sprinkling in of a number of on topic thoughts that were rolling through my head. Next thing I remember it sometime later - how much later I do not know - and I am awake after just having a dream. (Having a dream and remembering it are very rare for me. I cannot remember the last one I had.)

In my dream, I was arguing with Payton about something. At one point I told him that he was acting like a stupid boy and other unmentionables. Then, Janice pulled me aside and gave me "the look" and wanted to know what in the world I was trying to prove with treating Payton like that. She was right, of course, (even in my dreams my loving wife is 100% correct!) but instead of humbly accepting my medicine I lashed out at her and told her I didn't care for her advice nor was I gonna take back or apologize to Payton because "he was acting like a jerk and deserved" the treatment I was giving him.

When I got up this morning with Esther the dream was on my mind. It was disturbing, for sure, but beyond that I didn't see much significance. That is until a started reading my Bible. I picked up where I left off last night in James chapter 3. The subject of James 3? The untameability of the tongue. In part, it says, "For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. And if anyone does not offend in speech [never says the wrong things], he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature. If we set bits in the horses' mouths to make them obey us, we can turn their whole bodies about. Likewise, look at the ships: though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the impulse of the helmsman determines. Even so the tongue is a little member, and it can boast of great things. See how much wood or how great a forest a tiny spark can set ablaze! And the tongue is a fire. [The tongue is a] world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of man's nature), being itself ignited by hell (Gehenna). For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea animal, can be tamed and has been tamed by human genius (nature). But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is a restless (undisciplined, irreconcilable) evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God's likeness! Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so."

At once I realized the significance of my dream. It is part reminder and part warning. It reminds me of the truth of Scripture (and in particular James 3) and the realities of my tongue. And, it warns me about the power of my tongue and the effect - both positive or negative - it can have on the people around me... particularly my kids.

Does God speak to us? Well, after what happened to me last night and this morning I would have to conclude "Yes, He does, if only we earnestly seek Him and listen for His voice".

Have a great day.

sf

Merry Christmas

It was a busy moring at Chez Flude as we opened many presents. I don't know the total but it must've been some sort of family record.

Thank you to everyone who sent cards, letters, gifts, and support to us. You have no idea how incredibly loved and humbled it makes us feel knowing that all of you took time out of your busy days to not only think about and pray for us but to actually make the effort to go the extra mile and send something to us.

We will never be able to repay you however maybe these photos can at least let you know that we truly appreciated what you've done for us.

May Our Lord richly bless you in the upcoming New Year.

We love you all.

Steve, Janice, and the kiddos.

Merry Christmas #2

Hello Again!

More photos.

I think Liddy would smile no matter what she was given. She was so very excited to get her hat and socks.

Ethan will have many opportunities to wear all of the super hero clothing he got today.

Janice was all smiles when she opened April's gift.

Merry Christmas #3

Hello Again!

Here are some additional photos of the kids this morning during the frenzy that was...

Merry Christmas.

Apology

Received on 24 DEC 2007 - One Hard Drive
Issued on 24 DEC 2007 - An Apology

To Whit: I hereby apologize to postal workers everywhere for my earlier post which may have indicated that I thought perhaps one of you, being less than honest, took my hard drive via 5-finger discount. I will never again accuse any of you of pilfering or otherwise stealing anything ever again. However, considering the fact that it took exactly 14 days to arrive, I will most certainly accuse you of being slow in the disposition of your duties.

Signed this 24th Day of December 2007

By, Steve Flude

Rabbit?

The other day Janice, Gracey and I went to dinner on a date. We were eating pizza and salad. Janice was eating more salad than the rest of us. At one point during the conversation she just blurted out "I'm just like a rabbit!"

Immediately, I responded, "In more ways than one!"

After about 5 seconds a look of "Aha, I get it!" flashed across her face. She said, "That's not what I meant." "I know that" I said, "but it's true, isn't it?"

We all had a good laugh. Sometimes Janice says the silliest things.

Wishing you a Blessed Christmas.

sf

The Countdown Begins

OK, so here we are, 3 days before Christmas and the kiddos are driving Janice and me nuts. Because of a tradition we started a few years back, the kids get to open a present on the 23rd. They've already decided that they are going to open the presents from the Derouins that are for "the Flude family". They are so excited that they've told me and Janice that we need to get up at 7:00 AM so we can have Home Church and then open present before I leave at 9:00 AM to help a family here get their belongings on the train to Paris.

I'll try to keep you all posted on whether or not Janice and I survive the next 72 hours. I think we will but you never know.

Hope you have a great day.

sf

P.S. - Andy, I had a great time chatting with you today. I'm praying for you, Bro.

Selfishness

Do you ever catch yourself being selfish? Do you ever question your motives when doing the things you do? While we may not always self-inspect our motives, I'm sure that in moments of sheer honesty we'll all admit to being selfish from time to time. Today I realized I have been selfish the last couple of days...

Because of Christmas, we've been receiving boxes with Christmas gifts, candy, and some hard to get food items from friends and family back home. What we haven't received, though, is the new external hard drive I ordered because the hard drives on both of our laptops are completely full with our videos and pictures (and other stuff, of course).

As box after box has arrived, instead of accepting the blessings from so many people, I've found myself getting more and more ticked off because it's not here yet. (You see, my hard drive should've taken only 7 or 8 days to arrive. I'm now on day 11 and counting. And, to top it off, everybody else has receieved boxes that were sent after my hard drive was shipped.)

To top it off, I can't seem to get it out of my mind that some sticky fingered postal worker somewhere is sitting at home enjoying my hard drive while I sit here being mocked by the many boxes and packages that aren't mine. It's not FAIR!

Of course, there's a lesson in there for me. It's a pretty simple lesson but one that is very difficult to learn and apply consistently. What is it? It is that when we focus only on ourselves our world shrinks down to such an extent that we cannot (or do not want) to see all of the blessing that the Lord gives us each and every day. The God who clothed the lillies of the fields and feeds the birds of the sky is the same God who cares for each one of us. Does He care about my hard drive? Well, probably yes and no. "Yes", because it will be used to provide us with some of our American culture here and in Chad, and "No" because it is only a stupid hard drive.

I'm ashamed to admit that I let my priorities get so out of whack that I began to see this piece of man-made electronics equipment for more than it really is. Any time I (or any one of us) lets this happen with the things of this world we are feeding the fires of lust and covetousness and selfishness. Certainly we all know the world tells us that things like lust and covetousness and selfishness are good and admirable traits but the Bible has another name for them: Sin.

Please pray that the Lord will drive out all of my selfishness and I will do the same for you. You'd think that after 30 years of walking with the Lord some of my warts would've been removed by the Compound W of the Holy Spirit. Instead, with each passing day I seem to be more and more aware of my sin and my need for the Savior's Blood.... (but that's a topic for another blog entry).

Wishing you a very Merry (and Selfless) Christmas.

sf

Slip Sliding Away

Have you ever slipped in your kitchen? I mean, have you ever just been minding your own business when all of a sudden you find yourself laying on the ground? Janice had this very experience the other day.

I came home during a break in class, walked into the kitchen and noticed something wasn't quite right.

I asked Janice what happened and she told me that she wasn't doing anything special when all of a sudden her feet slipped out from under her (she was wearing only socks - I don't mean that she wasn't fully clothed... only that she wasn't wearing her slippers). In a last ditch attempt to maintain balance and break her fall she somehow managed to grab a hold of one of the sink cabinet doors. When she did, her momentum was too much for the door to handle and she ended up ripping the door clean off its hinges!

I'm afraid that only a major project to fix the cabinets will put the door back where it bel0ngs. When I looked at it closely I noticed that one of the hinge pins is sheered clean off.

Thankfully, she wasn't hurt although the kids that were home at the time had a pretty good laught at her expense.

See you all soon.

sf

The Car

In a post a few weeks ago I told you all about a car we were lent by some friends. We had an opportunity to buy the car because our friends are leaving for Madagascar in a couple of weeks. We decided to turn down the offer and now, after what happened to me earlier this week, I'm glad we did....

Early Tuesday afternoon I asked Jeff if I could use his car to run a few errands. He was doing some work around the Centre and didn't need it so he said no problem. Off to the store I went. Somewhere b/t our home and the store the car must've got a flat tire because on the way home I noticed that the car was not driving quite right. A few people even alerted me to the fact that the car had a flat tire.

So, I pulled over at my first opportunity and proceded to attempt to change the tire. I couldn't because the spare tire was frozen into its "slot" in the trunk. Yes, it was frozen! Somehow water had made its way into the spare tire compartment in the trunk and now, because of the cold weather, it was frozen to the body of the vehicle.

Well, I then decided to walk home and find Jeff, get money for the meter, and then get the tire changed. Unfortunately, I couldn't find Jeff so I grabbed some change and proceded back to the car. I fed the meter, put the ticket in the window, and made my way back to the Centre. After about 20 minutes, I found Jeff. I told him what happened, and then we proceded back to his car along with another student. Thankfully, Phil had a car so we rode in it.

We got to Jeff's car, and after about 10 minutes we were able to get the spare tire out. We then located the tire iron. (Yes, almost home free!) Well, the tire iron was too big. Ugh!
We then tried Phil's tire iron. Too big. Rats! But, while trying Phil's tire iron I noticed one of the lug nuts was missing. Instead, there was a nub of sorts with a couple of indentations on it. (It looked more like one of the lug nut was replaced by something else.) Neither Jeff nor I knew what it was but Phil did. He said it was an anti-theft lock that is put on custom rims to prevent theft. Not a big deal except Jeff didn't have the key. He said the kid he bought the car from never gave him one nor did he mention it.

Now, 3 days later Jeff tells me that no shop in town has the appropriate key and that to get replacement rims from Nissan will take at least 7 days. Now, the only way to get the rims off is to torch the anti-theft lock and forcibly remove the rims... all of them.

For the time being, the shop cut off the bad tire and sort of forced a new one one. Jeff can drive the car for the time being but needs to get it taken care of for the new owners who will take possession of the car sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Jeff told me he's glad this happened now instead of after he got rid of the car (the people buying it are class mates of mine) but that doesn't make me feel any better. I feel responsible for it because I was driving it when the flat happened.

This all just goes to show us that life here in France, just like in the States, is full of surprises.

Have a great day.

sf

Superman!

Ethan and Tawnee were playing together today in the dining room. At one point Tawnee was being "attacked" by Esther. She wasn't able to fight her off completely so she looked over at Ethan and said, "Help me Superman!"

In the movies Superman always comes to the rescue. In this case, Superman gave a quick glance over his shoulder and quickly went back to what he was doing.

Apparently, Ethan doesn't completely understand the phrase: With great power comes great responsibility.

See you.

sf

Snow Men and A Nativity Scene

Hi Everybody!



Hope you all are having a great day. We are. We finally were able to purchase a decent fake tree today. We put it in the front room. With the lights and the ornaments that the kids made it doesn't look half bad. That's more of a credit to the kids' artistic abilities than anything else.

What do you think of Gracey's nativity scene? These looked pretty neat until Esther go a hold of them. (By the way, and Gracey would never tell you this, but she did several months of internet research and countless "practice" figurines until finally, after a painstaking session in the kitchen, she was able to produce these life like, scale model "little people" complete with their Biblically accurate placement around the cradle.)

Also, you can see the snow men in the photo below. We were sent several snowman "kits" in the mail and these are the fruits of the younger kids' efforts.

It isn't hard to imagine that we've got several promising artists in the Flude house. And, they owe all of their artisitc ability, and I mean every wonderful ounce of it, to their parents. We couldn't be more proud and they couldn't be more grateful.

More later.

sf

Thought For The Day

This from a friend here at the school....

"Learning French is like throwing up. You feel really aweful while you're doing it but afterwards you feel better"

Somehow, I don't find that very comforting.

sf

P.S. - Alex and Payton just got home from school..... Alex walked into the dining room (where I'm typing this entry) and the first thing she says to me is "Why are you here?" Just seconds before Payton walked in and asked, "Where's mom?" Can't you just feel the love?

Big Boy

Ethan is known around here as "Big Boy". Conversely, Ethan calls Payton "Tiny Boy". The other day I was asking Ethan some questions about when he is older. I said, "Ethan, when you get older are you gonna be bigger than Bubby (another nick-name for Payton)?" He said, "Yep." I then said, "How about smarter? Stronger? Taller? Better looking? Faster? Better at sports?" and so on. Each time he answered, "Yep!"

When I was completely through with the questions I asked him one more: "Eth, are you gonna have longer hair than Bubby when you get older?" Without hesitating he said, "Nope!"

Apparently, he is not impressed with Payton's hair style (or, at the very least, he likes his hair style more). Whatever the reason, I learned one valueable thing about my youngest son that day. Namely, that he isn't afraid to share his opinions on things related to how he is gonna measure up with his older brother.

Hope you all have a great day.

sf

Our First Visitor.....

Hi Everybody! Hope this message finds you doing well on the beautifully clear Sunday morning here in Albertville.

Janice started this post yesterday and I'll finish it today. I'm just sitting at the computer listening to some Christmas music we got from Ray (thanks, Ray!) a few years back and hanging out with Esther. It's 9:35 and we're the only ones up.

The picture below is with some of the kids and our first guest. His name is Nathanael Szobody. Nathanael spent his teenage years in Chad along with the rest of his family. They are missionaries with our denomination. His dad is a seminary professor in Southern Chad.

Coming here was a homecoming of sorts for Nathanael. Ten years ago he and his family spent time here doing what we're doing. And, guess what, he can speak French. So, there is hope for us.

It was so encouraging to see him talk with the french folks around here just as if he was a native.
He's a really neat guy. Love's the Lord and is currently going to Concordia Bible College in the Chicago area. As part of his program he's learning Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. He told me he knows French, English, Chadian Arabic, and the tribal language where his family is in Chad. Yikes, and we're having problems with learning just 1 language.


Hope you all have a great day.


Love you all.


sf

It's about time....

Sorry for the lapse between posts. We've been in kind of a mini-choas around here. I've got 4 days worth of testing that I've been studying for and Janice and the kids have been trying to get stuff lined up for Christmas: presents needed to be bought, wrapped, and shipped. It has been a bigger chore than I thought it would be.

Speaking of getting presents shipped off. Janice and I took 3 boxes to "La Poste" (the post-office) yesterday. It was quite cold outside and thankfully I ran into a buddy out in front of our house who offered the use of his car. It was much appreciated. Anyway, we made it to the post office just fine (Keturah came with us) and after about a 10 minute wait we made it to the front of the line. The woman behind the counter took one look at us and got up and left. About 3 minutes later she came back with 3 packing labels for us to fill out. We moved off to the side and filled them out. When we finally got back in front of her she went into slow-down-mode. Man, if she had moved any slower she'd have been moving backwards. It was ridiculous. (I can honestly say that I'll never again complain about slowwwww service from the US Postal Service. Although, as far as I can tell, there must be an International School For Perpetually Slow and Uninspired Service that postal workers world-wide attend. Yikes.)

Finally, Janice thought it would be a good idea to ask for more of the packing labels so that we could have them at home. (They don't have that type of thing sitting out like they do in the States.) She asked me how to ask for more. I offered, "Je voudrais plus <<>> s'il vous plait" which means, "I would like more of these <<>> please". Janice didn't feel comfortable saying that - and for some lame reason I didn't ask the lady - so instead she says "Do you speak English?" Without missing a beat from what she was doing the woman says - in perfect English - "No!".

Well, any of you who know my wife can just picture in your mind what her body language was saying right after this little exchange. I don't remember exactly what she said next to me but I know it wasn't "Do you think she understood me?"

We finally left without our packages and about 120 Euros lighter in the wallet. Needless to say it was a quiet ride home (and somehow I don't think it was completely related to the 'nice' postal employee... maybe my lack of help contributed to the 'nice' and quiet ride home).

Thankfully, Janice didn't give me Look Number 57. That bad boy is only used under the most dire of circumstances that only Janice, April, and Judy can define. (If you don't believe me just ask Ray or Greg!)

See you.

sf

Just Another beautiful Albertville Sunrise and more...

This is how it looks every early morning...well, of course not when there is fog!! I thought it looked like the other side of the alps were on fire. So beautiful, and to think, heaven will be more beautiful than this or than we can imagine. The photo that is vertical is a bit blurry since I was trying to focus in on the moon in the upper right hand side, it was a nice cresent moon.
The last two mountain photos are of the other side of the alps (West side!!)and maybe you can see that there is color even over there. It was kind of pinkish purple.
Then there is Emma drinking out of Ethan sippy cup doing some kind of weird dance, Ethan and Tawnee and lastly (oh Alex is just gonna love that I added this) Alex has had some foot trouble lately, if you look closely you can see her right foot has an arch in it but the left one is straight. She could hardly walk the first day that it was swollen. The swelling has gone down a bit but the arch has not come back...oh poor Alex and all her shoe and feet problems!!

It has been raining here a lot lately, just if it was about 10 degrees colder we would be snowed in!! It hasn't stopped raining all day. Reminds us of Seattle so it feels good.

We have our first visitor!! Photos to come.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JEFF AND CAROLYN TODAY!! WE LOVE YOU!!
Have a great day today!
love from here,
janice

....ummm Randum talk two?

Hullo Every 1! lol

What sup in the U.S.A?

ummmmmm...Bye. -keturah

well thats a short blog! lol of course I dont want that to be all!!

here are some pictures: :\ :0 :) :0)

:-):------)

THERE are some pictures!! Just Kidden. here:

well see Ya all. LOVE you guys!

-T-rah

...umm randum talk.

Bonjour! comment ca va tout?

je suis ca va......I have learned alot of french ( well not alot ).

up there ^^ says:

Hello! how are you all? I am good.

ok??

well I told our tuter that I liked drawing and soo she lent me some books that show me how to do all the drawings!! but unfurtunetly its all IN FRENCH!!

and she lent us some comic books (that are in french) too!!

well I;m sorry jordan that your present hasn't come yet I belive we will send it on the fourteenth...I think. ^O^

Well MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all!!

-keturah

Fun photos

Hi Everyone,

Today is Lundi and it was time for some fun photos!! Here are a few of the crazy times here at the Fludes place.
Steven had a test last Sat and he got only 1/2 a point wrong! He is doing great. He said he had a light blub moment studying this last Friday and so the test was a breeze. The kids are doing very well too, the three older at College, Ethan at his school and the rest of us at home with our tutor. Thank you Lord for opening our minds wide to understand this new language.

Have a wonderful week and remember we love you all,
us fludes

That Darn Nobody

Here are a couple of picture that I liked. I especially like the picture of Keturah "presenting" our Christmas tree. Isn't it beautiful?

This week we received a package from our long-time friends the Austenfelds. What a great treat for the kids. There was poptarts, top ramen, beef jurkey, and some instant oat meal. As soon as they saw the goodies, they grabbed, ran, and stashed. They've learned over the years, and especially since we got here, that it is a good thing to stash stuff away for later use otherwise it'll disappear very quickly. They have also learned that it is important to find a secure place to hide their stuff otherwise "Nobody" comes and takes it.

Speaking of Nobody. I thought we left him and his friends "Somebody" and "Anybody" back in the States but I was wrong. Somehow they not only made their way across the Atlantic they managed to sneak into France without visas.

Soon, I am sure these guys will start going by their French names.

Hope you all have a great week.

sf