Arno Pet
Those who know me well will say that I am not the crying type. In fact, I tend to get very uncomfortable and disconcerted when confronted with tears, whether in anger or sadness. However, I would be lying if I said that the following story did not produce a tear or two inside. The story, as read in Al Mohler’s blog, is very touching. Have hankies in hand.
Adopted for Life… and In Death
Arno was inseparable from Mr. Penguin. The little Haitian boy was almost three years old, and the plush penguin with the word “love” inscribed upon it was his most treasured object. The orphan and his penguin were always seen together.
The boy had been given the penguin just after his birth. A Dutch couple was in the process of adopting him almost from the start of his life — they had been matched to him when he was only two months old. The penguin represented a promise.
The process of adoption took two years — the length of time considered adequate to determine that no living relatives might claim him. According to official estimates, there were over 50,000 parentless orphans in Haiti before the earthquake came and orphaned many thousands more.
Richard and Rowena Pet were the young Dutch couple who wanted so badly to be Arno’s mother and father. They had struggled with infertility for years before deciding to adopt. As they awaited the adoption of Arno, Rowena became pregnant. Last August she gave birth to Jim, who was left in the care of relatives as Richard and Rowena flew to Haiti in January to claim Arno and complete the adoption process.
The story of Arno’s adoption is movingly told by reporter David Charter of The Times [London]. As he reported, “Arno was shy at first but within 30 minutes of meeting his adoptive parents he reached for Rowena’s hand and took the Dutch couple on a tour of the orphanage in Port-au-Prince where he had spent most of his short life. He began to call them Mummy and Daddy.”
Richard had shared their joy with a friend in an e-mail:
“We got to the orphanage feeling a bit strange. We went around a corner and immediately saw Arno walking towards us. He was OK until he was about half a meter away, but then he panicked. The woman from the orphanage helped out and half an hour later he took Rowena’s hand for the first time. I’m sorry but I can’t help crying at the moment as I type this. Arno has been showing us everything in the orphanage. He showed us an old car they have for the children to play on. He was holding a birthday card we sent for his second birthday.”
According to Charter, adoptive parents often stay at the Hotel Villa Therese in the Pétionville district of Port-au-Prince. That is where Richard and Rowena took Arno. That is where they were when the earthquake came. And that is where they died together.
David Charter tells the story, with comments by Chris Spaansen, the friend to whom Richard had sent the e-mail:
Dutch TV cameras were on hand during the frantic search by an international rescue team with members from the Netherlands, Britain and Canada. . . . Lying there amid the rubble was the unmistakable blue and yellow toy bird, Mr Penguin, marked with the word “Love”, that went everywhere with Arno. “That toy helped them to make their first contact with the little boy. It had a really special place in the family. It was a very emotional moment for all of us,” Spaansen says.
Then this:
What the cameras did not show were the three bodies, found intertwined together, as if Rowena and Richard had tried to put protective arms around Arno as the masonry began to fall. The disaster cruelly destroyed the new family, creating its own orphan back in the Netherlands. Jim, just five months old, will be brought up by Rowena’s sister, who already has her own three-year-old boy.
The bodies of Richard and Rowena and Arno Pet were taken to the Netherlands together, just as they had been found together in the rubble of the Hotel Villa Therese. They had been a family for a few hours, but a family all the same. Arno had a tragically short life, but he ended that life in the arms of a mother and a father.
Who can read this account without heartbreak . . . and a heart warmed? Is there a heart so cold that it does not feel the pathos of this report, and sense the sentiment of this family’s tragedy? At the same time, this is not a tragedy in the classic sense. The love of Richard and Rowena and Arno Pet transcends tragedy. That is why The Times published this report, and why it stays with you so long after you read it.
Of course, for the Christian there is far more to this story. In the story of Arno Pet we find a picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians:
But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a virgin, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. [Galatians 4:4-7]
Adoption is perhaps the most powerful depiction of the Gospel found in the Bible. We are all orphans, born under the curse of sin. By the sheer grace and mercy of God, those who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are adopted as sons. Redeemed sinners are adopted as sons “through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise and glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” [Ephesians 1:5-6]
Arno Pet began life as an orphan, but he ended life as a son. He was abandoned at his birth, but he died in the arms of his parents. He did not die as Arno, he died as Arno Pet.
In the rubble of the Hotel Villa Therese the film crew found the bodies of Richard and Rowena and Arno Pet. In that same rubble, we find a picture of the Gospel of Christ. He who has eyes to see, let him see.
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Dr. Michael Horton spent a day and a half preaching/teaching to a crowd of two hundred participants in last week’s Putting Amazing Back Into Grace conference. Part of his lecture, and for the benefit of those who were new or just starting to hear about “Reformed,” Dr. Horton gave a good introduction to what it means to a part of the Reformed Confession. (Dr. Horton insisted that it be called a confession, and not Reformed Faith, because that would mean it’s being used to take the place of Christian faith.)
The reaction from the participants was generally positive, with complaints limited to how short and limited the time was. (Something to consider for next year’s conference, perhaps?)
After the conference, the organizers and Dr. Horton had a simple dinner at Tempura, a Japanese restaurant along Banawe Ave. There Daniel Yam had an informal interview session with Dr. Horton.
My favorite part of the interview:
Daniel: As a behind-the-scene for Dr. Horton, what was the most embarrassing moment of your life?
Dr. Horton: I guess I have to say that the most embarrassing moment of my life was when I met the woman who would become my wife. It was that time when she walked out of the plane and I saw her for the first time. She was a flight attendant and she was kind enough to fly from the east coast to Los Angeles for us to meet for the first time. She walked off the plane and I said, “Wow, you don’t look anything like your pictures!” Now, my point was, “you’re more beautiful than in your pictures.” But I was so blabbered [sic] I guess I said the wrong words. And she said (afterwards), “I just wanted to walk over and slap you!”
A full transcript of the interview can be found here.
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The Putting Amazing Back Into Grace conference was held at the Quezon City Evangelical Church last January 29 and 30.
Dr. Michael Horton spoke in three sessions about recalling and proclaiming the grace of God in Christ. One interesting reminder from the conference was what I would call “the cosmological impact of the work of Christ on the cross.” That in redemption, Christ not only saved individuals for glory, but also will consummate the redemption of the whole cosmos, which is currently “suffering birth pangs, waiting for the deliverance from God” (my paraphrase). A couple of quotes from Dr. Horton:
“Apart from Christ, you don’t want to deal with God. And election apart from Christ is pure damnation.”
“When we choose Him, it costs us nothing. When He chose us, it cost Him everything.”
Dr. Anacleto Carag, president of Febias College of Bible, led one session entitled, Putting Christ Back Into the Pulpit. Since there is an obvious Christocentricity in the books of the Holy Scriptures (read: the whole Bible focuses on Christ and his work of redemption), a faithful preacher has the responsibility to preach Christ alone. This was a good reminder since a good number of sermons we hear today fall under the category of “moralistic-therapeutic-legalistic-relativistic-deism.” A quote from Dr. Carag:
“If a man can preach one sermon without mentioning Christ’s name in it, it ought to be his last, certainly the last that any Christian ought to go to hear him preach.”
Some shots from the conference follow. (I’m in some of them. Just to show how much of a Horton fan I am.)
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- Dr. Michael Horton
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- The Assembled
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- Drs Horton and Carag during the Q&A Session
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- A (Delighted) Fan
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- The Gathering
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- The Four Theologians
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On second viewing, the Pixar movie Up, appealing enough in its first viewing, definitely got better. The things that annoyed me, didn’t; what I thought were flaws, weren’t.
Such as: The fast-paced first ten minutes were my favorite part of the movie the first time around; probably still. But on first viewing, I found myself disappointed that I didn’t get to spend more time with Ellie. An energetic pushy tomboy, she was far more appealing than the “small mailman” that accompanies Carl on his old-age adventures. But within the first segment, she had met Carl, married him, suffered a miscarriage, grew old, and died. I had only started to get to know her. I felt cheated.
Now I see that’s what the filmmakers wanted. Without that emotional opening sequence, we’d have a hard time sympathizing with Carl’s nostalgia and disappointment. Given the opening ten minutes, we don’t just see Carl sighing over the unfinished adventure scrapbook; we sigh right along with him. We miss Ellie as much as Carl does. The movie makes the viewer feel nostalgic, until we realize that we, like Carl, need to shed the Bunyanesque burden of the past (the house that Carl comically pulls around by the garden hose) and get on with the next thing.
By Peter J. Leithart, (http://www.leithart.com/2010/01/25/up/)
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Speaking as someone from a Reformed (and continually Reforming) mindset, I am very happy that the Michael Horton conference, “Putting Amazing Back Into Grace,” will push through as scheduled. I am even happier that the conference will be held in my church (yawzah!), and that I have no small part to play in the scheme of things.
I am very sure that Michael Horton will be a blessing to Christians who will attend his conference, whether or not they hold to the Reformed faith. It is my humble opinion that we are slowly forgetting what grace is, and are just slowly going through the motions of “church.” In other words, the church has slowly ceased to be a gathering of the elect, that celebrates the goodness and majesty of God every Lord’s day, and instead is playing church–come and join the social club because this is what we’ve been doing the past few years.
I also am sure that writing sweeping statements like that will be noticed and frowned upon, unless a disclaimer of sorts is added: I do believe that there are still sincere, devout Christians out there who see going to worship on Sunday as something more than just a thing to do on Sunday mornings. However, we would be blind and foolish if we do not concede the fact that for the most part, church is more a social club–gather together, eat together, sing a few songs (repeatedly ad nauseam), laugh together, hear a few words that tell us how good we’ve been doing trying to be good, etc.–than a church.
I also pray that we won’t go to the conference for the sake of going, without taking to mind the implications of putting amazing back into grace. Think about it clearly, because the title can fool you; it is easy to think that putting amazing back into grace is an easy thing. It isn’t.
Think this through…
We are sinners saved by the grace alone of an infinitely holy and righteous God. We are undeserving of that grace, and thus, that salvation. Yet God showed his love for us that while we were yet sinners (read: dead in sin, unable to do anything to earn merit) Christ died for us as an outpouring of his love. Because we exercise faith in response, now we are his by adoption (he gives us the right to be called children of God) and by redemption (he purchased us through the blood of Christ). He continues to sanctify us, for his glory. Sola Gratia, sola fide, and all that.
Now please tell me if our activities on Lord’s day (gathering together, eating together, singing a few songs (repeatedly ad nauseam), laughing together, hearing a few words that tell us how good we’ve been doing trying to be good, etc., are reflective of God’s grace. Of course, there is nothing wrong with gathering together, eating together and singing together. There is something wrong with being told how good we are. But done overall, without a thought of the wonderful grace of God, is insulting to a holy God who purchased us for holiness with the blood of his Son.
Putting amazing back into grace means that we should continue to reform–in our thoughts, our actions, our words, our beliefs,–because God is showing us how great he is, and how small we are. That is not easy at all.
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It’s Sunday!
It’s Lord’s day again! My meditation verse, from Isaiah 53:
Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces5 he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Ciao!
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My Wife’s Cafe
My beloved M’s been playing Cafe World on Facebook for a while. I thought I’d put up an image of her little Kutcharita 2 (that’s teaspoon for you) and show the world her handiwork. (There’re little hints of yours truly in there, somewhere–I am an architect by profession, after all.)
Anyway, I look at the top-left portion, where the total income is, and sometimes wonder if life could be that easy–more than a million in net income from a few months of playing working in a cafe. Oh well.
Anyway, M’s avatar can be seen at the lower right, manning the kitchen.
Ciao!
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For Tuesday (January 26, 2010)
For our Bible study next Tuesday, we will be tackling the final few verses of Chapter 2, and (Deo volente) will continue on to the middle of Chapter 3, re the works that one does, building on the foundation of Christ.
Assignment:
- What does Paul mean when he talks of gold, silver, hay, etc., taking into context the foundation that is Jesus Christ?
- What do we mean by being of the flesh (carnal, in some versions) that Paul mentions in v.1?
(Maybe it should be the other way around, #2 first, then #1. Oh, well.)
Ciao!
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Food for Thought 012110
Below is a very sober and rational response from TurretinFan (over on his blog) to some people who condemn Haiti for what recently happened over there:
Judgment of Haiti?
Someone has claimed that Haiti’s disaster is due to the fact that they made a pact with the devil many years ago. The basic idea that they (or some small group of revolutionaries long ago) made a pact with the devil (or some evil spirit) is not necessarily incredible. It’s also not incredible that this is the judgment of God on the nation of Haiti. However, there’s no good reason to pick out that particular sin as the cause of this judgment. Why not pick out Haiti’s particularly loathsome treatment of children (here). There are lots of possibilities. It may well be God’s judgment. While calamities like this can be and, in Scripture, frequently are the judgment of God, it may be something else. Recall Job. We should not be quick to judge Haiti, but those in Haiti ought seriously to consider why God brought this, and if they find sin, they ought to repent of it.
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Coolness
What normally would be a very dull Thursday morning is made colorful and interesting with my beloved M staying home! (She goes to work in the afternoon.)
Yowzah!
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