Reading Rachel

time.

When I first started this phone experiment, it arose from a sheer lack of time. (And a few other things, which I plan on writing about in the coming weeks).

One of our human limits is time. There are only 24 hours in a day, and we cannot add to them. So, being the intelligent (though not always wise) human beings we are – we are always finding ways to stretch the minutes within those 24 hours. Most forms of technology do that in the way of time-saving. The invention of electricity and the light bulb removed the limits darkness placed on our social and work lives.

But no invention in the history of man has ever attempted to cram our 24 hours more full of activity than the smartphone. (Name one, I’ll wait!)

Once I tried to make a list of every electronic device the modern smartphone has been able to house and the number was mind-blowing. Think camera, GPS, television, telephone, voice recorder, boombox – to name a few. And not just the abilities these devices have – but the power of proximity, what it would take to have all of these devices within reach at all times. (I’m picturing hauling a trailer with my computer, television, cordless phone, and boombox to a park where my kids are playing – with miles long extension cords).

The convenience, proximity, and power of the smartphone should be saving us massive amounts of time, right? Think of the hours we have spent connecting to dial-up internet, CONFINED TO A SPECIFIED SPOT IN THE HOUSE!

So why are we overstretched, exhausted, and busier than we have ever been? Just grasping for one more hour in the day to get it all done?

Because we are limited by nature.

Because when God designed 24-hour days, he intended us to sleep and rest when it got dark. And he created us imago dei – to be creators and laborers, not incessant consumers and boundary pushers.

The time our smartphones save us in convenience is infinitesimal compared to what it demands in return. Its like picking Product A because it arrives today, even though it is 1,000x the price of Product B.

Social media. Videos. Games. Endless places to scroll and stream.

I think of all the things I didn’t have time for last year – reading, writing, cleaning my house (bleck!), sitting on the floor and playing with my kids. Yet, why was it these things I didn’t have time for?

According to my screen report, I was spending an average of 3 hours and 40 minutes a day on my phone.

How did it never occur to me I didn’t have time for that?

So I decided to see what would happen if I got rid of this “time-saving” device.

Within the first 6 weeks I:

• Planned and booked two summer vacations
• Got 30 people at my church to join me in reading the Bible in a year
• Sold 60 books on eBay
• Read 12 books
• Wrote and sent out a bunch of Christmas (okay fine, March) cards.
• Lost 10 pounds
• Started a book project

I am not claiming I’ve optimized my life (sorry Dr. Oz!), but I found the time for many things I cherish without sacrificing sleep, family time, or consuming mass amounts of caffeine.

I’ve had lots of conversations about the flip phone I carry and my encouragement is always for people to make sure their priorities are their priorities. There is no doubt in my mind I was a smartphone addict and the right decision for me was to trash it. But I don’t advocate that as the best or even right decision for everyone.

But if you lack time, let your smartphone hours be the first thing to be chopped. You can do this in a number of ways:

• Set app limits, and stick to them! And be stingy with those limits! Do you need more than 15 mins on Instagram?
• Put your phone to bed an hour (at least) before yourself
• Set morning routines that need to happen before you engage your phone
• DO NOT SLEEP WITH YOUR PHONE! (Unless you’re a doctor, then you should probably do that)
• Pick a Sabbath day and try to not use your phone for an entire day each week (or at least limit it to texts or calls from family)
• Don’t bring your phone with you when you leave the house unless you need it

If you have done all of these things and still feel like a slave to your phone, then maybe it is time to consider a bigger step – like getting a flip phone or just a really slow old smartphone that doesn’t entice you in the same way your current phone does. (Youtube is wayyyy less fun if videos take forever to load or buffer every 10 seconds).

Time is a precious commodity – something we were never meant to rush or fight. It is often best enjoyed at a leisurely pace, filled with the kinds of things God gave us in the beginning.

I just had to step away from this blog for a few minutes to let my 14-month old dance on my lap to a folk song on the radio, while he giggled like the little boy he is.

There is no app for that.

Note: if I could ever implore you to buy a book, please read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. He has researched and written on these things in a far better way than I probably ever will.

12 years of pure grace.

Yesterday, March 29th, marks 12 years since I made the best, most important decision of my life – the one that has influenced every major decision since.

I traded my mess (understatement) for the righteousness of Christ, and God has been faithful to His promise of a new life since day 1.

I sat down to write a few reflections yesterday afternoon but the time got away from me before I had to go to work.

Prior to walking in to the restaurant, I had a spring in my step – it had been a sweet morning and afternoon with my boys and my eyes welled with tears several times thinking that one day that could know their marvelous Creator personally. Yet I left my 5 hour serving shift with a limp, as I faced very real sin in my own heart – sin that had nearly exploded all over my co-workers. Frustrating circumstances revealed my god of self, and took the opposing end in my tug-of-war with control.

The day started with “Lord, look how far we’ve come!” and ended with “How am I still such a sinful person?“

And the reality is, both are so true.

I can say without a single doubt that I am not the same person when I was 19, and that’s not simply natural life growth. It is nothing short of supernatural what God has done in my life and with my life.

But sin still lurks in my heart, and I entertain it more than I should.

I’m reading through the book of Leviticus right now (whoo!) and I am awestruck at how much work God does to be close to His people. It’s easy to see with our human eyes that all of these rules and regulations are meant to separate people from God – but it is just the opposite. In his grace He is explaining how His presence can dwell among sinners because He wants to be near them.

When God sealed my salvation with the blood of His Son, it wasn’t just my past and present He redeemed – this blood would cover every future sinful thought or act I would ever commit. In the past 12 years – thousands of them, tens of thousands.

Living in Christ is a tension of supernatural victory and perpetual failure, a journey God walks with me every single day. As I drove home seething last night, God met me in my car – for the ten thousandth time, to convict my sin and invite me to grow.

This God – who only one chosen Levite Priest was eligible to be in His presence, once a year (after a laundry list of qualifications and purifications) – meets me in my car, not as a sparkling disciple, but again a sinful mess.

This God. This story. This gospel.

It is incredible news.

PS If you have not listened to Carrie Underwood’s new album of hymns (and sobbed like a baby – oh, just me?), please take 5 minutes and listen to one of my favorite hymns.

the God of the wide path.

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

These are some of the more daunting words in the New Testament – words from Jesus himself, towards the end of His transcendent Sermon on the Mount. Without a context for the heart of God and the grace of Christ – this passage can make Christianity seem like a tightrope, one misstep away from falling into the pit of hell. And I’m sure this false interpretation has driven many into the arms of another lover, one that promises freedom – but one that exists on a cultural tightrope – one that twists and turns, often bluntly with little notice.

This tightrope I’m referring to is the modern “woke” movement – the secular world’s demand to be perfect and modern in speech and behavior. This set of norms is arbitrary and not dictated by a methodology or eternal set of moral standards, but instead a loud majority who decide what is right in their own eyes – today.

Failure to submit to the trajectory of the woke crowd could result in career and social cancellation – and has, for so many trying to live religiously by it. Kevin Hart, a popular comedian, made a joke about a fear of his son playing with a dollhouse and has been paying penance for over a decade for it – even losing a chance to host the Oscars ten years later for his refusal to apologize again – citing his many previous apologies being sufficient. (Which, apparently, they weren’t).

It is so easy to get swept up on the woke escalator – but so hard to stay on.

Back to the narrow path of Jesus.

There is one thing this narrow means absolutely: yes, there is only one path to God. As freeing as it is to say that every religion is a different path up the mountain of God, that is simply not true – and impossible to prove in Scripture. We serve a God who will have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3) – one whose Son says clearly and with finality that “no one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

But that does not mean life in Christ is a tightrope – this is also impossible to prove in Scripture. First of all, THE ENTIRE BIBLE is the story of God rescuing a broken and rebellious people to Himself, each story and character in the Bible probably involves some sort of facepalm, “really!” moment – in which a tightrope could never hold them.

I am moved by the words of David in Psalm 18 (I literally want to write the whole Psalm but I will pick my favorite passage):

As for God, his way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock? God arms me with strength; he has made my way safe. He makes me as surefooted as a deer, leading me safely along the mountain heights. He prepares me for battle; he strengthens me to draw a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand supports me; your gentleness has made me great. You have made a wide path for my feet, to keep them from slipping.

Have you ever seen a deer climbing on the side of the mountain? It is nail-biting to watch! But God gives us sure feet, equipping us to walk the path He has set before us. And as David goes on to say, God has made the path wide for our feet. It is a path of grace and love, an invitation into the arms of our loving Father.

The woke movement promises nothing that can be sure – one faulty step could result in complete dismissal. The blood of Christ and the care of our Father God assures that we need not live in that fear on His path.

So what will we choose? Momentary fame and acceptance on the woke rope? Or eternal glory and the unfailing love of God the rescuer?

of greatest value.

Two Saturdays ago I was sweating up a fake hill on my elliptical in the basement and praying for a miracle.

Travis’s work was offering a new family insurance plan that was wildly out of our price range and we needed to make a decision in 48 hours for how we were going to pay for it. In the middle of my prayer my mind started to drift to all the people I know who have more money than I do and I started to grow envious of their peace in this area (because more money equals more peace right?).

God, you know we don’t have $950 a month.

But God wasn’t worried about the $950, he wanted to address the error in my heart. So he did.

Rachel, security is not financial. It’s spiritual.

Again, in the hard-to-explain-way God speaks, this phrase thundered in my mind.

How many millions of people have financial security but are living in fear of death? Would I trade places with them? Of course not.

And sure enough, Tuesday came and the bill turned from a mountain into a pebble. It was always a pebble to God.

I’m reminded of a story from back in my early days waiting tables. Our restaurant policy was to give the bartender 15% of our tips for pouring and mixing the drinks for our tables. We often griped about it because it wasn’t necessarily proportional to their work, but our pay. One night I was clocking out up at the bar with a few other servers and we were passing cash around for our pay out and the bartender’s tip out.

I started walking to my car and as I looked in my waiter wallet, I realized I hadn’t actually given the bartender her tipout – it wasn’t intentional and she would’ve never known. I wish I could say I did an about face and ran back to the bar – but I took an extra step towards my car, really wanting to pocket that $25 I felt I had earned.

God stopped me again.

My blessing is of far greater value than all the riches in the world.

And I knew God wouldn’t bless stealing from that bartender. The Holy Spirit helped me turn around and give her the money she was owed.

This was the same God who two years later, on the eve of my 25th birthday, would bring a group of 20 men into the bar I worked at who pulled out their wallets to pay off my final student loan. I like to think he couldn’t wait to show me the finale of my debt free journey.

God’s blessing on our lives is of infinite, immeasurable value. It provides for far more than our financial needs – it opens doors that the world says are closed, it meets us in our deepest sufferings and whispers that there will be joy again. His blessing takes the pen of our lives and writes the most beautiful stories.

It was worth the widow’s mite (Luke 21). And the sale of that field (Matt 13). And certainly the rich man would have never regretted giving it all away to follow Jesus (Matt 19).

As I write this we have another financial hurdle on our track, but I already know we have the only blessing we will ever need.

the other side of the phone call.

Last weekend my baby boy turned 1.

What a crazy first year of life we’ve put this boy through, but he is a joyful cuddly little bear and we couldn’t imagine our family with out him.

In Taiwanese culture, rest for mama is of supreme importance post-birth. Traditionally many women will take a “yue-zi” which is a month of relaxing and being taken care of as you heal from the birth. At first it seemed like such a bizarre concept to me – they either have their mother-in-law come to take care of their new baby for a month or move into a center that will take care of their baby and feed them special foods while they rest between feedings.

While I was in the hospital after Caleb’s birth they mostly kept him in the nursery, unless I asked them to bring him to the room. But there was a little rotary phone in the corner of the room that they would call me on when it was time to go feed him in the nursery. Every 3 hours or so the ancient phone would ring and a nurse would say “baby wants milk” in Chinese and hang up. I’d go spend some time with my new son and head back to my quiet room overlooking the river.

And a year ago, that’s what Caleb was to me – the other side of that phone call, a baby I hardly knew. And today by God’s grace he is so much more to me. A smily little brother, a morning cuddler, a lover of food, a window watcher for his dad.

His birthday was a flurry – it happened to be on Super Bowl Sunday and I barely need an excuse to throw a party (much less two) so our house was buzzing with friends, well wishers, and little cake eaters. After everyone went home I could hear a cry coming from his room (no doubt his body trying to work out a giant slice of cake), and I found myself a little thankful for some one-on-one time with my boy. We cuddled and prayed, and I shared the things I liked about him, even if he didn’t understand. It was a precious gift to cherish with my birthday boy, slowing down to enjoy the gift of being a mom.

I couldn’t help but notice one of the themes of the Super Bowl commercials this year is the arrival of “5G internet” – with all the cell phone carriers claiming theirs is the fastest or the best. And as I sat with Caleb last night I found it odd that any of us think we need life to get any faster. Perhaps we feel we’ll be able to accomplish more or learn more, but there are few, if any of us, that need more of either.

I’ve been without a smartphone for about a month, and I can’t tell you how deeply I appreciate how much it has slowed my life down. Doing puzzles with Ben on the floor doesn’t feel like stolen time, but rather reclaimed time. Reading a book on the couch or having long conversations with my husband feel restorative and life-giving.

The world around us keeps getting smarter and faster and luring us into the rat race, and I know our problems don’t reside in lack of access. Our brains were not wired for constant stimulation and excitement, and we are paying the price in mental health, stress, lack of sleep, inauthentic relationships, and much more.

The Cabelas commercial had the right idea: Get outside. Connect with people. Find what brings us together.

the $4,000 miracle.

10 years ago I was just finishing up a month-long study trip in Israel.

I look back at that trip as one of the greatest experiences of my life – and one that was without a doubt provided by God the Father. I needed one more Bible credit to graduate and it was going to cost $3,500 to take a one-month course on campus, but only $4,000 to complete that credit studying for a month in Israel. The choice was easy, but the funds were non-existent. I sat on the computer in the library trying to fill out an application for a $4,000 loan for the trip, but every time I tried to submit the computer showed an error. I was frustrated and late for class so I resolved to finish it later that afternoon. On my way back to the library I felt a gentle, but firm nudge from the Lord: no. I was running out of time to get the funds for this trip – but there was an odd assurance in my heart that it wouldn’t be paid for by a loan. (My $7/hour telemarketing job didn’t seem like the benefactor either).

I brought it up at our weekly roommate prayer time and they bowed their heads and prayed God would provide all of the funds in the next 16 days. My roommates and my mom were the only ones who knew of my need – an apparently that was all it took.

Random checks started coming my way – a roommate who was in seminary gave me a check for $300, what I can imagine was a precious sum to a poor student. Another friend gave me $100 because God told her to. A man at my home church got word that I needed money for this trip and sat down at his computer and wrote a letter to stuff in every box at church. I had interned that last summer for the church and he felt it was the church’s duty to send me on this trip. Every day I’d get a call from my mom, her mailbox was filling up with checks. And a few days before all my fees were due my mom called to tell me the trip was paid for, a couple at church told her they would cover whatever costs hadn’t been covered. I was awe struck, and beyond thankful for divinely-glitching computers! Before I left someone gave me a few hundred dollars in cash and told me to enjoy the Holy Land as much as I possibly could – it was a dream for her to go, but her age made the trip unlikely. (You better believe I carried that charge with me!)

Spending that four weeks walking the same places Jesus walked – eating fish out of the same sea that Peter dropped his nets, and seeing people from dozens of countries making the same pilgrimage is an experience I will never forget.

Little did I know, the fulfillment of that $4,000 miracle was setting the stage for a promise to be made 3 months later to a debt-laden, almost graduate on a bench – a $42,000 promise that would require me to move to the Wild West with no job, no friends, and a spare bedroom to sleep in from a cousin I’d met a handful of times.

Our God loves providing for us, doesn’t He? But He loves to involve us in the story, should we dare ask, believe, and give up the driver’s seat.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Luke 1:45

new pajamas in the white house.

America has a new president.

Yesterday, Joe Biden and his wife joined the exclusive club in American history of people who call 1600 Pennysvania Avenue home. I always like to think that no matter how intimidating or straight-laced a president might seem, they still put on their pajamas before climbing into bed – just like the rest of us. It reminds me that though they’ve been elected to one of the highest offices in the world, they are still human and have a sense of vulnerability – even if that side only comes out behind closed doors.

As an American, I have no choice but to accept Joe Biden as my President and Kamala Harris as my Vice President. We are blessed to live in a democracy where we are given a voice for the leaders in our communities and nations – and we should never overlook that privilege, even in the face of disappointment for some. I think of our brothers and sisters in China who had no voice when Xi-JinPing removed term limits, thus cementing his job security for as long as he wants to be in power. Or their neighbors in Hong Kong – who are watching helplessly as their rights and independence are being stripped away by China’s tyrannical leadership.

We are blessed as Americans that our government is not designed to give one single person absolute power over the people – we have a system of checks and balances, not just at the federal level – but the state level as well. We have a Constitution that has governed us from our inception as nation – that has kept us free from the tyranny that has plagued many countries all over the world. This is something all Americans should be thankful for, even if Joe taking his pledge yesterday was not the outcome that you personally wanted.

As an American, I will now take to praying for Joe Biden as my president – because his success as a president equals our success as a nation. I’m reminded of the saying in boxing “it takes twice as much energy to swing and miss as it does to swing and hit your target.” Fretting aloud over government policies and politicians is often a swing and miss that doesn’t lead to much practical change in my heart, community, or government. Praying for the President will always hit the bullseye – as no single prayer is ever wasted in God’s kingdom.

If I may step out and say something daring here, I hope you will hear me out. I do believe the last 4-5 years in America has been tremendously damaging to our Christian witness – though I don’t think all (or even most) of the blame rests on Trump. Some of my liberal friends see Donald Trump as enemy #1, while other conservative friends would undoubtedly put the media in that seat. But Scripture warns us not to let humans become a mascot for the crafty work of Satan (Ephesians 6) – and what has Satan’s craft been these last 5 years?

DISTRACTION.

The spectacle of Donald Trump’s presidency has been so overwhelmingly distracting that it was easy for him to become an idol for both parties. Liberal energy was exhausted with media criticism, vitriol, and hope for impeachment while many conservative Christians spent precious God-given time defending and promoting the president, instead of Christ.

A few weeks ago my husband and I were on a drive and were talking about a Bible class we are hoping to teach some time in the next year. We got hung up in a theological debate and spent the next hour hashing out how we view God in this particular way. At the end of the drive, we looked at each other and asked “When was the last time we spent an hour talking about God?”

It was a convicting realization for us and helped us to see just how much time we were wasting talking about hot-off-the-press articles we saw online or the latest thing Trump or AOC or some popular political figure was saying.

When we think of the hours we have devoted to politics and the media in the last 5 years (I’m sure for the average person it is literally hundreds), what do we have to show for it? Did anyone change their vote because of our incessant gabbing and sharing? Have we accomplished our political means with our voices? I’ll let you answer for yourself, but for me I can say: no.

Can you even imagine if we had used a fraction of that time praying for and serving our neighbors and asking God to use us in seeing His Kingdom come alive around us?

Lately I’ve been challenged by Paul’s call in Philippians 2:14:

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…

There is no doubt we are living in a crooked and depraved generation. But our call is not to curse the darkness – that is most certainly a swing and miss. Our call is to hold out the word of life, which is Jesus Christ – the only hope humanity has. It’s time for his people to refocus, and use their torches to light, rather than burn.

Give your prayers to Joe Biden, and little more. God is ready to work in you and put you to work – focus your eyes on Him.

because you don’t need it.

I had unpacked all of my boxes and made my new bed, the fresh paint promising newness of place and season. I ran downstairs with my laptop under my arm to double check my senior course schedule online – the wifi password in our house was something ironic, like JesusSaves123. Yet no matter how many times I entered it into my computer, it wouldn’t connect. My roommates had no problem, and my computer didn’t have that problem anywhere else – but for some reason even my IT whiz friend couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t connect.

I didn’t have the money for a new computer so I figured out how to live without internet at my house (keep in mind this was before smartphones were commonplace, and Lord knows I couldn’t afford one of those either).

I prayed about it and felt God say (in the hard-to-explain way God says things): “You don’t need it to accomplish what I’ve called you to in this season.”

And he was right, I didn’t. It was a year of abundant growth and fruit – and none of it happened because of my the tech in my backpack.

Season in and season out I keep hearing God say this – “You don’t need it to accomplish what I’ve called you to in this season.”

My best mom friend in Taiwan is named Charis – and she is one of the most present people you’ll ever meet. When you’re with her you never feel like she’s in a hurry to be somewhere else (she also might be late somewhere). She is terrible at returning calls and texts – but she’s awesome at not being on her phone when you’re hanging out. If I could put Charis on one end of the phone spectrum – you’d probably find me at the other. I love checking facebook for those little red notifications. I want to know every. single. run. scored in a twins game, when it’s scored – and my phone does that for me. Spotify is pretty much constantly streaming from my phone and I tally all of my exercises in a neat little app. I could go on and on about all of the things this little device does to make my brain drop dopamine.

I get judgy when people give up social media – probably because it feels like a personal accusation. Maybe reading this feels like that for you. But for me, giving this up has nothing to do with you – and everything to do with me, and the kind of person I so badly want to be. I’ve spent years waging war with my phone – only to reinstall that app in a weak moment or violate the time boundaries I’ve set on it. And this time, I’m just going to forfeit the game. Smartphones and apps are designed by thousands of people more brilliant than me, with file cabinets of information on how to keep me coming back.

Do you get a screen report on Sundays? Nothing worse than a notification that says “Your screentime was down an average of 6% last week, to 3 hours and 40 minutes a day.”

I’m not a congresswoman, but to my iPhone I’m declaring defeat and “reclaiming my time.” I give so much time to that handheld dope dispenser, and what do I get in return?

Political rage.

A covetous heart.

Judgment towards people I hardly know.

Mental fatigue.

A misalignment of compassionate thoughts.

I’m not here to rail on social media as the end of all things good – I don’t believe that. But when I take an honest look at what I give to it in exchange for what I get, it simply doesn’t make sense for me. People use it for ministry and business and information – and some people are so good to leave it at that. I’m just not one of those people.

So I’m going to step out of those spaces for awhile. I sold my iPhone for $100 and got a flip phone instead (hey-o T9!). I’m gonna step out of social media spaces for the foreseeable future – to clear the mucky water out of my brain and pursue what Paul tells the Philippians to fill their minds with:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

I have no idea what this journey will look like – and it could be SO. BORING. to write about – apologies in advance. But I’m going to give this space to God and do my best to share what I’m learning and if I find some green grass on the other side of this digital fence. Would love for you to journey with me and let me know what God is doing in your life in this season.

Feel free to comment on my posts or shoot me an old-fashioned email at rachelkleppen@gmail.com.

no more masks.

“When it comes time to leave, it will be hard.”

This was a promise God made to me early on in our Taiwan days. I was a new bride in a new culture, a fish out of water, desperate to feel at home. Many nights I cried myself to sleep, wondering if I had made a mistake in committing to Taiwan – all of the confidence I had carried in my home culture vanished overnight, to the point I’d rather stay at home than go outside. But as I continued to pray and seek, God not only said we’d be okay – but one day this place would be a home we would not want to leave.

God knew our time to leave would be in May of 2020, in the middle of a pandemic and crashing economy. And He was right – as we hugged our friends goodbye, friends from all over the world, it was really hard. These were the friends who visited me in the hospital when my sons were born. They shared our table as we transitioned from newlyweds to a family. I made my first real friends that weren’t born in my country – friends from Guatemala, South Africa, the Philippines, England, and Taiwan. I loved them with a genuine love that can only come through the fellowship of the cross.

And I found a truth I had always known – but now I could see it. Jesus is for everybody. The Holy Spirit is not only willing, but longing to embody people from every corner of the world. And when He does, people who were dead come alive. Every tribe, every color, every nation, and every language – finding their home in the only place they ever could.

Travis and I hauled the boys to our last base meeting the week before we left – a weekly time for all of the missionaries in YWAM Taipei to gather and worship together. COVID-19 forced us to wear masks, even as the sweltering heat climbed the top of our thermometers. And as I held my new son in the back of the church I cried out to God – why these masks? This is the last time we will see most of these people this side of heaven and we’re doing so with a stuffy, sweaty veil.

Exactly.

God spoke.

Do you know the next time you will worship with everyone in this room? Rejoice, Rachel, for then there will be no more masks. In the place I have prepared there will be no disease, no pandemics. There will be no suffering, and no more goodbyes. So rejoice now, for that is where your hope lies.

As I bid farewell to people who have truly captured my heart I knew it was not a forever goodbye. I hope to see them soon, but if not, Heaven awaits us. Jesus awaits.

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3

upcoming plans.

Hello friends and family,

Travis and I figured it was time to give an update on where we are at with our upcoming transition. I kept waiting for a day where I had some clarity on what the world would look like in May, but alongside all of you I can’t even say what will happen tomorrow.

We have been planning to transition back to the city in which we met (Williston, ND) since last year at this time. Our commitment to YWAM Taipei expires at the end of April and so we had planned to return May 20th, 2020. Before the COVID-19 outbreak in the US, we had purchased plane tickets for that date – including one for my father-in-law, who was planning to come and help us with the move and plane flight home. Obviously so much has changed even in the last few weeks, so we wanted to take some time to answer some of our “Frequently Asked Questions” from friends, families, and supporters to help give you a better picture of where we are, how we are doing, and how you can best pray for us.

How serious is COVID-19 in Taiwan currently?

Taiwan is one of the safest countries in the world to be right now. Taiwan was exposed to the threat of COVID-19 as early as January because of our proximity to China, where the outbreak was just beginning in Wuhan. Because Taiwan has been through something similar back in 2004 with the SARS virus, the government and health officials were quick to respond to rumors of a SARS-like virus spreading in China. Up until about two weeks ago, they had been able to keep the number of cases around 100 with only one death. As students who are studying abroad return home, our case numbers have increased significantly (today there are 355 cases recorded with 5 deaths and 50 released) – but there are significant quarantine measures for the majority that have been caught at the airport. Of the 355 cases, only 51 have been  Taiwanese people are also generally very submissive to government requirements which has minimized community transmission.

Do you plan on leaving Taiwan early?

The most direct answer is we can’t. Last week we applied for Caleb’s American passport and a renewal for Travis’s passport. They estimate both will arrive in five weeks or less. Until we have those passports it is impossible for us to leave. We do not feel the need to make an emergency trip home at this time, as we do not feel “stuck” here – this is where our home and work is at the current moment. To leave here would send us to a place where we have neither of those things arranged yet. But we are watching the news and aware a scenario may cause us to consider if we need to leave before May 20th (most likely related to available flights). Because we are already planning to move, we have been sorting and packing already – which will hopefully benefit us in an emergency situation.

What if you cannot get out of Taiwan?

We are also aware this may be a possibility – it seems each day brings a drastic change we were not prepared for. Once we receive Travis’s passport we can renew our visa through July 19th if we feel we cannot leave before June 1st. We are hoping to decide the first week of May if we need to pursue the visa renewal. We simply do not have enough information to make that decision at this time. Our landlords are aware that our date is variable and we are welcome to stay in our apartment as long as we need.

What is your plan for after your return?

I keep reminding myself that there is not a single person on Earth who’s plans have not been altered by COVID-19. Yes we are concerned about the job market as we return, especially the oil field where we are planning to move. We have a few months expenses saved so we do not feel that our need for a job on Day 1 is a desperate one – however we are hoping Travis will be able to find a job to support our family as soon as possible. We are trusting God as our provider and don’t feel He is asking us to stay in Taiwan past the summer.

How can we pray for the Kleppens?

It’s hard to pray for specifics right now, as we don’t know exactly where we will be in two months or what we will be doing – but please pray for Travis and I that we would be united in hope and prayer. We want to insulate our boys as much as possible from fear and that is no easy task in this time. Also please pray for wisdom as we (attempt to) plan where will be and what we will be doing this next year.

How are the brothers adjusting?

They are doing great. 🙂

What a great time to trust in Jesus.