Category Archives: Growing Pains

The Day My Life Changed

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Growing Pains, Inspirational Thoughts, My Journey

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Day 7/500 word challenge
Image‘’Some people never change”.  How many times have you heard someone say that? If you read my blog Kicked out of School then you already know that I was a mess at 14 years old.   It was March 3, 1976, the day I said, “God, if you are real, then come and change me from the inside out.” It was also the day I got busted for having weed at school. It was in that order. Gave my life to God, and got busted. I had pulled a lot of stunts up to that point. Authority figures in my life didn’t really trust me-to put it mildly. As far as they knew, it was all a stunt to get out of trouble. As I sat in the principal’s office, with the weed on his desk, guilty as charged, I said to him, “You can do what you need to do and I will understand. One thing I know, that God has forgiven me.”

Only a couple of people believed something real had taken place that day. By the time I got home the news had reached my mom. She was waiting for me when I walked in the kitchen excited to share the news. But it was not the good news she heard, but the bad news. Her daughter already kicked out of public school, now on the last chance at Christian School too! All she could say through her tears was, “GO TO YOUR ROOM!” My mom is a saint by the way. It would be a little while before she would see the change in me and be convinced it was not all just a ploy to get out of the trouble I was in.

No one had told her that I had made a life altering decision to let God take over the wheel in my life. Change takes time. Sometimes it is impossible. But the “G” factor is the exception! God, Father, Daddy, Creator, Mother, Maker, is all that and more. I didn’t change overnight on the outside, but the awesome thing is that the moment I prayed that prayer and asked for His help, the lights came on. I had peace and joy that was indescribable!

At the Church we Pastor in Africa, we tell people that if you sit under the Word of God long enough, He will begin to change us from the inside –out. No one is a worse “sinner” than the other! Not even close. We should all have a sign on our forehead that says “Under Construction”. Because we all are-under construction.

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The school board had their meeting about “Jana Baker” and they almost had a deadlock vote whether to keep me in the school or not.  There was only one option left for me. REFORM SCHOOL. Check back tomorrow for the rest of the story!

photos from google photo images

How To Get That Tune Out Of Your Head!

18 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Growing Pains, Inspirational Thoughts

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Click pic to hear song!

The craziest things come across Facebook. Today my brother, Lee, posted the Theme song of “Mr. Ed”, the talking horse. Now, hours later, I cannot get it out of my head! Perched in front of our new, black and white TV, in the mid 1960’s, my brother and I watched this weekly show about a wise, talking horse. Mr. Ed had attitude, for sure, but he always seemed to trump his owner with his words of wisdom for the situations presented in the story line.

I was driving down the long road in the Magadigadi pans in Botswana, where I live, when I saw a horse that triggered my fond memories of sitting with my brother as a kid, watching that show. Oh! I got the “warm fuzzies!” I found myself singing it and my 4 children, ranging from ages 8 to 22, looked at my like I was crazy! I amazed myself for remembering the whole first verse! I guess you would have to be in the 50 to 60’s age group to know what I am talking about.

Sometimes it is hard to get something out of your head. Some things need to stay there, imbedded in our memories, but often times, they really do need to be forgotten! Memories can come just as fresh and real that are anything BUT warm and fuzzy! Maybe it was an injustice done to you, or a situation that left you asking “why God?”

Some memories bring shame, like the time after I had given my life to the Lord at 14 and not long after, I got high with my brother and his friends. I thought I could sit with them and “witness to them” while they smoked their pot. Maybe they would still think I was “cool”. I was wrong. In the thickness of the smokey room, and the vulnerability of the situation , I got just as stoned as the others and smoked right along with them.

The memory of my brother and our friend who I had been trying to share my faith with, stopping me in the hallway afterwards, looking at me and shaking their heads in disgust saying, “Jana, I thought you said you were a Christian”! Oh the shame I felt! What a hypocrite I was! I let God down, I let them down, and most of all, I let myself down. You see, when I met the Lord on March 3, 1976, as my own personal decision to have a relationship with Him, I had a lot of baggage. I was forgiven and set free from Drugs and alcohol at the age of 14! And to fall back into it only a few months later, well, It took some weeks before I understood that God’s forgiveness wasn’t just a one time thing. It is for the rest of my life. It’s not a license to sin, but when I do, and I do and I will, His love is there to cover me.

When memories flash back that bring you pain, give them to all Jesus, He will turn your sorry into joy. And while you are at it, forgive yourself! Can you remember a time when you needed to wipe a memory? Tell us how you did it and how God helped you through it.

Romans 8:1,2 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the Law of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of sin and death.” (Read up to verse 17 for a great read!)

2 Corinthians 5:17I “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away and behold, all things have become new!”

Click to listen to song


The Fire Part 3

18 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in Growing Pains, Life in Africa, Trials to Triumph

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ImageThat evening we were given a room at the Baptist mission house. We laid, shell-shocked, on the bed. The 2 boys, 7 and 5 years old were on one bed and Jerry and I had the baby in between us. We thought of events of the day and looked down at this innocent little baby, and the two boys peacefully sleeping, without a care in the word, and we thanked God that we had our lives and that no one was hurt. That’s all that mattered. A few minutes into that priceless moment, the phone rang. It was a call for Jerry from our father in the faith, (and father of Joel Osteen), Pastor John Osteen, who is in heaven now. I was watching Jerry, and the sound of his Pastor’s voice brought tears to his eyes. Pastor Osteen told Jerry that they were going to get us home and, “did we want a one way or a round trip ticket?” Were we gonna come back or call it quits? We could easily wave our missionary flag and say we had done our bit and go back to living in the comforts of America. But Jerry said, oh Pastor, a round trip ticket for sure! We have not finished yet, we have only just begun!”

With that, Pastor John Osteen told Jerry, “I know this may not seem like the best time to hear a story, but I am going to tell you one anyway.” He said, “ there was a man who was ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. He managed to muster up enough sticks to build him a little shelter from the sun. Not long after that, a storm came and lightning came and struck the shelter causing it to catch fire. Then the unexpected happened, a ship in the distance came his direction, blowing the horn and waving, “Ahoy there”. When they arrived on the shore they said, “ We’ve come to rescue you!” The man said, But how did you find me?” The captain replied, “We saw the smoke from your fire!” Brother Osteen said to Jerry, “The Lord has seen the smoke from your fire and has come to rescue you. Come on back home, sit on the front row, let God build your faith and get you strong again, then you can go back and carry on with what the Lord has put before you to do.”

The Fire, Part 2

16 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in Growing Pains, Life in Africa, My Journey, Trials to Triumph

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ImageI called for help and as I stepped outside I could see a huge mountain of black smoke coming from the direction of our mission base and home. Someone from the office tracked Jerry down in town and before I knew it, we were in the car. All he could think of to do, was go to the airport because it had just received its very first fire engine! It was brand new and strictly for use at the airport. (Maun airport is the 2nd busiest airport in the southern hemisphere due to tourism. Mostly small planes sport its runway.) The river next to the house was dry from drought and we had no running water on the farm. We had to haul all the water we used for the 3 years we lived there.

Jerry ran in and used his best negotiating skills, while trying to keep calm, to get them to come out and salvage what might be left of 10 years of pioneer work in Maun, Botswana. Meanwhile, I was in the car and had one of our sweet, older students, Shevaun, in the back seat holding the baby. All I could do was pray. As we sat there, I overcame the feeling of totally loosing it by starting to speak out praises to God. We have been taught that “if you put the word of God in you when you don’t need it, it will be there when you do need it!” As I started, I couldn’t think of a thing to Praise God for in that situation, so from deep down inside, I began to worship Him for Who He IS, for His faithfulness to us in all things, for his great grace, for what he did for us on the cross, and for his mercy.

Gradually, I felt a super charge of power as I focused on God and God alone in the midst of this tragedy. About that time, Jerry returned to the car with a big, yellow fire truck in tow. As they followed us out to the farm, Jerry tried his best to prepare me for what was ahead. He could see from the smoke that it was very bad. The main house was thatch and went very quickly. He said, “Jana, you need to be prepared that there is likely to be nothing left”. I continued in my heart to worship and focus on the Lord. Shevaun and the baby were crying in the back seat, Shevaun because she realized the severity of the situation and the baby, because he was hungry!

We arrived at the base, with only smoldering ashes left. Jerry and I got out of the car, took hands and started a walk around the house. That walk together was a history-maker for the both of us. As we walked around the perimeter of the house, we came to the window of the room we had slept in the night before. As we stood there, Jerry said, Honey, I am so sorry. It’s all gone. He really didn’t know what to expect me to say or fee. You see, we had everything in that house. No more was this a short term thing, we were it it for the long-haul! Jerry was trying to console me when a Holy anger came up from deep down inside me. As we held hands tight, I said, “Devil, we won’t stop! We won’t quit, we won’t give up! We are going to go further and do more than ever before!” It was a declaration and it was clear who our enemy was and where a ‘holy anger’ should be directed! Jesus said in John 10:10 “A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (The Message Translation)

It was all gone, 10 years of life in Africa- the tangible and the worldly possessions at least. Photos from our lives, musical instruments, guitars, keyboard, music, journals, bibles we’d had from the time we had given our lives to the Lord, my mother’s wedding ring and special family jewelry, $10,000. (usd) was hid in a shoe in the closet awaiting deposit for the expenses of the outreaches and teams we had that season. I didn’t even know it was there. Everything was incinerated. Later, when we began rummaging through the debris, we saw a neat little stack of the remains of the bills that Jerry had tucked in an old shoe, and with one touch of the finger it turned to dust.

There is a little song that has filled my thoughts many times and became even more dear to me than ever, “More than anything, More than anything, I love you Jesus, more than anything. More than worldly wealth, more than life itself, I love you Jesus, more than anything.”

One day I was thinking about all that was lost and remembered something precious to me. It was the Fender guitar that my daddy gave me when I was 16. I loved that guitar. It had a sound like no other. I was a serious sentimental sap all my life, but I then heard the Lord whisper to me in my heart, “Jana, we love people, not things”. Another famous quote is so true: “Only one life on earth is passed, and only what’s done for Christ Will last”.

Do you want to hear more of the story? What do you think so far?

The Fire Part 1

14 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Growing Pains, Life in Africa, Trials to Triumph

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ImageIt was July 17, 1997. Jerry had just returned the day before from a trip into the Central Kalahari and left the team of 100 teens & leaders behind to continue ministry to the Bushman (Basarwa) tribes who speak in a clicking language, of that region. He felt an urgency to come home and check on the family and the mission. Mason, our 3rd born son was only 4 months old and due to all the guests and traveling immediately following the birth for the first month, I had been staying in for some time. In Botswana the culture is for a woman to retreat totally for several months following the birth of the baby. I broke all the rules with all 3 of my births, including this one, so I was trying to make up a little and stay put for a while.

Traditionally, the mother of the woman who gives birth comes and takes care of her, seeing to all her needs. All she has to do is feed and love the baby! When the second child is born, the mother-in-law comes and takes care of them! The husband is not allowed to sleep in the same room with the wife for this period of time. There are many customs and traditions during this “bosetsi” as it is called, that are purely for the benefit of the mother and the baby. It is a wonderful tradition that would do well to be followed in other countries! By the time bosetsi is over, mother and baby are rested, healed, and the baby is ready to be exposed t the outside world. I have been blessed to have my mother-in-law with us since the time we opened our school in 1992. She has lived near us all this time and has been a tremendous help and blessing to all 4 of our children.

This particular day, I decided, since Jerry was back from weeks of being away, that I would go into town with him and the baby. I hadn’t been out for a while. We got the 2 boys ready for school, packed the baby a diaper bag, grabbed my computer so we could check email and headed for town. We left the base in the care of the workers and headed off down the deep, sandy, bumpy road to town. Jerry dropped me at the school and headed off to town to run some errands while I visited with staff and students and showed off baby Mason to the staff and students.

Mogomotsi was a tall, strong, young man from the Humbukushu tribe, known as the “River Bushmen” of the Okavango Delta. He had given his life to the Lord on one of our outreaches and we asked him to come and work for us. He was growing in the Lord and his whole family came to Jesus through his salvation. He was such a hard worker. The school was housed in one of the oldest buildings in Maun. It was originally built by the London Mission Society and Jerry’s office was situated in the very room where, according to Maun Historian, Pat Dance; Robert Moffit did the first translation of the Setswana Bible, which is the first bible in Africa translated into a local language. There was a closed-in porch that separated the office from the outside. Around 10 a.m. I heard a noise outside the office door. It was Mogomotsi. He fell down, out of breath. He said, “Mma Moruti, (they called me for lady teacher/preacher) the house, the house is burning”. We later realized he had sprinted 15 kilometers from the farm, 5 k’s of that in deep sand to tell us the house was on fire! (look for Part 2 soon!)