Thursday, December 27, 2012

A Christmas Special

"God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him." -Hudson Taylor, British missionary to China in the 1800s.

I love this quote. It puts things into perspective for me. A lot. It puts such a huge emphasis on God that it leaves no excuse to the man. It is in our weakness that we boast (2 Corinthians 12:9), that He might be shown, yes?! Over and over in scripture, we see God using men who are so much less "qualified" than what He has called them to. But that's the point, isn't it? That He would do things so great with people who appear not to be that He would be glorified, worshiped. He uses men like Noah, Abram, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Daniel, David, Matthew, Mark, John, Thomas, and Paul. All of these men, and many more throughout the Bible, are not who society would have chosen to do what they did. But that's just it. They didn't do it. And they would all be the first to say this. It was God. It was always God. It always is God. He used these weak and feeble men who were willing to lean on God, to rest in His plan and strength. And what He did with every one of these men is nothing short of miraculous and amazing!

Take Gideon for instance. In Judges chapter 6 we are introduced to a young  man named Gideon, who is threshing wheat in a wine press, to hide it from the Midianites who were oppressing the Israelites. The Angel of The Lord commissions Gideon (in a somewhat comical conversation. Gideon's responses are so honest) to lead the army that would eventually defeat Midian and free his people. When he begins, Gideon gathers an army of 32,000 men. God tells Gideon that this army has too many men. He says, "I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against Me." (Judges 7:2) So Gideon cuts it down to 10,000 men. Again God tells him that there are too many men. Gideon then, following God's command, finally has an 'army' of 300 men. 300 men! He began with an army of 32,000! But God says to Gideon, "With the three hundred men...I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home." (Judges 7:7). And God did just that! In an amazing miracle told in Judges 7, God defeats the Midianites with just 300 men, led by Gideon! And He did this so that they would boast about what God has done. He did not allow them to think it was by their hand, by anything that they could have done. Because 300 men (Sorry Gerard Butler) cannot defeat an entire army. But the One true God certainly can! And He did! Amen!

I have felt God giving me much of this same treatment while being here in India. It hasn't always been incredibly easy, to be honest, but He continues to give me no excuse but to boast in Him. And I cannot complain about that. How could I? What would I say? "Aw man, God did it again, but He just HAD to do it His way, and leave me no choice but to praise His Name..." lol yeah, it really is as ridiculous as that sounds! He does keep giving me these amazing opportunities to boast in my weakness, however, that He would be glorified!

Take for instance Christmas day. We went to two churches, one in the morning for a short, encouragement message, and at night, for a long (the longest I've given in fact) sermon on the Christmas story, what we celebrate, and why we celebrate it! I felt like God was leading me talk about sin, and how His coming down here was a direct result of His incredible plan to save us wretched, hopeless sinners. With the translation, the sermon lasted about 45 minutes, and we wrapped it up for what would be a late night. I felt confident that God was going to do a good work, but as usual, He blew my expectations out of the water! In the church, there was roughly 55-60 people. After the service was complete, 10 or so people said that they wanted to repent of their sins and trust in the Lord who came as a baby, lived as a man, and died as a savior! Hallelujah, Amen! I could hardly believe it. They kept saying thank you to me for the words, and I realized what it means to have a humility before God. Because it wasn't me. It wasn't my words. It wasn't my passion, my work, my breath, none of it. It was Him. His work. His Spirit. It was God. He just chose to allow me to be a part of it! And in this knowledge, I felt God almost patting me on the back, as if to say, "Well done, son!" And it was so freaking good, I tell ya!

I thank God that He continues to give me no excuse. That He doesn't leave me room to boast in anything that I do, but instead blows my expectations out of the water. I pray that He would continue to do this, and that I would continue to be reminded of my everlasting need of Him, and of my humble place before Him. "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." -James 4:10.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Double-Oh, Tea, Why?

As some of you may know, I spent 9 days total traveling across Southeast India to a small tourist community called Ooty, in the northern part of Tamil Nadu. I went there to visit my dear dear friend, Katy Stiffler, as she is in India right now on her own crazy adventure. To say that this trip was a blessing and a half would undermine it completely. It was a wonderful, beautiful, ridiculous experience that I hope to be able to put into words.

I left here, in Andhra Pradesh, Tuesday, Dec 11, to Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Chennai is kind of like the capitol of SE India, and is a major point of commerce and travel. I would be taking my overnight bus to Ooty from there. I was almost late to my due to some pretty crazy traffic, and got to it literally as it was pulling out of the station. I was all but thrown on, handing off my luggage to the guy to put it in the back of the bus, and finding my seat as we pull out onto the busy street. It was definitely a bit of relief as well, considering I made the bus and was now on my way to see a good friend in a completely different part of India! Needless to say, I was a little more than excited!

I was able to get a little bit of sleep on the bus, which was both nice and unexpected. I usually don't sleep too well on buses, and I wasn't overly tired when the trip started, but it all worked out for me. I woke up about halfway up the mountain. Ooty is something like 8,000 ft in elevation, so yes, we had to go up the mountain to get there. It's kind of tucked away in between hills, and is quite unassuming at first. I got off the bus and called Katy. I was about twenty mins earlier than expected, so of course, Katy wasn't quite ready to get me. I took an auto (a rickshaw) from the bus station up to the house they she and her roommate, Morgan, stay at, the Farley Guest House. It took a little while to find an auto driver who knew where to go, which I later found out to be interesting because almost all of them know where it is! But after a few tries, I found one, and we made our way from town up the big hill that leads to Farley. As we rounded the corner to the driveway, Morgan (Katy's roommate, a missionary from GA) met me, hopped in, and rode the rest of the way up, which is no small distance! lol I was very glad to meet Morgan because one, she seemed very nice and excited about life, and two, because she was someone who knew who I was and could help me out a ton! We got to the driveway, I got my things to my room, and we went to the kitchen when Katy finally arrived to Farley. She met us in the kitchen, and we immediately hugged for a good minute, excited to see one another, and that our visiting each other was actually happening!

The rest of the day was spent with Katy and Morgan seeing some stuff in the town, and going around with Morgan as she was leaving the next day for home! We spent a couple of hours out on the front lawn (yeah, they have lawns in Ooty...lol) playing and singing worship in the gorgeous sunshine. It was kind of breathtaking, I'll be honest. It was even more beautiful to me because I got to sing with other people for a change, as both Katy and Morgan joined me and kept spitting out requests for us to sing. Morgan, it turns out, has a beautiful voice and some amazing harmonies, which was an unexpected blessing for me. It had been quite some time since I sang with someone, let alone with someone who was a talented singer! Thanks, Morgan!

The next day, we said our goodbyes to Morgan, not without their fair share of smiles and tears, and began talking about what the rest of my trip could/would look like. It turns out, I was volunteered to help lead worship for their Sunday service, which I was more than happy to do! That day, a local Brit named Jack came to the house, and we practiced out a set that we would play on Sunday. It went really well.  Katy and I then went to dinner at Dominos (yeah, they have that too...this place is WAY different than I'm used to! lol) and just sat and talked for a couple of hours. It was awesome. We caught up on a lot of things, and shared war stories from our respective missions. It still stands as one of the major highlights.

To help me not write a novel about everything that happened, I'm going to kind of cover the rest of the highlights in a montage fashion lol- Friday night I got to share a little bit about what God has been doing in my life, and what I'm doing in India with a group of Australians who were staying at Farley at the same time. They were an all girls high school from Queensland, and they and their teachers were some pretty awesome people. Saturday I joined Katy at her horse therapy session at the place the she works the most. It was almost overwhelming how awesome it was to hold these beautiful kids as they took pony rides, and did small physical stretches to help with balance and coordination. Sunday we went to church. I helped lead worship, and it honestly went better than any of the three of us could have anticipated. I then was able to sit in church for the first time since coming to India. Since I work with a ministry that builds and support churches, generally I'm the one preaching! It was nice to sit and listen to a sermon. And then there's Monday. Monday no doubt stands as the highlight of the trip, and probably the best day outside of ministry that I've spent here in India so far. We went back up to the Malstead's house (where Katy works with the horses) for a half-day of work, and a half-day of fun. The Freedom Firm, the ministry she is working with, was having their annual Christmas party there. Since I'm not a ton of help in the way of barn chores, I was put to work in the kitchen, a place I can be of some pretty good use! ;) I made a guac, a super tasty salsa, and a spinach cheese dip, along with helping finalize the flavors on a couple other dishes. Mala, the lady who lives there and runs Leg-Up, the horse therapy part of Freedom Firm, could not stop telling me thank you for my help. That was really cool. Then the party. We ate, played games, including Viking Dragon Fire (yeah!) and a White Elephant Gift exchange, both of which I was fortunate enough to lead. It was super fun! Katy and I were the last two to leave, which seemed appropriate as we were the first two to arrive lol and made our way back to Farley. It was an incredibly breathtaking sunset, so we sat at the bottom of the driveway and just looked on in awe. We spent some time in scripture, and then prayer, and just sat there taking it all in. God was/is doing so much, and He overwhelmed us both with His love and peace at this moment. I'm not gonna lie, I definitely cried. It was too much, how could I not!? The rest of the my days there were spent enjoying time to myself, often reading and playing worship, and then hanging out with Katy. We watched movies, sat and talked, and just enjoyed hanging out. It was really great. I also got to give Katy a little cooking lesson as she made a homemade Spanish Rice, which she knocked right out of the park! So good! I then left on the bus Thursday night, not before saying a long goodbye with a hug that neither one of us seemed to want to let go of. If not for the bus driver's impatience, we might have held on to the hug all night. It was the first time either one of us had seen anyone we were familiar with, that we were good friends with, and it was just so cool for us both.

I can't thank Katy enough for having me out to Ooty to see all that she's been doing, and to enjoy a time of rest and renewal. It was something I needed, without even realizing it. I've been so busy with the incredible ministry here, that I hadn't taken that simple time to sit with Him for a little while. It was great to be able to do that in such a beautiful place as Ooty, and with some great old friends, and a couple new ones! Special thanks to Morgan and Katy for all the you did to help my trip to be what it was, nothing short of amazing.

I love you all and can't wait to share with you what else God is doing here in India! Only a couple more days until the court team, my team, gets here!! I am ridiculously excited, I'll tell you that!!!! lol Talk to you all soon! Thanks! Bye.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Two Down, Three Up

Well guys. I have now lived in Southeast India for two months, and it has been nothing short of an incredible journey! I look back in awe at all the God has shown me thus far. He has taught so much it is nearly embarrassing to admit! I clearly think far too small of God!

I wanted to tell you guys about how amazing these past few weeks have been! I'm sorry I haven't been giving any updates of what I've been up to. To say that we've been busy around here would be an insult! It's been absolutely nuts, so obviously, I've loved it! haha

My story begins by telling about my first experience helping host some other missionaries. Merri and Kerri, two sisters from America, arrived the night of Nov 10 for a two week dental mission. I cannot even begin to say what a blessing these two awesome women were to me. First and foremost, it was just good to have people around. For those of you who don't know, I am alone here quite often. If I am not working with the guys in the office or out at a village with one of them, I am alone. I'm sure you can imagine how difficult a change this has been for me! Simply having other people around in and of itself was wonderful. But these two went so much further to bless me than simply be here. As I said, they came to do a dental mission, the second of its kind here; they came last year to do the same kinds of clinics. The first day they were here, they were up early, and already at work! They gained my respect right away, let me tell you! And I was even fortunate enough to help them out with their work! That was so much fun, and a little crazy! We got to brush the kids' teeth here at the orphanage, and teach them how to brush correctly and what they're missing. It was so much fun! I never thought I would ever be sticking my hands in little Indian kids' mouths at an orphanage that I called home! What an incredible God we serve, amen?! We then spent the next ten days going to villages and teaching them about the importance of dental health and healthy living in general. It was a really cool thing to see, because I am rarely a part of social ministry like this here. I am mostly here as an evangelist, which is great and where my heart is, but this was just so cool for me to see! So many people were blessed and saw firsthand the love of Christ because these two women from America cared about they're teeth! How sweet is that?!

The end of their trip, however, was nothing short of incredible. They were set to fly out of Bangalore, a huge city southwest of us, about 9 hours away. We left at the early hour of 4:30 (yeah, I got up that early! lol) and got to Bangalore just around lunch time. Entering Bangalore was like a movie. First of all, it was one of those ridiculously beautiful days, where everything just seems brighter and happier because of the sunshine! And we came in on this big bridge (overpass really) that showed us a great view of much of the city and just how huge it is! The next day we left for the historical city of Mysore, the home of a famous Indian palace. On the way, we stopped in a town called Srirangapatnam, where the summer palace of Tipu Sultan, and Indian freedom fighter and ruler in the late 1700s, is found. It was breathtakingly beautiful. A wonderful gate led to a huge courtyard outside of a small but no less impressive palace. Once entered, the walls were covered top to bottom with hand painted murals depicting Tipu's military victories. I'd also like to point out one funny fact about this place. To see it, you need to purchase a ticket. Now, this seems normal, right? Well, it would be, if it weren't for the inflation for foreigners! lol for Indians, it's Rs. 5 (5 Rupees), but it's Rs. 100 for foreigners! What's with that?! lol As we were leaving, we passed by an old English fellow who laughed at this fact. "Can you believe that? 100 Rupees for foreigners? Well I told them that's fine, but I'm not a foreigner! I'm British!" haha he was funny...Anywhos! We left there to the heart of the town, where Tipu's grave was. Now, it wasn't quite the Taj Mahal, but honestly, it was absolutely amazing. He built it originally for his father, whom he loved and revered greatly, and his father's wife (not to be confused with his mother lol). He was later buried there, along with his sister, his wife, and two daughters. Tipu was a Muslim, so right next to his tomb is a mosque. We weren't able to go inside, but the outside of it looked quite beautiful. We left there to finally finish our journey to Mysore. As we got into Mysore, we stopped at a catholic church called St. Philemona. It was breathtaking, a wonderful place of refuge for many local Christians. It was an honor to pray within its walls of comfort and solace. We left there for the palace that we had been waiting to see all day. And oh my goodness did they undersell this thing. First of all, I'm pretty sure this palace is the same size as Rhode Island, just saying. This thing was huge. And holy crap was it beautiful. I have had the wonderful blessing to see some of the most recognized and historical wonders of the world, and I have to say that this palace rivals most of them. I would try and describe it here, but it would be like describing the Grand Canyon. Well, it's uh...big...and uh...pretty...did I say it's big? lol It was perfectly symmetrical, though. That I can tell you. That was incredible to see. Part of the tour goes to the central room of the whole palace, where the King would look out over the crowds of his people and decide the fates of difference diplomatic needs. I cannot describe how beautiful it was! I wish I could, but there should be pictures of it soon! lol We then left there for a tasty lunch, and then went to the zoo! Yeah, that's right! The freakin zoo! It was so wicked cool! We rode this trolley-type bus through the whole thing and saw the whole zoo in an hour! It was freakin awesome! lol

The rest of the trip was spent seeing Bangalore, which was much different than Mysore, but still really cool to do! We saw a couple temples, went up to the Nandi hills, which overlooks the countryside near Bangalore, all the way to the city. It was crazy high, which was clearly my favorite (not) part but it was definitely beautiful! We then took Merri and Kerri to the airport, said our goodbyes, and we were off back to drive another 10 hours to get back home! All in all, it was wonderful to have joined them in their ministry here with us, and I hope to join them again sometime in the future!

Since their departure, it has been back to the same ol' routine, which is anything but boring! I have been to several villages, preaching and teaching a whole lot of wonderful and amazing people! I finally rode in a rickshaw for the first time, which was hilarious. We shared it with two other people who were getting dropped off between where we all started, and the church that we were going to. I rode a couple more on the way back, and then finished it with a bus ride. We have been working a ton on some very important applications for some funding that would greatly help the ministry here. Please keep these in your prayers! Also, we are soon looking forward to the court building team who join us in just three weeks! So very excited! We are about to begin the build here in the next couple of days, and appreciate any and all thoughts and prayers that you can spare for this process! Thank you!

I love and miss you all so very much, and look forward to seeing you all once again sooner than you realize! haha I've been here for a short two months, and have what I can only assume to be a shorter three months left! But, no matter how long they feel, I cannot begin to imagine how much God has in mind to teach me in them! And that fact excites me more than anything!

Monday, November 26, 2012

So you believe?

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder." James 2:19.
What does faith look like? Is there a way to quantify it? I mean, faith isn't something that we can see is it? It's not something we can touch. So I ask again, what does faith look like? And what about belief? Is the act of believing enough? Does it matter if we believe something to be true or not? What does faith (or belief for that matter) produce, if anything?

I have been thinking a lot about these things in this last year. God has truly impressed upon my heart to consider the activity of faith, and the fruit of a faith that moves. I have also found myself asking the question "Is it enough to believe?" In this life, are we called to believe? Is that where it ends? What separates faith from belief? Is there a difference? In this conversation (I hope you find yourself talking to me as you read what I have written) I hope to unpack these answers, and I hope to explain well why I believe that they are extremely important in our walks as Christians.

What we first must look at is the object of our affection- Jesus Christ. He alone is the object of our faith, our belief, our trust, everything. To be called a Christian is to literally entwine our identity to that of Christ. And if Christ is the object of what we claim, then we should know who He was, and what He was about. What did He say? What did He do? What did He think? How did He live? Why did He live this way? What was said about Him by those around Him? How did He respond to these accusations? What was written about Him after He died (and again rose to glory!)? All of these questions have answers long enough to fill 1,000 blogs of their own, so I will not attempt to do this. I will give an overarching answer to them, however. Love. This is the very character of Christ. What He did, what He said, how He lived, what was said about Him, it all comes down to love. So, by default, the object of our faith/belief is Christ and His unbelievable love. This must be understood (I don't mean comepletely. That's NEVER going to happen. And I don't mean you have to have the seminary theological terms either!) before we can talk about faith and belief. If this is not understood as a precursor to the entire point, then this will simply be a philosophical topic, and we cannot, we MUST not turn faith into a philosophical topic, standing next to other philosophies and doctrines that do not base themselves in the perfect love of Christ. This is so much more than that. With this in mind, let us unpack faith and belief, and why I think that belief is not enough. It must be faith, active and moving, that we have.

What do these two words mean? Is there a difference?

Belief-confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof.

Faith-confidence or trust in a person or thing (thanks dictionary.com!)

According to dictionary.com, belief and faith both mean in essence a confidence in something else. Why then would I say that belief is not enough? Why would James write such a challenging verse in Ch 2 Vs 19? I would like to thank dictionary.com for its willingness to help, however I am going to slightly change how these words are defined, in view of what I see in scripture. From a Christian perspective, I believe whole-heartedly that these two words do not mean the same thing. Though they derive from the same thing, having a confidence in something else, or, an object of affection, I would like to argue that this is not a complete definition of faith. According to Hebrews 11:1 (one of the most well known verses of our generation) "Faith is the confidence of what we hope for, and the assurance of what we do not see." (NIV) This looks a lot like the dictionary definition, however, I think there is more to it than what we see at first glance. Faith is the confidence of what we hope for. What is it we hope for? To answer quickly, we hope for life eternal. We hope to live an eternal life for the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Now we know that eternity is forever, that's what the word means. Life eternal, therein, means a life lived forever for the glory of God. For some reason, from what I have seen/heard, this is treated as a future hope. It is treated as a hope that we do not live in yet. Now there is certainly some truth in that statement. We do live for the hope of life after death in eternity with Him, and that the completion of our hope will come at the bowing before Christ in heaven! Amen! But. And this is a big but. Like, it deserves its own TV show, big but. This hope that we live for, the confidence that we have in it, begins the moment God takes ahold of your heart. It continues through this life, and is COMPLETED upon seeing Christ seated at the right hand in glory! And if it begins now, if it is being persued now (this hope I mean), what does faith mean? Faith is the confidence of what we hope for. All through scripture, from the days of the first sin, through the last days described in Revelations, man's hope, man's cry to God is simple: Change me. He gives praise to God for saving him, for taking away his sin. He begins to see his heart change and that he hates his own sin as God does. He prays that God would be with him, that he might not boast about anything other than God. And did God answer these cries? Absolutely! Abundantly He answered them! And why? Because of their faith. Their faith was always accompanied with an action, proving that their faith was real, that it was more than talk. It was more than a simple "belief" or claim towards some all-powerful being that they liked. No, they staked their lives on God's provision. Many times over! The rest of Hebrews 11 goes on to describe many "heroes of faith" throughout the old testiment that did something faithfully, trusting that God was with them, that He was protecting and providing for them. It was accredited to them as righteousness! They were called righteous by these faithful actions! Faith is the confidence of things hoped for, the assurance of what we do not see. Faith is not simply believing that something is true. It's living like it!

And this is the very reason why I have been thinking so much about faith and belief. I found myself asking this question- Do I live like I really believe what I say I believe? In many ways, I found I could answer yes to this very tough question. I also found that in many ways I had to answer no. No I am not living like I believe what I claim to be true. Why do we do this as Christians? We have been given the greatest truth anyone could ever know! We have been saved by a grace we could never deserve! We have been counted righteous by His blood, which atoned for the sins we have done! We have been saved, changed, moved, and enlightened by His very actions! And far too often we do not live like this is true. Let me tell you a story, a parable of sorts, to explain this better.

A man sit on death row, awaiting a sentence he had received 15 years ago. You see, he was to be executed in one hour for brutally murdering his neighbor over a simple disagreement. As he sat in his cell for so long, he found himself growing sorry for what he had done. He longed to change it, though he knew he could not. He wished he could ask forgiveness from those he hurt, though that seemed as unlikely a chance as anything. As he sat here in his final thoughts, a man approached his cell. The guard walked up beside him, opened the man's cell, and took hi post once again. This second man, a stranger to the first, said nothing but instead took a seat beside him. "You probably don't remember me, but you killed my father." It was his neighbor's son, grown up from the years that separated this day and that. Before he could go on, the murderer fell to his knees sobbing. He grabbed the boy's grown hands and kissed them. "I am so sorry for what I did. I know now that what I have done is wrong. I don't deserve it, but can you forgive me?" The second man listened and thought for a moment before saying, "I came here today hoping for two things. I'd hoped you would say that to me so I could say this to you- I forgive you. And not only do I forgi you, but I have bought your freedom. I spoke with the judge, told him it should be me who sat in you bed, not you. I told him I was the one who killed my father. You are free to go." The first man wiped his tears, confused as he looked up. "Why would you do this for me? I killed the one you most loved! I ruined your life! You are innocent!" The second man smiled. "My life was not yours to ruin. I do this, so that you may go tell everyone what has happened here today. I have saved you because my life is over, but yours is not. Use this freedom to live as a changed man! Do not repeat the same mistakes that led to this conversation. Live differently." At this, the man smiled, pulled his hand back, and laid down. The first man stood up, thanked and kissed his savior on the head and turned around. He faced an open door for the first time in 15 years...

I stop here to ask this question- What happens next? You might answer "Well duh, the man walks out of the cell a changed man! He's been given a new life! A story of incredible circumstances and timing that would be unbelievable if not for the fact that he was there, alive, telling the story himself! He lived differntly!" My response to you, then, is this: Why don't we? Why do we allow our "belief" stop us from living out the faith to which we are called? I fear that we too often allow ourselves to stay in our prison cells telling Jesus "Thank You for all You've done for me!" while He is all the while telling us to leave our prisons, to tell the world what He's done for us, and to live differently! Do we really believe that He has saved us from our prison cells? Then walk out of them. If we are saved from them, if the door has been opened, then take that step of faith. I mean, it has to be faith to walk through that door. In the parable the guard is standing post right there. He could easily kill the man for trying to escape. I mean, this scenario isn't necessarily very popular on death row, right? What if this guy was just his new cell mate, and was crazy? To take this step would require great faith. It would require going against all of the habits and lifestyles that he had grown so accustomed to. His prison bars were comfortable at that point. But they were still bars. And I fear that we are still living in too many prison cells that Christ died to free us from! I fear that too often we are praising Jesus from the beds He has now taken, instead of praising Him by going, living in freedom, telling the world of what He has done for us!

My challenge for you is that your life would begin to look like you believe what you say you believe. That your beliefs would instead become active steps of faith, trusting and having confidence that God will provide! Because He has promised to do so!

I thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and I hope it has if nothing else, allowed you to think. Please please please feel free to leave any questions, comments, disagreements, favorite parts, anything. It is a blessing when we can rejoice together, amen?! Thank you and God bless.

Monday, November 12, 2012

From Dawn to Dusk

Well this certainly has been a week, let me tell ya! No, really, let me tell you-

It was a fairly uneventful week around here actually. I was able to go get a very much-needed hair cut and shave, which was wonderful. Went to a little cafe for the first time, and ate a very tasty chicken burger. Okay, I ate two. They were delicious, don't judge! ;) We basically spent the week getting ready for Friday and Saturday, two very big days for us that needed quite a lot of preparation. Friday was the monthly evangelist meeting here, where many (nearly 100!) of the ministry's evangelists come here for a conference where we share the word, pray together, talk about the previous month's programs and any fruit that is seen thus far, as well as discuss the coming month's programs. Saturday was going to be a big trip to Chennai (which is the cultural center of Southeast India!) and the coming of the first missions team!

Thursday, I was asked to prepare a lesson for Friday to teach the evangelists. I decided on speaking about the life of Paul. I began with 1 Corinthians 11:1 "Follow my example as I follow  Christ's example." Follow me as I follow Him. Wow. Think about that for a second. It may come off as a very prideful, boastful statement, but it isn't. Just read his letters to find Paul's heart. He was so confident in his faith, and in who God had made/called him to be, that he knew he was walking in the light. What a challenge! Can we confidently say these words to someone? Can we tell them 'follow me as I follow Him'? I know I am gaining more and more confidence in my faith all the time, yet I don't know if I could ever write these words. And to put in this statement into a bit of statement, Paul has just said to not ever make anyone stumble, whether Jew or Greek or Gentile. He goes from 'do not make anyone stumble ever' to 'follow me as I follow Him' in two verses! I pray to have the Holy confidence to say these words one day!

I then talked about when we first meet Saul (spoiler alert!!! Saul=Paul! What?!) the men who are witnessing the stoning of Stephen are laying the coats at his feet (Acts 7:58). And then in Acts 8:1 we find out that "Saul approved of their killing [Stephen ]." This murderous, religious zealout of a Pharisee turns into the man who are over half of the NT! Why? Because Jesus was never anything less than absolutely real to him after his conversion (Acts 9). Paul dedicated his life to living for Jesus. He always had a 'live is Christ, die is gain' (Philippians 1:21) mindset. He lived his life by these very words. And you couldn't touch Paul. No matter what you did! They'd threaten him with death, and he'd say to die is gain. We'll keep you alive then, they'd say, and he'd say to live is Christ. My life is for His glory. They'd beat him, stone him, drag him out of the city thinking he was dead, and he just got up and WENT BACK INTO THE CITY (Acts 14:19-20)!!! He shipwrecks multiple times. At the end of Acts 27, Paul's life is spared when the other prisoners were killed because he encouraged the men by praising God for His provision! In the first part of Acts 28 he gets bit by a viper, a freakin viper, and just shakes it off like it's nothing. He "suffered no ill effects" (Acts 28:5) and shocked the men around him! Then when he's thrown in a Roman prison, which isn't a nice place in case you didn't know (remember how they tortured Jesus? Yeah, they knew what they were doing. When God saves Peter miraculously from prison in Acts 12, Herod has all of the soldiers killed when they can't find him! This is a serious place!), he preaches to the Roman guards and converts them! Come on! This dude could not be touched! No matter what you did to him! He wrote more then half of his epistles with chained wrists! He wrote some of the most encouraging words in the NT while in a prison cell! And then he asked for prayer. He always asked for prayer! And what prayer did he ask for? "Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." Ephesians 6:19-20. He didn't ask to pray to have things happen to him, for him. He didn't ask to pray to see his circumstances changed. No. He asked that they would pray for him that WHENEVER he speaks that words may be given that he would FEARLESSLY make the gospel known. And why? Because he knows he should. What a bold, confident, humble faith Paul delivers! At the end of Acts 28, we see the end of Paul's ministry, and it is another incredibly challenging thing for me. "For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ-with all boldness and without hindrance!" Acts 28:30-31. With all boldness and without hindrance. Wow. This man was awaiting his death sentence, and it only allowed him yet another opportunity to preach boldly the gospel (good news) to anyone and everyone, never finding a hindrance against him. Why? "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for u, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31. Because God was with him. And he never lost sight of that, and always proclaimed that simple yet incredible truth. This is what I had the honor and challenge to preach about to the evangelists of this wonderful ministry. It is contiuing to stay in my mind, challenging me to remember to be like Paul in ministry.

Sunday we went to Chennai, leaving here at 5:15 in the morning. I'm sure you can assume how excited about this I was lol. It was a bittersweet thing for me, actually. I was so very excited to have two more Americans joining me for a couple of weeks, yet it was so dang early! We got on the road, and drove for a couple of hours before stopping for a roadside breakfast. We had these things called idly which are little rice cake, patty-like things. They're sweet and tasty, and you put a chutney or curry over it. I very much enjoyed this breakfast! We made it to Chennai at about 8:30, and began a long day of errand running, which was often pretty boring for me. However. There were also many moments of highlights that I HAVE to tell you about lol. Some amazing things that I saw- The single most wonderfully beautiful feathered Mullet I have ever seen. This thing was sooo good, just flowing in the wind as this man rode on the back of a motorcyle passing by us. It went by in slow motion, honestly. I ate pizza at pizza hut. Yes, they have pizza huts here I guess. Found that out quite recently, and was very happy to have found this knowledge to be true! We had a pepperoni pesto pizza (alliteration ftw!) and a chicken sausage pizza. First off, this pizza hut was the nicest pizza hut ever, I swear! There was a hostess, and a restaurant menu with servers bringing you your pizzas and drinks and such. Cool wooden tables and chairs. Hip American music in the background. Yeah, it ruled. I almost fell asleep in a tire shop as we got a new tire on our truck, which was rather entertaining. Then, my pastor wanted to go get a cut and a shave, so he left me and the driver (who speaks as much English as I speak Telugu) to wait for him. He put on the radio, and changes it to the American music channel (yeah, there's that too!) and begins rocking out to the song. We listened to three songs. All three were heavy beat songs that we both just jammed to. They were (no lie) Ke$ha, T-Swift, and J Biebs. It was glorious. Just rocking out, jamming to hilariously fun pop music with this Indian dude who is jamming as much as you are, smiling huge smiles allthewhile, was one of my favorite parts of the day! We then made our way to the airport to pick up Kari and Merri, two sisters from America who have been a huge blessing so far. Their plane was 40 minutes late, but they took next to no time to come out once they'd landed, so it evened out in the end. We then drove back home and took to bed at the wonderful hour of 2am! haha I will write about the adventures of three Americans soon, but this post is slowly finding its way to the end!

I love you all so very much, and thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! You are all wonderful and I cannot say how much I appreciate them! Please continue to pray that our ministry and work would be righteous and fruitful! Pray for protection physically and Spiritually! Thank you so much! Love ya! See you soon!

Joel

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Roses are red, violets are blue...

Lord, please change us by your word. Amen.

I heard these words prayed three times by a man teaching a young school group that I was hosting while intering at Crista Camps. They will never leave me. This man honestly and earnestly prayed these words before he spoke each time. It was not a rehearsed word of encouragement or a key-phrase that let the students know that it was time to get serious. No, it was a broken man's prayer. It was beautiful. And I believe whole-heartedly that it was heard. I echo his prayer often, that I would not read the bible, but instead that I would be changed by the ever-active, living breath and word of God. I have often made this my prayer as I study His word here in India. And it is my prayer that it is the fruit of this prayer that is seen and heard in this blog post.

Lord, I pray that my words would be Yours. I pray that my heart would be Yours. I pray that I would not be hypocritical, nor extra critical. Lord, please tame my tongue to be uplifting and righteous. Let me praise You and exalt You in everything I say and do. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You. Lord, I pray these things in the wonderful, beautiful, precious, and powerful name of Jesus. Amen.

Roses are red, and violets are blue. Interesting to think about red and blue right now, isn't it? Seems like that's all anyone can talk about. Leftist political point here, right-wing counterpoint right back at ya, bub! (Random tangent, whoever came up with "bub" thank you!) As many of you may know, I am a very opinionated person. I know well why I hold the opinions I have, and why I don't hold the opinions that I don't. I do not make a light-hearted, ignorant opinion (at least I greatly strive not to.) but rather I search to base my opinions in well founded thoughts. This is why I have decided to write this politically-charged post. Please, bear with me and show a bit of patience and grace as I unroll my points. Thank you.

Honestly, people. I am sick to my stomach right now. I spent a great deal of time in prayer to the point of tears earlier as I read the after-affects of the election. The thought that things could be where they are, and seeing where they could possibly go, quite frankly disgust me. Now before you cheer me on or sneer at me, allow me to explain this. Again, patience and grace, please. As many of you know, I am not one for short-winded explanations.

Yesterday, I sat in a small cafe here with a friend (the first time I've done so, it was wonderful!) and began to read the only English newspaper that they had in the place. It's called (I'm fairly certain) The Hindi and it's one of the more prominent newspapers in all India. The center story of the front page, which as you know is the "most important" storyline in the paper, was an article on the American Presidential race. It spoke about two men, the Democratic incumbant Obama and the Republican challenger Romney, fighting it out for the seat of 'the most powerful man on the planet' with last minute appeals to swing state voters and the like. The story beside it, another front page story, though not as "important" as the election in a foreign land, was about the floods in northern Andhra, the state that I'm living in here in SE India. These floods are quite comparable to the affects of superstorm Sandy. Many thousands were left without power, food, water; roads and homes were destroyed, helicopters were flying in food drop after food drop while rescue boats drove the streets in search of injured and lost.

I got home some time later, and checked my facebook, as I often do, memories of the newspaper still riding my thoughts. And then I read post after post of politically charged thoughts and opinions, and some daring comments upon those threads. I read things like "If Obama wins, I'm going to Canada (or Mexico, or the Philippines, or some other place)" and "I don't understand how a person who calls themself a Christian could vote for Obama" and "If Romney wins-" with much of the same after-thoughts... And then today, I get on and open up two windows on my internet. The first was Facebook, and the second was NY Times. I wanted to find out who won, before I read about the many opinions that would surely await me. Obama wins reelection I read. Romney conceeds at 10pm after losing Virginia, I read. Then I take a breath, and go to Facebook. What I read was one of the hardest newsfeeds I've ever had to read. Allegations of all kinds were made from all points of political view, and were then argued from other sides. And then I read post after post about how "whether or not I agree with who the President is, I'm going to pray for them" followed by some verse about praying for those in authority over them. I read posts of verses of taking joy in Him no matter what happens. I read posts with verses about remembering humility and the like. And I began to cry. Literally, I felt a wrenching in my stomach and began to cry. As I type this now, I fight back tears thinking of it. I'm sorry if this comes off as harsh or anything but gracious rebuke, but I feel that I must address this sad fact.

First and foremost, the Bible does not have a precondition of "in case of emergency" or "use when you feel lost" to it. No, the Bible is not a tool for comfort when 'the times seem tough' for you. You might argue that it is these things, and as I would (of course) agree with you, allow me first to remind you that its purpose is to reveal the greatness of God and the hopelessness of the sinner without Him. Nothing else. The Bible is His story of redemption, which glorifies Him. Our comfort, our sense of direction and identity come from Him, not emergency verses of the feeling of comfort. It comes from His presence, His goodness, His love, from Him. Many of the verses that I read came from either a Pauline epistle or a Psalm of David. Let's put that in perspective. Paul wrote these words while in prison. Prison. Literally chained wrists held his writing hands. He was in prison for professing his faith, awaiting the judgement of death to come. David often wrote his psalms of comfort while hiding in caves from Saul and his army who sought to kill him. He was running for his life, while leading people in hope and safety. Or he wrote them out of a confession and repentence of sin (i.e. Bathsheba).These warriors of the faith wrote these incredible, wonderful and beautiful words as they were facing the sufferring of death and despair. They did not write them so we could pull them out when "our guy" loses or wins. They did not write them so we could quote them from our bedrooms and dorms as if we were being persecuted. Like someone making an obligatory "don't bring religion into politics" remark could ever constitute as persecution! Come on! Now, I am absolutely not saying to not find solace in the incredibly powerful and beautiful words of God. They should be what define our lives, as He changes us through them. But they should never be used in such a non-chalent manner. I am also not saying to not have an opinion. Absolutely have one. I have one. In fact, I am one of the most stubborn and opinionated people you will ever meet, as many of you can (often unfortunately) attest. What I am saying is do not ever let scripture proceed opinion. It should always preceed opinion. Period. Your guy lost? Oh no! Your guy won? Great... You know what happened to my guy? They beat Him relentlessly for hours. They tore at His flesh with the worst tools of torture imaginble. They mocked Him allthewhile, tearing into His very soul, attempting to plant the seeds of doubt and regret. They made Him carry the very tree that they would use to hang Him upon through the streets of the city after all of this. He walked up a hill, where they fashioned His hands to that tree, and then nailed Him with three nails to it. They freaking nailed Him to it! They then hung Him up for all to see, as they mocked Him more and more. And they did not even give Him His own hill on which to die. No, He instead shared it with two thieves, telling Him that He was as worthless as they. He died in six hours. That's it. Six hours. It took nearly three days on average for a person to die of crucifixion. They were so surprised that they stabbed His side to make sure He was dead. But He did not stay dead, no! Instead, He rose from His earthly tomb, and walked into glory just as He said He would! Amen! Our lives are not dictated by those in earhly authority above us. No, it is dictated by the One who endured all of this for you, for me. When did the church lose sight of this? The church becomes politically active, making claims for this and that in the Name of God, instead of loving people. Biblical principle should always preceed our opinions, our principles, our actions, our love. It was disgusting for me to see how so many people who I know to be wonderful loving members of the body of Christ slander so many in the name of political view. Perspective? Four years<Eternity. No matter what you may think politically, or even religiously for that matter you cannot argue that. Four years will always be less than forever. And our hope is in eternity, enthroned as the Name above ALL Names, sitting at the right hand of the very God and creator of everything. Our hope is not in an election, or that our opinions are right, so very right, the most right that right could be.

Thank you so much for reading this. Please please please leave any and all thoughts that you have. If you want to message me on FB, that we could talk privately, I more than invite you to. If you disagree with me, I am so okay with that, but please tell me. Let iron sharpen iron. If you agree with me, or have more to add, please feel free to do so. I truly and deeply love you all, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers so very much. Please know that this was not easy for me to type. I find myself being convicted and guilty of everything I've written...so excuse any lack of flow or thought, as I was very emotional and passionate as I wrote! I'm sure you understand!

I'm sorry if this seemed as a rant, and I can see how it reads as one, but I assure you that my heart in typing these words is to challenge you to live as the church, as the very bride of Christ. I am sorry if you feel attacked by this, but I hope that you see rebuking as loving instead of sinful and hurtful. I very much hope and pray that these words are a blessing to you, and a challenge to remember that we as the church are called to love people. Three scriptures I leave you with to chew on are Luke 10:25-37, 1 Peter 3:8-22 and James 3. Please read them, pray on them, and respond to them in life and love. I know I am.

Joel

Friday, October 26, 2012

From Abraham to Isaac to Tiramisu

"The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, 'I swear by Myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make you descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.'" -Genesis 22:15-18
"But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?' And God said, 'I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.' Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of you fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is His name?' Then what shall I tell them?' God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" -Exodus 3:11-14
"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have i not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." -Joshua 1:6-9
"The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine-press to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, He said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.' 'Pardon me, my Lord,' Gideon replied, 'but if the lord is with us, why all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.' The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?' 'Pardon me, my Lord,' Gideon replied, 'but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.' The Lord answered, 'I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.'" -Judges 6:11-16
"The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and He let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His word." -1 Samuel 3:19-21
"David took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces inward. And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him." 2 Samuel 5:9-10
1 Kings 19:9-13, Jeremiah 1:4-12, Ezekiel 3:22-27, Ezekiel 34:11-16, Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 5:1-12, etc.

You get the point. God both promises His presence to be with you, and that you would rest (live) in His presence. What an amazing thing this is to know! God is absolutely showing me just how true this is. He constantly reminded His people that He is with them. His presence is shown in clouds, pillars of fire, quaking of the ground, a whisper, many things. Yet He yearns to live within us, and promises to do so, as we live within the calling He has put on our lives. His promise to be with His people, His prophets is so often accompanied with the word "go" in some way. It is an active faith that is at the heart of our calling. This calling is simple. I've realized how much I don't like the sentence "I just don't know what I'm called to do." or "I'm just really trying to see what God is calling me to do." As there is (or can be) certainly wisdom in these statements, the answer is simple. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all you strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. That's it. The rest just comes with going, moving for Him. We are the gospel's hands and feet, pushing forward by the Spirit to bring disciples of all nations before the cross' redemptive power and holiness! And the only reason I speak so passionately and blatant about this is because not so long ago I was the one who was living in the crippling fear of, "Well, I just don't know what God has for me..." and I am seeing the harvest of living out Luke 10:25-37. We remember so easily the story of the good Samaritan, yet we (I) so easily forget the context of this parable! The teacher of the law asks, 'What shall I do to inherit eternal life?' I mean, how big of a question is that?! Isn't that the question that we are placing our hope, our faith in?! And when Jesus asks him what is in the scriptures, he quotes Deut 6, Love the Lord your God, etc, and Jesus says, "You have answered correctly. DO THIS and you will live." It's right there! He isn't saying that we need to do anything to gain life (salvation) but He is saying that our faith life should be active, as an active faith life ALWAYS POINTS TO JESUS! It has to! It's kind of the point of living faithfully! And I cannot tell you all how much God is showing me this while living here in India. He is teaching what it means when He says, "Go, for I will be with you." What an incredible promise that we can take part in! Amen?!

Last night, I met a man named Isaac. Isaac is an evangelist in a very remote area in Andhra Pradesh (where I am haha). I was told that I needed to hear his testimony, so I listened as he began, and then waited to have it translated to me. Give me a break guys, I've been here three weeks. I can barely say thank you for the water at this point. That may sound random, but, come to SE India, you'd say it all the time too! haha Back to Isaac. He began telling his story, and I was immediately amazed. "He was in an accident, a bad car accident two months ago." The pastor who was translating began telling me. "I broke my back, near the top of my spine, and could not walk." The pastor then began to fill in a little bit of the back story for me as well. "Just a month and a half ago, we came to pray for him. He was stuck on a bed, laying down, having gone to the bathroom all over himself as he couldn't move. He had gone to the doctor, but they couldn't operate on him because one, he's a leper, and two he had no money. On top of it all, there was a small small chance that the operation would even help." Let me stop there. Yeah, don't forget that this guy is freaking telling me this story himself. At the church. Three blocks away from the house we first saw him at as we drove by. Continuing... "We went up to him, me and three of the other pastors, and began to pray for him. We prayed for healing, for a miracle, and for God to give him a testimony that cannot be silenced." Isaac jumped in again, as the pastor had then let me know that he left for America on a trip the next day, so he did not even know what happened. "God came to him in a vision," the pastor was telling me, "and awoke him from his sleep. He looked up, and saw me coming at him. I jumped up above him, standing on his bed, straddling him with legs on either side. I took a small wire, pulled him upright, and pushed it down through his neck. I then tied it off. I let him lay back down, looked at him and smiled. 'Do not worry.' I said to him. The next day he woke up, and stood right up!" Wait, what?! Are you freaking kidding me?!?! This guy freaking stood up! This leper! This man who doctors said surgery couldn't fix. They told him to essentially go home to be with your family, and die. "So he went to the doctor that had sent him away. The doctor was amazed, he could not believe his eyes. (No way? haha) 'How did this happen?' he asked Isaac. They took an X Ray, and yeah, you guessed it. Nothing. Wrong. With. His. Back. Let me repeat that. Isaac, who had been in a terrible accident not even a month before this, who was bedridden, laying in his own waste, who was told surgery was useless, and he just go die, was healed completely. 'Like a young man' the doctor told him!" Isaac then went on to tell the doctor (who is a doctor in a prominent, high class Hindu area, and a high class hindu himself) that it was all God. That Jesus had come to him in a vision as his pastor and healed him. The doctor could not deny this, as the testimony was being told to him firsthand by the man he'd told to die! How freaking awesome is that?! Now here's the really awesome part. This man was telling me all of this outside of the church in the dark. We went inside to take a picture together (I'll get it up as soon as possible), and then I saw him. He, having been born a leper, has only his big toe on his right foot, all of his toes are half on his left, his right hand is missing every fingertip, on his left hand his ring and pinky finger were grown only halfway, and he is blind in his left eye. Oh yeah, and he was paralyzed a month ago in a terrible car crash. This man exuded a joy that was blinding with the light of Jesus. Blinding I tell you. It was one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever known, and I am truly honored to have met a man of such great courage and faith. He was and is a true walking-out-his-faith believer, and God is certainly with him!

Today was a little different, but pretty great nonetheless! It started out with a wonderful devotion. I have the devotion book Jesus Calling, and have been in it everyday (as it's designed). It has been a great encouragement, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a devo right now. I then went to my pastor's house to work on a couple of projects with him. They are trying to build a recording studio here, so they can produce their own worship music to give out to evangelists as an outreach tool, which obviously I love. Today, I went to the building where the studio is going to be built and took measurements of everything, I mean EVERYTHING to send it to a man in America who is going to build it for them in late March, early April. That took quite a while, but it was so much fun. Two other pastors came with to help, and we had a really fun time, laughing the whole time through. It was nice to just laugh and make fools of ourselves. It has been a while since I've done this, and it felt as refreshing as a well timed song can feel. I then went back to my pastor's house to help him with some emails. Since I can type in English a little bit faster (okay, a lot faster. He's Indian...it's not a fair fight!) I send out many emails for him to teams and people in America who are planning trips to come here. Before doing this, however, I had lunch. And oh my, let me tell you about this. It was this lamb curry kind of stuff (it wasn't exactly curry, but yeah...curried lamb is all I can call it) but it was incredible. Melt in you mouth incredible. Over rice, my mouth watered the entire time I ate. Then we worked. Then my pastor made a phone call to have someone shop for vegetables for me. Side note, upon receiving the veggies tonight, it was very apparent to me that this man knows how to shop. Oh man did he get me a TON of veggies, far more than I had asked for. I am quite excited! I cook for myself most of the time, so this is a good thing! Back to the pastor's house lol. Right as we are about to leave, his wife asks if she can make me a treat, and asks me to wait a few minutes. I figure, yeah, of course I can wait for you to make me a tasty desserty treat! I mean, this was the woman who had made the lamb. Come on! Well, she made this stuff (again, pics will be up when I can!) that was made out of biscuits (cookies that look like giant Ritz crackers and have a hazelnut flavor) with some kind of cream sauce and espresso in it. It was like an Indian Tiramisu (a super tasty Italian dessert for those unfortunate souls who don't know what this is). Needless to say, it was incredible and I ate way too much of it. It was SO good though! Then, when I got back, I continued to write a short story that I'm writing here, which will get posted on here when it's finished...maybe...lol then I took a small nap, listened to a sermon, some good music, and had dinner. That's about it! Overall great day!

Well guys, I hope this has been a blessing for you! I love you all VERY much and think of you often! Please continue to pray for me. Pray that His words would overflow from my mouth, and that His Spirit and Presence are felt and seen in me in all that I do. Thank you! Love you!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Set fire to the rain

This has been an incredible, wonderful, crazy week indeed. Let me just tell you about it!

It all started at a church in a village called Marripadu. We arrived at the church at roughly 11am local time. I was told that this church was a fairly young church, having opened in the last year, and is in a very hindu village. What happened next was something that I never expected, nor will I ever forget. In the midst of their worship, which I spend in prayer and reading through the passage that I am about to teach on, going over the message again and again in my mind in preparation, I hear my friend say "Joel, there's a possessed woman! Go pray for her!" I look up, and in the back, I see this little old lady 'dancing' around, apparently not paying attention to anyone. She was swaying back and forth, with a blank stare on her face. "Go, man!" he repeated to me, giving me a little push towards getting out of my chair. I had no choice but to go at this point, so I got up, and walking through the crowd of men, women and children, I made my way to the back of the room, near the door. Once I got there, I did all that I knew how to: prayed. I prayed for peace, for authority, for gentleness and solace. I prayed that the grip of the enemy would be destroyed. I prayed that only God's presence would be known. As I was praying, I felt like God was compelling me to declare His righteousness and authority. So I did. As I began to pray this, I felt this overwhelming feeling of power that I have never felt before. It was a sense of authority, of confidence that only my God had power in that place. As I prayed, the woman's actions subsided, and she fell to her knees on the floor crying. I continued to pray, hands raised, for the church as a whole. I prayed that God would make His presence known in ways that had never been seen by these people before. I began to laugh, in a way that I can only call a holy joy. God was doing something in that place, and it was very evident to me. I declared amen, put my arms down, and walked back to the front. As soon as I reached the front, my friend said to me again, "Joel, there's another woman possessed, go!" I turn around, and see a woman on her knees, her sari covering her face, shaking. Women around her were backing away staring at her. "Go, man!" he said again, in such away that one might ask "how much does this chapstick cost?" Again, I walked up to the woman, closed my eyes, raised my arms over her, and began to pray. I prayed this time that any lies and evil spirits that have taken ahold of this woman, any burdons and traps over her life would be taken away in the powerful Name, the one Name that is above all names, that created all and saved all. Her yelling out and shaking slowed, and finally stopped as I prayed over her. God was using me, a broken vessel, for His glory! It was incredible! We then took the whole service outside, because the rains had dried up and it was warm and beautiful again. I felt like God was telling me to speak on His love. I had prepared a lesson from Luke 19, talking about the small Zachaeus. Instead, He put it on my heart to speak out of Romans 8. If our God is for us, who can be against us?! Amen! Nothing can separate us from His furious love! This is the message I gave, through the Spirit. This led to the manifestation of four (yes four!) more possessions of which we prayed vigorously. Needless to say, it was the craziest, most incredible and beautiful service I have ever been to! It rocked my world. It stays with me as fresh as it was in the moment! Just typing it out sends chills through my body knowing how much God did that day.

The next few days were filled with bouts of ridiculous rainfall, with sparatic moments of gorgeous sunshine in between. It dumped inches of rain in the matter of a couple of hours. It was kind of awesome, and definitely felt like a bit of home here in India. I was given two and a half days in a row off, which is not something that happens. I used this time to spend in great prayer, meditation, and praise. It was so refreshing. I didn't feel like I "needed it" like we so often tell ourselves...I just NEED to spend time with Jesus. When don't we?! Anyways, I felt so renewed after this time. One of the days, a day I was supposed to preach, I was instead taken to the beach on the Indian Ocean. It was so beautiful. The water was warm and clear, and the beach was all but empty. It was a sandbar that separated the ocean from a river that fed into it, which is how, by boat, we got to the beach. I was with my host and his extended family, so much of the time was spent simply praising God at how ridiculously awesome my whole situation was! I mean, there I was, chilling in the freaking Indian Ocean! Come on! We ate some shrimp and fish curry, and then came back to the orphanage. It was so simple, so serene, so blissful. I can say that I am finding a great satisfaction in Christ, and it is exuding throughthe ministry that He has called me to here.

I feel like God has put it on my heart to make Eph 3:14-21 my prayer for the churches of this ministry. He has made Eph 4:1-3 and 1 Thess 5:16-18 the prayer of my heart for myself. I would appreciate all of your prayers as well, that He would continue to lead me, continue to be faithful and good with all that He gives me, and that I would remain in Him in everything. I thank you all for partnering with me and this ministry in seeing His kingdom come here in the lives of so many wonderful Indian people. Thank you for sparing your time for reading about what He is doing, and for praying with me. It is so cool to think that we are partnering in ministry together, though we are two oceans apart! I love you all so very much, and pray for you often! Have a blessed day!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Miracles and Mountain Dew

Let me tell you a story or two!

Long ago, King Solomon gathered his wisest and best subjects and told them to gather all of the wisdom in the land, and write it in a book. Three years later they came back wih twelve volumes of all of the knowledge they could find far and wide. "This is too much!" Solomon said, "do it again!" So they went out again. One year later, they returned, this time with one volume, counting over a thousand pages, filled with all of the wisdom of the lands near and far. "This is still too much!" Solomon said. And again they were sent out. Five years later, they returned, again with one book. But this book had but one message in it. This too shall pass.

In the beginning of this trip, I found myself corrupted by fear and loneliness, haunted by the thought that this may not have been what God had intended me to do. What if I were here on my own accord? What if I had lied and convinced myself into a trip that was never meant to be? Questions continued to circle my head, echoing louder and louder, until a small voice whispered softly, "Be still and know that I a God." What? I asked. "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the Earth!" Psalm 46 verse 10. This loneliness and fear that I felt began to dissipate from my heart. Its grip lessened with every cry for Him my heart could bear. "I will never leave you, never forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5) "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give them rest." (Matthew 11:28) "For I gave you not a Spirit of fear, but one of power, and of love, and of self-control." (2 Timothy 1:7) The Lord continue to reveal and remind me of His great truths. He reminded me that He is. He is. God is, always was, always will be. His character does not, can not, and needs not change! As the things of this world changes, He does not. As my circumstances change, He does not. And one beautiful truth about Him is He has imparted Himself via the Holy Spirit in us, and is with us always! He reminded me that this too shall pass. This present fear of what's to come, this present loneliness of all these things unfamiliar, this doubt of My plan for you, this too shall pass.

And as always, He was ever so right! God allowed me to be refined and tested in the fire as soon as I got here, and taught me that I am ready for this, because He is leading me. I can nothing apart from Him (John 15). God has allowed me to bring the word to a dozen villages, bring worship to Him in over half of those, I've taught at a memorial service, and I spoke at an evangelist conference. I have written six applications to appropraite funds to this ministry in hopes of expanding on what they do here. I have begun journaling in preparation for writing a newsletter about what we do here that will be published in America. And that is but the beginning of the ministry He has for me here. Are you kidding me? All of this in a little over a week. How could I be anything but face down in praise at the opportunities He has opened up thus far? At one church, I met a lady named Mary. She was told by her doctor to go home, and enjoy her last few days of life, as she was sure to die soon. Well that was weeks ago, and the day I met her, she was excited to tell me that that morning, she got up and made breakfast for herself! What worship she showed me. The simple act of making breakfast was one of thanks for her. I met another man who had been paralyzed and diseased for many years. He heard the songs and testimonies ring out of the speakers of the local church, and prayed to receive God's love in the field. The next day he worked in his fields for the first time in a long time, all the while bewildering his family. They are now all saved, and attend that church. Two days ago I met a woman who was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach, and given less than a month to live. She had recently turned to Jesus, so she prayed for healing. That was fifteen years ago! God is alive and working in His people and in His church, amen?!

I am also learning a great deal about the people, their language and culture here. I have learned several 'key' phrases, and will continue to learn as I can the language. The driving here, though scary at first, is now second nature. I sometimes wonder what driving on the right side of the road will be like again... I have found some pretty sweet things though! One is Limca! If I can just figure out a way to bring this soda to America, I will make a killing! This stuff freakin rocks! It is soooo tasty! Whenever we go out, we always stop once or twice for "a cool drink" on the side of the road. I almost always get Limca. Why? Because it freakin rocks!!! I have also began to cook for myself almost full time, which is interesting. In a country that boasts 70%, yes 70% of the world's spices, there is not a huge selection of things at the local market for me to be able to cook. I am making due with what I have so far, however, and will continue to cook and try new things to best keep myself fed! I have found out that when other missionaries come, which will be fairly often come November, I will be cooking often for them. Basically this means I have GOT to find some sweet recipes before they come! haha I'm not too worried about this, however. I found out they've got top ramen here. Not the same flavors that we have, but some decent ones for sure. This morning, for instance, I made some potatoes o'brian and tasty fluffy scrambled eggs. Yeah. Like a boss I am! lol I also decided this week that I miss hot dogs and pizza a lot. Like, so much. When I get home, I am going to call one of my very best friends Justin (who works at Papa Murphy's) and have him make me ridiculously awesomely hugely meaty family size pizza. And I am going to get case of ice cold Mtn Dew. And I am going to eat until I hate myself, as my good friend Ashley often likes to say! I told this to Rufus, and he told me "You know, we have mountain dew here!" No. You. Didn't! Turns out, they do. Also turns out- not the same. Like at all. It's good, but it ain't the dew, just sayin.

So that's what's goin on with me right now! God is good, and remains with me always. I am learning to abide in Him, in His presence and truth, and to preach His gospel in ways that I have never been able to before. It is a challenge, but it is one met with His Spirit, and for that I fear not! Love you all so very much, and though this loneliness once felt is now (praise the Lord) gone, know that I miss you very much. I think of you often and pray for you! Please keep us in your prayers as well, as we share reach the unreachables. Thank you!

Joel

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Old letters bring old wisdom

Hey all!

I have now been here in Southeast India for near a week, and let me tell you, it has definitely been an interesting beginning! First and foremost, the trip here! I arrived to the PDX at promptly 6:15ish, and went directly to the Air Canada ticket counter. The line was pretty short, so within five minutes, I was up at the counter and talking to the lady about my trip. After handing her my itinerary, she realized it was definitely a big ordeal! "So your bags are getting checked through Frankfurt, correct?" Well, this was only partly correct. They were getting checked through Frankfurt, however, they had a whole flight more to go before they had completed their journey! By some computer anomaly, she could not see my bags all the way there (one of which being my guitar!). It was a mess to say the least. Well, after an hour (yes, an hour!) at the counter, two different airline workers, and several phone calls, it was finally settled that I was going to meet my bags in India! And that's when I find out that my bag weighs too much. Turns out, it was 15 lbs too much! Oops! To be fair, I was packing for a FIVE MONTH trip! That, however, turned out to be quite the financial setback. Do not, I repeat, do not let yourself have a bag that is overweight, whatever you do! It sucks to pay the overage fees! lol

The flights here were very good, albeit long! I first flew to Toronto, Canada, which I must say is a very nice airport. Going through customs was a breeze there. In fact, it went so fast, she had to tell me I could go, because I didn't realize it was over! haha I got an overpriced burger and some fries at a place called Cactus Jacks. However. The bacon that was on it. Oh dear. It was some of the BEST bacon I have ever had. I then walked over to my gate, and began to (re)read The Hobbit. (Disclaimer- I plan to read it three times before the first movie comes out!) The next plane, from Toronto to Frankfurt, Germany was definitely the best of the three flights. The two women I sat next to were great. One was an elderly woman on her 12th trip to Bangalore, where she would be doing two months of church work! So cool! And the other was a young woman, about my age, who was a traveling paramedic. Basically, she gets to travel to places, and then travel with an injured person on their flights home. Kind of awesome! We spent much of the flight talking, the three of us, as well as catching a couple of movies. Men In Black III was not a total disappointment! The last flight, Frankfurt to Chennai, India, was probably my least favorite. For being a large plane, the seats were really small, and not much leg room. Also, I was in the middle row, which was a row of four seats. And wouldn't you know it, the row in front of me, the front-most row, housed four babies. FOUR! There's got to be some law disallowing that many babies on flight. I'll look into it...

Upon arriving here, I was told that it is currently a period of resting for the staff, because they had been crazy busy for the two weeks prior. So, I would be spending the week doing very little. Which is exactly what happened. I spent the week doing very little. And that, my friends, was not easy for me. I spent much of my time reading, and playing guitar, which can only keep me occupied for so long. I realized the extent of loneliness that I was to face in the coming months, and it forced me to look unto God in a way I had never before. I felt homesick for literally the first time in my entire life, and more so, I missed the ability to be with people, people who I knew and who knew me. But in my loneliness I remembered my own prayers and the ways God was revealing to me to be ready for this trip. He took me to 1 Thess 5:16-18. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (ESV). Thank you, Spirit, for reminding me that You are always with me, always good, and that my faith and joy do not rest in circumstance, nor do they rely on situation. They only rest and rely on You, who never changes! This is what God has revealed, and is revealing to me about what I am to learn while here in India. That I would find rest in Him. Psalm 62, one of my favorites, begins with "My soul finds rest in God alone." I have made this my creed, my cry, and my hope. And He will supply this to me! Of this I am sure!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Prayers of a Tourist

In less than thirty hours, I will be embarking on what is undoubtedly going to be a life altering trip. I am going to be traveling to Southeast India, where I will be a part of some incredible work, work that will stretch me and certainly change my heart for the rest of my life! I will be living at an orphanage and visiting churches, where I will be teaching the living, breathing word of God! How great a blessing must await me in these next few months! God is so good!

My hope and prayer as I leave is simple. Lord, make me Yours. Wholly and completely Yours! Make the work of my hands a blessing to You, and a blessing to Your people. Make my heart like that of David, a man after Your heart! I hope and pray that what I do, how I do it, and who I am in doing it is pleasing to You, Lord God. Lord I also pray for those who receive me. May they find me well, and may I find them blessed and ready for my coming. Allow Your words to infect them, give them joy and peace, God. Prepare the hearts of the men and women who will hear me speak. Give them open ears to listen, and hearts of flesh, that they might come to know Your truth, Your goodness, Your salvation! Create an everlasting fire in India, Lord God, that is seen by all! Begin a work in them now, Jesus, speak to them! Please, God! Let us see revival, true revival that destroys the hearts of men, and leave only Your Spirit! Thank You, God! Thank You for all that You do, all that You are, and all that You have left! Amen.

Please join me in praying for these wonderful people, and for the ministry that God is sending me with and to! Thank you for your partnership in the plan that God in unveiling in my life, and the lives of many people in the poverty-stricken portion of Southeast India!