seed sower

inside the Grand Canyon University Arena at the station table

There is truly nothing like those moments where God reveals himself in ways that do nothing but catch you by surprise...followed by humility, humbleness and the supernatural satisfaction of having been reminded that living in His will and control is far better than anything we could dream up for ourselves......

It was Sunday.  Three days after my 39th birthday.  That one that tends to be the resounding reminder [for some] that #40 is only 365 days away.  Mike's intention was to treat me to a day of culinary pampering before and after working the Third Day concert.  The night before we were out with the kids at a Sundogs' hockey game...thanks to Tim and Jamie for the free tickets.  Not watching the clock Mike later stayed up with the kids to watch a movie that ended at 1am.  So, it was a good thing we slept in.  But not for long.  Driving down the mountains to Phoenix is rather time consuming.

Mike wanted to check out the Filipino Red Ribbon restaurant in the Arizona Mills mall.  We weren't really all that sure what to expect when we got there.  Next to the food court, it was in a small sit down space with a very limited savory menu.  However, the desserts were a plenty.  We chose to indulge in what more the food court had to offer for the main course.  Then we walked back into the Red Ribbon where we enjoyed a few yummies [ube and chiffon cake].  They were quite the yummy-licious symphony.  While our druthers included a halo halo, the cakes were good and helped literally fill us up to the brim.  We purchased several bags of pandesol to take home as our Thanksgiving dinner rolls.

what's any cake without some whip cream on top?

We arrived at the Grand Canyon University at the same time that David and Jay Lene did.  Micah White is incredible  with his public relations skills making sure that everything goes smoothly....and continuing to build relationships during events to keep his work plate over flowing.  Seems to be a very easy going person almost incapable of stress or frustration.  

It's always fascinating when I'm behind the table to see/meet the various people Michael has built relationships with over the past decade in Arizona.  It's also weird, at the same time, to be introduced as "the wife" they know so much about...yet I know none of them.  After ten years, I still really don't know what to do with that.  Or, does anything necessarily have to be done with that?  One of the ticket winners that approached our table, during intermission,  had driven down from Flagstaff.  Oofta!  That's twice the distance as Prescott/Prescott Valley.  So, what....three hours for him?  He was quite the fascinating character with so much to share of God's profound impact on his life. Because of my earlier days of having wastefully occupied my time in front of the television, I was more than well aware of what he was talking about as far as his career goes.  He's one of those guys that operates those monstrous cranes [at the top of the crane] loading and unloading shipping crates in ship yards.  Crane operators make up to 600k/year.    His work is in Dutch, Alaska where he says 1/4 of the population is that of Filipinos.   He's spending one of his three month work breaks to spend his time and money with/on his young boys.  Working three months.  Off three months.  What a nice set up.  However, he was quite interested in us as well.  After a few questions the subject settled onto or pending move to the islands as media missionaries and a little background information on the young people of the Philippines.  He asked to pray for us, took our hands...and did just that.  WOW.  Then the most fascinating God moment took place. He asks, "Can I do something?  I want to sow seeds into what you guys are getting ready to do.  I want to help fund your work."  Just as I was starting to explain how he could do that via our website [for which I wrote down the URL on a piece of paper for him minutes earlier] he says, "I want to give you some cash right now."  He pulls out his wallet, starts counting ["one, two, three.."] and hands Mike $400.  Yah, what do you follow that with but a heart full of gratitude, humbleness and "Thank-you"?  You don't.  You just let God bless you and you give no one but him all the credit for it.  After all, his blessings don't stop with you.  Imagine how self centered the Christian mentality would be if his love, grace, mercy and other blessings did.  However, his intent is that those blessings get shared/spread around the world for HIS glory and no one else's.  It's his global plan as he uses every single one of us individuals for his purpose.  It's that big picture of his that reveals the greatest [and] most incredible life purpose beyond ourselves, and is far bigger than us, that can't be explained in human words. Those $400 are for the Filipino people ["my" people], the Philippines...and the rest of the world that still needs to be introduced to a personal relationship with him.  It's for him.  This isn't the first time we've been blessed with such a big gift.  Yet, it was this night, and this incident, that seemed particularly fascinating for reasons I haven't quite found the words for.

As we drove away, later, we gabbed of God's amazing methods of proving just how strongly he desires to work through us...thus, how he clearly intends to keep his promise of continuing to provide for all our needs to get us to the Philippines....for Him.

on the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel  for some sweet tea......

.....and some great southern food.  Fried okra is always a must.

Wycliffe Banquet

Last night was nice.....VERY nice.  Mike had gotten us tickets for the Wycliffe banquet that apparently only happens every 18 months in Prescott [held at the Prescott Resort].  This was an Associate banquet where participants are presented with the opportunity to volunteer in one of the many legs helping the translators on the field who are working with great sacrificial delight to create an alphabet and put into words unwritten languages all over the world.  With videos we were all given an in depth view of what Wycliffe Bible translation is about and how just as important volunteers are in supporting fields of sorts.  None of the information was new to me, as this is the mission legacy I grew up in. It was fun seeing video clips of   familiar places in the Philippines, to hear my people talk of the impact of having God's Word in their language (in their  Filipino accent) and see familiar missionary faces from my childhood still working in the Philippines.  However, the most intriguing part was the new innovations being used as technology continues to evolve.  

It's always fun to sit at a well dressed table.  

Dori was hungry and that salad (of a big wedge of iceberg lettuce, blue cheese, bacon and ranch) was calling her name

I was looking forward to the coffee which didn't get offered until after the main course

So, obviously, it was intended to go with desert which stared at us almost the entire evening

The rolls were divinely warm, soft and light....

and oh so perfect with butter....

If to escape self-inflicted embarrassment, I would've asked for several baskets more

Mom was the table missionary celebrity.  This was the nice new young pastoral couple from the Covenant church just up the street and they were very much engaged in conversation with mom about her work and their love for Wycliffe.  Funny how you can meet people of mutual friends in these type of settings....friends working around the world.  

I didn't hear the entire conversations, but it was obviously all good.  Being one of two Wycliffe members in the room, she was later given the mic and asked to share where and how she has served the past 40 years.

Should've inquired as to what the heavenly sauce was so luciously draped over the chicken.  It was divine.

Mike and I really like wild rice....we were copaceticly happy.

Michael shared his testimony of how he came to Christ.  It was very interesting how his personality fit like  hand and glove with his desire to learn linguistics and be lead to a group of people that was so lost they literally lived and died by each other's swords.  Thus, the result of him taking in two teenage village girls who's father was killed (followed shortly thereafter by their mother).  Both of the girls have given him grand kids and he's been living among the people for over 12 years devoted to getting their language translated so they can read the Bible.  

Michael, an American, seemed so uncomfortable as if to feel out of place in his own country.  This is something that only fellow field missionaries can possibly fathom.  For they themselves have experienced the luxury of adapting to an overseas culture and meeting the locals at a heart level that is so foreign to the American culture and society.  I know, I'm an overseas missionary kid myself.  Not to carp on America in the least.  But having experienced the culture shock of coming back to America, I could see and feel it in his demeanor on so many levels.  I'm sure being oceans apart from his wife and family of four kids and two grand kids made it even more difficult.

There are still thousands of  people groups who's languages are not put on paper, written or translated.  Wycliffe needs the help of all that hear the call.

God Inspired

Seen the movie? Saw it with Sue last night. Not exactly what I was expecting. It's a movie for every Christian. Put's a new perspective on.....not going to ruin it for you. I'm perplexed, surprised, impressed and wowed that Hollywood took on the story/concept. It's a keeper, it's a buy, it's actually God inspired......

Preach it, Brother!

RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH SERVICE

- Genesis 47:13-27

I would love to give the Pastor of this predominantly black church in Virginia a hug and a high five. This guy is obviously a leader and not one of the sheep. Perhaps we should each decide who our real leader is…………. It is amazing to see that very little has changed in 4,000 years.

Good morning, brothers and sisters; it's always a delight to see the pews crowded on Sunday morning, and so eager to get into God's Word.

Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will to the 47th chapter of Genesis, we'll begin our reading at verse 13, and go through verse 27. Brother Ray, would you stand and read that great passage for us? ....(reading)... Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray... So we see that economic hard times fell upon Egypt , and the people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had built. So the people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a great tax increase, and gave it all to him willingly in return for grain. And this went on until their money ran out, and they were hungry again. So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock -their cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey - to barter for grain, and verse 17 says that only took them through the end of that year....

But the famine wasn't over, was it? So the next year, the people came before Pharaoh and admitted they had nothing left, except their land and their own lives. "There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh." So they surrendered their homes, their land, and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves into slavery to him, in return for grain.

What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters? That turning to the government instead of to God to be our provider in hard times only leads to slavery? Yes. That the only reason government wants to be our provider is to also become our master? Yes. But look how that passage ends, brothers and sisters! Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt , in the land of Goshen .. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly." God provided for His people, just as always has! They didn't end up giving all their possessions to government, no, it says they gained possessions!

But I also tell you a great truth today, and an ominous one. We see the same thing happening today - the government today wants to "share the wealth "once again, to take it from us and redistribute it back to us. It wants to take control of healthcare, just as it has taken control of education, and ration it back to us, and when government rations it, then government decides who gets it, and how much, and what kind. And if we go along with it, and do it willingly, then we will wind up no differently than the people of Egypt did four thousand years ago - as slaves to the government, and as slaves to our leaders.

What Mr. Obama's government is doing now is no different from what Pharaoh's government did then, and it will end the same. And a lot of people like to call Mr. Obama a "Messiah," don't they? Is he a Messiah? A savior? Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his slaves, "You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh"? Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of mine; and Mr. Obama is no Messiah! No, brothers and sisters, if Mr. Obama is a character from the Bible, then he is Pharaoh.

Bow with me in prayer, if you will. Lord, You alone are worthy to be served, and we rely on You, and You alone. We confess that the government is not our deliverer, and never rightly will be. We read in the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when Samuel warned the people of what a ruler would do, where it says "And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day." And Lord, we acknowledge that day has come. We cry out to you because of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves as a nation. Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray for revival, and we pray for deliverance from those who would be our masters. Give us hearts to seek You and hands to serve You, and protect Your people from the atrocities of Pharaoh's government. In God We Trust...

Koinonia Challenge

We visited a church this Sunday. We went with hunger and search for Koinonia in it's true essence. It was unrealistic of me to expect to find it on the first visit. But even more intriguing was the teaching. It was surprisingly profound and I took from it a new challenge. Okay, so it's not exactly NEW, per se. But it definitely put a new angle on Love. So, now I've been challenged yet again:

Making an invisible God invisible to those around me...with His love....

Wannna try?

Koinonia Ungrasped

The idea of community denotes a “common unity” of purpose and interests. By engaging in this united relationship a new level of consciousness and conscience emerges that spurs the group to higher order thinking and action, thus empowering and encouraging its members to exist in a mutually beneficial relationship. Thus community and family become closely intertwined, because aiming at a common unity strives to overcome brokenness, divisiveness, and, ultimately gaining wholeness with each of the members, with their environment, and with their God. By giving mutual support, friendship and family merge. Both fellowship and community imply an inner and outer unity. No where in the framework of community is their implied a hierarchy of command and control. While there is leadership, the leader’s task is to focus energy, and align interests, not impose control.

Koinonia (fellowship) creates a brethren bond which builds trust and, especially when combined with the values of Wisdom, Virtue and Honor, overcomes two of humanity’s deepest fears and insecurities: being betrayed and being demeaned."

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Small groups [especially for large churches] were most likely intended to accomplish this. The majority of evenglical church goers searching don't ever find it. The entire nation, as a whole, is constantly checking the minute hand on the clock. Life is stressfully fast paced especially for families looking to get ahead, much less stay ahead, of the economy. Everytime a new church comes into town with good teaching, the love and fellowship seakers flock to it.

Take a look at the Italians. Families and friends get together....and they know how to get together. Time almost stands still for them. They banter, they laugh....but looking from the outside, they seem so close. The food is prepared with [literally] love. Half of the gathering is spent on food prep. Very little emphasis is put on how much time they have to squeeze all that in, guards are let down, it's shoulder to shoulder being real with each other. There is no masking and there is no fluff. Maybe as parts of Italy become more time conscience this is becoming less and less. But there's still a majority of Italians that really know how to do a gathering....and they do so quite regularly.

Many still feel forced by the shortcutting methods of fellowship because basically everyone else runs on the same method...without having first thought for themselves and asked themselves of just how beneficial it is. It was God-instilled in all of us to have the tight community and family merge. That's what church goers are looking for. Maybe not all have been able to define that for themselves. But ultimately, they continue to search because they have yet to find it. As churches grow, so do the politics within. The more politics, the harder it is for all sheep to stay close together as issues come and go because that's just how fallible man is.

The American church has yet to fully grasp what that Koinonia fellowship truly is and how to truly experience it. And for the very few scattered who have, they are a growing community. But until they find each other, they live in desparate frustration and hunger that very few understand.