Waking Up

Recently my wife and I have been talking about losing weight.  We both would like to look better, but I personally feel like I lack any real discipline to look the way I would actually like to.  I know that doesn’t sound very positive, and hey I said we’ve been TALKING about it, not that we were committed to anything just yet.  Meditating upon these thoughts and attitudes though, I wonder, when would I ever look or feel my best if not now?  Why not start?  A person only lives once, and it’s not like I’m going to feel like doing this kind of thing when I’m any older.

I think for the past 8 to 9 months my brain has been on auto pilot.  I haven’t thought much about anything besides work, and when I’m home I just veg out.  I am happy to say though, that God is graceful and patient.  He has always been there, nudging me through hard times (and in my mind it seems that’s all there has been in the past year).  There’s been different thoughts forming in my mind though, thoughts once again of India, and missions, discipleship  and writing again!  LIFE!

A good cowboy friend once told me that anything good worth doing is never easy.  Jesus said that difficult and narrow is the path that leads to life.  I think I’m learning all over again that complacency, being comfortable is not the best thing.  Sometimes, we even have to determine in our hearts to sacrifice that we might have a little more of who we should be in the Lord.  I think I’m actually starting to wake up, and right now, life looks pretty good. 

Karen and I just might get creative with this weight thing…ultimately though, there will be discipline, spiritually and physically.

We’ve been learning a lot about the Holy Spirit in Sunday School class lately.  I believe for one of the first times in my life, that I’m sensing His hand here, working well in my family. 

Thank you Lord for your love and patience…

Discipleship Takes Two…Especially When It’s Painful

Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him…. (Acts 16:1-3; ESV)  This small excerpt in the book of Acts is easily looked over, but I believe it shows significant truth in the relationship between Paul, Timothy and the bond they had with God and through God. 

Timothy was already a disciple before Paul met him in Lystra.  He believed in the writings of the Prophets which were taught to him by his mother and grandmother, he believed the Word of God, and in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul found that this young disciple had a good reputation among men and wished to take him under his wing.  To teach and help Timothy grow as a believer in Jesus meant time spent with the young man, therefore he wished to take him and teach him to help spread the gospel.

Before Paul takes Timothy anywhere, Paul took and circumcised him “because of the Jews who were in those places.”  Apparantly there was an issue with Timothy accompanying Paul if he was not circumcised as they were.  His mother was a Jew, but his father was a greek and I would imagine that he didn’t see much need for the Jewish tradition.  Truthfully, Paul probably didn’t see much need for it either, and as far as we know he had this done BECAUSE of the Jews that were in that place, not for any other reason.  I’m not writing to dispute the validity of circumcision, Jewish tradition, or even the reason for why Paul did it, the point is, Paul thought it needed to be done and TIMOTHY ACTUALLY DID IT!

When I think of Timothy, I would imagine that he was at least 16 years of age, give or take a couple of years.  Question:  How many teenagers do you know of that would get circumcised because of what other folks about them thought?  How many grown men for that matter?  Paul obviously had some influence with this guy.  The Lord had even more influence, as the whole reason for this operation was so that Timothy could go with Paul.  

If Paul had never come to Lystra, would the thought ever had come to the young disciple to go to these lengths in order that the gospel be spread?  I believe not.  The Bible speaks of the relationship between these two men as a father to a son, Paul loved Timothy-Timothy loved Paul.  Timothy submitted to the authority of Paul willingly and did as he asked, just as Paul submitted to the authority of God.  In fact, I would even go as far as to say that, early in his Christian life, Paul was how Timothy knew what God wanted him to do, God gave marching orders to Paul, Paul gave marching orders to Timothy. 

I’m learning lately, that to have a “Paul” in your life is so important.  It takes guess work out of what God wants.  A mature Christian actively following the Lord can be such a tool for the Lord and go great lengths in discipling a young Christian who is also trying to serve the Lord but doesn’t quite know how to go about it.  It also means that sometimes, it’s painful.  It means that sometimes that mature Christian leader must “push” and encourage the younger to do things he never would think to do otherwise.  Such has been my life lately, public speaking, praying, teaching classes in church, going to foreign countries, and convicting those who would otherwise contradict the gospel we so lovingly believe in.  More times than not, I originally balked at the propositions my “Paul” would give, but those times were met with encouragement, a gentle nudge letting me know that what I lacked, God had enough and more than enough to get through.  Because of these times that he walked through my faithlessness with me, I’m not the man I was when I first believed in my Savior and Lord Jesus.  My faith has been stretched and I have been molded, and I appreciate the man who has committed himself to taking the time to involve me in God’s ministry, and be my friend.  Thank you.  It’s not always easy, and sometimes it’s even painful, but I thank God for the men that He puts in our lives to lead through our Lord Jesus, they are rare.

For those of you who wish to serve God with all your heart and have no idea what I’m speaking of, pray that the Lord would put someone in your own life to lead you as Paul did Timothy; so one day you, yourself, can lead faithful men as well.  It’s so much easier to go through those tough times when you’d rather just quit when the pain of “circumcision” comes.  That person God puts in your life will encourage you and keep you and lift you up when needed, and you may find that you NEED it more often than not.

Having Financial Peace, the Flu, Termites, and a New Outlook on Prayer

I thought I was going to sail through the flu season this year with no problems.  Be one of those lucky (or blessed) few who in the middle of March start bragging that I didn’t catch “the bug,” as though I had something to do with it.  About half the people I come in contact with on a daily basis has had this stuff at one time or another over the past month and I was feeling pretty good, until it hit me 2 nights ago.  Now it’s all I can do to stay out of the bathroom today, though the chills have finally left me.  Hopefully my body is just flushing out the sick from my body.  Despite my sickness, I’m happy to announce Karen and I have met one of our financial goals in paying off the first bill of our “debt snowball.”  A doctor bill that I incurred at the emergency room 4 or 5 months ago, next is the student loan, which has been hanging around so long it’s like a pet.  If the government isn’t lying to us about the “stimulus package” check that we should be getting around the end of May, that nasty thing will be paid off as well; freeing up enough money to hopefully have our truck paid off two years early.  Once all this happens, we will finally be able to start saving up for a real house, while repairing this one at the same time.  Speaking of, we’ve started painting!  Those of you have been here know that’s a huge step for us.  With all the repairs we’re doing, we have had to call a couple of exterminators, lest the termites eat away all our new work, who have quoted us anywhere from $1500 to $1700.  They’ve offered to finance us but we have promised ourselves never to borrow money again unless it’s for a house, so I guess a new envelope will have to be made called “Death to Termites.”  It may take another year to save up enough money, but we will not be saddled with another monthly payment right now.  Orchin Man thought I was nuts, maybe I am. I’ve been studying a lot on prayer lately.  I realize I am missing a lot when I’ve prayed before.  Using God’s name as “Lord” about 50 times in one prayer, but not really praying to anybody.  I’m almost convinced that teenagers pray better than adults every time they bow their head.  For some reason, once we reach adult hood, a lot of us, especially men, stop being personal.  We start putting on the tough guy facade, and pray in the same way.  We are very vague when we pray, “bless this, and bless that,” “bless preacher and his family, bless our church family,” “take care of the sick,” “bless those that are faithful,” and don’t forget the magic phrase we use just to remind God He has to answer our prayers we say, “in Jesus name, Amen.”  I’m convinced that prayer is more than that, and have been learning that as well.  I’m hoping to teach what I learn in our church to a group of men, but am nervous about it.  I’m so much younger than the men who I think would take this seriously.  Nevertheless, today in my devotions I read Jeremiah chapter 1 as this “fear of man” was on my mind.  In it Jeremiah quotes God as saying,    ” Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’       For you shall go to all to whom I send you,       And whatever I command you, you shall speak.        Do not be afraid of their faces,       For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD. So, I am going to teach, humbly, but also enthusiastically I hope, enough that God inspires and we start praying and leading our church and community and even more into revival.

Banjara For Christ 2007-2008 (Day 8)

Our teaching sessions ended this evening.  I almost hated for them too, the lessons I mean.  I’ve had so much fun teaching the Pastors of Banjara.  They are so attentive to what I have to say.  To what we ALL have had to say.

Steve has taught all his lessons on church planting, and they are not what a person might expect.  I know I was surprized at what he is teaching; though I don’t know why, all he taught we’ve discussed before.  I guess I had just forgotten what I once had learned.  Steve taught starting churches “the Master’s Way.”  Through a “person of peace” and then after that, theach them to observe those things that I was teaching about, disciplines through the wheel. 

“The Master’s Way” of discipleship is what we called my portion of lessons.  These were ALL methods in which Jesus showed his disciples during his time with them on earth.  Taking in the Word, praying, fellowship, and witnessing centered around the person of Jesus Christ.  All of these of course come after we surrender our lives to Him.  I went through a wheel illustration made up by Dawson Trotman, teaching the four very basic disciplines that every follower of Christ should have.

Richard’s been teaching personal evangelism, “witnessing the Master’s Way.”  He showed us how to use the Ten Commandments as a school master to show us our sin and how to use tracts as a witnessing tool.  He was nervous, but he did just great…I was nervous too.  We found that most of our lessons came across really well any time we involved the men in our exercises in a role playing fashion.  They played in skits, they drew pictures, they laughed and at one point I cried.  Once I had 5 of them laying in the floor piled on top of eachother to tell a parable Jesus taught about prayer.  These times were so precious and the Lord provided so much to say.  I can’t express my joy at these new and old friends we have made.  They are so open and honest and lively.  I love their culture.

Tonight was a night for singing and dancing.  Steve got some of it on video.  It was a lot of fun.

We just finished dinner with a Catholic priest who owns the hostel we’ve been staying in.  It was a fine meal but our normal Indian friends were not around.  Tomorrow we get to sleep in, which is a blessing, and then we have one last service to say farewell and then we are heading home.  I’m ready.

Banjara For Christ 2007-2008 (Day 4)

It’s 6 AM and I’ve been awake off and on for at least 3 hours.  I have a head ache too.  I’m thinking my sinuses are starting to clog up.  I prayed about it and it seems to be a little better.

Something about my attitude this year.  I find I’m missing home more and sooner than I did the last time around.  I know I don’t care for it much – my attitude that is.  So I’m trying to change it.  I’m trying not to complain out loud, in fact, I’ve been pretty quiet just to keep from it.  It might be that we just need to get back into the swing of things.

Pastor Steve has been telling about his dreams lately.  He’s had several; most are comical but last night was a little disturbing he said.  He doesn’t have any premise for dreaming the things he has. 

He spoke about walking down to our open air dining area and being beaten by and Indian man there.  After that he dreamed about a beast, a serpent like demon with a chainsaw who he had no choice but to fight with for exactly one hour.  Otherwise the demon would cut him up with his chainsaw and eat both he and his friends.  The first action Pastor took was to pick up a card table but found that was no good against a demon with a working chainsaw.  So he took a different approach and began singing praise and worship songs.  There were other Banjara pastors and friends who encircled the fight and he encouraged them to sing as well.  Upon hearing the songs, the beast was defeated and he was unable to fight.

Pastor thought that maybe the Lord was trying to warn him about spiritual warfare sometime this week.  I usually don’t put much stock into dreams.  But in this country, I would expect God to do anything.  This entire process this time around – from getting money to being here today, battling this headache - seems like a never ending battle; so I don’t know what to expect this week.

Lisa and I are on the road now.  We just stopped for a drink of water.  Well…they did anyway.  We can’t drink this water.  The villages we went to so far are the most remote I have seen both this year and last year.  The gospel message we’ve preached has been pretty much the same approach as last year, teach creation to the ressurection, giving a simple plan of salvation as “all of sinned” and showing them they are separated from God willfully and belieing in Christ is that bridge to everlasting life because He is the son of God.  Lisa has been giving a short testimony and helping play a few games with the kids.  That is one thing I’ve noticed here, you embrace the people’s children and they embrace you and your words.  Several Banjara men and women have come forward wanting to be believers; that and be prayed for about their health issues and finances.

Lisa fell ill on the way back to the hostel tonight, she was sick to her stomach.  Her neck was sunburned pretty bad, so she may have just got too much sun.  Might have been the car ride.  I don’t blame her, I had to take a motion sickness pill too.

All in all the trip is going well.  There was one instance today that I thought we might have a fight on our hands.  A man did not want us preaching Jesus in HIS village.  The man is apparrantly a big time idol worshiper and he’s the elder who gets all the cash and sacrifices offered to the temple from his village.  One of the pastors in our group has preached there 3 times before and a man there converted to Christ and quit offering money and sacrifices to the idols as he’s taking a stand for Jesus.  The elder of the village was furious because he told the pastor not to come back.  Now, he shows up with white people from America preaching Jesus.  I thought fists were going to fly, but was able to talk them into leaving as Christ told us to ”shake the dust from our feet” and move on.  

The pastor who had been there before said when they go around and sing praises in Christ’s name in the villages, it drives out evil spirits. The demons of idol worship are defeated and powerless when the songs are sung so the Holy Spirit then has room to work and people will quit worshipping idols and quit drinking.  Sounds a lot like Steve’s dream doesn’t it?

I fell asleep after we got back from visiting the thandas.  Sush woke us up to come visit and share our experiences in the villages.  I made it through but my head was pounding.  I don’t know if my head has ever hurt that bad.  I was dizzy and started feeling sick to my stomach because of the pain.  I couldn’t eat anything or even write like I wanted too.  Sush offered for me to call Karen and the boys as everyone else had called their family.  I got the answering machine.  I asked her to pray for me because of the headache that I was dealing with.  I went to bed just sick.  Whatever happened, the headache was better by morning.  Maybe God allows things like that to happen because He wants us to know the love and support of our family through prayers.  I have no doubt Karen was praying the moment she heard the message on the machine.  I will covet her prayers specifically from now on. 

Banjara For Christ 2007-2008 (Day 3)

At 2:30 AM we arrived in Hyderabad.  It took at least another hour to find our luggage; Richard’s checked suit case never arrived.  At 4:00 AM, we laid our heads down on pillows to get a few hours rest.  Now it’s 8:00 AM Hyderabad time and I’m wide awake.  It’s funny how just a few hours of laying down and resting can revive a person.

The city hasn’t changed much in a year.  The same terrible things I saw from last time are still here.  People with deformities are begging in the streets.  Dozens of grown adults lay trying to stay warm under store awnings just wanting a decent nights rest.  It makes me wonder how so many people can be in the same sad situation.  Is it a lack of will that keeps them in the streets?  Have they just grown so accustomed to begging that they just won’t do anything else?

Last night a boy came up to our group begging for money.  His arm was so mangled and gnarley looking.  It wasn’t bad enough that his hand appeared to be drawn up – but his fingers were bent toward a misplaced wrist, the opposite direction of his palm.  His arm formed almost an “S” which should be impossible with a human arm; but there it was.  The boy said nothing, he just kept putting that poor, freakish hand up to his mouth as if to say “eat, eat.”  You could almost get the impression he knew how bad his arm looked and he used it to his greatest advantage.  I felt so bad for this guy.  How in the world can men live this way?

Today’s schedule is some what up in the air.  Sush and Damodar are supposed to pick us up at around 10.  That is all we know for certain at this point.  I’m missing home already.

We’ve arrived at our “hostel” in a different town than last year.  It’s better than the one in Khummum I think.  We all have plenty of room and the room itself seems cool enough.  Though right now it’s pretty warm everywhere.  I’m probably just a little nervous.  We’re getting ready to go out and preach in just one village Sush said; though I’ll not be surprized if it turns out to be two or three.  I hope I can remember how to do this.  Lisa Forehand I believe will be accompanying me.  She’s about to see a side of me she’s never seen before…

Indeed, not just one village, but three.  The evangelism went well.  A couple of dozen people expressed an interest in becoming Christians.  I learned a couple of things myself.  Lisa did good as well.  Tomorrow will be a long day, but right now I am so tired the week looks as though it will never end.  I’ll shower in the morning…

Banjara For Christ 2007-2008 (Day 2)

I’m not certain I’ve recorded the date correctly in my journal or not.  Based on where we are in the air and all that I’m not real sure what day it is.  All went well in Amsterdam.  We were finally able to stretch our legs for a few moments before boarding our connecting flight to Hyderabad.  There sure are a lot of souvenirs i would have liked to take home to Karen, but it would just be more dead weight to carry while traveling.  Maybe I can get her something a bit lighter than porcelain or wooden shoes, pearls maybe.  There are a few advantages to being a missionary in the world’s capital for pearls.

Sleep came FINALLY!  I took a three hour power nap when we first boarded the plane heading for Hyderabad.  My brain seems to be functioning properly once more.  I was able to write some additional notes down for my lesson on the 3rd spoke of the discipleship wheel.  Thoughts came to me that weren’t necessarily there before.

I keep looking at my watch, I’m not sure why, all it tells me is what time it is in Oklahoma.  Right now it’s 12:09 PM back home.  I imagine the boys are probably playing with their Christmas toys.  Karen is probably doing something to keep herself busy.  Maybe she’s making the kids’ lunch.  The time away from them already seems like forever.

This flight has had some of the nicest flight attendants yet.  They certainly try to make you feel comfortable.  One stewardess is a bit sassy though.  This flight is laid back too.  I’ve never been on a plane where so many people are just standing and walking around and visiting.  It makes it crowded at times, but people are polite to move as best they can when you need to get past them.  I’ve met a nice Indian man who has had a few too many scotch and sodas, he’s friendly and apparantly approves of the way I keep a journal of our journeys.  Almost there I hope…

Banjara For Christ Mission 2007-2008 (Day 1)

Our destination is Hyderabad, India – in the province of Andreh Pradesh.  We plan to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the Banjara tribe of India.  Pastor Damodar and his wife Sush are making all necessary arrangements for our arrival and we have done what we can to prepare.  I’ve spent the last few nights working on outlines for the lessons that I will be teaching while there; I still have two more outlines to create.

I was telling Jana, a woman from our church who is going to be working with the Banjara pastor’s wives and children, that this seems like a dream.  Things have been happening so fast and time has passed so quickly.  Though I’ve known about this trip for months, and have been working and praying and asking that provisions will be made for the trip, it is still hard to believe they were and we are now on our way.

There are six of us going on this mission trip:  myself, Janna, who I’ve already mentioned, Pastor Steve, Richard, Julie (Richard’s daughter) and Lisa.  This is Steve’s fourth year to go, this is my second.  The rest of the group, it is their first.  But they are hopeful and happy to be aboard.  I’m happy to have them.  This will be the first time women from our church ahve come along since Steve has been coming to India, we look forward to seeing how they contribute.

The plan is to fly from Tulsa to Memphis, have an hour and a half lay over and then fly another 9 hours to Amsterdam; have another hour and a half and then fly another 9 hours to Hyderabad.  Experience has proven I will be in “la-la land” as far as what the actual time is until I am in India.  I’ll keep my watch set by the time at home until we get to our final destination.  This way I will at least have an idea as to what Karen and the boys are doing while I’m away (sleeping, working, etc.).

We are on our way!  Karen dropped me off and saw I made it throgh security before she left.  I sure am missing her already.  Our flight was delayed.  I personally am not surprized as it is the day after Christmas.  Still…it bodes ill.  We can only handle so much of a delay or we’ll miss our connecting flight and when you only have an hour and a half, each minute seems to be precious since you’ll be on a plane for 9 hours at a time.

Okay…had to check one of my carry ons, not planned but still not surprized, the delay gave us only about 20 minutes to get our checked carry ons and jump on our connecting flight in Memphis.  Problem is, the checked carry ons weren’t right there waiting!  Steve ran on ahead with Julie and Jana.  Me, Richard and Lisa stayed behind for the bags, and man…we barely made it on board!  Pastor Steve thought for sure the plane was going to be leaving without us.  Thank the Lord it didn’t!  The airport in Memphis is BIG!  We were all out of breath once we boarded.

At first it appeared I was going to be sitting in the middle with Richard on the flight to Amsterdam, not that this is a bad thing – but sitting in the middle with ANYONE on a 9 hour flight is no fun.  This type of trip requires leg room and that’s hard to get when you don’t get an aisle seat.  Fortunately, Steve had an extra aisle seat open next to him and offered it to me.  I had more room; Richard had more room, and it worked out great.  As of right now we only have a little over 2 hours left on this flight, maybe we’ll have a chance to stretch our legs this time around.

Complacent: To be or not to be

Today was a strange day…

I slept in.  I hate sleeping in, but I find myself, more often than not, hitting the snooze button a lot more than what’s necessary and developed a nasty habit of just going back to sleep.  Because of this, I missed my devotion time, my prayer time, and most of all, just my alone time with God.  However, I found the day to be absolutely beautiful and having very little difficulty getting ready for work as I just accepted that my normal “alone time” just wasn’t going to happen because I woke up late.  When I got out the door, with a hot cup of coffee in hand, I was 10 minutes earlier than I normally am.  I had plenty of time to get to work without having to drive like a maniac.

The rest of the day went…GREAT!  Odd as it sounds.  I know, I know…a lot of folks in this mode of thinking would say that they missed their quiet time and so the rest of the day was “off.”  Well, I’m not going to say that I didn’t have that initial conviction…it was there.  But all in all, it was a good day.

I guess because I was in the mode of looking for Christ, opportunities came up today I may not have seen before.  Ways of pointing to Jesus that wasn’t just coming from a “good ole boy” but real issues that Christ looked at and gave stern warnings for.  Things like “beware the leaven of the Pharisees” (Matthew 16).  I was also able to share the verse that made me realize what it meant to actually know Christ and make him Lord of my life (Matthew 7:21-23).  I also was able to share how God is a God of second chances, and third, and fourth and even fifth chances, not that we should tempt Him, but that we should remember He is gracious, no matter how stupid or sinful we are.  Aren’t our loved ones blessed, aren’t we blessed, that when we would normally give up on a person, God says, ” here’s another chance, oh yes, and if they screw this one up, I’ll give them another.”  Praise God for His mercy.

I reflected on how easy it was, to wake up and just go, and have a great day, and the appeal that most Christians have just to run out the door as quick as we have what we “need.”  Not often do we think that the real NEED went sufficiently ignored, in fact, probably not even thought of.  Isn’t it easy to think the next day will be just as good, and the next, and the next?  Soon we are just running out the door everyday, asking the Lord to bless the day (and fooling ourselves that this is enough).  Maybe, this is the danger of complacency.  It sneaks up on you, one day you are serving the Lord, praying for people, having quiet time, genuinely caring for folks, and the next, it’s okay to excuse one ignored area of your life for another…the next…your soul is struggling to catch up with you as you’re running out the door. 

Be diligent church, be diligent to run the race as Paul encouraged us too (1 Corinthians 9:24).  Let us stop being complacent.