NTM

My cousin asked me to perform the wedding ceremony for her, can you believe that??  The wedding took place a few weeks ago.    I thought I would talk about the most appropriate topic – love.  I also thought it was going to be an easy subject to study and figure out – wrong.    I did end up enoying studying this topic a little more.  Here is what I learned along the way and this is an excerpt from the wedding. . . .

I have found that other languages do a better job with this word — love. Languages such as the greek language have distinct words for love. They have different words that all describe love but are very diverse.
I chose to dig a little deeper at the different words for love in greek because I believe it can really help us understand what type of love we have for someone else and what kind of love someone else might have for us.
I focused in on three of the words and want to present them, much like the order of the progression of a relationship.
First we have Philia  which means a love between friends. It is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle. It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality and familiarity. It denotes a general type of love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity. We probably would include many people and things in this category.
This would include sports and other recreational activities. This would also include those people that we work with or neighbors down the street that we would consider friends even though we may not intentionally spend time with them outside our daily routines.

(more…)

We recently started a college / career Bible study and we jokingly chose the theme "the underground" partly because we are meeting in a basement.  This theme caused me to look into the underground churches around the world.  I am fascinated and humbled by the stories of Christians that have been and still are being persecuted for their faith.  One book in particular that has captured my attention is called Tortured for Christ.  It tells the experiences of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand who spent fourteen years in and out of prisons in Romania during the 1950’s and 1960’s for his involvement in the underground church.  You can even request a free copy of this book through voice of the martyrs.  Just click on the link below :  Voice of the Martyrs – free copy. 

I am also going through 1 John with a men’s Bible study.   We talked about verse one of 1 John for an hour last week!  This week we will be tackling verses two through four.  lol  It is amazing how much is packed into such small phrases.  We are using a commentary called Maximum Joy by David Anderson.  If you are interested in digging into 1 John, I highly recommend using this book to help guide you.

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

(more…)

God has taught me so much over the last few months. I continue to learn more about who He is. I have been constantly bombarded with the truth that He loves and cares more for the people around me and myself than I can ever imagine. I have learned that He is ultimately in control. I have learned that I do not need to understand the details of His handiwork, all I need to do is rest.  I have learned that His ways are much higher than my ways and that although His timing may not seem practical to me, how can I question the Creator of all in something as simple of timing when He is outside of it.  

With all these truths and promises,  I continue to have moments and days where I can’t help but question myself, “Are you really going to Mozambique?”.  I have been challenged by others to keep my eyes fixed on this goal.  While this is true and right, I know that If we only fix our eyes on future goals, we might miss out on opportunities that He presents to us everyday.  It is through everyday life and opportunities that we grow and persevere. 

My challenge to you and myself – Pray for daily opportunities to have your faith stretched.  Pray for God to put a desire in your heart to take hold of these daily chances and live out the truths and promises from His Word. 

  There was a couple of steps that needed to be taken in order to become an official member of the field of Mozambique.  On July 15th, I received my official letter of acceptance! This is another step that has been completed in the process of starting my ministry over in Mozambique.  I have been in contact with field leadership for about a year now.  I have had the privilege of working by email and skype with future coworkers.  This work has included fielding research and discussing options on the school that will officially open in September of 2009.  Things are continuing to progress over there and although things are not "set in stone"  we are moving forward with making plans for facilities that will be able to accommodate grades kindergarten through eighth. 

One of my goals over the next year is to be able to meet up with family, friends, and supporters  that I have not seen in a long time.  I want to be able to spend time with them before I leave the states.  Along with this goal, I am trying to connect with churches that are interested in my ministry.   I have had some churches in Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri that have expressed interest in my ministry.  I have decided to start planning out trips to connect with individuals and churches in these areas.  I was not sure at the beginning of the summer how I would be able to travel to all of these locations and one of my supporters here in Waukesha decided to surprise me with a huge blessing.  They agreed to buy a car and allow me to use it for a whole year!  This has been a huge answer to prayer.  I have been able to begin making plans, here are some of the places I will be traveling to. . .

(more…)

The question that I am asked most these days, is what are your plans?  To be honest, I find myself becoming anxious these days.  These anxious feelings come from the uncertainty of what is ahead.  I still catch myself wanting to know what lies ahead.  As I look forward to these next steps, I constantly remind myself of two things – the plans He has for me and the victory I have in Him for every situation.  The first thing is that I know that He has plans for me, He is in control, and He knows exactly how the next couple of years will play out.  In Psalms it says in his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.  This tells me that I need to continue to prepare and make plans, but also allow Him to guide and direct with the confidence that His ways are much higher and better than mine.   The victory that I have in Him is talked about in Corithians.  Paul says, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.   This verse reminds me that the Christian life is faced with lots of big and small decisions and opportunities – all of which are surpassed by the fact that victory has been won.   

The picture above includes the people who are currently serving in Mozambique.  These are the coworkers that I am hoping to work alongside with in order to accomplish His work in Mozambique.  The picture below are some of my future students at the school in Mozambique.   I am not sure what is going on over there??? lol   Maybe I need to try and get over there sooner!!! 

More than sixty of us from Riverglen church set out for a week in Juarez, Mexico.  It is awesome to think now how many things happened that week that God had planned out for us long before any of us decided to even go on this trip.  Two people were added to our group within days of us even leaving.  We had it planned out to build four homes that week, but His plans for us were to build five! 

We split up into groups of ten to fifteen and constructed five houses in a little colonia.  Each day a vacation bible school program was also run in order to invite kids from this neighborhood to sing, play games, make some crafts, and most importantly to hear more about Christ.  We held vacation bible school at the iglesia de paz (church of peace).  This church is serving as a light in this community and how nice it was to be able to point all these families in the direction of a local church that is preaching The Word. 

What did we come away with?  We were able to experience joy, not only because some material needs were met, but because we were able to share something far more valuable than the construction of a house.  We were able to share our love for Him and let the people there see a glimpse of His love for them, through us.  We had the privilege of praying and worshipping the same God in different languages and on the day that we dedicated the houses, some of the families reminded us how awesome it will be one day when the language barriers will be broken and we will worship Him together in unison. 

I became friends with Aaron Luse my freshmen year in college.  Soon after becoming friends he announced his plans to eventually go on with a missions organization called New Tribes, marry his high school sweetheart, and become a missionary to Papua New Guineau.   Aaron did all of these things, including being a father of three daughters!  He is currently translating the lessons in order to teach a people group from Creation to the Cross.    I am very privileged to call him friend and I cannot wait to see how God continues to use him and his family in this ministry.   Here is a letter I received from him a couple of weeks ago.