YWAM Tyler, TX

Well we have completed the applications for YWAM Tyler. We're really excited. We just need to get them in the mail, and hand out our references that we need to get from our Pastor and some friends. Then we wait and see if we get accepted. What an awesome time of reflection. Some of the questions on the application really made you think about your motives for doing it and your walk with Christ. Oh, and there's the section on if you die while doing the outreach YWAM's not responsible for shipping your body back to your home country. Lots of medical questions and junk like that too. What a good and gracious God we have that we have these opportunities to serve Him. We have the privilege of joining with Him in the greatest work. All glory be to God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

May His name be great among the nations!!

Cadbury Mini-Eggs

Easter is coming. Evidence is all over the place. Easter bunnies (which by the way is a pagan concept, if you don't believe me look it up http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/origin-of-the-easter-bunny-faq.htm) are making there way into stores along with the usual compliments of assorted candies and eggs and other various decorations.

My wife and I are especially fond of the Cadbury Mini-Eggs. We look forward to this time of year with great eagerness since this is the only time that we can purchase them. If you've never had them, don't try them, they're addictive. Thinking about how eagerly we look forward to those little pieces of candy that aren't particularly good for you and only offer a short burst of satisfaction makes me wonder why we don't long as much for the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of His reign as ruler of God's kingdom. We all spend so much time and energy longing for earthly things that God and His Kingdom get lost in the shuffle.

As Robin and I have been preparing to enter the mission field, it has become increasingly clear that our whole way of thinking needs to change to be more focussed on fulfilling the Great Commission. God's desire is that His name will be glorified throughout the earth, and nothing should stand in the way of that, not material things, not our comfortable lives, and not even family. Robin's parents have been less than overjoyed at the thought of us packing up and leaving with their grandchildren (they might miss us as well). Lately God has been laying some verses on Robin to get the point accross that we are to be obedient no matter what. Here are a few of the verses that have come up in her Bible reading lately:

Mark 10:24-31

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!"

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

Matthew 8:18-22

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Matthew 10:34-39

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
" 'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -
a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

These verses are sometimes hard to hear, but speak the truth blunty. Following Christ is not to be a walk in the park with everything going well and good. The Christian life is going to marked with suffering because you have chosen to set yourself apart as His follower and are willing to do anything that He desires for you. What do you need to give up to show your allegiance to Christ and the furthering of His Kingdom? Is it not going to see movies that are unfit for anyone, especially Christians, to see (like the current movie Watchmen (for a review see here))? Is it not giving in to gluttony? Gossip? Porn? What sets you apart for Christ? We are called to be transformed, not to conform to this world. Jesus has called you to be His amassador to this world. We cannot be ambassadors of Christ and wallow in the filth of this world. The book of Revelation warns us of being lukewarm, either be hot or cold, otherwise you are in danger of being spewed.

Perspectives

Wow!! I'm a little behind on my summaries of class. Well here it goes.

Week 3: Your Kingdom Come.

The Kingdom of God has already come in the person of Jesus Christ. It is actively working to destroy the evil schemes of Satan and to prepare God's people for the ultimate coming of the Kingdom when Satan will be utterly destroyed. The disciples were charged with telling others about this truth. They were to show that Jesus ushered in the Kingdom and that the Holy Spirit is now using us a believers to defeat Satan in this present age. This gives us the hope that we need that we are not fighting on our own. God is behind us and in us to bring about the manifestation of His Kingdom.

Week 4: Mandate for the Nations

Jesus started His ministry with just a few followers, and concentrated almost all of His efforts on the Jewish people. He knew that the time of judgement for the Jews was coming soon so that their time of exposure to the Gospel would be short. He did reach out to a few Gentiles at this time to show His disciples what His future plans for them would be. They were ultimately to take the Gospel and spread it to the Gentiles. The disciples at the time were very confused when Jesus worked with the Gentiles. They thought that the Messiah was only coming to save the Jewish people they didn't understand that God's plan was for Jesus to pay the debt and redeem the entire world. Jesus told them in the Great Commission to "go and make disciples of all nations", they still didn't get that they were to reach all people not just the Jews. They were finally showed what to do with the vision that Peter saw on the rooftop just before the men from Conelius . They realized now that God wanted the message of the Gospel to reach all peoples of every tribe, tongue and nation.

I will try and do a couple more later today. I still have three weeks to catch up on.

To update our lives. It looks as if we are going to be applying for the CDTS in Tyler, Texas. We have the applications and need to start filling them out. We can't wait to get started, but have a lot to do before then in getting the house sold and a lot of other things sold as well. Please pray for us as we continue to prepare.

To God be the Glory

Confirmation abounds!!

God is amazing that's what I have to say.

If you don't know about the housing market in Michigan, let me tell you that it's really bad. The thought of trying to sell our house before leaving for CDTS was quite distressing. But again God in His infinite wisdom has taught us a lesson that He undoubtedly will teach us over and over and over again. With one phone call and talking separately to some other family members, we have two people already interested in buying our house. In Michigan that is near impossible. He is able to take care of seemingly impossible things. Like He's telling us "Therefore do not worry", sound familiar. Here's the full text from Matthew 6:25-34:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Why do we continue to worry? Why do we have to re-learn this lesson all the time? God will take care of us. It may not always be in the way that we like, but it is the way that He has in store for us.

We are humbled and in awe of His grace and mercy and guidance. He has proven His ability to provide for us. We will continue to trust in Him to bring us into His work for His kingdom.

May the Name of the Lord be praised.

Peace

Wow, it's amazing the peace that God grants. If my unemployment had happened at any other time, both Robin and I would have been freaking out. But God has definitely been granting us peace during this time and during our quest to find His will and join in with Him.

We are currently looking into two different CDTSes, one in Lebanon, PA, the other in Tyler, TX. What's really turning us off to the one in PA is that they usually do their outreach portion in the Ukraine, and we really have no desire to go there, but we'll see what God has in store for us. We really like the site of the TX one. You can see information on both schools here:

http://www.ywamtyler.org/index.html

and here:

http://www.ywampa.org/

After the CDTS we hope to move to a small YWAM base in Creel, Mexico to help serve a tribe of Tarahumara Indians that live in the area around Creel. We've been looking at pictures of the area and of the people and are falling in love with both. My passion is to reach the unreached peoples of Mexico, and while the Tarahumara people aren't on this list we felt it would be a great stepping stone into the area of reaching the unreached people. According to joshuaproject.net there are 14 unreached people groups in Mexico. Our job as Christians is to bring the gospel to all the world making disciple of ALL nations. The use of nations in the Great Commission is not referring to the Geo-political nations that exist in the world today, but rather the different people groups that are present in the world. Reaching out to these people and bringing them the good news of Jesus Christ is an exciting and wonderful task that God wants us to undertake.

There is more information on YWAM Creel at: http://www.ywamcreel.com/home.htm

We trust in God's providence and are continually amazed at His goodness. We are feeling an incredible joy at being able to join with Him in His desire to bring His name to the world and bring the nations into worship of Him.

We continue to ask for your prayers as God guides us down this path.

P.S. I will try and and review weeks 3 through 5 of Perspectives soon.

Confirmation..... sometimes a bitter pill.

Subtitle: Be Careful What You Ask For.

Robin and I this past week have been earnestly praying about doing a CDTS through YWAM this summer/fall. Robin has been wanting to do one for a couple of years, she was just waiting for me to come around. Well I finally felt we need to seriously consider doing it, even though it would mean quitting jobs and selling our house. The CDTS is 5-6 months long, and consists of 2-3 months training and then a 2-3 month outreach. Well be careful what you ask for. God may answer your prayers in a flash. We got a bit of confirmation yesterday, I was laid off from my job. We see this as a confirmation that God really wants us to pursue this and enter into full time missionary work. We are excited about what God is going to do for us and through us. We will continue to trust in Him, and trust in His provision to see us through and into the mission field.

Review of weeks 1 and 2.

Week 1 of Perspectives on the World Christian movement (Perspectives) was about God being a missionary God.  Since the creation of the world God has been working to bring all nations into deep worship of Himself and His name.  The readings were mostly about God's calling of Abram and how his promise to Abram was really showing that God was calling the nation of Israel to be His conduit of bless to the entire world.  The seed of Abraham would be used to bless all nations.  The people of Israel were chosen to bring the message of hope and deliverance to the rest of the world, and ultimately to bring true blessing to the world, Jesus Christ.

Week 2 of Perspectives was about the story of God's glory.  The readings emphasized that the goal of God was not to reach people but that His name would be glorified.  In order for His name to be glorified to the max God calls people to gather other people from all the nations to join into worship of Him.  The readings go on to say that our goal in missions needs to be that God's name will be glorified and that helping people needs to be secondary.  If your main goal is to help people and meet their needs, the goal is not lofty enough and disillusionment and burnout can result.  If the motivation behind all you are doing is to gather people into true worship of God, that is a goal that can inspire you to continue even through the toughest of circumstances.

This class has been amazing so far, and I'm looking forward to continuing to grow as God guides me.  All praise and glory to God.