Getting knocked out of the race

This morning, I received a surprise email from a young man whom I had helped lead during my first short-term mission trip to Alaska. He was 15 or 16 at the time, so now I guess he must be 22-23. He's married, working, and going to school. He made some good decisions, like taking part in a one-year Teen Mania internship and attending a Christian school. But an old habit has come back to haunt him and his marriage--one that I had counseled him about way back then, and he is now asking me for "insight" about how to deal with his addiction to pornography.

Repeatedly, I seem to be confronted with this issue as people come to me for advice. With the Internet, I think this junk has found its way into so many more psyches. Sometimes, I recommend a book like Joshua Harris' Not Even a Hint or even Eldredge's Wild at Heart. The bottom line seems to be--guys start to get bored, then they get into trouble. They look to a fantasy woman for safety and good feelings, then they feel disgusted with themselves afterwards and utter things like, "I can't help it..."

I think we're creatures who crave satisfaction and will do anything to obtain it, by nature. God designed us this way and gave us these desires, so that we would be satisfied and delighted by Him and through Him. If we don't find satisfaction in Him, we'll find it somewhere else. We demand it--that is, our flesh. Another writer (maybe Chesterton) said that "Every man who goes into a whorehouse is really looking for God." It may not seem that way on the surface, but that's how serious seeking porn is--straight up idolatry.

So I'm tempted to get in this guy's face (even though he's in another state) and tell him he's an unbeliever--that his eternity is at stake, along with his marriage. For now, I'm strongly encouraging him to seek Biblical counseling through his church, read those books I mentioned earlier, and I also told him about a program called Covenant Eyes that tracks every website a person looks at and provides a report to someone else. Please pray with me for this young man and so many others like him who are addicted to this junk and being drawn into their doom and distraction from the main thing--glorifying Christ in their bodies.

Freedom from fear of man

We're doing an office staff retreat today, and I heard a message from a field worker (our main speaker) about not submitting to the fear of man, but everything becoming overwhelmed and dwarfed by our fear of the Lord. It was a real burden-lifter, and I could see how my efforts to win people over to Christ through persuasive argument or to get them to apply with Frontiers or come to a conference really reveals a lot of my fear of man and failure to love others as I love myself.

In other words, I was convicted, I'm happy to embrace some new changes, and I'm looking forward to meeting with people tomorrow in Tucson with a lot better attitude. Please pray for me as I go and listen to people's hearts and goals. God, please grant me wisdom to know when to speak, what to speak, and listening ears more than a ready mouth.

Getting good and scared

This morning seemed like it would be fairly normal--I had some oatmeal with nuts and raisins alongside the love of my life, along with some orange juice (is that what did it?). I went to work and sat in front of my computer working on email and Take My Life web text--suddenly, I began to feel a lot of pain that began in my chest, near my heart, and it rose up to my jaw and head without much explanation. Having never felt a real heart attack before (and not wishing to anytime soon), I didn't know how seriously to take this. It went on for several minutes, and I asked my co-worker if I looked pale to her. I think she said something like, "Not any more than usual." Thanks!

I told my wife about it a little later when she called me, and she asked me to promise to see the doctor today. So I called my doctor's office, and they couldn't see me today. When I was asked for my symptoms, I was directed to head straight for the emergency room--"Do not pass go, be sure to pay $150 for your co-pay..." Not in a lot of pain anymore, I decided to try an Urgent Care place instead, and they took care of me fairly well. They seemed to think it may have something to do with my ongoing struggles with heartburn or be stress-related. They even hooked me up to an EKG machine! Came back normal, praise God.

It's interesting when I reflect what I was thinking about today, in relation to meeting the Lord, as I considered that it might be sooner than later. So much that I have been delaying, so many things that I have been doing that could wait, what will Katherine do now?, could I have prevented this?

I feel pretty fine now, but I don't want to forget the sense of urgency had for about an hour earlier today--"Because night is coming, when no one can work..." and "The days are evil..."

A Sampling

Without invading anyone's privacy, I thought you might be interested in learning about some of the new stuff going on in the lives of people I'm working with who may be headed for the Muslim world, as God leads:

--Two newlyweds, one of whom already went through the app. process with Firestone as a single, are looking to go to North Africa in the near future.

--A young man with a handicapped arm isn't letting that stop him from pursuing a nursing degree and eventual church planting in North Africa or Central Asia.

--A young couple has joined two other couples who are planning to head overseas with another prominent mission agency. They are heading out for a vision trip next month to investigate where God is leading them to serve together.

--A young man is looking into the possibility of making impacting films in the Muslim world, which could help with recruiting.

--An entire team of seven are meeting together regularly in a house church, along with many others, and they're planning to head for the Muslim world in the summer of 2007. A second team plans to head out during the summer of 2008.

--A young lady let me know this past weekend that she's interested in serving in India after she graduates in May--we're looking into how she might reach this goal.

--Three single women, a single man, and a couple are taking part in a one-year internship to prepare for the field, led by one of my esteemed pastor co-workers and friends.

--Three of the people I've been working with are engaged to be married: two of them to one another.

And there always seem to be people jetting off with their church to do short-term mission trips. If you would like to connect with one of the people I've mentioned here, send me an email at jeremyloveskatherine@yahoo.com

A Refreshing Perspective

This email message recently arrived from a friend of mine serving in the Middle East--thought you might enjoy it:
Dear co-worker,

If you're like me, you might have spent several years in the field and be discouraged by an apparent lack of success in your ministry. My team has been in place for 10 years, with about 10 unbaptized Muslim-born believers (MBBs) to show for it. Of them, most are not extremely interested in growing mature in their faith, nor do they want to meet with each other.

While sustainable at first, a good attitude under adversity becomes harder to maintain over time and with the accumulation of difficult experiences. One is tempted to allow nasty little questions to float through the mind. "Why isn't God answering our prayers?" "Is this really worth the effort we have spent, not to mention the expense footed by supporters?" Or worse yet, "God, have you found me unworthy of bearing fruit?"

We all want to see the fruit of our labors. And when I say fruit, I mean shiny red apples or bright oranges hanging in trees; clearly visible against the healthy green leaves. We want reproducing fellowships of MBBs. What I would like to suggest to you is that the vast majority of us are laying groundwork that will later lead to that fruit. However, since we are working in the ground, we should look for the fruit of the ground: Potatoes, carrots, turnips... Let me explain.

I surveyed my team last week, and asked them to give estimations about the work that we have done here. After we had finished, everyone agreed that they believed their numbers to be conservative. After calculating the totals, I came up with the following statistics:

32,000 hours of prayer have been spoken over our city by our supporters and us
2,600 people have been mobilized to pray regularly for our city
900 copies of the Injeel (New Testament) have been discerningly placed into responsive Muslim hands
2,200 people in our region have been influenced by our reputation in the community
3,000 hours have been spent "good-newsing" (gospel and other godly subjects)

Now I know that God can do anything that he wants to without our
\help, but I can't help wondering if maybe none of this would have been true if we hadn't responded to God's call.

This is the ground fruit that I am talking about. When we arrived, we had the option of building immediately on the sand, but we started about the work of placing the Rock first.

There is a building going up next door to ours. I watched the builders carefully as they were putting in the foundation, wondering how they would stabilize the structure when there was only sand to work with. As I watched, they spent 6 months digging a single floor depth into the sand, filling the depression with several tons of intricately bent and arranged rebar, and finally poured an incredible amount of cement into it. After all that work, they were still at ground level. Except for a few vertical strands of rebar, they hadn't accomplished anything!

Sure, nobody wants to point to the footings of a building and say, "Look what I did!" We all want to see the finished new building, standing tall and strong. But be encouraged! The work that you have been faithful to complete is as beautiful in God's sight as the end product, which he is faithful to produce and finish.

Let me finish by giving you one of my favorite scriptures, and an explanation for it.

"Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel." (Zech 4:10)

When the children of Israel were returning from exile, there were with them old people who had once lived in Israel and young people who had been born in exile and never seen their home country. The plumb line is a tool used to make sure that the foundations for a new building are level. When the foundations for the new temple were being laid out, the old people who had seen how much bigger and grander the first temple had been, started grumbling and despising this day of small things. However, the young crown were rejoicing at the start of the new project, even though it was just a small beginning.

Rejoice! The kingdom of heaven is being built in our day among Muslims!

Salaam,

Disqualifying People

Can anybody who volunteers be a missionary? Does God care about the quality of people He chooses to use, or merely quantity? What could stop God from using anyone He chooses? The answer to the last, of course, is no one. But there does seem to be a lot of blockages helping to keep people from getting to the field. Even when agencies like ours desperately want them there--there are pauses that can take years and even prove to eliminate some of the people who may have once felt called to the mission field.

I have been working with a man who's quite skilled in many areas, and he wanted to go work in one of the most dangerous regions of the world. He was excited, but we weren't quite ready to send him off for training because it was so expensive, and we wanted lots of other people to benefit from this training alongside him. So he waited, and waited, and we kept telling him a target month, then another, then one more, and...

Finally, he made a choice at work that made it very hard for him to finally go, once we were ready to send him. We respect that choice, but I ask God, "Why?" "Why were we not able to send this man overseas, who seemed so qualified and ready?" I don't have an answer yet, but, for now, it seems to be, "Wait and see."

3D communication

Yesterday morning, the head of our movement came to our morning meeting and gave us an update about "3D Communication," a rather new concept that means we are striving to adopt the same message that may be used among Muslims, secular media, and the church--without being offensive to any of them. Our leader emphasized that we will, by no means, leave behind our apostolic calling, but we will seek to make some big changes that will grant us more integrity and keep us from appearing to be one thing in one circle of people and another in a different circle.

For instance, if I go to church, I may be introduced as a missionary, whereas in the Muslim world and talking to the media, we might identify ourselves as English teachers. How can we communicate effectively with all groups in the same way and not deny what God has called us to do? Do we start calling ourselves "peacemakers"? Will that term fly better with the media and with Muslim governments? Will churches be willing to accept it and help send peacemakers, rather than missionaries?

This is tricky stuff. And I keep hearing how change is needed because we're now living in the post 9/11 world, where the media is now tuned in to ministries like ours seeking to reach Muslims. But I ask myself--who are we trying to please? How will we know when our mission has been accomplished? What is motivating this change? Is it God? Is He calling us to be transparent and develop new language that everyone will accept and condone? Or does He know that His name is and has been offensive to many throughout most of the world...and doesn't care? "Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me" I don't think the Lord is calling us to hold tightly onto the term "missionary" with all our might. But what are we doing by giving it up? Are we saying that the generations of church planters who went before us were wrong to use the word to define themselves? Do we stop referring to them with the dreaded "m" word? Must we now legitamize our ministry from the Lord with some type of humanitarian aid or other social service?

Are we following the world, or are we following the Lord? To what length will we go to be accepted by Muslims and the media?

Easily Offended

In reviewing my own character over the years, I think I can say that I'm someone who's been quite easily offended. Whether it's someone who doesn't reply to phone calls or email promptly, or if I detect some character flaw, or whatever, I tend to take it personally. Somehow, I'm able to see with eagle eyes the imperfections and sins in others, but my own seem to remain in utter darkness...so I often don't even try to pick them out and delete them.

This morning, as I took my shower, I was somehow reminded of a person at work who I felt had wronged my wife more than a year ago, and I began rehearsing scenarios in my head where I would confront that person, and they would feel ashamed, and I would be heroic. I think that I went on like this for about 10 minutes before finally catching myself--yuck.

When I took this job, my new boss told me that I seemed like an unhappy person, and I then tried to explain the circumstances I was living under that might cause him to be perceiving me that way. Then he told me that I should expect people to let me down in this new work of recruiting, and he asked whether I would be OK with that. I said yes. 18 months later, I have a better understanding of what he was talking about back then.

Ultimately, I have to recognize that when I'm angry with other people, I'm really angry at the Lord. I'm shaking my fist at circumstances He's put me in for my good, and He's calling on me to look at Him with thanksgiving and faith that He's working all things together for my good (and theirs, too).

Thankfully, He also chooses to mold us through victories, too. When things are going well, people are living up to my expectations, and life seems pretty grand, it's sometimes even more difficult to look at Him and deny all the "treasure" I see around me, counting it as worthless in comparison with knowing Him. But He calls me to do it all the same--even when I just want to bask in earthly glory.

KnowhutImean?

Spurred to Action

Last week, I encouraged a group of people to take part in a Fast-A-Thon that some Muslim students at ASU were putting on to help raise money for local food banks. Basically, they encouraged non-Muslims to fast with them all day Friday, and there were local businesses that had already pledged to donate $1 for each non-Muslim student who participated. More than 60 then showed up for a dinner that happened after the sun went down. Several of my friends were there, and one young man, who I know well, was able to strike up some relationships with Muslims who were there.

But one thing that impressed him, he said, was the testimony of a young lady from my church, who stood up and testified about Jesus to everyone there--way cool. May God grant many other aspiring overseas workers this kind of boldness while they're preparing in the U.S.

On a different not, it seems that the fatality count as a result of the South Asia earthquakes is now around 54,000, and it's expected to rise near 100,000 total. Our workers there are braving the elements to get survivors some of the relief they need. Here are some of their stories and prayer requests:

The 2 teams in the area joined up for an immediate response to provide some relief to those affected by the earthquake. The main focus for the last week has been identifying villages and their needs, locating and buying tents, and some food distribution. There has not been a need for additional medical relief.

Prayer requests:
1. Dynamic situation - It seems that the situation is always changing as each hour passes and more information is gathered. Pray for wisdom in assessing what to do, how and when to do it.
2. Communication and teamwork - We are working with international relief organizations, local groups, military personnel, and other workers.There a lot of logistics behind the onsite efforts so please pray for clear communication between groups, unity as we all work together, wisdom to know who should be involved and how, effective networking, and for communication means to be functional such as cell phones, computers, and internet connections.
3. Identifying needs - There are still villages that are in need of help because of their remote location or simply because people are not aware of them. Pray for those that are onsite as they explore areas for villages in need of relief - divine appointments, protection for all the traveling by car and on foot, info they gather to be distributed accurately and in a timely manner, strength and energy as they travel/hike into affected areas, and for the relief to be culturally appropriate (i.e. What do different villages use or not use as means for warmth or shelter? There are more than one people group living in these villages so culture varies.).
4. Long term vision - Some areas are already getting snow, so there is a possibility that much of the permanent rebuilding will happen in the spring. Also the emotional and psychological stress may not be evident for weeks. Pray for wisdom and insight as we look to the months ahead and how we can continue to help those affected by the earthquake.
5. Accounting -There are strict and complicated financial logistics for receiving and accounting for money coming in for relief work which requires a lot of time and expertise in American and German accounting. Pray for a competent and bilingual accountant to be able to come out for a few months to help with finances.
6. Aftershocks - There have been many aftershocks since the initial earthquake, none as strong as the first one but we still have felt many of them. They affect not only those closer to the epicenter but also all of us here. Pray for our emotional and spiritual well being as we all deal differently with the experience and that we look to the security and refuge we have in His Word. Pray for the kids as they are also processing their experience.
7. Life Goes On - In the mist of the situation, life goes on for us. Pray for wisdom in setting and maintaining daily priorities in light of immediate needs for relief efforts. Pray for two families that are in the middle of moving, several people are in language learning full time, household responsibilities that need attention, and families with children.
8. Our city - Pray for opportunities to talk with our friends and neighbors about how they are dealing with the experience - although there was not much damage in our area, many could be unsettled and nervous. Pray for openness and transparency as we talk with people and that we would speak truth and hope into their lives.

And more....

We have been generously donated and loaded 500kg dried Apricots on our Landcruiser as relief for the _______ area along the ___. We have some money and will load a truck tonight with 500 quilts for the affected. Tomorrow we should be able to distribute the goods as a family, do assesments of the situation, as well as reaching ____ late at night on Saturday (two days ago).

Please do pray for our journey as we all do not feel well
Pray for me as I am driving myself
Pray against landslides and falling rocks
Pray for much blessing for the hungry, cold and homeless families on the way

One more from a family that's been seeking to return to this area for more than 2 years...

I have dreamed of working in this city since the very beginning of our work but have struggled to be allowed in let alone get an invitation. Now I have a specific request not only to bring relief supplies but to immediately startup our education programs. Our capacity to supply teachers has also dramatically improved recently. Pastor _____is the head of an agency that has started many small and a few large schools throughout the southern portion of the state. They have also recently set up schools in the northern portion. He happens to be traveling in the states right now and we have firmed up our plans to work together to form a new outreach from his organization to establish mobile education centers for the nomads and remote villagers still beyond the reach of education. Believe me when I say that our education will be designed around our full objectives of transforming society from the inside. Every teacher will also be a teacher trainer. Every trainee will learn the stories and faith principles of the Book (Bible). It will not be something imposed from the outside, it will be something they are yearning for but have never seen. Finally, those who seek, will find, for those knocking the door will be certainly opened.

The glory of man

This morning, I spent some time at Quo Vadis Bookstore with campus ministry leaders, and we shared what was going on in our lives/ministries and prayed for about 30 minutes--very encouraging. Then I decided to do something that's been all too rare in my 14 months on this job. I walked the campus of ASU, went inside buildings, and sat down outside--to pray and to listen to the Holy One. And I got a little scared, too...

You see, my work is fairly simple, and then again it isn't--I tell people about Firestone's work among Muslims and follow up with people in AZ and NM who are interested in working with us. But who do I talk to? Do I just go to churches, where I'm pretty sure the people I'm talking with are already Christians? Or do I set up little booths on campuses around the two states, hoping to attract notice from anyone and everyone? Do I go to high schools and youth groups or stick with college-age people and older? Is there anything I can be doing now to help compel people who will someday answer God's calling to reach Muslims? Is there anything I'm now doing that could be hindering this movement? If Jesus had my job (and He does, in a way, if I'm really His bondservant), what would He do to find workers? Would He simply know them when He saw them and say, "Follow Me, and I will make you a fisher of men"? Or would he host a conference, the way we're getting ready to do again soon? Would He take lots of people out to lunch and ask them questions, like I do? Or would He make constant trips to the field and take people with Him? Would He show up at other campus/ministry events, like Christian concerts, etc.? Or would He just hang out with Muslims all the time and call on others to follow His example?

So anyway, I began to get scared thinking about the big job I've been entrusted with and how am I going to possibly accomplish all He wants me to do as far as sowing new seed and have a home life, a personal life, an office life, a church life, and follow up with all the people who are already interested in heading overseas? By the grace of God and your prayers--that's how.

Though I haven't received one comment since I started writing on this blog, that doesn't stop me from asking for your feedback, as I seek to answer some of these big questions.

Yesterday

Yesterday, I had lunch with a young friend whom I've known for several years through church. He went through a very thorough missions-training program for 9 months (which I did also, the following year), and he has suffered much rejection from his family in following Jesus. He's supported our ministry over the last year--when I finally caught up with him by phone, I learned that he and his new bride had not been going to church for a while. When I had seen him last, one year before, he was excited to be at the beginning stage of forming a house church with some other friends.

So I brought up the subject of him being out of fellowship cautiously yesterday afternoon, hoping that I could hear his heart and discern why he had forsaken the company of other believers (not counting his own family). He talked about his wife constantly being wounded by other women in the large church they once attended. I shared my own story of wanting to protect my wife by taking her out of the same church--and how I needed to go back and pursue reconciliation with a brother.

He talked about how the house church he'd tried to create "blew up in my face." Then he said that he no longer believes God speaks to him anymore, that there's so many ways to interpret the Bible--so who's to say who is right? That he hasn't prayed to God in 8 months, and he feels just great. He said that he's found his "freedom in Christ."

He said that the likelihood of him ever going to a church again is next to nil. He sees that God is sovereign and does whatever He likes. This young man believes he can make whatever decisions he would like, and God will achieve the result He wants anyhow.

I asked him--when do you want God to be your Lord? After you die, or right now? He sees that God is His Lord now--working everything however He wants, no matter what he may choose to do. Go to church, or not. I asked him if he sees benefits to obedience, and he agreed that he makes some correct choices that both God and his wife would approve of, but still, he maintained that, whatever choices he might make, God is sovereign and will do whatever He wants--so why pray?

Will you pray for my brother--that God will open his eyes to fear Him and forgive those who have wronged him? And will you let me know how you would answer this man?

News from Ground Zero

From my friend who recently journeyed into the Himalayas to bless Muslims with Christ...

Thank you so much for all your prayers and emails. We have been blessed to know of the concern so many people back home have for us and for Kashmiris.
On Sunday I went with some of our co-workers to survey the areas outside our city which suffered the most damage in Kashmir. We quickly discovered that there was little or no relief coming yet to the mountain villages. A policeman escorted us to his village where no one had been. Thankfully no one there had died, but every house and building had been damaged badly and were no longer safe for people to stay in. We asked the village leaders what type of help they needed most. They replied that they needed tents/shelter more than anything else.
Since then our tour company has been partnering with other organizations to find ways to provide tents to villages like this one which are remote and not likely to receive relief very soon. The winter is fast approaching here and there is already snowfall on the high mountains. These villagers are now sleeping outside with no shelter from the cold.
Tomorrow (Wednesday our time) I am going with a group of co-workers to survey more villages. Please pray that this trip will be effective in finding out needs of specific villages. Pray for God to protect us as we travel to these areas.
The most important thing you can do right now is pray. Here are some ways to pray:
1. Wisdom - we need a lot of wisdom from God right now to know the best ways to provide help. Getting tents to some villages may sound simple, but it is rather complicated as we need to do it in a right way.
2. Tents - pray that we can obtain tents to provide to the villages we survey.
3. Unity and good cooperation - there are a lot of people working together on this project.
4. Kashmiris - no one knows how many people are without shelter. Pray for God to comfort these people and to provide for their basic needs.
5. Good weather - it has been raining which only makes the situation worse. Pray that God will bring us good weather to aid our relief efforts and to comfort the homeless.
6. Good rest - all of us are tired. We can only imagine what it must be like for the Kashmiris sleeping outside tonight.
7. God's glory - while we see and read reports of the devastation here and in Pakistan, we acknowledge that God is in control and sovereign over this world. We desire to see him glorified through an event as tragic as this earthquake. Pray that we would be good witnesses of his glory to the people we help and serve.

King Jeroboam

Today, as I was reading 1 Kings, I was struck by the way Jeroboam's actions led directly to His failure in God's sight. It was not always this way. The Lord had chosen him, like David previously, out of relative obscurity, and seemingly gave to him 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel to govern. God promised Jereboam amazing blessing if he would merely follow the Lord and His statutes. Jeroboam proved himself unworthy of such a gift/responsibility, but the Lord didn't yank everything away from him as soon as Jeroboam began setting up golden calves for the people to worship. The Lord sent a prophet to warn him, and, after Jeroboam rejected the prophecy and tried to rid himself of God's messenger, God demonstrated His power to Jeroboam by afflicting his hand and then immediately healing him.

Still, Jeroboam went back to his old ways--seemingly undaunted.

The Lord afflicted Jeroboam's son, and still Jeroboam did not repent--his son died, mercifully, because Scripture says that this young man had found favor with God. The Lord did not wish for Jeroboam's son to suffer the same fate that Jeroboam's descendants would face later--being utterly destroyed and eaten by dogs and birds--depending on whether they were in Jerusalem.

It's interesting and terrifying to me that Jeroboam himself suffered so little, while his family and people suffered greatly because of his sin. Maybe that proved even worse for him?

I look at my own life and see ways that I fall short of God's mark, anger and bitterness that I struggle with, and evil thoughts--and I fear the Lord, who would be righteous in granting me the same fate as Jeroboam. But I'm thankful that He has imparted the righteousness of His Son to me, giving me new hope every morning that He will complete the good work of transformation that He has begun in me. If you have been given much and are now squandering God's gift, stop now, turn around, and give your life back to the Lord.

Earthquake Response

One of the incredible things about working with Firestone is that we have workers in many of the places in the Muslim world where disasters (like tsunamis and earthquakes) are happening, and they are in a position to help immediately. This has happened once again--thankfully, none of our workers have been killed by the recent earthquake in South Asia.

Below are a few of the email reports we have received:

First, from a worker in the Arab Gulf, who writes:
"Pray for the many thousands of Muslims who have been devastated by the recent earthquake in Asia. There are many expatriates in the Gulf including a school friend of Zachary's, who have lost relatives. The newspaper quoted a restaurant worker in town: "I had a mother, father, wife and two kids...I didn't believe it at first. How come Allah can deprive me of all his blessings? But that's what happened to me, I have lost everything and life has suddenly become totally meaningless for me." "

This just in from some personal friends of ours who just arrived on the field a few days ago:
This morning as we were unpacking some of our clothes, we felt a strange sensation. The entire room started rocking gently back and forth! After being puzzled for a few seconds, it dawned on us that this was an earthquake, so we snatched up the baby and ran outside, along with the other guests staying in the house. Apparently, [our city] experiences earthquakes every six months or so, but they have never been devastating to the city, as the epicenter is usually up in the mountain ranges. It was an unusual way to start the morning, to say the least. Later in the day we found out the earthquake we felt was actually a magnitude 7.6 quake centered in Pakistan, nearly 400 miles away. Whole villages have been wiped out in that region as well as several apartment complexes in neighboring cities. Here in [our country] there is only one reported death- a girl who was killed by falling debris. Please pray for those affected by the quake.

From another region:
As you by now have heard all over the news there was a 7.6 earthquake that hit [near] us on the Pakistan occupied side of Kashmir. The quake was so large that when it reached us here...it was about 5.0 earthquake here and was felt all the way down to Delhi. Currently some members of our team have gone to survey the damage and find out any way that we can help. Since we don't know the language it may be difficult to help very much directly. Pray that God would provide us specific opportunities to be a blessing during this time of response.
On the Indian side ...more specifically the Uri sector, there was much devastation. Some friends of ours are from this area...so this may be the place that God will bring us to. Please keep everything in prayer!
And from the center of it all, one of our team leaders writes:
"One friend of mine, working with the national airline said to me an hour after the quake: 'Its good that it happened, because we are bad people and need to repent here'! May it lead to the cross....!
"We as (NGO) can help with Disaster Relief along the KKH, where Kohistan and the Batagram (Gujar/Pushtu/Hazara) area are most hit and whole villages have been wiped out. We can help with your donations for (NGO) to bring relief as well as rebuild villages along the KKH down the Indus, and beyond among the 5 unreached peoples we are working and the other smaller groups in Kohistan..."
"We have the set up, office to work all over Pakistan...but are appealing for funds as well as short term personel to manage disaster Relief efforts under (NGO)."

Please pray and consider giving generously.

Last night's Ramadan meeting and misc.

Yesterday, I received a call from some friends and supporters who offered their home for a Ramadan prayer meeting last night. I jumped at the chance and sent out some mass emails to prospective field workers, church leaders, and supporters. From 6:30 to 8pm Katherine and I gathered with our hostess, her two little boys, and three others to intercede on behalf of Muslims--particularly the Malay people and women from Yemen. We also lifted up the American church and its needs--for repentance, in some quarters. Also , the international community God has placed in Phoenix for now.

A few nights ago, I was able to meet with a group from my church interested in serving somewhere overseas, though they don't know where yet. Our pastor led the way and challenged us to begin praying together, along with our elders, regarding the target God has on His heart for our church. I think God was there, and that He has some incredible plans for us in the near future.

I want to share something about my past that has caused me some regret lately. I have/had this friend who invited me to live with him when I was first coming back to Christ in 1996. Later, he said that he invited me to live with him so that he could serve as my "spiritual drill sergeant," which he did. I both resented and respected him for doing this--but, in the end, I think I benefitted greatly from his prayers, exhortations, and friendship. Throught the 1.5 years we lived together, I always sensed that he saw himself as my superior, and that was hard. I also got the impression that he felt I was indebted to him--and maybe I was, but that was hard to live with. Eventually, after he quit working for the church, I wanted him to leave, which he took a lot of offense to.

Through the years, we stayed in touch, and I managed to offend him in various ways--to the point where we're barely on speaking terms now. Knowing that my actions have helped cause this rift humbles me and causes me to desire peace however possible. But I don't know what else to do for reconciliation, other than what I've already done. He's getting married this month, and he did ask me to pray for him and his new bride. So there's that.

May God bless this man and his marriage, granting them every spiritual blessing, so they may be a light to the nations.

If there are people in your life who have something against you, I pray that you'll do all that is within your power to make peace today.

New from the field

I figure you've learned enough about me for a while--so what's new on the field?

Here's a few snapshots from our workers, as many of them take part in Ramadan with local Muslims:

Today is the first day of Ramadan, the fasting month. It's even more prominent here because 95% of the people are Muslim. It's hard to find any food stalls open during the daylight hours. Many families will probably break fast together in their homes for the first few days, around 7pm each evening. Then for the rest of the month, a lot of the restaurants will be full of people enjoying buffet dinners.
If you are interested to know more about this important month in the lives of Muslims, and also how to pray for them, here are a couple of good weblinks you can go to:[1] http://www.30-days.net/islam/ramadan.htm[2] http://www.30-days.net/content/index.htm

Early every Tuesday morning, at least 2 or 3 of us have been attending a prayer meeting, together with about 6-8 local believers. The meeting is led by one pastor ("K") whom I've known since almost the beginning of my time here in SE Asia. They started this meeting when we moved to this city, to focus on the majority people around us. Pastor K says that God is doing something, because 3-4 years ago he could have never convinced even that many people to pray for the majority people. I am believing that soon they will want to do even more than pray.

Dear Intercessors,

RAMADAN HAS BEGUN! We have a sense that this year will be a war, yet we believe we will be gaining ground and the Kingdom will come! Please stand with us this month for the following breakthroughs--
+grace and strength for our western and national teammates who are all joining the 30-day fast, and covering 24-hour shifts in the HOPE prayer room
+fast-breaking parties we will be hosting throughout the month reaching out to many people
+distribution of stickers and cards announcing our new 24-hour prayer hotline--and that many would call
+meetings with people off-island to advance new literature publishing, public speaking events, and FM radio team formation
+new open doors into college campuses
+breakthroughs with key individuals: Fool, Nadia, Sally, and our many other friends
+unity and healed relationships within our national CP team
+a visitation from heaven for our city!

From the Arab Gulf:
RAMADAN 2005-----Week 1


As we've entered the supermarket during the past week or so we've been reminded that the month of Ramadan is coming up soon. Huge sacks of rice, flour and sugar are on sale. There are special offers on things like cake mixes, jello packets and Tang. Displays of dates, nuts and dried fruit are prominent. People leave with carts loaded!Once again, we want to invite you to pray with us during this month which is extremely significant not only to our friends, but to over a billion Muslims around the world possibly including some of your neigbours. To give you one perspective on Ramadan the following is part of something the university sent out.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar calendar and the holiest of the four holy months. It begins with the sighting of the new moon after which all physically mature and healthy Muslims are obliged to abstain from all food, drink, gum chewing, any kind of tobacco use, and any kind of sexual contact between dawn and sunset. However, that is merely the physical component of the fast; the spiritual aspects of the fast include refraining from gossiping, lying, slandering and all traits of bad character. All obscene and irreligious sights and sounds are to be avoided. Purity of thought and action is paramount. Ordained in the Quran, the fast is an exacting act of deeply personal worship in which Muslims seek a raised level of God-consciousness. The act of fasting redirects the hearts away from worldly activities, towards The Divine.
The month of Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, prayer, doing good deeds and spending time with family and friends. The fasting is intended to help teach Muslims self-discipline, self-restraint and generosity. It also reminds them of the suffering of the poor, who may rarely get to eat well. It is common to have one meal (known as the Suhoor), just before sunrise and another (known as the Iftar), directly after sunset. This meal will commonly consist of dates, following the example of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon Him. Because Ramadan is a time to spend with friends and family, the fast will often be broken by different Muslim families coming together to share in an evening meal.
Ramadan derives from the Arabic root: ramida or ar-ramad, meaning scorching heat or dryness. Since Muslims are commanded to fast during the month of Ramadan, it is believed that the month's name may refer to the heat of thirst and hunger, or because fasting burns away one's past sins. Muslims believe that God began revealing the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan.

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Tuesday, October 4: Muslims take dreams seriously. Pray that God would reveal Himself through dreams, visions and other unmistakable ways this month to those who are seeking Him.

Wednesday, October 5: Our team will be spending this evening and the next two days in a city about four hours away for a weekend of training on intercession and prayer ministry. Pray that we receive everything the Spirit has for us.

Thursday, October 6: We want to make this a month of daily times of worship together, weekly prayer walks, and asking God for opportunities to pray for healing and to share our faith. Pray that we be diligent and expectant.

Friday, October 7: Pray for the many Christian maids (from countries like the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia) who work in local families throughout the Gulf. Many are isolated or in difficult situations, but they have incredible opportunities to share Jesus with their employers and especially the children in these homes.

Saturday, October 8: Pray for ""Fatima." We had an interesting conversation about miracles, prayer and faith last week. She asked me to pray for something after that. Pray that God answers and that salvation would come to her and her family.

Sunday, October 9: "Elsa"is one of our team-mates. She's with us for a year from another team in the Gulf as she attends language school here. Pray that she makes great progress in Arabic and that her stay with us will be mutually beneficial. We love her passion to be out sharing with people.

Monday, October 10: There are many Gulf Arabs studying abroad and they are often more open to spiritual things away from the pressures of their own societies. Because of current world events many of them are asking questions, but many more are fearful, expecting rejection. Pray that believers reach out to them with the love of Jesus.

Testifying to God's grace

Does God care whether I'm single or married? This was something I wondered for many years. I questioned whether the Lord desired to grant me a life partner, or did He want me all for Himself and His interests? If He did desire for me to have a wife, she would probably be ugly, so that I wouldn't be too distracted from what God really cared about: ministry...right?

In American Christian culture, it often seemed to me that married persons didn't have time for us lowly singles. Or worse, they secretly looked down on me with a certain look on their face or tone of voice, implying that they had reached a level of spirituality that was beyond me right now. Now that I'm married, I try to watch out for this attitude in myself, while I still recognize that not all singles are content singles...and I don't look down on them for this because I was there for a good long while. I wanted to be married. I knew that God had called me to singleness for the moment, but I wasn't going to keep trying to ignore my desires, pretending they didn't exist. I also recognize it's not like this for everyone, and I should never assume that all singles hope to get married someday.

The question that God did seem to ask me often was: Am I enough? Will you find your joy in Me even if I decide not to give you this gift? WIll you believe true things about Me and cease your complaining, as I have called you to wait for now--and have not revealed to you how long you will have to wait.? Will you cease to envy and bring glory to Me in your singleness? Do you love Me enough to receive this gift from Me and not try to snatch at it with selfish ambition? Will you believe that the woman I have planned for you is better than anyone you could find in your own strength and charisma?

My answers to these questions finally had to be yes. God used an unlikely source to help me see the truth. For almost 2 years, I worked regularly in my church's nursery with newborns to 2-year-olds. As I looked at them and saw how God provided for their every need, I saw little worry in them about who their future spouse would be. In fact, I would have thought it hilarious if they did. I began to imagine God's perspective of me, as I worried. He knew how long He would need to prepare and mature me, and He knew how long it would take to prepare Katherine (my future wife, unbeknownst to me--and she's absolutely beautiful, I might add), and nothing I did was going to speed up His process in our lives. My worry did not help things one bit, and I needed to see myself as His child, friend, and slave--appropriately.

Hope this helps someone today.

Struggling Through--part 3

One of the huge ways God showed His faithfulness to me after I began following Him in 1996 was in the area of work. For several years, I had worked at various video stores around town, and most of them carried porn. After coming to Christ, I no longer wanted to go into the back room where this stuff was located, but sometimes it was necessary. Like when my manager wanted me to go dust the shelves--pretty hard to do this when you've got your eyes closed to keep from seeing all the boxes.

I didn't believe God wanted me to do this job anymore, but I didn't know where else I might work. I took a walk and ended up at a Blockbuster Video store, where they didn't carry porn. I ran into an old friend whom I had worked with years before, and that same night, as I was praying, I was basically offered a job. Wow.

A year later, when I really felt like I needed to get out of the video store business, I listened to an African-American customer come in and basically prophesy over me that I wouldn't be doing this work for more than another month. Soon after, my church received a fax from a local voice mail business, looking for a person to work for them. I followed it up and received the job.

When that business switched its location to Spokane, they offered to pay my moving expenses to come with them or pay some severance money. I took the latter, believing that God still had work for me at my church and something else planned. I went on my first short-term mission trip with Teen Mania (though I was 24) to Alaska for a month, where I did drama ministry with a large group to help Alaskans come to Christ. The trip changed my life (or God did, rather), and I came back knowing that I wanted to dedicate my life to making Christ known, rather than trying to sell anything else.

But how? I knew that I didn't want to raise support again, after having just raised short-term support from my church. I had no idea what I could do to position myself for ministry with missions, except pray. For more than 3 months, I was basically unemplyed, looking for anything. With my funds dwindling, one afternoon I got on my face and just begged the Lord to help me. The phone rang just then, while praying, and my pastor offered me some temporary work, filling in for a secretary who was sick. That same secretary had recommended that I call a radio station's job hotline, which then led to the first of 3 interviews with Firestone. After I was hired by them a few weeks later, I learned that it was my phone skills (learned at the voice mail company) that helped push me over the finish line to get the job. They heard these phone skills because I was filling in as the secretary at the church when they called to check with my pastor as a reference.

I thank God for having been able to work with this org for 7 years now. Hope some of you reading this will consider joining our work to bless Muslims with Christ.