Perplexed

My former pastor, who baptized me after he helped lead me back to Jesus, called me last week to return a voice mail message I left for him and his wife. he said that she was "gone," and I immediately thought, "Oh, no, she must have died." But the reality was equally horrific. Over the course of 48 years, little resentments had been allowed to fester. They were not addressed apparently, as my pastor recollects, "We never fought." His wife, a beloved friend and prayer warrior for us, divorced him quickly and moved out of state. It hurts me to see what the enemy is doing to try and destroy these two servant of God. If you read this, please pray for them--even though I'm not naming names. Pray for yourselves, that God will grant you discernement to know when "little things' need to be addressed and reconciliation is needed, so that you will never be surprised as my "grandfather in the Lord' was.

Feeling the Lostness of the Lost

Yesterday, at Faith Church of the Valley, Pastor John Salvatore preached about how to introduce others to Jesus, rather than hitting them over the head with logical arguments designed to trap them. At the end of the message, he let a video play in which a woman on a park bench bared her soul in a message addressed to Christians--"When are you going to have the courage to come talk with me and give me what I really need?" might sum it up well. I was very moved, and I believe God is doing some great things at this church.

Here's a link to another article that is compelling me today:

http://www.urbana.org/_articles.cfm?RecordId=831

last assessment day

Today, for the last time, I will join our org's assessment team in praying for and helping to determine our recommendations for candidates at our two-week school. I feel it has been a rewarding time, though not without some tense moments. I think it is hard to look other adults in the eye and essentially say, "We don't think you're ready for this yet," which is happening in a few cases. Yesterday, a session was held, named "Transformational Ministry," which sought to help people rediscover God's desire to change/sanctify them in the process of blessing Muslims. Refreshing. In the afternoon, we taught on and discussed healthy sexuality, and I think people were refreshed by our candor and willingness to address hard questions with them in dialogue.

Last night was a particularly refreshing time for me, as we worshiped together and took Communion, in a large circle. Confessions were made, sacrifices of praise were given, and my heart was truly stirred as I felt God prompting me to forgive others and myself and turn over my fears to Him. I felt like He really met me where I was, and He used one of the candidates, who's heading to a "hard" place, to pray with me. He blessed me more, I think, than I did him. I think I'm coming away from this week believing, more than ever, that God can indeed be trusted.

5th Day

Yesterday afternoon I took part in a meeting that might prove to be one of the most pivotal of the entire two weeks. A team of 4 psychologists give us their extensive reports on the candidates based on multiple personality tests and personal meetings. Though whether someone goes to the field is never based solely on the doctors' recommendations, we do take what they have to say seriously. It can be a very sobering time. Have to run now, but please pray for our assessment team, as we make some heady decisions. Want to share one more story with you that I recently found and edited: Frontiers worker “Nat” and his friends traveled outside their city to meet with their friend “Mustafa,” an elderly man who began following Jesus last year. He is one of the first believers among millions of unreached Muslims from his nation in Southeast Asia.

Nat felt God prompting him to share verses from 1 Peter and Isaiah 43 with Mustafa. He quickly learned why as he Mustafa shared how he had been battered by spiritual attacks, demonic dreams, and bizarre physical ailments since their last meeting. He told them, “When I used to follow Mohammed, life was easy enough. Now that I’m following Jesus, all kinds of things are happening to me.”

Nat writes, “He was a broken man, and, as he shared, our hearts broke for him.” Mustafa even asked, “What ceremony do I need to go through in case I want to stop following Jesus?” The brothers worshipped and prayed together, and Nat shared the two passages God had given him for Mustafa, who was touched and asked Nat to repeat them many times, including this one:

“Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:8-10)

Before they left, Mustafa renewed his commitment to Jesus in a powerful way, and he begged them to visit more often. Nat writes, “We’ll do our best, even if only one or two of us can see him at times. Please also pray that God will call other [Muslims] to Himself from the same area where [Mustafa] lives, so that a growing fellowship can take root there.”

In Nat and Mustafa’s country, there are some wide open doors for Americans who wish to retire inexpensively. Many Americans are already transplanting businesses there because it’s so well-developed economically. Might God lead you to consider going to serve as a witness?

3rd day

God is doing some great work among the 52 adults and 30+ kids, and more than two dozen staff emembers taking part in Candidate School. I can see it in the creativity of people expressed through worship, in the sparkle of kids' eyes, in the excited voices of a Tucson couple I first met in 2004, and in myself, as my hope is being renewed. One of the couples I'm working with is going to join a team in Northern Iraq--the following is a recent story I penned, based on a team, email, about their efforts. I encourage you to laugh and cry at the goodness of God as you read what He's doing to help the hurting:
“Jane” and her husband, “Jim,” recently moved their church-based Frontiers team from a nearby country into Northern Iraq. Last month, while Jane was returning home from the bazaar with a friend, they managed to hail “the oldest taxi in the entire city.”

After climbing into the vehicle, their Kurdish driver quickly learned they were American, and he became intent on learning if they knew about an organization that helps kids with disabilities, like his own daughter, who has cerebral palsy. Jane offered to send “Sonja,” a physical therapist on the FRONTIERS team. When Sonja and Jane later arrived at his home, they were heartbroken to see his daughter, “Sadie,” lying on the floor of a 20 square-foot house, where she has been most of her life. No bed. No therapy. No hope. Until Sonja arrived.

The team leader, Jim, writes, “[Sonja] has been amazing and has [the family] on a program to help Sadie gain some control of her muscles. We’ve told them that [Sonja] can only go so far with Sadie – the One in whom we really hope is the One who will have to heal Sadie.” The team also purchased a car seat for Sadie, with straps to hold her upright.

After just a few weeks of therapy, Sadie’s condition has drastically improved, with her muscles getting stronger and an unexplainable peace covering her. Jim adds, “We of course know Who’s doing the real healing, and we pray that as [Sonja travels] to help her patients that God’s Spirit will continue meeting these people and heal them beyond their physical ailments.”

First day of Candidate School

It was a real blessing to be with more than 4 dozen (mostly 20s and 30s) young people today, in Candidate School, who are zealously pursuing full-time service among Muslims overseas. Today was mostly an orientation day, but it started out with some passion-filled worship involving kids and percussion instruments. By far, the best part of the day came during the last couple hours, when the candidates introduced themselves. I learned new things about the people I've been working with--like one of my AZ clients who is getting his doctorate in astrophysics and admitted today that he "almost" discovered a planet with the help of a gigantic telescope. Still, this family's highest ambition, it seems, is to share the gospel where it hasn't yet been heard. Maybe the Arab Gulf?

During lunch, my partner, Jan, and I met with 7 people we're responsible to assess/help during Candidate School. They hope to head out to Central Asia sometime in the near future. The 3 couples and one single woman all seem like very high qualified people to me. One man, whom his wife describes as a genius, admitted his apprehension at being psychologically assessed with the help of some psychological tests. He didn't want to be boxed into a category, he said. But when we explained that the personal meetings with counselors helped us to see whether the tests they took were accurate (trumping them, so to speak), he claimed he felt a "hundred times better." Praise God--some of these folks are under enormous strain, having just traveled here from great distances. They need prayer and encouragement, and I hope to stay well-stocked with it, so I can pour it out regularly.

Handling Different Interpretations of the Bible

The last couple weeks, at our church in tempe, our pastor has been teaching about Jesus' parable of the unjust steward, which is found in Luke 16:1-13. If you haven't read it, the following info. might not make a ton of sense. I have never completely understood the passage and was looking forward to hearing another interpretation. The messages he gave made some interesting points, but, on the whole, I disagreed with several of his assertions about Jesus' meaning, so the points he derived from the text are also difficult to swallow. Basically, he said that "make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous money, so that, when it fails, they will welcome you into everlasting abodes" means that we're to strenghten our "salvation friendship with God" through the wise stewardship of our time and money. In order for this interpretation to stand, the "friends" and "they" are the Trinity, since God alone is able to welcome someone into an eternal abode. Hmmmm. I need prayer and wisdom before I open my mouth.

New Year Work Week

Last week, after Urbana, I took comp time and sick time (had some bronchitis) to catch up on time missed with Katherine, do a little housework, and just refresh myself before diving in again. We went to see a movie, Night at the Museum, which we both enjoyed, though it suffered from some big plot holes. Because of a deadline I'm trying to meet, I worked on getting the next Frontlines newsletter completed...it's looking beautiful thanks to our talented designer, Mark.

This week, I'm planning to do some work for International Director Rick Love - we're trying to launch his own website in the next week or two. Finishing Frontlines also. Writing a receipt letter for the org's January donors--which includes a story from the Muslim world. Also, I have a dinner event planned in Tucson this Friday night with Wycliffe Bible Translators. I'm hoping we get a lot of people there.

Just wanted to check in, so that people reading this won't give up. Now to the work! It's great to have some rest. God really knew what He was doing when he took some time off.

Feeling less bloated today than in my last post--more colorful and varied.