The First Goodbye

Time is dwindling down, days fly by and it seems too soon I’ll be leaving here! I have much to do before leaving, so I am planning out my days with much prayer and prudence! Yesterday I went to visit a good friend of mine. He is an older man for Benin that is, being he is 53 years old. He works at the mayor’s office in the civil department giving people their identity cards. His name is Laurent. He has helped me greatly with culture study research. Manny and I spent three days with him in February, enjoying thoroughly the time together. He loves to talk which is helpful when I need to ask him a lot of questions. He also has two sons that live at home, Armand and Olivier, some of the nicest guys I know in Benin, well mannered and caring, unfortunately not always too common among young folks here. But thanks to their father I surmise, he is a man of principle and virtue. He is always working on some new project on his several acres of property on the outskirts of town. I knew that it would be last chance to stop by his house, as he is only there on Saturdays and Sundays, working the rest of the week. So I stopped by to share a meal and conversation. I gave him a book as a thank you present, the French translation of “Bible Readings for the Home”. The man devours books, and he was thoroughly thankfully for the gift, saying he might not get much sleep that night! I always pray for him, that he will see the light of God’s word fully. He is very faithful in his Assembly of God church and has left all the traditions behind. But he is very tolerant. What I mean he allows everyone to have their opinion, surprisingly post-modern mindset. For him, what he believes is good for him, but maybe not for someone else. This is perhaps worse than someone who is a straight pagan, at least this type of person when convicted sees how twisted the old ways are and how liberating a life in Christ is. A man like Laurent well educated and open to anything, is hard to convince that there is absolute truth, good thing the Holy Spirit does all the convicting and I just maybe do the talking and praying. But I can sense him questioning. This last visit we discussed Jehovah’s witnesses, who don’t believe in the Trinity. He asked me what I thought of this, I mentioned how either Jesus is the Son of God or He is a liar or a lunatic. This he agrees with, but here’s a challenge to his openness, the Jehovah’s witnesses believe what is wrong? So not everything is right if you believe it? Questions are such a good way to get people to arrive at their own conclusions, the series by Shawn Boonstra and Jeff Rosario in my last entry talk about this, very powerful. Well we ate late, the usual in these parts. I was really tired after the big campmeeting weekend, but I knew I could sleep in on Monday and this was our last visit! Laurent wished me much success and God’s blessings. We know that we may never see each other here on earth again, I hope we can both meet in Heaven.

Atacora Campmeeting

This past weekend was a big get together for all the Atacora region churches. There was the folks from Koutie-Tchatidoh, our church from Natitingou, the evangelist Bony from Touchountouna and a member from a church in nearby Togo. We all met at the Boukoumbé church about an hour northwest of Nati. It was a real neat experience. They area churches are trying to make a tradition of meeting at a different location every thirteenth Sabbath, as much as possible. This thirteenth Sabbath was also the day after Christmas, so everyone was together to celebrate Jesus’ birthday too, well the day we remember his birth that is. I was able to bring most of the pathfinders along. There nineteen of us, three non-pathfinders, but still young people from our church. All the kids really enjoyed it. It was a bit tiring though, as on Christmas day we stayed up with the program at the church until midnight or so. Then up at six to get ready for church. The morning church service was done by our pathfinders as well as some songs from the choirs of Koutie and Nati. I shared the message, translated of course into Ditimarri, as half the people gathered didn’t understand French. I shared about Joseph, Jesus’ earthly Father chose to risk his reputation and his whole life to accept Mary as his wife with child, and that he was used as an instrument to help bring God’s salvation to earth, and how we too can be used to share God’s salvation with others. In the afternoon there was a parade with our pathfinders marching along, and members from the others churches in tow. The kids sang loud, but by the end they were pretty tired. It was a real neat experience. I didn’t even know we’d be doing a parade, and as we marched I realized God had unexpectedly given me a great gift, as I had not been able to be in a parade yet with the pathfinders and leaving in January there were not be another change, Praise the Lord! He does beyond what we ask or imagine! We left on Sunday morning at 6:30, and arrived in Nati by 7:45. This is a dusty time of year so the dirt road drive gave all of our hair a nice red tinge! I thank God for His blessing and for the opportunity to be a part of the work here in Benin.

Big words, little words

I am someone that appreciates words, and their impact on me. It can be a weakness, because I may
ride up and down on them, that is I will feel moved, and touched by something, and the next minute
not feel that feeling, and move on. That's why God said to hide His word in our hearts, a place where
it is fixed and not just in one out the other. The other danger is that the words don't change my life,
that I hear them or read them, but still continue on doing what I want to. How does my perspective change?
Is there something I need to give to God in my life? Questions are good to ask after being moved.
There are big words, aka sermons, books, Bible passages. Thoughts and writings that you can really chew
and get into. A book that has been helping me recently is "Overcoming through Jesus" by Bill Liverslidge,
basics of salvation and I often forget, or never even thought of before. I've been listening to sermons on my Mp3
too, here are the links to some real powerful ones.

http://www.audioverse.org/people/234/shawn-boonstra.html

http://www.audioverse.org/people/70/jeffrey-rosario.html
Engaging The Culture, Part I
Jeffrey Rosario · 08-12-18 2:30 PM · Sermon
Engaging The Culture, Part II
Jeffrey Rosario · 08-12-18 3:45 PM · Sermon
Understanding the Worldview Web
Jeffrey Rosario · 08-12-18 10:45 AM · Sermon
Loving God With All Your Mind
Jeffrey Rosario · 08-12-18 9:30 AM · Sermon

http://www.audioverse.org/people/138/nathan-renner.html

http://www.audioverse.org/people/236/steve-wohlberg.html

But there are little words too, a phrase here or there that catches my attention and impacts me. I was watching
some marantha stories episodes from a sample DVD I got I think at GYC in 2007. It was real neat, often I forget
that I am not on the only project in the world, there are many others sacrificing their time and effort for the forwarding of the
gosepl. There were two small testimonies, one about a 72 year old man Roger Hatch, since age 40 he's supervised countless
church people projects for Marantha. The interviewer made this statement and asked for Roger's reaction "Roger Hatch loves people."
Roger teared up, it moved him, he said it hurt him to see fellow believers worshiping under trees, when in North America
we have our stained glass and padded pews. He wanted to help others have a place of worship, a place
to bring in new members, a place to grow. The other story was Manuel (sorry forgot his last name), he is a project
coordinator for Marantha, the onsight guy who helps the incoming building teams get things done. He was asked
how one goes about finding work with Marantha, his response, "Don't ask how to work for Marantha, but how can you work
for God?" Neat-o! There was also several features on ultimate workout, a great teen mission trip every summer, to
different locations worldwide. One girl interviewed made this comment, "Out here we have to rely more on God than we would at home." Unknowingly she summed up the entire problem with the church in North America. Now I what
she meant to communicate, that there didn't have all the neccessities of life out there and that is was harder just
to get water and food, etc. True, but for many people that statment is the truth. But it doesn't have to be so,
though we may physical comforts in North America and Europe, we need God all the more, to be dependent on Him! Easy
to say, harder to do.
A last word was not from a Christian source, but was intrigueing. Whenever some hollywood star passes away, it's sure
to make some lasting news. Yes it is annoying because they are humans like everyone else, and thousands die
each day without even a blink of the eye from anybody but their surrouding people. But after logging off my yahoo mail the other
day I say a news article about Brittany Murphy, a lesser star, so to speak, aired in a few films and once on the Clueless
sitcom. She died suddenly at 32 years old. It reminds me that even those society sees as the rich, untouchable are human
like us all, and it is sad to hear of anyone dying. I certainly can't judge her, I can only hope she lived up to what she knew
was right. But what struck me was what her ex boyfriend (she married somebody else later) Ashton Kutcher said on Tweeter, "2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon." and also "see you on the other side kid."
This is what our society holds as the creme of the crop, a guy who says, 2day, instead of today when someone's life has ended. Am I
old fashioned, don't really care. But also his end words, see you on the other side. Reminds me of "eternity in their hearts" from Solomon
in Ecclesiastes. Even the stars of hollywood are missing something, are hoping to go to a better place after they die (well we know
that it's not right away.)

So words, what will you say today? As we come into a new year, we will a whole new 365 days, to say and live for Jesus!

Soon it will be Christmas Day

It's always interesting for a Canadian in an African country at Christmas, dust replaces snow, and heat replaces cold, though everyonce in a while I might stick my head in the freezer to not forget my heritage! It's also a tough time for the church, we kind of walk on eggshells, some believe that celebrating Christmas at church makes us look like the Catholics, who of course take Mary and the others to a new level of worship where they shouldn't be (well that worshipped at all!) But I am excited at least because this year all the Atacora region churches are meeting in Boukoumbe, Northwest of here, to celebrate the season and the thirteenth Sabbath together. Should be fun and a blessed time. Here are some Christmas peoms I wrote for your enjoyment and blessing!

"The Christmas Spirit"

I was looking one day for the Christmas Spirit,
I wondered exactly where I’d find it,
I thought about a song to sing,
So I went to the library, looking up Crosby, Bing,
Nothing there, how about Sinatra, Frank,
But again the answer pretty blank.
So onto Google I went,
Looked through holiday videos until I was spent,
No aid from Charlie Brown to the Winnie the Pooh,
Not even Dr. Seuss could help, oh boo hoo!
So I looked at some true stories,
Looking for perhaps some hidden treasuries,
There was one about allies and axis fighting away,
Who stopped for a while on Christmas Day,
There were stories of help for the poor,
Or miracles at a local department store,
All were quite touching and nice,
It was a great holiday slice,
But nothing seemed to hold a solution,
What was it really about was the question.
So I tried one last thing,
Maybe this would with truth ring,
I reached up high on the shelf for my Bible,
I once learned that God was always able,
Could He answer this puzzling query?
Or would He shuffle away in a hurry?
The was sadly very dusty,
Of its words my knowledge quite rusty,
Yet I hoped the reason was in there,
The real answers it had to bear.
I leafed all the pages through,
Until my eyes fell on the book of Matthew,
And there I cried tears of joy,
As I rediscovered what I had learned as a boy,.
The message was so crystal clear,
I knew God’s presence had drawn near,
Oh, the Christmas spirit is wrapped up in thus,
One simple word Emmanuel, “God with us.”

"The Homeless King"

There’s no home for the baby,
Not that His parents are lazy,
Or that they are a little crazy,
There just isn’t a place for the baby.

As of yet He’s actually not born,
But soon He will be here all forlorn,
Into a life of victory and scorn,
A real rose among thorns.

Knocking on ever inn door,
“Rooms!”, is the cry “Are no more!”
Not even a closest or a store,
No where to lay the head for a snore.

How can this thing be?
Now room for the King of Eternity,
So in a stable the shepherds will Him see,
The grand Savior of you and me.

It’s a different kind of King,
One for whom the angels sing,
For whose coming all the heavens ring,
Let us to Him always cling.

Cleaning Beans

Cleaning Beans
There are many tasks that have challenged me in Benin, from Pathfinders, to bush taxi travel to spending three days sitting with an old guy I couldn’t talk to, but there is one that I am deathly afraid of, you guessed it, cleaning beans. Beans here are usually small whitish ones, that turn light burn when cooked, I don’t their official name. Before you cook them, you have to go through them and take all the bad beans. I used to let Manny do that, he didn’t seem to mind, although I helped once in a while. It’s tedious for sure. I bought some beans like two months ago, and finally decided to face my fears. I had company coming on Sabbath and set down to clean those beans. I barely got through a pile and my neck hurt and my back. I sit in one chair with the pile of beans on another, then with a bowl in between my knees I clean the beans, a bit tough labor yes (hey if you know a better way let me know). Well I have a bucket full several kilos, but only did what I needed for the next day, maybe one kilo, and it took an hour and fifteen minutes about!
I have been reading the life of James O. Fraser pioneer missionary to the Lisu people of central China called “Mountain Rain” by Eileen Crossman Fraser. He once wrote:
“The temptation I have often had to contend with is persistent under many forms; ‘If only I were in such and such a position’ for example, ‘shouldn’t I be able to do a great work! Yes, I am only studying engineering at present, but when I am in training for missionary work things will be different and more helpful.’… Or’ Well, here in the training home, all my time must be given to language study- how can I do missionary work? But when I am settled down in my station and able to speak freely, opportunities will be unlimited!’ etc.,etc.
It is all if and when. I believe the devil is fond of those conjuctions…The plain truth is that the Scriptures never teach us to wait for opportunities of service, but to serve in just things that lie next to our hands… The Lord bids us work, watch and pray…
Since the thing things that lie in our immediate path have been ordered by God, who shall say that one kind of work is more important that the other.” (pg. 28)

Very thought provoking and moving!

These past few weeks I have struggling over a decision, whether to leave a little early or not. I have been dealing with emotional and mental issues that had me questioning whether I should stay or not. In the end I decided to head home the end of January, a little earlier than the original beginning of April. It is not an easy decision, but a necessary one for my long term health. Don’t anybody worry, I am not on the verge of collapse, but see this as an opportunity for prevention of future problems as much as it for healing. I can only praise God for how He has been able to get things done here. The Pathfinder club is getting along well, they have several people who will sustain it after my departure, and the culture study research is wrapping in the next month. I will be continuing to write and compile at home for the cultural scrapbook, so I won’t be necessarily be giving up my post entirely. Though this does mean my time with AFM will come to a close officially. I am heading out on January 21 to Cotonou and flying to France for a small visit on the 24th, then home on February 8. So much is left to do in this last month, and I look forward with dread (is that possible) to see friends and family, but the dread of leaving all my wonderful new friends here! Thank you always for you prayers. It thus has helped me thinking of James words, I know that what God has put in path here in Benin, from cleaning beans to counseling and praying for a broken marriage, has been all sacred work, and I am confident He’ll be leading me on His path in the future too.

Above the Din

Here is an interesting situation I have never been in before. Uli and Toussaint moved to a new house a few months ago and now live right by an orphanage/dormitory. Some of the kids there are real orphans or their parents can’t take care of them, others can’t get schooling the remote villagers and so come and live there. Uli and Toussaint have really taken to heart the kids, especially the real orphans and help them in many ways. They’ve started a weekly chapel time on Sunday nights at the orphanage. It’s a time of prayer and worship. I wanted to go to one and this past Sunday Toussaint said I should come and share. I was real excited and nervous. I can preach before huge churches, but with a small or large group of just young people like me I get nervous! I prayed and God gave me a message, one that had really blessed me from 2 Corinthians 5:19, how God doesn’t hold our sins against us for now, so that we may come to Him. If He did impart our sins against us we’d be dead! I shared with this the parable of the workers hired at different times in the day in Matthew 20. The youth from little children to late teens, listened so quietly. What was the hard part was prayer. The group is made up of many church goers, some to the Assembly of God others to the Catholic church. Well when I prayed to open, the Catholics start praying the Rosary, I think or something like it. Well I prayed loud and go through. At the end I prayed to close and it seemed their courage had grown and mine diminished, I wondered if anyone beside the front row could hear me. After words I was confused, I didn’t know whether to be sad or mad! These people couldn’t they relax. I mean nobody I’d ever met would pray their own pray out loud while I prayed. In the end I couldn’t get mad over it, there was not point, I could only be sad. These young minds so easily swayed by such a heresy, that they had to pray that prayer whenever prayer was being held, just to get into Heaven or at least purgatory (in their minds). I pray the message planted some seed in their minds. With the story of the workers I shared how it was the hirer who went out to get the workers, that He brought them in, they did nothing but accept the call!

Don't Stare

How often as a little kid I head those words, don’t stare! Sometimes you just couldn’t help it, the guy had a monkey on his shoulder, or that woman was wearing her dress backwards! Well those would be extreme cases, but you get the idea. I remember at New Frenda Youth Camp one summer on Sabbath we played a Waldenses role play game. We had to smuggle Bible verses to a secret location (well not to us) without being caught by soldiers. I did get caught once and set to jail. Then myself and another camper were sent before the queen (Tim Putt with wig and all, quite a sight), and were ordered to at three different intervals along the big concrete staircase that lead up the side of the hill stop and shout “The Queen’s hair is so fair I can’t help but stare.” (The rhyming helps me remember it.) And then we were released to get more scripture.
I read in a funny and inspiring book my dad gave me called “Here I am Lord- Send Someone Else!” By Kurt DeWitt about the staring habits of Kenyans, apparently they like to stare at everyone. Here I think that may be the case too, but I have a feeling it is reserved for those of paler skins! Yet I too have the staring bug at times. You see here people don’t live by matching colors, well at least the villagers don’t. You may see a bright pink top with some yellow and red skirt, but it’s not so simple. The designs are crazy. You may be familiar a little bit with African prints. I have seen clothing with drawings of fingers, of an entire antique living room, of American dollar bills, of just crazy swirls and squares. It is entertaining! One guy at church has this shirt that is blue and yellow with some East Indian type design. Twice I ended up sitting behind him and trying to figure out what was on the back of his shirt. People buy the fabric and then the tailor or seamstress makes it, and sometimes it can be sideways or upside down if it is a recognizable thing. So I study this shirt, I thought maybe it was some sort of worm with wings, or a backwards fish thingy, like those weird deep see blind fish. Then the second time it clicked, it was an upside down elephant head! Oh how fast the mystery went away.
There’s another mystery I have been trying to solve here. Well it’s not completely mysteriously, I know the reasons, I just wished I had the exact answer. Like I am distracted by weird designs on clothing, people here are distracted by Satan. Yes that sounds obvious, but the one area really baffles me. I invite people to church or a evening meeting and they will say right to my face, I will be there, and they don’t show. Well that’s happens all over the world. But this last Sabbath was a real puzzler. There is a man from Ghana who repairs shoes on the market, he said to call him and we’d go to church together. I did call him and he’d said he take a moto-taxi and come. . But he did not show. I went to go get a friend to go to church, he was still sleeping, his sister said he’d be ready later and come. He didn’t come. As I walked to church from the second friend’s house, another friend say me in the street, and asked me what I was doing, I said going to church. He said I will come. I told him it is at 11 o clock church service. He said he’d go shower and come. Our church is right beside a well known private school, so many people find it easily. He didn’t come either. Two hours before church I invite someone, and they still do not come! I was just dumbfounded. How Satan can so distract that in two hours, they can forget or put it aside. It is also a matter of priorities. I can’t expect these people who have never once come to my church to put it first before making money, talking with friends, etc. They need much encouragement! And most importantly much prayer.

I'll be praying for you

Suzy, Uli, and I (FYI: from now in this entry to be known as “we”) are always on the lookout these days for contacts. Now for penpals, or outer space messages, but cultural insiders, those who can give us the scoop. We are drying up on them. All the friends we have we used quite sufficiently, and it seems it is not what you know but who you know! But good things for friends who have friends! If we have a friend who has friends, then this connection can get us some needed information. One block is that there are some things that people will not share with outsiders, meaning those who have not done the ceremonies themselves. They will tell you all about sacrifices and work rituals and seasonal changes, but not the secrets, if they did, it’s not us they’d have to kill, it is them who would pay the price. But it is not like everything one may share is useless, they can share valuable insights. And praise God he has blessed us with a church member north of here that has been doing cultural research for years, and who is more than happy to help us as he can! Today I was supposed to go to a village with a friend, it was market day, a good time to talk to lots of people. But he had an errand to run in the morning, and promised to call me on his return. No call! I was frustrated, but realized I should pray for him, something bad could have happened on his travels! It is so evident how much more I need to pray because people don’t realize what they are doing. In other words, when I have a cultural insider, he or she is helping to give us information that will help to evangelize and bring Jesus to the heart of the Otammari people, something the Devil doesn’t want, so he will do all to distract or harm our contacts. They aren’t aware of this, and sometimes I can’t make them aware, lest they get upset that this is some religious cause, so I pray for them! How much we need prayer. I know how so many of you are praying for me and the project here! The difference it makes I can’t always see, because in reality there are so many storms God never lets me see, and I am glad about that.

Battles and Wars

It’s a fact that we live in a war. A great cosmic war that is made up of many battles. Jesus battled constantly with Satan, sometimes in face-to-face combat like the temptations in the desert or at times subtle like the pull of his family to leave His crazy ministry. One of my favorite songs that I loved to sing in Juniors Sabbath school and on Pathfinder campouts is “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”. “We sing glory, honor, power, and strength to the Lord!” Also one of my favorite movies, “Radio” has this great line in it, which Coach Jones shares with his team before their first regular season game, “You win your battles, we’ll win our war.” Indeed at times it seems like I’ve lost a battle, but the war is not lost. Actually the war is already won, the end is decided. But wars still wage over each soul, and battles are constantly being fought to gain control of every destiny. On June 6, 1944 the Dooms-Day offensive was launched early in the morning. Americans, British, Canadians, Dutch, and others joined forces to land on the beaches and the forest on the French coast. Soon France was liberated, then Belgium. But the Netherlands remained under Nazi rule. Operation Market Garden was created to help liberate the country, and was a miserable failure. After such a miraculous battle on D-Day, such a crushing defeat, but as history tells us, the war was not lost, eventually the Nazi’s took the fall.
I haven’t told you much about my Fidard in a while. He is the one with I prayed often, and watched as God did some mighty victories in his life over alcohol and struggles in his marriage. I am still visiting and praying with him, but in the last few weeks haven’t seen much of him, because of an unpredictable schedule, on both our parts. Now that field work is done, he is often out doing odd jobs sometimes until late in the evening, so usually the weekend is the best time to see him. But recently someone died in his family so he had to go to Parakou then to his home village, and I hadn’t got to visit him. Well last night I did get the opportunity. I was going to work on something on the computer but decided to go visit him instead then come back and go to bed. I went over there, and found him and his wife intensely arguing, a child was crying, and I thought oops bad timing. But when he saw me things quieted down and we sat to talk. He said he just got back from the village. As we talked I smelled alcohol, I was so hoping it was just in the air, but no, it was his breath. Well it is tough, that’s what people do at funerals, dig graves and drink, many times to get their thoughts off death, it is overwhelming for someone without the hope of the resurrection (how privileged we are!). But he wasn’t overly stupefied so we could carry on a conversation, but it did mean he was very emotional. He told me the tragic story of his aunt’s death, how she was sick, and someone lit a fire in the room to keep her warm, and then he left to the river to get water. Her blanket touched the fire and caught on fire, and she was badly burned and soon after died. Another relative who is a border guard near Cotonou on the Togo border, was there helping. When Fabien came he didn’t know about the incident. The body was there, but he didn’t look under the covering over the corps. While they went to burry her, they asked him to stay and help prepare the meat, that is killing and skinning the goat. He found out later the whole story and that they hidden everything from him, and then someone told him that his grandma, when she was sick and dying was locked in her room and left to die, she cried out, but no one paid attention, and she passed away in this distress. He was obviously shaken up, his family had done this to his family, in other words it is all on his head! And his father did not say anything to him when he died. His father shared no last words, as is the custom when someone nears death. The border guard lady had asked Fabien, now what do you think? Fabien had no answer, what did he think about these terrible deeds? Then he asked me. Well I told him that when he gives his life to God, that God is much more powerful, but we live in a world of sin and bad things happen to everyone, life is not easy. I always share with the youth at church that the best way to help someone is to share what God is done in your life, not to recite what you read in this book or heard in this sermon recently. So I told him of my grandpa’s death in a car accident. I told him how I questioned; why did that dump truck come right at that moment, why did he take his seat belt off? Why? But so much on earth we can’t understand. Fabien seemed to understand, he said prayer would be our help. But he still was very distressed, and the alcohol didn’t help, as he usually gets very emotional with its help.
Then we prayed and right as we finished this white guy shows up, actually he was caucasion and dressed in a white shirt and khaki’s. I have seen him before when I was visiting another friend. And so now I would finally get to meet him. I always wondered about how influence works, Ellen White talks about it in the “Talents” chapter of Christ’s Object Lesson. That we our attitudes have an influence on others, without us even realizing it. As soon as this guy came, I could sense an indifference to me. It helped that Fabien already had talked to him about me, and that I was religious, how terrible. Of course when he pulled out a cigarette and asked me if it was okay, and then commented almost before I could answer, that well you know religious people…. Implying my stuffiness. Right from the get go I felt uncomfortable, embarrassed and frustrated at the same time. Uncomfortable and embarrassed at what my faith, how dreadful, this guy was not mean, but in his presence I felt all my confidence in what I believed sucked away. Frustrated because this guy had to come and befriend of all the people in Nati those who I had begun to pray and befriend! Well actually it makes sense, a guy who is not in God’s control is in Satan’s and so Satan would be more than happy to direct him to those whom I had contact with. I am nervous when dealing with Europeans. One is my French capabilities, with Africans I get along, their French is slower and not as developed (not that they are dumb, it’s the accent, and it is their second language as well). When Fabien commented that he missed prayer, he mumbled about how Fabien should just leave off, or forget those things of God. Well at least I know where he stands. Interestingly enough the last few days I’d been listening to Jeffery Rosario speak about reason and faith, and how we Christians are seen as dumb, because of “blind faith”, when in actuality God calls us to use our intellect for His glory. He chose the Bible to be the main revelation of Him, which is means reading and using our minds. We need to love God with everything, including all our mind! So here I was in the practical training. The man shared a funny story which the kids found hilarious. Obviously my stay was ended. Fabien asked me to come over the next day, which I will. I thought it real sad, how we’d lost this battle, he’d been drinking, fighting with his wife, and doubting his faith, but the war is not lost. I really didn’t expect to deal with secular Europeans here, sure I knew there would be supernatural struggles, fetishes, demon worship, and the lot, but the influence of atheists, agnostics and what not, that is a twist! But the good thing is that here the common belief is that to not believe in God is to be ridiculous, so I may have an easier time that this man who says religion is not worth anything. But I don’t think he is proselytizing! I am glad that I do not fight against flesh and blood, if so I’d take up boxing or something! But the fight is spiritual so I bring a mind filled with the Bible and a heart filled with Jesus!

Information Overload (in a good way, I suppose)

When Jason was here, he left us with some downloaded sermons from Audioverse, mostly from last year’s GYC. It was real nice of him to think of this, since we can’t download anything bigger than a toothpick here (if you could download one), well if the connection is bad, at times I may be able to get downloading several toothpicks! I put them on my Mp3, and while I do cooking or cleaning, I listen to the sermons. They are really awesome. Much inspiring thoughts and information. Nathan Renner shared a series on The Three Angels’ Messages, I listened to the last installment and it was very impactful, about the Trinity’s cooperation for our salvation, powerful (“Intending for the Faith: The Three Angels’ Messages”). Another one by Shawn Boonstra on reaching the postmodern mind was really thought-provoking (“Faith and Reason: Reaching the Postmodern Mind”). Oh and there was this other one by Sean Pitman (“The Emporer has no clothes: evolution vs. creation”) which was really deep. Justin Kim shared on how young people should stand up for the faith today, insightful and moving (“The Imperative of Dedication”). It is really great Audio verse makes available all this to everyone, even beyond GYC, there’s LIFE sermons, ASI, SEYC, and more (check them out at audioverse.org, and videoverse.org). But I do recommend you go to a GYC personally. You can’t replace the experience of being there. It is definitely not required, you can be a good Christian and not go, but if God makes a way, and you try, make an effort to God, even old people like it! (Hope I didn’t offend too many people). With all the sermons I can listen too, I get excited, but depressed at the same time. I hear of many calls to stand for Jesus, much new information (I have shared some already with friends around here), and reinforcement of things I already believe, all really good things, but it makes me wonder where to start. I get this idea or that objective and ready to go, then something, and oh maybe I should start studying that instead, and confusion sets in. So much and so little time! What’s the solution, well I don’t have all the answers, and never will thank goodness (something God only knows!). But I can see that I need to balance action and study, application and knowledge. Easy to say, it is easy to either work my bottom off for God, or to spend all my time digging deeper into His word (not to mention time in prayer and some down time). But what is needed is both. Like Radio says on the movie by the same name, when asked whether he wants peach or blackberry cobbler, he says “both”. “You heard the man”, says Coach Jones, “Give the man both.” Study and action are both delicious cobblers, and good thing the Master Chef makes them both, and I know that if I rely on His wisdom, He’ll show me the what and when to balance life. Praise the Lord. Boy now I am kind of hungry…

Laughing with God

The other evening, I finished with the evenings activities early, and thought maybe instead of calling tomorrow, I’d make the phone call I’d been planning today. To call overseas, I go to a nearby photocopy/phone booth place. You may seen the pictures on my Flickr page. The booths look small from the angle I took them, but they are actually pretty large, with a fan and light in each one, and a chair too. Well, if I wanted to make that phone call I’d need to find some money. I keep most of my money outside of my house, somewhere else safer. But of course I have a little at home for day to day expenses, and for the trips to the market, money just seems to come in handy of getting food! Well, I remembered that when I had left that morning, my money was lying on my desk, but I decided to conceal it. This is not the first time this has happened, but now I just could not find my money. I checked usually hiding spots, no go. Of course I prayed to start, asking God to forgive my forgetfulness and to point out where I hid the money. Apparently I hid the money so well, I couldn’t even steal it from myself, were that possible. After a good 45 minutes, I understood once again why Dr. George in developmental psychology talked about the benefits of being organized, on average people spend one and half hours looking for misplaced things, like keys and yes at times money. Well I was really praying now. I had turned the place upside down. I almost decided to give up for the evening and renew the search in the morning. When I spotted my old cell phone case on the desk. Hmmmm, I haven’t checked in there yet. No, that’s not logical (well it’s not logical to loose money either). So I looked inside and to my chagrin, what did I find, the lost money. I felt like the woman that found the lost coin in one of Jesus parables, I was so happy. But quite rapidly I turned angry. How could I be so dumb! Right there in front of me, and evidently I had to leave the phone call off to the next day. I was kicking me self in the pants, when it seemed I heard God chuckling. Now I couldn’t an audible laugh, but I sensed He was laughing. I don’t believe God laughs at us, He loves us, He sympathizes with our problems and weaknesses. But in this case He wasn’t laughing at me, because I soon joined. How funny I can be. I really got worked up over this money, and the whole time there it was in front of me. I tried to not laugh, saying, hey this isn’t funny, but I couldn’t help it. My neighbors might think I am bit strange, laughing to myself in my room. It was an unusual but a precious moment with God. To realize that yes, I may act silly sometimes, but the God understands, and we can laugh through it together!