Malawi Mission Trip - Pastor's Training Conference

Teaching the Teachers...

As a part of our mission trip to Malawi, our team was involved in a training conference for Church of God pastors from across Malawi. By “involved” I mean that Crossings Community Church underwrote the vast majority event, including covering the lodging and travel expenses for the 23 pastors who attended. During the two-week conference the pastors studied basic theology, church polity, and received some basic HIV/AIDS education. This last component was twofold: to educate the pastors themselves on the basic facts of HIV/AIDS and to equip them to better minister to their congregations where AIDS is sometimes very prevalent. I was blessed to have the opportunity to teach these incredible men and women for the final three days of the conference. The participation of Crossings Community Church as a funder of this event is a mere monetary investment of our treasures that will reap eternal rewards.

Most of these pastors – most of whom are Regional Overseers for the Church of God in Malawi – do not have more than a sixth grade education…if they have any education at all. The 21 men and two women who attend are mainly peasants and farmers who love the Lord with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength. These servants pastor out of their devotion to God and the calling that he has placed on their hearts, not because it is their career choice.

Our time together started each day with worship. When I say “worship” I mean a full-bodied, high-impact aerobic, participatory event where the sole focus of all activity was the adoration and praise of the Lord God Almighty. We sang, we clapped, we danced, we drummed, (I also learned that desks and chairs make suitable drums), and we earnestly worshiped in spirit and in truth. It was a worship that exists only when we worship out of the overflow of the joy and gratitude that spills from our hearts for what Jesus has done for us. This time of singing was followed by a brief devotion led by a different pastor each day, a prayer, one more song and then it was time for teaching.

When I decided to help teach these pastors as part of my contribution to this mission trip, I was a little intimidated. I wasn’t intimidated based on a depth of knowledge – I knew that Terry Feix, Cliff Sanders, and Steve Seaton were all in Oklahoma – but because I realized the stakes that were involved. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I knew that if I messed up and taught unsound doctrine that it could have a detrimental impact on the churches across Malawi. That was not something that I wanted to be responsible for. So after much prayer, after seeking a great deal of godly wisdom and insight from pastors and teachers whom I deeply respect, and after even more prayer, I prepared lessons on The Bible, The Doctrine of God, The Doctrine of Christ and The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit/Triune God.

These pastors were so eager to learn. We mixed times of lecture with small group discussion, periods of Q & A, and large group discussion. The Lord truly blessed our time together. I will never forget these twenty-three men and women (plus two-month old Gloria, who came with her mom) or these three days for the rest of my life. This was a deeply rewarding and satisfying experience and I am humbled that God would allow me a small role in continuing to build his kingdom in Malawi. Our prayer (this includes CHoG missionary Tammie Tregallas and the Gregorys) and hope is that these church leaders will now go and teach those pastors that are within their various regions of Malawi. Just as they have been taught and trained for the last two weeks, they need to train the pastors that they are overseeing and mentoring.

Some of the concepts we studied and discussed were not difficult to grasp while others presented a challenge for me to break down and adequately communicate. We can all understand the concept of Jesus coming and being the sacrifice for our sin, it is a little more difficult to describe one person being 100% divine and 100% human. It is one thing to say that God is the Creator of all things, but how do you break down the word “transcendence” in Chichewa? We talked about God being eternal, all powerful, and having many eyes (omnipresence) but are we as 21st century, educated Americans even capable of grasping the full impact and reality of a transcendent God. I believe it but that doesn’t mean that I fully understand it. One of the pastors finally summed it up best when he said: “We must let God be God.” Simple, yet profound and eternally true. Later, we sang the song “Let God be God,” a wonderful Chichewa song about the power of God.

Some of the questions that the pastors asked were deep and thoughtful. “Is it permissible to let a woman preach?” “Does the baptism of the Holy Spirit mean that everyone can speak in tongues?” “If Eve at the forbidden fruit first then why did God get angry with Adam, and not Eve?” Other questions were a result of their educational backgrounds. “Why didn’t Adam and Eve have a wedding ceremony?” “Of the 500 brothers that Jesus appeared to, (1 Corinthians 15), the ones who have not yet fallen asleep, are they still alive today?” “Why was the woman who was caught in adultery going to be stoned but not the man she was caught with?” All of the questions were thought provoking, you just never knew from which end of the spectrum they would come from.

Each of the pastors who attended the conference received a brand new Bible. For most of the participants, this meant a study Bible (much like the NIV study Bible you may own) in the Chichewa language, complete with scriptural cross-references, outlines of each book of the Bible and even maps at the back. These pastors had never owned Bibles like this before...therefore, they were somewhat uncertain on how to use them properly. But the Lord gave us opportunities to learn to use them together.

On the second day of our time together, one of the pastors asked a question about a passage of scripture: Matthew 24:15 - 25. As Jesus it teaching about the signs of the end of the age, he references prophecy from the book of Daniel. The pastor asked me what Jesus was talking about. We all had the opportunity to look up the passage in Matthew, use the cross-references to Daniel 9 - 12, to read those entire chapters (to gain a more complete understanding of what Daniel was talking about) and then to apply it to what Jesus was teaching. As these pastors become more comfortable using their new Bibles it will open up new depths of understanding to the truth that is contained within God's word.

One of the pastors I had the chance to meet was Pastor Pipe. He is the man wearing the white shirt in the picture above. Pastor Pipe is a warm, wonderful and godly man who is in his sixties. For most of his life, Pastor Pipe was completely illiterate. He could not read a single word or even write his own name. However, one night Pipe had a dream. Pipe dreamed that God was calling him to preach. Pipe's respoonse to God was: "I will do whatever you ask but how can I preach when I cannot even read?" God's answer to Pipe? "I will teach you to read." God then instructed Pipe to find a Bible and to take it with him to the river by the village. Obediantly, Pipe did as he was instructed. He arrived at the river, opened up the Bible and suddenly, for the first time in his life, he could read the words that were printed on the page. A true life story of God not calling the equipped but equipping the called.

How many times have we felt the tug of the Holy Spirit on our hearts only to find ourselves spouting excuse after excuse for why God must be mistaken. Surely God must have me mistaken with someone who has (pick one): more talents, more time, more money, better speaking skills, more patience, etc. He can't use me. And so rather than responding to God's call we choose to raltionalize it away and explain that feeling in our gut as something we ate that did not agree with us. And yet here we see in Pastor Pipe a man who - in our society - had none of the skills necessary to be a pastor...he couldn't even read the Bible. But his desire to be obediant and responsive to God was greater than his doubts or inadequacies. That is truly faith in action.

The three days that I was able to spend with these men and women are three days that I will treasure for the rest of my life. For me, they rank right up there with the day I married my wonderful wife Deanna and the birth of my children. Personally, having the chance to participate in the ordination service of two of these pastors - Reverend Pipe and Reverend Emmanuel - was a highlight of this trip.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Michael

Malawi Mission Trip - Day 6

DAY 6: Saturday, November 14

For the members of our team this was a life-changing day. We team returned to the Bodza feeding center with high energy and high expectations. Knowing that this was going to be our last day at the feeding center, the team wanted to pour as much of God’s love as humanly possible into these precious and wonderful children.

The drive to the feeding center takes about an hour and a half. While most of the road is paved, the last 30 minutes is on dirt, wash board roads. Think of the biggest pot hole you have ever seen and then triple it. Welcome to driving to the villages in Malawi. In addition to the rough roads, there is the oppressive heat, the desolation with no vegetation, endless lines of needy people, rows and rows of mud hut homes…pretty much stereotypical images of sub-Saharan Africa.

Upon arrival at the feeding center the 200+ children were brimming with excitement. They greeted the vehicles chanting: “Azungu! Azungu! Azungu!” (By the way, azungu means white people). They were anxious to welcome us back and to play, sing, create, learn and love with us. Our time with the children began with Brad telling the story of Noah’s Ark. You have never seen a more attentive group of children. They hung on every word of Brad’s story as the assistant director for Bridge to Malawi, Sabena, translated. It was a humorous moment as Brad described the animals getting on the ark when Sabena discovered that she did not to know the Chichewa word for giraffe.

Following Noah’s Ark, the team decided it was time to decorate the children. Using temporary tattoos and face paint almost every child received multiple adornments to their face and bodies. With the small mirrors that the team brought with us the children were able to admire the handiwork and their newly designed faces.

Today is a “touch day” for the team at the feeding center. We get the chance to put our hands on them as we put on tattoos, paint faces, give endless hugs and give them necklaces and bracelets. For everyone, this has by far been the most rewarding experience of the trip thus far. It has tugged at our collective heart strings and helped us to put a face to who Jesus is referring to when he talks about “the least of these.” In each face we saw a special treasure, loving created by God for his special purpose. How could we not be moved?

Before eating lunch at the center, we passed out cross necklaces to the older children and bracelets to the younger children. On both the necklaces and the bracelets there were colored beads that describes God’s love. Doug led the children through a heartfelt explanation of God’s love, our sin and the sacrifice of Jesus in our place. A local pastor who was at the feeding center told the team “These children need to hear this message.” Is there any greater act of love and kindness that we can give than to share with them the greatest love story of all?

Following a traditional lunch of ground maize, greens and goat, our team had a special privilege. Streets of Africa provided 1,000 mosquito nets to give away while we are in Malawi. We were able to give one to each person at the feeding center. It was as if we had given them gold. While HIV/AIDS gets all of the headlines in Africa, it is malaria that kills more Africans daily than any other disease or illness. These nets will save lives from the first moment that they are used.

An act as simple as the giving of the net…saving a life. A person does not get the chance to actually save a life very often in their personal experience. And today our team had the chance to share new life spiritually and save lives physically. That’s not a bad day…

So, what does it mean to be a “doer of the Word?” What does living as a follower of Christ look like? For that matter, how do we even define our faith? Statistics and research tell us that the lives of followers of Christ in the United States today do not really differ that much from the millions of Americans who are lost, who are far from God. Is the practice of our faith defined by how often we are inside the walls of the church? By the size of the check we write to the church each month? Is the practice of our faith a lifestyle or merely a spiritual “to do” list that we check off so that we feel better about ourselves?

James 1:27 says – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

The Christian life – the entire Christian experience – should be marked by a life of servanthood. Over and over Jesus teaches us that the meek and those who give their lives in service to others are “the greatest” in the Kingdom. Jesus teaches that whenever we show God’s love to “the least of these” we are showing love to him. The book of James also tells us that “faith without works is dead.” Simply put, as followers of Christ we are called to minister to – to help meet the needs of – those who are helpless and cannot meet their own needs.

Anyone who seriously studies the ministry of Jesus will see that he continually reached out to those who have been marginalized by society: sinners, lepers, the poor, the oppressed, prostitutes and tax-collecters. And yet, far too often, we have no desire to come close to those who need our help the most. Maybe we will write a check to assuage our guilt, but we don’t engage person-to-person, we don’t put a face to a need. We are afraid to connect.

Why is that? Could it be that connecting person-to-person forces us to come to grips with how much we have that we really don’t need? Or maybe it is the fact that we will realize that we have not truly surrendered all that we have to God and we secretly want to hold our possessions back for ourselves. I could be completely off-base on this, but somehow I don’t think so.

The good news is that it is never too late to start making a difference. You may think that the task of reaching out to those in need – whether in Oklahoma City, the U.S., or around the world – is too big for one person to make a difference. An African proverb says: “If you think one person cannot do anything, try spending the night in a room alone with a mosquito.” You may not be able to do much, but you can do what you can do. God has given you talents…use them. God has given you treasures…share them. God has given you time…invest it in others.

If you want learn about where you can serve, feel free to call our missions ministry at the church. We always have service opportunities for people who want to make a difference in the lives of others. But, I warn you – you’re life will never be the same.


Soli Deo Gloria,
Michael

Author's note: Praise the Lord! We have deisel fuel. Thank you so much for your prayers. Because we now have deisel, for the next two days we will be in the southern part of this beautiful nation. Unfortunately, we will not have internet access, so I will not be able to give further updates until we return to the States on Thursday. I promise there will be additional updates and more pictures at that time.

Malawi Mission Trip - Day 5

DAY 5 – Friday, November 13

Due to the diesel fuel shortage, we have had to adjust our plans somewhat. It’s no big deal; it is part and parcel of almost every mission trip taken, especially trips overseas to Third World nations. Experiencing a mission trip involves a willingness to be flexible and to allow the Holy Spirit to work in the midst of fluid – not just flexible – situations.

While the Pastors’ Training Conference was unaffected by the changing schedule, our trip to the Bodza feeding center did not take place today. It will have to wait until Saturday. So, since the mosquito nets supplied by Streets of Africa – purchased from HIS Nets – are still sitting in customs. Doug and Brad had the chance to go with Danny Gregory to the Malawi Revenue Authority and see the bureaucracy of a developing nation up close. Some haggling went on, but in the end, the Malawian government was paid a far higher duty for these humanitarian supplies than it was entitled to claim. Life goes on…

Two of our team members with considerable experience in the medical field – Stacey and Valerie – were already scheduled to visit the Malawi College of Medicine and to tour the Queens (sic) Elizabeth Central Hospital. Given the change I n plans, all of the ladies on our team made the trip together. What they saw was eye opening. As one team member described it: “It was interesting, but shocking.”

To honor the request of our hosts and to respect the patients at the hospital we did not take photographs during our visit. So, I want you to picture in your mind the level of medical care and the quality of healthcare facilities that you observed on the old M*A*S*H sitcom in the 70’s and early 80’s. Now remove all resources and funding for even the most basic of medical supplies and you are beginning to get a picture of what our team encountered.

Stacey was scheduled to give presentation to the surgical staff on the benefits of using surgical staples. Well, using surgical staples IS a benefit…if you have a choice. All too often that is not an option during surgery because the doctors do not have access to these types of surgical supplies. Stacey later said that as she prepared for her presentation she wanted to discuss various options in patient care. She soon realized that these professionals have NO OPTIONS and that they make do with whatever they have. It was very humbling to experience their poor and meager working conditions.

From the College of Medicine the group moved to tour the Queens Elizabeth Central Hospital. If what the team encountered at the College was “shocking” then the conditions at the hospital were “heartbreaking.”

The group visited many parts of the hospital: operating room, patient wards, labs, ICU and the burn unit. Everywhere they went the team members were struck by how blessed they are to have access to the level of medical care that we have in the United States. No American would ever want to have to rely on this level and quality of medical care. Crowded wards that featured rows after rows of patient beds, with family members sleeping on mats next to their beds. Each floor had one nurse for the entire ward. Pain medication is not dispensed after a patient leaves OR recovery because there just is not enough to go around. If a patient needs additional pain medication then a doctor will write a prescription for the patient and the family must go out and purchase the needed meds…if they can afford it.

While the staff at the hospital seemed genuinely proud of where they work and the care they provide, the members of our team who toured the hospital all mentioned how eerily quiet the wards were. One team member recalled how hopeless everyone looked. It was almost as if they knew that they were waiting to die.

The sad truth is, you don’t have to travel across the globe to look into the eyes of hopeless people. Right where you live, you work, you shop and where you play you can find hopeless people. Often, our trouble as American Christians is that we no longer notice them. It is easy to notice them when they look different than you and when they are lying in a hospital bed that barely meets the description of a bed and recovering from major surgery without the benefit of pain medications. But what about those people who look just like us, whose kids go to the same schools as ours and who are out mowing their lawn just like us on the weekends? Do we notice the hopelessness in their eyes? Do we look for it? Do we even care?

The benefit of a mission trip is that it allows us to be singularly focused on how God is moving and we are often more receptive and responsive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Back home we become so pre-occupied with work, family schedules and the endless and non-stop activities of our daily routines. We are afflicted with the “Barren-ness of Busy-ness.” We become so tunnel-visioned that we miss out on where God can use us right here, right now. We no longer see the world as God sees it. The things that break the heart of God no longer break our hearts. We are merely going through the motions of our Christian faith.

My prayer for our team is that our experiences on this trip will heighten our awareness to where the Holy Spirit is at work around us. I am also praying that we will have an increased sensitivity to the spiritual condition of the people around us. But not only is this my prayer for us, it is my prayer for you.


Soli Deo Gloria,
Michael

Malawi Mission Trip - Update

I apologize for lagging behind in my blogs. Tomorrow I will post enough updates so that we are caught up...hopefully. I will also post some photos.

Tomorrow we are going to be in two churches for worship. Please pray for us as we travel and speak in these churches. Also, the deisel problem still has not been resolved. We have not been able to fill Danny Gregory's vehicle since we have arrived, but PRAISE THE LORD, we have yet to run out of gas. Please pray that we will be able to get deisel fuel tomorrow.


Soli Deo gloria,
Michael

Malawi Mission Trip - Day 4

So, it's been a while since my last update, but I can explain. Chalk it up to enjoying the complete Africa experience. There was no electricity yesterday when we arrived home from our project sites. So, we cooked, we ate, we celebrated Sydney Gregory's 12th birthday, cleaned up and had a team devotional all in the dark. (I'm not sure but I think some of our team members may have nodded off during the team devo time...)

Today was an incredible day of ministry. Most of the team: Brad, Darlene, Doug, Kelli, Stacey and Valerie started off by going to the Open Arms orphanage. They received a guided tour and were able to find out a great deal of information about the plight and growing problems of orphans and thier care. The orphanage they visited was one of the nicer ones in Blantyre but they still learned that the growing numbers of orphans may soon overwhelming the current system that is in place to provide the care for and placement of these orphans. While they were at Open Arms thay had the opportunity to leave some of the infant formula as a gift for the orphanage.

After leaving the orphanage, they group proceeded to the Bridge to Malawi feeding center in the village of Bodza. Bodza is about an hour and a half drive from Blantyre down in the valley and aas a result it is VERY hot there. By the time the team made it to the site it was past Noon and the children fed by the center (usually around 200+) had begun to arrive. So, with barely time to catch their breath, the team got started entertaining the children with a large parachute while others prepared the craft project for the day. Oh, and by the way, it was blistering hot there.

In our preparation for this trip some members of the team had the chance to meet a woman named Beatrice who is a native Kenyan but who now resides in Oklahoma City. One of the stories she shared with the group was how much she treasured an old, worn and rumpled photograph from her childhood. The only childhood picture she had ever owned. Picking up on how much Beatrice treasured her picture, the team decided to use photography technology similar to Polaroid (yet made by Fuji) to take pictures of the children at the feeding center and then give the children a chance to decorate the frame for the pictures.

In our planning for the trip we were told that the Bodza feeding center typically feeds 130-150 children each day. So we purchased 200 exposures for the camera and guessed that we would be okay. Unfortunately, the center now feeds 200+ on a daily basis. The day we arrived they had 197...just enough film for all of the kids. That sounds like God to me.

Our team also played games with the children, shared Bible stories, helped prepare the lunch for the kids, sang to the kids and listened to am impromptu concert by the children. Over and over during our team devotion time our team remarked how blessed they were by the children. It was easy to look into their eyes and to know that Jesus Christ was looking right back at us. At the end of the day the weary, dirty and tired missionaries trudged in exhausted but fulfilled.

And that is exactly what Christ expects of us. Paul encourages us to do everything we do with all of our heart as if we are working for the Lord. That means working with excellence and giving ourselves fully to the task at hand. When we give every ounce of energy that we have, then we make ourselves dependent on God and the power of the Holy Spirit. We allow him to fill us, to work through us, to do things that are impossible in our own strength and, as a result, we glorify God and proclaim Jesus as Lord. It doesn't matter if you are in Malawi or on Main Street this is how God expects his disciples to live and act...EVERYDAY!!!

As I write this I want to encourage you to pray for the continuing deisel shortage. Due to the shortage of gas we have been forced to amend our project schedule and the team was unable to return to the Bodza feeding center on Friday. Please pray that deisel will be delivered and that we will be able to secure all that we need for the remainder of our time here.

In my next post I will share a little bit about the Pastors' Conference.


Soli Deo gloria,
Michael

Malawi Mission Trip - Day 3

Wednesday was a very long day.

We have arrived in Malawi though not without our share of excitement along the way. We are all very tired as our bodies deal with jet lag . At this point we are all ready to fall into bed...which is exactly what I will be doing upon completion of this blog entry.

The day's adventure began at the airport. It was there as we were checking in that one of our team members noticed that they had left a suitcase at the hotel. No biggie. While we are waiting for the bag I am continuing the process of getting the team checked in and calculating what our overweight baggage charges will be.

Finally that is added up and now it is about 45 minnutes until our plane departs and boarding has started. Once I go to another counter and pay the baggae fees we can go to our gate. The baggae people will not accept my credit card. So, I pull out my US money and I am told: "I am sorry, sir. We only accept Rand (the local currency). Great, now I have to go and exchange money before I pay the baggae charge.

The Holy Spirit enables me to remain calm and I give the rest of the group their passports and boarding passes and tell them to head to the gate. It is now less than thirty minutes until our plane leaves. I go downstairs and wait in line to exchange money. I exchange money and go back upstairs to wait in line to pay the baggage charges...fifteen minutes until the plane leaves.

At this point 40 pounds ago I would have been like O.J. Simpson in those old Hertz Car Rental adds; running through the terminal leaping over chairs and other travelers to get to my gate on time. It ain't happenin' today. So moving - and praying - as quickly as I can, I go through the security screening, clear passport control and walk to the complete opposite end of the terminal building. When I get there, only four people remain to get on the plane but at least the doors are not closed. Thank you, Jesus!

But when I approach the gate it is clear that one of the gate personnel is in some sort of distress. She is gasping for air and coughing, sheer panic written across her face. One of her colleagues say that she is having an asthma attack. My eight year old son, Joseph, has acute asthma attacks from time to time, so I have seen this before. I ask her if she has a rescue inhaler and she tells me no. I ask one of her co-workers to walk over to the nearby Gloria Jean's Coffee Bar and get a cup of ice cold water for her to begin sipping. Another passenger jumps in and asks the other gate staff to call someone to help.

As Carmen - the young woman's name - began to sip the cold water the manager of the Gloria Jean's came over with a paper sack for her to use. We encourage Carmen to breathe as slowly and as deeply as she can. She is begining to panic a bit. We lay Carmen down on the waiting area seats and gently encourage her. I grabbed her hand and knelt down next to her and said: "Carmen, you need to relax. I am going to pray for you right now." I began to pray softly where she could hear me and I asked God to intervene. I asked him to reduce the swelling and constriction that was making it hard for Carmen to breathe and that the Comforter would come and calm Carmen's spirit.

True to his nature, God responded. As I prayed Carmen's breathing became deeper and more relaxed. The trembling that she had experienced before was gone. She was not completely over her asthma attack but the affects had abated dramatically. Did this happen because I am a great pray-er? Of course not. It happened because God chose to use this moment to glorify himself. What we witnessed with our eyes was God being faithful and answering us when we prayed. It was simply God being God. I just happened to be there at the time.

By the way, I did make the flight and as I boarded the plane security personnel had arrived and were awaiting the medical staff. I do not know the final outcome of Carmen's episode, but I trust that God sustained her through the asthma attack.

Now it is your turn to pray. We have arrived in Blantyre and with the deisel fuel shortage that has suddenly paralyzed this country, some of our plans are uncertain at this point. Please pray that we will be open to the doors that are opened for us. You can pray that the fuek shortage would be resolved but that is not the biggest need. The biggest need is that our team be exactly where God ants us to be, encountering the people that God wants us to minister to. If that takes a fuel shortage for God to do this, then so be it. But please pray for our openness and obedience.

And don't forget to pray for Carmen.

Tomorrow our team will be visiting the Open Arms orphanage in Blantyre and leading a VBS at the Bodza feeding center. Most of the orphans who come to the feeding center are orphans because their parents have dies from HIV/AIDS. While most of the team will be doing that I will begin a three-day pastor training for 25 local pastors. Please pray for all of us. Pray that we will make time to get alone with God before we serve and that we will love as unconditionally as he loves us.


Soli Deo gloria,
Michael

Malawi Mission Trip - Day 2

Tuesday was a very short day.

It was still Monday evening when we left Atlanta and when we arrived in Johannesburg South Africa 14 hours later it was after 5:00pm. Today may go down as one of my least productive days in history...and that is quite an achievement even for me.

But this evening is a good chance for our team to catch our collective breath before heading on to Malawi tomorrow. It will give us the chance to get a good night's rest prior to our short flight to Blantyre. Because when we arrive in Malawi we will hit the ground running.

The last time I checked I believe we were scheduled to visit a training center for handicapped women. At this center women learn a skill and a trade that will enable them to generate some income for their familes. I think we will also be making our first visit to an orphanage tomorrow. Our day is already filled so you can see the importance of this night's rest.

We are pretty tired. Spending up to 14 hours in a steel tube where the seats are too small and too close together is not the most condusive environment for relaxation. We need to be refreshed. Our spiritual lives are that way, too. While we are living out our daily lives for Christ, whether in our normal circles of influence or by acting as the hands and feet of Jesus outside of our normal routine, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to renew us and recharge our batteries. In the Psalms, David likened it to a deer who is panting for water.

While it is one thing to desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit when we are spiritually depleted, shouldn't we as followers of Christ have an insatiable need for the Holy Spirit's power? Shouldn't just being in the presence of God's spirit create within us a desire to know him even more intimately? To abide in him even more deeply? Unfortunately, for amny of us - myself included - the only time that we desire more of God presence is when we discover that we are incapable of doing something without it.

On the long flight to Johannesburg I was watching the movie Duplicity. Clive Owen's character was telling Julia Robert's character how he felt about her. He said: "I think about you all the time. Even when I am with you I can't stop thinking about you." That is a serious desire to be with someone. How would our lives be different - and by extension how would the world be different - if we had that same intensity of desire to know God and experience his presence on a continual basis? It literally boggles the mind. We could have the same impact - if not greater - as the early believers found in the Book of Acts.

Ponder your desire for God as you continue to pray for ours...


Soli Deo gloria,
Michael

Malawi Mission Trip - Day 1

And so the journey begins...

It is trite and cliche to say that our life is a journey, but this statement is true just the same. The question then becomes what will the quality of our journey be and what kind of person will we become as a result of that journey. Before you start snoozing, let me assure you that this is no existential blog on the meaning and purpose of life...I am far too shallow for that.

But journeys can be used to prepare us. In looking through the Bible I find three examples of a journey that was used to prepare the participant(s) for their destination.

The first one is the journey of the Israelites through the Sinai on their way to Canaan, the Promised Land. As a child, I could look at a map and know that it should not take forty years to go from Egypt, cross the Sinai and arrive in Canaan. I mean, c'mon, who was driving the bus? Stevie Wonder? But as I learned more about this journey and Moses' unruly congregation (think of them as the first mega-church in recorded history) the more I began to understand about the purpose of the forty years.

As a rebellious and stiff-necked people, God gave them the chance to enter into Canaan early on in their journey. Moses sent twelve spies to scout out the land and to bring back a report. Ten of the spies came back with a negative report: "We cannot do it. The people are like giants." Then you had Caleb and Joshua who saw the land and the people and realized that God would be their strength and that God would make good on his promise. Unfortunately, the nattering nabobs of negativity won the day and they retreated to the desert. God declared that none of those people who doubted God's ability to provide what he had promised would live to inherit the land, so they wandered for another forty years. God used that time to trim the dead weight and to prove his power and faithfulness to the people. (For some reason parting the Red Sea just wasn't enough proof).

Then there's Jonah, The Reluctant Prophet. His journey to the city of Ninevah took a rather circuitous route when you consider that he was running from God. As someone who has personally tried this strategy I can assure you that it is an exercise in futility. Well, Jonah learned that same lesson, but his epiphany waited until he was in the belly of a great fish. He repented and learned something of God's grace as the fish spit him out on the beach. Unfortunately for Jonah, he did not remember what he learned. Jonah did not consider the repentant people of Ninevah to be as deserving of God's grace as he was. Often, we too have short memories of God's object lesson...especially as it relates to forgiveness, mercy and grace.

The third journey is the three year journey the disciples walked with Jesus. Jesus spent three years preparing them to be world-changers. To be God's method for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with the entire world. No to be sure, the disciples did not realize that this was the journey they were on. Unlike, Moses and Jonah, they did not have a final destination firmly in mind when they began to travel with Jesus. But each day they were with the Savior and each time that he taught them more about the Kingdom of heaven they more God was shaping them and equipping them to fulfill the Great Commission.

So as we continue on our way to Blantyre, Malawi - we are currently in the Atlanta airport waiting to board our flight to Johannesburg - I am wondering two things about how God will use this journey: First, how will God use our travel to Malawi to prepare us for our ministry while we are there, and second, how is God using this trip as a whole to shape us, change us, and further mold us in the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. Some moments and lessons will be obvious, others less so, but as long as we remain open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, as long as we allow God to receive the glory NO MATTER the circumstance then we will be useful instruments in his hands and then we will be able to do what we were created to do: to glorify God and proclaim Jesus as Lord.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel.


Soli Deo gloria,
Michael