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Back from Amsterdam and I guess the best thing to do is talk a little about some of what happened and some impressions (hopefully from the LORD). First of all, I am convinced now that everyone who is a Christian should go on mission trips. I know that not all can afford and so sometimes it may be years between trips. But we should go. We often speak that the idea is that we either go or we support those who go and that's true. However I believe the issue is one of riches. A Christian who is mature in the LORD is wealthy beyond belief and to not make that wealth available to those who are poor is to keep food from the hungry. I saw people who are sincere and honest and starving because they have no idea that they are even hungry. I have no personal experience with this but from what I understand of starvation there reaches a point where the body has begun to consume itself and even tricks the mind into thinking that the hunger is not there. Of course these are danger signs of death approaching. Such as it is with anyone in the spiritual realm as well. I met people who believed that Christianity was what you were born with. A woman I talked to told me she was half Hindu and half Christian because her mother was Hindu and her father was Dutch. Still others believe something may be there but most likely not. It's not just a lack of education, though that is some of the problem. But it's more. And when all the wealth is in one place, then the poor can't access it. Not to say that there aren't Dutch Christians, there are true Christians there. However, there aren't enough. Time and time again so many of the people I talked to said that (I speak of those who thought they were Christian) church was a boring place for very old people and certainly not for the young. You see they have a religion but they don't have relationship. They are poor--the poor is spirit that Jesus talked so much about. And we who are rich in HIM have a duty to give that wealth away. So yes I would climb the soapbox and say that we are called to go on mission trips as much as possible. Not because it's a checklist of duties but because it is the calling on our life. So where is the calling? I guess after this experience I do see the calling as away from America more than I used to. Not to say that the mission field of where we work, go to school etc, isn't the place as well. But we are wealthy here and there are the poor who have to yet to taste what so many here ignore. However, the LORD did impress this upon me. While in Amsterdam I found myself praying for anyone I came in contact with--praying always. And it struck me very deeply to ask this question--why do I not do the same here in my world? I go to the mall and do I intercede for everyone I see walking? Can not the same prayer in another country work in the one where I currently live? The mind set of the missionary should be for the world and wherever that world comes in contact with the one praying. Not just while in airplane, the beaten path, the streets of new country, or the gatherings of people who don't know the LORD. For the truth is that even in the country of the rich, there are many who don't JESUS. The difference in Holland was that at least those who didn't know HIM would say openly they didn't believe in HIM. Or they revealed their lack of knowing by their beliefs. I had the opportunity to share Christ with Muslims, Hindus, atheists and a host of others. I can not promise that they were saved or that I even made an impact. For the truth is that I didn't have impact. The truth is that GOD made impact in HIS word. The truth is that they impacted me. The truth is the seed of GOD has been spread and now it will take root or it won't but the truth is that it was not my job to evaluate the crop. My job was to spread the seed. Someone else will come to water. Someone else will come to harvest. Someday I will get to water other seeds. Maybe someday I will be allowed to harvest. But the final truth is that if I don't go then there is no seed spread. Yes others can spread the seed but maybe only I would have been able to spread the seeds to those I was able to.
posted by Darol at 9:55 AM

 
I don't have something from the Bible today but something to share that's indirectly from the Bible. One of the popular praise and worship songs based on one of the Psalms states "Better is one day in Your courts than thousands elsewhere." I believe that the message in there is the same but can be applied in different ways. For those struggling with a problem, a sin, a storm, or whatever--then there is the encouragement that one day with GOD is better than a thousand in the problem, sin, etc. But it can be hard to see it that way, can't it? I know my problem is loving the here and now. But GOD wants us to understand that it is better with HIM than with that stupid piece of sin we hold so dearly. A few years ago I was really struggling with something that was just blatant disobedience. The truth of the matter was that I had turned my back on GOD to embrace some junk that wrong. AS GOD helped convict me and finally start turning back to HIM, I realized that the chorus had to be sung personally for me. Better was one day in HIS court than a thousand with ___________________. At first I didn't know if I really meant it but I kept singing it (at least in my head) exactly like that until it became true. Which honestly took time. But it was real and true. Which brings about a second application of the song/Psalm. When we get to the point of know that Better is One Day in HIS court than a thousand with something that is not sin or wrong. I fear that it might have actually been easier to compare the sin's thousand days to the one with GOD because we know that sin is wrong and that HE is right. But what about when there are things that aren't exactly wrong or sin but either get in the way or just cause problems or whatever else? Can we still say better is one day in HIS courts than a thousand with our friends? Our family? Our loved ones? Etc. Or the disappointments that come and aren't based in sin or wrongness, just simply disappointments? Herein is my bigger struggle. Am I really at a point where one day with HIM is better than a thousand with all the good things (even the things that HE has given)? If so then I have learned the lesson of the Psalmist. But I fear I have a way to go on this one.
posted by Darol at 12:21 PM

 
First and foremost, I would appreciate any prayer concerning a tragedy at the school where I work. Over the weekend, a car accident killed one of our students and left another in critical condition. Because the community is so small, everyone is affected. Please pray for the kids and family members.

As far as today is concerned I have some things to share that have really been on my heart for the past couple of days. I recently heard an interview with a former athlete who was retiring from professional football to work full time with a ministry. In the interview he was asked about becoming a coach some day, as many people believe that he possesses the skills and ability to become a great coach. He admitted that it might happen some day but that there were a lot of things he would like to do. And if he had a hundred lives then he would do most of them but since he had only one life to live, then that changed priorities. He then used the phrase having only one life to give. I guess that sort of works in concert with stuff I have been dealing with. It really helps to see things a little differently. But even though I have been dealing with some really big possible changes, that's not why anyone reads this! So getting back to that idea there is also this that GOD has laid upon me...the personal relationship of JESUS. We make a big deal of making things personal. We write our names on things, decorate stuff, etc. Now this is kinda of weird I know but for me at least there is something that makes my relationship with Christ a bit more personal and that is when I personalize what I have done to HIM and what HE has done for me. I think many Christians get used to the word sin and it becomes acceptable to use the word without thinking of the personal attachment. In other words I pray for GOD to forgive my sins and of course HE does. But it gets me a little more personal when I am putting something that I have directly done in the relationship of the cross. In other words, when I say something like "because of my anger over not get a promotion, Jesus was put to death" then I start to see a better relationship between what I do and what happens. And of course that was a poor example in many ways because there is certainly nothing wrong with anger when handled properly. However, to cuss or be bitter or whatever else that usually accompanies anger creates a different situation. The same is true for lies, stealing, lust, etc. I think that particularly when struggling with stuff this idea is powerful. I believe that the voicing of an idea such as, "Jesus was put to death because I want to run around and relationships outside of marriage" places a personal note into our lives. Now some might call this guilty feelings. And there is truth to that because we are guilty. But this also opens the door for how great HIS love is..to realize that He would die because of something so personal and twisted as that. The Word speaks of how sometimes a good man might die for another whom HE loved. But JESUS died for us while we were still sinners. Jesus died for me and my particular junk. But see even using the word junk, soften the blow of the reality of what I do. This shows HIS love. Now to me, and I may be alone in this, the more personal it is the more I am touched by it. And the bigger impact is this...the more I am able to related what HE has done for me to others. JESUS died because I am a liar. Or because I spend my time selfishly scheming how to get ahead for myself or whatever else. This opens the door of HIS love in my life and the door for others. That is what sharing what Christ has done in me is about. It's what needs to be done throughout the world. Jesus once told those listening to him about two people. The first person was forgiven a very large debt. The second person was forgiven an even larger debt. Then HE asked the question "who would show the most love to the man who had forgiven?" The reply was the one who had been forgiven more. In a real sense, there is no more sin in my life than yours (I am speaking now as towards the human condition of all human beings). However, the more I specifically understand the literal sins that cost Christ his life, the more aware of how much I owe HIM.
posted by Darol at 9:54 AM