God's Opportunity

Nearly 30 years ago, a friend of ours from Thailand spoke at a mission conference. He said that most people are either unable or unwilling to go to the ends of the earth to proclaim the gospel of Christ to those of other languages and cultures. He also said that God was overriding our failure to “go” by bringing substantial numbers of those people to us, in the form of immigrants to this country.
He was right.
Only a few weeks later, I learned that a family had moved to our small community from a refugee camp in Thailand. Originally from Laos, they were ethnic Thai and ethnic Chinese—and Bhuddist/animist in their beliefs. A coalition of local churches had sponsored them and brought them to town, and they were living about a block from my house. When an appeal was made for volunteers to teach them English, I knew that God had given me the opportunity to “go”.
That was one of the best experiences of my life.
God allowed me to know them through the ESL class for the adults, as a neighbor and mentor, as a tutor for their children. They were introduced to a larger Asian community in a nearby city and took part in adult Bible studies led by my friend from Thailand. I was able to teach the children. Although they later moved from the area, they came to know Christ and became members of His Church.
Fast forward to 2010…
Recently, a building in our area was purchased by a Muslim professional man for use as a place of prayer and instruction by other Muslim families who have immigrated to our part of eastern Wisconsin. That property must be re-zoned in order for it to be used as a mosque.
In light of the events of the past 10 years, Americans have developed a paranoia about people of the Muslim faith. As a result, there is significant opposition to interaction with them.
Ironically, many of our churches have supported missionaries in Muslim countries for years, yet they seem to have a NIMBY attitude to “going” across the street to get to know local Muslims as people. They speak English and have been culturally integrated in many ways, so they don’t have the same needs as my Asian friends did, but I wonder what opportunities God has for us.
We will never know if we bar the doors and refuse to let them come.

Christmas in June

Yesterday I finished up a project I've been thinking about for several weeks...setting up an "Everybody Directory" for the people who don't fit into my other directories. This one has everybody from missionaries to long-ago friends to people I may never want to contact, but...
In order to do that, I pulled out the stack of old Christmas cards, birthday greetings and unanswered letters that have been accumulating for a year or two while I knock off quick notes via email or post blogs.
It was a good time to get caught up again on other people's lives...
My friend Kay is a young widow, serving with Wycliffe. She made some really insightful observations in her Christmas letter that keep coming back to my mind. Maybe they will challenge you as they've challenged me.
She says:

• "I've been learning about loneliness as opposed to alone-ness; how to distinguish between the two and how to work through one while growing in the midst of the other."
• "When God is silent on a subject, He does have His reasons. My job is to keep on doing the last thing He gave me to do until He does speak."
• "It's ok to yell for help when things get to be too much."
• "Change is inevitable. How we react to it helps determine whether it is good or not."
• "'Fine' isn't an acceptable answer when you really aren't."
• "Procrastination isn't working for me and practicing it until I get really good at it probably won't, either."
• "It pains God when I give Him my leftovers."

Are you feeling challenged, too? Let me know, so I can let Kay know how she's spoken to all of us.

If It Looks Like a Duck...

I read a pretty unsettling blog today regarding an evangelical church in Seattle, Washington, which is hosting "Beer & Bible" men's Bible studies and has just introduced men's poker nights...all in the name of Christ!

In their own words: "It's not about poker, its about relaxing, enjoying the company of some men, making grunting noises, and laughing at Junior High humor. If you're a man, and you have 10 bucks, here's your chance to prove your poker skills or lack there of. Depending on the number of men who show, we will have several $5 games in before the night is through. Bring your favorite soothing beverage (barley pop, soda, water, etc.) and bring something fattening to eat! For the same price as a movie, you can enjoy some laughs and, if you're lucky, go home with a little extra. Invite your buddies! "

I expect that if Jesus were invited to stop off at the corner bar after work, He just might go. After all, He came to save sinners and there are, no doubt, as many there as there are in church on Sunday morning. If He were invited to go to a poker party, He might go, too, although He'd have an unfair advantage (being omniscient and all), so I doubt if He'd play a hand. I think He just might go...but I can't imagine that He'd lay in a keg of beer and host a casino night just to get the chance to talk to sinners!

Why do Christians seem to think that they have to camouflage Jesus' offer to reconcile sinners to their Creator God with worldly activity? Jesus never had to shout over a back-up band. He didn't have fund-raisers to finance His ministry. He didn't seem to care whether the world liked Him, and He walked all over the toes of the prevalent culture. And, although He hung around with sinners for 33 years, He never began to look or smell or act like them. I guess that's why our sin was so offensive to Him when He hung on the cross to pay for it...it never tainted Him until He literally became sin for us. Why are believers so unwilling to be different for Him?

An old comparison seems apt here. If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck....Why do we think it's anything other than a duck? If God has transformed you into a swan, why do you want to be a duck again?

p.s. Thanks to Rod Albert for posting the link to this information at http://rodneyalbert.blogspot.com/

Good Bye Again

In a little more than 24 hours, we will say good bye to our oldest daughter and her family and, unless the Lord intervenes, we will not see them for another four years. By then, our five grandchildren will have lived most of their lives on the other side of the world—Little Hannah will not even know us. Perhaps we will not see any of them this side of Heaven.
I hate good bye’s.
Every separation is a kind of “little death”, and all death is unnatural in God’s view. We were created to live in union with Him and with each other. Harmony and union ruled until sin entered the world, and with it death and separation. Adam and Eve experienced “dis-union” immediately after they disobeyed God. Their relationship with Him was broken and so was their relationship with each other. Ever since they were expelled from the perfection that was Eden, they lived with the imperfection of ruptured relationships and physical separation and death. They lived with death of the spirit, too, because they no longer had unrestricted access to their Creator, and all of their descendants have inherited their curse. Sin is bound into our spiritual genes, and it affects all people of all colors and nationalities.
God hates good byes, too.
He hates them so much that He endured separation from His own Son so that we could be reunited with Him. Jesus left the perfection of Heaven and lived in a human body in a sinful world for 33 years. He lived a perfect life that was not marred by the sin around Him, and He took the curse of sin on Himself when He died on the cross. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life—no man comes to the Father but by Me.” He said, “I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.”
Only through Jesus Christ can we become what God has intended us to be. By trusting in Him and His saving death and resurrection on our behalf, we will never again be separated from God. There will be no eternal good bye for believers, and God has entrusted His people with the good news that Christ has died to make that relationship available to all people—not just here in America, but to the ends of the earth.
And that is the reason why Gail and John and their children are leaving again.
They are serving God in the Philippines so that people in remote mountain tribes will have the opportunity to come to know the God who made them for His pleasure. When they enter that plane and the doors close, we will say good bye. When tribal people are introduced to the Door of Heaven and come to trust the One who has saved them, it will be worth it.

Spotlight on Missions

For over a year, New Tribes missionaries Paul and Susan Boothby have been sending us regular email updates telling us about the work God has been doing among the Gende people of Papua New Guinea.
We have prayed with them through discouragment and setbacks, tribal violence, sickness and the death of a parent. We have also been privileged to rejoice with them as they have recently seen some of these people who had no hope turn to Christ and become new people in Him. What a miracle of God!
In just a few weeks the Boothby's will join us for our Spotlight on Missions--Live Update. If you are in the area and would like to hear what God has done, and is continuing to do in PNG, stop in--We'd love to see you.
Events include:
Saturday, June 10--7:30 a.m. Men's Breakfast with Paul Boothby at Kislewski's--Call 564-4299 to reserve your eggs!
Sunday, June 11--6:30 p.m. "From Darkness Into Light"--Live follow up on the Gende people with Paul & Susan--Come see what is "new" in Papua "New" Guinea. Ice cream social at Living Hope Bible Church will follow. Bring a friend.
Monday, June 12--6:30 p.m. Dessert/Coffee Hour for Ladies Only--Susan Boothby and her daughters will take us into the world of the Gende ladies and also tell us what it is like for a family to be separated when children live at an MK school. Women and girls of the community are invited to join us at Living Hope for our final spotlight on missions.