Acts 13:3 Lives On

When friends come from in town, across town, and out of town to show their support you can be sure it’s quite an event. For our family it will be one long-remembered as last Sunday we celebrated an ordination/commissioning/communion service. It was an evening filled with memories, affirmations, encouragements, hugs and tears. We are honored to have all of you as such dear friends who so freely express your love and care for us.

The highlights of the evening are numerous but here are a few that surface in my mind 1) the words of exhortation from each elder of the church 2) all those who came to stand as a show of support during the prayer of commissioning 3) the word whispered in my ear, “It is enough for the servant to be like his Master” 4) the special attention given to our children including public affirmation and support from their friends 5) the opportunity to extol the Lamb of God at His table 6) the wonderful and beautifully decorated reception afterwards.

Now we have opportunity to follow the same drum beat as the Moravians of long ago. In 1732, two hundred years after the Reformation they sent out their first missionaries to the West Indies. Soon they were sending out missionaries into all the world. As they went their rallying cry became, “That the Lamb may receive the reward for His suffering.” And so may it be throughout the world today.

Boxing Up Our Lives

I suppose you could say we are uncluttering our lives as we sort, discard, give-away, pack and store our “precious possessions”. Condensing it to what will fit into the back of a truck bed seems like a monumental task. At the same time it is freeing to pare our lives down to the “essentials”. I reserve the right to change my mind when we are in Mexico and feel the frustration of not having the needed convenience.

It’s amazing how quickly our hearts can be attached to “our” things even when they are virtually worthless. A few years ago I asked an Ecuadorian missionary if materialism was an issue in the jungles. His reply was that his son would go to the river and collect sticks and rocks. Eventually this collection could not be thrown out because they were “his” sticks and rocks. Insightful isn’t it? But it’s hard for me to stand in judgment since I literally have a collection of rocks myself that are “my” rocks.

John Piper challenges this attitude when he writes, “Very few…have said to themselves: we will live at a level of joyful, wartime simplicity and use the rest of what we can earn to alleviate misery…I do not see how we can read the New Testament, then look at two billion unevangelized people, and still build another barn for ourselves. We can only justify the exorbitance of our lifestyle by ignoring the lostness of the unreached and the misery of the poor…Is it the thrill of your life to live in such a sacrificial way that all can see that God is your treasure, not things?”

Missions Festival # 2 - Church # 22

Last week we traveled to Martinsburg, West Virginia to be a part of Independent Bible Church’s Missions Festival. It was a great festival and the people involved made it an extra special treat.

Those who said a word of encouragement, shared their home, gave attention to our children or served us in some way are almost innumerable. People continue to flash into my mind that could and should be mentioned in this journal but are way beyond its scope. In addition we also now have 36 new prayer partners from IBC!

While there we met Aniceto and Tracey. Aniceto is from Mexico City and now leads El Camino, a Hispanic ministry at the church. They shared with us Spanish/English Bibles, Spanish Hymn books, advice, prayer support, and encouragement. There was even talk of a short term mission trip in the future.

The speaker for the festival was Ron Blue (no, not the financial guy). He is the former president of Central American Mission, former chairman of World Missions at Dallas Theological Seminary and currently coordinator of the Spanish Ministry for the Seminary. Dr. Blue captured our attention with his enthusiastic sermons and our hearts with his personal interest in our family. Not only did he spend time praying with us but also asked if he could stand with our family at the end of the conference. I thank the Lord for his influence.

I can’t fail to mention the other missionaries that were at the conference. Some were going to places like Indonesia and Chad, while others were providing leadership in Latin America and around the world. I am constantly humbled by the quality of people we meet and their heart to take Christ to the nations.

P.S. Speaking of special treat you will be glad to know that we kept our family tradition of having ice cream during our travels!