Hardship

  Sometimes a picture takes your heart and wrings out feelings buried deep. I think of all the ordinary people I know whose live are filled with hardship yet they rise up daily with courage to face another day.    Each of us can name one or a few who have not let their hardship destroy  them.  Like a cowboy they rope that hardship,  throw it down and brand it to be used by God.  Then they let it go so all can see who they  belong to. 

Just recently I listen to a 27  year old woman tell her story of hardship.  Lyme disease was destroying her body yet she said, I would not trade my hardship for the relationship I have with my Lord.  Without it I would not have known His exquisite love.  Those words flowed from an ordinary young women who became extraordinary when she owned her hardship. 

         What comes to mind as you view the picture?

The Vision No One Could Kill

Ever had a vision that died during the struggle to see it live.  Take heart, over two thousand years ago God the Father vision of redeeming the lost took on flesh and into the world came His Son, Jesus.  Today all over the world that vision is being played out by people just like you and me.  This story will captivate your heart and give you courage follow the vision God has given you. 

Below is an article from our New Tribes Magazine...NTM@works

The customs official warily scrutinized the boisterous group of seven fresh-faced young men standing before him — and the array of musical instruments they wanted to bring into Latin America.  What were these gringos up to?

In her book God Planted Five Seeds, Jean Dye Johnson recounts the ensuing conversation between the suspicious official and Joe Moreno—the only one of the group who could speak Spanish.

“What are you then, señores?  A band?”  “No señor, not a band.”

"An orchestra, then?”  “No señor, not an orchestra,” said Joe. “We are missionaries.”

The official’s black eyebrows shot up in astonishment. Missionaries? But you do not look like missionaries. You look more like football players.” Joe translated the comment to his companions and they all grinned.  The official was not amused.

“Since you are not an orchestra and not a band, I cannot dismiss the possibility that you have brought these instruments into the country to sell them.”

They were at an impasse until the customs official had a bright idea. They could prove the trombone, mellophone, two accordions, guitar, trumpet and cornet were for their personal use by playing something. The eager young men struck up a rousing hymn that quickly drew a crowd. Alarmed, the official let them go right away.

So began the 1942 journey of the first NTM missionaries into Bolivia’s “Green Hell” — the vast carpet of relatively unknown jungle stretching eastward from the base of the Andes Mountains.

But why? Why of all the places in the world did these seven young men choose to go there? Didn’t they have better places to go and better things to do? Why go to a jungle?
Because of a simple yet powerful vision.

The Vision Some Called Crazy:  Founders Paul Fleming and Cecil Dye birthed the vision of New Tribes Mission — to reach the last tribe for Christ in their generation. That meant going to the most remote people groups, those previously unknown to the outside world and with a never-before documented culture, language and belief system. It meant becoming an advocate for those who had no opportunity to pick up a Bible, turn on a radio or TV or drive to a nearby church — because those things didn’t exist for them yet. It meant taking the gospel to those who had no hope of hearing it unless someone would go and tell them.

That vision found a home in seven young hearts. If the goal was to reach the last tribe, someone had to be willing to go and reach the first one. So they said goodbye to everything dear and left their 1942 world behind — a world just as real for them as ours is to us.

When their plane took off that late November day, it was the same year Muhammad Ali, Roger Staubach, Harrison Ford and Joe Biden were born. Corn dogs and Milky Ways were the new favorite munchies of the day and the novel invention of duct tape would soon be on the shelves. Hugely popular pastimes included Saint Louis Cardinals games, Abbott and Costello routines, the recently released films Casablanca and Bambi, as well as Bing Crosby crooning the chart-topper “White Christmas.”
Yet it wasn’t only pleasant realities they were leaving behind.

Probably the hardest challenge of all for the young men, and one which they received serious criticism for, was choosing to leave the very real fighting of World War II to someone else. But these were not irresponsible, cowardly boys. They wanted to engage in battle — a raging spiritual one. As many before them, including the first disciples and the Apostle Paul himself, they wanted to give their lives for something they truly believed in, whether the world, or even other believers, approved or not.

So with the vision planted deeply in their hearts, they moved forward to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to one of the darkest places in the world, whatever the cost.

And for five of the men, it cost dearly. They lost their lives at the hands of the Ayoré people they were trying to reach.

The Vision Refuse To Die:  But the vision they believed in didn’t die. Their martyrdom breathed new life and passion into the hearts of others to go as well. Eventually, a church was established among the Ayoré people group, and some who had participated in the killings came to know the Lord themselves.

Once again, even death couldn’t thwart God’s plans.

What began as seven young men dragging their instruments through an airport has become 3,200 strong, carrying the vision on. NTM missionaries now work in Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, live among 245 different tribes, translate Scripture in more than 100 languages and reach a new tribe with the Gospel every 45 days.The truth is setting tribal people free. However, the vision itself was not accomplished. Though faithful missionaries in the last generation gave their hearts and souls and, in some cases, even their lives in pursuit of the goal, reaching the last tribe for Christ didn’t happen.

So what hindered the progress?
The Vision Faces Reality:   As we’ve all discovered at some point in our lives, everything appears much smaller from a distance. From an airplane, trees look like bite-sized broccoli and cars shoot along like ants on caffeine. But come in for a landing and true proportions take shape.
As the task of reaching tribal people began in earnest and missionaries came up-close and personal with the reality of the situation, it was clear there were many more people groups throughout the world than previously thought, and hence, a bigger and more time-consuming job.

Along the same lines, the work of tribal church planting was found to be much more difficult than initially expected. As with our own ventures, what can seem like a doable project at the beginning, on closer examination, often turns out to have unknown facets which complicate matters. Reaching tribal people proved to be an “over the top” and “out of the box” massively challenging experience. Everything about it was hard. It was hard to get there, hard to live there, hard to love the people found there, very hard to learn and understand the tribal cultures, languages and animistic belief systems, and particularly hard to stay there for the long years it took to establish a maturing tribal church.  Not impossible, just extremely hard.  And so was the progress.

But probably the most significant hindrance to reaching the last tribe for Christ was the same problem that Jesus mentioned in His day.
The Vision Requires Laborers:  “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Matthew 9:37
While the pool of those willing to be missionaries was already small, those willing to go into tribal areas was fewer still.  And it remains the case today.
More than 100 people groups (representing roughly 10 million people) have asked New Tribes Mission to bring them God’s Word, yet they’re still waiting for available missionaries. There are simply not enough laborers to go around.

Yet even as the enemy desperately flails about, managing to get off a few rounds here and there as he fights his losing battle, all his hindrances ultimately have no power to stop God’s plans.

While progress may have slowed, it never died. And neither did the vision. With renewed determination and zeal, the newly restated vision and goal of NTM as we move forward is the same as the original — to reach the last tribe for Christ in this generation .But with one-third of the world’s people groups still unreached—representing millions of tribal people—is it even possible?
Surprisingly, the goal is actually realistic today.

The Vision Is Doable Now:  Over the years since the first missionaries, valuable tools, techniques and training have been developed and proven highly effective in tribal church planting around the world. Also, missionaries now have the incredible power of computers and up-to-date software and technology available to them which those before us didn’t. But perhaps the most effective tool we have at our disposal today is the eagerness of both national and tribal believers to be trained and mentored through the process of establishing mature churches among their own people—and they’re asking NTM to be the catalyst to do it.

It’s already happening in Papua New Guinea. The Mouk tribe is now reaching the Lusi tribe and also the Kove tribe. The Ata tribe is now reaching the Mamusi tribe. And those are only to name a few.
The combination of these important factors makes the vision of reaching the last tribe for Christ in this generation more doable now than ever.
However, Romans 10:15 says, “How shall they preach, except they are sent?”
The Catch To The Vision:  All the tools in the box are useless without two groups of people willing to make them work:
• Those individuals willing to go and be the mouthpieces and those willing to go and be the manpower behind the mouthpieces.

• Those individuals and churches willing to disciple, mentor and eventually send both the mouthpieces and the manpower into the world and in addition, send abundant support and resources, including prayer, to assure their needs are amply met so they can focus on the job for the duration.

There is no third category for believers. Like inhaling and exhaling, the goers and the senders are equally necessary to breathe the life-giving truth of God’s Word around the world. If we as the body of Christ commit to freely go and freely send, the vision will become not only doable, but unstoppable.

Because Jesus broke through the chains of death and hell that victorious resurrection day long ago, breaking through the remaining barriers of worldview, culture, language, geography and politics in tribe after tribe around the world—in this generation — is very possible with God.

Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”

Whether we’re in our 20s or in our 70s, if we’re still breathing, we are His witnesses — both as goers and senders — for this generation. God wants to use us, the global body of Christ, in the power of His Spirit, to spread the message of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
But reading this magazine won’t get the job done.  Doing something will.

In 1942, seven fresh-faced young men plunged into the jungle — and the first tribe came to Christ.

Have you thought seriously about the part you can play?    Plunge in today.
Somewhere out there in the world the last tribe is waiting …

Master of the Wind

The Santa Ana winds returned in the early hours of Friday morning, blowing through suburban neighborhoods in gusts that pulled the leaves from street trees and scattered them to mingle promiscuously with the fallen leaves of other streets. Real estate signs on their right-angle scaffolds swayed. Some premature Halloween garlands departed to the southwest. Some sleepers tossed uneasily in the drying air.
These winds blow from the northeast into the Los Angeles Basin from the Mojave Desert through the passes and canyons of the encircling mountains, accelerating their velocity and increasing their pressure with each lost foot of altitude. Some wind gusts in some seasons have reached hurricane force.

Santa Ana winds can also pose a serious risk after the dry summer months. Wild brush is like kindling from hell and all it takes is a spark to start a serious fire. “They are the most aggressive fire fight that we will be in,” said Los Angeles County Fire Captain Drew Smith. He said that when a fire starts, the fierce wind moves it really fast and throws embers through the air to start new fires up to two miles away.
___________________________________________________________________________________

The few sentences above are from my web search question:  where do the Santa Ana winds come from?  

Below are my thoughts on the wind coming from anywhere in any place. 

 Walking in the Santa Anna winds can  be a dangerous walk.  I was glad I had my sunglasses on as leaves, paper, dirt and all other kinds of matter was being slammed against my body.  

With  determination I faced winds that were blowing down trees down, taking roofs off and causing full trash cans to roll out in the street spilling garbage.  I passed people working hard to save small trees they had just planted.  Telephone and electrical trucks lined the street evident power was down in some areas.  

This is my only defense for walking in the Santa Ana winds...I LOVE THE WIND.   Before starting this I read several articles explaining where the winds come from, why they are hot, what to do to keep fires from starting.  Throw a lite cigarette out your car window in California and it can be up to a thousand dollar fine if caught. These folks are serious about these winds and rightly so.  Hundreds of homes are burned each year.  I am very careful not to say too loudly that, " I love the wind."   

As I walked and views the destruction the winds was causing this song was playing in my mind.  In Mark 4:41 Jesus rebuked the wind.  I did hear a couple of people cuss the wind as I walk by  but did not hear one person rebuked it.  By now you probably know where I am going with this post.  If you have time listen to the song, Master of the Wind.  It will calm your heart, give you courage for what ever winds are blowing through your life at this time.  I better clarify something, I love the Master of the Wind more then I love the wind.   Better yet He love me more then He does the wind.   

Bottom of the Well

I love meeting other wise hearted women, hearing all God has done in their life.  Rachel Dapper is a New Tribes Missionary  we met several months ago.  This tiny slip of a what looked like a young girl was actually a wise woman whose heart was to obey  the Lord.  Those words said long ago by others, Lord sent me, I will go, she heard and obeyed.    Now on the other side of the world, the adventure has left and just as He promised He is meeting her greatest need, Him.  Please pray as Rachel battles  discouragement, loneliness and hardships folks in the states never face.   Pray for Rachel Dapper as she takes the gospel to those who might never hear unless someone goes to tell them.  
 

 

                            Rachel Dapper

                                                                                               

The current water shortage has lent a new meaning to “scraping the bottom of the barrel”.  In spite of careful rationing, I’m getting close to the end of my water supply and there’s no telling when the water will come back on again.  It could come on for a couple hours in the night.  It could come on tomorrow.   Or Sunday.  Or next Thursday.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not used to having to think about where I’m going to get water if I run out.  Actually, I’m just not used running out of water.  Ever.

* * *

I left home 38 days ago, and it seems like both yesterday and an eternity ago.  I was prepared for the heat.  For the dirt and swarms of flies and being jostled around mercilessly on bumpy roads.  For begging children and overflowing sewers and exhaustion.  For standing out no matter where I go.

But there is an emptiness, a not-enough-ness, a nothing-ness that I was not prepared for.  I know so little.  I can do so little.  Things I was competent in back home are suddenly irrelevant.  Being in an environment so completely different strips away much of what I have seen as my identity.  My first instinct is to run away and hide in a corner where I can be left alone.

It didn’t happen all at once, but since I’ve been here, I feel like I’ve been drained.  Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.  Yes, I feel like I’ve been drained right down to empty, and here I’ve discovered something.

Something I’ve known in my head but hadn’t experienced lately:

Being empty can be the very best thing to happen to you.

When I feel the crushing weight of my not-enough-ness, I experience God’s complete sufficiency.  When I feel like nothing, I remember God has promised to be everything I need.  When I’m empty, I learn that His purpose is “that [I] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19b).  Filled with all the fullness of God.  That’s pretty incredible, isn’t it?                Remember how Paul compares us to jars of clay?  Unspectacular.  Fragile.  Empty.  Yet that very unspectacular-ness and emptiness is what makes them perfect to hold the treasure – the fullness of God Himself.  “…That the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”  (2 Corinthians 4:7b)

I am emptied to be filled. No, it doesn’t feel good.  No, I didn’t ask for it.  Yes, if there was another way to grow, I’d pick that.  But I know this is the place God wants me to be at: down to nothing.

And at the end of the day, not one of the things I’ve faced (or will face) can overpower me.

Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God.  Nothing, nothing, nothing.

  . . . Just Life Along the Way

Genesis Three

This week we are in a conference at New Tribes Mission headquarters in Florida.  It's always good to see people we have not seen in a long time but I have a  confession to make

I was not too excited most of the conference was going to be on marriage.   Of course I was sure we would pick up some new resources to give to those young married couples we meet with. 


The first DVD and chapter one of the work book was titled, Love Happens, God Purpose and Plan.  Good stuff, nothing I did not know already but good reminders. 

Second chapter,  Love Fades, Overcoming  Isolation.  This is where my breathe was taken from me as I watch the best illustration of Genesis 3.  I don't know where you are in your marriage, but 49 years later God drove the results of the fall deeper into my heart so I would receive only God and His word would free me from those results.     I hope you can take the few minutes it takes to watch this video. 

 

 

 Thanks God we do not have to live all the time in the results of the fall.  The results of the cross is where we should park our marriage and any relationship and stay there till there is a break through. 

Hope Street

 This post has been sitting on my back burner for a while boiling over every time I read something on hope.   Here goes..........

Returning back to the states after serving overseas carries its own stress. Where to live was one of the biggest and to rent or buy was another.     Right after moving into our rented condo I started walking in the neighbor and was delighted to find a street named, Hope St.   

My  thinking  in the beginning was:  I will use this time walking on Hope St. to place my hopes and dreams before the Lord and see what He will do.   Oh the visions that danced in my head as I passed each modest house on my walk.  To see a “for sale” sign would cause me to rush home and give my husband the number of the real estate company.   Every time they were way over what we could afford but that did not stop me from hoping and dreaming.  It wasn’t long before I put this thought  before the Lord…a three bedroom house would be perfect God, we could  house missionaries needing a place to

stay when traveling through.  Oh yeah Lord, a small yard would be real nice for the grandchildren to play in. What wonderful way to give back what others have given us through the years.   I can envision it, Lord, CAN YOU?  And could you hurry up Lord while the market is down?  (some would call that manipulation. )

A visionary is described as one having unusual foresight and imagination or one having unrealistic dreams.  

As a visionary I have bounced between the two definitions a lot of my life.  In my mind I have not been able to see how hoping for our own home could be unrealistic…UNLESS GOD  had something better in store for me.  Today reading through my   lesson on contentment for this week, one statement brought a break through to my  heart.

Here is the whole paragraph in the book, Calm My Anxious Heart but Linda Dillow.   (When a woman looks for contentment in material possessions, the “thing” she wants pull her deeper and deeper into discontentment.   That for which she longs gradually becomes that to which she belongs. )   Each time I read this another layer of discontentment was revealed till I was deep in my heart where the  Holy Spirit was waiting for me to park a while.  I knew I was becoming discontented by how I was trying to make things happen in my own hope. 

Here is how my  discontentment rose to the surface when I tried to take matters into my own hands to obtain my dreams of a house and a few other things.   I bought a one dollar lottery ticket…I mean someone has to win, right? 

The visionary went to work thinking, if I won we could really have a reunion  when our daughter and family comes home from overseas. We could rent a  huge retreat house on the beach with mountains as the back drop, a bedroom for everyone, riding horses on the beach, extra money to do anything we wanted.      New clothes , ipads, new cars, toys galore for the grandchildren, eating  out every night, a house for everyone to go home to, Disneyland for a week and the list goes on and on.    

I was beginning to be owned by my hopes and dreams which started with a simple three bedroom house with a back yard.  Discontentment left to itself was taking me out to the sea of “Never Enough”.  In truth, I was beginning to be owned by my hope for material procession.  Trust me when I say, God has supplied all our needs, there is nothing I need at the moment so He has done His part over and above as always.  Looking at my needs will manifest a thankful heart whereas looking at what I hope for will usually  bring discontentment.  Hope deferred makes a heart sick.  Proverbs 13:12

A.W. Tozer says it best:  There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets “things” with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns “my” and “mine” look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant. They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us. . . God’s gifts now take the place of God.

So often we ask God to endorse our own dreams, hopes and passions.  Scripture has commanded us to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Christ in dying to self.  We are to hope in:  His will...His word...His life...not our own.

 Self-indulgent "hope" is on "sifting sand" and really no hope at all.  C. S. Lewis

This much I know for sure.  If I had not repented from my self-indulgent hopes our time with our family would have been made miserable by my discontentment. 

 I still walk on "Hope Street" but I am more aware of the people who lives in the houses then the houses themselves now.   And today I met a lady watching her dog run around in her front yard.   Looking forward to talking to her again as I continue to walk on Hope Street.

                          Would love to hear your thoughts on "self-indulgent hope.

Abandoned

While living in Papua New Guinea we hiked about half hour into the jungle to an old abandoned air strip where parts of a World War II plane sits being over taking by rust and vines.  This country is full of artifact from  World War II.  Old tank  tracks are on a lot of beaches,  rusted out shells.  Your first thought  when you see this stuff is, why don't theses people use this to draw tourist to their country.  Because it's an undeveloped country most of it just sits abandoned.

 

There are times in our life when trials come and we are confused, angry and seemingly not hearing from the Lord.  We "feel" abandoned, all on our own, forsaken or deserted like an abandoned plane.  It's in these times we need to fall back on what we do know for sure.  Though we may not always be actively aware of the Holy Spirit he is always there to give us guidance and comfort by bringing to remembrance what God has already taught us.  Waiting for God to speak in some magical way will keep us from embracing what we already know.

 

Chuck Bomar talks about this in his book, Better Off Without Jesus.  It's one thing to teach on truth; it's another to embrace it personally.  I always seek to embrace things before I teach on them, but the truth is, I was going to have to embrace these principals in much more intimate way that ever before.

 A desire to hear the Holy Spirit speak shouldn't lead us to beg for a new revelation  as to seek to embrace what has already been revealed.

 

Two principals Chuck was reminded of that is spoken over and over again in the Word. 

Denial of self and dependence on God. 

Any time we are in a crisis of faith we need a foundation as we deal with the process of the issues at hand.  

 

  A crisis of [faith] belief is not a calamity in your life but a turning point where you must make a decision. You must decide what you truly believe God said. (Blackaby)

                       
When the time came for Jesus to return to heaven He did not ask the disciples to believe in who He was but what He said.  John 14:26.  They were facing a crisis of their faith and Jesus was promising them He was not abandoning them. That all He had taught them for three years was not in vain.  Truth would become solid in their hearts even if they could not touch Him physically anymore.  He had a better way to strengthen and encouraged them.

In steps the power of the Holy Spirit forever to be in the lives of every believer.  He is not hinder by space, distance or by our lack of ability,  his only hindrance is we who will not deny self and trust God.  His powers are up there with God, he knows all, sees all, works all things for our good and God's glory.  Most important is  he always lifts up Jesus.  When people say you are a Jesus person I believe the Holy Spirit smiles.  (Betty's paraphrase). 

What the lost and other Christian needs to see from us is not a person who walks around with a sad face during our trials because we "feel" abandoned.  But someone who has abandoned all to follow the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  

                        What has God taught you from your "crisis of faith"?

 

                                                  Need a good book: check out Chuck Bomar's...Better Off Without Jesus.

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Better Off Without Jesus

Better Off Without Jesus...WHAT?  If I had not heard a little of Chuck Bomar story I probably would have thought this was a book about atheism.  Isn't it funny how we can judge a "book by it's cover" or title.  That's not the core of the book though or my post.  Every once in a while I read a book and  I wish I could pen the whole book on my blog.  Take a deep breathe, I am not going to do that but what I am going to do is just give you a few glimpse of something that has stirred my soul.

First chapter: Why Physical Presence Isn't Always Best: Jesus says to His disciples, "Nevertheless, I tell you it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you".  John 16:7

My thoughts on this first chapter.   Once again I was in awe of the limitations Jesus took on in a earthly body.  He could only be in one place at a time...the Son of God...think about...only one place at a time...not even a cell phone back then.   In that respect He was all human, just like us.  

The trust He had in the Holy Spirit's ability to do exactly what He said He would do is total trust.  How many times have we read God's promises and still struggle with them?  He trusted the Spirit because He knew him personally.  Not just an hi, hello, how are you knowledge or do you have a minute, I would like to tell you something.  We cannot trust someone we do not know or someone who does not do what they say they will do time and time again.  Break my trust once, I will give grace but break my trust more then once...trust broken.  HE HAS NEVER BROKE A PROMISE. 

    Here is a small portion of chapter one.  Chuck says, "One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that focusing on myself actually muffles the voice of God right out of my life.
   Our Western culture would lead us to embrace Jesus solely as a beneficial addition to our individual lives, goals and dreams.  We think we need to invite Him to join every area of our lives.  But the truth is that He calls us to join in with His.
   Understanding this difference is absolutely essential if you want to be in tune with God's voice in your life.  If you want to hear God speak to you individually, you must begin thinking beyond yourself. 
The bigger picture: As we look at Scripture, it is abundantly clear that our coming to faith isn't just for our personal gain.  It's not to make our lives better, but instead to make the excellencies of God known.  And may I add, all over the world. II Cor. 5:14-15

One of the questions Chuck ask at the end of chapter one was:  What is your biggest insecurity when it comes to hearing God speak to you? 

Safe Storms?

Floyd over at:  http://theregoi.com wrote a post on storms and in the middle of my reply I thought why not just post part of my comment. 

I love storms.  In Papua New Guinea we lived on the ocean and could see the storms build and actually watch the wind first bend the coconut tress almost completely over. Next would come sheets of rain across the ocean turning it darker. Then it would finally hit our tin roof, louder then a room full of people.  Loved being safe on our porch as we watched  lightening light the sky, palm leaves blowing past us. 

A storm is really not safe...have seen many of roofs ruined, trees blown down, people heads cracked open from a falling coconut.  A person would be a fool to try and outrun a storm or go play in the rain puddles as the lightening strikes all around them.  But we felt safe as long as we stayed under our tin roof far enough back on the porch and just waited till it passed.  The day after would be clean up ...sometimes it would take several day.  Sometimes those days would be filled with sadness over a life lost during the storm. 

None of us are safe from the storms of life. Matthew 5:45 says it rains on the righteous and the unrighteous. Sometimes you can see one coming and try to prepare for it but nothing stops it.  And at times it comes so quick there is no time to prepare, like a dreaded phone call, a health issue and losses that leave us filled with grief.  Either kind we must find a place to  be safe if we are to weather the storm.

God left the world unfinished for man to work his skill upon. He left the electricity still in the cloud, the oil still in the earth. How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource! We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven.”

George MacDonald quotes  Floyd's post made me think of Job 26: 5-14,  Behold, these, (storms) these are the fringes of His ways. God wants to give us wisdom in the storm.   Job 28:23-28 God understands its way. And He knows it's place. For He looks to the ends of the earth. And He see everything under heaven. When He imparted weight to the wind. And meted out the waters by measure. When He set limits for the rain and a course for the thunderbolt.  Then He saw it and declared it.  He established it and also stretched it.  And to man, He said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.  And to depart from evil is understanding.  I think that is why I like storms, it shout of God power and His wisdom that He wants to give us as we stand in awe of Him.  Who can start or stop a storm?  Can you, Can I?   And  only God can bring a rainbow out of a storm.                                                 How are you doing in your storm?

Building Houses

It's always a mess if you live across the street from houses being built.  Dust all over everything, roads being blocked and tore up with the heavy equipment it takes to build.  Everyday you can watch a new row of houses built, walls going up to protect the houses, street lights, sod being laid.  Costly project especially out in California where we live.

I think about those who will move into the soon finished houses.  Each family bringing their choices of decorating, each family usually taking on more debt then they can afford.  Each family with it's own story of how they got from where they were to that new home.  Each new home will house several souls who may not know the Lord.

Watching the building across from my friends house and then watching this link I am going to post is, well two different worlds.  People are watching a house going up in the jungle too, the  only heavy equipment is the helicopter swinging the lumber in, no roads.  To keep cost as low as possible, teams of people have come to help, paying their own way into this remote location.  The house going up across from my friends will probably sell for around seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  Cost of jungle house even using a helicopter  about 45 thousand. 

But that is not the biggest difference, the houses build across from my friend has a different motive then the one in the jungle.  After gospel is presented to the Hewen people and there are believers also a functioning church the missionaries will tear their houses down, give the lumber to the people to build say a medical clinic, their church or even add to their houses.  The people in the village who will hear the gospel soon are excited, helping the missionaries build their houses.  knowing something big is coming or why would these white folks work so hard to live here. 

 Back to the village in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.  If you have a few minutes watch how a house is built in the jungle,  see the inside, but most of all look at the face of the people in the film clip.  You will probably see some of them in heaven someday. 

If you ever get an urge to help build a house...try New Tribes Mission...connect with a missionary who needs a helping hand.  Ever want to build something that you can take to heaven with you...a saved soul housing the spirit of the living God is how.  Become part of their team by supporting a missionary.
                                     
                                                http://vimeo.com/70312202

           Thanks for taking the time to watch the link...how did it speak to your heart?

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