TENACITY IN SERVING OTHERS
You know, I have noticed a consistent characteristic among some of my friends that bares mentioning. Maybe you all can help me to understand how to describe it. It came up again today for the umpteenth time.
I had this burden for Okiror Geofrey (SOASK) for the last 4 days and a sense that his life was in danger (again). We are close like that so I'm not going to try and explain that. This time that sense didn't go away. No communication at all for over 4 days. I get a chat popup today and although he was too weak to chat much it was a relief to "hear" from him for a few minutes. He had come down with Malaria. Here not so much a problem. There in Uganda? Untreated? - Deadly. He told me that his relatives had found him in bad condition at his new quarters and carried him for treatment and now was at a relatives still being treated. That was a very close call. But the real clincher is this. I was telling him that his needs must be taken care of and that we need to really pray that through. His things and bed got stolen from his old place so he has been sleeping on the concrete at the new location where they found him. His last chat line before he got cut off chat?:
"Please pray for the children. My life is nothing seeing that I am doing well (now)". (Translation: Never mind me. Pray for the children.)
Almost 24 years old. Dedicated in heart. Loves the children, the widows, the poor. Driven by it. I've observed it time after time. More than I have room to express here although it would make good reading. Maybe even conviction.
Then there is Mukulu Jonathan (OOCM). Five years and running. Ups and downs, Bouts with malaria, Provision slowing down to a trickle, People get really sick, Some die, more are orphaned, Thick and thin I have observed him get back up from every potential crisis and go at it again. "God will do it... Prayer!.." I can hardly count the amount of times that I have tried to mention his needs to him and he will come back with,
"Focus on the children, the orphans, the widows, the destitute, Prayer, God will provide, It will get better... I know."
I thought I knew something about tenacity before meeting him but I have learned more from him than I have given. There have been times when I have said in my heart, "Oh my God! This can't be happening." and he is under more pressure and hurting and yet he will come back from that experience ready to fight the good fight. He is like a cheerleader in the villages there cheering people on when sometimes it seems hopeless. Somebody from Uganda once said about him, "He loves those children." And there are a lot of them.
Then there is Luthy Monica a young nursing student in her twenties. I actually met Mukulu through her for which I owe her a debt of gratitude. She actually and amazingly got to go to nursing school for at least a year. but her "groom" mother fell ill of a debilitating long term illness and so her needs and that of her younger brothers fell in her lap making it even more of a struggle.
One thing became apparent that in her mind and heart, they come first. As much as it is her dream to become a nurse she will constantly choose to put others first. If I mention Mukulu and the children she has some inner priority that she will immediately turn attention on them even though she has serious needs herself. Ironically, Mukulu does the same thing when I mention Luthy. I mentioned her struggles to become a nurse once to Okiror (who doesn't even know her) and and his response surprised me. "Then she needs to be take care of first!" They know the value of a nurse. They know the struggle between life and death. Luthy was orphaned at a young age. She has that same quality about her. Others come first. The children come first. Yet, she is tenacious in her seemingly impossible pursuit to become a nurse. Not surprisingly, those seem like the qualities of a good nurse as well.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Having Done All To Stand
I've never really shared this except for a few people because it was so personal.
Years ago we had a christian newspaper in rural Oregon, USA and even though we weren't remotely qualified it was taking off in the entire area of towns and was welcomed by the different gatherings. There was a Billy Graham crusade coming up in Portland, OR so we decided to promote that in the paper. Any time the entire body gathers together the Lord is not far off.
One day a sister who lived with us came out of prayer and was weeping because she had just heard a word from the Lord. "Having done all to stand."... We already knew what it was like to suffer and deny ourselves when obeying God was concerned but when she said that word I heard it deep inside me and I literally gulped.
Having done all to stand.
(suffering the loss of all things).
That issue took everything we had in the way of energy, faith and finance to produce and distribute. There was suddenly a strange deep unexplainable resistance. Even the christian radio station was strangely uncooperative. My wife and family had to visit clear across the USA in Michigan cause her mom was dying. The sister that was also our secretary got called away and I was left to finish that issue and deliver it myself. It took everything. After the issue went out, everything started falling apart. I had to move out of our small office. Then there was no rent for our house and I needed to move out. There was suddenly no donations. There was this terrible silence in spirit.
One day I heard something from the Lord I did not want to hear and later I went over to an old brother's house on a prompt and he turned to me suddenly and said the same thing, "You have to wipe off your feet and leave. You are the third ministry like this that this town has rejected." I did not want to hear that. We loved that town. A brother later called and although he didn't know what was going on, offered to rent us a large house in another town 20 miles away for very cheap. I went to the PO box the next morning and there was surprisingly some donations there that were just enough to rent a truck to move. A brother suddenly was given the day off that day and he offered to help me move. I didn't have the money to rent the house yet so we put it all in the garage on the property of that new location.
I was homeless living in my car for three weeks and took a job roofing a brother's large house by myself only to find that a lower back injury from a work injury suffered before flared up and it was sheer agony to finish that job (which was on the hill above the town I had come from). I sold my car one day and hitchhiked to the town to finish the job and stopped by a brother's house on the way. He told me he was confused because he knew I had a car but the Lord had told him to give me their older car so when he saw me and knew that I had sold my car he was so delighted to know it was God who spoken to him. (The same brother who helped me move out of the other house.) I finished that job in such agony that I was crying out to God the whole time. I needed that money to rent that house and pay the deposits on elect. etc. When the owner of the house I was roofing came home, I was just finishing up and I went into their house. He looked at me kind of shocked. So much so that I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. It didn't even look like me. Between the pain and crying out to God my face was transformed. (It's no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me.)
I finally had enough to secure that house and moved the living room furniture in from the garage. I really hadn't had any chance to sift through all that had gone on yet. The paper was out there by the thousands with the crusade on the front page and the call for the believers to gather but I had no phone so I had no clue as to what was happening. That first night I finally sat in my overstuffed chair and had time to think. I was financially broke. I had no phone to communicate with anyone. My family was stuck thousands of miles away in a place I had never been to. I was very alone. I felt deeply the sense of utter failure. It began to crush me. Overwhelm me. It was the first night of the crusade but it was over a hundred miles away in Portland and I didn't even have the gas to get there. I was so ashamed I'm not sure I wanted to. I don't know why but I went across the room and turned the christian radio station on. They had refused to cover the crusade earlier. To my utter shock the first song of the crusade was live on the air. A christian business person had apparently funded the whole thing at the last moment. When I heard the crowd singing in worship I sat in my chair again and broke down in deep heaving sobs crying out to God, "I have failed You. I have utterly failed You." Over and over again. There was no comforting me. That was all I could speak. Broken. Humiliated. Alone. I lost the newspaper. I had no income. No family and at that time I really wondered if I had any real friends I could trust.
Then something amazing happened. I sensed the presence of the Lord as I had many times but this time it was different. It didn't stop at a "presence" it got stronger and clearer. So much so that I dared not open my eyes for fear of seeing Him. He was sitting on the arm of my chair and I was sobbing beyond control. He reached over and pulled me into His bosom and held me and comforted me. It was Jesus. I was safe with Him. Nothing else mattered. Then He spoke to me something I crave for now and hope for in all eternity,
"Well Done!"
It didn't matter at that moment what anyone thought, or even what I thought. All that mattered was what He said. I was suddenly whisked in the spirit to the very top bleacher overlooking the Colosseum (?) in Portland, OR over a hundred miles away and as I viewed the massive gathering of believers without regard to "what church they belonged to" worshiping together, a cloud descended with Jesus on it and He poured out His utter pleasure on the gathering. Then I found myself back in my chair but I knew I wasn't alone and His words filled my heart.
I didn't know until later that hundreds from Central Oregon had gone up to the crusade. That someone had even rented buses to transport people. But I knew that He had poured out His pleasure on that gathering and that in that moment in my life He said two things to me. "Having done all to stand." and "Well Done."
There is a lesson in this and many other unheard testimonies which this generation needs to hear and learn from. There are thousands of people who follow Christ who are in prison, tortured for their true faith. Many of them go hungry. Many more suffer true persecution. Their testimonies are gold refined in the fire. (Jesus councils us to purchase that gold refined in the fire.) God is speaking to His Church. He is presenting opportunities to build His Kingdom. Not your church, not your denomination but His Kingdom, His Church, the assembly of those called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Those opportunities are calling to this generation. They are not easy. They rarely are. But we have to hear God's voice calling to us. And, we need to answer that call.
We cannot have the "Well Done" unless we are also willing to hear and walk in the "Having done all to stand." We have to pick up our cross and follow Him in order to have His pleasure over us. And in that final and eternal moment, Jesus will say to us one of two things (and no one will be there to defend us in that day) :
Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into your rest
OR
Depart from me you worker of iniquity...
There is nothing on earth that can equal Jesus telling us, "Well Done." I would trade the approval of all mankind to hear Him speak those words again....
Years ago we had a christian newspaper in rural Oregon, USA and even though we weren't remotely qualified it was taking off in the entire area of towns and was welcomed by the different gatherings. There was a Billy Graham crusade coming up in Portland, OR so we decided to promote that in the paper. Any time the entire body gathers together the Lord is not far off.
One day a sister who lived with us came out of prayer and was weeping because she had just heard a word from the Lord. "Having done all to stand."... We already knew what it was like to suffer and deny ourselves when obeying God was concerned but when she said that word I heard it deep inside me and I literally gulped.
Having done all to stand.
(suffering the loss of all things).
That issue took everything we had in the way of energy, faith and finance to produce and distribute. There was suddenly a strange deep unexplainable resistance. Even the christian radio station was strangely uncooperative. My wife and family had to visit clear across the USA in Michigan cause her mom was dying. The sister that was also our secretary got called away and I was left to finish that issue and deliver it myself. It took everything. After the issue went out, everything started falling apart. I had to move out of our small office. Then there was no rent for our house and I needed to move out. There was suddenly no donations. There was this terrible silence in spirit.
One day I heard something from the Lord I did not want to hear and later I went over to an old brother's house on a prompt and he turned to me suddenly and said the same thing, "You have to wipe off your feet and leave. You are the third ministry like this that this town has rejected." I did not want to hear that. We loved that town. A brother later called and although he didn't know what was going on, offered to rent us a large house in another town 20 miles away for very cheap. I went to the PO box the next morning and there was surprisingly some donations there that were just enough to rent a truck to move. A brother suddenly was given the day off that day and he offered to help me move. I didn't have the money to rent the house yet so we put it all in the garage on the property of that new location.
I was homeless living in my car for three weeks and took a job roofing a brother's large house by myself only to find that a lower back injury from a work injury suffered before flared up and it was sheer agony to finish that job (which was on the hill above the town I had come from). I sold my car one day and hitchhiked to the town to finish the job and stopped by a brother's house on the way. He told me he was confused because he knew I had a car but the Lord had told him to give me their older car so when he saw me and knew that I had sold my car he was so delighted to know it was God who spoken to him. (The same brother who helped me move out of the other house.) I finished that job in such agony that I was crying out to God the whole time. I needed that money to rent that house and pay the deposits on elect. etc. When the owner of the house I was roofing came home, I was just finishing up and I went into their house. He looked at me kind of shocked. So much so that I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. It didn't even look like me. Between the pain and crying out to God my face was transformed. (It's no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me.)
I finally had enough to secure that house and moved the living room furniture in from the garage. I really hadn't had any chance to sift through all that had gone on yet. The paper was out there by the thousands with the crusade on the front page and the call for the believers to gather but I had no phone so I had no clue as to what was happening. That first night I finally sat in my overstuffed chair and had time to think. I was financially broke. I had no phone to communicate with anyone. My family was stuck thousands of miles away in a place I had never been to. I was very alone. I felt deeply the sense of utter failure. It began to crush me. Overwhelm me. It was the first night of the crusade but it was over a hundred miles away in Portland and I didn't even have the gas to get there. I was so ashamed I'm not sure I wanted to. I don't know why but I went across the room and turned the christian radio station on. They had refused to cover the crusade earlier. To my utter shock the first song of the crusade was live on the air. A christian business person had apparently funded the whole thing at the last moment. When I heard the crowd singing in worship I sat in my chair again and broke down in deep heaving sobs crying out to God, "I have failed You. I have utterly failed You." Over and over again. There was no comforting me. That was all I could speak. Broken. Humiliated. Alone. I lost the newspaper. I had no income. No family and at that time I really wondered if I had any real friends I could trust.
Then something amazing happened. I sensed the presence of the Lord as I had many times but this time it was different. It didn't stop at a "presence" it got stronger and clearer. So much so that I dared not open my eyes for fear of seeing Him. He was sitting on the arm of my chair and I was sobbing beyond control. He reached over and pulled me into His bosom and held me and comforted me. It was Jesus. I was safe with Him. Nothing else mattered. Then He spoke to me something I crave for now and hope for in all eternity,
"Well Done!"
It didn't matter at that moment what anyone thought, or even what I thought. All that mattered was what He said. I was suddenly whisked in the spirit to the very top bleacher overlooking the Colosseum (?) in Portland, OR over a hundred miles away and as I viewed the massive gathering of believers without regard to "what church they belonged to" worshiping together, a cloud descended with Jesus on it and He poured out His utter pleasure on the gathering. Then I found myself back in my chair but I knew I wasn't alone and His words filled my heart.
I didn't know until later that hundreds from Central Oregon had gone up to the crusade. That someone had even rented buses to transport people. But I knew that He had poured out His pleasure on that gathering and that in that moment in my life He said two things to me. "Having done all to stand." and "Well Done."
There is a lesson in this and many other unheard testimonies which this generation needs to hear and learn from. There are thousands of people who follow Christ who are in prison, tortured for their true faith. Many of them go hungry. Many more suffer true persecution. Their testimonies are gold refined in the fire. (Jesus councils us to purchase that gold refined in the fire.) God is speaking to His Church. He is presenting opportunities to build His Kingdom. Not your church, not your denomination but His Kingdom, His Church, the assembly of those called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Those opportunities are calling to this generation. They are not easy. They rarely are. But we have to hear God's voice calling to us. And, we need to answer that call.
We cannot have the "Well Done" unless we are also willing to hear and walk in the "Having done all to stand." We have to pick up our cross and follow Him in order to have His pleasure over us. And in that final and eternal moment, Jesus will say to us one of two things (and no one will be there to defend us in that day) :
Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into your rest
OR
Depart from me you worker of iniquity...
There is nothing on earth that can equal Jesus telling us, "Well Done." I would trade the approval of all mankind to hear Him speak those words again....
Thursday, May 15, 2014
The Trumpet
Things have changed a lot since then. We are like the proverbial frog that gets boiled to death one degree and a time so slow that he doesn't even try to get out and save himself. It goes from cold that is he is used to warm and somewhat comforting. He gets lazy. It starts to feel good. Until it is too late to escape. His muscles are so relaxed he doesn't even realize that he can no longer move them. His brain is foggy. This can't be happening he is thinking or doesn't even notice that the temperature is now raising very quickly. All he can do now is sit there and get boiled. It's too late? Is it?
There used to be so many nations that used to stand back and admire the USA. It was what they wanted to become. If that wasn't the case it was the nation that they most feared. It was called the greatest nation in the world. The land of the free and the home of the brave. Then the cold war was over. The USSR was dissolved and became a friendly nation. China became one of the USA's greatest trading partners. It was a time of prosperity for the people. There were so many opportunities. Even though there were two parties they seemed to get along ok. The presidency was a respected position both inside and outside of the country. When he spoke the whole world listened.
Without belaboring what brought that about, look at where the USA is today. A divided government that is almost useless. An economy that without constantly pumping it up artificially is like a balloon that is waiting crash in one day. Well over half the population is trying just to survive month to month. Two wars that in the final analysis ultimately have been lost. Invading a sovereign country under false pretenses and ruining it's population's lives. A war on terror that has multiplied it enemies. Covert activities encouraging "democracies" that has made some parts of the world a mess. Friends cannot trust it. Enemies ignore it. The president speaks and the world now sees mere hollow words. The nations that used to admire it now stand back and scratch their heads wondering what happened to such a great nation in such a short time.
What's even more perplexing, maybe even revealing is to observe that "God" is more and more not welcome any more. It is becoming more and more popular to mock Him, to deny that He even exists and to treat those that follow His Son Jesus like they have some strange disease that needs to be eliminated. The nation that once used to be the missions capital of the world has now become a mission field in all reality.
Friends the water around the edge of the pot is starting to bubble. How do you like it so far?
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