I need Africa more than Africa needs me from the Mocha Club

When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child soldiers. Genocide. Sex slaves. Orphans. From there, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference. "I am needed here," I think. "They have so little, and I have so much." It's true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa everyday. There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe. But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in those same people. It's a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom, not within the framework that has been my life to this day.
The images spilling out of my television showed circumstances that could seemingly only equal misery, and I was fooled. I bought into the lie that circumstance defines happiness. The truth is, in Africa I find hearts full of victory, indomitable spirits. In places where despair should thrive, instead I find adults dancing and singing, and children playing soccer with a ball crafted of tied up trash. Instead of payback, I find grace. Here, weekend getaways are not options to provide relief from the pains of daily life. Relationships and faith provide joy. Love is sovereign.
My new reality… I know now that my joy should have no regard for my circumstances. I'm ashamed by my lack of faith, but at the very same moment I am excited by my new pursuit. I'm forced to redefine the meaning of having much or having little. I'm uneasy with the prospect of change and of letting go, but just the thought of freedom is liberating. I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head into my heart - I no longer want to need the "next thing" to have joy.
I'm not saying that Africa does not need our efforts. It absolutely does need our partnership. But for me, I've come to understand that I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME. Why? Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart. I've learned that I don't need what I have and that I have what I need. These are just a few of this continent's many lessons. I came here to serve and yet I've found that I have so much to learn, and Africa, with all its need, has much to teach me.

I need Africa, more than Africa needs me

Africa is a place with beautiful people, and a beautiful spirit. Everyone I know who goes comes back with such an appreciation of the simplicity of the land and the hope of the people. God tells me to love all people, I do not get a choice. I need to step outside of my cocoon and learn that not everyone has running water, and two or three cars outside. Not everyone has a drugstore just around the corner. But these people, despite the current civil unrest continue to fight with all they have for their dignity and their future. God, open my heart, open my eyes, open my spirit to those who are needy throughout the world. That is my prayer today.

How can we not

I wonder how we as a body can miss the need to reach out to all those in third world countries. How can we not help people who don't have clean water, or who have to walk for hours just to get water. I am supporting Blood Water Mission

They are a group, started by Jars of Clay to support clean water and blood in Africa, they have already reached a third of the way to their goal of 1,000 wells. How can we turn our back, how can we as Christians miss a chance to minister the the least.

Please Pray for India

One of my favorite sites called Pyromaniacs, had a couple of troubling posts in the last few days about the war on Christians by some of the Radical Hindus in the state of Orissa. The acts that are described are unbelievable. We just don't understand what the missionaries still face these days. We think of things happening like this in previous centuries. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ! He can overcome all, we know that.
Here is a list of things that have happened in the last week-

1. On 24th of August Pastor Jeebaratna Lima from Khurda District, was attacked and beaten up mercilessly. The miscreants doused petrol on him and about to set him on fire but timely arrival of Police saved his life. He was in Police custody but later was released on bail next day.
   
2. Pastor Bahumulya Paik of Bamandei, Patpur Police Station. Ganjam District was beaten to a point of death by a mob of around 100 people. He vomited blood and later gained conciousness and managed to flee from the place while the group was engaged in attacking the local believers. Since the hospitals were closed no medical help was available. On August 26, the police escorted him to some distance by their vehicle and left him on the way to take a bus and go away.
   
3. Pastor Bishnu Kumbhar and his pregnant wife of village Dutta, under Madan Rampur Police Station of Kalahandi district, were chased out. To save their lives, they ran away in the darkness and hid themselves from the attackers.
   
4. Pastor Susanjit Beero of Tengada Pathar under Tikabali Police Station of Phulabani, was attacked by a group of Hindutva miscreants. Along with few believers he is still reported to be taking shelter in the forest though without food and clothes from the last 48 hours.
   
5. Pastor Dillip Koshla of Tiangia village, under Raikia Police Station was attacked by the mob. His house and property are burned and looted by the unruly mob.
   
6. Pastor Birendra Harijan, of Nakapolo Church under Dharmasala Police Station of Jajpur District was beaten up badly. As the miscreants were about to set his house on fire the timely arrival of police saved the disaster.
   
7. Pastor Amit Pani of Ampani village, Koksora Police Station(PS) under Kalahandi district was chased out and locked in a house but they manage to escape.
   
8. Pastor Lebiyo Raito of Kanjamendi, Nuagam PS, Phulbani, was attacked and chased away from his house. He is still hiding in the jungle.
   
9. Pastor Jatan Nayak, of Bhadrak district was attacked and his house ransacked. He is in the Police protection at the moment.
   
10. Pastor Abinash Garjang, of Tattaguda, Malkangiriis attacked and the Church building was ransacked.
    
11. Pastor Aurobindo Sahu of Tumgurpada Church, Bargarh District is threatened to leave the place with dire consequences.
    
12. District pastor Anant Benya of Badibahal church, Luisingha PS, in Bolangir District was issued threat to attack the church on 26th August.
    
13. Pastor Pabitra Digal and Pastor Dharmendra Digal, of Sundargarh district have received threats to their life burning the church.
    
14. Pastor Thomas Bhoi of Petapanga church Raikia, Kandhamal district was attacked by the mob and their household items were damaged.
    
15. Pastor Ramakant Pradhan of Dotta Church and Pastor Sulaisng Barik of Hatibandh Church under Sinapali PS of Nuapada District was chased away from the village. Their whereabouts are not known.
    
16. Pastor Bijaya Surya of Penkam Church, Gunapur PS, Rayagada District is threatened and asked to leave the place.
    
17. Pastor Mothilal Sagar and his family, also along with 5 Sisters and two brothers in Madekela, Godphila block were attacked but they managed to flee and hid themselves. The miscreants are searching for them.
    
18. More than 15 church buildings of Believers Church alone and several churches of other denomination are damaged. The rampage is still going on unabated.
    
19. Church building and 60 houses in Tiangia village, Raikia, Kandhamal burnt. Two Christians named Dasarath Pradhan, Bikram Naik killed.
    
20. Church building was bombed and destroyed. 30 houses burnt in Tengdapathar, Tikabali, Kandhamal.
    
21. Church and parsonage damaged, 20 houses burnt, Two believers killed in Pettapanga, Saranggada, Kandhmal.
    
22. Chandrasekaharpur, BDA Church, Bhubaneswar damaged.
    
23. Tangupada, Bargarh District, the anti-Christians have threatened the pastor Arobindo Sahu to leave and they have a plan to destroy the newly built Church.
    
24. Audio Visual Team are hiding in the jungle in Chandragiri, Gajapati District because of the threats.
    
25. BOH (Education centre for Children) in Kuttenpalli, Bolangir District having 120 students was threatened to close down.
    
26. Tattaguda Church of Pastor Abinash Garjang in Baipariguda, Malkangiri demolished.
    
27. Bhatta Palla Church of Pastor John Naik in Madanpur, Rampur, in Kalahandi demoslished.
    
28. Tujung Church of Pastor Basant Digal in M. Rampur Kalahandi damaged.
    
29. Ladapanga Church of Pastor Rajanikanth Nayak in Daringbadi damaged.
    
30. The residences of Pastor Bijaya Kumar Surya, Pastor Susil Lima of Miraguda, Gunupur ransacked and looted. No police protection given.
    
31. The Church of Pastor Junus Digal destroyed and 180 houses of Christians burnt in Balkidadi, Kandhmal. Without food and drinking water the Christians are in the jungle from last three days.
    
32. The church building and all the houses of the Christians in Kurmingia of Kandhamal burnt. The Christians have fled to nearby jungles.
    
33. Church building and houses ransacked and later burnt in Tattaguda of Malkangiri District.
    
34. Churches destroyed and houses burnt along with 4 believers killed in Dadingia of Raikia, Kandhamal.
    
35. The church of Pastor Alif Nayak alongwith 12 houses in Ranipada, Kandhamal burnt. Pastor killed.
    
36. Houses burnt and Christians attacked in Madkela, Tusura in Bolangir.
    
37. Pastors Dandapani and Junus Diagal chased out of their place but they managed to flee to safety in nearby jungle.
    
38. Four incidents of attacks reported in Koraput. 39. Carmel English Medium School in Khurda threatened to close down by Hindu fundamentalists.
    
39. Houses in Khariapada, Udaigari were bombed by petrol bombs.
    
40. Unconfirmed reports suggests around 10-11 Christians were killed in jungles by angry and unruly mob.
    
41. Church in Balangir demolished.
    
42. Complete failure of Law and Order in violence affected areas. Police and Para-millitary forces are mere spectators.
    
43. 300-400 attackers burnt houses of Christians in Kurmanga, Raikia.
    
44. Nuagaon village dominated by around 50 Christian families completely burnt down.
    
45. Church in Nuagaon village burnt.
    
46. Grace Girls Hostel having 60-70 students in Kotagarh, Phulbani attacked by more than 1000 people. Just 10 Police personnel posted for protection were not sufficient to protect the Hostel.

Grace like a river

I just wanted to take a minute and post the link to this interview with ABC by Steven Curtis Chapman, as far as I know this is the first interview he and his wife have done since their tragedy occurred. Here is the link

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5524419

It is so wonderful, that even with the terrible nature of what happened, they are able to talk about peace and seeing her again. God bless them all.

How's the fishing?

Have you ever wondered how much we are like Jesus' disciples? They all deserted him before his crucifixion, and denied him and hid. After he was crucified, and after he rose again, and they saw that death couldn't hold him...they went fishing. Jesus stood on the shore and told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. They heard his voice and moved their nets, and received a huge haul of fish. Then they recognized him. It is the Lord said John(John 21:7) I wonder how many times Jesus asks me to move my net to the other side. How many times does he call to me and I am too tied up doing my own things.
It seems odd to us that they went fishing after all the miracles, and the resurection of Jesus, but it is what they did. On Monday we get up and go to work, we lead our daily normal lives. Do we serve a risen saviour, do we focus on him with every breath? Do we pray without ceasing? I fall short so often, but then, once again along comes Romans 8:38- Nothing can seperate us from his love. Amen and Amen

Send Me?

In Acts 1:8, Jesus said "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." I wanted to share some current facts and numbers on how much of the world has been reached as of 2000. These come from the Joshua Project website.

There are currently 16,296 people groups in the world. A people group is defined as people who share a common language, culture, practice. They can cross borders and boundries. Of those 16,296 people groups, 6,747 are unreached. Population wise of the 6.69 Billion people in the world, 2.72 Billion of them are unreached. No Bible in their native language or dialect, no missionaries(less than 2%) have access, usually in an outlying area of another group.

So roughly 40.6% of the people in the world have not heard of Jesus, or do not have enough information available to them to understand about him. People all over the world, on nearly every continent. The other drawbacks are these areas are at times openly hostile to Christians and to God's word. Church and meetings are held in dark rooms with fear of discovery, of evey dollar given to missionary work, less than half of one cent is given.

I don't want to spend hours quoting statistics, but in this generation, with all of the resources, with all of the methods of communication, with the wealth at our disposal, will we make a difference?

Six Minutes

We live in a fast paced, high-tech, multi-task world. We have thousands of books, blogs, wikis, podcasts and videos at our fingertips. Sometimes, I find myself so busy, so pulled in many ways, that I forget the simplicity of God. His never in conflict, consistent message of love and never out of style or substance message. That is when people like John Piper remind me of the surety of the gospel. If you can find SIX MINUTES, sit back, relax and drink it in.

What is Truth?

This is the question that Pilate asked Jesus before giving him over to be crucified(John 18:38)
Today the question continues to reverberate. In the world today the truth has been twisted and turned in so many directions that it is difficult to find truth in any way shape or form. My wife and I were blessed enough to attend viewings of an exciting series of videos called "The Truth Project" It is presented by Dr. Del Tackett, and his teaching and presentations are dramatic and straight-forward. They cover many aspects of life, from Lesson 1, what is Truth, thru lesson 4 Who is God, Lesson 7 The Divine Imprint, Lesson 8 Unio Mystica: Am I Alone? and Lesson 12 God Cares, do I. These are just a few of the topics covered, and brought to life in a way rarely seen in today's culture. If you have the opportunity, I urge you to see it, they are vitally important. Click on the link in the upper left hand corner of the blog to find out more God Bless you

Thirsty??

Are you thirsty? Do you find your life dry and unfulfilling? Jesus gave an answer for this. He said "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" John 7:37-38(NASB)

How often do we try and fill the thirst on our own, through another church activity, through another type of service, and new type of book. The answer is right there, he WANTS us to meet him and drink from him. Not take shallow little sips, but to drink deeply, fulfilling our thirst on a regular basis.

Please God, help me to drink deeper and more frequently. Help me to have streams of living water flowing through me.

What are we grumbling about

I often spend time grumbling about the world, the state of affairs, the president, congress on and on. How can they not see what God can do, why don't they follow God's law, why don't they turn to God, on and on. Occasionally God hits me with the 2x4 of sense or something like that and I look at the Bible for answers...what a novel concept. So here is a verse that really struck me today.

Second Chronicles 7:14

And my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, will forgive their sin, and heal their land. (NASB)

It is interesting to read what God wants us to do to heal our land....not form political action committees, not run for office, or send money to politicians, or give speeches or support candidates or sign petitions at Church...he wants us to humble ourselves and pray and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways. As always, God keeps it simple. Amen and Amen

Passion- Kampala

The Passion team is now in Kampala, the largest website for Uganda, wrote this story- WORLD STARS TO ROCK MAKERE- Here is the link the their story on the website
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/9/507/630450

They are surely following the command to go out into the world. Please continue to pray for them as they already had 12,000 college students registered as of yesterday. The University has 36,000 students so it is amazing that they had one third of them registered 24 hours before the start of the passion conference! How great indeed.

Passion Sao Paulo

Just read from Louie Giglio about the amazing Passion Sao Paulo conference. It sounds amazing, and exciting to see the students of the area cheering, singing and praying for God to change their country and the world. Do we have the passion here, to believe the same thing is happening? That God can change the United States? Or do we wait for a politician or political party or some other type of movement to happen. Make sure you click on the videos above if you get a chance. God bless everyone.

Passion

The current world tour for Passion is in Brazil now, but there are clips posted at the top of my Blog from Kyiv, in the Ukraine. Three Thousand College age students and leaders. Hearing Louid Giglio, Chris Tomlin, and the passion group. They are taking the message of God and the love and worship of him to the world. Please pray for them, and the great work they are doing. Kyiv is one of the cultural centers in eastern Europe, and of course was and is heavily commumist. Very exciting to see this work being done. God bless them and give them travel blessing as they continue their world tour.

My Heart Cries Out

For Steven Curtis Chapman and his family, we pray for God's understanding and mercy at this time. Losing a child is terrible, and having a second child involved in the tragedy is just heartbreaking.

Here is the link to the story, in case you haven't seen it

http://www.denverpost.com/popular/ci_9341515

And here is a link to a blog to post your wishes/prayers for the family

http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

Transformer

One of my favorite verses is Romans 12:2- Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will(NIV)

I often ask myself, what would this look like. Of course, my role model is Jesus so how did he live. He spoke to the poorest of the poor. He reached out to those who needed help, who were desperate, and who were not part of the in-crowd. He wasn't worried if society didn't like this person, or if the local social group wasn't willing to work with them. He delighted in confusing and contradicting the leaders of the church who were practicing religion. Jesus had kind words for those who needed them and was giving. He spoke the truth no matter how difficult. Oh what a glorious example we could set by throwing off the norms of society and living as he did.

Beginnings

I am a small part of the great big story of God. He invited me in and I am able to sing the choir of the never ending chorus of praise to him. I was made to serve him and I am trying to learn how to do that more effectively every day. Who would think he could use someone like me. He is truly great and awesome.