Gone but Not Forgotten

Welcome! If you are visiting this blog for the first time, I would like to give you an introduction and suggest how you can get the most out of viewing this blog.

When: February 2015.

Who: A family of four join ASAPministries.org on mission trip

Why: To take images and video of ASAP projects

Where: Thailand, Cambodia and one other country in that region.

First, I suggest you read this blog in the order it was created. Click here to read the introduction post. Then I would suggest you view the tags that are of interest to you, for example: missions, life, fruit.

And second, I hope that you find an interest in missions and that it is strengthened by reading this blog. The closer you draw your heart to helping someone else, the closer your heart will be to God.

------------------

As of today, we have been back home for a week and a few days.  Our circadian rhythms are for the most part back on track, and life is settling down again to a pre-trip condition. I find myself thinking of the peoples we left back in their home countries, and wanting to keep the fire of missions alive in my heart.

We had some reverse culture shock:

1) Back home we are again part of the majority culture. Here we do not have locals taking pictures of us or with us. No longer is all the surrounding unknown languages. Being an outsider is an interesting feeling. It makes me want to include the foreigner in our midst. When people included me, (tried to talk with me, or corrected my pronunciation) I felt a bond with them. I want to be sensitive to and inclusive of others.

2) The very first experience we had back on American soil was getting off the plane. Within a jet bridge, a group of wheel chair porters were loudly arguing and jostling for position. It seemed a jolting, "welcome back to American values." We never heard arguing, complaining or anything other than a smile from the service staff in any capacity in Asia. Within a few more steps there were US immigration officers who were dealing with foreigners (perhaps with passport issues?) in a very harsh manner. I am thankful that we did not have to face such from any of the many officers from these other countries that we visited. Kindness is a blessing.

3) Coming to a water faucet, the first thought was similar to the past four weeks: watch out - that was not boiled! We are learning again to fall into normal routines that include trusting water from the tap and public places. Let us not take health security for granted here in America. We need to value clean water here and promote clean water in the rest of the world.

4) I rode to church on smooth roads in our enclosed van this morning. On our trip overseas I rode on a wooden bench in the back of a pickup or tuk tuk. The road? Rough, bumpy, holes large enough to swallow a van. Transportation is an area where there are large differences between here and there. The density of people there makes a big difference in traffic.

5) Food in SE Asia centers on rice. Morning, noon and night (if there is money for multiple meals in a day.) I enjoy rice, but I also value beans, and wish I could find a way to encourage bean growing and consumption across SE Asia. I have enjoyed bread since being home.

We enjoy being home and miss the new friends and families back in Asia. One clear take away for us that the Gospel has not gone to all the world. It will take personal effort to do so. SE Asia, we will be back, Lord willing.

Would you please continue praying for a spark? If you slow down, just read back over this blog, and renew the flame once more. Pray, pray, pray, and then act.

Weakness

I found it fascinating to visit with church planters, pastors and missionaries in the field.

I think it therapeutic to talk through failures and victories. Not everything in the mission field is glorious. There are huge obstacles in adapting to a new way of life and a new culture. There are real advantages to building up a team of national workers. But the work has to start with a spark. It will take a missionary to first reach them. The Gospel commission says "Go".

Last night we were visiting with a missionary in Thailand. She made a comment that I had not really thought of before:

"God not only calls us because of our strengths, but also because of our weaknesses." She explained that ability and God's calling are important for a missionary but also that the power of the Gospel is demonstrated by a missionary leaning on God to strengthen their weakness.

The Gospel is not only a set of doctrines and intellectual teachings. The Gospel has to be lived. We have to experience God being real in our lives. A real God that answers prayer. A real God that heals illness. A real God that solves the humanly unsolvable. This daily relationship-- this in filling with God's abiding presence, is what is the power of God unto Salvation.

As I thought about it, this need is not only in SE Asia. This is our need everywhere. This showing that God is real in our lives is what our young people in America need to see and then experience for themselves. We don't need more fun to hold the youth in Christianity. We need God to be real. They need God to make a difference in their life and through them in the lives of others.

So perhaps we need Spirit filled Christians everywhere. Then God will be ready to do something miraculous and will finish the work.

How can God be real to you today? How can you say yes to each prompting of His Spirit, "Yes Lord- I am ready for service or sacrifice."

I am thinking of the image of an Ox standing between an alter and a plow. The inscription reads "Ready for either!"

May this be the prayer of our hearts. And let there be a spark.

The Difference

As we sat on the beach this morning watching the sun rise, with fishing boats anchored just off shore, my mind went to the story of catching fish in John 21:2-13.

The disciples had been working all night to catch fish, but they had nothing to show for their efforts. Their nets were empty.

Just like the the vast ocean of humanity here in SE Asia where so few know of Jesus.

Jesus asks his disciples, Do you have any fish? And they answer, None! Then Jesus says, Cast your net on the other side of the boat.

They obey Jesus' command and everything changes. Once where the waters were dead calm, now the waters surface boils with moving fish.

Somehow the most unpromising fishery becomes the most fertile ever known, and it happened in an instant. Their nets fill with fish of every type, and these are described as large fish. The Bible is very specific with the number: 153. One commenter I read years ago claimed there were 153 different species of fish in the region. I don't know if that commenter was accurate, but I look forward to converts from every kindred, tribe and people. We know that the catch was so great that under normal conditions the net would have broken. Another miracle: the nets hold. Not one of those precious examples of God's miraculous blessing was lost.

This is the kind of miracle we need in SE Asia. This must be the blessing we pray for in this land. 

Somehow Jesus will open the door to reach many here. But Jssus needs fishermen in the boat who have been working on the task before He gives this special blessing. We need to be on the ground in SE Asia, ready and working with the best tools that we know today.

How sad it would be if Angels had to finish the work without us! Will you be a fisher for God? Will you spread the net of the Gospel and pray for a time when God will work a miracle and everyone will be able to hear the good news? There is a great harvest coming. It is coming. It is even coming to SE Asia.

A ship is safest in the harbor, but that is not why the ship was made. We were not made to live unto ourselves. We were not made to amass wealth and goods while the rest of the world starves for the knowledge of God.

What can you do: Today? This week? This Month? This year? We must be ready when when the time is right.

Pray with us for a spark!

To Tell the Story

The key to photography / videography is to tell a story. This has been our task on this trip. So far we have recorded about a Terabyte of imagery data. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and video is 29.92 fps. So that is a lot of words each second.

So how do we make each word count? How do we best tell the story that would lead others into action? What could we say to you to prompt you to partner with Jesus to spread the Gospel in SE Asia? What would it take for you to see the needs and opportunities here? What would it take for you to see the 10/40 window countries as worthy of your devoting your life in service? What words would help you to grasp the need?

How can the work be finished with so few here to live / preach / spread the Gospel?

Rom 10:14 "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

So, does this blog hit the mark? Are you more interested in mission service having read it? 

What is likely missing in this blog are the hugs from students who love their teachers and their school. They love learning about Jesus as a loving God who cares for them and their families. 

What is missing are the adults who say thank you for what ASAP has done to help them. 

What is missing is the incredible poverty and need here. 

What is missing is the realization that millions and millions live and die here never hearing the name of Jesus.

The need here is: huge. Your capability with God's power: huge. Check and check mate.

Pray that you will be the next missionary, and make a spark.

Pray

Our missionary group has been under steady attack with sickness since we came. But today two videographers enter a location extremely hostile to the Gospel in southern Cambodia.

Please pray for the safety of this small insurgent group as they head south for some specific video, and then return. There was an I--S (religious group regularly in the news) bombing here in Phnom Penh the other day, and our team is pushing deep into the territory of this religious mind set. The church planter there is concerned of being forced out of his village any day, and he thinks there will be more trouble after a convert is baptized in April.

We face danger in many forms as we go through life. But when you are a missionary, you are on God's errands, telling God's story. Prayer can make a difference, so please pray extra over the next 48 hrs.

Update: PTL, the team has returned with no trouble or uprisings. They kept a low profile, while getting video on that area. They have returned to Phnom Penh with lots of footage and experiences, but no problems or hostilities. Thank you so much for your prayers!

What is safety worth when God has a job for you to do?

Pray with us for a spark!

Giants in the Land

When I think of a giant, I think of Goliath. Big, strong, perhaps even evil. But here in Cambodia, we have met true Giants. As I type this my eyes mist over and I briefly can not see my phone keyboard... The Giants here are not especially tall. They do not have super human strength. In fact, when I came, I could not see the giants, they looked like everyone else.

But within a few hours, key people I interacted with started to grow in my appreciation. And not that I am the judge of men, but I came to see clearer the character of self sacrifice.

These people would not be happy to be put on a pedestal. They see their lives with humility -- and would object to my highlight of their life of service. When I took this photo at the beginning of Sabbath School was one of the few times this week I saw them together. They simply say "it has been a busy week"-- and they say that with love and joy.

But when these people walk by in quiet self sacrifice, the earth should tremble under their tread. Their steps are rapid, for they have many tasks and attend to, but if you could imagine their stride in God's appreciation, it would be more than a giant walking by. Tim and Windy run a faith based ministry. They founded the training center, the school and the orphanage in what is called the SALT center. It is at their ministry compound where the camp meeting for all of Cambodia is being held this week.

Oh what is great in heaven is so different than how man considers greatness. It is not financial wealth, for true giants have given their all for others. It is not in houses and lands, for termites are attaching the homes here and turning them into rubble. It is not in how much power over others they wield, for they are servant leaders, willing to empower and grow others to good service.

Yes, there are many giants here. I see giants in the pastors, lay pastors, church planters and medical missionary workers. May there be many more.

Pray with us for a spark.

10/40 Window

The 10/40 Window is a region of land roughly between the 10th and 40th latitudes where there is little Christian influence, and a lot of the world's population.

"Approximately 4.75 billion individuals residing in an estimated 8,463 distinct people groups are in the revised 10/40 Window.  5,915 (62.5 %) of these people groups are considered unreached and have a population of 2.91 billion (61.3 %). The 10/40 Window is home to some of the largest unreached people groups in the world such as the Shaikh, Yadava, Turks, Moroccan Arabs, Pashtun, Jat and Burmese." Joshua Project

Let's put a spotlight on the 10/40 window. Half of the worlds population is in the 10/40 window, but it contains only 1% Christian influence. Of every dollar donated by Christians, you could take a penny and cut it into 100 slivers. Only 7 of those slivers go for the unreached. Counting up church workers, including preachers, youth pastors, etc., there is one missionary working among the unreached people of the world compared to 140 (yes, one hundred and forty) serving the people who have heard the gospel over and over again. Why is this the case since the Gospel commission is to go into ALL the world?

Why is it so completely hard to penetrate these areas with the precious truths of the Gospel? “The 10/40 Window includes numerous spiritual strongholds. The billions of people who live in the 10/40 Window have suffered not only the ravages of poverty and disease, they have also been kept from the transforming power of the Gospel. They are poignant examples of the truth expressed in 2 Corinthians 4:4, which states that ‘the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.’” Joshua Project

It is hard. The 10/40 window people have not been neglected because the spread of the Gospel is easy. This vast area of the world has been blinded to the Gospel because there are powerful forces at work to keep it in darkness, poverty, pain, war, suffering and disease. I don't think the ultimate answer is found in foreigners like us coming over for a short trip. The work in these areas likely needs to be locals who have seen the beauty and kindness of Jesus who will spread that love to their fellow peoples. We realize in this respect, we are not even the "match". But a spark is what we pray for in the 10/40 Window.

But if we could help show the need, through video and photography then perhaps we could help fan a smoldering wick to flame. Perhaps we could assist ASAP Ministries in the support of local workers to then reach out to their own people groups. Perhaps we can share some of our heart with these lands, and then as we return, we keep them in more fervent prayer that God will send forth laborers into His harvest.

Pray with us for a spark.