2 Corinthians 1-5

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. – 5:20

As Pam and I leave this morning for Kampala, Uganda, these words ring in my head. We are ambassadors for Him, Jesus Christ. He is going to make His appeal through us.

Nothing is different. This is how it is supposed to be everyday, but as we journey overseas to work with our Ugandan brothers and friends from the US, I recognize this truth more. Maybe it is because our going is so intentional-to share Christ and make disciples-that this truth stands out. Here I get distracted by my personal life and I lose site of my main purpose-to be His ambassador. When I get back from Uganda I must work on staying focused. Keeping the main thing the main thing.

But now we go. Lord, let the light of your glory and love shine through us. Give us boldness to speak your truth. Give us patience to handle the interruptions and challenges. Give us safety in our journeys.

Lord, we love you, and we go because of what you have done for us and in us. Let us make you proud as we serve as your ambassadors in Uganda for the month of June.

Over the past five years of working in Uganda and DR Congo, I have read hundreds of stories of people whose lives God has gloriously changed. Many of these stories I have posted to the IMFC blog for you to read, enjoy and celebrate. But there’s one story I’ve not posted. My story.

I’m afraid that I often forget, or overlook, or underestimate my own story of grace when I encounter these great, heart moving accounts of broken, improvised, sinful, neglected people being wonderfully saved and changed by God! You see, as I compare my story to their story, my story is not nearly as sensational and heart rending as theirs. But I do have a story. It’s a story that is unique to me. It is the story of how God has changed my life. Here’s my story.

I had the great fortune to be be born to and raised by parents who loved me, loved God and taught me to be a Christ follower. As a result, I never got into trouble as a child or teenager. Mom and Dad kept a pretty tight rope on me. If they had not, no telling what I would have done or tried to do, because on the inside, I was rebellious. I know that I would have followed the crowd into whatever mischief was out there. So I hated their tight control over my life: What I did, who I did it with and when I did it! American freedom for me was freedom to do what my parents said I could do. No more. No less.

Every week I went to church. Not because I wanted to, but because my parents made me go with them. I heard sermons on every subject imaginable or, lets say, I was in the room where these sermons were preached physically. Whether I actually heard or not is another story. But while there I felt the call of God deep inside my innermost being drawing me to Him, but my will was stronger than His call and I stood my ground. I never responded. But I could not celebrate my victory over the voice of God because I was miserable on the inside. I was in the wrong and I knew it. I could not shake this knowledge. I was running from God. But I could not outrun Him.

But this all changed when I was sixteen. My resistance to the Lord broke and I humbled myself before Him. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it was my younger brother humbling himself before the Lord that pushed me out into His arms. Maybe it was just time. I don’t know and I’m not going to get caught up in endless theological debates trying to explain it. But for whatever the reason, I responded to God’s call. Angels didn’t sing. Bells didn’t chime. The heavens didn’t open. I didn’t hear an audible voice. I simply gave my life to Jesus Christ. He was drawing me to Him and I came to him. I opened my life to him. I didn’t even say the “sinners prayer”! In fact, I said very little. I simply gave my life to Jesus and He accepted me and changed me.

This event did take place on a Sunday night. It did happen in a church service. An alter call was involved, but it was more than all these things combined. That night I completely surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. He became the center piece of my existence. I knew it. The Lord knew it. No more running from Him. Now we walked together.

That was almost forty years ago. The act of committing my life to Jesus changed my future. I never dreamed of becoming a preacher, but I did. I never thought about leaving Alabama or going to seminary, but I did. I never dreamed that I would travel the world and preach his gospel to people of different languages and skin color, but I am. My life has changed and it continues to change. The life I live today is not the future I dreamed about as a teenager, it is better. And what my life will experience in the next five, ten, twenty or more years, I do not know. But I know it will exceed my expectations because it is in His control.

This is my story. And I am living it daily!

So, what is your story. Do you have one? Want to share it? I would love to hear of your adventure with God.

“And he presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the rule.” Lev. 9:16

Apple has popularized the saying, “There’s an app for that.” Whatever you want to do, you can do on the iphone because there is an application designed to accomplish that task.

Well, for Aaron, the first high priest of Israel, there was a rule for everything. Life was governed by rules. His life and the lives of the people of Israel were simple: Follow the rules and all will be well.

Did it work? No. Why? He could not follow rules. He could in part, but not perfectly. Neither could his sons. He lost two sons immediately after they became priest because they did not follow the rules. Neither could the people of Israel. Their history is a history of rule breaking.

So is ours. We cannot follow rules, especially the rules of God. We are by nature rule breakers.

Paul writes, “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.” (Rom. 7:10) Why? Because I am sinful in my very being. The law exposes that. Life by the rules of God is a life of failure and defeat for me. The ability is not in me.

So, here is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What we could not do, keep God’s rules, Christ did. He came and lived according to the rules. Then, He died under the penalty of the rules for my rule breaking. Now that He has been raised from the dead and lives at the right hand of God the Father, He has gained our freedom from God’s judgement and He gives all His followers the ability to live above the rules through the power of His Spirit!

Did He do away with the rules? No! He lived the rules to the full degree. He fulfilled all the rules. What the rules were pointing to we enjoy through our relationship with Jesus Christ.

weeping may remain for a night, 

but rejoicing comes in the morning. Ps. 30:5

Sarah, Abraham’s wife, knew what tears, frustrations, heartaches and depression were. That was her life.

No. She did not have a bad life. In fact, she had a very good life. A rich husband, servants, everything she wanted or could ever want. Except for one thing: A child.

Regardless how hard Abraham and Sarah tried, she could not give Abraham a child. She even gave her servant girl to him so that she could give him a child through her. But this just brought more personal pain as she watched her servant girl get pregnant and deliver a son that she could not give to her husband. The pain was deep as she watched this child grow. And her pain grew as she saw how much her husband loved him. When she saw the two of them together, the tears came.

Then one day tears turned to joy. When all human hope was gone, God delivered on his promise. Sarah became pregnant. After all the years of trying and trying to have a child, now she is going to have a baby when she is ninety years old!

Nine months later she gave her husband a baby boy. His name, Isaac. Laughter. Sarah laughed.

Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6.

Many times, in fact I believe always, we go through tears to get to laughter. Hang in there. Trust God. Morning is coming and so is laughter.

Hard to believe 2009 is history. But it is and 2010 is here. Hope you have a great and prosperous New Year.

I was reading Mark 5 and the story of Jarius this week when the Lord spoke to my heart. The text was verse 36 where Jesus told Jarius, “Don’t be afraid, just believe.”
 
This may be easy to do if your little girl only has a cold, but it is incredibly hard to do when you have just received word that your little girl has died! But for Jarius to receive the miracle Jesus had for him, he had to overcome his fear and believe. Easy? No way! Life isn’t easy. And to live life by faith or trust in Jesus Christ is really tough. Even if Jesus is standing right in front of you!
 
So, here’s the question, “Are we living our lives by faith (belief) or fear?” 

As I look back at my life, I see many times where I moved forward in faith and experience a extraordinary work of God in my life. But, there have been other times when I drew back in fear and missed out on God’s work. I wonder how many works of God I have missed because I was dominated by fear? A fear that kept me from moving forward. How about you? Are you living your life by fear or faith? Just something to consider. Seriously consider.
 
Anyway, the story of Jarius is a wonderful story. Go read it for yourselves. You will find it in Mark 5:21-43. You will be glad you did.

While Pam and I were in Kampala we meet several young people on mission for Christ. Sometimes the younger generation gets a bad rap through the activity of a few bad apples, but there are some great young people coming up who love the Lord and are already serving him!

There was a team of IWC (International World Changers) volunteers that we met and actually had the opportunity to work with at one of the Manna food distributions. Some of these young people attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, but all were in Kampala to serve Christ. I know that they worked with the IMB Missionaries, some of the local churches, visited one of the prisons with Joseph, and was involved in Manna. They were a great group of young people and Pam and I enjoyed meeting them. We praise the Lord not only for the young the people but also for their leaders.

By the way, when they left town, they left over $450 US Dollars for Manna Ministry. What an unexpected blessing!

And then there was the Irish youth invasion of my quiet resting place. Two nights into our stay (we were the only people in the guest house) at about 11:00 at night, my quiet rest was interrupted by a gang of more than 20 high school girls from Ireland. You can imagine the noise level! They were in Kampala to build a school. For two weeks they labored under the equator sun constructing this school. It was hard and dirty work. At the end of two weeks they left only to be replaced by another group of high school girls from Ireland! Just as large as the first!

We got to meet and talk to several of these young people. They paid their own way and raised the money to build the school. It was a pleasure meeting them even if my peaceful spot was no more!

And lastly there was the group of at least seventy-five high school students from the midwest US that we meet in the food court at Garden City Mall. They were divided into groups and sent all over Uganda to engage the people. We spoke to a couple of them before we left. I’m sure they had a memorable experience.

I’m encouraged by the young people of today. Sure, there are those you simply have to shake you head at, but we have some really neat young people coming up. Only the Lord knows how He will use them in the years ahead. But, I am confident there are some champions for Christ on the way.

I have posted several stories of God’s grace from IMFC’s ministry in Kampala, Uganda and DR Congo. I think it is time to post a remarkable story of God’s grace from here in the US.

I found this story from 1993 in America, The National Catholic Weekly. I think you will enjoy reading this.

Editors’ note: On October 20 36-year-old Republican Bobby Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana. In the early 1990s, Mr. Jindal wrote two articles for America recounting his conversion from the Hindu faith of his parents to Catholicism. The following excerpt is taken from “Has Ecumenism Made Evangelism Irrelevant?” which was published on July 31, 1993:

I was born in the United States immediately after my parents arrived here from India. I was raised in a strong Hindu culture, attended weekly pujas, or ceremonial rites, and read the Vedic scriptures. Though my prayers were a child’s constant stream of requests and broken promises, Hinduism provided me with moral guidance and spiritual comfort. It never occurred to me that I should consider any other religion; to be a Hindu was an aspect of my Indian identity. A childhood friend, a Southern Baptist intent on converting the world, first introduced me to Christianity by telling me “you and your parents are going to hell.” I was hardly convinced.

My friend’s exhortations did, however, prompt me to investigate my Hindu faith and motivated me to read the Bhagavad-Gita. Although I found the stories fascinating and the writing magnificent, I was uncomfortable when Krishna convinced a reluctant Arjuna to secure his rightful inheritance by making war against his cousins. Though I did not like seeing a deity advocate violence, this feeling was not enough to reject an entire faith. I wanted to examine Hinduism on its own merits and doctrines.

The main tenets of the Hindu faith involve two basic beliefs. The first is that all souls earn their way into nirvana, a state of blessedness, through good deeds. Since this takes many lifetimes, souls are reincarnated until they succeed. One’s material circumstances are based on the past life’s choices; the very worst souls are incorporated into animal bodies…

The second tenet is that all religions are equally valid paths to the same God. This strips one of the right to criticize any set of religious beliefs, including those of cults and other extreme groups. Thus, God is not concerned with having His followers believe in truth. It is sincerity, and not content, that matters. Yet I had had for years a sincere prayer life and still felt a void in my religious faith. Though I was searching for an objectively true faith that would lead me to God, I was beginning to doubt this existed and was ready to accept the “philosophies,” if not the religious beliefs, associated with Hinduism.

My journey from Hinduism to Christianity was a gradual and painful one. I was touched by the love and simplicity of a Christian girl who dreamt of becoming a Supreme Court justice so she could stop her country from “killing unborn babies.” I was also angered by the arrogance of my Southern Baptist friend who claimed his faith was the one true path to God. He seemed to deny the experiences of billions of people who have never seen a copy of the Bible.

I began reading the Bible to disprove the Christian faith I was learning both to admire and despise. I cannot begin to describe my feelings when I first read the New Testament texts. I saw myself in many of the parables and felt as if the Bible had been written especially for me. After reading every book I could find on the historical accuracy of the Bible and Christianity, I was convinced that the Bible had remained unaltered throughout the centuries and that circumstances surrounding Christ’s death led to the conversions of thousands. However, my perspective remained intellectual and not spiritual.

My investigation of Christianity might have remained at this theoretical level had it not been for a short black-and-white film. Though its depiction of the crucifixion was harsher than that of many similar movies, something about this film hit me very hard. For the first time, I actually imagined what it meant for the Son of God to be humiliated and even killed for my sake. Although the movie did not convince me that anything was true, it did force me to wonder if Christians were right. I realized that if the Gospel stories were true, if Christ really was the Son of God, it was arrogant of me to reject Him and question the gift of salvation.

It would require many hours of discussion with a pastor before I was ready to take that leap of faith and accept Christ into my life. It would take another two years for me to be baptized into the Catholic Church. My parents were infuriated by my conversion and have yet fully to forgive me. I tried to prepare myself for the worst; though I was ready when they ended their financial support, I was not as prepared for the emotional battles. My parents went through different phases of anger and disappointment. They blamed themselves for being bad parents, blamed me for being a bad son and blamed evangelists for spreading dissension. There were heated discussions, many of them invoking family loyalty and national identity. My parents have never truly accepted my conversion and still see my faith as a negative that overshadows my accomplishments. They were hurt and felt I was rejecting them by accepting Christianity. I long for the day when my parents understand, respect and possibly accept my faith. For now, I am satisfied that they accept me…

The motivation behind my conversion, however, was my belief in one, objectively true faith. If Christianity is merely one of many equally valid religions, then the sacrifices I made, including the loss of my family’s peace, were senseless. I was comfortable in my Hindu faith and enjoyed an active prayer life; I only gradually felt a void and stubbornly resisted God’s call from within the church. It was Truth and Love that finally forced me to accept Christ as Lord. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life: No one comes to the Father except through me’” (In. 14:6). Christ’s redemptive sacrifice proved that God loved me and was lifting me up to Him.

I just read this on CNN. How many sermon illustration do you think could be derived from this story?

JERUSALEM (CNN) — It was supposed to be a pleasant surprise, but turned into the shock of a lifetime.

A woman in Tel Aviv, Israel, gave her elderly mother a new mattress as a surprise gift, throwing out the old tattered bed her mother had slept on for decades. The gesture ended up bankrupting Annat’s mother, who had stuffed her savings of nearly $1 million inside her old bed for decades, Annat told Israel Army Radio.

A massive search is under way at the city dump, where security has been beefed up to keep out treasure-seekers who have heard Annat’s story in Israeli media.

Clink here to read the rest of the story…

Humm, I wonder what’s in my bed mattress…?

As I looked back through my pictures from trips to Kampala, here is a picture that helped me to focus on the Grace of God and the Love of Christ at this time.
Here it is with the words from Psalms 22.

I hope you enjoy it and will take to the time to thank the Lord for His amazing grace.

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O LORD, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!