Gone for God, Gone for Good

Sunday, September 15, I preached a message called, "Gone for God, Gone for Good." It was a great message to share, because it spoke on the truth of Psalm 67, which is known as the missionary Psalm. It talks about how and why God blesses His people, so that He may be known. Included in this message are three stories from people who have been to Kenya, Mexico, and SE Asia this past year sharing the love of God with others. The main thought of this message is, God Works Through people to make Himself known To people. Listen to the message here.

11 Helpful Tips for Mission Trips

I read this article today and found it helpful and interesting, so I am sharing an abbreviated form of it here. For the full article from the original source, click here for Jeremy Parks post.

1. Know the difference between Missions vs. Ministry: Ministry is about loving people. Missions is about loving people so that His kingdom might expand into the hearts and minds of people. Mission teams usually need to be about missions, not ministry.  

2. When in Rome, Eat as the Romans Eat: Eat what you are given, when you are given it. Never refuse, make faces, joke about, or make a big deal of what’s offered, it is typically their very best they have to offer. Eat like your grandmother was serving you your meal.  

3. Flexibility: You’ve go to go with the flow in regards to your schedule, job changes, tasks, and inconveniences… go along and get along.  

4. Just accept it: Don’t critique the choices that the missionaries make: food, shopping, clothing, schooling, driving, how they spend their money, how they educate their children.

 5. Don’t be high maintenance: Consider not going if you are diabetic or hypoglycemic, an extremely picky eater, if you must have air conditioning, or if you are a vegans, vegetarians, and gluten-free eater… leave your diet at home too!  

6. Minister to the missionary: Financially, personally and vocationally, do whatever you can to encourage others. Remember that you could very well be the only American Christian they see and spend time with all year, always be a source of encouragement to them.  

7. Practice your testimony. Be able to share your story in 3-4 minutes.  

8. Learn the Language: Make an attempt to learn the basic of communication with nationals, whether through gestures common to the people or through some basics words, but do it without constantly asking the missionary.  

9. Partner: Unless you possess a special set of skills that is needed in a variety of locations, find a missionary, a strategy, and a people group with whom you can partner for a few years.  

10. Think: Show a willingness to use creativity and the wealth of resources we have in the United States in order to present high quality work and projects.  

11. Learn: Most missionaries are forced to use out of the box techniques for reaching people for Christ, pay attention to what they do and apply it to your work back home. Go with your cup empty, not full!

Shoulder Surgery: Day 5

Sunday: Happy Mother’s Day. For whatever reason, I went to church today. During class, Craig had to help me get from our small group upstairs to our coffee bar downstairs. While it was great to see everyone, the tiredness and dizziness made me somewhat regret going… however, there were 11 kids who came forward asking Jesus to save them and 3 families that joined the church, so I really was elated to witness that!

One of the things we were able to do, aside from just going to church was to get out of the house. My dad and I went to run some errands and watch a movie. The movie was easy as we just sat and watched, but while we were running errands we have to head home early after just two errands, because I worn out.

Today was the highest level of pain I’ve been in since the surgery. The side-effects of the pills are pretty severe… I wonder if they get worse as time goes on. Again it was fantastic to have my parents there to help us out, I am hoping and praying Christy can manage our home, kids, cooking, cleaning, etc. without get worn out when they leave! You pray for her too!!!

Shoulder Surgery: Day 4

Saturday: Slept horribly last night, and I am pretty sure the meds make me hallucinate. Once I got up from my bed (ahem, recliner), I realized I had another migraine. However, since I wasn’t on morphine I was able to take my headache pills and it went away rather quickly.

Christy’s parents stayed until lunch was over, and then they headed home. Within the hour my parents (Grammy & Granddad) showed up to help out for a few days. With Christy having to do almost everything on her own, having them visit for rounds 2 of full-time help was awesome.

Another incredible, huge, awesome, fantastic, outstanding blessing came from some great guys in our class. Marty setup yard maintenance for the next 6 weeks, and he and Josh showed up today for the first treatment. It is hard to describe how huge this blessing is, because I cannot physically mow, and it would be next to impossible for Christy to do it since due to my limitations having one arm. This was just a huge blessing!

Saturday night we began to discuss weaning me off my pain pills. My hesitation comes from knowing the pain level has been minimal. Although the side-effects have been strong (itchiness, dizziness, tiredness), my thought is avoiding colossal pain is worth it!