An Open Door (part 3)

Back to that day in Jane's Cafe when Dave Guiles, Executive Director of Grace Brethren International Missions (GBIM) asked me to consider traveling to Africa to partner with Augustin Hibale's ministry. Now why did Dave ask me to consider this ministry opportunity? Given that Augustin's ministry to those in authority includes (among others) pastors, educators and police, Dave thought my background of pastoring (for almost 30 years now), teaching (I am in my 15th year as an adjunct professor at Lancaster Bible College), and serving as a police chaplain (now in my 9th year) made me a good fit to help Augustin in his ministry. In addition, my earned doctorate would, as Dave put it, open many doors to me in Africa. As I mentioned in my first posting on this topic, when Dave first threw this my way, I did not jump up and down! I was not asking him how soon he thought I could go. But in contrast to my reaction in 1993 to the opportunity to go to Russia with the CoMission (which grabbed my heart from the get-go), I began listing in my mind all the reasons I should not go to Central Africa (like, "I have enough to do here!", "I don't like big bugs and big snakes", "It's too dangerous over there", "What will I have to eat?" etc.). Dave sensed my hesitancy, and so he simply asked me if I would be willing to "pray about the opportunity." Not wanting to appear unspiritual in front of the director of our Fellowship's Missions agency, I agreed to do that much.

As we parted that day, Dave asked me if he could email Augustin about our conversation. I readily agreed. After all - no big deal, right? Tune in tomorrow and I will let you know what God did as a result of that first very brief email.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

An Open Door (part 2)

The place was Jane's Cafe. The date, February 11th. As Dave Guiles and I chatted over coffee, he mentioned to me the name of Augustin Hibale. The name was not unfamiliar to me. In fact, we hosted Augustine and his wife in our church in September of 2007. So I was somewhat "in the know" concerning this man and his ministry. Dave suggested that I might want to pray about traveling to Africa to assist Augustine in his ministry. Now, why would Dave ask me? Before I answer that question, let me give you a bit of background on Augustin.

Augustin was born and raised in the Central African Republic. He trusted Christ, I believe at a young age, and went on to teach in the Bible Institute and Seminary. Eventually he enrolled at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake and earned his Doctor of Ministry degree. At some point (and I am unsure of the timeline here) he left his teaching post and established the International Center for the Development of Ethical Leadership. He did this in response to the pervasive corruption and lack of integrity among leaders in central Africa. Augustin through his ministry reaches leaders at every level in his native Central African Republic (and surrounding countries as well; for example he recently spent time in Liberia where he was part of a team of three who conducted leadership and anti-corruption training for approximately 200 governmental officials from different ministries of the Liberian government). Now as to why Dave thought I might be able to assist Augustin in his ministry? More on that tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

An Open Door (part 1)

Yesterday in my Sunday morning sermon (yes, I still call my Sunday morning "talks" sermons!), I shared that my blog postings this week would feature the story of an open door for ministry that Jesus Christ is placing before me. Today is the first installment of this story.

It all actually began back in 1993. That is the year I took my first of three mission oriented trips to the former Soviet Union. I was a member of a 70 person North American team that traveled to two cities in Russia as part of a mission initiative known at the CoMission. I took two more CoMission trips, one in 1994 and the next in 1995. Both were to Ukraine. In 1996 I began my Doctor of Ministry program at Grace Theological Seminary. Involvement in that program kept me home for quite a few years. Finally, in 2006 I helped to lead a team from Grace to India. The impact of that trip (as well as the three earlier CoMission trips) on my own personal walk and the lives of others was such that I made a commitment at that point to set as a goal one such mission trip each year. As a result, I traveled to Europe in 2007 (for Grace Brethren International Mission's Family Conference) and back to India in 2008.

Once I got over the jet lag from that 2008 trip to India, I began praying about a mission trip for 2009. I prayed through the summer and fall with no clear direction. With the arrival of 2009, I began to think perhaps God did not have a trip in mind for me - and I was content with that. But in mid February I met with Dave Guiles, Executive Director of Grace Brethren International Ministries. Over coffee, he asked me to consider an opportunity for a short-term overseas mission trip. I must admit that at the time we talked, I was mildly interested at best. But more on that tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

True Beauty - It's More than Skin Deep!

This upcoming week is a big birthday week. I will be turning 53 on Thursday. My oldest daughter turns 30 on Tuesday. And you will never guess who turns 50 on Monday! Ready for this? Barbie hits the half century mark on Monday! Actually her full name is not "Barbie Doll" but "Barbara Millicent Roberts." That's a fact ... no joking! Other little known facts about this well known American icon?

- Mattel estimates that three Barbies are sold every second.
- In the past three months, 217,736 Barbies have been sold on eBay.
- The most expensive Barbie sold for $7,999,999. It was a No. 1 Ponytail Barbie.
- Barbie met Ken in 1961 (wow - Barbie met Ken when she was just 3 years old - talk about a childhood romance!).
- Early research suggested that Barbie would never sell. Let's just say it was due to her bodily proportions.
- If Barbie were real, she would probably be suffering today from back pain (due to all the high heels), would be at risk for osteoporosis, would have graying hair and a plumper waistline.

So there you have it! A bunch of rather meaningless trivia about America's doll. Unfortunately, Barbie's impact on our culture has been any thing but meaningless. Millions of little girls have grown up wanting to be like Barbie. As they saw it, beauty was determined by one's appearance (which is exactly what Barbie "communicated" to them). And so as these girls grew up, they did their best to achieve the "Barbie" look.

However, beauty is more than skin (or in Barbie's case, plastic!) deep. True beauty consists of an inner beauty of character that bubbles forth in such virtues as love, compassion, mercy, integrity, faithfulness, gentleness, etc. Peter puts it this way in God's Word, where in the context he addresses wives by telling them,

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight"
(1 Peter 3:3-4).

Ladies, strive to achieve this kind of inner beauty that is truly unfading. And men, encourage your wives as they do so!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

Got Prayer?

I ran across the following quote of Martin Luther, the "father" of the Reformation. Concerning prayer he said,

"Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness."

I have often said to people, that God is far more willing to hear our prayers (and respond to them) then we are to pray them! How about you? Have you spent anytime yet today, praying to the Almighty God of the Universe who is also the Daddy of all who choose to follow Jesus Christ?

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

To Jail!

When I was a mere lad of six, my mom went away for a couple of days. When she returned home, she did not come alone. She brought with her a little baby boy. That began my relationship with my little brother. For the most part, we had a good relationship. Although at times it was a pain to have him tagging along with my twin brother and me (especially when we hit our teenage years!), we still had a lot of fun with him. One activity we did a lot of was playing board games. His favorite game was Monopoly. We played it so much (and there were many times my mother informed me that I had to play with my brother - I had no choice in the matter) that I got sick and tired of the game. Knowing that Mom would enforce her "Play with your brother" policy, my twin brother and I threw the game out. When the game came up missing, my mom went out and bought a new one! To this day I refuse to play Monopoly. I have been scarred for life!

I played the game so much ... I can still read portions of the game from memory. For instance, there is the Go to Jail card. It reads, "Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200" (I just double checked on the Internet ... and I nailed it!). Now what brings all of this to mind is an article I read yesterday on the Internet that gave the following staggering statistic: today over 7.3 million American adults are in the U.S. corrections system. That is 1 out of every 31 adults! This includes those who are in prison and those who are out but on probation or parole. Now, this has some significant implications for our society (eg: the cost to government of such a load is HUGE!). But it is not my design to discuss the implications of this sorry situation. Rather, I want to answer the question: What does this tell us about human nature?

I think what it tells us is that man is basically evil. Left to his own heart, man will do bad things ... even so far as to break the civil law and end up in prison. Now this is not what many people believe. Many prefer to think of humanity as being inherently good. And man becomes "bad" due to external circumstances leading him astray. But this is not the view of the Bible! Really? Really! Consider the following:

Romans 3:10-12 - "As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; ¹¹there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. ¹²All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

Matthew 5:19 - "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander."


You see, humanity has a heart problem. And only a heart transplant performed by the Divine Surgeon will be able to remove our bondage to evil that all of us suffer. If you are in need of a new heart ... let me encourage you to click on this link and read what it has to say: http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

Net Impact 2!

OK. Go ahead. Give it to me. So meteorological spring began on Sunday? Well, someone forgot to tell the climate about it!

Granted we dodged a mess on Sunday with just a few flakes of snow littering the landscape. But Monday's storm was a far different story. I am not sure how much snow fell in my driveway, but it was enough for me to get my snow blower out. And it was enough to cancel school yesterday for many area schools and then delay or cancel them again today. All this to say ... the storm on Sunday was a "No Net Impact" storm ... yesterday's storm was a "Significant Net Impact" storm.

My prayer is that all of us will experience a "SIGNIFICANT NET IMPACT" when it comes to the Word of God impacting our lives. Just as Monday's snow fall (and high winds) caused a re-ordering of our day, may the Scripture as we read it, study it, hear it, memorize it - cause us to re-order our lives EACH AND EVERY DAY! But for this to happen, you MUST be interacting with the Bible on a DAILY basis!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj