Becoming Greek

Globalization

I needed a little listening material for the drive this weekend and so I went to itunes U. I downloaded the number 1 lecture which was to MIT. It was Thomas Friedman who wrote "the world is flat". It was a stimulating lecture, and free....

A statement he made was brilliant and I thought I would pass it on. He explained when he was a kid his parents encouraged him to finish his meal because there are kids in India and China who are starving. He now encourages his kids to finish their homework because their are kids in India and China who want their future job.

Punxsutawney

This morning I was in a great church in Punxsutawney, PA.... Yepp, you know it as home to Punxsy Phil the famous groundhog. He apparently decides with his shadow how long winter will be....

Currently, I am kicking it in a Hampton Inn lobby. I have a service tonight in Clarion, PA, and have spent a solid 3 hours watching NCAA hoops and surfing the web. It is a great lobby, and I am resting up a bit for my 4 hour drive after the service....

Focal Point

If you want everyone in the house to look at you, you might want to stand beside the TV. Tim and Liz are leaving in the morning, and we are all bummed out. The boys (Brady, Jet, Mac, and SBT "sweet baby Ty" have had a blast this week. The house has been "active", and a little "heavy on the ears". We love them, and we are so glad we could spend Easter week together. This was a much better Easter weekend than '98 when Tim and I spent all day in the Mobile, AL airport...

Hope to go, but plan to stay

I heard and interesting statement the other day that was geared towards young adults and missions. The statement was "hope to go, but plan to stay". The concept is quit true even in the realm that I saw while youth pastoring. An individual feels a call and a drawing to do something significant for God on the mission field. They have hopes and aspirations of greatness. They dream big dreams for God. They might even see a face in a prayer time. The burden for a specific people group might even might even be on their heart. In their young years they have "hopes", "dreams", and "a reckless abandonment" to do something for God.

This is what happens.... People who end up doing something for God overseas intentionally make efforts and plans though the coarse of their life to match up with their dreams. A missionary is going to be intentional about schooling, and not be careless with financial matters. A person makes career decisions in a multitude of ways. A lot of debt will keep someone from becoming a missionary. Often times someone will choose a car over the mission field without even knowing it.... They might hope to go somewhere someday, but all of their plans will point towards staying home for a lifetime.

There is nothing wrong with not being a missionary, but if you have hopes to go, you better plan to go..... I recently had a conversation with someone who graduated Bible school with a degree to do missions. However, debt and poor planning have landed him in a good career, Yet, this is not his hearts desire... He hoped to go, but planned to stay. I am in the process of getting him where he belongs....

Easter Weekend

We have had a wonderful Easter Weekend!!! In a lot of ways it reminded me of Montana, because of the snow dusting we received on Saturday. My brother is in town with his family, and so the four adults and four kids have been enjoying themselves. The boys were hilarious when they were coloring their Easter eggs. Mac wanted to eat his, Brady kept dropping his, and Jet did a little of both. The boys enjoyed themselves a ton.

I was able to have the Sunday off and I attended Christian Life Assembly for the first time since I have started itineration. I ran into so many familiar faces, and really enjoyed the relationships that I had the chance to catch up on. After church we went over to the Raab's and had a Easter Egg hunt. Brady did extremely well considering that he is the oldest, and the only one who realized the plastic eggs were full of candy. It was a long day, but a great time with family.

It is always nice to get a reminder as well of Christ's resurrection!! Easter is one of the biggest holidays of the year for the Greeks, and so for the next few years we will be celebrating Easter!!!

The Euro

The Euro hit the all time high against the dollar this week at a 1.60 exchange rate. This is how it impacts us as a US currency holder. In the past six years the Euro has gained 45% on the dollar. Jamie and I were in Europe six years ago and would exchange money for purchases. We would exchange 1 dollar and get 1 euro and 4 euro cents. Today if you were to trade one dollar you would get 64 euro cents.

The prayers of all EU missionaries is that the dollar with strengthen again....

St Pats and the Frosty

For those of you who like the Frosty, Happy St Patricks Day to you!!!! Today is the only day that Wendy's uses a vanilla mix, and then dyes it green. The result - one of the tastiest Frosties you have ever tried...

- Please note I am not an employee, or paid by Wendy's to give this advice. My mothers name is Wendy, but that is my deepest affiliation with the company. i just like the St. Pats Frosty.

Leading a Muslim to Christ

I have set a few Spiritual goals that I would like to see happen in the next few years of life. One of these goals is to lead a muslim to Christ. One of the only Muslims that I have had good relationship was in the country of Indonesia. According to Christianity today Indonesia is one of the hot spots to see Muslims converted to Christ.

A little over 20% of the worlds population is Muslim today. It is also growing faster than any form of Christianity (Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox). My experience was with a very devote individual who had a misguided passion for God. I saw someone who wanted to know Jesus, but had a tremendous amount of obstacles to overcome. Tomorrow I am preaching and teaching a Sunday School class at Glad Tidings A/G in Bloomsburg, PA. My Sunday school class is going to revolve around some of these spiritual life goals. As I was in preparation for this lesson I came across a link on Jeff Leak's Blog that talked about 5 reasons why Muslims convert. I found the article extremely interesting and fruitful for every Christian to read over.

All of this to say we continually need to gear ourselves to be relevant to the Muslim world. If 1 out of 5 humans on this earth are in fact Muslims we need to be as strategic as possible. Check out the article...

Not enough Christians speak Arabic

Last night in my service I had a wonderful conversation afterwards with two ladies from the Middle East. One was from Iran and the other Iraq. Between the two ladies they could speak: Farsi, Arabic, Syrian, Turkish, Armenian, and a couple of local dialects. I have a language goal to learn Greek, but after I master that language I would love to learn Arabic. I have a saying that not enough Christians speak Arabic. How are we going to connect in these cultures if we do not know their languages?

I was floored with stories from the Iranian underground church. She explained that when you would go to church you would not know if you would come back alive. She then expressed disgust and threw her hands in the air, and she said that if the weather is bad here people don;t come. She shared about martyrs and a church that has gone through so much.... Yet, amidst all those things she is a product of resilience in some of the hardest places.

After all, when you shine a little bit of light in a really dark place you can make a really big difference.

New Jersey's cheap gas prices

I was speaking last night in Wilmington, DE at First A/G, and I decided to go a little early and drop off a few packets. The last time I went to Delaware the gas prices were cheap and so I thought I would fill up across the boarder. I was semi-disappointed in the small difference in DE, but as I crossed in New Jersey I was amazed. Gas was under $3.00 a gallon, and I was excited abotu it.... You know gas prices are bad when $2.99 is looking good, but I was excited.

If you have ever filled up in New Jersey you will know that you cannot pump your own gas. So you don't have to pump it, and it is cheaper? Yepp, apparently acording to this news article it explains that gas stations pay less for insurance because it is being pumped by a pro. Less gas spills, and less money to have to pay for environmental costs. So next time you are at the pump lets see if you are cut out to be a pro in New Jersey....