HIS Glory Runners

So, How Do You Pray?

2011-11-25T11:40:00.001-05:00

Have you ever had someone come up to you and say “I know you are going to say No, but I want to ask you the question anyhow”?

I have had that happen, and I always feel funny when someone starts with the phrase “I know you are going to say No, but. . .”

In the span of one week, I have counseled 2 different women, in regard to their marriages. Each of them came to me with pain showing in their eyes and tears rolling down their cheeks, telling me that their marriage was over and that they had no choice but to leave their husband.

In each case, I let the woman tell me her story as I sat in silence and listened. Then I prayed and asked the Lord to guide me as I gave them Biblical counsel. The Lord brought verse after verse to my mind and I shared the Bible verses with them, explaining to them how these verses applied to their marriages and to their lives.

On both occasions, each of the women seemed to listen intently. I talked with each woman and then asked them if they would like me to pray with them. In both instances the woman said “Yes” she would like me to pray with her.

Before I prayed with them, I wanted to make sure that they truly had faith that the Lord could heal their marriages. I wanted to be sure that as we prayed, that we would be two people gathered together of one mind. The Bible says, "I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you." Matthew 18:19

As soon as I finished praying with the first woman, she said “My husband will never change. Our marriage is definitely over.” And I knew that even as I had pleaded with the Lord on behalf of her marriage that in her heart doubts had lurked, and she had not believed that the Lord would intervene and restore her marriage.

"But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do." James 1:6-8

A week later I met with and prayed with the second woman. The very next morning I received a text from her. She was praising the Lord and thanking me for counseling her and praying with her. She proceeded to tell me that as soon as she had gotten home God had worked a miracle in her marriage.

This woman had trusted that the Lord could and would work in her marriage, and He did.

Later that afternoon I got a call from her and she told me that God had also answered the prayers we had lifted up about a second issue. She was so thankful to the Lord for answering her prayers, and truly filled to overflowing with joy.

"And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." Matthew 21:22

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

So, how do you pray?

Blessings,

April

I am So Excited to Hear From. . .

2011-11-18T01:47:00.001-05:00

The other day in Bible Study we started talking about how we come before the Lord.

“Do we come before the Lord, like some children come to their parents?” I asked. The parents in the group all smiled, when I asked that. They had all ‘been there’, feeling like they were just a wallet to be tapped, or a shoulder to cry on during a hard day.

The parents all said how nice it would be, if their kids:

Didn’t want something every time they came to them.
Wanted to spend time with them.
Actually wanted to have a conversation with them.
Believed that their parents had some wisdom to give them.
Were as excited about seeing their parents as they were about seeing their friends.
Loved and cared about their parents.

So how are we when we come before our Heavenly Father? Do we. . .

Always have our hand out, asking for something?
Talk at God, not waiting to hear what He wants to tell us?
Try to make our interaction with Him, as quick as possible so we can get on with life?
Tell God and show God that we love Him?

After this conversation, I challenged all of them (and myself), to go before the Lord with new hearts from now on. Everytime!

Instead of reading God’s Word, having morning devotion time, or praying. . .

Because we should, or
Because it is something we can mark off of our To Do list, or
Because as Christians, that is what we are supposed to do.

Instead. . .

Really being excited, as we go to read God’s Word, or to pray.

In awe, just knowing that The Creator of the world wants to talk to us.

Feeling the privilege that we have in having God’s Word available at our fingertips whenever we want to draw near, and knowing that the Lord is always available to us.

Excited to hear what the Lord wants to say to us today.

Hungry for the encouragement that He wants to give us.

o Or even, to be admonished. Yes, I have learned that it is even good for the Lord to tell us about something we need to change in our lives. Maybe it is something that we need to change in our hearts, or maybe it is something we are doing (or not doing) that needs changing. "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." James 4:17 Whatever it is, isn’t it always better to take care of an issue right away, rather than letting it fester and become a habit in our lives, or rather than letting it lead us further off the path that the Lord has laid out for us. "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10

Wow! It is so exciting for me to think about the fact that God prepared in advance for me to do good works. Just like a parent whose child says they want to paint a picture, and then the parent goes and prepares everything for the child. They gather up all of the supplies, and then they set out the paints, paint brushes, paper and sponges, so that their child has everything they need to succeed in creating their project. The parent even covers the table and the floor area with plastic and newspapers so they won’t make a mess, so that it will be a good experience for the child. Hmmmm. God wants us to succeed in doing good works, and He goes before us and makes preparations so that we can succeed. He even tries to keep us from making a mess out of our efforts. As I think about the love the Lord shows through His tender care and thoughtfulness, my heart is just overflowing with joy and gratitude.

o Joy in having the confidence, in knowing without a doubt, that we can trust His wisdom. Knowing that He is the source for wisdom. Sometimes in our dealings with people, we hear them say what seems like the right things, but something just feels off. . .and we wonder, do they really have our best interest in mind as they give us advice? With the Lord, we do not have to wonder. We know that He says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I am praying that each of us will have excitement, love and joy as we have the honor of having a daily relationship with the Lord.

Blessings,

April

Wedding Bells. . .

2011-11-17T02:02:00.000-05:00

On Saturday evening Bill conducted another wedding ceremony. It is such a blessing for me to see the time and care that Bill puts into each wedding he participates in, to personalize it and make it special just for that couple.

Right after the ceremony ended, the Uncle of the Bride came up to Bill and told him that he should give each person a copy of the wedding ceremony because the words he spoke were great advice for every couple. We do not know if he is a Christian or Buddhist, but how wonderful that he could see the wisdom of the words.

It was a beautiful day, in a gorgeous setting on the beach with the people looking at the Bride and Groom and Bill with the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Thailand as the background.

Lord, please bless this couple.

Mark 10:9 "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."

Blessings,

April

Everyday Lessons. . .

2011-11-03T11:53:00.000-04:00

Usually the Lordspeaks to me in one of two ways, either through reading His Word or by teachingme through everyday life situations.

Take yesterday for instance, it was a nice sunny day here in our areaof

Thailand

,so I did laundry. I had the laundryhanging out on the clothes line, blowing in the wind. Generally things dry quickly in the

Thailand

heat, so several hours later I went out to see if the clothes were dry.

Someof the clothes were dry so I started to take them off the line, and that’s when I saw it. . .gecko poop. Ewwww! There on the collar of two of my husband’s shirts, and on a bedcover. Yuck!

I immediately thought, I just cleaned theseclothes and here they are dirty already! And that is when the Lord spoke to myheart. . .”Justlike when you come to Me asking for forgiveness, asking Me to cleanse you; andthen, a short time later you are back again asking for forgiveness andcleansing for the very same thing.”

I stopped my indignant march to the washer to rewash the threeitems. Oh, wow! How true. Well, of course, it is the Lord addressing this issue with me.

Iimmediately thought of how I had gone to the Lord about letting other people’sanger or negative actions toward me lead me to become angry as well. I know that returning anger for anger is not howthe Lord wants me to react, and yet, Ifind myself returning to the Lord for forgiveness for that very thing.

The Lord then putPaul’s words on my heart. In Romans 7:15 Paul says "For I do notunderstand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thingI hate."

I have been there! I want to be fast to listen, slowto speak and slow to anger, and then Ifalter. Thankfully the Lord is doing a work in me onthis, and I am getting better at not returning anger for anger.

Don’tget me wrong, I do not walkaround angry (mynormal disposition is joyful),but I do sometimes let other people’s anger make me react in a way I don’t wanttoo.

James 1:19 says "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person bequick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;"

Hereis, Shoey, a gecko we took a picture of when we first moved to Thailand. We called him that to remind us to look inour shoes, because you never know what might crawl into your shoe in Thailand. J

“Thank you Lord for the daily lessons you teach me, andthank you for always welcoming me when I come back again and again asking forforgiveness.”

Blessings,

April

Serving The Lord in Thailand

2011-10-31T11:27:00.000-04:00

Hello my name is April and I have been married to my wonderful husband Bill for 23 years, and we are missionaries in Thailand.

Four years ago Bill and I were living in Pennsylvania, where Bill worked as an attorney and I worked for a municipal government in the Finance Department. We were busy with work and serving in many different capacities at our church.

Back in 2005 God had placed it on our hearts to sell our large home (we were thinking Christian Bed and Breakfast, but God had a different plan.) So we sold our home and started to rent a small bungalow.

Bill and I both felt that the Lord wanted us to serve as fulltime missionaries, but we did not know where or when. So, we just kept praying. We started to feel that the field had been narrowed to Australia or Thailand. (Let me just stop and tell you that our claim to ‘world travel’ up to this point had been that we had traveled into

Canada

, several times.) J We really wanted to serve where the Lord wanted us to serve, so I kept praying that God would make it SO obvious that even I would get it. And He did!

One day Bill and I were in New Jersey. We had just gone to church down in Ocean City, and we decided to go for a drive. We were driving in our Prius, when all of a sudden the GPS started talking. It said “Your destination has been set!” We were truly startled when the GPS started to talk. We had not programmed it, and to be honest, we really had not used the GPS other than to look at the screen that shows where we are currently driving.

We both turned to look at each other, and Bill tried not to drive off of the road. Bill looked at my hands to see if I had pushed a button or something, and I looked at his. But, neither of us had touched the GPS or any controls for that matter. Just then, the GPS started to speak again. This time it said “The Point of Interest will now show all Thai Restaurants.”

The screen did not show anything, but from that moment on we knew without a doubt that

Thailand

was where He wanted us to serve. We had such a peace in our hearts from that time on.

So, we left our jobs, our families and our friends, got rid of our stuff, and moved halfway around the world to Thailand. From the time we landed in Thailand, we have felt at home. Okay so there were things that we had to adjust too: Like not being able to speak with most people, because we did not know the language; Not having the luxury of going to a bookstore to buy a book written in English; Dealing with the fact that a simple Thai Bible costs nearly $30.00, which puts it way out of the reach of the average Thai person; Geckos crawling on the walls inside and out; Washing dishes and clothes in room temp water; and Hot weather all year long. The list could go on. J

God has really given us a heart and a love for the people here in Thailand. I really like the Brandon Heath song “Give Me Your Eyes”, and that is what I pray daily, that God will give me His heart shaped eyes to see people the way He does.

When we came to

Thailand

we did not know exactly what the Lord wanted to do through us, but in the two years that we have been here He has used us. Praise God! We have helped start two churches. We opened a Youth Center and where we have Bible studies, games and dinner for youth between the ages of 10 and 18. I teach Ladies Bible study every week. I started to teach Ballet and Praise Dance about a month and a half ago, and the girls have danced in two churches and for church gathering of 200 people. We have taught English at church and at an orphanage. . .

Everyday is a new opportunity for us to reach out, serve and love like Jesus. We are so humbled that He would use us in this way.

People here ask me about my joy, which is a wonderful segue for me to tell them about Jesus.

When people ask me how I am, I always say “I am blessed!” This too leads into conversations about the Lord. Yes, there are potholes in the road of life. There are challenges and hurts, but I know through everything that I am blessed because the Lord is always with me. Loving me, and loving through me. Guiding me, and helping me guide others. Giving me wisdom, discernment, and encouragement, and helping me to teach and encourage others.

So with a grateful heart I serve the Lord with my husband, here in

Thailand

. I feel blessed and honored to serve the people of Thailand.

Giving all the credit, all the praise and glory and honor where it belongs, to the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, Jesus, my God and my Savior!

Blessings,

April

Shall We Dance. . .

2011-10-30T10:13:00.000-04:00

Since we have returned to Thailand from America, God has just been so incredible in my life. In fact, sometimes, I have felt as if I am running just to keep up. Sadly, one area in my life that has gotten set aside during this time is my blogging. I say sadly, because I truly enjoy blogging. I love to share what God puts on my heart, in hopes that it will speak to and encourage someone else.

Here in Thailand I have offered to share my knowledge about ballet and Praise Dance with the girls in the area. The girls have been so dedicated and enthusiastic! They have picked up the basics of ballet so quickly. Okay, okay, I know I sound like a proud teacher, but listen to how the Lord has worked through this ministry. . .

A friend popped into in Youth Group one Saturday, and chatted with Bill and I briefly, while the youth ate dinner. I talked about how well the girls had done in their first ballet class. He immediately jumped in and said, “Oh by the way, would the girls be available to perform at an all church gathering the last Friday in September?”

I laughed and told him that they had only had 1 class so far. He said that was fine, and that he was sure that they would do a great job. Some of the girls were at Youth Group and I called them aside and told them that they had been asked to dance in two weeks for a gathering of hundreds. They all started to laugh. I told them it was true, and they laughed all the harder, saying that they had only had 1 class so far.

I went back and told our friend that 2 weeks was just too soon. Not to miss an opportunity, he said “Okay, how about if they dance at the following gathering on the last Friday in October?” I told him I would let him know.

At the next ballet class I discussed with the girls the possibility of dancing at the end of October. They kept asking me if I thought they could do it. I really felt like the Lord was saying “Yes, they can do this.”, and I told them I thought they could do it.

And they did! Two nights ago, they danced in front of about 200 people from Thai churches and from English speaking churches, and they did an amazing job.

In fact, as soon as the worship service was over, the coordinator came over and pleaded with me to have the girls dance at the November gathering. Not just one dance, but two. She said she wanted the girls to open the worship service with a dance and close the service with another dance.

We (the girls and I) decided that it would be too much for me to choreograph two dances, teach them the dances and rehearse enough that they would feel that they had done their very best. So, we are looking at maybe December.

So far, the girls have danced at two churches and the all church gathering of our town. They are dancing at another church in December, and. . .

Well, we are still working out details about other dancing opportunities.

I have seen this group of girls draw closer to each other, encourage each other and seek to Honor the Lord with their dancing.

Praise God!

"Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!" Psalm 150:4

Blessings,

April

Gifts and God ‘incidences. . .

2011-08-09T18:08:00.000-04:00

We are back in America for a month and God has blessed us with many gifts while we have been here.

The gift of wonderful hugs from family and friends, warm my heart and soul. As I joyfully enfold myself with people I treasure, I know I will cherish each and every hug, and remember those hugs when we return to Thailand.

In coming back to America, we choose to enjoy foods that we have missed during our time in Thailand. One day we decided to go to Cracker Barrel to enjoy some of those foods. As we stood waiting to be seated, up walked a dear friend with 3 of her granddaughters. When we locked eyes neither of us could believe it. With a startled shout, we grinned and hugged. We stopped by their table and enjoyed talking with her husband, finding out that they now live about 6 miles from where we were staying. We are staying with Bill’s brother, and he lives about an hour from where most of our friends live, so to run into a friend out near where we are staying is really surprising. What a joy! This was definitely a God ‘incidence.

I know that some people would think of this as a coincidence, but I can definitely see the hand of God in the situation. I think of a God ‘incidence as being an occurrence or divine appointment that God orchestrates, rather than what many may call “a coincidence.”

While we are here, I have been running around trying to get all of my paperwork together to get my Visa for our return to Thailand. One of those items meant that I had to go to the doctor to have him complete a form. As Bill and I sat in the waiting room, I looked up and to my amazement there was a wonderful friend looking at me in the same stunned way that I looked at her. We hugged and laughed, and then I was called in for my appointment. Bill continued to chat with our friend, and she left as I was paying my bill.

Bill and I chatted as we walked outside and were surprised to see our friend still there, talking on her cell phone. She waved when she saw us, saying that her husband wanted to make sure that we got together with them soon. We said we would definitely have to get together, and then we drove off. Several minutes later we got a call from our friend, asking if we were available to come over right away. We were available. . . In fact, we had dinner with them; stayed overnight at their house; went to church with them at 4:00 am to see and pray for the youth as they left on a mission trip; and then we had breakfast with them and another couple. What a gift from the Lord; another blessing of a God ‘incidence.

With a grateful heart I awaken each day, looking forward to seeing God’s hand in my day.

Blessings,

April

Let’s Make a Deal. . .

2011-07-14T22:35:00.000-04:00

In order to teach the Youth Group the importance of decision making, sometimes we play 'Let’s Make a Deal'. We have been teaching from Proverbs and about how to make wise decisions. We play the game at a fairly quick pace, so the youth have to make some snap decisions. They will often turn around to the group looking for help as to what bag or bucket to choose from.

We start by asking for a volunteer and then we invite that youth to come forward and choose Bag #1 or Bag #2. Once they decide which bag they want to choose something from, we have them look away from the bag and reach in and grab something.

It could be something ‘good’ like a new toy or some candy or it could be a ‘not so good’ item like a broken chewed pencil, a toothpick or a crumpled paper towel. Once they have taken their item out of the bag, we then offer them the option of keeping their item or trading it in for what is in one of three bowls. We do not give them a lot of time to think about it, forcing them to make a quick decision.

If they decide to keep the item then they go back and sit down with their item, however, if they decide to trade it in they return the item they picked and then they reach in the bucket they have chosen. At this point there is either a lot of laughing, because they traded a new toy for a used toothbrush or there are oohs and ahh’s because the new item definitely was better than the first.

Then, we challenge them by offering them one more choice, to keep what they have or trade it in on an unknown item in one of two buckets. After either keeping the item in their hand or trading in their item for another ‘treasure’, they return to their seat.

One of the true blessings for us is to see the youth when they reach in and pull out a brand new Bible. Every time it has happened the youth has looked delighted. One time one of the Thai youth reached in and got an English Bible. I explained that the Bible was in English and that he could trade it in for something else, he hugged the Bible to his chest and said he wanted to keep it. He went and sat down and held the Bible like it was a priceless treasure. . .and that it is! What a wise young man.

We have been blessed with seeing the youth that ‘won’ Bibles carry them to and from Bible study faithfully.

We have also been blessed to hear how God has spoken to their hearts as we have challenged the youth to read a chapter of Proverbs every day. We explained to the youth that sometimes when you have to make a decision you have plenty of time to pray, or to ask for counsel from someone you trust. But, sometimes circumstances require us to make on-the-spot decisions; and that is where Proverbs comes in.

The Book of Proverbs in the Bible is replete with words of wisdom for us to live by. We explained to the youth that when they have to make snap decisions it will be helpful to them to have words of wisdom from the Bible in their hearts and minds, so that they can call on them as they try to make wise decisions.

Proverbs 22:17-21 “Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you. Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge, to make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?”

1 Timothy 4:11-13 “Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”

Deuteronomy 11:18-19 "So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”

Psalm 119:11, 105 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. ... Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

So, my challenge to each of us is to read a chapter of Proverbs every day. The youth have been reading from Proverbs for over a month now, and with 31 Proverbs it works out really well to read one a day completing all of them in a month. As the youth had read through all 31 Proverbs, they started at Proverbs 1 again and they found that they now comprehend some things that they did not understand the first time through. Praise God!

I know that I am finding the same thing as I read through Proverbs and the rest of the Bible. God’s living Word is continually opening up to us in new and refreshing ways.

You can do this!. . .And I believe you will be blessed for doing this as you find yourself making decision after decision, day after day; using wisdom from Proverbs as your guide to making wise decisions and living a life that honors the Lord.

A chapter of Proverbs a day. . .

Blessings,

April

Bill and the youth waiting to start playing 'Let's Make a Deal'.

A Heart Checkup. . .

2011-07-03T23:18:00.001-04:00

So the other day after I had been up for a while, I had a mental list of what I was going to do, and then. . .I got a phone call.

I answered the call, and a Thai friend said that some people needed help. She said that two people needed a place to stay for two weeks. Hmmm, we were to leave for America in two weeks. So, I trashed my mental To-do list, and Bill and I went to meet with her to find out more.

She explained that there was a Thai mother and daughter that were going through a crisis, and they needed a place to stay. My immediate thought as we sat and talked with our friend was, ‘What would the Lord want us to do?’ As soon as I thought it, I knew the answer. Of course the Lord would want us to open our home to them.

I looked to Bill and our eyes met, and I knew that we were both thinking the same thing. I turned to our friend and told her that we would be happy to welcome the mother and daughter into our home. Our friend explained that they only needed a place to stay for 3 days, and that she had arranged for another place about an hour away for them to stay after that.

We asked when they would be arriving at our home, and she said that she would bring them by our house around 10:00 pm.

So we got things ready at home; cleaned, prepared beds and put out towels to welcome them. At 7:15 our doorbell rang. (Our ‘doorbell’ is mounted to our gate outside.) Bill went out to see who it was, and then he called to me. I had been upstairs, and hurried outside. I was surprised to see 8 to 10 people standing at our gate. I scanned the faces from left to right looking for a clue as to who they were; as I reached the last face I saw that it was our friend. I quickly, said hello in Thai and invited them in. (I was thinking, ‘Wow, they are early’ and ‘Who are all of these other people?’.) No one moved, so I asked what was going on.

Our friend explained that the situation had changed and they no longer needed to stay with us, but that they all came in person to thank us for offering to let the mother and daughter stay with us. I was stunned!

How many times over the years had someone changed their mind, and I had gotten a text or a quick call to say ‘Sorry’ and that was it.

Here all of these people had come in person, to say thank you. Wow!

Our day had turned out so differently from what we had planned, and yet I was grateful for the heart checkup that I felt I had received. I know the Lord knows our hearts, but it is good for us to have spontaneous opportunities to really live out our faith and for us to check our hearts.

Thank you Lord, for giving us opportunities to have heart checkup’s, to share Your love and to encourage our faith walk. Thank you Lord, for occasions where You give us chances to re-evaluate our priorities and to do the right thing.

I pray that each of us would look to the Lord, when He puts a heart checkup in our path. I pray that we would honor and glorify our Lord and Savior with our response, putting aside our plans for His plans. Putting aside our hearts to show His heart. And I pray that we would always say “Yes”, even before we know the question, when the Lord asks us to do something.

Deuteronomy 8:2 - And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart. . .

Deuteronomy 13:3 - . . .For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Blessings,

April

A Clean Sweep. . .

2011-06-29T12:46:00.001-04:00

Sometimes as I sweep up the floors of our house, or sweep the tiled outdoor area that surrounds our house, I get frustrated.

“Frustrated from sweeping? Huh?!” It is true.

You see, in America I always had long handled brooms with stiff bristles to sweep with, and here in Thailand I have a broom with a handle half the length that I am used too and the bristles are wispy. In other words, the harder I try to sweep the less effective I am.

As a missionary living in Thailand I have learned to watch how the local Thai people do things, and this is what I learned about sweeping: It is almost like a dance.

Ah, like a dance. . .I used to be a ballet dancer, now that is a language I understand!

So, as I watched the Thai’s sweep with the short handled brooms, I noticed that they held the broom lightly in their hand as they took a step and gently with a fluid motion brought the broom forward. The dust was encouraged forward as it softly wafted into the air and settled to the ground in a location in front of the brooms arc. The dirt just seemed to obey the gentle prodding of the broom, and continued to move along.

Never have I seen a Thai using a Thai broom in a harsh or rough manner. Which I can tell you, from experience, is a good thing – because it does not work. Lol! I have tried to wield my short broom in short, staccato type motions to hurry my sweeping along, all to no avail as the dust basically refuses to obey.

So, I have figured out that I can fight the dirt and dust by trying to make it comply to my way of sweeping, (pushing, brushing fast, with the bristles pressing and scraping against the floor), or I can sweep in a light, encouraging, arcing dance like motion and finish my sweeping without frustration.

Fortunately, I have chosen the wise way of working with the broom the way it works best, and I have found my level of frustration with sweeping completely diminished.

When I think about how the Lord works through the Holy Spirit with me, I see that He gently encourages me and gently admonishes me if I need it. I am so grateful that the Lord teaches with love and encouragement. The Lord does not usually use the “2 x 4 method” (hitting me on the head with a piece of wood) unless I am stubborn, like a sticky spot on the floor that a gentle sweeping motion just won’t get.

As we work with youth of varying ages at the Youth Center, we nearly always find that encouragement, and a gentle word works best in teaching them. They are always more inclined to obey and to act in-kind to each other. So rather than forcing lessons or speaking unkind words, we use the balm of gentleness and encouragement to help them grow into the young people that God wants them to be. (I actually find this approach works with people of all ages.)

Most people thrive when taught and helped with soft, encouraging words and actions.

I pray that each of us would speak wise words that uplift and encourage, not words that injure and teardown.

Proverbs 31:26 – “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11 – “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

John 14:26 – “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

Psalm 143:10 – “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!”

Blessings,

April

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled. . .

2011-06-15T00:12:00.000-04:00

This week I was going to teach on John 14, “Let not your heart be troubled. . .” Hmmm.

So here is how my week went. . .

· I went to use the washer the other day, and it would not work. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

· I got a different power strip, and it melted. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

· We went to the Youth Center yesterday, and the door to the building was already open. I don’t mean unlocked, I mean open. Not good. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

· I went to wash up a few dishes at the Youth Center, and I had a trickle of water and then no water. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

· Then Bill and I loaded up the refrigerator at the Youth Center with drinks for the kids, because we will not have much time when we get back from Chiang Mai next Saturday before Youth Group. Bill opened the freezer and found that all of the ice cream had melted and turned into soup. Here we had celebrated that we had a working refrigerator with a decent size freezer so we could store ice cream and not have to buy it every week for each youth. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

· Wednesday the owner of the property where we rent the Youth Center building stopped by to tell us that something had blown the electric to the entire complex, and he was not sure when electric would be restored. Let not your heart be troubled.”

· We were supposed to have a roof rack and luggage holder installed on the roof of our car, because 7 of us are driving up to Chiang Mai for a week. That is a 12 hour drive, and although the 7 of us fit comfortably in the car, that does not leave much room for luggage. But that was not supposed to be a problem, because we had an appointment Wednesday morning at 8:00 to have a roof rack and luggage holder installed. We dropped off the car at 8:00 and around 9:30 they called to say that they could not do it. We drove back to the dealer on our scooter and talked to them. They said that the roof would leak if they put on the roof rack, but that we should not worry because Friday they could get a different kind that would work. The trouble is that we are to leave Thursday. So, now 7 of us and our luggage are going to squeeze into our car. There is very little room behind the third row of seats, so each person is only bringing the bare minimum of necessities. Ah, the best laid plans. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

· We got a GPS for the trip and the website is not working that we have to use to authenticate the software in order to use it. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

· Now I have a rash on my arm. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

· There are other things that I could mention, but let’s just say, I don’t want to go there. “Let not your heart be troubled.”

I guess the Lord really wants me to “Let not my heart be troubled” no matter what the circumstances.

So, I am trying to live how Jesus wants me too, reminding myself to “Let not my heart be troubled”. I give all of my trials and challenges to the Lord in full faith, and I truly feel that my heart is not troubled. And I change my attitude to gratitude.

Thank you Lord! Thank you for love. . .when I know I don’t deserve it. Thank you for peace. . .when it seems there shouldn’t be any. Thank you for joy. . .when it seems impossible. Thank you for answers. . .when there don’t seem to be any. Thank you for an untroubled heart. . .when life just seems topsy-turvy.

Thank you Lord that You love me that much.

So my prayer for each of you is that you “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Truly!

Jesus says in John 14:1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me."

Let’s live it, and be blessed!

Blessings,

April

I Did It!

2011-06-02T11:11:00.000-04:00

‘Did what?’, you might ask. Well. . .

I gave my ‘will’ to God.

Okay, okay, I can guess what you are thinking. . .“Wait a minute, you are a missionary, what do you mean you gave your will to God? Didn’t you do that a long time ago?”

Well the truth is, I thought I had! But praise God for the Holy Spirit and His work in me as I read a book that opened my eyes to the truth. The truth is that I had not completely given my will to the Lord.

So to quench your curiosity, I will tell you that I had not given the Lord my will when it came to food.

I would constantly ask the Lord to work in me and through me, giving Him my every moment. . .and yet. . .that is not how I lived when it came to food. You see, I would be loving and obedient to the Lord until ‘the cookies called’, and then all bets were off. I would ignore the voice telling me to “step away from the cookies”. I would seek to satisfy myself by eating, even though I was eating for every reason except that I was hungry. I would eat because I was having a bad day, or because someone was cruel to me, or, or, or. The list goes on. There were plenty of scenarios that (in my mind) warranted my indulgence in eating when I wasn’t even remotely hungry. And the sad thing is, after the indulgence I never felt better. I still had the feelings that I had before turning to food, plus then I also had the guilt.

The book that I read explained that God made our bodies perfectly, and that if we would just listen to our bodies and eat when we are hungry and stop when we are full we would be just the size God intended us to be. (Of course there can be medical reasons that some people are overweight, but with me that was not the case.)

The Lord really spoke to my heart and I could see that what I was doing was sinning. I was keeping part of my life from the Lord. I had put up a wall between myself and the Lord when it came to my over indulgence with food. The last thing I wanted was any sort of barrier between me and the Lord. So I got on my knees and asked the Lord for forgiveness, and asked Him to strengthen me and teach me how to eat like I should.

As Jesus said in Luke 22:42 ". . .not my will, but yours. . ."

The Lord has been so gracious, and the forgiveness has been so freeing. Some of you may think that obedience means more rules to follow, but I found it to be just the opposite. I found obedience to be incredibly freeing. Why? Because God knows what is best for us. Gone was the guilt and the shame, in its place was peace and joy. You can’t beat that!

I immediately started listening to the Lord, and waiting until I was hungry before I ate – no matter what time it was. And, I stopped eating when I was full. Sometimes, I would eat just a few fork fulls and then I felt full and I would stop eating. Other times I would eat quite a bit more before I felt full.

The Lord strengthened me as people tried to coerce me into eating more food, or teasing me about not being a member of the ‘clean your plate club’ anymore.

Not only did I really start to feel closer to the Lord, but the pounds (or kilos, as they say here in Thailand) just started to drop off. I got the usual questions, “How small are you trying to get?” or “How much weight are you trying to lose?” But the truth is I did not do this to lose weight. Of course it was good that I lost weight, but that is not why I changed how I reacted around food.

For me, it was a heart issue. For me, it was a sin issue. I needed to address my lack of obedience to the Lord and do a U-turn, and with the Holy Spirit’s guidance I have done it.

Don’t even ask how much weight I have lost, because I do not know. All I know is that I am enjoying eating so much more than I ever have, because now I really enjoy waiting to become hungry. And when I do get hungry, I enjoy figuring out what I really want to eat and then I eat exactly that.

I have not given up eating any foods. (I know from past experience, that giving up foods just makes me crave them all the more.) In fact today I had a hot fudge sundae. Yum! That is what I really wanted, so that is what I had. I couldn’t finish it all, but what I ate was delicious, and I did not mind pushing my bowl aside when I was full.

Joshua 1:9 tells us to: ". . .Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.""

I have had such strength from the Lord during this time, and I have been blessed to be able to share with others how the Lord has done this work in me.

So, I want to encourage you. God wants to draw you closer to Himself. God does not want there to be anything that acts as a barrier between you and Him. God is a Holy, Righteous God, and it is just incredible that He allows – much less wants us to draw near to Him. So let Him help you. Let Him strengthen you.

Maybe it is eating that is a barrier between you and the Lord. Maybe it is how you spend your time. Reading, watching TV, spending time on computer. . .and yet not finding time to spend time in God’s Word. The list goes on. You know what you have let come between yourself and the Lord.

So, “be strong and courageous”. You don’t have to do it alone. Jesus left us with a Helper, the Holy Spirit, and He is always ready and willing to help us draw closer to the Father.

I am praying that you too will give your ‘will’ completely to the God the Father. Don’t hold back, God’s plan for you is amazing.

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Praise God!

Blessings,

April

Me (April) enjoying our 3 puppies: Lil’ Squirt, Alphie & Pumpkin.

This is Paradise. . .Isn’t It?

2011-05-31T09:53:00.000-04:00

When we tell people that we live in Thailand, they often get a look of ‘Wow!’ and then follow with “That must be incredible.” Sometimes, they even add “I would love to live there. . .It must be like living in paradise.”

Well. . .

A lot of people do come to Thailand from other countries. They come for vacation, or they come for 3 to 6 months of the year to live in ‘paradise’. They leave the cold winters of their home country, to enjoy the heat and the beaches here in Thailand. They come from Sweden, Germany, and England. . .just to name a few.

So, you would think that it must be wonderful to walk around ‘paradise’ and see the happy contented faces of the foreigners that reside here for part of the year.

The friends they leave back in their home countries think, “Oh, if we only had the money, we too could be living the life. Living in Thailand part of the year, living at home the rest of the year, wow we would really be happy then.”

If they only knew. . .the sad truth is that as we walk around and see the foreigners around town, we don’t see the relaxed smiling faces you would expect. We see serious faces, grim faces, sad faces, faces of people searching for the next ‘thing’ to fill their lives. They march around the mall in search of stuff to fill the void they feel inside. They feel moments of satisfaction when they make the next big purchase at a great price. And when that feeling wears off, then the cycle starts again. . .the feeling of emptiness, and the ensuing search for fulfillment and joy.

Thai people tell me they think it is funny how foreigners come to Thailand and they are always in a hurry. They rush around the stores. They get impatient waiting in line. They speed around in their cars, and lean on their horns when others don’t move fast enough. They even talk quickly. And they can’t understand the slower pace of the locals, even though that was one of the reasons they came to Thailand.

So here I am in Thailand, and if you know me – you know this about me, I am a smiler. J I love showing and sharing the joy I feel. I kind of feel like smiles are a gift that we can share with each other.

Sometimes I will be walking toward a Thai person that looks a little sad, and I smile at them. . .and sometimes I see that they catch the smile. That a little joy has seeped into their hearts. Their eyes change from dismal to dazzling, and my heart overflows with joy and I pray that they will come to know the source of my joy, Jesus.

However, unfortunately that is not normally what I see in the faces of the foreigners. Most of the time, the foreigners avoid eye contact. They steel their eyes, look straight ahead, and rush right on by.

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians and Philippians, that our circumstances do not determine our joy or our contentment.

Our joy, our sense of fulfillment does not come from the world. It does not come from living in what is considered ‘paradise’. Jesus says in John 14:1-4 ""Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.""

True paradise is living a life with God the Father, Jesus and The Holy Spirit, with the promise of eternal life with them in Heaven. In the meantime, it is not the part of the world that we call home that is important; it is seeking to honor and glorify God the Father, and to live thankful lives because of what Jesus did for us.

1 Thessalonians 5:

Vs 11 - "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up…”

Vs 16-18 ... “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Philippians 4:11-13 "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

Praise God!

Blessings,

April

I Had a Dream. . .

2011-05-26T10:17:00.000-04:00

Last week I had a dream. . .and I actually remembered it in the morning, and I still remember it; which for me is not the norm.

In my dream I was alone and I was walking in a parking garage. As I approached a vehicle with a shiny chrome bumper, I could see my legs and feet reflected in it. Suddenly, I noticed that just to the left of my reflection, there was another pair of legs reflected. The other person reflected in the bumper was wearing a light blue long garment with white stripes, he had tanned legs, and leather sandal clad feet.

I was so startled to see someone’s reflection right next to mine, when I thought I was alone, that I jumped and whirled to my left. As I looked in to the face of the man next to me, I knew instantly who it was, and I said “Jesus!”. Jesus got an amused look on His face, and said “Why are you surprised? I told you I would be with you always.”

I stood in stunned silence for a moment, and then I too began to smile. Of course I knew that God/Jesus had said that He would always be with me, but I had never thought of it in that way. . .that God was actually walking with me every moment of everyday.

I have felt so incredibly blessed by that dream, and the way that the Lord has reassured me that I am never alone.

I have shared my dream with some people that were going through a really hard time, and I have been blessed to see how the revelation that even when they felt alone. . .they really weren’t, impacted them. To see the Truth of the realization register on their faces and the peace that seemed to transcend what they could have imagined during their time of trials in their lives, was amazing.

It so remarkable for me to share my life with other people, and to realize that God can and does use our experiences to encourage others.

It is so humbling. . .and all I can say is “Thank you Lord!” for allowing me to be part of Your work here in Thailand.

Hebrews 13:5 - "for he (God) has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.""

Matthew 1:23 - ""Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us)."

Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Matthew 28:20 - ". . .behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

2 Timothy 4:17 - "But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed. . ."

So, I encourage you to share your life with others. You never know how God can use you, in the lives of others.

Blessings,

April

It’s Incredible. . .

2011-05-19T06:44:00.000-04:00

I love how the Lord, gives me new understanding of His Word even though I have read it before. In reading the Bible recently, I found myself looking at some of the scriptures in a whole new way.

In John 13, here was Jesus on His last evening on earth, and it is fascinating to me how He chooses to spend His last evening and with whom.

I mean, to be honest, if I knew that I was going to die tomorrow and that a close friend was going to setup my murder. . .basically, that person would be the last person I would think of spending my last evening with. Personally, I would seek to surround myself with family and close friends.

But. . .How did Jesus choose to spend His last evening on earth? He surrounded Himself with His 12 disciples. Note I did not say 11 disciples. He did not post a guard, giving them strict instructions not to let Judas in. In fact His treatment of Judas was just as He had always treated him, with love, caring and compassion.

Even though Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, He still chose to spend His final evening with all of His disciples. They ate together, they prayed together and Jesus – the Creator of the world washed the feet of His disciples. He humbled Himself, and just as lowly servants would do, He washed their feet. Jesus washed the feet of all of His disciple’s. He did not skip Judas. He did not ridicule Judas, or give Him ‘the look’, or tell the other disciples who was going to betray Him. It’s Incredible!

In fact, when Jesus said that one of them would betray Him, they all looked at each other wondering who it was. Hmmm, that tells me that Judas acted (at least on the outside) like the other disciples. Judas had already decided in his heart to betray Jesus, and yet no one could tell from his demeanor that those were his intentions. The other 11 disciples did not all spin around, pointing and staring accusingly at Judas. There were no ‘Oh yeah, we knew it was Judas’ comments made.

I wonder how many people are sitting in church pews looking the part, but in their hearts they don’t even know Christ. God knows our hearts. He knows whether we have given our lives to Him, or whether it is all about the perception of others and showing up for an hour on Sunday. My heart hurts thinking about those that don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. For me, there is no greater Joy. . .than knowing and loving Jesus.

As Jesus sat surrounded by His disciples, did He dwell on that fact that He would endure horrible pain, torture, humiliation and death the very next day? I think many of us would be self-centered had we been in similar circumstances, and yet Jesus shows us that we should humble ourselves and be God centered and other’s-centered no matter what the circumstances. It’s Incredible!

What a challenge to Christians, to live a life that reflects those same things. . .

Being Humble. . .truly humble, not ‘Hey look at me. Aren’t I humble?’. (a.k.a. – not humble.)

Being Servants. . .not looking around to see who will serve us, but us looking around at how we can serve others. Without fanfare. Quietly, and with the love of Christ in our hearts, serving others. Without looking for a ‘pat on the back’ or accolades for a job well done.

Colossians 3:23-24 "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."

Giving Grace. . .Jesus gave us undeserved Grace. Can we rise to the challenge and give undeserved grace to the people around us? To the people that we have decided don’t deserve grace? Yes! With Christ in our hearts we can!

Loving one another. . .Giving and showing love to one another, without expecting anything in return. Jesus loved Judas knowing that he would not thank Him for the years of love, time and devotion that Jesus showed him. Jesus loved Judas, because God the Father wanted Him too. Jesus tells us in John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." After that commandment there is no ‘but’, there is no ‘except’. We are to love one another, as Christ loved us. Period.

It’s Incredible!

John 13:

Vs 1-5 …when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus… rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ...

Vs 14-17 “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them...”

Vs 21-22 …Jesus…testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. ...

Vs 34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

This is just part of the story; I encourage you to read all of John 13. It’s Incredible!

Blessings,

April

Now that is Generous Giving. . .

2011-05-03T04:28:00.000-04:00

Bill and I have the privilege of being involved with an orphanage here in Thailand. We teach English at the orphanage each week, and they come to the Youth Center for Youth Group for games, food and Bible study. We ask often how we can help more, but they are reluctant to tell of their needs.

A while back we wished twin teenage girls Happy Birthday during Youth Group. A few days later, after we finished teaching English at the orphanage, one of the teenage girls started to give me a hug. Suddenly she pulled back, saying that she just remembered something, and asked if we could wait a minute. I told her we would wait, and to take her time.

She ran off to the small room that she shares with the rest of the girls that live at the orphanage. She emerged a few minutes later with two beautiful bracelets in her hands. She explained that they were for the twin girls that had just had a Birthday, and that she wanted me to give them to the girls. I told her that they were beautiful, and asked her why she didn’t want to give them to the girls herself. She just insisted that I give them to the girls for her. I finally agreed and said I would.

I then asked her where she had bought them, because I really thought they were gorgeous. She looked confused for a moment, and then told me that she had made them. She had made each one specifically for each of the girls, based on what she thought they would like.

I was amazed, and awed. Here was a young lady, who was living in an orphanage, she had just started college, and she worked to provide money for the orphanage and for school. And yet out of her generous heart she had made two bracelets that she would normally sell, and she gave them to two new friends.

She was not reluctant in giving. She was actually beaming (and yet shy), as she handed the beautiful bracelets to me.

Her giving was not about her. She did not call a press conference, so that everyone could see how generous she was. She did not even want to be the one to give the bracelets to the girls. She just wanted to give the gifts. For her, the time that it took to make the bracelets, was just part of the gift, and it gave her joy.

Wow! That all of us that have given our lives to Jesus would give with such a humble joyful heart.

We hugged and I promised that I would give the bracelets to the girls.

When I gave the bracelets to the girls, and explained who they were from. . .they were stunned. I could see how moved they were, by the generosity of someone who has had so little in the way of possessions and yet sought to share what little she had.

How humbling and grateful I am to see God’s Word in action in the life of a beautiful Thai teenage girl.

Mark 12:41-44 “And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.""

I don’t know about you, but I am feeling very challenged to live more generously.

My prayer for each of us is that we would honor and glorify God with our generous giving, and that our giving would reflect our heart.

Blessings,

April

Spring 2011 Newsletter

2011-04-05T11:23:00.000-04:00

Water, Water, Everywhere. . .

2010-10-10T12:00:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, September 28, 29, 30 and October 1st it rained. We had huge thunder claps and lots of lightening to go with the rain, but on Saturday, October 2nd, everything changed.

On Saturday the rains came as a deluge. Soon the streets were flooding as storm sewers and water canals overflowed. The waters just continued to rise throughout the morning.

Our home is up a number of steps so we were blessed with just getting water below the steps, but our hearts were saddened to look out our back windows and see people walking through the streets with water up to their knees. As we watched, four people came down the road pushing a floating car.

However, that was not the worst. The road that goes out perpendicular to our house slopes downhill as it goes away from our house. The homes on the streets in that direction used to be level with road, but they had flooding problems in the past so to try and alleviate the flooding problems they raised the road surface. . .3 feet. Well, as you can imagine with the road now 3 feet above the homes, and the gravity feed of the water, the homes now flood completely when there are heavy rains.

On Saturday, the water on the roads in this area was above my waist. Our hearts went out to all of the people who were trying to get their soggy belongings out of their homes. We helped people lift appliances off of the floor onto tables to try and keep refrigerators and other appliances dry. We carried people’s belongings blocks and blocks away to waiting trucks on higher ground. It took so long to walk through the nearly chest high water with our arms filled with as much as we could carry.

(Oh by the way, the water was not clean. Evidently septic tanks had given way and there was raw sewage everywhere. Gross just seems too mild a description.)

We were to have Youth Group at our house at 4:00, so we put out the word that all of the streets around us were flooded and that they should not worry about not being able to come. Well, we had 16 youth show up at our home. (I have talked to people from churches that have not come out to church because it started to rain.) I am so proud of the youth for forging through waist deep waters to get here for Youth Group.

At one point during the flood I looked out our back window and was astonished to see a fisherman with his fishing net over his right shoulder ready to cast. As he waded through the two foot high waters on the street behind us, it was just like watching the fisherman that I spoke of in my blog Casting Our Nets. He walked slowly with great patience looking into the water for just the right time to cast his net to catch fish. I later found out that a fish farm had flooded into the streets and the fish were out there for the taking. Later in the afternoon I saw some women and girls with nets on poles trying to catch fish in the street in front of our house.

The Lord laid it on my heart that even during disasters He can draw people to Himself, when we are willing to serve hurting people with the love of Christ.

Fast forward two days, to the Woman of the Word ladies Bible study at our home on Tuesday afternoon. The waters in the streets had mostly dissipated, except for a few really low lying roads. As we gathered for Bible study we talked about the flooding and about how so many people were forced out of their homes by the flood waters. At this time my good friend from the resort where we held the Youth Retreat, said “You will not believe this. One of my staff said that she saw my friend with the long hair, on Saturday helping people whose homes were flooded. In fact she said my friend had helped her husband move their things out of their home, before the flood waters damaged everything.”

I was amazed. I was amazed that this woman even recognized me because I had my hair tied back in a ponytail wrapped around four times, and I was standing in water over my waist, so that fact that she recognized me is incredible. Trust me I did not want my over 3 foot long hair dragging through the filthy water. Obviously, the Lord was doing a work.

The woman who saw me helping her family is a Buddhist, and knowing that I am a Christian and that I was willing to help the flood victims really seemed to have an impact on her heart.

The Lord is so amazing. To be perfectly honest I did not know the families that I helped, but it is awesome that the Lord worked through the situation even though I was oblivious to what He was doing.

Well, Bill searched our refrigerator and cabinets looking for food to share with the people from our flooded community. We had invited the displaced people into our home, but they declined. So, we fed the Youth Group, and then asked them to take all of the food outside for the flood victims, police and firemen that were congregating outside our front gate. Bill had set up the ping pong table that we have outside, and we covered it with vinyl table cloths and the youth placed the food out on the table.

After a little encouraging, the people started to come into our yard and eat. (They still refused to come into our home.) They were so grateful. Over the course of the evening, we must have had 30 people come and eat, get some soda or water to drink, or have an ice cream cone.

Thank you Lord for casting Your nets in our community during a time of trials.

Hebrews 13:16 NLT - "Don't forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to God."

Luke 10:27 NLT - . . .`You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, `Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Matthew 25:35 NLT - "For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home."

By April

Ah, Puppy Love. . .

2010-10-03T11:26:00.000-04:00

I have to say that when we went to America for 2 plus weeks in July, the last thing I expected to come home to was a pregnant puppy.

When we left in early July, our puppy Pumpkin was just 11 months old. When we came back, we noticed that her eating habits seemed to have changed, but we did not initially suspect why. Then about 3 weeks after returning to Thailand our sweet little toy poodle seemed to be developing a big tummy. Each week she grew larger around and wider, so we finally figured out that she was pregnant.

The reason it took a while to figure out that Pumpkin was with child(s) is that where we live the homes are surrounded by high walls and we have a 6 foot high sliding gate in the front, so the thought that a male dog had visited seemed somewhat remote. Although, there was that email from our neighbor that said that Pumpkin had climbed the four foot high fence that separates us from them. And oh yes, they do have a male dog. Hmmm. . .

They have a white Shitzu with short legs and a short tail, whereas, the puppies are all jet black with small areas of white on their chests and feet, and they have long tails. So the question remains, “Who’s the daddy?” DNA tests are underway. Just kidding.

On September 23rd Pumpkin gave birth to 6 beautiful, sleek black puppies. She has taken on the role of being a mama to those puppies in a wonderful way.

The last puppy born was about 1/3 the size of the others. Immediately the name Lil’ Squirt popped into my head. We will probably give all of the puppies away except one (or two, if I can talk Bill into it), so I guess I will let the new owners of the puppies name them in about six weeks.

So, we are enjoying the sweet little surprise gifts that Pumpkin delivered. We thank God for the gift of today, and for every good gift that He brings us. May God bless each of you.

James 1:17 NKJV - "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."

Ephesians 2:4-8 NKJV - "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,"

By April

Twenty Six Hours One Weekend. . .

2010-10-01T11:32:00.000-04:00

On September 19th our first Youth Group Retreat in Thailand started. All of the youth and three adult volunteers were to meet at our house at 4:00 pm on Friday.

I had gone shopping with my friend that runs the resort, to get food and snacks for all of the meals that we would share together at the Youth Group Retreat. When my friend and I returned to the resort, I called Bill (my husband). He said that the youth started arriving at our house before 3:00 and that there appeared to be more than had signed up. Yikes!

After getting off the phone with Bill I quickly arranged for the use of a third dorm, as we had more youth than we anticipated.

Around 4:15 the vehicles left our house and transported the youth to the resort, and we were off and running. The retreat included dinner on Friday, then a Bible Study followed by a time of discussion. Next, they had free time – which a lot of the youth choose to spend swimming, playing board and card games, or doing art work. Then we walked the two minute walk to the beach for a bonfire – where we taught the non-Americans about the yumminess of s’mors. After that, we went back to the resort for a movie that ended around 11:00 pm, the youth went back to their dorms and we had lights out at 11:30 pm.

Saturday was to start with the youth waking-up at 7:30 am. I had planned to get up at 6:00 to spend time in prayer, reading my Bible and perusing the lessons we were going to teach. After my shower I heard talking, and sure enough a number of the youth were up and excited about the day, not long after 6:00 am.

Saturday went as follows: Breakfast at 8:00, followed by quiet time/prayer time, then about 40 minutes of free time (aka swimming, swimming and more swimming). Actually some of the youth did go for a walk along the beach, and some played games or worked on arts and crafts, but the pool and the slack line were the big hit. The slack line was like a tightrope across the middle of the pool. We then had another Bible Study, followed by a time of discussion. Next, it was time for lunch. As I watched the youth get in line to get their lunch and then find a seat, I thought about the cartoon that shows a whole fish on a plate and then something runs by the fish, and all that is left is bones. That was what feeding the Youth Group was like. There was a lot of food, the youth went through the line, and then there were empty serving dishes. I guess they liked the food.

After lunch we had free time down on the beach. The youth played Spud, volleyball with a huge ball, walked on the beach, sat and talked with each other, and made sand castles.

After brushing off the sand from the beach, we went back to the resort for the third Bible Study and discussion time. The youth then had 45 minutes of free time, which most of them spent. . .you guessed it, swimming and walking the slack line across the pool.

After all that excitement, we had the task of trying to get everybody back upstairs for a time of Worship.

We then shared dinner together, followed by packing up their belongings and clearing out of the dorms.

Before we left the resort, I gathered all of the youth together for a group photo. Standing toward the front was a young boy with two tears flowing down his cheeks, he tried to smile as he realized that the retreat was over and it was time to go home. Seeing that young boy and the emotion he felt about the retreat being over, tugged at my heart. Bill and I had tried to make the retreat a wonderful, fun, exciting time to learn about Jesus. We had been planning for months, so that it would be a meaningful time for each of the youth. Seeing and later hearing, how much the retreat meant to each of the youth was such a blessing for us. We feel so blessed to be used by the Lord. We are humbled and grateful. Thank you Lord!

We headed back to our house around 6:20 pm on Saturday. Upon arriving, with the youth and their belongings strewn around our yard and house, we served up the usual ice cream cones that signify the end of Youth Group. A lot of the youth hung out at our house well past 7:00 pm, reminiscing about the retreat. Praise God!

The Lord was awesome in bringing just the right youth to the retreat. With 27 youth from at least three different countries, there could have been disagreements or problems, but there were none. Thank you Lord!

Being in a foreign country it is amazing to see the Lord work in the hearts of the Thai youth. Only He can do that, as we are still learning the Thai language.

Mark 10:13-16 NLT - "One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God." Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them."

The English speaking youth blessed us with a wonderful, huge Thank you card, and the Thai speaking youth blessed us with a great Thank you card that was artfully folded into an intricate heart shape.

Oh how we pray that each one of the youth would come to truly know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

We want to give a huge thank you to all of you that supported us with prayer and with funding. Thank you for your faithfulness. We were able to offer the retreat to all of the youth at no cost to them. We pray that you will each realize that you are as much a part of the work that is being done for Christ here in Hua Hin, as we are. God bless you!

By April

Photo by Stefan Schmied

Casting Our Nets. . .

2010-09-12T03:15:00.000-04:00

The other day Bill and I went to look at a possible house to move too, as we have outgrown our house. Well, our Youth Group and Friday night Bible Study have outgrown our home, to be perfectly honest. So, we have been looking for a house with a large living room for gatherings and a large yard for Youth Group games. The house that we looked at is on the other side of town, about 15 minutes away from our current location, and the rent is really inexpensive. . .

When we got to the house, we peered at the yard and the outside of the house through the 6 foot high wrought iron gate and over the cement block walls that surrounded the house. The yard was overgrown but definitely had potential for all kinds of games, nothing that a few hours (okay, maybe more than a few) spent mowing, pulling weeds and planting grass seed wouldn’t fix. The house also needed a little loving care, and a couple of gallons of paint. We are supposed to see the inside the house tomorrow or Sunday. I’ll keep you posted as to whether this is the answer to our prayers for a larger space or not.

After looking at the outside of the house we decided to grab a quick lunch, as I had a friend coming over soon, and then we had other people stopping by right after that. So Bill drove toward the beach in this part of town that we are not familiar with, and we found a cute little outside restaurant. We got off of our motor scooter, but were not sure if they were open or not, as we did not see any customers. The staff caught sight of us, and came running saying “We are open! Two for lunch? This way please.” The restaurant was right up against the beach, so we sat at a table overlooking the beach and gazed out over the Gulf of Thailand during lunch.

As we looked out over what looked like the endless water of the Gulf, we noticed a Thai man walking across the sand toward the water. He had a blue net over his right shoulder, and instead of stopping at the water’s edge he just continued to walk into the water. He not only got his feet wet, he walked in until the water was up to or just above his waist. We watched as he very slowly walked in one direction, parallel to the beach for 5 to 10 minutes. His head was tilted down as he intently stared into the depths of the water. Evidently he was looking for fish, or something in the water that would indicate to him that he should throw his net out into the water.

After nearly 10 minutes, he slowly turned around and started walking in the opposite direction, still trying to discern when he should cast his net. Another 10 minutes went by and again he turned around and headed back in the direction he had started in. Suddenly his steps slowed, and then he stopped. He slowly dropped his net down his arm and lowered it into the water to get it wet, then he lifted it from the water and cast it out in front of him. Standing motionless he stood and waited. Was he praying? Then he slowly gathered his net to himself. It was empty.

The man did not appear to be discouraged; he simply tossed his net over his shoulder and continued the process of slowly walking back and forth parallel to the beach. A while later he again cast his net.

As I watched this man during our time at the restaurant, I felt the Lord place on my heart this thought. As Christians, sometimes we get discouraged when we cast our nets. . .aka, tell people about Jesus, and then do not see the fruit of people giving their lives to Jesus. However, our job is to keep our eyes on Jesus, to praise and worship Him, and to listen to the Holy Spirit as to when and how we should ‘cast our nets’. When we come before the Lord in Heaven, He will not be asking us one by one to show our spreadsheets showing the number of people that came to know Jesus because of us. We are to act as directional signs, always pointing to the Lord. (We should never be pointing at ourselves, which we inadvertently. . . well maybe not so inadvertently when we let the sin of pride take over, do at times.)

Some of us get so excited about telling people about Jesus that we just keep throwing our nets and throwing our nets, oblivious to the timing of the Lord. In our enthusiasm we may actually alienate people rather than draw them to Jesus. Instead, like the fisherman we saw, and like the fishermen that Jesus spoke to, we should look for the fish that God puts before us, and throw our nets in His timing.

"When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets, and you will catch many fish." "Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, we'll try again." And this time their nets were so full they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me--I'm too much of a sinner to be around you." For he was awestruck by the size of their catch, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid! From now on you'll be fishing for people!" And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus." Luke 5:4-11 NLT

By April

Has It Really Been a Year. . .

2010-09-02T03:51:00.000-04:00

Has it really been a year since Bill and I left America and moved to Hua Hin, Thailand as missionaries? August 30th was our 1st anniversary of being in Thailand.

Wow, in some ways it seems like we have been here for years. We have made wonderful friends; the Lord has worked through us and used our home in a mighty way, as only He can. At other times it seems like the year whizzed by, and we can hardly believe that a year is up already.

The blessings over the year have come in the form of starting a weekly:

Ladies Bible Study -

Men’s Outreach Project

Men’s Bible Study

Day of Prayer

Youth Group – Games, Bible Study, Dinner & Fellowship

As well as, moving the Friday night Dinner and Bible Study to our home; and my taking over all of the church accounting; and Bill produces a weekly church bulletin and prints Our Daily Bread in English and in Thai for those attending Sunday services. We have added a prayer box at church for those that do not wish to lift up their prayer concerns during the service. We pray over all of the prayer requests each day of the week.

We praise God for faithful Bible Study participants that come eager to learn about Jesus; share in praying for each other and share in giving praise to the Lord.

We praise God for youth that show up for Youth Group half an hour early with grins from ear to ear, they are so happy to be here. They don’t let flat tires, or rain drenched days keep them away, and they thank us profusely for letting them come when they leave. They are joyful and thankful. Praise God!

We have added a Prayer Box and Prayer Pops program for the youth. When the youth leave a prayer request in the Prayer Box, they get to take a Prayer Pop (a tootsie pop type lollypop). It has been such a blessing to hear the hearts of the youth. They confess weaknesses and ask for strength in following the Lord, and they lift up the needs of others. We lift up these prayer concerns to the Lord every day.

Of course there have been some difficult times, but as Jesus reminds me during those times of trial “Keep your eyes on Me!”

As we continue to live and minister here in Thailand, we pray that when people see us – they will see God; and when they hear us - they will hear God. Every day we will seek to see where the Holy Spirit is leading us; seek to follow Him in all we do; and pray that we reflect Jesus everywhere we go.

A beautiful friend brought us beautiful roses to commemorate our 1st anniversary of being in Thailand. What a blessing! Thank you, Moni!

By April

A Broken Toe and Two Colds to Go. . .

2010-08-30T03:16:00.003-04:00

On Thursday Bill and I started to come down with what seemed like a cold, so Thursday night we decided to watch a new movie that we had gotten. This was a real treat, as we have given up watching TV.

Okay, back to the movie, we watched “Letters to God”, which was just released this month. The movie was wonderful and I went through half a box of tissues. I won’t tell you whether that was because of my cold or because of the movie. You will just have to watch the movie for yourself.

After the movie was over there was very little lighting in the living room and I got up to turn off the DVD player, when I slammed my toe into the metal leg of a chair. Oh my, that really hurt. Bill asked if I was okay, and I told him that I stubbed my toe and that it really hurt but that I was fine.

Thursday night I tossed and turned, as I coughed and blew my nose what seemed like incessantly. Bill did not sleep well either, as he spent the night getting up again and again, with intestinal distress. (Need I say more?)

Friday morning I sat on the couch sniffling and coughing when I decided to cross my legs. As I brought my left leg in front of me I saw purple. Now normally purple and my foot do not go together, so I stopped my leg in midair and took a better look. Yes indeed, the middle toe on my left foot was a rainbow of hues in the pink and purple range, not to mention that it was swollen. Bill asked what was wrong, so I tilted my foot toward him. He said, “Yikes! After we looked at it closer, we decided that it was probably broken.

Isn’t it funny how once you know you have hurt something, you notice that it hurts? I really had not noticed that my toe hurt before I saw my toe in its purple splendor, but once I knew, then I noticed that it was throbbing. Of course I had been taking Thai pain killer and decongestant for my cold and headache, so that may have had something to do with it.

As the morning continued, Bill and I started to feel worse, we were achy all over and had fevers. We were supposed to host about 25 people in our home that evening for dinner, fellowship and Bible Study. As I continued to cough and empty yet another box of tissues, I told Bill that I did not think we should be potentially infecting other people. So, Bible Study was moved to the house next door.

Saturday found me sleeping. . .and sleeping. . .and sleeping. Around 11:00 a.m. we realized that we needed to cancel Youth Group. We did not want to share our sickness with the Youth. After notifying the Youth, you guessed it, I went back to sleep.

This was the first time that we had ever had to cancel Friday night Bible study or Youth Group. We felt bad about it, but knew that it was the best decision for everyone.

Sometimes our bodies just need a rest, and Jesus calls us to come to Him for the rest that we need. I love that He does not say we should feel guilty about needing to rest, He just says come.

"Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:28-29 NLT

By April

Get well flowers from my friend, Rose.

American Blessings. . .

2010-08-28T07:06:00.000-04:00

For a little over two weeks in July, we were blessed with a trip back to America. We saw our beautiful niece get married to the love of her life; we visited family and friends, and we sold one of our vehicles. All and all it was a blessing filled, albeit, whirlwind trip.

We landed around 7 in the evening of the fourth of July, which of course meant fireworks were coming in a few short hours. So, after Bill’s brother and his wife picked us up at the airport, we went and got takeout food for dinner, as we were hungry. We then went to the parking lot of a large store, as it was purported in the newspaper to be the best spot from which to watch the fireworks from. As we sat in the parking lot, having met another niece and her husband and their son in the parking lot as well, Bill and I ate and chatted and stretched our weary legs. Others had obviously read the notice about the prime location for watching the fireworks and they had set up lawn chairs and had toys and blankets for the children. However, as time went on and darkness came, the only fireworks we saw were obviously home fireworks sent into the sky to delight their families. So, one by one, families that had set up camp in the parking lot began to pack up and go home; and we followed suit. Because we had been up for over two days, except for a couple of cat naps we took during a couple of the flights, we were not too disappointed that we were not able to see fireworks that night.

We were humbled and blessed by the hospitality of so many. Thank you to the many family members and friends that opened their homes to us, invited us for meals and provided wonderful encouragement and conversation. We cannot thank you enough, as this was balm for our souls. We were also blessed to have met two babies that had been born since we have been living in Thailand. As we got together with family and friends, even though it had been nearly a year since we had seen them, we immediately felt comfortable with them and the conversation flowed easily. Thank you Lord, for these blessings!

After a little over two weeks in America we were headed back to Thailand. Four flights and 35 hours later, after greeting our puppy, Pumpkin, we fell into our bed at home in Hua Hin at 3:00 in the morning on Friday. When we got up later that morning we hit the ground running. After all, at 6:00 p.m. we would be hosting 25 people for dinner, fellowship and Bible Study. (The hit the ground running method has worked wonders for not suffering from jet lag.) The following day, Saturday, we had 20 youth for Youth Group at our house. We played games, led a Bible Study and supplied dinner for them.

I love serving others, by serving the Lord.

The Lord is continually working on my heart,

To make it more like HIS!

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,” Ephesians 6:7

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” Romans 12:11

By April

We hope you have a great day today!

2010-08-27T04:47:00.000-04:00

We hope you have a great day today! We know you will if you believe the following: The Bible is not merely a rulebook for better living. Its central purpose is an invitation to a dynamic and personal relationship with God himself – the only true fulfillment of every human desire for love and significance. It is the only true source of happiness and meaning.

Unless we know, believe, and live in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we will never have long-lasting fulfillment and happiness. A life without Christ is a rollercoaster ride through life. While we may have great highs while separated from God, we will also have horrendous lows. Not to mention a bottomless pit for eternity. With Christ at the center of our lives we will even-out our journey on this earth. And be on a continuing brighter and upward path as we grow closer to that day when we will live for eternity with Christ!

We pray that you have a wonderful day!

By Bill

A Carnival for God. . .

2010-05-14T11:21:00.001-04:00

After months of planning, shopping for materials, prizes and building supplies; and building booths for our first outreach Community Children's Carnival, we finally held the carnival. Bill and I built booths for games, painted plywood for carnival activities, and shopped for prizes and food. One of the youth, is an amazing artist and drew and painted many of the photo stations where children could put their heads through the hole and have their photo taken.

There were neigh sayers, predicting rain or unbearable heat, but the Lord was gracious and we were blessed with a beautiful day. For months, we prayed daily for the carnival and put it all in the Lord's hands.

Bill and I had walked around Hua Hin for weeks, putting up flyers and handing out information about the carnival.

So, with so much time and effort having been put into the preparation, it was thrilling for the carnival day to actually arrive. The youth and several adult volunteers gathered at our home an hour before the start of the carnival and we confirmed who was going to be doing the different jobs such as: face painting, running booths with games, making snow cones, giving out popcorn, and taking photos and printing them for the children.

We then gathered together for prayer, giving the whole event to the Lord, praying that we would honor and glorify Him in all that we did.

Then the children started to arrive and the fun started. . .

Everything was free to the children and their families, and most of them had a hard time believing it. We offered them free snow cones and popcorn, and they kept asking how much? It was a real blessing to see how much fun the children had playing the games and enjoying the treats.

One of the most popular games was throwing darts at balloons. Bill had built a great booth with a counter to hold the darts. We were amazed at some of the little children's accuracy in throwing the darts. Pop! Pop! Pop! Followed by much laughter and a request to do it again.

After a couple of hours we had all of the children and their families come and listen to the gospel story. We had a Thai friend tell the story and explain the love of Jesus. The entire group sat listening with great attention.

Then it was back to the fun. The carnival ran from 2:00 in the afternoon until 6:00 pm. At 5:00 the pizza that Bill had ordered for the youth and volunteers arrived. You know you have to feed youth! It was great because there was enough pizza and hot dogs for not only the youth and volunteers, but also for the families that were at the carnival at that time.

A little before 6:00 the families started to leave and we gathered together to praise the Lord and give thanks for the successful carnival. We then packed up the leftover prizes, food and supplies. We gathered up the trash and brought some tables in the house, but decided not to stress about trying to get everything cleaned up that night. It was already dark, and we would just address the rest the next day or two.

We are still praising the Lord for the carnival and the great outreach that was done through it. The youth still talk about the event with great enthusiasm.

Thank you Lord!

Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Luke 18:16

By April

"Belief, Trust, & Faith" - Bill's Sermon at ANCF on May 2, 2010

2010-05-03T00:56:00.000-04:00

Belief, Trust and Faith
Three commonly used terms, but what do they mean in our lives?
Belief is a mental act. It is a mental acceptance and conviction in what we think is the truth, actuality, or validity of something.
Trust, on the other hand, indicates a depth and a sense of assurance that is based on strong, but not necessarily, logically-conclusive evidence. It can be based on the character, ability, or truth shown by someone or something over time or it can be based on the situations we have experienced.

Trust makes us feel safe. Trust helps us be free of fear, free enough so that our focus can be on other matters because that matter which we would otherwise fear is taken care of. With trust, it becomes easier to simply enjoy life. Trust breeds confidence and conviction. Trust is also a risk. We leave ourselves open for loss. Betrayal of trust hurts so much because the lost sense of security multiplies the damage.

Today I want to ask each one of you, what do you believe?
In what or in whom do you trust?
What is your faith in? What role does your faith play in your day-to-day life?
And, more importantly, what role does your faith play in your future?

Let’s go back to the term belief. Think about what you believe in that is really important in your life and think about how your beliefs differ or are similar from those of your friends, your relatives. Think about how your beliefs differ or are the same from those that Jesus expressed to his disciples and those he preached to or had casual conversations with.

Now think about how your beliefs differ from or are similar to those of Satan as shown in the Bible. Let me help you here. Satan believes in God. Do you believe in God? Satan believes that Jesus is the son of God who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, and was buried for three days. Do you believe these events actually occurred? Satan believes, he knows for a fact, that Jesus rose from the dead, spent forty more days with his friends and disciples before he ascended into heaven and that he still sits at the right hand of the Father to this day. Do you believe these events actually occurred? Satan was there for those events, he knows and believes from his own experiences that these things have occurred. Do you believe in these same things?

Many people "believe" Jesus Christ really walked the earth 2000 years ago. Many believe he is who he claimed to be - God himself and the Savior of the world. But that does not mean that they trust Jesus for their daily needs and for providing them with a glorious eternity. It does not mean they trust that God will do everything he says he will do in the Bible. And I mean everything God says he will do in the Bible, Not just the things we might like, but the things we might not like, just as Curt spoke about last Sunday.

Biblical "faith" is very different than having a belief that the Bible is true. Biblical faith goes beyond mental acceptance of the facts. Let’s look at something that actually occurred in more recent history to illustrate the differences between belief and faith.
Niagara Falls is a beautiful place on the border between the United States and Canada. April and I spent our honeymoon there. I know it exists. I believe it is both powerful and deadly. I believe it is both beautiful and an abundant source of hydroelectric power. I believe it is both tall and wide and extremely difficult to impossible to cross. The first of many tightrope walkers to cross Niagara Falls was Jean Francois Gravelot, a French aerialist, who called himself "The Great Blondin, because of his fair hair. He was born back in 1824 in northern France. Blondin had been walking the tightrope since the age of five. He was orphaned at age nine and was on his own. He became a famous tightrope performer and practiced each new feat until he could perform it with his eyes closed.

On June 30, 1859, at 5 pm, Blondin made his first journey across Niagara Falls. He wore a dark wig, a vest of purple plush, and a pair of white Turkish pantaloons.

For this crossing, Blondin utilized a rope 400 meters long and 10 centimeter in diameter stretched from what is now Prospect Park in Niagara Falls, New York in the United States to what is now Oakes Garden in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. He began his first walk from the American side and completed his crossing in 20 minutes. Blondin used a thirty-foot long balancing pole that weighed 40 pounds.
For two summers, Blondin performed above the Niagara. During his subsequent performances, he crossed the Falls on a bicycle, on stilts, and at night. He swung by one arm, turned somersaults, and stood on his head on a chair. Once he pushed a stove in a wheelbarrow and cooked an omelet. On one occasion, he crossed blindfold in a heavy sack made of blankets. But his greatest feat was to carry a man across on his back. I believe that Blondin actually did all these great feats. Many witnessed his performances and wrote about them and took pictures.

The story goes that he would yell out to spectators watching his daring walks, Do you believe I can cross the falls on this thin rope? And the spectators would yell back to him. Yes! Yes! We believe, we believe you can do it!! Then he would shout back, Do you believe I can cross the falls on this rope while carrying another person on my back? And the crowd would yell back. Yes! Yes! We believe you can do it, we believe you can do it! Then Blondin would yell back: Will anyone volunteer to ride on my back while I cross the falls? And suddenly the crowd would go silent.

While they believed Blondin could carry a person on his back across the falls, none were willing to place their trust in him to do so. None had the faith that he could carry them across the falls. If I had been there for each one of his previous walks, I too would have believed he could carry a man on his back across the falls, but I doubt I would have trusted him enough to carry me across the falls on a thin rope, even when I was fifty pounds lighter than I am now!

During his fifth exhibition, he persuaded his manager, Harry Colcord, to climb on his back and to hazard the long trip across the huge gorge. Harry put his trust in Blondin and, in faith, got on Blondin’s back and let him carry him across the falls.

Biblical faith is believing that God will do everything he says he will do in the Bible. It is trusting Him with your life, now, and for eternity. Harry had faith in Blondin to carry him across the falls. We need to have faith in Jesus, to live an abundant life now and to live for eternity in Heaven with Him!

Biblical faith is an action, like actually jumping on the back of Jesus to carry you through life and through eternity beyond. Biblical faith is allowing Jesus to carry you over and through the storms and deadly rapids of life. Biblical faith is the belief and trust and the action of - putting your eternal destiny in the hands of this Jesus who claims to be the only Savior of the world. And the great thing about Jesus is not just staying on his back, but having a face-to-face relationship with him for eternity.

Believing facts about God and his son Jesus as told in the Bible does not equate to Biblical faith. That's just mental acceptance of facts. The Bible says in James 2:10 that the demons "believe" in Jesus. If all it takes is belief to be a follower of someone, you could call me a Buddhist, or a Muslim, because I believe that both Buddha and Mohammed, lived good lives on this earth trying to do the best they could for others. I believe they died, and I believe that I can even go and visit their tombs where their earthly bodies still rest. But I am not a Buddhist or a Muslim.

Some people might even call me a Satanist for what I believe about Satan. I believe that Satan exists. I believe that he has power over much of what happens in this world. I believe he has spiritual helpers that we refer to as demons. I belief he often looks like the light of the world and that following him can be fun and exciting for a period of time. I assure you I am not a Satanist. I do not trust or have faith in Satan. He is evil, he is a liar, and he cannot be trusted.
I believe, and trust, and have faith in the yet to happen event that God will defeat the destructive power of Satan. I have decided to place my trust and faith in Jesus who lived not only a sinless life, who was killed by men, and who was buried, but whose earthly body no longer rests in a tomb to be found by men. Halleluiah!

Satan still trusts in his own powers and his own promises, not the powers and promises of his creator. We too can trust in our own powers, and have trust in our own abilities, but that will lead us to the same ultimate destruction that Satan faces. An eternity in Hell, separated from God.

Jesus said in John 5:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." One who believes in this way is trusting Jesus Christ with his eternal destiny. More than 60 times, the New Testament tells us "eternal life" is given to those who put their faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation.

So, the real question is, do you simply accept some of the facts of the Bible as true. Or do you maybe go further, and believe all of the facts of the Bible are true? Or are you going still further and moving that acceptance to your heart and trusting Christ with your life every day, as well as your eternal destiny?

Hebrews 11:1 says: faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews, Chapter 12 tells us that:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Belief – in simple terms, is accepting the fact that Jesus existed 2000 years ago on this earth. Belief is accepting what the Bible, God's Word, tells us about God and Jesus. Belief is passive.

Faith – on the other hand is trusting that Jesus was and is who He said He is, and trusting that He will do, what He said He would do.
Faith is active, it’s acting upon your beliefs and trusts. Just like Ryan preached two weeks ago, that the Gospel is active. Our faith to be real and alive must be active.

Belief is a state of mind. Trust is taking that mental fact to your heart. Faith is taking what you believe and trust, and acting upon it.
Belief manifests itself in the thoughts and words of a person. Faith, on the other hand, is what a person does (James 2:17: Acts 16:5 faith needs to be strengthened), it displays itself in the actions taken by a person, based on what they believe, think, and say concerning a person, situation, or circumstance.

Trust is the confidence that the actions or steps that one has taken, will yield the desired result. For example: A farmer thinks and believes that planting seeds will yield him a crop. Therefore, he takes the action steps of planting the seeds. He does not see the results of his action steps, (planting the seeds), right away, but he is confident and trusting that the crop will come based on the facts and knowledge of what he knows about the ground, the sun, and the rain working together to change the seed into a fruit or vegetable.

You see, believing remains unable to help us until believing mixes with trust and faith, and "...faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." James 2:17. Mere believing will get one nowhere unless "...you show your faith by your works." James 2:18. Unless one arises and gets onto God's spiritual back, by faith, fully trusting Jesus, he has merely "...believed in vain." 1 Corinthians 15: 1 and 2 states:

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

One individual who had great trust and faith in God was Abraham of the Old Testament. But Abraham not only wanted the peace of security; he also wanted the joy of prosperity. Like all of us, he wanted not only to survive, but also to thrive and to experience a life of blessing and satisfaction. God filled that desire for joy and satisfaction by offering himself as Abraham's great reward.

And while this reward is available freely and abundantly to all now, through Jesus, it is often neglected for substitute rewards that glitter and shine, but tarnish easily.

We get caught up in a delusion of our own making, convincing ourselves of the value of the treasures we pursue while blind to the treasure that is right before us in God himself. We demand gifts and quickly forget the giver.

We set our sights on the fleeting pleasures of this world — a happy family, a prosperous career, a luxury car, a beautiful house, a powerful position, a good reputation, a night on the town, a sexual experience, a good hearty laugh. Like a jilted lover, God laments his bride's unfaithfulness, choking out his sorrow between tears: "She decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot" (Hosea 2:13).

We fool ourselves into thinking that satisfaction is found apart from God. But in the end we find that all of the things we chase are either elusive or unsatisfying.

We frequently waste out time and energy seeking and reaching out for things that are just out of reach. And on those rare occasions that we actually grab hold of them, they fall disappointingly short of our expectations. Satisfaction is not found apart from God or even through God — it is only found in God. The reward is God himself. The reward is a relationship with God Almighty through Jesus Christ.

My friends, here is the truth: our lives cannot be destroyed by the storms of fear, or hate, or divorce, or mistakes, or hurtful words, or diabolical deeds, or sin—since our souls are sustained by God’s promises and power. This is what Paul meant when he wrote in Romans 8:37-39:

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You and I show our lack of faith in Jesus when we call ourselves Christians yet give our hearts to money, or material things, or selfish pursuits, or anyone or anything other than Jesus. We can get into ruts, or bad habits, and think that we have so much trust and faith that God will save us that we can do anything we please. This is exactly how Satan is and is exactly how Satan wants us to live our lives even if we are Christians.

For example, we show our lack of faith in Jesus when we spend more time on the Internet than in prayer. We show our lack of faith in Jesus when we spend more time reading the morning newspaper than reading the Bible. Let’s take a quick quiz concerning our faith:

Does a 500 Baht note seem like a large amount of money when you donate it to church, but such a small amount when you go shopping?

Does two hours in Church seem like a really long time; but two hours seems so very short while watching a good movie or your favorite sports team play a game?

Do you sometimes find it difficult to find a word to say when you're praying, but you have no trouble thinking what to talk about with a friend?

Do you find it difficult and boring to read one chapter of the Bible, especially from the Old Testament; but find it really easy to read 100 pages of a popular novel before you go to sleep at night?

Do you find it interesting how everyone wants front-row-tickets to concerts or games; but they do whatever is possible to sit in the back row in Church? Don’t feel too bad if you are currently sitting in the back row, I often sit or stand behind the last row here in church!

Do you need to know about an event for Church 2-3 weeks before the day so you can include it in your agenda; but you can adjust your agenda for other events in the last minute?

Do you find it difficult to learn a fact about God and to share it with others; but find it easy to learn, understand, extend, and repeat gossip?

Do you find it easy to believe everything that magazines and
newspapers say; but you question some of the words and stories in the Bible?

Do you find it interesting how everyone wants a place in heaven; but... they don't want to believe, do, or say anything to get there that is in the Bible?

So, how well did you do?
The fact is, we really have very little faith. Even Jesus’ disciples had little faith much of the time.

Matthew Chapter 17:14: When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15"Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."

17"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.

19Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

20He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."[a]

On another occasion, In Luke Chapter 17

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

6He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

Where there is trust, there is peace; an unbelievable peace, and a freedom from the fears of the world. As Curt said last week, fear God, not the world and the things in it. Where there is faith, there is growth. We all need to continually grow in our faith.
We need faith like potatoes. If you want to know more about faith like potatoes, come out to Friday night Bible study on May 14th and see the movie, Faith like Potatoes. It is actually less than two hours long, and is very enjoyable. I don’t want to tell you every point that is in the movie, but I will tell you that we need to feed our faith so that it grows, just like potatoes grow.

Faith indicates persistent action, devotion, and direction of self, and is often charged with emotion. When there is faith within someone, they become faithful, and when they have faith in someone, that loyalty can grow into a covenant. When we believe all that is in the Bible; when we put our trust in God’s Word and his Son Jesus Christ; and when we have faith in God and all his promises, we are in covenant with God and God is in covenant with us.

Unlike Baptism, which is a one time event demonstrating our trust and faith in Jesus and our new life in him, Communion is a practice that is meant to be observed over and over throughout the life of a Christian. It is a holy time of worship when we come together as one body to remember and celebrate what Christ did for us.

We observe Communion because the Lord told us to. We are to obey His commands:

In observing Communion we are remembering Christ and all that He has done for us in his life, death and resurrection:
And when Jesus had given thanks, he broke the bread and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 1 Corinthians 11:24

When observing Communion we take time to examine ourselves:
A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 1 Corinthians 11:28

In observing Communion we are proclaiming His death until He comes. It is, a statement of faith:
For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26
When we observe Communion we show our participation in the body of Christ. His life becomes our life and we become members of each other:

While they were eating the Passover dinner, on that night that Jesus was betrayed Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:26-28
" For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:24-26

Communion follows...

By Bill

Yikes . . .

2010-04-07T10:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday our puppy Pumpkin assured me that she had to go outside at 5 am. As I rolled out of bed and sleepily shuffled to the door to let Pumpkin out I thought “Just a couple more hours of sleep. Yes, that would be great.” I laid down on the couch waiting for Pumpkin to finish 'her business' outside. You see, she is rather clever, and when she wants to come back in the house she knocks on the door. Sometimes she does this with her head, but most of the time she scratches at the door which then causes the not very tight fit of the door to rattle and sound like knocking.

As I lay waiting for the knock at the front door, my mind started to put together my 'to-do-list' for the day. As I got up to let Pumpkin in when she knocked, I decided to just stay up and get a head start on the day.

I got a lot done between 5 am and 8 am. I was so pleased that I had stayed up and accomplished so much in the early morning hours.

Around 8:30 am one of the boys from next door rang our door bell. He told us that there was a snake slithering along our laundry rack. Ewww! This was all the more gross because we actually had clothes hanging on the rack. (We, like most people in Thailand, do not have a dryer. We just hang our clothes out in the nice hot air and they dry rather quickly.)

Okay, back to the snake. . .

Bill went outside to see where the snake was and to decide what to do about it. I glanced out the window, and not only was Bill investigating the whereabouts of the snake, but all but one of the neighbors' family members and their housekeeper were outside. There was a lot of squealing, and I heard one person yell “I don't want to die!”

I decided that there were enough people viewing the snake chase up close and personal, and that my vantage point of looking through the window would be just fine.

I started praying for Bill's safety and that he would be able to catch the snake. Finally after chasing the snake under leaves, around planters and up the neighbors steps, Bill got the snake. Praise God! Bill 1 – snake 0. My hero!

We all breathed a huge sigh of relief, but it got me thinking. Just how aware am I?! We have lived here in Thailand for six months now and I do remember to look around for creepy critters . . . sometimes. But, I would have to say that most of the time I am busy and just trying to get things done, so I am not necessarily that aware of my surroundings.

The other day Bill and I were walking to town to pay some bills. People here do not use checks to pay bills, so we have to go to each place to pay the electric and internet, etc. As we turned the corner and walked a short distance down the road Bill suddenly stopped and said “Look!”. I looked into the shallow creek bed that was about 3 feet below us, and found myself looking at a 4 foot monitor lizard. Yikes! There have been several sightings around our neighborhood.

Yikes, I felt like the Lord was reminding me to be aware of Him working in my life. To be aware of His constant companionship, His constant leading through the Holy Spirit. That is, if I am aware enough to see the Lord's leading. I truly want to follow the Lord in all that I do. I want HIS agenda for my every moment, not my own. I do not want to miss any Divine Appointments He has for me, as I go about my day.

So, “Thank you Lord. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your unending forgiveness, and thank you for never giving up on me. All praise, honor and glory be to you oh Lord!”

“For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will be our guide until we die.” Psalm 48:14

The LORD says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8

By April

Stranger Blessings . . .

2010-03-24T00:37:00.001-04:00

When we got to Thailand we dedicated our home to the Lord and we have enjoyed sharing our home in many different ways. Be it, Bible Studies, days of Prayer, or hosting travelers, the Lord is using our home. Praise God!

In the span of 7 days we were blessed to have people from 3 different countries stay with us. We were opening our home to bless them, and we hope they were blessed for having stayed here, but we too were blessed for having them stay with us.

The first two people to stay with us during that 7 day period were a brother and sister from New Zealand. We really enjoyed meeting them and getting to know them over their short stay with us. It was so interesting to hear about their lives in New Zealand, careers that we had no experience with. It was great to hear of their adventures as they boldly explored Thailand. They showed a small portion of the photos that they took along the way, and we were amazed. These photos will serve as wonderful memory stimulators for them, for years to come.

The day after our first guests left, a young couple from South Africa joined us. They have stayed with us before, but we always enjoy having them here. They joined in our Youth Group activities on Saturday and gave us some good ideas for Youth Group games. We were also blessed to share in times of prayer, and times of encouraging each other's hearts as we all seek to follow the Lord. Their passion and excitement about life is infectious.

A day later we were joined by John, a missionary from Mongolia. Talk about a temperature change! He left 30 below zero temperatures in Mongolia and came to Thailand where it was in the high 80's to low 90's. Unfortunately he had visited another country before coming to Thailand and was suffering from some stomach problems, but a friend of ours recommended some medicine and it did the trick. We enjoyed visiting with John for hours and sharing our hearts about our ministries.

How neat that prior to their coming, we did not even know two of the three groups that stayed with us, but because we shared a love of Christ we had an immediate bond that led to our being friends and family.

Thank you Lord for your ever growing family.

“Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.” 3 John 1:5-8

By April

A Clean, Fresh Slate . . .

2010-01-18T04:14:00.000-05:00

The other night Bill and I went out to dinner, to celebrate my Birthday. My parents had said they would treat us to dinner, and that we should find a nice restaurant. We went to a wonderful restaurant right on the beach in Hua Hin. The restaurant was carved into the side of a steep hill, with two terraced levels with tables and chairs. Each table was set with woven place mats, a napkin and utensils, as well as fresh flowers and a candle.

As we sat overlooking the beach and the ocean, we watched the sky change to include hues of pink and deep blue . . . and then it was dark. We are still surprised by how quickly the sun sets here in Thailand each evening.

After we ordered, we sat quietly enjoying the sound of the waves from the Gulf of Thailand rolling in and out. Each wave lulled us into feeling of relaxation and peace. In the background playing quietly we could hear soft English speaking songs, which was a nice surprise.

As I looked at the sand in the fading light, I noticed that there was hardly any undisturbed sand. Everywhere I looked I saw footprints going in all different directions, the remnants of sandcastle works of art, and random holes dug for who knows what purpose.

The Lord started to speak to my heart . . . if I were to come to the beach tomorrow morning what would I see? Would I see the disheveled beach of the day before, or would the beach look like a clean, fresh slate, free of footprints and sandcastles, and holes to fall in? This Bible verse came to my mind, “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Each morning. Wow, not every once in a while. Not once a year, but each morning God's mercies begin afresh. How awesome is that?! (And I reserve the word awesome for God.) Just as the beach would be clear of the disarray each morning, so too are our lives a clean, fresh slate each morning.

Thank you Lord for Your great mercies! Thank you for the clean, fresh slate that you gift us with each morning. All praise and honor and glory be to You, oh Lord!

Seeking to serve HIM in all that I do!

By April

Thanks for the Encouragement. . .

2010-01-11T11:16:00.000-05:00

As I have said before, working with the Youth Group has been a blessing, but to be perfectly honest sometimes I wonder just how much they are taking in. After all, almost every week we have youth from 3 different countries. As we play games, fellowship, and study God's Word it is obvious that the non-Americans are not seeing things as we do in America. At times we are laughing our heads off, and the others in the group look puzzled. So, imagine my delight when one of the Thai youth accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior the other night. . .

Bill and I walk everywhere we need to go, as we do not have a car or motorcycle. So, the other night Bill and I were walking home from the mall when all of a sudden we heard one of the boys from Youth Group yell “Hello.” We looked around but did not see him. He spoke again and we looked through the slats of a fence of the house we were passing. Sure enough there he was, sitting with a Thai girl from Youth Group. He cut right to the chase, “How would you describe salvation to her?”

Okay then. . . We were taken a little off guard, but we were thrilled that this young girl wanted to know more about having a relationship with Jesus. The young man explained that he had come by to visit her and that she had gone right into her house to get her Bible. She immediately started to asked questions about salvation, and now he wanted us to jump in and help explain things to her. Through the fence I explained the plan of salvation to her, but the young man said that she still did not understand.

Bill and I left, and walked the short distance home. I kept praying that God would show me how I could reach this young lady. We put our packages in the house and I grabbed a dry erase board, a marker and an eraser and headed back to the girls' house. I went around to the gate and entered the yard. The young man seemed relieved that I was back, but started to laugh when he saw my supplies.

The young lady was immediately intrigued and listened intently while I told her about God and Jesus. I told her that God was the creator of the heavens and the earth, and each one of us. I said that he loves each one of us, but that he did not want us to love Him because He put a gun to our head or something. I told her He did not want robots walking around saying “I love you Lord. I love you Lord.” Then I grabbed my dry erase board and gave her an illustration about how in the beginning we were in harmony with God, but then after we sinned we were separated from God. God then offered His only Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for our sins. When we ask for forgiveness of our sins, give our lives to the Lord, and ask Jesus to come into our hearts, Jesus then becomes our Lord and Savior. It is as if He holds a hand out to us and a hand out to a Holy God, and when we take hold we are united through Jesus.

I am so thankful that this young lady accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. I am so thankful that the Lord encouraged the heart of the young man that had been talking to her about Jesus for over 4 years, and our hearts, by helping us to see the fruits of our labor. Praise God!
“in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:12-14

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:8-9

By April

Christmas Presence. . .

2010-01-01T07:21:00.000-05:00

In case you are wondering. . .Yes, I do know how to spell. :-)

In the days leading up to Christmas I was so excited. About presents, you might inquire? But the answer would be 'no'. I was excited to see how the Lord's Presence would affect people here in Hua Hin, Thailand where we are currently serving as missionaries.

I heard many people around me talking of gifts they hoped to get, or about the gifts they were giving. But as we approached Christmas my eyes were on THE GIFT, JESUS, and I looked with anticipation as to how that GIFT would be received.

In the weeks before Christmas, Bill and I received and saw many others receive Christmas Presence.

Several weeks before Christmas, a woman at church came up to me and said that she did not feel that she has ever really embraced the Lord as her Savior. She said that although she had been going to church for years, she felt that she had a huge hole in her heart. She said that she sensed something different about me and wanted to talk with me about her lack of faith. She and another woman decided to come to our home to talk and for prayer. The Lord was so faithful in giving her HIS Christmas Presence. The Lord gave me just the right words, to speak into her heart. She gave her life to Christ and we hugged and cried. Praise God for Christmas Presence!

Then there was the Youth Group Christmas Presence. The Youth Group baked hundreds of cookies to be used as part of our outreach. It was so great to see the care and concern the youth put into making and baking the cookies. We went caroling at a local hospital and open air restaurants around town giving out cookies, tracts and information about our church services. The youth did such a wonderful job.

The Youth Group also packed backpacks with school supplies, food and toiletries to give to needy mountain children. We prayed over the backpacks and for each of the children that would receive them. We drove a little over an hour to meet the children and give out the 78 backpacks. As we got in the truck to head home, the youth said that we had to come back, and we started talking about what we could do for them next time.

Bill and I walked and walked and walked, around neighborhoods and along the beach (hey, somebody had to do it ;-) ) giving out information about our Christmas Eve service, Prayer Time and Bible Studies. We distributed over 500 hundred fliers throughout the area.

Another Christmas Presence occurred on the beach. We were walking down the beach with fliers in hand, when a young Thai woman said “Hello”. We stopped to speak with her, and she opened her heart saying that she was sad and feeling depressed. We spoke for quite a while and then we prayed with her, leaving her with a flier. I am still praying that she will come to church, because you see, she was depressed that she could not find a job and I found someone at church who thought they could hire her. I am hoping that as the Lord continues to work on her heart, she will find the courage to come to church. I believe she will be blessed in many ways.

On Christmas Eve we had a church service followed by a time of fellowship. The Pastor invited people to stand and say Merry Christmas in their native tongue. It turned out that we had people from 15 nations attending the church service. People stayed around for quite a while talking and munching on cake. Bill and I had gotten two cakes from a local bakery. One said Merry Christmas, and the other said Happy Birthday Jesus. It was such a blessing to fellowship with other believers from around the world.

Thank you Jesus. . .for Your Christmas Presence. I look forward to seeing them throughout the year!

Praise God and thank You Jesus!

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.” Psalm 105

By April

Are You Prepared?

2009-12-16T02:33:00.000-05:00

Below is an excerpt from the sermon, “Are You Prepared?” that I gave at All Nations Christian Fellowship International Church on December 6th, 2009. It’s a little different than most sermons as I presented it from the viewpoint of Forrest Gump, with the best rendition of a Forrest Gump accent that I could muster. I hope you find it both heart warming and meaningful.

Earlier today, Li’l Forrest asked me when we were going to start to get ready for Christmas. He wanted to make sure we had everything we needed to be prepared for Christmas Day. I think li’l Forrest was concerned with making sure we had the typical things that many people throughout the world associate with Christmas. Like having a Christmas tree, havin’ the house decorated, makin’ sure we had Christmas cards to friends and relatives written and mailed, gettin’ gifts for all the relatives, bakin’ Christmas cookies, and havin’ our stockings hung with care, as Santa will soon be here.

I tried to explain to li’l Forrest that while these things are all fun to do, we need to be prepared for Christmas every day, not just during Advent. Li’l Forrest asked me what I meant by that. I told him that Jesus told us in the Bible, that he is coming back to earth again one day and that while no one knows when that will be, except our Heavenly Father, we need to be prepared for his second coming or we will not be able to spend eternity with God in Heaven. We also have to be prepared that in the case that we die before Jesus returns, that we are ready to go to heaven at a moments notice.

I explained to li’l Forrest that people make and break a lot of appointments – doctor appointments, dentist appointments, appointments to have their hair cut, and to get their cars fixed. But there is One appointment that we are All goin’ have to keep. Doesn’t matter who you are, or what kind of name you have in this foolish world. Everybody is go’na show up for this appointment. From the richest woman in the world to the poorest man in the world. From the wisest man in the world to the biggest fool in the world. From the most famous man in the world to the most obsure and unknown woman in the world. The best lookin’ man, your daddy, to the best lookin’ woman, your momma, everybody is going to die one day and face judgment day. I recently read the between 150,000 to 300,000 people keep this appointment every day now. Mama always said, dying was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't, but it is.

27Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9: 27-28

Li’l Forrest said to me, “But Daddy, I’m a good boy, Jesus will look upon me kindly on Judgment Day won’t he?” I said to li’l Forrest, “Yes, you are a good boy. You don’t steal, and you don’t lie very often, and you say your prayers each night before you go to bed, but that is still not good enough. We are all sinners in one way or another, even you li’l Forrest. I asked him if he knew what the greatest commandment in the WHOLE Bible is? He stared at me and said “What is it Daddy?” I told him that Jesus said this in Mark, Chapter 12:

29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'[f] 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[g]There is no commandment greater than these."

I asked Li’l Forrest if Jesus was the number one thought in his head? Did he wake up with him on his mind? Did he seek to do God’s will everyday? Did he worship Him? Did he keep his commandment of loving him and loving others? God wants us to Love Him and he wants us to want to spend eternity with him.

By Bill

Puppy Like Passion. . .

2009-11-25T10:52:00.000-05:00

A little over a month ago we got an auburn colored toy poodle puppy. Because of her coloring, we named her 'Sweet Pumpkin Spice', but we call her 'Pumpkin' for short.

When we got Pumpkin, we had to teach her how to get up the stairs to reach our front door. Before we got Pumpkin we had decided to combine our yard with the neighbors (our ministry partners) so that they would have more room for their sons to play. So at that time we moved the 2 foot high chain link fence very close to our house to protect their dog from getting in our driveway and accidentally getting out our front gate.

We soon found that when we are on the other side of the fence, Pumpkin has a deep desire and almost a desperation about getting to us. In the beginning she taught herself to climb the chainlink fence, dangle on the top, and then push off dashing over to us.

To keep her from climbing the fence Bill attached plastic fencing to the chainlink so that she could not get her paws in the links to climb it. We thought this did the trick . . .

Well, the other day, Bill and I were on the other side of the fence talking with our neighbor and Pumpkin was crying on our side of the fence. The next thing we knew, there was Pumpkin at our feet wagging her tail bouncing from Bill to me. We laughed and picked her up, then carried her back to our side of the fence wondering all the while how she had gotten over the fence. Before we were even back to where we were standing and talking, Pumpkin was already at our feet again wagging her tail and bouncing around just thrilled to be with us. Her whole countenance just oozed joy. The neighbor said that she had climbed a large flower pot in our garden and then flung herself onto the fence where she dangled for a moment before pushing off hitting the ground and dashing over to us. I have to say that our hearts were full seeing how much Pumpkin wanted to be with us. She would not let anything deter her. She just had to be with us. She wanted us to pick her up and hold her, all the while she covered our faces with kisses.

The next day we were planting some vegetable plants in our garden. (Let me just say that it has been interesting for us to try and plant a garden in Thailand. Seeds that we took for granted in America, are very hard to find in Thailand. We bought some tomatoes and ate all, but the seeds which we planted. We did the same with watermelon seeds. :-D )

Pumpkin stood crying on the other side of the fence as we worked in the garden. She has been known to pull out plants so we could not let her in the garden with us. We talked to her as we worked. We told her it is okay, we will be with you soon, etc. Well, in her mind, soon was not soon enough. She wanted to be with us now! Before we knew it she was in the garden with us. We scooped her up and again wondered how she had gotten over the fence. We placed her back on the other side, she immediately scampered to the corner where the house and the fence came together at an angle. She then pressed her back against the house and proceeded to press her way up and over the fence. It was amazing! This puppy was so excited to see us. Yes, we had just been with her, but it was not enough. She wanted to be with us all of the time.

The Lord spoke to my heart, asking me what would our lives be like (that is the lives of Christians) if we had the same passion to be with Him that our puppy had to be with us. How would our lives be more rich, how would we bless the Lord if every morning we woke up and said “Yes, I get to be with Jesus.” What if we did not let anything get in the way of being with the Lord. Not our busy schedules, not chores, not family or friends, not work. Nothing.

Oh, I pray, that my heart would have the passion and desire to spend time with my God and Savior above all else. To get to know Him better. To rest in His warm embrace. To listen to the still small voice that whispers in my heart. Never feeling the I have spent enough time with my Lord, always thirsting for more time with Him. Always joyful and passionate about spending time with God.

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:9-14

By April

Is the Brake On? . . .

2009-11-18T01:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Bill and I went with our neighbor and ministry partner, Mark, to Bangkok for a Pastor's meeting. Mark drove his van, and we left at 8:00 a.m. for the noon meeting. Traffic actually flowed nicely and we made it to Bangkok a little early. The meeting, lunch, and prayer time were really great.

After the meeting, Mark offered another pastor a ride, as we were all going to the Sky Train. We pulled into the parking lot and started searching for a parking spot. The pastor we had given a ride to, called out that he saw a spot one row over, so we went down and around and started up the next row. He stated that it was the third spot from the end. We all craned our necks to see the approaching spot. I looked in disbelief, well yeah, there was an empty spot, but there was a vehicle double parked completely blocking the spot. As Mark slowed the van, the other pastor jumped out saying that he would move the car that was blocking the spot. I got a knot in my stomach as I imagined the car alarm going off as he pushed it, or worse yet, that the owner would approach indignate that we were moving his car. To my surprise, the car moved with ease. No one came running to yell at us. In fact, another man wondered if we needed help moving the car?! Hmmm, I am trying to imagine this scenario in America. :-)

I had heard that it is common practice for drivers to put their vehicles in Neutral when parking someone in, but experiencing it was another thing altogether. As far as the emergency brake goes, they do not use it because they never know when someone will have to move their car.

In Pennsylvania, we always put our car in Park, the emergency brake on and set the car alarm.

The Lord started to stir in my heart . . .

Oh how our lives can be like a parked car. When we decide to do something, do we leave ourselves in Neutral with the emergency brake off, in case we need to be moved by the Lord or by someone else? Or, do we dig our heals in 'putting ourselves in Park, with the emergency brake firmly in place, and our alarm set' just in case someone tries to change our course?

There are of course times to stand our ground and dig our heals in. That is when the Lord has clearly told us to stay the course no matter what. But, what about when the Lord tries to get us to change our direction? How willing are we to release the brake, turn off the alarms, and allow Him to move us? Yikes, this sounds like we have to leave ourselves vulnerable to change. Sometimes it can seem so logical to follow the plans that we have made.

However, I have found that in order to be in the Lord's will, I need to 'leave it in Neutral, the emergency brake off, and the alarm off' so that I can be movable enough for the Lord to use me.

Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)
Place Your Life Before God
“So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

By April

Ping Pong . . .

2009-10-29T06:13:00.000-04:00

So, we are trying to get a youth group up and going here in Hua Hin, Thailand. The Wimble boys, Bill and I have met and have many ideas on how to reach the youth of Hua Hin.

Bill and I decided to buy a Ping Pong table to use under the carport (it is not like we have a car or anything). The table is actually in two pieces so we can use it as two tables for events at our house. Such as, this past Sunday the Asian Summit was being held in Hua Hin, and we were unable to have our church service at the Hilton as we usually do. Okay, so the question was where can we have church – we were only given one week's notice. Did someone say “How about the Reeser's house?” We decided we could probably fit the average number of people in our house for church. Then someone suggested we have lunch afterward. Our new ping pong table and the chairs that we bought for the church service worked wonderfully for the luncheon after church. There was lots of fellowship as people ate and got to know each other better after the service. What a blessing.

Well, we have been praying for months for the Holy Spirit to go before us and open hearts and minds to hear the Good News of Jesus. We have prayed that our lives would be a testimony to the Lord and that people would see a difference and be drawn to us.

The other night, two of the Wimble boys asked if they could play ping pong, so Bill setup the tables. They had been playing about ten minutes, when four neighborhood boys stood outside our gate, asking to come in and play. I welcomed them in and laughed to myself as one boy displayed his own ping pong paddle. The boys all took turns playing and they all seemed to be having fun. As I watched, I prayed that the boys would come to know Jesus as their Savior. After some time one of the boys suddenly looked at his watch and they all dashed home.

One of the Wimble boys and I started to play ping pong when all of a sudden two more boys were standing at the gate wanting to play. I invited them in and as they played, I prayed.

Wow, Lord you are so amazing! We were trying to think how to reach out to the youth, and instead you brought them to us. We wanted the church to grow into a more cohesive group and they did. Praise God!

Do you know that the boys have come back each day wanting to play some more? What an opportunity! Thank you Lord!

How wonderful that the Lord could see so much potential in the purchase of a ping pong table.

“Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!” Psalm 47: 1-2.

I am humbled again by His might and creativity!

By April

YES!...Yes?!...yes?...maybe...well, I'll think about it...

2009-10-22T04:11:00.000-04:00

I've started a ladies Bible study here in Thailand, and we are studying the book “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” by Lysa TerKeurst. In the first chapter of the book she challenges us to say Yes to God before we even know what the question is. As she puts it “What God says to do, do it.”

It's kind of like giving God a blank check to our life. It's like we are saying “Lord, I've signed my name, You fill in the rest. You don't have to tell me what the “what” is, I give you my life in full. In other words “YES, YES, YES Lord.” How many of us are willing to do that?

Thankfully the Lord is patient, because sometimes instead of saying a definitive “Yes” I come up with counter offers or I tell the God of the Universe why I do not have time to do what He asks.

Yikes! When I think about it, how dare I respond to the Lord that way.

Sometimes my immediate response is Yes, and other times I waffle, but thankfully I usually come around to Yes.

One time I was coming out of work and the Lord put it on my heart to go to a little store nearby. As I got into the car I began to reason with the Lord that I had been to that store the day before, and I just had enough time to run home let our dog out, gather my stuffed animals and my Winnie the Pooh costume to get to the nursing home on time. I continued to feel strongly that the Lord was telling me to go to this particular little store. As I approached a traffic light I put on my left turn signal (left would take me home), then I switched and put on right turn signal (that would take me to the little store) back and forth, back and forth. Do you know that the traffic light stayed red until I finally decided to make the right turn. As I drove the short distance to the store I told the Lord “All right, but I have no idea what to say. I am putting this in Your hands.” There were three people in front of me in line, and I just kept praying for guidance. Finally, I was up. The clerk said “Hey, weren't you just here yesterday?” I answered “yes”. “What can I get for you?” the clerk asked. As I silently cried out to the Lord for an answer, I heard myself say “Oh, I was going to get a soda next door, would you like one?” The clerk said “No, thanks.” I started to panic...now what? When all of a sudden the clerk started to openly talked about something that was on her heart. We talked for about 15 minutes, all the while it appeared that the Lord had locked the door to the store because not a single person came in while we talked. After we talked, I prayed with her, and as I turned to leave she said “You know, it seems like God sent you.” I smiled and thought “You have no idea.” As I headed for the door a stream of people entered and business returned to normal.

Well, as I got in the car and traveled home I thanked the Lord over and over again. I was so thankful that He had used me, and that I had said “Yes”.

I got home, let George (our dog) out, gathered my bag of stuffed animals and my Winnie the Pooh costume and drove the half an hour to the nursing home and made it on time. As I went around visiting the nursing home residents, giving out stuffed animals and praying with them I continued to rejoice.

As I drove home nearly two hours later, I chided myself and asked myself why I don't always just say “Yes” right away when the Lord asks me to do something. His plans are always so much better than mine, and I am always so glad when I say “Yes” to the one True, Living God of the Universe.

So, would you like to join me in a renewed resolve to say “Yes” to the Lord; before we know He is asking, without having seen the full set of Blue Prints. Lord, I say Yes to whatever You ask of me. YES!

How is that for definitive?

“YES, Lord, Yes!”

By April

Lukewarm . . .

2009-10-07T07:20:00.000-04:00

It hit me today as I was washing dishes in lukewarm water, how I have had to adjust to things being lukewarm since I have come to Thailand as a missionary. You see the sinks do not have temperature controlled water. All of the water is… well, lukewarm. The water sits in a huge holding tank under our front porch and it flows through the house and out the tap at one temperature…yes, you guessed it…lukewarm.

It has taken some getting used to on my part. The first time I did laundry here I was trying to find the dial or button to choose the temperature of the water. Ha, ha, ha. Okay, so there is only one temperature…lukewarm.

Often the word lukewarm has a negative connotation, and I can see why.

Have you ever:
*Wanted to go for a cool dip in a pool or the ocean, only to find out that the water felt like lukewarm bathwater?
*Thirsted for a refreshing drink of cold water only to find it lukewarm; and not so refreshing?
*Longed for a nice hot bubble bath and stuck your toe into a lukewarm, not so inviting abyss of water?

I remember going through a time of complacency (lukewarmness) in my Christian walk years ago. I would go to church, sometimes read my Bible, but pretty much not seek to serve the Lord unless the opportunity dropped in my lap. I look back on that time with deep regret, and so I try to actively avoid becoming lukewarm ever again in my faith walk.

And so as I have to deal with lukewarm water everyday here in Thailand, it is a wonderful reminder to me that I do not want to be lukewarm in serving the Lord.

“So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:16

By April

Mud, Weeds, and . . . Beauty?

2009-09-28T02:53:00.000-04:00

We moved to Hua Hin, Thailand as missionaries less than a month ago, and moved into a charming house with nice high ceilings and a small yard. A lot of homes in the area do not have any grass, so our yard is actually considered spacious. During the last few weeks we have had hot (up to 120 degrees in the sun) weather followed by periods of fairly hard - sometimes flood producing - rains daily. In front of the house that we are renting is a small muddy area that turns into a water filled mud pit as water cascades like a giant waterfall off our roof during the rain.

Well, my husband, Bill, looked at the mud pit (aka front yard) and saw the potential of a beautiful, tranquil garden area. He ordered 300 bricks and asked me to buy some flowers. On Saturday morning he got up and started digging out along the border of the mud pit and placed bricks in at an angle, creating a beautiful border. (We found out that Thai bricks are different than what we are used to. They are thinner, have a groove down the center and two holes that go through each brick vertically.) While I was out getting flowers, he designed and created a winding brick path through the mud pit. I was stunned how the much the mud pit had been transformed, and that was before a single flower had been added.

Bill then started planting the flowers in pots, and placing them inside the border around the garden. What a transformation!

Jonathan, our ten year old neighbor and son of our c o-workers, caught the vision and said he was doing a project in our garden. He worked and worked as we cleared debris from the yard. Jonathan called us over and proudly showed us his project. Here he had spelled out in decorative white stones “His Glory Runners” and he had placed a smiley face  below it.

I was stunned! You see, the Lord had placed the name “His Glory Runners” on our hearts after he had called us to be missionaries. Jonathan had seen it on our prayer card and thought it would be perfect in our garden. People can now look through our fence at our beautiful garden and see that we are “His Glory Runners”.

It is amazing to me how Bill looked at a mud pit and saw the potential of a beautiful lush garden.

Is that how the Lord looks at us? Instead of seeing flawed April, does He think “oh I can use April in showing the love of Jesus in wonderful, amazing ways that she cannot even imagine?”

I am so thankful Lord, that You blessed me with a husband who can look at waste land and see past the mud and the weeds, and see potential beauty.
Thank you Lord, that when You look at us, You see past our flaws and iniquities and see potential beauty in us.

Thank you Jesus!

By April

We Can Tell We Are Not In Pennsylvania Anymore Because . . .

2009-09-18T22:51:00.001-04:00

No one drives on the right side of the road.

None of the houses or buildings have heating systems.

Stop signs are virtually non-existent.

There are more prostitutes in the country than there are Christians.

The geckos we see are climbing on our walls and ceilings rather than talking on television trying to sell us insurance.

There are nearly as many motorcycles and motor scooters as there are cars on the roads and there are a lot of cars on the roads.

There are more brothels in the country than there are Christian churches.

Tile floors are the norm in every room in most modern homes and wall-to-wall carpeting is basically non-existent.

The men’s rooms in the airport are clean, have live orchids on the sinks, and actually smell good.

The “cold” running water is so warm that sinks and washing machines do not even have heated water. We only have hot water in the showers.

Stores actually have cashiers and baggers at all the check-out lines.

Our front and back doors open out and not in.

We watch and listen live to the Phillies play in the mornings rather than the evenings even when they play games in California. However, when the Phillies play in sunlight, we are asleep in bed.

But, no matter where we go, our God is with us!

By Bill

So, How Do I Look. . . ?

2009-09-14T02:40:00.000-04:00

One of the things the Lord has really been making me aware of is…how do I look.

Oh, I don't mean “how is my hair” or “does this outfit look good on me”. I mean, when you look at me next to the world, can you see a difference. Do people notice something different about me, or do I look and sound just like the world?

One time I put on a white shirt and wore it around the house all morning. I thought I looked fine. In the afternoon I left the house to run errands. As I stood outside in the brightness of the day, I suddenly noticed that the white shirt I was wearing was not nearly as white as I thought it was. When I was inside where the lighting was somewhat dim, my shirt looked fine. I thought it look perfectly white and fresh. Outside, under the scrutiny of the bright sun, my shirt looked well. . . dingy. Like maybe some pizza grease had not come out completely in the wash, and frankly, all though it could still be categorized as white – it really was not really white.

So I started thinking, what am I comparing myself to? Am I looking at myself thinking, not bad…not bad, I am doing pretty well in following the Lord especially if you look at some other people. But, wait! To whom am I to compare myself? Who am I to strive to be like…everybody else…or Jesus?

When I hold myself up to the standard and purity of Jesus. . . I am but as a filthy rag. Wow, what a wakeup call! The Bible tells us not to think to highly of ourselves.
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Romans 12:3

When the Lord is trying to teach me something He almost always has the message come to me in more than one way. Yesterday our Pastor challenged us to look at ourselves and evaluate whether people would be able to tell that we are different than the world. Would people see the light of Christ shining through us?

So, I am taking the Lord and my Pastor up on the challenge, and I am seeking to live more like Christ. I am praying that when you look at me, there will be no question as to who I am serving and seeking to be like. Jesus my Lord and Savior.

So, “How do I look?”

By April

Ready for the ride…

2009-09-04T07:47:00.000-04:00

Our lives have felt like we have been on the rush and tumble of a roller coaster. As we face each new activity we find ourselves holding onto the Lord for His stability and strength as we rush by turn after turn, the ups and the downs.

This summer we spent two and a half months down at CIT (the Center for Intercultural Training) in Union Mills, North Carolina, where we learned more than we knew there was to learn about being a missionary. It was a wonderful two and half months, filled with information, fellowship and fun. We met so many precious missionaries that we are praying for and hoping to stay in touch with.

Then back to Pennsylvania, for a whirlwind two and a half weeks spent trying to see family and friends, along with sorting and packing, getting visas…before flying out to our new home, Thailand.

Whoa, thirty hours and three airplanes later, we were in Bangkok, Thailand trying to get acclimated to the 11 hour time difference.

And now here we sit in our room at the Guest House in Bangkok that we have been staying in, sleeping in yet another unfamiliar bed, looking forward to tomorrow and what it will bring. Tomorrow we will move into our new home in Hua Hin, Thailand, a house that we have only briefly seen from the outside.

Our lives have gone from most things familiar, to almost everything and everyone being new and unknown. A new culture, new language, new people and surroundings. I am happy to have the comfort of the familiar...the Lord, my wonderful husband, Bill, and our co-workers that God has joined us with.

We are so grateful to have the constant guidance of the Lord in every new step we take. As we meet new people daily, we are trusting in God’s Word: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:5-6.

So, as we continue on the roller coaster known as life, we say “Thank you Lord for always being with us!”

By April

Am I Thankful Enough?

2009-08-21T16:26:00.000-04:00

We had the pleasure of having dinner with Bill’s brother and wife, as well as their son, his wife, and their three year old daughter, Ruthie.

After the food was passed, we stopped to pray. Ruthie said she wanted to pray. So she folded her hands, closed her eyes, and this is what she prayed: “Thank you Jesus for this food. Amen.”

After eating the food on her plate, someone asked Ruthie if she wanted some more. She said, “yes” and was given some more to eat. However, before she picked up her fork she folded her hands, closed her eyes and prayed “Thank you Jesus for this more food.”

I thought wow, am I that thankful to my Lord and Savior, constantly giving thanks?

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thessalonians 5:16-18

I think I have some thanking to do!

Thank you Jesus!

By April

Watch Your Light

2009-08-17T22:27:00.000-04:00

I was blessed to be able to spend an evening at Montreat, NC with our church youth group and leaders. After singing and hearing a message, we were each given a candle as we went outside. All 1,100 plus people (mostly youth), crossed the street and surrounded Lake Susan. The candles were lit by passing the flame from one to another until all of the candles were lit.

My heart was touched to see so many youth holding their candles singing worship songs into the night. The light from the candles reflected in the lake, creating even more light.

As we stood singing, a soft breeze blew periodically blowing some of the candles out. When that happened people would share their flames and relight their candles. Every time the wind would pickup, I would cup my hand around my flame so that it would not blow out…and it never did.

The Lord spoke to my heart, saying “See how easy it is for your light to go out?” He impressed upon me that we need to protect our light, so that it does not go out.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

I started to consider what things could cause my light go out. Well, the first thing I thought of was sin. If we fall into sin and turn from the Lord, our light dims or goes out. If we get self involved, always looking at things as to how they affect us; instead of caring for others...our light can dim. We can seriously endanger our Christian witness if we let our light flicker or dim. Hmmm, I better watch my light and beware of the things that threaten to snuff it out.

What can I do to protect my light? I can read God’s Word daily. I can ask the Holy Spirit to convict my heart of sin in my life, and then repent. I can keep our eyes on Jesus.

So, I am praying that I keep my light burning brightly for all to see!

By: April

The Privilege...

2009-07-25T21:07:00.001-04:00

I saw an amazing video clip in team building class at CIT (the Center for Intercultural Training), that just grabbed my heart. The tears ran down my face, as I saw a father participate in a triathlon all the while pushing, carrying or pulling his adult physically handicapped son along with him.

Years earlier the son had told his father via a special computer that he uses to pick out letters by moving his head, that he wanted to participate in a 5 mile benefit run for a paralyzed lacrosse player. The father ran the race, all the while pushing his son in a special wheel chair. After the benefit run, the son told his father that during the race he did not feel handicapped.

The father and son have been competing in marathon races and triathlons ever since.

Wow! What love!

I started to think about my Heavenly Father, and how He pushes, carries and pulls me along in doing His work. I thought about how He allows me to join Him in His work on earth. Let’s face it, does the Lord need me to help Him accomplish His work on earth? The answer of course is no. However, He lets me come along, allows me to join in His work. Why? Because He loves me. He wants me to feel free in a way that I can only know through Him.

Just as parents allow their children to help around the house, God allows us to help with His work. Would it be quicker and easier for the parents to do the work themselves? Of course. But they let them help, so that they can learn and grow.

When I think about Mr. Hoyt and his complete dedication to his son, and his desire to help his son feel free, I think, what amazing love. But how much more does Christ love us? His love is limitless!

And what about the attitude of the son? To see the joy on his face, his arms spread wide, as he joins his father in the races. You can see the enthusiasm and joy he has just for the privilege of being able to join his father in the races. Hmmm, is my heart filled with joy and enthusiasm as I face each day hand in hand with the Lord? I am praying that I have that enthusiasm and joy overflowing and that people will see it, just because I have the privilege of serving the Lord.

We think we know what good is, and what will satisfy us. But God has such amazing plans for us. When I follow His plan for my life, my life is so incredible. It is so much more than I ever could have imagined.

As Bill and I prepare to go to Thailand as missionaries in August, we are so excited to see what the Lord is going to do through us.

Thank you Lord, for giving us the privilege of serving and working with You!

*Please click the link to view the video.

My WinShape Experience

2009-07-17T17:16:00.004-04:00

Bill and I are here in Union Mills, North Carolina at the Center for Intercultural Training (CIT) preparing to go to Thailand as missionaries in August. As part of the Team Training, CIT brought in a group from Georgia called WinShape Wilderness. They are affiliated with Chick-fil-A.

These are my reflections on the team building experience. I hope you enjoy reading about my experience. April

My WinShape Experience...

As I signed the waiver for WinShape
I felt uneasy as I read climbing and repelling tower.
Yikes! What was I in for today!?

I decided right there and then,
to choose to be open and childlike
and to fully participate.
I challenged myself to be open
to what the Lord wanted to teach me
through the WinShape Experience,
and I knew I could not do that from the sidelines.

So, the Trust element was started in me
before I hit the classroom.

I found it interesting that at least
four of the people in my general vicinity,
had the same one sentence definition
of Team that I had.

The Blind Walk, was an exercise in trust.
I felt completely at ease
putting my trust in Bill,
even as I heard cars flying down the road.

The Zoom Activity started with
much talking and little order,
but someone quickly turned
our chaos into order.

In this activity and others,
it blessed my heart to see
person after person step up and
lead, encourage and challenge.

We always seemed to work together
for the common goal.
No one seemed to be looking for
accolades or the spotlight.

The Zoom Activity helped me to analogize
that God can see the big picture,
and that He has called us to work with others on a team.
We need to trust Him and strive to make the team work,
even though things may not make sense to us
with our limited vision.

Stepping away and coming back together as a group
gave us a fresh perspective,
and I think that is a valuable lesson
I want to take to the field.

In Wild Woozy, I found out that
not only is it okay to lean on others,
but that it is necessary at times.
Just as we care for people and want to come along side
and help them through things,
we need to let others do the same for us.

I also found that I had a lot more confidence
in the activity, knowing that I had supporters
and encouragers all around me.
I am going to remember that in the field.

In the Shepherd’s Staff Activity,
it was imperative that we
worked together and communicated,
for the safety of everyone involved.

We openly shared concerns with each other,
when we saw the need for someone to
hold their line more tautly or loosely.
Nobody got their back up (at least openly),
at the request for correction.

As people encountered problems,
warnings were relayed about potholes
and tree branches.

When one person on our team found themselves in a hole,
they sounded the alarm,
and as a team
we immediately talked through a solution
and executed it, literally, step by step.

I thought, wow, wouldn’t this be a great
openness to be able to share in the field.
To be able to say...
‘Listen, I noticed you are headed for a pothole
and I care too much to let you just fall in.’

Instead of getting our back up
wouldn’t it be wonderful to have those words
be received with gratitude.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if my heart
accepted these words without self condemnation,
but with gratitude that someone
cared enough to say something?

I learned that we need to be pliable
when the pace is different than what we anticipated.
Or, when we end up in a position
that we did not expect to be in.

I also learned that I need to be willing
to both lead and to be led.
That there will be times for each.
I will be trusting the Holy Spirit for guidance in this.

Time and again throughout the day,
I saw true caring and love for each other.
I truly appreciated that today was not competitive in nature,
that we were all there to encourage each other.

I prayed my way through the day,
for safety, for fun and for learning
about ourselves and the Lord.
Throughout the day
many things were celebrated.

I end today with a joyful heart.
Blessed for the things I have learned.
Blessed for the way in which I learned them.
And blessed by seeing Christ in so many
people around me.

Praise God!

HISGloryRunners in North Carolina

2009-07-10T19:50:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our blog!