Taking Pleasure in our Troubles!

⁸ Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. ⁹ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Is there something in your life that you wish wasn’t there?  Almost everyone I know has something or someone that is burdensome.  Sometimes these things involve weaknesses of our own, meaning, it’s related to an area in our physical, mental, or emotional being that is weak.  Other times it involves circumstances that are out of our hands.  Something happened to us.  We were in a wreck or an accident and now there is a burden to carry.  And still, other times it involves other people who are against us or worse, have no concern for us, as a human being with a heart and spirit. 

Any of these can be a thorn for us whether it is in the body, in the mind, or in our emotions.  It is a burden and it is difficult.  If we’re not weak, we get weak from carrying the burden constantly.  But the truth is this, we were never made to carry these burdens alone.  An African proverb says, “Two ants do not fail to pull a grasshopper.”  Or as John Heywood is credited with saying, “Many hands make light work.”  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.  For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.  But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”  We are to help one another.  Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

There is still another who came to bear our burdens for us, in fact, He asks for them.  Psalms 55:22a says, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you.”  Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  God the Father and Jesus the Son asks for your burdens.  Remove them from your shoulders and lay them at their feet. 

Paul learned a lesson that I have had to learn and re-learn too many times.  God doesn’t want for us to have a life of ease so we can coast.  Through our struggles, our burdens, we first learn that we must depend upon Jesus, we learn to have faith.  We are made strong in our weakness because we learn to turn to God.  Then through more struggles, burdens, and in impossible situations or circumstances, we learn to have more faith – the kind of faith that says, “God, if you don’t do something, there is no hope.  It is You or nothing.”  We are made stronger in our nothingness because we learn that there is only God.  His strength is made perfect in our lives when we recognize and accept that we are nothing.

This is why Paul boasts in his infirmities so he can testify to the greatness and power of Jesus his Savior.  But further, he takes pleasure in the burdens hoping that they are more than he can bear so there is no option but for Christ to be lifted up.  Paul wants nothing less than for the strength and power of Christ to be evident and overcoming in every area of his life.  He seems to be saying, “Oh Lord, give me another burden, so You can bear it!”  “The battle is the Lord’s” David cried in 1 Samuel 17 in the face of Goliath “and He will give you into our hands!” 

What is my burden today?  Am I giving it to the Lord so He can fight for me?  Do I hand it over expectantly as Paul and David did so the Lord can be glorified in my weakness?  Do I have the kind of faith that rejoices in saying, “Jesus, my Savior, it is You or nothing!”?  Do I praise God for my burdens, my pain, my deepest hurts, because they allow me the opportunity to turn them over, for Him to show His power, and for me to testify to His saving grace?  May I thank God for the impossible situations today so I can learn and re-learn how to have complete and total faith in Him.

Thanks to Calvary

Today, I went down to the place where I used to go
Today, I saw the same old crowd I knew before
And when they asked me what had happened, I tried to tell them,
Thanks to Calvary, I don't come here anymore.

Thanks to Calvary I am not the man I used to be
Thanks to Calvary things are different than before.
And as the tears ran down my face I tried to tell them,
Thanks to Calvary, I don't come here anymore.

“Thanks to Calvary” by Bill Gaither, another Ol’-Time Religion song you don’t hear anymore.  This weekend while I watched and listened to Jefferson Bethke (author of “Jesus > Religion”) give his testimony, which is good but different, I found myself still coming back to this song and my own experiences.  Even though everyone’s experience or journey with Jesus is different, everyone I’ve ever met who knows Christ will agree that “Thanks to Calvary (they) are not the (person) (they) used to be.”

These thoughts led me to a paragraph early in R. A. Torrey’s book “The Presence and Work of the Holy Spirit” which says the following. 

“If it had not been for the love of God the Father looking down upon me in my utter ruin and providing a perfect atonement for me in the death of His own Son on the cross of Calvary, I would have been in hell today.  If it had not been for the love of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, looking upon me in my utter ruin and, in obedience to the Father, putting aside all the glory of heaven for all the shame of earth and taking my place, the place of the curse, upon the cross of Calvary and pouring out His life utterly for me, I would have been in hell today.  But if it had not been for the love of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in answer to the prayer of the Son, leading Him to seek me out in my utter blindness and ruin, I would have been in hell today.”

Today, I am thankful that God never gave up on me even when I did.  I am thankful that he hunted me down like the animal I am and slayed me with an everlasting love.  I am thankful that when I called out saying, "If you won't kill me then do something because I can't!", He answered immediately, simply saying, "That's all I've been waiting on you to understand."

I thank God today for His forgiveness and His love which surpasses all my understanding and all of myself.

The Work of Patience

⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. ¹⁰ But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. – 1 Peter 5:8-10

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. – James 1:2-4

Most often, I pray for trials to go quickly.  I don’t like the presence of conflict, wrongs, insensitivity or blindness to Godly ways, intentional deception, unsaid emotions, and such.  Let’s just get it out and get over it.  I find that I am very sensitive to this now and when someone refuses to “get it out” I just get away from them.  They’ll figure it out when they’re ready because “ain’t nobody got time for that”. 

Yet, God instructs that although our adversary looks for ways to oppose us and purposely seeks our destruction, we should have patience.  We are to resist the ways of destruction, keep steady in our faith (unwavering), and be patient.  After we have “suffered a while” the “God of all grace” will “perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle” us.  The patience works to make us “perfect and complete, lacking nothing”. 

We know that we are not complete except in Jesus and are therefore not perfect until we are resting fully with Him.  Considering this, how then can the testing of our faith which produces patience make us complete?  It is through the nudging, pushing, and encouragement of a trial that leads our faith so that it is made full and rests in a state of complete dependence upon Jesus.  When we finally let go and decide that God will do this or it can’t be done; when our only hope rests in a miracle from Him; when it is God or nothing; then is our faith perfected and completed through the perfect work of Jesus Christ.  Oh, would we start everyday desperate for His perfect work in it and in us! 

Once our faith has been made whole, the patient work of Christ, with all our hope upon Him, begins.  The victory is His victory.  When we have a complete faith in our Savior, we lack nothing, because we quickly see that there is nothing else.

Be Still and KNOW that He is God

Ps 46:10  He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

I love the sentiment of this verse, but find it practically impossible to live it to the fullest extent.  What I mean is that for me, I have difficulty forcing myself to be still.  Being still requires discipline.  Discipline to stop the hectic activities of the day and center myself under God.  I struggle with that discipline.  Furthermore, if I KNOW He is God, I will allow Him to permeate every aspect of my life, truly making Him Lord of ALL.  Again, I find it nearly impossible to do so. 
Other versions state it this way:
New American Standard: Cease striving
Holman Christian Standard Bible: Stop your fighting
International Standard Version: Be in awe
Aramaic Bible in Plain English: Return
Young's Literal Translation:  Desist

These translations help me understand where God is coming from in this verse.  So often we get up and begin our day only to have it unravel in some minor or major disaster.  I find that in the major disasters, I'm quick to turn to God because I can clearly see that the problem is beyond my human abilities.  Sickness and death are two examples and our church prayer list is a testament that I'm not alone in turning the "big" problems over to God.  The minor issues, however are the ones in which I struggle to give Him control.  Job, career, hobbies, interests, even simple tasks like installing a ceiling fan. 
Last week during the HS Mission Trip, the "home" owner asked me to remove a ceiling fan from his sister's abandoned trailer and install it in his "home."  As I removed the fan, I dropped a mounting screw in the trailer.  Mr. Gilley had accompanied me next door and as he talked about his life while I worked, I frantically began searching for the tiny screw in the midst of a trailer full of junk knowing full-well that failure to find the screw would mean I simply couldn't use the fan.  As he bantered, not even realizing what was going on, I was frantically searching through the debris on the floor while I thought about what supplies I had and how I might work around the critical screw.  Then it occurred to me that God knew exactly where that screw was and I simply needed to be still long enough to hear His still small voice.  As I opened my eyes from that quick "9-1-1" prayer, my eyes focused straight on the screw.  I picked it up, put it carefully in the tray with the others and proceeded to rejoin the banter.  I don't think David ever realized what I was doing.
I state that to say that I don't always take time to pray my way through everything in life.  I find it easy to simply go about my life doing the best I can with the brain God gave me.  People have often told me that God gave us a brain and gave us common sense to use it.  Others have even said that God helps those who help themselves.  I don't see those admonitions in scripture (if you do, please point me in the right direction!).  Instead, I find direction to put myself, all of me, on the alter and allow Him to be Lord.  This means my intellect and common sense as well.  After all, He is the only one with perfect knowledge of all things past, present, and future.  We might know the past, and understand the present, but we can't know the future and only he knows the perfect decision in every circumstance. 
Lord I pray that I could be still BEFORE I totally screw things up.  May my every action be guided by your perfect will and knowledge.  Forgive my impatience, my stubbornness, and my self-reliance.  My worst offense is to open my mouth without first bathing my tongue in prayer.  My words are sometimes few, but injurious none-the-less.  May you bind my tongue today such that my words are only those you would speak.  May I be a source of love and encouragement to my wife, my children, my friends and co-workers not so that I am edified, but that you are glorified. 

Do You Know?

Considering that the physical world is of no consequence eternally and that life is only found in God … what keeps us from being completely focused on the depths of God’s Word, the rule of the Spirit of God in our lives, and living in the work of Jesus Christ?   If we believe and our faith is real do we have a different desire?  When we do not maintain this singular priority in our life, doesn’t this tell what our actual beliefs in the priority of God are?

Every moment we should ask these questions:
1. Do I know that there is one and only one living God?
2. Do I believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
3. Do I believe that His sacrifice bore my sins and I am forgiven by God’s grace?
4. Do I know that the Spirit of God dwells inside my innermost being?

If we know these things, what then should have a greater authority?  What should interrupt our faith?

The struggle of life, though presented in almost every way imaginable, is simply the fight for faith.  When we stop focusing on the salvation, Word and presence of God, we focus on a different authority.  Our faith fails.  There must be an intentional effort of study, prayer, and contemplation in focus on Jesus Christ since He overcame this world.  When we rest in Him the world notices, but continues towards anarchy.  Christians walking in full faith completely submitted to the Spirit of the one true living God are able to walk daily confidently expecting miracles of God.  The first being their very salvation and His purpose in them.

What about the Change?

Acts 2:38 And Peter said, Let your hearts be changed, every one of you, and have baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will have the Holy Spirit given to you.

The chorus from Steven Curtiss Chapmans "The Change"
What about the change
What about the difference
What about the grace
What about forgiveness
What about a life that's showing
I'm undergoing the change yeah
I'm undergoing the change

For me, this years High School Mission Trip was outstanding.  I watched as our youth formed deeper bonds.  I reveled in the sharing that took place during our devotion time.  I was thankful to spend quality time in shared labor and deep discussion with adults I otherwise don't get to spend enough time with during the rest of the year.  I greatly enjoyed watching one of our former youth, take charge of our youth and lead them in effective discipleship and service.  I celebrated as I labored side-by-side with Reja.  I thanked my God as I watched Ryan mature into a competent worker, an effective worship leader, and an inspired young man of prayer.  I was moved as I saw the hard heart of a man who has lived a very difficult life melt with the love of God poured out through the sacrificial labor of youth. 
As I reflect, however, I believe God doesn't waste an experience and I'm still wondering what God was trying to teach me on this trip.  Perhaps it was simply encouragement to keep on with the labor of discipleship.  Perhaps it was merely to be a facilitator for the growth and maturity of others.  A couple of things are certain: I know God isn't done with me yet as I've got a long way to go to maturity, and being slow on the uptake as I am, it may take some time to figure out exactly what lessons God had for me on this trip. 
There is a cost to discipleship, and this year it was the transmission in my Avalanche.  Many question why I drive it when we have church vehicles.  Part of it is that I'm selfish and simply want what I thought was a more reliable vehicle there.  Part of it is that I want it available so Reja can make a run to the hardware store.  Part of it is that I've got so much stuff, it just won't fit in the van.  Mostly, I simply want to ensure that everything I have is available to God for His use.  I felt called to serve, called to offer my tools for use, and called to have a support vehicle.  I believe He will honor my obedience to His call with the supply needed to repair the truck.  I look forward to sharing how He will work that situation out.

The Person of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit.  I believe that most Christians just accept that this is a part of God but do not try to dive into what this is really.  Just considering the name alone, we would surmise that it is the spirit of God.  Spirit would be that unseen part of who we are that is not the body, therefore the spirit of God would be, if we are made in His image, that unseen part of God that is not in physical or some other form.  But what this gets translated into is a kind of energy source or some kind of invisible power that is in us but that we aren’t able to tap into regularly in our daily lives.  And it is precisely this translation that is the biggest problem in our spiritual life.

I think most Christians can relate to a time, or hopefully many times, that they were convicted of sin and the Holy Spirit sat with them as they were heart-broken over it and crying out for God to rescue them.  Many Christians can relate to some worship services where the praise and prayers were so powerful that they could “feel” an invisible God on them and all around them.  And a few Christians can point out a time when they had a peace about something they were being led to do from somewhere deep inside and afterwards they could see how it was the Spirit of God directing their paths, usually for others. 

However, every Christian I know will tell you that they do not live in the power of the Holy Spirit daily.  Why would that be?  Maybe a better question is how can that be?  Do Christians not want the presence of God in their life?  …  I think Christians want the power of God in their life, but they don’t necessarily want the authority of God in their life over everything in their life and they don’t want the absolute commitment of faith.  The absolute commitment of faith requires patience and trust.  It is knowing that God will work out what is best for others and yourself in whatever problem/event/occurrence you are aware of in your life and it most probably will not require any input on your part except to respond to how the Spirit is directing you to be the person God is leading you to be.  Most Christians have a difficult time with the simple “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”  They want to do something.

We must know that we do not have to whip ourselves into some kind of emotional frenzy in order to have the presence of the Holy Spirit.  This is not Haitian voodoo.  We don’t have to have specific ceremonies and dance around a fire and such.  The Spirit is not there as a source of power for us to use if we just do the right worship and say or pray the right things.  In fact, any time we see ourselves thinking or saying that “if we do (fill-in-the-blank) then God will (fill-in-the-blank)” you can be sure we have something wrong. 

The Spirit is a person – yes, He is a person.  If He is in our lives then we should submit our life for His use.  We are not to live our life and use Him.  If we try this we will never ever see the power of the Spirit in our life.  We are to be used by Him so we can live our life.  When we openly and consciously realize that there is the person of the Holy Spirit, that is, the Spirit of the one and only God, in us ready to establish the power of God in our life if only we will submit our life to Him, our life will change.  The lives of those around us will change.

First, we will see conviction of sin and the need for a Savior in us and in the world.  This will overwhelm us and break our heart at the same time.  It will be so great that we will be unable to keep our eyes open to the extreme need as it hurts too bad to take it all in.  Second, we will have a love for people even with their quirks.  God loves people.  When the person of the Spirit is using our life in His power, we will love people.

Is your heart broken for the world today?  Where is your love for the others in this world, not just those you can help, but those who you … hate?  Yes, those you hate.  That father who abandoned you, the person who works against you, or the homeless who refuses to work and cusses you for trying to help.  In the flesh it is impossible, but submitted to the person of the Spirit, all things are possible.

The Need for a Savior

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. – Ephesians 3:14-21

This is an awesome prayer and one I want to keep near my thoughts as I am in contact with other brothers and sisters in Christ.  I want to make sure that this is my intent with everyone I meet:

     1.  God will strengthen their heart.
     2.  Christ will dwell with them through faith.
     3.  They will understand the extent of Christ’s love.
     4.  They will be filled with God’s Spirit.

Is there anything more than this that we should want for any other person on Earth?  Can we confirm within ourselves that this is enough?  If we are unsure as to whether this is enough we can be sure that we have a faith problem within us.  As much as I personally hate to say that there is a single answer to every problem, there is and that answer is through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote in Romans 1 that this gospel message “is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes”.  Are you wondering where God is moving today?  Are you wondering why you aren’t seeing more of God in our society?  The simple answer is Christians are afraid to reach out and be a witness to everyone around them.  If Christians aren’t unashamed of their salvation and completely dependent upon for their everyday, their very life, how shall the power of God move in our culture?  How can God move if there is no conviction of sin?  For where there is no conviction of sin, there is no need for a Savior.  

The Uncritical Temper - Oswald Chambers

The following is from Oswald Chambers:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. –Matthew 7:1.

Jesus says regarding judging—Don’t. The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual. Criticism is a part of the ordinary faculty of man; but in the spiritual domain nothing is accomplished by criticism. The effect of criticism is a dividing up of the powers of the one criticized; the Holy Ghost is the One in the true position to criticize, He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into communion with God when you are in a critical temper; it makes you hard and vindictive and cruel, and leaves you with the flattering unction that you are a superior person. Jesus says, as a disciple, cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person’s place.

There is no getting away from the penetration of Jesus. If I see the mote in your eye, it means I have a beam in my own. Every wrong thing that I see in you, God locates in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17–20 ). Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man’s case about which we know nothing. The first thing God does is to give us a spiritual spring-cleaning; there is no possibility of pride left in a man after that. I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

I agree with everything he summarizes and it is good to see it put together so precisely and condensed. There is an important discussion that has to take place in today's society's perception of Christians.  For example, yesterday the Southern Baptist Convention came out boldly and publicly to say they do not believe that a gay marriage fits in their interpretation of the Bible.  To my knowledge, they are the first organization of size to do so and I have to say I admired that.  But there was much opposition to such a statement that were quick to say the SBC was judging.

A good example is baseball.  Let's say that I'm playing baseball against you and we play through three innings where the player batting hits the ball and then runs to first base.  But then in the fourth inning you run to third base after you hit the ball.  When I ask you what you are doing, you say you are playing baseball.  I pull the rule book out of my pocket and show you that the batter is supposed to run to first base and its on the right side, not the left side.  You argue that the rule book says to run to the "first" base and that base can be on the left side if you want it to be on the left side.  I simply reply,"Sorry, you're out".

In this example, am I judging you?  Not at all.  I'm just playing baseball.  You are insisting that I play the game your way and not the way the creator of baseball formed the game.  If I don't play your way, you call me names and tell everyone that I hate and do not love.  But I love the game and I know it is best played when we play by the written rules.  If you don't want to play, get out of the game.  But I don't see why I must play by a set of rules you wrote because I want to play baseball.

Is the SBC judging gays by not accepting gay marriage?  Not at all.  They are simply saying the Bible, as written and accepted for millennium, doesn't condone it and they intend to follow it as final authority.

Haiti Trip - Thursday & Friday

I’ve neglected to comment on what Julie and Jasmine have been doing these days.  On Wednesday, we all went to the villages, but on Monday and Tuesday, they would spend the first half of the day helping Angie Bundy at the Cowman School organizing and preparing her office as the end of the school year had just occurred and the school was beginning some construction over the summer as it grows.  In the afternoon, they would help at the Bethsada Clinic organizing the pharmacy, counting medicine (pills) and separating them into bags of specific numbers.  They also got to tour an orphanage and take dresses that were made by my Mom and ladies from the First Baptist Church of Laurel, MS so the workers at the orphanage could give them to those who needed them.

Today, they are working at the clinic at “baby day” and are weighing babies and giving immunizations to the babies.  They find it surreal that they can work at a clinic as a pharmacy tech and nurse with no experience or training in this area; that they can handle the medical records of people; that they can be responsible to lock up the pharmacy room when they leave – all unimaginable things in the U.S.  Yet, I find a link in this to the “way it used to be” here.  This is the attitude of my Grandfather’s day, when you would give the keys of the truck to a 12 year old and tell them to drive to the store and get something.  America has lost something here.

By the end of Friday, we’ve got all the electrical gear in place that we have and we’ve tested two of the generators to verify that they start up and run.  We’ve tested the pedestals in one of the areas and then turned on that area so it is now powered by the new generator.  Then we “cut over” all of the house, office, and shop loads on it so the whole area is on the new generator.  Before we can turn over the other areas, we have to trace down short circuits in the loads.  Everyone was out until around 9:00 trying to find these shorts.  Finally, they’ve just been disconnected from the system.  Our goal is to leave with all parts of the new underground system turned onto the new system.  Unfortunately we don’t have time to “cut over” all their loads to the new system as much as we want to do that before we leave. 

In our work these days, Dan has made a new friend.  One of the Haitian workers who is helping with the exhaust system of the generators has his son with him and he has jumped in however he can to help us with anything he sees us doing.  He has taken up mostly with Dan and is a good helper.  Dan gave him one of his Auburn hats and the next day he brought Dan a pair of sunglasses. 

Haiti Trip - Wednesday

We traveled out of Cap to a remote village near the Dominican border.  The trip took about two hours.  I don’t remember the name of the village, but it was something like Laramure (?).  The pastor who was from the Dominican had come to this village after having a dream that he was to go to this village and be their pastor.  He had never pastored a church or community before.  But he went.  Teams reaching out into Haiti discovered the village in their efforts of handing out solar-powered radios.  We would be the 2^nd team to go into the village as a part of the evangelizing effort to reach every person in the village for Christ.

We pulled up to the village church first and when we got there, the people of the church had gathered and they were singing and praying for this evangelizing effort.  Some would stay at the church and pray while we went.

The village is very remote and has no electricity or running water.  The homes have dirt floors, but the people are receptive to listen even if they politely refuse.

Our group plus Zenobia separated into three teams.  Each team had three members plus an interpreter and a technician from the Radio station who keeps records of who receives a radio and what decision they make or don’t make for Christ.  Their intention is to only hand out one radio per family so as not to waste the resource since they are limited.

By my count, the teams talked to 26 people total.  Of those 26 who were witnessed to directly, nine accepted Christ, 12 said they already knew Christ, and five said they couldn’t or wouldn’t.  The reasons those who said they couldn’t gave: they would do it later, they had too many problems right now, or they owed a debt to Satan (witch doctor). 

The local witch doctors, knowing a team was coming in to witness for Christ, left the village for the day.  The Haitian pastor I was talking to said that the witch doctors know that Christ is the most powerful God, but they don’t want to give up on their source for livelihood or they don’t want to give up on their style of living (they want to do what makes them happy).  He said they don’t want to have to wait on God or live by His rules.  Sounds like he’s talking about most Americans to me.

Brett and Angie had a bible study in the home late in the afternoon for other missionary families.  Julie, Jasmine, Reed, and Jack went while Thomas, Dan, and I walked the entire campus to locate all the underground pedestals that we hoped to soon be powering up.  We also wanted a look at what it would take to “cut over” some of the campus buildings to the new system. 

Julie described some of the missionary stories to me.  She said the missionaries get very tired of the need because the need is just so great.  Many times the Haitians require an emphatic “no” before they quit asking and that is so very difficult to do as it is not part of the personality of the missionaries.  They don’t want to say no but sometimes have no choice.  One example was the school and who they can accept as students.  They have many, many more applicants than they can accept and maintain their academic rigor and performance.  Some just can’t be accepted, they may have discipline issues or be academically incapable.  You would like to say yes, but you have to say no.  In the U.S., this isn’t so much of a big deal because there are usually many other options, but here, there are no other options for schooling at this level.  That’s just one example.  Many would like power, many would like work, and many would like _____ (fill in the blank).  Most of us would consider these “likes” as needs.

Thank the Lord that we serve Him who said “Yes” to us before we knew the question.  Our God is the only God who can say “yes” to everyone who is willing to say “yes” to Him!  

Haiti Trip - Tuesday

By the end of Tuesday we had made pretty good progress.  All the panels were hung and the cables from the generators to the transfer switches had been run.  Also, the ground rods and connecting cables were in the ground.  However, this is a stopping point as we’ll spend all day Wednesday in a remote village handing out solar powered radios and hopefully evangelizing lost Haitians to Christ.

Tonight the whole Bundy family, along with a young woman from Ohio named Zenobia, came by our house while we were playing cards and we had a few huge game of Spoons.  This was followed by a game of Mafia that the kids taught us old people how to play.  It was a houseful and it was a great time.