Bound or Free????

May 22, 2009 10 17am: I enter a room with about 100 others and take a seat for one for the usual Friday worship meetings. Everyone stands and one person from the group begins singing praises to our God; the whole place fills with voices, worship, singing, and praising in a way I have not experienced in a very very long time...if ever! There was freedom in their worship; there was power in that room because of the God they were praising. I begin to look around me (not understanding the language in which they were singing yet still experiencing the powerful moments of praising our God). The passion and love for Christ in this place is overwhelming; they have a reason to sing!!!!!!! The service proceeds with testimonies from over 20 people unashamedly sharing their own personal stories of how God saved them. They are not focusing so much on the past and WHAT they were doing, but concentrating on WHY HE saved them- to tell others- and WHERE they were going. I felt so welcome and at home; no fake "How are you?" or "Glad to see you at worship today", but there was a genuine love that they had for each other ...kind of like an unspoken understanding. I realized it was almost 1pm and the service was nearing it's end. I did not want to leave, but it was time; I couldn't stay and experience this type of worship tomorrow or fellowship with these believers during lunch. It was time for us to leave....see, we were in prison.

What I didn't tell you was that we walked through black revolving steel doors to get to the room which is about the size of a gymnasium. It is cold from the winter that is approaching; the walls are made of steel, and the seating is not your typical nice padded church chairs but beat up wooden benches. The audience is made up of over 100 15 to 23 year old males; however, they are not dressed in the latest Holister top, American Eagle jeans or Fubu hoodies. They all sport the same uniform, a jean jumpsuit and maroon jacket. Yes, you and I would call this a prison; they call it the institution, but I have been thinking.... what would God call this place? Would God call this home??????? There was more spiritual freedom in that place on a Friday morning than most of our churches see on any Sunday; more forgiveness being offered, love being expressed, pain being remembered, gratitude being shown. Why do I have to go to prison to see the most freedom I have ever witnessed before in worship???

....This group of young convicts who had just finished a 16 week course on Jesus and Christianity in prison IS free although you and I may not see it that way.

......would GOD be more likely to call a gated prison with a few growing believers His Home or a steepled church packed with the religiously stagnant ? ...let's wake up church; we have a reason to sing IF you are His child!!!!!

Is it just a batch of cookies?

ahhhh... (that's us yawning). friday night we had a girl's sleepover at my apartment. what happens when you get 13 girls in a confined space with endless pizza, ice cream, music, and movies? memories happen. this weekend we had a great time of just chilling, hanging and having fun. i think alot of times as Christians we overlook the "little" ways that we can show others Christ's love...bake that person some cookies (when was the last time they tasted Christ's love?), open your home up to those kids for the night (you never know what is going on behind the doors of their homes), do that thing that God has been calling YOU to do!!!

I recently read a book called Under the Overpass about a college student who answered God's call to leave his normal American life to live on the streets of America for several months trusting God to meet his every need; during those months he grew in his faith in amazing ways. This quote from that book really spoke to my heart; the author says, "Suddenly I was shocked to realize that I had just driven 20 minutes past the world that needed me to be the Christian I say I am to hear a sermon called, 'Be the Christian you say you are'."

....when are we going to stop just saying we are Christians and actually begin doing what Christ did? - reaching the WORLD with HIS love through OUR actions ...are we too busy to live like Jesus did? what is stopping you from changing the world for Him? ....it begins with that one batch of cookies.

---Someone forwarded me this recently; thank you to whoever it was. God equips those He calls!

Thank God for my shoes.

People don't know how far you've come, they don't know what lies ahead of you, and neither do they know how dissatisfied you get with yourself from time to time. People don't know the troubles that you've had or the price you had to pay to get to where you are. Why should you wish you were in anybody's shoes when you hardly know how they fit? When you've worn your shoes for a while, they take the shape of your feet and align to the way you walk. If you were to wear my shoes, you will not be comfortable in them. So I stopped wishing that I am in someone else shoes because they might not fit; rather I thank God for my shoes, because they fit! I am unique; God is not in the cloning business He makes originals.

Live it all for Him in the shoes He has given you!!!!!!!!

Annual IMB Mission Team Meeting

I must confess. I was not looking forward to being in a week of meetings to hear about the new changes in the International Mission Board (although this was not the whole point of the meeting). However, God changed my bad attitude, and worked in my heart INSPITE of me. Throughout the week, we had times of worship in the mornings and the evenings, and we were able to see and hear reports from around the region about what God was doing in the lives of other missionaries and the people that they serve. The conference center where the meeting was held was about 10 minutes from my apartment, and Johannesburg was decended upon by over 300 other IMB missionaries from around CESA who attended this conference. So, needless to say, the Guest House where I work was, and still currently is, very busy from the traffic coming in and out of Joburg for the meeting. This conference may have been just another annual meeting for many other people, but for me it was very special. God did some amazing things in my heart, and He is currently dealing with me on some issues in my life. I feel I will only know the full the significance of this past week in the near future as He continues to direct me and I process how He is guiding me. I am sorry for being so vague, but I am not exactly sure what God is calling me to do, but I can hear Him leading my heart in the direction of change in some areas and in a specific direction for my future. Please be in prayer for me this week as I process some of the things that were spoken about during the worship sessions and while being in that environment with other people who share the same heart and passion as I. This time was very refreshing and has given me a new outlook towards those I am serving alongside. God also brought more healing to my heart and life from an area in my past; step by step God is molding me, breaking me, healing me, growing me, guiding me. I am yours! I want to be a light for you; take my life and let it be all for you and for your glory! God, you are my Healer, my Redeemer, my Father, my LIFE!

(This is a picture of my team)

Sugar cane fields and a Pet zebra

Earlier this month I, along with two other journeymen, was able to go away for the weekend and visit a missionary family, the Warrens, who work in SWAZILAND. It is a beautful country with many gorgeous mountains and hills; the Warrens minister among the people who live and work on Sugar Cane fields. On Friday when we arrived, we visited the Swazi Candle factory (of course I did a bit of shopping here for some very beautiful hand crafted candles), and Friday night we spent time with the Warren family watching movies and playing Wii (I won Bowling!). On Saturday, we had lunch with Hobbs, the pet zebra at a local country club; we then took time to find our grade school roots and played on the swing set and giant slide. Saturday night the guys grilled out, and we had steak! It was yummy! Sunday morning we were able to attend village church where the Warrens minister; the church is in a woman's living room, and they squeezed about 40 people in there. Please pray for the Warren family and their ministry and the people of Swaziland.

The Freaks, the troubled, the weirdo....What does God see?

Yes, before you ask; this is me. This was Freak Night at youth; if you can't tell I dressed up as a Gothic. We dressed up as anyone or anything that our society labels as a "freak" "weird" "outcast" ... The youth really got into it; some of them dressed up as homeless people, prostitutes, nerds, punks, businessmen; it was quite interesting to say the least! We even had a Freak Fashion Show and awarded the "Best Dressed Freak." That Friday night at youth we talked about seeing everyone through God's eyes. Why do we judge? What does it mean to be "not normal"? There is a story behind the faces, the clothes, the tattoos, the business suits.... but many times we walk right by them ignoring them or even commenting on their appearance writing them off as "weird" never even thinking about praying for that soul who may be hurting and searching for an eternal hope to fill the void they have inside....Next time you go to take a second glance at that person who doesn't fit into YOUR idea of normal why not take that opportunity to pray for them and maybe even take a moment out of your busy day to offer a smile or speak an encouraging word....you never know how your actions could change eternity!

Inside the gates, behind the bars, and on the streets

I would like to take you on a journey during one of my recent weeks of working with the youth at Lyndhurst Baptist Church; God’s faithfulness can be seen even when I encounter circumstances that are WAY bigger than me. Some of you may recall my asking prayer for a group of guys that I referred to as GPG (God’s Potential Gang) who are heading down a dangerous road. Last month three of them were arrested for assault; they got into a fight with another guy in the neighborhood. After spending a night in jail, they were released and told to appear in court in a week; that night after they were released Tshepi and I went to talk with each of the guys. We didn’t really know if they were listening or not since they were very tired from standing the night before crammed in a jail cell and were still processing everything that had happened. After talking to them and listening to the emotions they were experiencing (or lack thereof), we went to drop the guys off at home since it was getting late. (Let me stop here and explain something. In Johannesburg, it is very difficult to get inside people’s homes because of the physical gates everyone puts up due to the high crime in the area and also the emotional guard people build around themselves. Hence, we never actually know what is going on in the home lives of the youth except for what they are willing to share. We (Tshepi and I) are very close to the youth, but we had yet to be invited into homes by the parents themselves; this is a very difficult obstacle to overcome. We had been praying for an opportunity to begin building relationships with two of the mothers of the guys in GPG specifically by name…we just didn’t know it was going to take a court date for this to happen).

We pulled up to the gate to drop off one of the guys, and the mother came outside of the house, outside of the gate and asked Tshepi and I if she could see us the next night to talk!! Wow, ok God…. This mother of two with a nice house, a car, and a job wants to talk to two twenty something year old girls? We prayed the whole next day that God would use us however He wanted that night. It was one of the most humbling experiences that I have ever had. We walked behind the gates into a very nice two story home, drank tea, and listened to this mother pour her heart out for the next three hours! She told us how she got in her car to take her life the week before because she felt there was no hope. She wants to see them grow up, get married and have families, but with them continuing down this path she doesn’t believe it will happen. She cried and cried while her two sons, Tshepi and I listened to her pour her heart out in the middle of the living room. We didn’t have magic answers to make all the problems go away or a way to erase another court case that had been opened against her sons and the guys that we love very much, but we listened. She is not a believer; therefore, she does not understand the peace in the midst of the storm that we can have because of Him. At the end of the night, we prayed with her; she was very grateful. Tshepi and I got into the car amazed at how God was using a court case to answer our prayers to get into this home….not how we had exactly pictured it.

God was not finished wowing us! We arrived at court at 8 30am and sat with the guys and their mothers until 4pm; we were literally the last ones to leave the court walking out with the social worker and the guards who were locking up, never appearing before the judge. However this time was not wasted! We sat in one hallway until noon and were then moved to another area which was right by the holding cells where they take youth who have been convicted and were going to prison. We watched as kids walked by about to be taken to prison to face the consequences of their actions. We saw 13 year old girls chained together who we learned had been convicted for selling their bodies; we learned of three 15 year olds who were arrested for selling marijuana; other crimes ranged from assault to housebreak ins to fraud. Our guys sat there for four hours watching young people who looked just like them being taken in because of their actions. I believe this was more of a wakeup call for them than any length of community service could have been. We never went into court because no one had ever carried the case to the judge to be reviewed; so as the judge was walking out to leave for the day he dropped the case after finally reading it (the father of the guy who they were fighting had beaten many of them across the face and back with his belt in the midst of the fight between these youth). As we were walking out of court, Tshepi and I were able to speak with the head of the youth Social Services Department; she was familiar with our faces since we had been sitting there all day. We introduced ourselves and tried to share our hearts with her; she wants to meet with us and take us around the jail, show us the youth rehabilitation programs, and discuss issues that they face each day. This opportunity would have never been available if we were not in court that day… God can and does use “bad” circumstances for His good. We are so excited to see how God opened this door for us; please pray for Tshepi and me as we meet with her next week to learn some of the stories of the young faces behind the bars; our prayer is that God will use us in whatever way He wants. As we were leaving the court house with the guys, one of their mothers said, “This isn’t going to be the end for us, right? We want this to be the beginning of a relationship with both of you girls.” WOW! They are reaching out; we have open invitations into each of their homes; we know it was GOD who used this situation to open the physical gates of homes and the emotional guards of hurting families who are crying out for an eternal hope. Please pray for Tshepi and me as we begin to minister to these mothers. Three days later two of the guys came to me and Tshepi separately expressing their realization that if they stayed with this group they would continue to make wrong choices and end up paying a high price for their actions. We prayed with each of them and encouraged them to stand up and to help each other back away from this lifestyle; please pray for these two guys who are the two who became Christians at camp the year before last and who stood up at this past camp and confessed vandalizing their neighborhood in front of the whole camp and asked for forgiveness. These two are battling and are trying each day to live a life that will include an abundant future; pray that they find boldness and strength in God, their Heavenly Father.