Bathrobe or Bust

I heard Lydia moaning from the street. She is 70 and suffering from colon cancer. I called at her window and she said “Come in Pastor, the door is unlocked.” She was very skinny. I could see the outlines of her bones clearly. I brought her a large print bible to read and she was thrilled. I read her some verses and prayed with her for about a half an hour.

She told me “I want to go to church tomorrow and walk up front and make a public declaration of my faith. Even if I only have a bathrobe and have to be carried, I am going!”

I smiled at her enthusiasm and hope she can do it! But just wanting to do do something like that shows a heart full of faith, which in the Lord’s book, counts for a whole lot.

Soup and Salvation

During one of our weekly visitation times, I came across the home of a seventy year old woman named Lydia.. She is suffering from intestinal cancer and is often in pain. I was surprised one Sunday to see her in church. She grabbed her side in pain a few times during the service, but she was all smiles and friendly between these episodes. She has visited for about a month. I go to her home about once a week and pray with her.

The other day I found out she hadn’t eaten for two days. I went and got some chicken soup while my visitation partner stayed and spoke to her. I made her the soup and we sat and talked while she ate it. I had asked her before if she was a Christian and she said yes.

This day I asked her, “How do you know you are a Christian? What happened to you that makes you say that?”

She replied, “I went forward in church and the pastor touched me in the forehead with his finger.”

I replied, “He could touch you with all ten fingers, take off his shoes and use his toes too, but that would not save you. Only Jesus can save. Here is what the Bible says about it…”

I shared what we call “The Roman Road” (Romans 3:10, 23; 5:6-8, 6:23, and 10:8-13.) and asked her to pray, and ask our Lord to save her.

Lydia prayed and was all smiles a bit later. We witnessed to her son Juan Carlos and are keeping in touch with her neighbors. Please pray for Lydia. She is in the hospital a lot and still in much pain. We wish to be a blessing to Lydia and her neighbors.

There was a Lydia in the Bible whose hospitality became a great blessing for the early church and aided in the spread of the gospel in the regions beyond. We hope these visits to our Lydia may have an impact in her life, but also an impact that may be felt beyond the four walls of her house, and may spill over into the neighborhoods all around our town.

Some Things You Don't Learn in School

Videojug and PBwiki: Two great tools for our students

Our college students arrive and many of them are quite competent. Others seem to have missed some basic life lessons. We take them into our home and teach them more than how to do church work. Cooking, basic life skills, how to study, how to change a flat tire, etc., may be the subject of the day.

It is a lot of fun for us to use our home on the mission field helping college students become competent young adults.

Here is a site that is a lot of fun, http://www.videojug.com/

You can learn how to wash a car, make buttered toast or fix a doorknob. So now we too have a way to fill in those gaps in our education.

PBWIKI:

There is another site we use that is excellent. It is PBwiki.com. This site allows our students to post their homework online. Enough students doing enough homework can add up to quite a bit of information, that in turn can be used to teach others. Come visit our site:

Check out the PBwiki tour!

Create your own wiki at http://www.pbwiki.com/?r=pob

Link to
http://educators.pbwiki.com/PBwiki-educator-videos

Turtles and Daffodils teach a lesson.

Someone asked me, "How can you plant a church, teach in two Bible colleges and still have time to blog, learn the guitar and spend time with your family?"

My answer is "Cancel your cable TV subscription and start plugging away at something worthwhile. A little bit every day adds up." I call this "The turtle method." Turtles aren't very good looking or very speedy, but over time they can make a lot of progress.

My Uncle Tom sent me an article with a more appealing name. It is called

"The Daffodil Principle"

Here is the story:

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the
greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ...

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....

Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...

There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money. Love like you've never been hurt, and, Dance like no one's watching.

If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special.

I just did!

Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

Kayaks and Dungeons

We had a lot of fun showing Abe and Max Kennedy (Bethany and Rachel's' Boyfriends) around our island. It wasn't all just vacation, we did manage to get some work out of them! Both preached in our church and did lots of painting.

After all that hard work we took them to the phosphorescent bay and joined a kayak night time tour of this unusual part of God's creation. We paddled up some dark mangrove lined channels and could see our paddle blades glow where they entered the water. There is a kind of small sea creature that lights up when the water is disturbed. Some folks on the tour jumped in and swam around and we could see a green glow all around them.

We later went to a beach near the town of "Cabo Rojo" and took along our old dried up Christmas tree. We burned it and had "S'mores" (roasted marsh mellows and chocolate between Graham crackers). We rented some kayaks and went picnicking on a small off-shore park called "Gilligans Island."

It was fun to relax. Besides the beach, we took them all to see some old Spanish forts, and even shut them up in the dungeon. They broke out though and are now all back in Florida and their college studies.

Being a missionary often means being separated from family for long periods of time. It was sure good to have a few weeks with everyone here.

For more vacation pictures visit our Flickr albums:

http://flickr.com/photos/32321157@N00/sets/72157594439778628/

http://flickr.com/photos/32321157@N00/sets/866367/

Surprised but Prepared

I was enjoying some time with my kids Saturday morning when somebody called, “Dad, someone outside wants you.” It was a nurse. The nurse pulled in front of our driveway and I saw that she was crying. She said, “Don Steven, Your church member William Baez is in the hospital. I am his daughter. Please come.”

I ran and changed my clothes and drove the 40 min. up to the Mennonite hospital to see him. He was full of tubes, wires, but most ominously, made a loud gurgling sound whenever he breathed. He was alert and conscious and I saw him mouth the word “Thank-you” through his oxygen mask.

I stayed in the room for about five hours and read to him from the bible, prayed with him and spoke to the family as they came and went. I asked the nurses about his status and a few said he could last for a couple of days like that, but one thought he might die the next day. He became unconscious and I could no longer communicate with him. After a while, I left for home and spent what remained of the evening preparing for our Sunday services.

Sunday morning, on the way to church, a neighbor stopped me and said, “Pastor, William Baez died last night at 2 in the morning. Can you do his funeral today at Noon?” Of course I said yes.

Before we left the church for the funeral, I had the privilege of translating a sermon given by a young ministerial student named Max Kennedy. He is the boyfriend of my daughter Rachel. He did a fine job and our people were blessed. His brother Abe carried some hymn books over to the funeral home right after the service and I got ready to preach. There were only a few people so we came back at seven that night and had a preaching service then. Today, I preached again at noon and gave another sermon at the grave-side at 1:30.

I met William Baez during my visits to town and invited him to church every time I saw him. He started coming after about a year of invitations and attended for over a year. He was friendly, positive and had a great sense of humor. I will miss him. One of the last things he said to me was, “I prayed that I would not return to my house. I want to leave the world from the hospital. I want to go and see my precious Saviors’ face.

I went to church yesterday expecting to translate a message so I did not write one. Since then I have preached three funeral sermons. Fortunately I have kept some of my old funeral sermons and was able to reuse some of them. Preparation and planning for the future helped me in this situation. Brother William Baez also made his preparations beforehand, preparations of a more important kind.

I hope you, dear reader, will make what preparations you need before that expected, but somehow surprising time comes, that day when it is your turn to leave this world.

Small things can be very important

I had a nice surprise this Sunday. We held a birthday party for one of our deacons after the service, and as a result, many “irregular” attendees came to honor him, help with the birthday dinner, or maybe just to have a part in the feast we had. But whatever the reason, it was good to end the year with a church a good bit fuller than usual.

Tina tried out a traditional Puerto Rican garlic-pork recipe and it was sooo good that all the Puerto Rican ladies wanted her recipe! We usually bring home left overs, but not today! They kept coming back for seconds of that dish.

After the meal, we took some food to the home of an elderly man who has been too sick to attend services lately. We prayed with him, his wife and grand-daughter and got lots of hugs.

This week Tina and our college age kids went to the church and finished painting the interior and doing a really good cleaning.

Wednesday we had our prayer meeting in the home of a family that lives up an extremely steep road, which is really saying something here in Puerto Rico. Not ever having ice or snow and being cheap, the government has allowed roads to be built so steep, that it makes those streets in San Francisco look like roads for beginner drivers.

I preached a New Years Eve Sermon on “Gods’ Apgar Score.” A summary follows :

“The Apgar score is a system used in hospitals for rating the condition of a new born. I used this metaphor to teach about how the world evaluated the newly arrived Jesus. And how by judging him, we categorize ourselves. I spoke about the smallness of the baby, and compared it to another small thing. In Zechariah 4:10 a man holds in his hand a small object, a plum bob on a string. It is a very small object, but it is a sign than soon something big is about to begin, a project that will include some destruction and some building up. The holder of the small object will use it to make his judgments, depending on what relationship the object of his attention has with the plumb line. Jesus, though small, makes a line. God views us in relationship to his Son. What side of the line are you on?”

Tonight we are going to watch all eight hours of a DVD series we have based on the book “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens. It is really very good.

Happy New Year!

Family Reunion Plus

Bethany and Rachel have come home for a 5 week Christmas break from their studies at Pensacola Christian College in Florida. They brought with them two fine young men, Max and Abe Kennedy. They are helping us paint the church, get some chores done and of course, a bit of site-seeing in as well. This is us visiting an Indian village on the south coast.

What goes around, comes around. Mostly good came around this week.

Some good things came around this week. We found out that Evangel Baptist Church in Florida sent us a love offering of more than $1,600! Thanks Evangel! I reached 52 years old Sunday and got some nice presents from Tina and our twins, Sarah and Kristin. Monday I gave final exams and the students in my American History class all got A’s . In World Religion and also in American History, I had our Bible college students make videos and many of them where either very good or very funny.

There are some great things coming up as well. Bethany and Rachel and two boyfriends are coming to our house in Puerto Rico from Dec 16-Jan 18. We are very excited about having the whole family together again and getting to know these young men.

Some not so fun things come around too: I designed an fill in the blank, long answer type of final exam, and now have to grade them all. It takes longer to write a multiple choice test, but the grading is a LOT easier. Maybe next time I will learn.

Our church attendence was going up for a while, but some elderly members got sick and some teens got jobs on Sunday. The teen job situation does not just absent the teen but sometimes the whole family. Most don’t drive, so the parents drive them to work and we end up missing the entire family groups over this situation.

But as a whole, a lot more blessings are coming around. We are trying an experiment with our Wednesday night services to increase attendance. We are having them in a different home every week. Attendance has picked up. My hope is that we can return to the church building Wednesday nights and maintain the increase that have come about through our round-robin type of prayer meetings.

"It's never to late to be who you might have been" Geroge Eliot (1890-1880)

This coming Sunday is my birthday, I will be 52 years old. As a young man I had thought to divide my life into three parts: Preparation (college + basic work experience), Application (work) and Transmission (passing on what I have learned).

In general terms, I have followed this outline and am happy with it. At 52 years old, I would like to have accomplished more. But even so, the Lord has been good to us, and we have been blessed to have seen fruit in our ministry.

I am still church planting and have a Bible College ministry. I have not left the one to do the other. Church planting is our ministry. The Bible college is secondary, but it is not something ‘extra” we are doing that is unrelated to church planting. The Bible college ministry is directly related to our church planting, because it is through our college that we train the men who we will bring in as the future pastors of the churches we plant.

To sustain the college, we have begun work on establishing a Seminary. I have posted my first class online and hope to develop an entire distance learning option for those who cannot attend in person.

Our vision is to have on the island of Puerto Rico everything that the church needs to complete its mission. That included a place where our Bible college graduates can get further training and then come back as professors and help us expand the Bible College, and so provide more men and better trained men for the work of church planting, missions and evangelism.

So, in spite of wishing I had more to show for my 52 years, I am content to have been part of something important and to have seen the Lord bless. I have many reasons to rejoice.

No matter how you look at it, the future looks good when God is in it!

………………………………………………………………………….

Here are a few Thanksgiving verses I used in a service last week:

Joel 2:25 …I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

Habakkuk 3 17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

Visitation makes a difference!

Whether you call it "Organized Obedience", "Shameless Sharing" or just plain "Visitation," it makes more than a world of difference when you go out and do it!

On Tuesday night, Wednesday morning and Saturday afternoon we have what we call "Visitation." I ask our church members to give us the names of their friends so that we might visit them sometime during the week. During these visits we share the word of God, pray, invite them to church, and help them with problems.

Tuesday night we visited the home of Jackie, a working/studying mother of four young children. Jackie is studying in a trade school to get a license to be an air-conditioner repair person. About two weeks ago I gave her some gospel tracts and spoke to her briefly. But last night my visitation partner Luis and I had the privilege of entering her home and speaking with her for about an hour and a half.

When I entered her home, I was introduced to her middle-aged sister, Diliris, who had stopped by for a visit. Diliris listened intently while I spoke and then said that she would like to receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior! Jackie, we discovered, had in the past made such a decision, but had drifted away from the Lord. Now she wanted to come back. We prayed with both sisters, one returning to the Lord and the other coming to Him for the first time!

Visitation is exciting! Today I spoke to a young woman who runs a tavern, but listened well to what we shared. Her name is Naida. Another visit we made was to the home of the son of a church member who has become estranged from his father because of old unresolved grudges. Every week there is something new.

It is often hard, always a bit scary, but also very exciting. When you get to see the power of God take a life and transform it, what could be better than that? We have learned by personal experience that Romans 1:16 is true: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth"

Someone told me, You don't need to defend a lion, just let him out of the cage. Visitation is like, when we open the word of God and share it, it is like releasing a tremendous power. It is amazing what that power can do. What a privilege to be present when that power is manifested, the moment a human soul is reconciled with its creator and a life is transformed!

You Have to be Ready for Anything

It is quite a thrill to preach to about 100 people you don't know, in a funeral of someone you have never met and in a language that is not native to you, and all without any time for preparation!

Wednesday I went to a funeral of the Father-in-law of a former church member. I didn't know the man at all. I just went to show my support for the family. They had a Pentecostal woman preacher preaching the funeral sermon, so I thought I was just going to express my condolences and then leave a bit later. But someone told her I was a pastor and she called me up front and invited me to preach!

God was kind to me and it went well. At least they were all smiling at the end, and that is a good sign.

The next morning I was lying on the floor of the church fixing a toilet. I said to Tina, "Last night I preached to a hundred people, and now I am lying on the floor fixing a toilet!" Tina said, "I guess that means you are a real pastor!" I hope so!

I never preached in a church with its own ALLIGATOR before!

I will be preaching this week at a missions conference in the pretty new building of Evangel Baptist Church in Bradenton (Close to Tampa), Florida. Pastor Brent Hockema pointed out the pond on the church property and told me about the alligator that lives there. He called the animal control people, but apparently they do not respond unless there has been an at least one ‘incident.” Yikes! I hope it’s not me!

Please pray for the churches of Florida, that they may become equipped to minister to the large Puerto Rican immigration to this area that is now underway. It is our hope that our ministry at the source of immigration and theirs at the receiving end, might compliment one another and thus become more effective in reaching the Hispanic community for Christ.

It is amazing what God can do with what we put in His hands

The picture above tells the story of how a boy gave Jesus just five loaves of bread and two fish and how that Christ took that small offering and multiplied it to feed thousands. As a missionary, we play the part of the disciples in this story, by distributing the offerings of others among those who are in need. And like the disciples in the gospel account, we are amazed to see how Christ multiplies that which is placed in His hands.

But it all starts with an offering, albeit a small one.

We missionaries ask for such offerings during our visits in the Sates, a process sometimes called Deputation.

I came across this definition of Deputation. After reading it, I am amazed that we ever got to the field at all!

Deputation is an unknown period of time for calling, writing and visiting an unknown number of pastors you do not know, driving on unfamiliar roads in unbelievable conditions at unearthly hours, staying with people you have never met, and eating food you do not recognize, in order to convince unfamiliar churches to support a missionary they do not know, to go to a field where he has not been, to do a work he has not done in a language he does not know, with funds he does not have. (Contributed by Ed Woods)

Wow! God is Good.

Missions Week

Our kitten (below) thinks the world revolves around her. But the world belongs to those who are meek enough to put God's agenda first. I am happy to say that we are training a good number of Bible College students who fit into the better category. Here is a group of our students getting ready for a missions banquette. From students like these will come the missionaries of the future. These students are preparing for a future that includes important ministries such as church planting, Christian education and missions. Since the world will be inherited by the meek, I feel that these students will be greatly rewarded for the sacrifices they have made by making the Kingdom of God their first priority.

Know anybody like this?
 

Don't just get mad, get fighting mad!

Are you tired of Nigerian Generals offering you millions of dollars, if you will just give them your bank numbers so they can transfer it INTO your account?

Well, don't get mad, get even! Forward all such mail to a special FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION SCAM REGISTRY at spam@uce.gov. The FTC uses the spam stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email.

So do everybody a favor and don't just get mad, get fighting mad and forward those emails to somebody who can do something about it!

The Twenty and the One

A well-worn one-dollar bill and a similarly distressed twenty-dollar bill arrived at a Federal Reserve Bank to be retired. As they moved along the conveyor belt to be burned, they struck up a conversation.

The twenty-dollar bill reminisced about its travels all over the country "I've had a pretty good life," the twenty proclaimed. "Why I've been to Las Vegas and Atlantic City, the finest restaurants in New York, performances on Broadway, and even a cruise to the Caribbean."

"Wow!" said the one-dollar bill. "You've really had an exciting life!"

"So tell me," says the twenty, "where have you been throughout your lifetime?"

The one dollar bill replies, "Oh, I've been to the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, the Lutheran Church..."

The twenty-dollar bill interrupts, "What's a church?"

The World is Full of Surprises

I was teaching at the College Monday and got interrupted by another missionary. He said, “My child has a fever and my wife cannot chaperone the students on their semester outing. Could Tina take her place?”

I called Tina and she said, “Sure, Anything to help.” So I stayed home the next day and she got to go sailing on a catamaran off the north coast of Puerto Rico!

No one deserves a break more than her. She is always working so hard. So it was a good surprise she got a nice field trip out of doing another missionary a favor.

That is the great thing about putting God first, He always gets around to blessing us when we get around to doing it.

Getting a Heart Lift

Our workload and ministry is growing, but I am not getting any younger. I have thought a lot about making my time count and maintaining a good attitude through the process. After all, what good is more time if you make yourself and everyone miserable in the process?

I think we have found ways to work more efficiently. We also have found a few ways to relax and keep our attitudes upbeat. Tina and I both enjoy music. I play the guitar and wood flute. Tina plays the piano, clarinet and saxophone. When I bring Bible College kids to our home on the weekends, we all gather in the living room and sing together Saturday night. We do it to prepare for our Sunday morning service and to make sure we know the hymns. But after we finish , someone always has a favorite, and before you know it, we have spent another hour just singing for the fun of it. Making melody in our hearts is really better than any medicine. I find that, after a good time singing and having some good fellowship, our batteries are recharged for the work ahead.

PS. Here is a new song that might bring a smile to your face.

Senior version of "Jesus Loves Me"

Jesus loves me, this I know, Though my hair is white as snow.
Though my sight is growing dim, Still He bids me trust in Him.

(CHORUS) YES, JESUS LOVES ME... YES, JESUS LOVES ME... YES, JESUS LOVES ME FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.

Though my steps are oh, so slow, With my hand in His I'll go.
On through life, let come what may, He'll be there to lead the way.
(CHORUS)
Though I am no longer young, I have much which He's begun.
Let me serve Christ with a smile, Go with others the extra mile.
(CHORUS)
When the nights are dark and long, In my heart He puts a song.
Telling me in words so clear, "Have no fear, for I am near."
(CHORUS)
When my work on earth is done, And life's victories have been won.
He will take me home above, Then I'll understand His love.
(CHORUS)
I love Jesus, does He know? Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say, That I love Him every day.

Busy but Cooler

Last week seemed especially busy. Besides our regular schedule, we had a BBQ for the youth group, I preached in a chapel service at the college, we held a church service in a private home and I was asked by a fellow missionary to fill in for him for a Sunday PM Service.

I can tell when I am really busy by one sure sign. It involves the Doctoral program in Apologetics I am doing through a distance learning program. The sign I am to busy happens when I finally get a few moments to myself and then I think: “Oh boy! Now I have a chance to work on my term paper!” Now, how can that be right, when the most dreaded assignments from my college days seem like a fun activity now that I am in the ministry? Well at least, being busy seems to improve my attitude about that.

Besides all these preaching opportunities, we also finished the project of sanding and painting the refrigerator. My visitation partner Luis and I moved it into the church after Tuesday Night visitation. Hooray! Now we can have a better Fellowship Time after church Sunday. Ice makes a big difference in the tropics! At the end of a busy week, a little thing like an ice cube can make a big difference.

How to Pray Effectively for Your Missionaries

The following story gives a clue on how to pray effectively for your missionaries:
---
A priest, a minister and a guru sat discussing the best positions for prayer, while a telephone repairman worked nearby. "Kneeling is definitely the best way to pray," the priest said.

"No," said the minister. "I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven."

"You're both wrong," the guru said. "The most effective prayer position is lying down on the floor."

The repairman could contain himself no longer.

"Hey, fellas," he interrupted. "The best prayin' I ever did was when I was hangin' upside down from a telephone pole."
---
If you want to pray effectively for us, come and hang out with us for a while! On the front lines, prayer has a certain clarity and focus that it lacks elsewhere. Please keep praying! It can get scary at times on the mission field, but we are hanging in there!

"go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain" John 15:16

I was in two places at once yesterday and it sure felt good. I got a lot done.

After church Sunday, I prepared for my class in World Religions. I decided to post my lecture notes on the internet. I created a web site (CaribbeanBaptist.com) that I named “Caribbean Baptist Distance Learning Center” and set up my class for online learning using a program called “Moodle.”

When my students came Monday, I asked them to log in and read my lectures on-line. This allowed me to teach them from the internet and at the same time, take some of them aside individually. The students I took aside received personal instruction on improving schoolwork and study habits. It made our two hour class a lot more productive and allowed me to get home earlier.

What I especially like about setting up an online learning center is that after the class is over, the material is still accessible online. This makes it available for future classes, and for students who cannot attend classes on campus.

It may be a bit morbid, but I thought, “If I die, who will teach them?” I doubt if anyone will do anything with my old scribbled notes in the file cabinet. But if my classes are online and accessible from around the world, they can continue training others even after I am no longer around to teach in person.

I feel good about publishing the fruits my study time labors. Now what has been a blessing to me is in a form where it may yet be a blessing to others. It could also be the first step in establishing an entire online Bible College. Now that is exciting!

Jesus commanded: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (John 15:16)

I hope by publishing the fruits of our labors in this form, we may be obeying our Lord.

Is good enough, good enough?

Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Martha complained Mary was not helping in the kitchen, but Jesus said Mary had chosen to listen to his words, and said that she had chosen the better thing. Martha was doing good, but her good was not good enough. There was something better she should have been doing.

I need to remember this. It is fun to learn technology, but it is the content of the teaching, not the background technology that should receive the lions share of our attention.

I hope you will put aside something less important today to pray for your missionaries. In your business, it may be helpful to ask, "What is that better thing that Jesus wants from me? "

Here is a cute poem I ran across that echoes this teaching:

Dust if you Must

Dust if you must.
But wouldn't it be better to paint a picture,
or write a letter, bake a cake, or plant a seed.
Ponder the difference between want and need.

Dust if you must.
But there's not much time,
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb!
Music to hear, and books to read,
friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must.
But the world's out there
with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
a flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will not come 'round again.

Dust if you must.
But bear in mind, old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go, and go you must,
you, yourself, will make more dust!
(Author Unknown)