the god of the pacific

as i am able, i find that my reading base has grown. it now stretches over to the pacific rim and although the numbers are few i know that they are people with heart and personality. with that in mind, i would like to ask if they could give an account of what might actually be going on in their world. i hear and read news stories all day long but have realized that reuters, google, huffington post, yahoo news, and any other i have left out, all fail to give me an accurate description of the landscape that i long to hear. at the moment i have befriended a young south korean woman who is doing some translating at a korean company here in belgium. i think i might ask her once a week if there is anything new in developments on that side of the world in light of the tragic events that have taken place over the last 8 weeks because i am really wanting to know.

my heart goes out to those who are without on ANY level. i have an even deeper hurt for those who have witnessed first hand nature's capability and feel trapped in their minds as to whether or not there is an entity that actually cares for them outside of themselves. i am greatly curious and so comes with that curiosity many questions that i was hoping my japanese and korean audience could respond to.

i want to know the level of dependence upon god, and whether the feeling is growing or shrinking back? i want to know about how faith has helped and in what ways has it changed the mindset that god is good despite the circumstances? most of the news received from the popular outlets is reporting the political agendas, nuclear disposals, and such but i want to know more about the people and the face of the public.

i admit i am wanting to see hope in everything, despite what the circumstances may communicate to the japanese and the rest of the world. i know the experience of it all is a world apart from where i sit today and ask for thoughts. my faith has not been rocked by the events that may have challenged even the most faithful and devout on that side of the world. however, if i can communicate anything i want those trying to make sense out of everything to know that around the world there are those who are contending in prayer for the japanese and everyone who has been affected by the events of the earthquake.

you can respond through my facebook page. and i was hoping to gather many comments from readers and post a complete blog of comments and notes.

how can i do this

i guess you could say i am getting burned...

"in his (jesus) love there was no demand on any other man or on any other man's time, energy, assistance, service, love-in-return, for what christ demanded of him was only the other man's gain, and he demanded it only for the other man's sake; no one lived with himself as deeply as christ loved him."

-kierkegaard

communal acquaintances

it is starting to become real. the other day as i walked around with titus in the stroller on a not to warm afternoon i came into contact with more than one individual whom i have met while going about getting settled into our home. i ran into the woman who helped with getting our internet set up while she was getting a sandwich on her lunch break, i also came across the lady who is helping with our integration and legal status here in waterloo, and while taking dutch to school on the bus there was a young woman who i have seen and talked to at the bus stop.

it is becoming even more real that english is not a barrier to knowing these people and becoming an influence. i have already begun my petitioning of the lord as to how i can impart something into their life. i owe this to the lord and his leading of us NOT living at the waterloo base, among many other reasons. i have felt troubled on some occasions because i cannot live there with my team and closest friends but the lord knows what he is doing for our influence in this city.

it has been wonderful and i hope that the light of god reveals his son thru our living in another part of the commune.

an answer in korean

i technically should be studying/preparing for a particular word but i am distracted. last night at our tuesday night encounter meeting i spoke with a woman from south korea. she has been sent here by her company to translate for the branch of her company located right here in waterloo. oddly enough she told her company to place her temporary residence at a specific location because she was wanting to be close to the brussels house of prayer. she had found ninth hour on the internet and saw a house of prayer which seemed to encourage here a great deal. this is magnificent in itself.

last night we began discussing her church situation back home in south korea. she is greatly distressed due to an enormous amount of frustration at not being able to find a church home. she has seen a lot and i don't feel i have the time to share everything here. but i thought about what god had told me before i moved here and the specific people group i would be ministering too. it is amazing that i was able to minster to a korean in belgium. leave it to god to bring an opportunity for us (ninth hour) to sow a seed to an individual who is not even european. this is how god did and even now does things across the globe.

i was reminded of when paul was wanting to go to a certain region in asia minor in order to preach the gospel but, acts 16:7 states that, the spirit of jesus did not permit him. we find later that due to a redirection paul runs into lydia (in a place of prayer no doubt) who becomes the starter of a home church in the area that god had forbidden at that point to go. this is remarkable that god crosses people's paths, directs steps, and relocates individuals all for the sake of furthering his kingdom. i prayed with her for discernment upon her return to korea to locate a church that speaks to her the truth of god. we also prayed that she would find all those negative influences that discouraged her faith would suddenly be shaken off of her. i didn't tell her to start a church but i did tell her that we, as a team, are standing with her even all the way over here in europe.

god is so good to those who heed his direction, and to those who don't, unfortunately, they miss that what god is doing is for their good.

how can this be

i was privileged to attend a youth retreat this past weekend for a friend of mine who is a youth minister on this side of the pond. it happened rather quickly as he invited me to speak at the retreat a little more than a month out from the actual retreat. i asked god for everything specific. the theme of the retreat was do hard things.

this was an anglican church so it was composed of mostly brits. it was quite fun interacting with unfamiliar faces and meeting new people. i needed to do this and towards the end of the retreat i found myself using phrases that they used and sort of resorting to their style of humor. it did seem quite serious when we would get down to the "meet with god" bit. a quiet hush would come over the campers when we would enter into a time of worship and prayer. this DID bother me but because of the fact that i didn't know these people i was not wanting to step on any toes. "americans" already have a way of making their presence known and leave it to me to defy the stereotype's just to prove them wrong.

the sunday morning we were to leave we had one more time of breaking away from the bigger group and i had time with 2 guys. the leaders were free to find any scripture that they felt would be good to read together. because of the nature of the individuals i felt it was necessary to read ephesians 1(especially the bit about the eyes of the heart being opened to know the calling, inheritance, and power of god towards us). as i read this over and over to them and asked these guys to tell me in their own words what they thought it meant i was shocked to realize they had little to no understanding of the value of the christian walk. it was quite frustrating to me and i felt the best thing to do was to pray. i told the boys i would start and then they would say a prayer and then i would end it.

there was quite a disconnect. i was amazed that one of the guys couldn't even get a word out. he started out saying, "god i pray..." and that was it. i thought he was thinking and contemplating but he was at a loss for words. this is the picture of what is taking place in europe. i am not wanting to "take the mick out" on him (as they would say in england) but this young man grew up IN the church. prayer should be the language he only knows better than any other language.

sadly this is the state of the church, an illiterate, and seemingly powerless body of christ. but that is just it, once they gain literacy that power is attainable.

father, my prayer for this nation is not to embarrass them, nor to shame them but for them to be shocked into the revelation of YOUR desire to move in power across this land. reshape this church, refine this generation, may their illiteracy not frame what people, secular and religious, say or how they define their existence by.