God's Creation - Big and Small

We’ve heard of people having to chase rats out of their house, and one single guy even found baby rats inside his suitcase (assuming the mama chewed a hole in it to get inside), but thankfully we haven’t encountered such “pets”.  Our house has been covered by His favor and grace!  For the first 8 weeks our house was rodent/bug and tummy sickness free, thank you Jesus (and to those that are interceding in prayer for us)!  Around the 8-week mark, we’ve encountered a few different “creatures.”  For example, while brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I discovered a black “thing” on my shoulder.  I quickly bent towards the ground and began shaking my shirt to get whatever it was off.  I discovered it to be a large cockroach.  It landed on its back with its legs wiggling in the air (trying to flip over).  I happily grabbed a bottle from our back-up water supply storage and smashed the little booger!!  It continued to wiggle so I smashed it again.  I’ve heard that cockroaches are hard to kill, but come on!  This same evening as we were headed to bed, I pointed out to Josh (who was already lying in bed) that there was a cockroach on the mosquito net.  He thought I was kidding so I repeated it again.  When he realized I was serious, he climbed out of bed to smash the cockroach.  Before he even had a chance, it fell to the ground and began running at lightning speed – at least that’s how we felt in the moment!  We couldn’t find the little booger and eventually started tearing our bed apart – literally removing the mattress from its frame.  We eventually found it on one of the slats.  We could have easily grabbed the slat and taken care of business, but we both wanted to take a picture so that we’d have proof of our story. As I went to take a picture, it scampered off once again.  We had our moment and blew it.  We looked behind the headboard, curtains, and even started pulling out suitcases from under the bed.  Finally we thought we had it trapped beneath one of our suitcases.  We came up with a game plan.  As Josh yanked the suitcase away, it was my job to smash it with a broom.  Great plan, right?!?!  I had the broom in my left hand and the camera in my right hand.  Of course I hadn’t given up on getting a picture!  I swung at the cockroach while taking a picture, mind you, and wouldn’t you know – I missed!  Go figure right?!  I began dancing around, squealing and giggling, because I didn’t want it on my feet.  At first Josh didn’t find the humor in it, but then he joined in on the joy and laughter!  In the end, we were victorious and captured the little bug.  The next morning our house parents told us they had heard some commotion and giggling the night before but had decided it was best not to come knock on our door….wise decision! And so we shared our story with them…….  God’s creation is beautiful, but sometimes I wonder about certain rodents and bugs!

The Great Physician

I’ve never been a real big fan of going to hospitals or doctors because most of the time it means someone is hurting.  I have learned, though, to go to one of the greatest physicians of all times and His name is Jesus!  Sometimes we don’t realize the depth of our hurts until we allow a doctor to examine us.  As I have learned to open up more of my heart to the Lord, He has been able to heal areas of hurt that continued to resurface.  When faced with certain situations, often times a button would get triggered that produced undesirable reactions from me.  While being here in Africa, God has revealed to me a small seed of bitterness that was starting to grow within my heart.  As I acknowledged this bitterness and laid my hurts down at His feet, He washed away that bitterness and began sowing seeds of sweetness in its place.  Just as He turned bitter water into wine, He also took my bitterness and turned it into His sweet grace.  Romans 12:15 states that it is unhealthy to allow roots of bitterness to spring up because it will cause much trouble and defile many.  When we fail to extend the grace of God to others, this is how the embryo of bitterness begins to develop.  As I gaze more into His eyes, He continues to heal my heart and free me of the unnecessary burdens I have been carrying.  In these same situations my coping mechanisms are changing as the Lord continues to humble me, and I am more freely able to extend grace and forgiveness and even a simple, “I’m sorry,” even if it means swallowing my pride of “being right”.  Being right isn’t as important as protecting one’s relationship with someone you love and care for, a lesson that at times was a challenge for me because of unfruitful seeds I was carrying.  The Holy Spirit is teaching me that “in my head knowledge” I may theoretically be right, but He often asks me to examine my heart.  Faith, hope, love…the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).  My lifelong question - in my actions and heart, am I choosing to love above all else?  It isn’t always easy to swallow our pride and prefer someone over ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4).  It isn’t always easy to love those that are challenging to love (Matthew 5:43-48).  It isn’t always easy to resist the urge to retaliate or seek revenge when someone hurts us (Romans 12:17), but it is the right thing to do because that’s what Jesus did!  Many people fear seeking this kind of healing, because in all honesty the process of being transparent and “weeding” our lives can hurt, but the end result is FREEDOM and there is nothing more beautiful than that.  Here in Africa we’ve worshipped to these lyrics, “You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of dust.”  In Genesis 2:7 it teaches how God made the first man, Adam, from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils.  Throughout life, and maybe even now, some of you might feel like dust, dirt or ashes on the ground.  However, there is a lifelong lesson spoken in this verse – you can trade in your ashes in exchange for beauty because He loves you so much!!  He can make something out of nothing!!  He sees you as beautiful!!  Take a moment to ask Him how He sees you.  Write down what comes to mind.  Let Him write you a love letter.

Many times we try to fix ourselves and produce our own fruits, but in the end those fruits begin to die when we are not connected to the true vine which is Jesus (John 15).  Apart from Jesus we can do nothing.  He is the ultimate heart surgeon and will give you the best transplant you could ever receive in life.  As the lyrics in this song states, “Open up your heart and let me in.” "Come Away"  Some of you know about Jesus/God but you do not know Jesus/God on a personal (relationship) level.  If that is you and you are ready for the next step of receiving the Lord into your heart, take a moment now to do so.  Acknowledge that God sent His son, Jesus, to die for you on the cross so that you might have life.  Acknowledge that He has washed away your sins on the cross.  Receive Him as your personal Savior and give Him complete control over your life.  This is the most important decision you will ever make in your life and you won’t regret it!  God gave me a picture in the clouds of two hearts becoming one.  There is more to this story, but the message God gave to me was this: as we adjust our lenses to focus more on Him, our heart will become one with His.  He is after our hearts.  Let your heart hunger for more of Him and expect the greatest transplant of your life!!

Close to the Beginning

Post from Josh: Today is July 31^st and we are coming to the end of our school. As of this afternoon, we only have 4 days left in regular class and we graduate in 9 days. I am eager to watch what God is going to do in our lives when we return home. He has given us a heavenly starting point and we know He will guide our life as we remain yielded and submitted to Him. We feel confident that we will return home to the beginning of a new life in Him and a complete life change as a result of our time here in Mozambique. We expect big things to take place!

One of the main themes of our school is this question: “What does love look like?” This question, along with the teaching that we have received, has challenged me to take a look at how I live my everyday life. It has made me take a very long look at how I respond to my wife and kids, friends here on the base, people outside in the villages and cities, and even those who really get on my nerves. I know now that “love looks like something”. Love is not about doing good things!!!!! Let me write that another way – Authentic Christians don’t just do nice things because it feels good or because their church said to. True followers of Christ do what He did – they really love people. They really see who people are. They take care of the widowed and orphaned. They take care of the poor. Followers of Christ don’t depend on their church to do it for them. They look to emulate Jesus. Even lost people do nice things, once in a while. Love looks like Jesus!! The greatest example of how I need to live my life is in the New Testament and I have finally received a new revelation of what it looks like to love people.

Here on the huge continent of Africa, in a country which used to be the poorest in the entire world, it seems so easy to love people. They are so open to us westerners and most love us to talk with them and just give our time to them. Recently, a major leader here was walking through the village on a Monday and came across an older woman who was clearly blind as her eyes were mostly white and she was not focused on anything. This leader sat down and began a conversation with her. This leader asked her name and was told that she didn’t have a name. No one really spoke to this woman because she was blind and, consequently, she didn’t have a name. Can you imagine not having a name? Do you know anyone or heard of someone without a name? As the leader asked if she had a name before in her life she was told that if she did she couldn’t remember it and that she certainly didn’t have a name now. The leader gave her a new name in her heart language (native language). Translated, the name means “you are” or “you exist”. The power in a name can be life changing. The leader then asked to pray for her and her sight was restored to her. She regained her sight, received a new name, and met the One who is the One that completely transformed her life in a few minutes time. How did this all happen? Well, I believe it’s because this leader knows what love is, knows her true identity in Jesus Christ, and knows that our God is greater than any other! Hallelujah!! The great thing is that these types of stories are common here. We know that we were not sent here to “help the orphans” or “work with those less fortunate”. We were sent here to Mozambique to experience what love looks like as followers of Jesus. We were sent here to have a complete heart change!

We return to the continent of North America in less than two weeks and I fully expect to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and transform the western church in Jesus name. Although I can’t share all of what God placed on our hearts for the future, I know that God has called us to the dark corners of the Treasure Valley, to take the Gospel of Jesus to those who don’t know Him, who have rejected Him, or who need to return to Him. We have accepted our mission and hope all of you will join us!! 

We are on the brink of something radical in Idaho and I know that we will see a great harvest sooner than later!!