Departure Date: August 1 ... Itinerary Updated

Some of you have been asking when I am to depart for my year of missions. The answer is August 1, which is in just over a week. Before then I have to clear out all my stuff at 162 Glebeholme in Toronto - where I've been living for the past three years with my dear landlord George (who turned 95 yesterday).

My first stop is Tyrone, Georgia (just outside of Atlanta) where I'll be meeting with many OM (Operation Mobilization) people at the USA office. Hoping to see George Verwer's former gopher Michael Kaspar (see blog at right) while there. Then, on August 3, on to Martinez, Georgia (south of Augusta) to visit the Bookling warehouse and my wonderful coworkers.

I fly out of Atlanta Aug 4, and fly into Gatwick airport in London on Aug 5--two hours after George Verwer flies in from somewhere else. I believe Nathan Smith (see blog at right) flies in later that day - to get me started on the "Gopher Orientation Program" (which will take place over the space of a week or so). After this I may have another week or so to catch up on various things and settle in more, at which point I may go to the OM International Forum in Germany--a conference that only takes place once every three years.

In late August I am going to De Bron, Netherlands, for a week of Orientation. This is when the year starts for most people joining OM (so I am leaving very early). I have just updated my itinerary below (bottom of the page); I think it is fairly accurate.

Praise:
-That God has allowed me to get this far
-That my financial support is looking great
-That people are committing to pray for me
-That all of my papers, etc, are in order

Pray:
-That God will be preparing me now for what lies ahead
-For wisdom and a Christ-like attitude this year
-That I would take time to be still with God in the hectic days that lie ahead
-That God will work in me; that God would work through me

Free online commercial-free worship radio: AllWorship.com

Quick thing. Thought some of you might like to know about AllWorship (www.allworship.com) radio. It is the best online radio station I have found for contemporary worship music, and it is commerical free. I recently discovered it, and sometimes play it in the background (using Windows media player) while working. If you work in an office, you could use earphones.

Pray for the Middle East

Followup. July 18, 2:30pm. The below post, written yesterday, includes an opinion about Israel's role in the conflict with Lebanon. To balance it out a bit, I am herewith providing a National Post article on the topic that also provides some background on the conflict: Lebanon has no will of its own, by Robert Fulford

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You may have heard or read in the news about the recent turmoil in the Middle East--particularly between Israel and Lebanon. I happen to have two friends on short-term mission trips in Lebanon. One wrote this yesterday:

"Well we just had a change in plans. Now they are going to try to get us across the Syrian border too. Since the americans dont have any plan yet they figured it is best to go to damascus since they are letting americans through the border for 48 hours. The bombings in Beruit have increased and it looks like they are bombing north Beruit now too. As for what we are going to do when we get out of Lebanon i think we have a choice of either going on to Jordan or they will just fly us home. For me i think ... will try to keep going on into the desert and do some work but they might make us go home for Syria. Pray that i get to stay becuase i didnt come over here to just sit"

Another wrote this today:

"Pray for the Lebanese people that the gospel would find an open door to their hearts in this time of unrest. Pray for reconciliation of these nations."

He included this recently-written excerpt from a friend of his who is also there. I don't know how accurate it is, but it is one person's first-hand perspective:

"Just a quick request for prayer for Lebanon. As most of you will be aware, Israel are conducting constant aerial attacks on Lebanon in retaliation for a Hizb'Allah attack a few days ago. Bridges, roads, electric power stations, airports, ports have all been targeted, and most areas in the south are under threat of attack. This is collective punishment at its most brutal, it is not defensive it is a form of terrorism and an attempt to punish a whole country for Hizb'allah's actions. 50 have died already, apparently 15 of these are children. The reality is we need prayer. Please pray for those innocent victims who live in the wrong places at the wrong times. Pray for wisdom for leaders and negotiators. Pray for our workers who are safe in the mountains, but with no access to leave. Pray for friends in the South who are fearful. Pray that even in times of fear and violence God will open hearts and lives rather than allow them to be filled with hatred and bitterness.Pray for Israelis on the border who are also under threat from Hizb'Allah rockets. Pray for peace in the Middle East."

Pray with me. Father, we pray for the Middle East. We pray Lebanon, and for the many innocent victims of this war. We pray for Israel, a nation that holds a special place in your heart; we pray that more eyes will be opened to the need for you, and that more and more would turn to your Son as Messiah and Lord. Thank you that more Jewish people are coming to you than ever before. Lord, we recognize that this conflict dates back to the beginning of our Bibles--to the deadly conflict between Isaac and Ishmael--and acknowledge that you are the only solution. We say, "come, Lord Jesus." May this stir up within us a sense of urgency even as you show us that you are the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Invest in being CONNECTED

What would be a better investment?
(1) Giving $2,400 to Gospel for Asia to provide the full financial support needed for a Spirit-filled evangelist with a family to devote an entire year taking Christ to one of the most unreached parts of the world
(2) Spending $2,400 on a two-week mission trip to India

...

If you are like me, you are, for the most part, disconnected. If you are like me, you sometimes don't really care about people on the other side of the world, or what Missionary X is doing in the Philippines, or that your coworkers are not believers, or that the youth in your church are bored out of their minds with God stuff because most of the rest of the people in their church are pretty bored with it all too.

But there is hope for disconnected people.

Come with me:

One person. One person in India--John--hears the gospel. He is so excited that the first few weeks of his reborn life are full of so much fasting, praying, praising, evangelizing and Bible study, that his family thinks he's nuts. But his wife gets saved, too, and she experiences new life in Christ as well. And then so do their kids.

Before long, John learns that people--millions and millions of "one person"s--in the northern part of his country have never even heard of Jesus. The word "Jesus" is not a word they use.

John reads in his Bible that those who do not have Jesus in their lives are destined for a lost eternity. Unlike me (often), John practical-ly believes this... to the point of crying out to God for their salvation. And although his heart goes out for the people around him, John longs to go where no one else has been willing to go--to one of the most Christ-less and unreached places on earth--to a village just 500 miles north of him.

John fasts and prays. Somehow, God links him with people who can help. People from Gospel for Asia. He is trained at their training school. They give him some money (money that someone on the other side of the world gave to them), and he goes. Full of the Holy Spirit, yet aware of his weakneses, John moves with his family to that little village in northern India.

In this village, John shares Christ with individuals, loving people unconditionally, believing that Christ will raise up a church here - where, last year, not one person even knew who Jesus was.

To John, life is short, and eternity is long. He sometimes gets discouraged, but he keeps going. It is hard on his family, but his wife and children understand. Despite the hardship and persecution and discouragement, it is worth it.

John keeps going. He spends hours with one person. Hours with another... one person. One person. One person. And one person gets saved. One person. Another one person. Slowly. One person. Now, there are a handful of people. And for the first time ever, there is a church--a little church--in this village. It is weak. But it grows. One person gets stronger in her faith. One person gets saved, and tells her child about Jesus. One person takes John's Bible and uses it to help John teach the children. And one person--his name is Rajan--grows and grows, in a special way. John disciples Rajan, and trains him, and gives him more responsibility. One more person gets saved. One more person gets baptized.

The church is stronger now, and John feels that the Lord is leading him to another village - to begin again. Rajan wants to come too - to help. But John says, No, there are other villages that need to hear about Jesus: Rajan should go to one of these. God will be with him. So Rajangoes.

When I stand before God one day, although my sins will have been washed away by Jesus' sacrifice, I will have to give an account for my life. For how I used the one or five or ten talents I was given. For how I used the minutes, the hours, the weeks, the years. For how I used my emotional energy. For my job. For what I did with my free time. For what I did with what God gave me.

If I live a disconnected life, I will be ashamed on that day. That means the only hope is to get connected. Through prayer. Through obedience. Through deliberate decisions that, often very costly, will connect us with what God wants to do with the rest of our lives.

Scenario: "Missions is not your thing," but you find yourself going on a two-week mission trip to northern India anyway. The mission organization you go with matches people up with full-time national workers. You end up with a guy named Rajan and his family. Giving up their bed for you, Rajan and his wife sleep on the floor of their hut. They welcome you into their lives and ministry. Little did you expect what that would mean... For the next few days, you see people get saved, baptized, discipled. It changes your life. You go home a different person. You keep growing. You keep changing. God gets a hold of you. The rest is history.

Now, let's look at that opening question again:

What would be a better investment?
(1) Giving $2,400 to Gospel for Asia to provide the full financial support needed for a Spirit-filled evangelist with a family to devote an entire year taking Christ to one of the most unreached parts of the world
(2) Spending $2,400 on a two-week mission trip to India

There is no right answer.

But it's the right question.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot (and John, and Rajan)

"I have a 'normal' job. How can God use me in a radical way in my workplace?"

Most of us have "regular jobs." We're teachers, computer programmers, office workers, salespeople, tradespeople. And although I will soon be embarking on missions, for the past year and a half, I too have spent eight hours a day, five days a week, working amidst other people in front of a computer.

I believe that each of us should be doing as much as we possibly can for God. Why would we do anything else? And although "regular jobs" are not particularly glamorous, I believe that "the best thing" (aka, God's will) for a person is often to have a regular job.

But how hard it is be radically used of God in the workplace! How hard it is to reach out to our coworkers, to be a shining light for Christ, to witness boldly and yet with discernment, to make a stand without causing more harm than good, to see our workplace as our mission field. In fact, I wonder sometimes if the workplace is the most challenging place to serve God.

My friend Matt has what you might call a normal job, and he is trying to figure out what it means to do as much as possible for God in a regular office setting. I have a few ideas--and I share them with you below--but I thought I would ask those of you who are willing to share your own ideas as a comment on this blog post. So, have an idea? Post it below.

I have a normal job. How can God use me in a radical way in my workplace?

-Pray for your coworkers. If you interact with 100 people, pray for all 100. Then every encounter will be an opportunity. Pray especially for those you work with often, on a daily basis. When you pray for the people you work with, God will speak to you about them. Ask God to show you how He can use you to reach out to every one of them. When you pray for your coworkers--the people 'above' you and the people 'below' you--God will put love in your heart for them. Which will you make you care for and about them. This alone will set you apart. People love it when you actually genuinely care about them.
-Spend time with God each day, before work. In the Word, and in prayer. Try not to miss this time. Ask him to help you to refocus, to help you walk in step with His Spirit so that you will not miss the opportunities--the "Divine appointments"--that come your way, and so that His love will be channeled through you to whomever you met.
-Practically ask yourself how you can make your coworkers' lives better. Could you give them something that they would love? (e.g., Bill loves stamps. Why not save and give him the stamps from your international letters? Holly loves her dog. Why not give her something for her dog? She will love it.)
-Buck the workplace default, and don't complain. Do the opposite. In sincerity, try to love your job. (e.g., I've had about 50 taxi drivers in the last two years. This past week, for the first time, my taxi driver told me that he loved his job. He'd been doing it for six years, and despite the long hours and low hourly rate, he was just so thankful, as a refugee from Afghanistan, to be able to live in Canada and earn a living.) Attitude and perspective are so important.
-Do your job as well as you can. Come in a little bit early every day, and do the best you can. When you are constantly thinking about how much you are earning, what you are going to do after work, your next holiday, how much of a pain in the neck your coworker is, etc; you know you are really in the wrong place: and by wrong place I mean who you are is wrong where you are. (e.g., In 2003, I roofed for a year. I loved it for the first three months. But then I lost my focus, and I was increasingly guilty of most of the above. Eventually I realized that it was totally my fault--it wasn't my job or my employer--it was my wrong attitude; and life got so much better.)
-Be in prayer throughout the day. Be in communion with God. Then every minute, every hour, of your day will be eternalized; and not wasted.
-Always be seeking to change more into the likeness of Christ. If you think God's will for you has a "just" in it (e.g., "God just wants me to..."), I'm sorry, but you are wrong. God is moving in big ways, we are in exciting times (more missions and martyrs than ever before), and God put you here to be part of it. There is no "just" for us in a world that needs Christ--in a world where millions are dying of AIDS, malnutrition, treatable diseases, sin. Again, why would you want to do anything less than all you possibly could for your Lord? And that means seeking balance in your life, walking in grace, and, oftentimes, working a regular job.

If you have a normal job, and you believe God has you where he wants you, think of yourself as a very critical part of the "war effort". Because you are. You are no less needed in the war effort effort for souls than those who remained at home, on the homefront, in World War II. During this time just a generation or two ago, whole nations worked together for one purpose, doing what they could. Women joined the work force like never before, waste was not acceptable, clothes were mended and patched instead of thrown away, complaining was not tolerated, children collected scrap metal for artillery factories.

If you have a normal job, you are not only part of the homefront effort in that you are a sender in the Great Commission; you are also a soldier, a goer, in your workplace--you are the only Light of Christ to someone in some cases--in a war that matters far more than any of the World's wars of guns and bombs.

You are in a war for Eternity. For people. For God's glory.

Don't waste it.