Another photograph to wrestle in my head
Another sleepless night on concrete featherbed
These thoughts of you like bullets to my soul
We’ve got to find a way to get you home

I’ll find a way to get you here
If it takes my fleeting breath
Another sunrise hits the ground
And it’s a dark lonely sight
Lightyears away I hope you know
There is somebody searching
For the way to get you here
I will get you here

Throw the clocks away and run out to the street
We’ll fly to distant clouds where it’s just you and me
A day will come when all of this is gone
You’ve got to find a way to believe

I’ll find a way to get you here
If it takes my fleeting breath
Another sunrise hits the ground
And it’s a dark lonely sight
Lightyears away I hope you know
There is somebody searching
For the way to get you here
I will get you here

Close your eyes and dream of a better day with me
As angels hold you tight, may you sleep in peace tonight
So dream, dream, dream my child
Hear the whisperings of hope
It’s a song that you can sing, as you sleep in peace tonight

So I am not a guy that tends to cry alot, in fact it takes alot to make me cry. I would consider myself a pretty passionate and emotional type person, but not one that cries often or even gets teary eyed. But there is something about Easter time, palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday where I start tearing up like a little kid who lost thier dog. It happened to me again today in worship at Bell Shoals. I have been on the road since Dec. and this is one of my first Sundays back at my “home church”. It just happens to be Palm Sunday and so they went all out. People dressed in middle eastern biblical get-up, a real Jewish looking guy playing Jesus, lepers being healed, and palm branches being waved. As i watched and sang it was all i could do not to lose it. Why? It wasn’t necessarily the music or drama…although that was good. As I think about why i get like this during this time of year some reasons come to mind. These are thoughts that tend to run through my head during these days that make a grown man weepy…

• John 19 says Jesus was scourged. Bone, muscle and tendon ripped out of his back until he was unrecognizable.
• The gospels tell us Peter denied him 3 times…I have so many more times.
• Jesus was fully human, as well as divine. So he felt the pain and I can’t imagine what it was like to feel , and know you had the power to stop it all.
• He CHOSE the cross.
• I know the secret dark places of my heart…and so does he…yet while I was still a sinner Christ died for me
• 2 Cor. says Jesus knew no sin, and he BECAME sin, so that I could be righteous.
• I don’t deserve to be righteous, and he did not deserve to die.
• I can’t imagine having nails driven through my wrists and feet.
• I can’t imagine hanging naked on a cross for hours
• The gospels tell us, “why do you search for the living among the dead, he is not here, he is RISEN”
• The above words are some of the most beautiful and invigorating in scripture.
• Despite all of this I am like Paul. There are days i do what i do not want to do, and what i want to do I do not do.
• As I sat there today I thought of the billions who live in the world and have never heard this story….may we abandon comfort to go to them!

So what things move you about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ?

Romans 1 says we all have a general knowledge of God from creation (general revelation). So what about the woman living in the hut in Africa that does not know about Jesus? Heard that question? Well I met her last week..haha.

On the last day of our trip Afework took us to a remote village to meet the one Christian in that village. He happened to be a gov. appointed nurse living among the people and he happened to have great influence with the people, and he happened to be a believer that after two years in this village was desiring our our help in planting a church there.

After meeting with him Afework said, “Would you be ok walking for 15-20 minutes to see how some of these people live?” I was thinking “I have seen a hut man, lets get lunch.” But cordially agreed and began walking. As always in Ethiopia time is nothing and 15 minutes turned into 2 hours. We passed hut after hut and i was like “uhhhh what are we doing.” We reached the top of a major hill and in the FAR distance we saw three little huts by themselves. Afework said, “That is where we are going.” We were all about to turn back bc/ it looked to be so far, but we agreed to keep going. We walked through thorns, cow crap, and other things i don’t know until we came to those huts. Ya see Afework had been told to go there by the ladies son whom he had led to Christ in Addis( the capital city of Ethiopia). We entered the hut and realized it was cooler, but the AC was missing. It is amazing how they make those things to keep in cool air!

She offered us yogurt…not Dannon, but basically Old goat milk!!! We declined, but Afework drank some so it was ok. As we talked with her through two translators we realized she had not EVER heard the story of Jesus. Afework confirmed this for me when I asked him if she had heard. So I took a few minutes and shared the simple gospel with her. Creation, Fall, sin, Jesus, death, burial, resurrection, redemption! She said she had never heard that story. Then she said something straight from Romans 1. ” I always knew there was a God, but i do not know how to relate to Him. I do not practice witchcraft and voodoo like the others in the village bc/ i do not think God likes that.”

She had waited a long time out there for sone to come and tell her God loved her so much that he had pursued her in the person and work of Jesus. We finally asked her if she would like to become a Jesus follower? Her response was that she was ready, but afraid of being persecuted and ostrasized from her community. The local burial process is believed to be done in such a way there that actually effects your after life. If she followed Jesus they would not bury her or her children when they died. She is counting the cost…but now she knows.

She knows that God is emmanuel…with her

She knows that death is not the end.

She knows that there is a bigger kingdom to be loyal to than her village officials

Some thoughts as I walked away from the hut that day (not caring how far back it was)

1. I felt privleged to be the first to tell her about my Father and King!
2. I am glad i did not drink the “yogurt”
3. I hope that the seed of the kingdom planted in her heart grows until he can do nothing but follow Jesus, despite the persecution
4. I can’t wait to go back to this village to tell more!

We WILL go back there this year…wanna come?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-NOZU2iPA8

• Kyle, Jamie, and Rusty are my new RBFF’s…for life!
• I have been on the road on and off since Jan. 2nd. I have been to China, Birmingham, Houston, Atlanta, Oklahoma, back to Atlanta, and heading to Savannah this weekend to speak. I am exhausted, but energized all at the same time. I am energized by what I have seen God do, by the power of his word when it is preached simply in context, and by his people.
• I wonder what would happen if churches would stop spending money building things they do not need, and instead pour it into the community and the world?
• I am so glad Rchel has been able to travel with me since mid-January! I am not going to lie, it has been harder but so worth it to be with them. This weekend is the last weekend they will be with me for a while and I am excited cause we are going to spend a few extra days in our favorite city…Savannah, GA!!!!!
• ” Hate Evil, Love Good, and Establish Justice in the gate.” Amos 5:15. This verse continues to bounce around the walls of my heart and will not go away.
• I am looking forward to coffee wednesday with Chris DeArmen…and I know he is going to ask me about my sabbath time.
• I also can’t wait to head to Ethiopia in March with some good friends. We will be going to Asela, a very dark place with not many believers. We will also spend time in Shashamene having a few pastoral training sessions. My friend Ben N. will be teaching what he is learning about how to reach/love muslims. Everytime I am around these pastors I want to bring them all over to America and take them on a tour, pastors in America could learn so much from these guys!
• We had a “family b-day party” tonight and it was one of the most fun nights we have had in a long time. Ava, grandma, and grandpa danced the night away while we ate Wright’s Choclate cake that I think is made by Jesus?
• I get the opportunity to speak to alot of people each year, but one of my favorite places to speak is at Refuge every week. God has given me a love for the students there.
• I am holding in my hand 5 cards of people who want to sponsor one of the 30 children that are in the school Innovative started this year in Ethiopia in conjuction with our Hydrate:Educate Project. I m so grateful for these people, if you want to know how you can help provide food, clothing and education to one of these children let me know at matts@tamh.net
• We have a big decision to make in the next few days concerning our adoption…like HUGE…please pray.
• I enjoy staying at the Blankenship Bed and Breakfast in Austelle, GA. Don’t bother looking though, it is invitation only..haha!

Shalom, out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE857DJWX2w

Could this be said of the church? It once was…

” These men who have turned the world upside down, have come here also.” Acts 17:6

John Piper says, ” There are three types when it comes to missions. Thise who go, those who give, and the disobedient.”

William Booth said this back in the day…

“‘Not called!’ did you say? ‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say.Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”

Love it…I think we would have been pals!

So I am emerging from blog hibernation. My freind Bush got on to me for not writing more, and he is right. God has allowed me to see and experience so much of what He is doing around the world, I need to be sharing it. So now that the craziness of summer is slowing down, only to give way to the craziness of fall, I shall write more. My goal is at least two posts a week, so hold me to fellow bloggers!

I am emerging with a not so serious post though. A few weeks ago I was in Johnson City, TN speaking at a church to promote The Hydrate Project (more to come on this, it deserves it’s own post). A member of the church had locked himself in his garage until he got 500 users on his new website called www.fellowtip.com . Eric Mcartey developed this website so that users can give, and get tips on everything from where to dine while on vacation, to what to do if the manifold injector on your car goes out (not sure what a manifold injector is…made it up.) So during this start-up time he locked himself in his garage until he recieved 500 fellowtip users. I went by there on my way out of town after speaking and met the guy. I felt like I was witnessing history. I kept thinking to myself, “this is how every great computer/internet company starts…in a dudes garage!” So I signed up right there in his garage….got on the live webcam he had set up to chronicle his exile to the garage. Fun stuff…

So go by www.fellowtip.com and show some love! And check my blog soon for a series of blogs called “The word became flesh.” These are a collection of stories and moments where I literally saw scripture come to life before my eyes in amazing ways this summer.

Later!

From now until the end of August things are very busy, but fun! I begin with this trip to East Asia and will end it all with the privlege to speak at a Campus Missionary Bootcamp for several churches in my town that are mobilizing students to live missionally on thier campus!

I between I will be in Africa, East Asia (again), Bradenton, Colorado Springs, Houston, Johnson City, and back to Houston! Pray for a good summer!

So for now from Canada, good day ehh!!!

But there are certain things that draw attention to the beauty of the gospel, just as jewlery does on a woman. There are many ways that the gospel is adorned and made to “look good”. I believe we adorn the gospel when we help the “least of these”. I believe the gospel is adorned everytime a man chooses his wife when given the choice to be unfaithful. It is adorned everytime a believer loves another without expecting something in return. The list goes on and on….

I believe the gospel is also adorned and it’s beauty displayed in the death of the saints of God. Today I went to my pastor and his 13 year old son’s funeral. There were literally thousands of people there, 6 or 7 people spoke, and the gospel was adorned in an amazing way. I believe the gospel is adorned when a saint dies because it is in that moment that we remember once again, or realize for the first time the amazing claims of the gospel we cling to. The claim that Jesus defeated death, there is no sting in death, it is not the end, and we do not mourn like those who have no hope!!! Everytime a saint dies the beauty of the gospel is displayed because we see once again a picture of grace.

I pray that my life will adorn the gospel by the way I live. I also pray that my death will adorn the gospel, whenever that day may be?