Pig farm church

Hey, so last time I blogged was a bit rushed. One of the great things about the pig and duck farms at the "pig farm church" is the opportunity it gives these three families to support themselves in an environment in which they can raise the children. They have pig pins in the back of the house and a duck pin to the side. The pig waste is used as fertilizer for the land and provides ethenol gas to power the lights in the house. Rice fields ripe with rice surround the neighborhood. The families live alongside the pastor and leadership of a church we have connections with from the Cambodian Church back in Ft. Worth. The families have expressed that they are now believers in Jesus Christ and are active in the church. They say this is because of the love they have seen within the churches (abroad and local). "They will know we are Christians by our love."

Psalm 37

Hey yáll, I'm blogging from Phenom Penh, Cambodia.

The first thing we did was head about six hours north in order to visit the first two churches. Let's call the first church {festival church}, because it was putting on a festival. We got to see a lot of traditional Cambodian dancing and singing. It was beautiful worship to the one true God. It is such a privilege to be here with Cambodian Christians who are so thoroughly faithful to the Word. Their faith was challenging to me, especially that of one beautiful twenty-six year old girl. Let's call her C. She is crippled from the waist down and relies on a wheelchair bike with hand petals to get around. I had heard a story from my dad of a girl from one of the churches who traveled a mile and a half in her wheelchair in the rain and through the mud to go to the church. Lo and behold, the story was of C's first time attending festival church. That day, she didn't have money for a taxi. People on the muddy road taunted her, tried to push her bike off the road, and threatened to take away her Bible. I got a chance to talk and pray with her while we were there. She shared with me that when her alcoholic mother yells at her and people on the streets mock her, she gets her strength from Psalm 37 (Click the title of this post to read the chapter). There was no sign of self-pity in C. She was suffering and did not hide her tears. However, her faith was unshakable. Like Job in Job 2, she refused to curse God in her suffering. You know how Moses came down from the mountain with his face shining because he had spoken with God? I felt like the Hebrews must have felt after seeing Moses that day- astounded at someone with such intimacy with the Lord.

The next church we'll call {pig farm church}. A large portion of the people in this church consists of three families who used to live at a brick factory. Today, we actually visited the brick factory that they lived in. It's basically a few shelters built dangerously close to four or five giant brick kilns that are about twenty feet wide by fifty yards long. Smoke and soot pollute the air while the flames of the kiln keep the already humid climate even hotter. My dad, their team in February, and a couple of local churches were able to remove these families from this environment and place them in a place to live that is now connected to a pig and duck farm. I know this is vague, but for lack of a better phrase, visiting this church was incredible.

Then we went to the famous Ankor Wat Temple Ruins *<--where the picture was taken*, travelled back to Phenom Penh, and visited the next church. I've got to go- more later!

Cambodia Bound

Hey y'all! I'm flying out today for a two week trip to Cambodia (Click the title of this post, "Cambodia Bound," to get some information about the country of Cambodia). I'm going with my parents and three close Cambodian friends of ours. I'll try to update on here as much as possible when WiFi is available. Here's some information about this trip:

Half of the team, including my dad, has already been to Cambodia in February. This trip is a follow-up visit to the Cambodian churches they worked with. What was seven churches has become ten since February, praise the Lord! We will be going to each of these ten churches to work with them in various ways, including the following:

At some we will work to meet some basic needs as we are able in a way that will not breed unnecessary dependancy. At most if not all, we will offer basic Bible and mentoring training to lay pastors, leaders, and church members. Sharing the gospel through these churches and throughout our trip will also be a priority. A couple churches have pig farms in the process of being started and developed as a way to support the people there. There, my dad whom God has blessed with the gift of administration will be helping them with the business and figures side of this operation. There are other possible subsistence-type businesses that we will be looking into assisting as well. Children will also be surrounding us at each church, entailing children's ministry at all times! Encouragement of these churches will also be a priority through whatever activity we are involved in. Please pray for God to be glorified in and through all of these endeavors.

Another aspect of this trip lies in one of our team members, D. He is a Cambodian-American in his late teens. He and his parents make up the other half of our team, for which am very grateful! His parents spent their childhood in Cambodia and other surrounding countries, making their way to America in early adulthood. D was born here and has never been to his home-culture's country. This will be his first time to see Cambodia, and he will be meeting various family members along the way. Please pray for him in this emotionally charged journey.

The team will also be attempting to visit a Bible college in one of the major cities. This is really something I want to do for my personal interest, as well as to see if this college can work with any of the ten churches. In my mind, if there is a training center for Christian leaders in this city who will be looking for ministry opportunities in the near future, then we certainly have churches to hook them up with! Pray for this college and the Biblical equipping it is giving these Cambodian believers.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but this is the gist of the trip.

If you are committed to praying for me personally, please pray that I will not get in the way of what God wants to show me. Pray for me to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit the entire trip (i.e. in my attitude, in my response to seeing poverty and prostitution, in my communication and relating to my team, etc).

Prayer points include:

*Praying for the ten Cambodian churches (leadership, people, surrounding communities, businesses)

*Praying for the Bible College in the major city

*Praying for D and his first time to Cambodia

*Praying for our team to be filled with God's Spirit to do what He wants us to do

Since the team consists of portions of two families going together, pray that those of us going will be drawn together and used effectively within our family units. When we get back, it is important that we communicate to the rest of our family how God is making Himself famous in Cambodians' lives through these Cambodian churches.

Praise God that He is already at work in Cambodia, and will be at work long after we leave. We want to glorify Him in this small step we get to take into His grander, ongoing plan of redemption. Let all the nations be glad, for our God is the one true, living God!

Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot has unknowingly been one of my mentors for many years now. Her writing invades my heart and soul every time I read it, because she writes with the ink of suffering, wisdom, and breathtaking intimacy with the Lord. Here are some of her quotes that I stumbled upon.

"To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss."

-These Strange Ashes

"Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next."

-Quest for Love: True Stories of Passion and Purity

"One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy."

-Secure in the Everlasting Arms

"Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands."

"If we hold tightly to anything given to us unwilling to allow it to be used as the Giver means it to be used we stunt the growth of the soul. What God gives us is not necessarily "ours" but only ours to offer back to him, ours to relinguish, ours to lose, ours to let go of, if we want to be our true selves. Many deaths must go into reaching our maturity in Christ, many letting goes."

-Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control

"I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts. Its easy to talk oneself into a decision that has no permanence – easier sometimes than to wait patiently."

-Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control

"Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your saviour, your guide? If He is, you don't need to search any further for security."

"Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. This was the proof of His love – that He gave that Son, that He let Him go to Calvary’s cross, though “legions of angels” might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us- not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process."

"When obedience to God contradicts what I think will give me pleasure, let me ask myself if I love Him."

"The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world."

"It is God to whom and with whom we travel, and while He is the end of our journey, He is also at every stopping place."

"We never know what God has up His sleeve. You never know what might happen; you only know what you have to do now."

And here's a wonderful quote from Origen:

"If we see some admirable work of human art, we are at once eager to investigate the nature, the manner, the end of its production; and the contemplation of the works of God stirs us with an incomparably greater longing to learn the principles, the method, the purpose of creation. This desire, this passion, has without doubt been implanted in us by God. And as the eye seeks light, as our body craves food, so our mind is impressed with the... natural desire to know the truth of God and the causes of what we observe. " -Origen (A.D. 185-254)

Such a deep hallelujah

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heaven he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/shane_shane/before_the_throne_of_god_above.html ]
Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise the One,
Risen Son of God!

Behold him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!

One in himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by his blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/shane_shane/#share

Beautiful resources

http://www.disciplemakingintl.org/media/

This website has resources that will- promised- change your life because they are rich with teaching, videos, audio, pdf, whatever, of solid teaching on the Bible.

I'm supposed to be sleeping for a family vacation we're leaving for early tomorrow morning. But then I started watching Part 1 of How to Study the Bible (click on the Secret Church box, then find and click on the "How to Study the Bible" box, and then click Part 1), and I feel as though I have been revived, invigorated, and refreshed in my pursuit of knowing God through studying Scripture. Oh please, use these resources. I'm going to Cambodia next month and want to do all I can to bring some of these resources, this teaching, and strengthen the church in that nation. If you are dry, Christian, then admit it to yourself and to God. There are many deserts in the honest walk with God. It's ok. But then please, delve into the fathoms of these resources. It's incredible how my spirit can quickly forget the quenching satisfaction of Scripture. What's more, it is only when I drink it that I realize that I have been sipping sand for days.

Praise be to God among all tribes, peoples, and languages. The God of the Bible is an infinitely glorious and stunningly gorgeous God.

A meaningful encounter

Last week I was studying for summer classes in Ft. Worth when I decided to take a study break in a shop I had heard a lot about. There were “SALE” signs up, so I went in and started browsing the sale table.

There was a middle-aged woman browsing next to me, and she commented on the great sale. I agreed and said that it made a great study break. She then asked me where it was that I studied, and I explained that I was working on finishing a degree from the Baptist College of Florida through extension work. She nodded, and I perceived that her interest in me waned when I mentioned BCF. The conversation dwindled, and our attentions were drawn to separate parts of the store.

We met again in the back of the store, where I commented that the shop had so many cute things. She said that she designs jewelry, and loves seeing all of the ideas this shop can give her. We discovered a sale room and went in together to peruse.

While thumbing through pairs of shorts, I asked her what got her into making jewelry. She said that it was during her second round of chemo when she had breast cancer in both breasts. She reflected that she was so down and bored that she figured she might as well get into something, and so she began to make jewelry. I was surprised by what this woman had gone through, and told her that my grandmother died of breast cancer and that although I was young when she passed, cancer is still close to me. I remarked that she was a walking miracle. She agreed.

Then she said that through that time in her life, the Lord birthed a connection between her and her mother that was not previously there. She told me that they had a good relationship, but couldn’t relate on spiritual things prior to God working through her cancer. Again, encouraged by what she said, I told her that her story was incredible and asked how she came to know the Lord. She said it was when she was twelve years old in a Baptist church.

I was surprised and wondered why I had gotten my previous perception of her losing interest in me at the sale table. I didn't know all that this woman had gone through or where she was in her relationship with God now, so I just stated what I did know. "He is good." She agreed.

Our conversation continued to be salted with mutual encouragement. On my way out of the sale room to try a few things on, I realized that I hadn’t introduced myself. So, I turned and told her that my name was Elizabeth. She stopped for a moment and her eyes softened. She said that it touched her heart when I said that. Not understanding, I fought back a puzzled expression. She explained that she had had an ectopic pregnancy where the baby develops inside the fallopian tube and they have to terminate it.

Immediate sympathy formed my mouth to say that I was sorry for her loss. She thanked me and gently continued to explain. She said that when she was pregnant, the Lord gave her and her husband a distinct impression that the baby was a girl, and that her name was Elizabeth.

The grave significance of this woman's words to her life, and in that moment my life as well, left me unsure how to respond. All I could say was, “Oh, wow. You never know who you’re going to meet, do you?” She agreed and confidently stated that it was a divine appointment for us to meet. I nodded in agreement, saying that I loved those moments.

We parted ways mutually in awe of the Lord’s divine orchestrations.