Often times we are lead to believe that the most important and glorious Christian work is done traveling to far places, living in foreign cultures (the further away the better), and eating strange food while talking about Jesus in a foreign language. We’ve developed a missionary mentality that says, "If it’s done ‘over there’ it’s more important". I suppose this springs from the home visits our missionaries give when they return to our churches to report on their work. They return from that most glorious of places - ‘The Mission Field’. And after hearing their stories many of us, by default, feel left out. Left behind. Because whatever we do at home, in English, is boring.

That would be a wrong conclusion. First of all, if you can’t minister in your own back yard, in your own language, with people you know in your neighborhood, you won’t be able to do it any better ‘over there’. It’ll just cost more. Christian work begins at home. Secondly, and think about this carefully, if ALL Christians would do their ‘homework’, reaching their neighborhoods first, we wouldn’t have to spend oodles in finances sending someone else somewhere else to do that work.

One of our most rewarding victories, and a work in progress, is one Marilyn and I are having with our new neighbors. The family of six moved in just last year. We did the proper neighborly thing and became friends. We invited them over for coffee a couple of times. Zeb gave them buggy rides with his horses. We encouraged them in growing their first garden and gave them some tips on how to keep their chickens safe from critters that were raiding the chicken coop. And when our conversation most naturally came around to the economy and world events, we talked about that – which led to them attending a Bible study in our home on Tuesday evening talking about these things and ‘connecting the dots’ between them and the imminent return of Christ.

Three weeks ago Mom and daughter prayed to receive Christ as their Savior, beginning their new walk with Him. The following week the other two girls followed suit. We gave them each a Bible, encouraging them to read them, write in them, and learn. It was quite an energetic time answering all of the new questions in that Bible study with new believers. And now we are continuing the ongoing work of discipleship because we know this is just the beginning for them.

Keep in mind, however, that this was all done in English. No more than a quarter mile from home. No missionary pilots required to get us there. No dangerous expeditions through the jungle. No rivers to wade avoiding piranhas. No expenditure at all. Because it was ‘homework’.

My point in this is to say that all of us have kingdom work we can do at home. Don’t keep looking ‘over there’, or feel that you don’t have a mission field in your own back yard. You do. God has you where you are on purpose. Look around. Plant seeds. Water. Cultivate hearts. And don’t be afraid to lead people in that prayer that starts them on their walk with Jesus. Do your homework.

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  Are You Fishing in the Lake or Splashing in the pool?

I noticed my eight year-old granddaughter, Elena, sitting by the front window of a lakeside cabin looking at the kids swimming near the dock. She looked sad. Thinking that she was feeling left out I asked her if she wanted to join the other kids swimming. "Doesn’t that look like fun?" I asked. "But they’re scaring all the fish away", was her reply. This eight year old girl was more interested in fishing than swimming. Ah, the heart of a true fisherman!

But isn’t that just like a lot of Christians, I mused. We’re so busy splashing and making waves and enjoying our Christian fellowship in the lake of life that we forget the lake is full of fish that need catching. It was Jesus Himself that told us "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19). If we are followers of Christ, fishing for souls is our calling. It’s to be our main activity.

Yet, many Christians find themselves in Elena’s situation. They’d like to fish, but are caught up doing the Christian activities of church because it’s the expected Christian thing. Each Sunday morning they drive by countless lost ‘fish’ on their way to ‘do church’ in their own private sanctuary pools. Forget swimming in that cold weedy lake anymore. We selectively splash each Sunday in pools of like-minded swimmers. These ‘pools of Christians’ have significant names: Pool of the Living Waters, First Pool of the Anointed, Whole Dunking Pool, Clear Water Revival-ers, etc. Soon pool activities consume most of their time. Pool support becomes all important. And because no lost fish are found in our pools, we soon lose the ability – and desire- to fish. Only unclean Swamp People fish in the lake anymore.

Sadly, too often church itself has become our goal. The church service where we talk ‘about’ evangelism has become more important than doing evangelism. After all, it’s more comfortable that way. And hearing a master-fisherman tell his fishing tales draws a larger crowd than will a service on baiting hooks. Or cleaning fish. It’s much easier to sit in an air conditioned pew (pun intended) instead of dealing with the dirty unwashed and unsaved on skid row. It’s more comfortable to prepare a salad to take to the next pot luck than to invite an unsaved neighbor for dinner. Talk about home invasion. Loss of privacy. Sacrifice!

Consequently most American Christians spend more time ‘doing church’ than being the Church. More funds are expended maintaining the building than ministering to the Body. Mega churches, after all, capture people’s imaginations. Holding the hand of a homeless man just looks dirty. It’s time to fish instead of just splashing around in the church pool. Making Christian waves.

Elena had it right. We scare the fish away and don’t care. No one else notices nor sees the potential. But a true fisherman does.

My motorcycle was packed and ready to go. I’d experienced some very good one on one ministry during the weekend and we had a 100% turnout for the church service. I rode up to the staging area to thank the rally hosts for letting us be a part of their event. That’s when the rally sponsor said, "Thank you for coming. Our rallies just seem better when God is present."

My immediate response was, "I’m not God."

Then she said something that stopped me in my tracks. "I know that," she replied, "but sometimes it’s just nice to see God with skin on. Ya know what I mean?"

I knew what she meant. While I cringed at the comparison of me to God (I know what God has to work with here) I knew exactly what she meant. God can seem abstract to unbelievers – and some believers as well, I’m afraid. I was there in person; praying, preaching, riding, dining, and talking in person with these people. It was hands-on stuff. I was real to them. God seemed a bit distant, at least until I could introduce them to Him.

Immediately the words "You’re the only Jesus some will ever see." came to mind from the song You’re the Only Jesus.

That lady didn’t know it, but in those few words she preached a sermon to all of us. Like it or not, "…we are ambassadors for Christ…" (II Cor. 5:20). We represent Him. Every Christian. No exceptions. And for better or worse when people see us they see Jesus. That’s quite a load to carry when you give it some thought. Many don’t wish to carry the responsibility, but it’s there. By our actions and words and lives we either draw people closer to Christ or drive them away. It’s called our testimony. Silent or spoken, it’s powerful. And it has consequences. Eternal ones.

So let me ask you this: What do people see when they look at you? What do they think when they hear you speak? Who are you representing in your life?

Remember: to the world you’re God with skin on. Best act like it.

            Dangerous Churches & Motorcycles

Marilyn had her first motorcycle ride behind me on my 1971 Superglide (the original Night Train) shortly after we met while we were both in college. Several years after we married she learned to ride her own. From that day forward we were a two-bike household. When the kids came along, rather than leave them behind every time we rode, or selling the bikes and abandoning our hobby as so many feel they must do to become ‘responsible’, we simply added a sidecar and kept going. We’ve always made motorcycling a family affair in our household. Each of our five children have the best of memories from traveling the country with us and all are licensed motorcyclists today.

I can’t begin to tell you, though, the countless times well-meaning individuals reminded us that motorcycling was dangerous. Men commented, "You let (make) your wife follow you all around the country riding on her own? What if something happens? What if both of you get killed?" – as if I didn’t care about her well being – or that we didn’t care for our children in the sidecar. They failed to realize that it was because I cared about her that I encouraged her to enjoy what she loved to do – ride. For many thousands of miles she has enjoyed biking, most often accompanying me, sometimes riding with her lady friends, and occasionally on trips by herself. Her family thought it quite unique, for example, when she showed up at their family reunion in North Dakota, unaccompanied, on her own Harley.

But it finally happened. Last month she got hurt. She had the first accident that resulted in her hospitalization since our marriage. Her shoulder was dislocated and broken, her arm was broken, and two ligaments were torn. She came home from the hospital just last week. My wife is now officially held together with a plate and ten screws (she tells me that my screws are still loose). What happened? She was attending her father’s funeral in Jamestown, North Dakota and fell on the CHURCH STEPS! Yup. After all of those ‘dangerous’ motorcycle miles, she tripped in church.

There’s an ironic lesson here, but I’ll skip all of the fun I could have with this one. The simple truth is, many people are afraid to do the things they would like to in life because they live in fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of harm, fear of dying. We don’t have to live that way. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to "…release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15)" While life’s circumstances can, and will, jump up and bite us at times, we don’t have to allow fear to paralyze us into submission – into living a life of second hand experiences. That’s part of the freedom Christ brings to those who receive it.

Ride safe, and watch those church steps when you ride your motorcycle to church next Sunday.

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 America & Haiti - Crossing Paths?

"God moves in mysterious ways". While that is sometimes the occasion, it’s a statement most often heard from people who don’t understand why something is happening. The Bible is a record of God’s dealings with man and He desires that we understand them. Throughout Biblical history He has used earthquakes, floods, and fire to gain the attention of the spiritually hard of hearing. Man’s modus operandi, "the squeaky wheel get the grease", works because it similarly gains attention. Knowing this, why then do so many people refuse to believe it when God shakes us to get ours?

Case in point: The world watched the aftermath of one of those shakings in Haiti recently. The devastation of an already impoverished nation was heart breaking. I first visited Haiti during the reign of ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier, one of it’s most ruthless dictators. My memories of the people are heart warming, but the visions I carry of the poverty I observed in the hard-hit city of Port-au-Prince is unforgettable. The voodoo drum and masks I carried home have long since been burned. I later learned to connect the dots.

What I found of interest in these recent events is not just what took place in Haiti, but people’s reaction to it, especially those within the Christian community in America. When Pat Robertson made the statement that Haiti has been living under a curse for two-hundred years because of a pact with Satan, he attracted immense criticism as a hate mongering radical. Much of it flowed from fellow Christians. I found that interesting because Pat’s statement had little to do with the earthquake itself. He simply related the cause and effect of why Haiti has been so impoverished for so long, was unable to help herself, and needed our aid. This polarization occurred in part because Americans aren’t familiar with the history of that island nation, but also because many are not willing to concede that God controls and uses earthquakes today. "A loving God wouldn’t do anything like that" was a statement I heard repeated many times. That simply flies in the face of the Biblical record and brings me to the root reason for this article: It’s time we determine whether we believe God’s Word is ultimate truth or not. Is God who He says He is? Or not? Does He control the earth and it’s forces? Or not? In this case: did God cause the earthquake in Haiti? If so, what was He hoping to accomplish?

Let’s let history speak for itself. You connect the dots.

In the late 18^th century two countries were throwing off their oppressors: one was to become the United States of America, the other was to become Haiti. Both revolts were successful, but with much differing long term results.

Future Americans laid the groundwork for their nation years earlier when the Plymouth Brethren asked God’s help and guidance. The Mayflower Compact reads in part: "Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and the Advancement of the Christian Faith…a voyage to plant the first colony in…Virginia…."(underlines mine). Upon gaining freedom from British rule and the Crown’s monetary system, America honored God by printing "In God We Trust" on her currency for all the world to see. She went on to fulfill her stated covenant goal and has sent more missionaries into the world than the rest of the world’s nations combined. And God blessed America. While not everyone living within her borders today is a Christian (individual salvation always depends upon one’s personal choice of faith in Christ), all living within her borders have benefited in that blessing.

The first Haitians chose a different route. On the night of August 14, 1791, Dutty Boukman, a Voodoo houngan (priest), conducted a ceremony in the Bois Cayman (Alligator Woods) whereby rebellion leaders sealed their compact by invoking voodoo spirits to help them throw off their French masters. The slave rebellion that followed, while killing over 100,000 blacks and 24,000 whites in the process, was successful. The country that emerged, however, was vastly different than that of her neighbor to the north. The Bible warns us that "The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy." (John 10:10). Haiti’s covenant with demons has resulted in a violent history of poverty and bloodshed. She is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. And while not all citizens hold to the nation’s predominant religion of voodoo, or voodoo mixed with Catholicism as is often practiced, all living within have suffered from the nation’s woes.

On January 12, 2010 God shook Haiti. Following the 7.0 earthquake, nations converged to assist these devastated people. America was the first to respond. Other Christianized nations followed suit. It wasn’t the Muslim nations, nor the Buddhist nations, nor the Hindu nations. It was the Christian nations that responded first and gave the most. This was not lost on the Haitian people. Christian missionaries already in-country were most effective in their help. While most Westerners wrote off the quake simply as a geological event, the Haitians themselves viewed it as an act of God. Thousands of Haitians repented and turned to Christ. Voodoo priests, losing their followers, complained to the president, but the tide could not be turned. What the prayers of the saints had begun, and the shaking of God had galvanized, the Holy Spirit would continue.

Following is part of a remarkable account from a former in-country missionary, Jerry Miel, who returned to give aid, printed here as he wrote it:

Haiti literally shut down and prayed. What a testimony to what the Holy Spirit is accomplishing there. While we need to continue to pray for Haiti, we’d best begin to pray that God restore the spiritual sight of American Christians as well. Many obviously no longer believe their Bibles. They don’t understand the value of covenants with God (or Satan), choose to explain away the ramifications of those choices, and are practicing a brand of Christian religion devoid of the sovereignty of God and His Word. The earthquake in Haiti is evidence that God isn’t going to ignore a people under a curse placed there by their forefathers years before. If God did this for Haiti, will He do less for America?

Addendum: America officially repealed her contract with God by Supreme Court decision in 1963 with the expulsion of the Bible and prayer from schools. While Haiti is embracing Christ, we are ejecting, by legal decree, God from all of our public places. Two hundred years after throwing off their masters, could these two nations be now passing one another spiritually - going in opposite directions? You connect the dots.

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                              Finishing Well

                                               or Duz-et?

I overheard my teenage son on the phone recently. It was a ‘grunt ‘n run’ conversation of 21^st century teen lingo. "Lo" "Hey" "Yup" "Uh huh" " Nope" " K" "Bye". I wondered where our time and money spent on good schooling, manners, and grammar went. Whatever happened to, " Good morning, Mrs. Anderson. How are you this fine morning?" In my teen-years we at least used whole words: "Cool man" or "Neat" or "Right on!" Words with meaning.

I’ve heard corresponding language from adults on the street, especially guys. We’ve developed an art of it: "Hey!" - "Howyadoin?" – never expecting an answer. Nor wanting one. It’s just an acknowledgment of the other’s existence. Could it be an aboriginal response to avoid battle? At least we’re not enemies that way.

Are we guilty of treating God in the same manner by offering prayers that solicit no response? I have heard Christian leaders plan major events without consulting God first. Then, almost as an afterthought, a closing prayer invokes God’s involvement: "Lord, we planned all of this for your sake so blessitinyournameamen". It’s not unlike praying before our meals simply so we can eat without feeling guilty.

How would we like it if God responded in kind? A thunder roll to let us know He’s there. A lightning flash to let us know He’s angry. Or worse yet, with nothing. Silence. Dead silence, like one gets from all of those graven images in the world. No divine involvement in our lives, just a peaceful, non-threatening silence. Think about it.

Guilty? Then beginning talking with God. Really talking. And listening. You’ll be surprised at the response you get. Yes, He speaks – when you listen. And acts – when you ask. "But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God…." (Jeremiah 10:10)

  Living Water

I have to confess that, growing up in the well watered country surrounding Lake Superior, I took good drinking water for granted. It wasn’t until I began traveling that I learned the value of that water. Now, one of the first places I go upon my return home is to the kitchen faucet for a drink of good, clear, cold well water.

I remember a ride in the Sonora Desert in Arizona. It was absolutely beautiful as the desert was in bloom. The hot dry heat was a wonderful change for us northerners who had just left winter behind. But we all had to remember to constantly drink lots of water. We carried water bottles in our saddle bags and at each stop we would take a drink. We encountered some tempting substitutes: sugared soda pops which don’t satisfy, iced teas or coffees which are diuretics and will actually dehydrate the body, and cold ice cream, which sounds good but leaves one even thirstier afterward. There are no substitutes here; pure water is the best. One of our riders spent a day in bed sick and swollen as a reminder to drink lots of water and to wear more protective clothing in the desert sun. It’s a physical lesson well remembered…and applied to our spiritual lives as well.

The Bible constantly refers to Jesus Christ as the Living Water. It reminds us that Jesus is the only one who can give life. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). Substitutes like religion (which comes from the Greek word religio and means ‘back into slavery’) won’t do. Being religious provides nothing other than (perhaps) a good habit. Going to church may be a good thing too, but you cannot become a Christian by going to church anymore than you can become a dog by sleeping in the dog house. Christianity isn’t absorbed by osmosis. One becomes a Christian by believing in Jesus Christ "…whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). It is an act of your will….just like drinking water. No one can make you drink of that Living Water. It is drunk by choice. Your choice.

Are you still thirsty after trying the worlds substitutes? Have worldly accomplishments, titles and popularity, monetary accumulations, clubs, friends, booze, drugs, or even religion left you thirsty? Try drinking of the Living Water. Turn your life over to Jesus Christ today. He promises that you will never thirst again. "…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst…(and) will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."(John 4:14).

Drink well.                     

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