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Since getting married in May my wife and I have been traveling a ton! After our honeymoon we immediately jumped into two months of ministry-related travel for two months.
My wife previously posted some of our interesting summer travel stats including the following:
- we have slept in 12 different beds
- we have been in 9 different states
- we have been in 4 different countries
- we have traveled over 10,000 miles
We are both a bit road-weary and are are extremely excited to get back. Traveling can be exciting and definitely serves a worthy purpose in our ministry efforts but good ol’ Dorothy sure had it right when she said, “There’s no place like home”!
While up in the the Northeast earlier this summer visiting some family and ministry partners, I had the opportunity to take my wife to Niagara Falls. I used to go there a lot as a kid because it is only a few hours from where my parents live and also, unlike major theme parks, it is completely free.
The falls are an awesome sight. With an average of four million cubic feet of water going over the falls every minute, Niagara Falls is the most powerful waterfall in the United States. You can literally feel the ground trembling underneath your feet from all the water being dumped over the falls!
The roar of the falls and the mist has a cleansing effect on my soul because all this amazing creation is just another very visible, very experiential reminder that God is real. He is good. And He is powerful.
It’s things like this awesome piece of creation that urge me to pause and stand in awe and wonder of God.
How can anyone look at the beauty of God’s incredibly intricate masterpieces like the rain-forests, mountain ranges, oceans and flowers and say that it all “just happened”? To say such things is completely ridiculous.
I’ve seen “art” created by hippies who were high on drugs. It looks much different from the art of renaissance masters like Da Vinci and Michaelangelo. There is no mistaking their art for an accidental spill of the paint bucket.
It’s the same with the nature. It’s beauty could not have just happened by accident, much less it’s intricacy, functionality and interdependency.
As Romans 1:19-20 says “…what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (ESV)
The creation reveals the magnificence of the Creator. To deny the creator in the face of such magnificent art is total foolishness.
In 18th century England there was virtually no zeal in the church to participate in reaching “every nation” with the gospel. But William Carey (b. 1761) had different ideas than most of his contemporaries. His heart was stirred by for the unreached.
While working as a shoe maker, William Carey made a simple map and marked out the areas of the world where the gospel had not been preached and continued to spend much time praying over this map.
As Carey began to make his intentions known to actively participate in the Great Commission he was strongly opposed. Once at a church meeting when Carey suggested the discussion-topic “The conversion of the heathen“, a minister in the church stood up and said, “Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your help or mine!” Yet Carey was not deterred by this discouragement. He persevered with his God-inspired purpose by making statements such as “Expect great things from God: attempt great things for God.”
The focus of his early missionary work was India. Another man who shared Carey’s passion for the unreached was Andrew Fuller. But Fuller knew that His calling and role in the mission was to be different than Carey’s. Andrew Fuller said to William, “It is clear that there is a rich mine of gold in India; if you will go down I will hold the ropes.“
Carey defied the complacency of his age and went to India to reach the unreached. In doing so he is now known as “The Father of Modern Missions”. His life was incredibly fruitful despite the intensely difficult circumstances that make his story an inspiring read.
Just as it was then, so it is now. Missionaries still need someone to hold the ropes.
Not every one is called to the same role that William Carey was called to within the mission, but all followers of Christ are called to the same mission: reaching the lost and making disciples of all nations.
Facilitating the “rope holding” for me are those at the Every Nation Ministries office in Nashville, TN. I’m thankful to know that there are people there who are just as passionate about the gospel and the mission as I am and who are committed to serving within their role with all their might!
I’m thankful for a local church that believes in and supports, both in word and deed, missions efforts both in our city and around the world.
Still more, I am thankful for all the people that God has brought together with us in ministry partnership, supporting us in prayer and finances.
I certainly can’t do much alone. I need people holding the ropes.
We Christians try really hard, but sometimes the ideas that we come up with are just plain awful!
This 62 foot high Jesus statue, apparently supposed to be Jesus worshipping faces the northbound lane of I-75 in Monroe, Ohio (North of Cincinnati). Because of the hand positions of the Jesus statue many in the area have come to refer to the statue as “Touchdown Jesus”.
One contributer to Roadside America reported that
” a poll taken of locals concerning the statue of Jesus in Monroe had the following results: 25% feel that it is a ‘Godsend, good for Monroe,’ while 75% found that it was an ‘Eyesore, bad for Monroe.’“
I have to agree with the majority on this one. The statue looks terrible, and though it definitely get’s me to notice that there is a large church behind it, it definitely doesn’t inspire worship in my soul or make me want to visit this church, and I am a Christian.
How is it that Christians that love Jesus and want to impact their communities can sometimes be so misguided in their efforts to do so?
Last week my wife and I were in the Cincinnati area meeting with current ministry partners and casting the vision to others. While we were there it became clear that God had us there for more reasons than we initially thought…
A friend of ours, who serves within the student leadership team of Every Nation Campus Ministries at FAMU is spending his summer in Arizona with the rest of his immediate family. We had not expected to see him again until August.
While in Cincinnati we found out that Branden’s aunt lived in that area but was in the hospital, in need of a liver transplant! As the situation became more serious, Branden, his entire immediate family, and many extended family members came from all across the U.S. to be with their loved one and to pray for a miracle.
As the family gathered outside the hospital room to pray, we joined with them. Had it been days earlier or days later we would not have been in Cincinnati. I am thankful to God that we were able to be with Branden and his family during this tough time.
In the end, God answered all our prayers and provided a liver just in time, and through this chain of events Katie and I were able to support our friend and meet his family too! (They are great people!) It is amazing how God orchestrates the events of our lives even beyond what we could ever plan for within the limited scope of our knowledge or understanding.
The whole situation reminded of what is recorded in Acts 17:25-26,
“…he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Before arriving in Cincinnati I had absolutely no expectation of seeing Branden (who is spending his summer in Arizona). I certainly didn’t expect to meet his parents or his sister. I had no knowledge of this family member who lived there, and no one knew that she would be hospitalized during this time.
Yet, in his sovereignty God determined the times and the exact places. I’m glad he did.
