Choom reep suer Thom Mac and Borng S'ray (older sister) Mitzi (sorry about that but older is a term of respect here).
So exciting to hear your news about the Chinese First Principles class. We hope that we can come and see it in action soon and the fact that it is happening on your own doorstep which must be so satisfying.
Last night Long Ang gave an exhortation for our Wednesday (can't come on Sundays) group. An aspect of faith, that he drew upon, in his message, was about when the Israelites, with Egyptians on one side and the Red Sea on the other and with nowhere to go hear their leader, Moses say to them to stand firm.
Long Ang saw this as being like us in the world today, surrounded by problems and our natural eye struggling to see past the natural obstacles (mostly man-made) around us. He talked about the faith and courage that is needed to see beyond the problems and make them irrelevant in our lives. God not only created a straight path for the Israelites to find safe passage, with no lefts or rights but also took them as a whole group safely through. The rest of the problems (in the short term) were washed away as per baptism. He centred his talk on Hebrews 11.
Don't you love the way that God speaks through universal problems that mankind faces and natural elements. The power of God’s words cut through cultural barriers here in Cambodia.
His talk reminded me of . . . Joh 6:21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. KJV.
Joh 6:20 "Don't be afraid," Jesus told them, "it is I!"
Joh 6:21 Then they willingly took him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached land at the place they were heading for.
This also made me think that if all of Christ’s followers saw the goal of reaching the Kingdom safely together, as the imperative, we would not get caught up in so many left and right deviations. The disciples all had their oars in the water and were going nowhere fast.
Time to throw away our own oars and let God take us safely through to the other side of the Red Sea. Today we stuff Bible passages into the Mercury (outboard motor) with our backs to the rocks ahead. The time to look into each others eyes and answer the call of Philippians 1: 9-11 is so important to our spiritual welfare.
I see three questions in these three verses (there are several million more).
1. Are our words saturated with love; i.e. comfort, support and encouragement? (Not knowledge about God but God knowledge) (His words passing through us – love).
2. Are we bearing fruit in the name of Jesus Chris? (It’s not about us.)
3. Are we glorifying the Father? (His light passing through us).
This of course leads us to the fruits of righteousness.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Dear Max and Mitzi I know you share my feelings of stumbling in the dark. We pray each day that He will put His bright light before us and that we may overcome the horrors of Matt 6 . . . If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
We were grief stricken this morning because L-CDI rang to say that we should not come to teach as there was a noisy ‘all-day’ Buddhist funeral next door. Will we ever recover from this? It will give us a chance to catch up on neglected items – the list is so long. I can hear Lynne talking to her spritely 95 year old mother on SKYPE. Her mother still sparkles as she announces that she is playing bowls this afternoon and as usual shows so much delight in talking about her precious family.
One of the previous fieldworkers, the indomitable Jonno left some interesting teaching notes for us. One lesson says that he took a student through the sea of fire. We hope they are both okay.
Toolkit Version 3 is just about complete with some interesting changes. It is beginning to reflect the contributions of the local baptised brothers and sisters in the instruction process. They have been active in translation (both verbal and written), actual teaching and referring to the Instruction and Attendance data from the BEC to inform the process. We are so excited about this and the opportunity that they have to shine and share.
Teaching the girl dormers is challenging because they are less communicative and have varied in their attendance rates. We have a core of about 10 that are regulars and are making good progress. I was pretending to be a snake and then a fish during a lesson the other day and knocked the fan over. The plastic blades shattered and the rest went into a diabolical frenzy. I think I was able to communicate the point that we should think like Christ and not like the world.
I was elated when James the Tuk Tuk driver took me to a fan repair shop and in two seconds flat (akin to a grand prix pit stop) a team of helpers appeared from the shadows and removed and changed the fan. When they charged me one dollar, yes one dollar! (Did I hear you exclaim?) for both parts and labour I decided not to complain to the management.
James, with a knowing look through half closed eyes and a sparkle of humour said, "That would have cost you three or four dollars if I wasn't there." Not wanting to appear stingy, or ungrateful, and now acting the part of a rich, Texas oil millionaire, I squared my shoulders and with a John Wayne like swagger, planted an extra dollar in his hand, when paying the Tuk-Tuk fare. I know I shouldn't throw money around like this.
Thank you for sharing the journey with us, for your interest, insights and words of encouragement. We feel you here with us and look forward to our courageous brother Tim and his daughter, sister Rachelle joining us next month. We are also strengthened and encouraged that Joel S, Kim S, Marvin T and hopefully Samee L will join us during the months ahead. We are indeed the richest people on the planet. Thank you Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
We decided to put this letter in the blog (but removed surnames as per blog policy) because so much of what is in it we wish to share with our dear family. Hope you don’t mind Max and Mitzi.
Walk in light and love. Walk truly, with God . . . follow His son. He will turn and face us soon. In the mean time we need to look at each the way we want Jesus to look at us when he turns. Stay strong everyone and let’s pray that we will reach our destination together.
Borng Thom (Steve) and Lynne.
Comments