You’re going where? To do what?

Ok I’m going to come out of left field with something that might surprise some of you. But it’s on my heart today so here it is. I’m very excited to let you know that Diane and I are planning a short term mission trip to Cambodia and Thailand. Why in the world go to Cambodia of all places…

It’s a funny thing the way God works. If you would have asked me three years ago would I want to go to Cambodia on missions I would have said unequivocally, no! That’s where I was the first time I heard about the orphan situation in SE Asia. I sat in the church that morning and couldn’t help but shed a tear as I heard about the desperate situation that many live in as the result of many years of oppression, genocide, and corporate abuse. I learned about how children were bought and sold like cattle to be used in the sex trade. I learned about how many LIVE in the landfills of the cities scraping for enough rotten food to survive.

But I also learned about one organization that was trying to help. Asia’s Hope was started by a couple of guys that lived here in Ohio. Asia’s Hope identifies children at risk for being victims of the sex trade among other atrocities and places them in safe orphan homes where they are cared for, taught English, and about Jesus. Asia’s Hope now has orphan homes all over Cambodia, Thailand, and soon in India.

Diane and I immediately decided to sponsor an Orphan. This is Ry Vith:




Ry Vith is our little girl. I feel like I know her, but we’ve never met. I have sponsored other children in the past through World Vision and the like. This is different. See here’s the thing. Ry knows about Diane and I. Not just that she has a sponsor. She knows about US. She has our picture. She’s waiting for us to come and visit. Cambodian orphans are a bit unique. Because Cambodia does not allow international adoption the vast majority of the kids in these orphan homes will never be adopted. They know this. So they are each other’s family. We are their family. They love it when their American family comes to visit, they are devastated when we leave. I have heard many stories from those who have gone about the gut wrenching departures from these homes. But what I hear more is the amazing love that these children have for us. They know us, they pray for us. When we don’t visit, they long for us.

I have been an outspoken critic of the missions tourism industry that exists here in this country. When I first learned about people going to Cambodia and Thailand to visit the kids I was skeptical. My first question was, what are we going to be doing? It seemed like there needed to be some purpose, some project, something to accomplish to justify our going, our asking others to help sponsor us to go. But it’s been a couple years now and a lot has happened.

The biggest thing that has happened is the birth of Team Hope. Team Hope was a vision that God gave Diane one day while she was running shortly after we learned about these orphans. Diane and I had been focused on and praying about making everything we do, about God. Diane was trying to figure out how her love of running would fit into that. While she was out running God said, why not run for me? So she has. It just didn’t seem like enough to write the check every month to Asia’s Hope and somehow think that was enough. We needed to do more. Team Hope encourages people to participate in races and raise funds to help support the needs of these orphans. To date, Team Hope has raised over $70,000 for our kids. The money has gone to meet several wonderful needs. A big one was the construction of a pavilion where the kids from all the orphan homes in the area could meet together and have church. The pavilion has become a focal point in the town where it was built and now many curious locals have begun to come for church on Sunday morning where they hear the gospel for the first time. We bought a van so the orphan home could get the kids to school and around town safely. Currently we’re funding a construction project to renovate their kitchen. Team Hope also pays the sponsorships for two other boys to live in the home. We want to do a lot more. That’s why we are in the process of incorporating Team Hope as a not for profit organization. If you want to see what we’re up to right now you can learn more here:
http://graceteamhope.org

It’s been very exciting to watch God turn this thing into what He wants it to be and it has been fun coming along for the ride. But once again God has asked us to go deeper. That’s why in January Diane and I plan to go to Cambodia and Thailand. We will be meeting with those who run the orphan homes, getting a feel for what their needs are, learning about the culture of these people, and the conditions that they struggle in. There are a lot of questions. How can I arrange to be gone for so long with my new job? What will we do with the kids, and how will they handle our being gone for so long? Where are we going to come up with the nearly $6,000 to fund the trip? I was worried about all this. I’m not worried any more. God has done so much all ready, he can work out these details with ease.

So, when someone asks me why go, that’s a pretty loaded question and as you can see it’s a pretty long answer. But it doesn’t have to be, because in spite of all of this, there’s really only one reason we’re going; one reason that matters anyway. There’s a little girl named Ry who currently is 8000 miles away from me but her heavenly father desires that she get a hug and he would like me to be the one to give it to her. So I’m going.

You’ll hear more about this in the days and months to come. The plan is to use this blog to chronicle our journey. We would love to have your prayers. If you would be willing to do that, I would love to hear from you. Just send me a quick e-mail and let me know. I’d really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Missions Monday

Ok, lookout ‘cause I’m going to preach, and not in a good way. I’m all worked up in my spirit about something that I want to share with you. (By the way, before reading this, go down to the bottom of the page and click on the number 6 song on the MP3 player for a better reading experience.) Now back to the post.

My prayer life sucks. OK? There I said it. Oh yea, I pray, but my prayers suck. Please pardon my indelicacy but it’s really the best word to use. I’ve read books about prayer; I’ve listened to sermons on prayer; but it sucks none the less. Why do you ask? Well I intend to tell you.

I listened to a missionary speak today. He’s from Iran. He talked about how people all over Iran are getting saved. Hundreds of thousands of people! He said that Iran is the most open muslim country to the gospel on the face of the earth. Think about that for a minute. I would have never thought. To be honest if you had asked me I would have told you that I thought it was probably one of the most closed societies to the gospel on the face of the earth. He also said that the church is on fire for God and they are dedicated to him no matter what.

The man began to talk about some of the people he knew about who had become Christians. One woman was brought before the Islamic court and was told that if she didn’t renounce Christ they would take her three year old daughter away. Her response…I can’t renounce my Lord. She hasn’t seen her daughter in six years. The girl would be nine now.

For those of you with kids, just stop and think about that for a few minutes. Can you imagine the horror of being in her shoes? Could you respond as she did? I didn’t know about her. My wife and I were planning our anniversary getaway today.

He’s got the little bitty babies, in His hands….. Do you believe it?

Then there are the two college girls who were sent to prison for being Christians. Seven months now they have been in prison. In August last year they were brought to court and told that they had to write and say that they denied Jesus is the Christ. They told the judge that they would not do so because God had spoken to them. The judge said, that is impossible, God does not speak to humans. The girls’ response…”are you questioning whether God is almighty?” The judge said “You are not worthy for God to speak to you.” The girls said “It is God, not you, who determines our worth”. The judge said, I am sending you back to prison, after you have had some time to think you can request to come back when you are ready to renounce your faith. The girls said, “We don’t need to think, our mind is already made up.” They are still in prison right now. I didn’t know about them. Did you watch the Grammy’s Sunday night?

He’s got the whole world in his hands…….. Do you believe it?

Don’t answer too quickly, because if you believe it, it has far reaching ramifications; deadly serious ones. See, the bible stories aren’t just stories. Daniel from the lions den…he was the prime minister of Iran. Esther, she was in Iran too. They both faced very difficult decisions because of their faith, in Iran. People are still facing these decisions RIGHT NOW, in Iran and many other places. What are you doing tonight?

Please don’t minimize what I am saying by justifying your lifestyle to me. I know that God intends for me to enjoy my life and my blessings. But we live in a very dangerous time in human history and we are at a serious disadvantage as Amercans. We are blind and deaf to the plight of most of the world because our comforts are all consuming. They take our time, our attention, and our money and they waste them all on what is passing away.

Acts 12:3-7 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.

Peter was put in jail for his faith, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. This is why my prayer life sucks. No, I realize that I can’t know about every injustice in the world. But I know about many. I rarely pray about them. My prayers are so self-centered, so shallow. In fact, often I feel like I don’t even have anything to pray about. It’s very sad really. There is so much to pray about and so little time.

I’ve decided that I’m going to make Monday, missions Monday here among the Theophiles. I want to pray for a different group of people each week. I’ll post something about them for everyone so we can all be praying for the same things. I feel like it’s the very least I can do considering how God has blessed me.

Please pray for the persecuted Christians of Iran.