Mark Beeson

Baby Lydia / My Granddaughter

Jeff Myers is a remarkable man. He's as talented as anyone I know, and he uses his remarkable skills to advance God's Kingdom. He created this video a few weeks ago, and he had John (Lydia's dad) narrate. Sheila and I love it.  Jeff used the video as a teaching tool for GSM.

Lydia now weighs 5 pounds and 13 ounces.  She's strong. She's loved. She's got a part in God's Story and we can't wait to see how she lives it.

1 Peter 2:2  -  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Nada / Sinai Guide, Sherpa & Bedouin Philosopher

 - Photo by Gene Ort -

My Bedouin Sherpa-guy was talking about Sheila as we walked down Mt. Sinai.  He asked if I had a wife. Then he asked how long we'd been married, if I was happy with her and what kind of woman she was.  (I'd asked him so many questions during the day that I guess he figured it was his turn to question me.) I told him I was very happy with her and we had been married for a long long time. I told him I loved her and we had 3 wonderful children who'd married three wonderful spouses.  And I told him I had 2 wonderful grandchildren. 

Nada asked if I loved my children. I assured him I did, saying, "I love my son. I love my daughters." He raised an eyebrow and asked, "You love your daughters?" I replied, "Very much." Hearing that he laughed and laughed.

He then asked if I was going to get a 25 year old wife. 

That question was so unexpected I assumed I'd misunderstood him. So I asked for clarity, "What? A 25 years old wife?"

He said, "Yes. Will you now get a 25 year old wife?  You are old. You get a 25 year old wife now. You will be very happy."  With that he just looked at me.  

So I asked, "Why would you think I'd want to do that?"  I reminded him I was very happy with my one wife. 

He said "Many men who get very old (apparently, referring to me again), get a 25 year old wife because it makes them so happy."

I said, "In my heart I love only one woman."

"Ah!" He said, "The eyes of men love many women, but the heart of a man loves only one."

(Hit the "Pause Button" here and let me admit something. It was only by about this time in the conversation that I realized I was being schooled by a 26-year-old Bedouin philosopher. According to Nada, all men think the same way, whether they live in a Bedouin tent with four or five wives, or they live in Michiana.  Who knew?  What the Bible calls, "the lust of the eyes," seems to be a world wide condition - even in the desert.)

When I told him I had given the love in my heart, and the love in my eyes, to my one wife, he laughed and laughed and laughed.

So, I gave him more stuff to carry down the mountain....

Thought you would enjoy the story. 

Matthew 5:28-29  -  Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt. Let's not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here's what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. 

Cumulative Impact

 

Take any element of a tremendous service, and remove it from the rhythm of unfolding worship. Isolate it, and what have you got? Something good? Maybe even great? Probably. 

But what would happen if you placed a great element with other great elements?  How much more helpful could it be if every wonderful element was offered at just the right time in the service? 

I've heard it said, "The right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing."  

Jason Miller works with his brilliant team to prayerfully plan our weekend services.  Why? Because we want the right things done the right way at the right time. We're convinced; prayerful planning helps us do everything we do "as unto the Lord." 

When Jason leads those who prepare our weekend services to pray, work and deliver a service that helps us experience God's presence (through God's Word and God's people) every element of the service is better than it would be by itself. And the results, when we cooperate with God, are worth our efforts.

Our Palm Sunday service is a good example of what I'm talking about. The cumulative impact of all those elements unfolding the right way, at the right time, is astounding. Add to that, the preparation and prayerful expectation of thousands of people worshiping God, and you've got a recipe for transformation.

Get on line and participate in the Palm Sunday service tonight. You'll see what I mean, and you'll discover new meaning in God's Story.

Colossians 3:23a  -  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord...

Palm Sunday at GCC

 

I've just experienced one of the most powerful weekend services of the last ten years. 

It's Palm Sunday at GCC.  

Rob's preaching moved us. We went past the normal cycles of hope and disappointment, to a moment of searing conviction about the work Christ did on the cross. Lisa Vukmirovich sang as hundreds laid their disappointments at the foot of a huge cross, putting their ultimate hope for personal transformation, and the transformation of the world, in the Risen Christ.  I wept.

Our disappointment elicits groaning; that's what people do in the place of shattered dreams. But like a mother groaning in the pains of childbirth, our pain is not meaningless. God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and we know that the whole creation has been groaning with us.  

So we won't be content to only pray, "God change my circumstances."  We'll also pray, "God change me until I'm done with the 'standard operating procedure of life.' Those procedures don't work. Change me so I'll know - like an expectant mother suffering contractions - that my pain is not in vain."  Know this; God answers such prayer.

Everything about this Palm Sunday service will help you. 

Go here to watch it on line.  Go here to get information about attending one of our physical sites and services.  Either way you go, you'll be glad you did.

Romans 8:22-23a  -  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly...

Several Men Were Traveling...

 

I've been asked who went on the trip to Egypt. 

Since I've got this picture of the entire group at Petra, I'll name them - left to right: Bruce Williams, Paul File, Dan Blacketor, Mark Beeson, Brad Stewart, Gene Ort, Steve Smith, Vic Shank, Dan Ianello, Larry Swank, Glenn Killoren, Lance Swank and Ron Vandergriend.

Acts 20:4  -  Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

Makes Me Feel Like a Sissy...

 

Fierce winds blasted sand into everything. We were virtually blinded, unable to see more than a few feet ahead as we drove in Egypt, from Cairo to the Bitter Springs of Marah. I've driven in snowy blizzards less troubling. The sandstorm was more fierce and violent than I could have imagined. I grabbed my camera and shot over the driver's shoulder in an effort to capture the ferocity of the storm. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was even worse than it looks.

We drove for hours through the blinding sand.  Moses led the Hebrew people through it for weeks and weeks. It took about three months for them to make the journey through this wilderness to the base of Mt. Sinai.  

Are you kidding me? 
More than a million people wandering toward .... what? 
Blowing sand, short on water and trusting Moses knew something they didn't?  

No wonder they complained. 

As I make my own faith journey, this picture makes me wonder what I have to complain about. 

Exodus 17:3  -  But the people were thirsty for water there. They complained to Moses, "Why did you take us from Egypt and drag us out here with our children and animals to die of thirst?"

I'm Still in New York...

 

When I'm wondering if I should try to cross the street on a red light, I wonder, "What's up with me? Why does it sometimes frustrate me to keep the rules?"  I heard something today that hints at the reason.

"Lordship is threatening. We are rebels. We would rather have it our way."

Alan Hirsch said that in our meeting this afternoon. Sometimes brilliance is displayed in the simple statement of the obvious. Sharing this leg of my journey with a dozen world-changers is helping me understand more about God's wonderful grace.

Colossians 1:6  -  This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

New York City Streets

 

I'm in meetings with some great pastors. We had a break this evening so I grabbed my little Canon G9 and set it in the street to get this photo.  Boy, there's lots of traffic in front of Madison Square Gardens.  Kinda like Niles, only a little bigger.

Lots of good ideas are bouncing around. I'm with a bunch of leaders trying to figure out how God wants to deploy His Church so we can reach the whole wide world.  Here's the list of guys in our meetings: Alan Hirsch, Todd Wilson, Steve Andrews, Brian Bloye, Matt Carter, Mark DeYmaz, Dave Ferguson, Shawn Lovejoy, Greg Nettle, Darrin Patrick, Todd Proctor, Greg Surratt, Jeff Vanderstelt, Bill Couchenour and Ed Bahler. Google some of these guys; their ministries will blow your mind.

I'm glad Rob and Tim are with me. They're helping me dodge traffic.

Proverbs 27:17  -  As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

These Guys Are Fired Up!

 

Turkey Season opens April 19^th, and these Toms are already in full strut. They were in a woods near my house, and when I see them display like this I always think, "Wow. It's amazing to see what males will do to attract the attention of females." 

Proverbs 30:29-31  -  There are three things that walk with stately stride — no, four that strut about: the lion, king of animals, who won’t turn aside for anything, the strutting rooster, the male goat, a king as he leads his army.

Lot's Wife

 

We drove past the sites of Sodom and Gomorrah, twin cites near the Dead Sea which archaeologists have conclusively determined were consumed by fire. A little farther down the road we stopped and as I stood with the shoreline of the Dead Sea behind me I looked up. A single pillar stands frozen hundreds of feet above the sea. It is called "Lot's Wife," and has been referenced for millennia as the woman who "looked back," longing for the past - even as God was saving her from it!

See that single pillar at the top of the precipice?  That's her.

Sometimes I wonder how many times we let the past hold us back. I wonder how many times our focus on the past stops us in our tracks? I wonder how often we can't go forward because we are looking back?

I want to learn from the past, not try to relive it.
I want to add to my past experiences, not just repeat them.
I want to build each day on the foundation I built the day before.

Genesis 19: 24-29  -  Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.  He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Ruby / 9 Months Old

 

My oldest child brought my oldest grandchild to visit today. I thought her smile might bring you a smile too.

Job 29:24  -  When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them.

There Is A Way That Leads To Life...

 

The night before we climbed Mt. Sinai I took this picture of the pathway thousands of pilgrims walk each year as they hike to the mountain. It was a path I'd soon be traveling. 

I had friends walking the path with me. From time-to-time they'd lend me a helping hand and that made all the difference.

Philippians 2:1-3  -  If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Can You Be A Christian?

 

This is just about the oldest hand-written compendium of gospels in the world. It's the 5th Century Palimpsest Codex, written in Syriac and kept in the scriptorium of St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It's stored under glass and I was about 20 inches away from it when I took this picture. 

The scriptures are sacred to the followers of Christ. They tell us how to live.

Whether the followers of Jesus live in a monarchy, under the authority of a tribal chief or in an industrialized nation, the Bible informs their way.  If Christians live in a free republic, under a communist regime, in a concentration camp, under the heel of a dictator or in a capitalist society, the Bible tells them how to live.

So, don't wonder if you can live as a Christian in a socialist society. Of course you can. Don't bother to ask if you can still live for Christ when you're subject to a communist system of control. Many have, and many still do.

The question you should be asking is, "Since I'm going to live for Jesus, what kind of society, what kind of government, would I prefer?"  

As an American citizen, you have a vote. You get to decide, and you better get on it. 

You better get busy.

If you don't shape the society, someone else will. And if you let others take away your freedom, your property and your Bible, you'll find yourself following Christ in a culture of fear, tyranny and persecution. I've seen it. It's possible to follow Christ under such circumstances. (The Bible says many have, because they had no other option.) But given the choice, who would choose governmental control over personal liberty and personal responsibility?

Would you?

Isaiah 14:3-6  -  When God has given you time to recover from the abuse and trouble and harsh servitude that you had to endure, you can amuse yourselves by taking up this satire, a taunt against the king of Babylon:

Can you believe it? The tyrant is gone! 

The tyranny is over!

 God has broken the rule of the wicked, 

 the power of the bully-rulers

 That crushed many people. 

 A relentless rain of cruel outrage

 Established a violent rule of anger 

 rife with torture and persecution.

 

The Easiest Way Isn't Always The Best Way

 

Sometimes you can ride a camel, or you can walk, and you've got to decide which mode of transportation you'll choose. The camel was tempting but I decided to join my friends and walk up Mt. Sinai. It about killed me but I learned a lot about myself, my team and my faith during that holy trek.  The camel would have been easier, but for me it wouldn't have been best.

Luke 9:24  -  Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. 

What Makes A Journey Worthwhile?

 

Have you paused long enough ask yourself, "What makes a journey worth the effort?"  It's a question to contemplate. If you know what adds value to your trips you can act accordingly. 

What do you think?  What makes a trip worthwhile?  

I'll start the ball rolling, and you can add your thoughts to the list.

1. The people with you can make the trip, or derail it. I like this picture of Vic. He's one of my friends and my recent expedition was better because of him.

2.  Your reason for taking the trip makes it a joy, or a burden. I prayed for 40 days before my Exodus journey began. I asked God to teach me something new along the way. I had great expectations and God surprised me with answers I never anticipated.

3.  How much you learn either enriches your life, or makes you wish you would have paid more attention as your traveled along. Through the fog of a fatigued, and jet-lagged brain, I tried to pay attention on the Exodus route. I learned a lot and wish I'd learned more.

4.  Deciding in advance to "take your fun with you" always helps. No matter how well you plan you'll face some unexpected challenges, delays and detours.  Choosing a good attitude, long before you need one, makes every excursion more fun.

How about you? 

Whether it's a short trip in the car, a drive across the country or a flight over the oceans, what adds value to your experience? What makes the road of life a little better? 

Got any suggestions?

Psalm 119:32  -  God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course. Give me insight so I can do what you tell me— my whole life one long, obedient response. Guide me down the road of your commandments; I love traveling this freeway! 

Your Environment Shapes You

 

Your environment shapes you. Period. No argument. No discussion. I don't think your environment determines your outcomes. I do think it influences your outcomes. (I'm not predestinarian. Your free-will enters into the process, allowing voluntary responses to God's interruptions, and the freedom to make personal life-altering choices.)  Make no mistake - environments impact outcomes.

I met this young girl in the middle of a desert sandstorm at Marah. Her mother made this scarf, beading it by hand, and when I asked to see how my wife was to wear it, she called her daughter forward. In about three seconds she wrapped it around the youngster's head. She gave permission for this picture and I'm glad I got it.  We were shielded from the desert sand, out of the wind behind some goat skins and camel hides. I thought her appearance - in such a harsh and brutal desert - was stunning.

Her environment is going to mark her. She won't look the same way thirty or forty years from now - of course, neither will we. Our environments mark us physically, relationally, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. So, when you can choose your environment, choose wisely. 

You shape your environment, then your environment shapes you. Every change we make in our lives, because God's Kingdom is here and we're called to it, enhances our potential for real life.

• Where you put yourself is important.
• The people you hang with have an effect on you.
• Whether you include God's Word and God's people in your routine matters - a lot.

What makes a good environment? Can you recognize a bad environment when you see one? How do you know the difference? 

If you don't distinguish between good and bad environments, how can you change your life and live in God's Kingdom - right here and right now?

Matthew 3:1  -  While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called "the Baptizer," was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here."

Stunning Photography by Dustin Maust

 - photo by "unknown" - 

I love Dustin. Seriously. He's awesome. 

If you can get on Facebook, go see Dustin's photos from his work with our India Team last week. If it's easier for you, go directly to the pictures here. You'll be inspired, dazzled and amazed. Check it out. No kidding.

1 Kings 7:13  -  He was a real artist—he could do anything...

Stuff You Just Can't Know....

Call it nervous energy. Call it excitement. Call it whatever you want, but the night before a bunch of guys climb Mt. Sinai together is not the night you feel like going to bed early. So we didn't. Instead, we sat outside the monastery on a little patio and talked, and laughed and prayed. 

Of those traveling with me, only Ron Vandergriend had been up Sinai before. We asked him what it was like, how long it took, how far it was, how it felt and what it might do to us...and in us. No matter what Ron said, it only made us more curious and prompted more questions. We just couldn't get our minds around what he had seen and heard - even though he freely talked with us about it. We were still below; he had been above.

Maybe that happened to you, and you wondered why your "mountain top experience" was so hard to explain to others.  I've seen so many try to explain their "mountain tops" over the years.

Kids return from a week away from home and struggle to explain the experience they had at Camp Adventure. Volunteers return from a week of labor, privation and struggle in India and don't know how to tell their families how inspired they are.  Students return from a cross-cultural-missional-trip and wonder why they can't explain their experience to their friends. Men come home from a retreat and can't find the words to tell their wives what it was like for them. People come home from a weekend service and can't figure out how to explain it to their neighbors. 

Mountain tops are special places and sometimes the only way for others to understand what you've seen and heard is for them to ascend to the heights themselves. Sinai was like that. We had to climb it to understand.

John 3:31-32  -  The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.

Gastronomic Distress

Some of the guys had a little bit of "stomach problem" during our trip. 

I was wondering if their gastronomic distress might be the result of something they ate. Then I saw this cow head. We were in Jordan and it was about 100 degrees. 

I stopped wondering.  

Isaiah 21:3  -  My stomach aches and burns with pain.

A Different Perspective

 

Helen was the mother of Constantine and at the time of his conversion to Christianity she gave orders to protect the Christian pilgrims and hermits at the base of Mt. Sinai. Protection included construction of a church at the traditional site of the burning bush. That church has held daily services for more than 1500 years - longer than any other church on earth. 

We stayed there, at St. Catherine's Monastery, and climbed Mt. Sinai together. God met me on Sinai. I don't know that I would have made it to the top, and back down again, without the guys climbing with me. On the mountain top, the notion of "team" took on a whole new meaning for me.

On the descent, still a couple of miles from St. Catherine's, I paused to take this picture of the monastery at the foot of the mountain. When I showed the picture to our guide he said, "I've never seen St. Catherine's pictured that way. I've never seen a picture from that place."  His words made me think of all the times we benefit from another's viewpoint. 

So many times I've asked a friend, "How do you see it?"  

I've asked, "What's your viewpoint?"

For days now, I've immersed myself in a culture so foreign to my experience I struggle to know what to say. I wanted a different perspective, and I got one. It's not the only one, but it helps me toward a more fully-orbed view of religious longing and spirituality in the world.

Now I'm left wondering. What would happen if (before we think we know it all) we asked, "How do you see it?" How much more could we understand if we saw things from the vantage of others? Even the Gospels offer four viewpoints on the story of Jesus; each one is true; each is reliable and accurate; each is enriched and amplified by the other three. God gave us four gospel accounts. I assume God knew we needed all of them.

I want to know more. I want to ask more. I want to listen to the views of others. 

Luke 1:3,4  -  Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.

Friendly American Face

 

I was coming out of Petra when America's Vice President made an appearance. You probably know he is surrounded by the best security force in the world....wherever he goes.  When his security guys were entering the valley I was right next to the road so I figured, "I'll take some pictures of this exciting event," and began snapping away.

Look how happy this guy was to see another strong American standing along the road he was guarding!

Luke 11:21  -  When a strong man, armed to the teeth, stands guard in his front yard, his property is safe and sound. But what if a stronger man comes along with superior weapons?

People Along The Way...

 

It's not for everybody, but I'm guessing I've met a lot of people simply because I go to them and talk with them. I've walked across church parking lots, Universities, roads, athletic fields, and crowded rooms just to talk with someone. I crossed half-a-world to meet this Bedouin woman at Marah.

She lives there with the family of Bedouins I met when the bus stopped at the bitter springs God miraculously made sweet.

We were in a terrible sandstorm when I asked if I could take her picture. She was kind enough t allow me this photo. She didn't ask for anything. She had no fee. I gave her some money anyway. We stood near the poor little "souk" - where her granddaughter tries to sell her own hand-made scarves - and I recorded a moment that marked me on my journey.

She's the real deal.  I bought one of her granddaughter's scarves, and paid her well. 

The last time I saw this woman, she was turning to walk into the teeth of the sandstorm and I and I was stepping into our air-conditioned bus.

God help us all.

Exodus 15:23-25a  - When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) so the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

The Nile River at Night

 

I positioned my tripod, and shot this from my balcony, on my last night in Cairo. That's a bridge over the river down there. (I know, because everyone in Egypt drives with one hand on the wheel and one hand on the horn, so I hear cars crossing it all night long.)  Cairo never sleeps....so neither have I. Instead, I've gone out on the balcony to pray and watch the river.

The Nile is virtually everything to these people...at least, it's everything in this life. But, you can tell from their pyramids and their innumerable gods, it's not only this life they care about. Many Egyptians are spiritually aware. I'm glad, because Jesus is coming to these people. Great days are ahead.

Ephesians 2:4-7  -  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 

Ever Ride a Camel?

 

OK, who has ever ridden a camel?  I've got proof here that Vic Shank and Brad Stewart have, in fact they did this today.  How about you?  If you've ridden one, here''s your chance to say when and where....and whether it was more terrifying when it stood up, or when it laid down.

Genesis 24:31b  -  "Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."

Passover Night

 

I took this picture late this evening from a boat on the Nile. You're looking at - what is reported to be - the most expensive property you can own in Egypt. Those condos, in the building on your right, run upwards of $7,000,000.00 each.  Egypt still has some wealth, just at it did in the time of Moses.

When Pharaoh finally decided to send the Hebrews out of Egypt, the Egyptians first loaded them down with Egypt's wealth. The Bible says, "The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians."  The last night the Hebrews spent in Egypt was amazing.

Tonight is my last night in Cairo. I've thought a lot about the last night the Hebrew people experienced before they left the comforting patterns and routines of Egypt, for the one true God. Slavery, like prison, has it's own peculiar set of benefits. God's people left all of that behind and headed into the desert wilderness full of hope. 

I stood in the Cairo Museum and pondered scenes from the "Book of the Dead" today. And I stared at the mummified face of Ramses II - the face of the pharaoh of whom God spoke to Moses saying, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go." I said goodbye to "Ramses the Great" today and I'm heading to Mt. Sinai, the Mountain of God, tomorrow.

LIke the people of Israel, I can't help but wonder if patterns and routines could mean more to me than God. 

The security of "predictable circumstances" simply does not matter more than God.

Exodus 12:31  -  During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.  Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me."

The Great Pyramid of Gizeh

 

So I'm traveling with a bunch of guys at GCC and we're talking....about everything. We've solved most the world's problems and the only reason you don't realize it is because we've done no implementation. Good ideas without implementation are no better than "wishing upon a star." Nothing happens until something happens....but I digress. There's a story to tell so I'd best get to it or my $1,000,000,000 fee for 24 hours of access to the internet might run out before I'm finished.

Did you ever hear the song, "Be careful little hands what you do?"  It contains a verse with the lyrics, "Be careful little mouth what you say."  That's good advice, no matter what culture surrounds you.

I was talking with one of the guys who asked my why I'm singled out for a virtual strip-search every time we go through security - and believe me, over here, security is everywhere! We concluded it was because of all the camera gear I carry everywhere.  So, we were talking about that and I quietly said, "You know, they pull everything out of the bag and wand it down. It's like I'm carrying a pipe bomb or something." 

Apparently I wasn't speaking as quietly as I thought.

Did you know someone might overhear you, at any time, in any place, and only catch the last part of what you are saying? Did you know that misunderstanding can lead to confusion on the part of the listener? Did you know that can produce undesirable results? 

As I learn things, I want to pass them along. 

"Be careful little mouth what you say," is very good advice. 

Proverbs 10:32  -  The speech of a good person clears the air.

Martyr

 

Chicago to Frankfort is a million miles by air. I know because I just flew there. And since I had a five hour layover before catching my flight to Cairo, I jumped on the train, traveled a few stops, and got off at the little town of Mainz, the German town where movable type was first used to print the Gutenberg Bible.  It was 27 degrees and I'd come better dressed for hot deserts than winter on the Rhine, but I was there, and it was sunny, so I walked  down to the Gutenberg Museum, stepped into a 900 year old catholic church for the Mass and stood in front of this sculpture. It's Saint Boniface, the English monk and martyr who was called the Apostle of Germany. Pagans killed him in 754 AD, but here's the thing to notice about the statue.  

The dagger is through God's Word, not through Boniface, because the pagans were trying to kill the spreading of the Word of God, not just God's faithful. I looked at this for a long time before heading back to the airport in Frankfort.

Now I'm in Cairo. Tomorrow I look at the mummified face of the pharaoh Moses warned to let God's people go. I've never been here and I'm so excited I haven't slept yet.  That's next. I'm off before sunrise to the pyramids.

Romans 8:36  -  As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

This is what I'm reading today....

 

Exodus 3:1-10  

Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn't burn up.

 ³ Moses said, "What's going on here? I can't believe this! Amazing! Why doesn't the bush burn up?"

 4 God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

   He said, "Yes? I'm right here!"

 5 God said, "Don't come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You're standing on holy ground."

 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob."

   Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.

 7-8 God said, "I've taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I've heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

 9-10 "The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I've seen for myself how cruelly they're being treated by the Egyptians. It's time for you to go back: I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt."

God led His people through a wilderness.

 

On their way to the Promised Land, God led his people through a wilderness. For 40 years he led them; until they trusted Him, He led them. As He freed them from the desires and habits of slavery, He led them. He led them away from their idols. He led them all the way to the Promised Land.

He's leading me through the same barren wasteland he took Moses through. Of course, I'm intending to spend only a few days on the journey, not 40 years. Either way, I'm on the wilderness expedition to the Promised Land. 

Amos 2:8-10  -  I was always on your side. I destroyed the Amorites who confronted you, Amorites with the stature of great cedars, tough as thick oaks. I destroyed them from the top branches down. I destroyed them from the roots up. And yes, I'm the One who delivered you from Egypt, led you safely through the wilderness for forty years And then handed you the country of the Amorites like a piece of cake on a platter. I raised up some of your young men to be prophets, set aside your best youth for training in holiness. Isn't this so?

I'm going into the wilderness...

  

There's something familiar about this place. It's more than Déjà vu.  I know this place though it's my first time here. It's a trackless wilderness I've walked a thousand times. This wilderness is like the others I've traveled; it is the place where God straightens me out and makes me right with Him.

God is a wilderness God. Again and again He leads His people through wilderness places, and there He restores their souls. Even God's own Son was "driven by the Spirit into the wilderness," where the "angels of God attended Him" as He wrestled with temptation.

God takes me to wilderness places where He straightens me out, where He un-knots my tangled spirit and realigns my soul. Being set straight is hard to bear, but I want it. I need it. Isaiah said it this way: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God." 

I'm heading to desert places. I'm determined to prepare the way for the Lord in my life, to seek the One who can straighten out the kinks in my soul. I long for the God who freed us from slavery, who took us out of Egypt, who took care of us through thick and thin - even in those rough-and-tumble wilderness years of parched deserts and inhospitable death valleys where no one enters and comes out unless God leads the way.

I'm heading to Egypt, Jordan and Israel.

I'm going with a few men from GCC to follow the path God led Moses to travel - through the wilderness of sin. I'll start in Cairo, Egypt, and head through the sea to the foot of Mt. Sinai. I'm walking up Sinai to the place where God touched planet earth. I'm going to stand where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, then I'm walking down the mountain to stand where the Hebrews built a golden calf to worship - even as Moses was meeting with the One True God. I'm traveling through the wilderness places where God's people followed His pillar of fire and cloud for 40 years. I'm crossing the Jordan where God stopped the river and His people crossed into the Promised Land on dry ground. I'm going to the Promised Land.

Call it spiritual formation. Label it the work of renewal. Call it a men's retreat. Whatever you call it, I'm heading to wilderness places where I can seek the face of the One who freed me to "declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

Exodus 15:22  -  Moses led Israel from the Red Sea on to the Wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days through the wilderness without finding any water.

You Can Follow Our Volunteers in India

 

This is me in Rob's office with some of the bags our volunteers are carrying to India this week. (It's true. There are many more bags than I could fit in this picture.)

Why? 

Because these bags contain: 798 pairs of Crocs (so every person living in Kalavai can have shoes), 54 backpacks stuffed with school supplies our GCC kids collected last Christmas (so the children in Kalavai can be the first generation of kids in that village to ever go to school), clothing (because many villagers in Kalavai own only the clothes they are now wearing) and some gear for our six volunteer teams.

Our team will blog while they're in India, so you can follow their work here.

It'll be fascinating to see what God does with this multifaceted work. Artists from GCC will do concerts to raise the profile of the local church. Training to start small businesses will be offered by our "micro-enterprise" team. (We've already launched business ventures in goat-herding, tailoring and soap manufacturing. Now we're hoping to launch a grocery shop and a new venture in brick production.) Some will be teaching conversational English. Some will be doing foundational construction work for the Kalavai Colony Community Center, and those on our "health and hygiene" team will offer basic training in community health.

Rob Wegner has a lot more information about the India Team and trip here.

Proverbs 29:7   -  The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

Wood Duck / Aix sponsa

I was in a swamp when I took this picture last fall. I'm posting it just because I'm tired of overcast gray skies, gray snow and gray days. I miss seeing colors.  

Anyone else ready for spring?

Isaiah 24:4  - The earth turns gaunt and gray, the world silent and sad, sky and land lifeless, colorless.

SpringHill Day Camp, Coming Again to GCC.

 

I asked everyone at the closing session of last year's Day Camp, "Did you have a great time at camp this week?  Do you want us to partner with SpringHill to do it again next year?"  The crowd thundered a resounding, "YES!"  So, we're bringing the SpringHill team back and holding the Day Camp from June 21-25 in 2010. 

Everything you need to register a kid for the Granger Day Camp is right here. 

Do something huge. Send a kid to Day Camp.

Proverbs 23:24a  -  Parents rejoice when their children turn out well.