Didn't know that!

After spending two weeks in France at an intensive course on leadership developed by Wycliffe, OM and some other agencies, I met up with a good friend, Benjamin, in Paris. He brought me to this square and turned me around to see...

Notre Dame, I had no idea. It was a massive building and then I remembered the gargoyles.

I had always mused as to the reason that Notre Dame had gargoyles shooting out from the exterior walls.

Benjamin helped me discover the reason. It is because they are fleeing from the inside of the Church in which they don't belong. Huh! Such simplicity!

Wisdom of the Navajo

Sally was driving home from a business trip in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car. Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a white bag on the seat next to Sally.

"What's in the bag?" asked the old woman.

Sally looked down at the bag and, smiling, said, "It's a box of chocolates. I got it for my husband."

The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said: "Good trade."

Sabina's Story!

"As a young girl in Bangladesh, Sabina dreamt of helping her family overcome their poverty...One day an Indian woman visited their home. "She told me, 'If you come with me, I'll give you a better job. So come with me, but don't tell anyone.' The idea of having work was tempting to Sabina. 'One day, I told my parents that I'm just going out with this auntie and I'll be back very soon. I was thinking, If I can get a job, I can save money and even marry someone really good in India.'

But when they crossed the border, Sabina's 'auntie' left her with another woman, who locked Sabina in a room by herself. For the next seven days, 12 year old Sabina was beaten and raped repeatedly by as many as 10-15 men a day. When the week was up and her will was broken, Sabina was forced to work in a brothel. 'During the day I did all the housework. At night I was forced to give company to the men who came.'

Sabina endured years of abuse and torture before she finally escaped.

Every year, thousands of girls are tricked, trafficked and trapped into sex slavery. Last year, their plight became the focal point for CMS's Setting Captives Free campaign. CMS missionaries work with the Church of Bangladesh to raise awareness of sex trafficking and offer women opportunities to start businesses, so they aren't vulnerable to those who would sell them to the highest bidder." Inspire Magazine, Iss. 8, pg. 12-13

www.cms-uk.org - ...the privilege of being aware...

Is slavery over?

"Some 200 years ago there were four million slaves. By 2007, there will be over 20 million. Now is the time says CMS (www.cms-uk.org), for British Christians to fight slavery with as much fervour as they did two centuries ago. March 25, 2007 will mark 200 years since William Wilberforce and others gained a major victory in their campaign to end the transatlantic slave trade...slavery is far from over...brothels have replaced cotton fields. Galley slaves have been traded for child soldiers. And many people spend their entire lives in bonded service...most of today's slaves are women and children..." -Inspire Magazine Issue 8 pg. 12. (www.inspiremagazine.org.uk)

The last day George and I were together in England, he took me to a forest preserve in Keston. This is a very important spot in the history of the United Kingdom. It was on this spot 220 years ago that William Wilberforce spoke to the Prime Minister of England to bring an end to slavery. Much has taken place since that day and we owe so much to Mr. Wilberforce and to the great nation of the U.K.

As we stood there George and I reflected on our year together and then had a special time of prayer. It was special spot to end our year together because for me, hopelessness is the one thing that I hate the most. When I asked myself, "what do I love and what do I hate?", I found that I love hope and hate hopelessness. Setting people free from slavery, any form of it - immaturity, actual slavery, compromise, religious hierarchy, extreme poverty, sickness, forced prostitution, pride, injustice, corruption, etc... is at the heart of the Gospel. William Wallace, in the film "Braveheart", knew this reality and knew that freedom was a right that didn't have to be compromised because somebody else compromised (corrupt leaders) at my expense to just pad their own pockets with comfort. I face this struggle in my own life. If I am not growing and facing the sin in my walk and abiding in Christ, then those who will be influenced by me one day - wife, family, people in ministry, etc... will have to deal with the compromises I make. If I do not lead them into the same freedom I can receive from the hand of God, I will be in danger of leading them (by default) into short-sighted compromises with sin and an un-willingness to grow and mature through honesty. This is what I learned from George, to constantly remain vigilant in facing down your sin and pride no matter where you are at in life and who you are responsible for because, in the long run, it will benefit those you are called to love, lead and influence.

We need fathers

My heart is failing me. I have just finished reading postings on the internet for and against the Emerging Church in the western world. I myself find myself keenly identifying with the emerging ideals. It is a clear identification, something that helps me to navigate through a world that doesn't accept me because of my beliefs, the way I spend my money and Sunday mornings. To some of us that is quite a reach. There is too much banter and cutting words being passed to the emerging thoughts and ideals. Both sides are saying good things but they sound just like I did when I was a teenager and my father and I were not understanding each other. I love my father, always have, always will, but we don't always understand each other. That never takes precedent over his overwhelming love and protection for me. I know he would die for me, stand up for me even when I'm wrong and take my side against any enemy of strength, reputation or popularity. I utterly trust him with every ounce of my being and revere him. I need him. He is my umbrella, my home and with him I am safer than with any other in my life right now. I am known and still accepted. I need him. I can go home anytime and will be received no matter my condition.

There have been times when he has hurt me, because he has the ability to more than most. When my hair didn't match up to his preference, my music wasn't really music, my clothing was ridiculous, the things that my small world found great significance in because I didn't know the foundations that really define life as you grow older. I didn't know that fads were passing, I didn't know that what was important at the end of the day for him; bills, mortgages, sickness, cold weather, fear of failure, etc... were hemming him into a world that I wouldn't know or understand until later. I am beginning to understand and I feel like I am at a transition point between being a small world teenager to someday having a family and seeing life through its realistic aging eyes, eyes that understand consequences in a much deeper sense.

I feel the same about these arguments between traditional and emerging generations. They need fathers who love and accept and shepherd this emerging generation of young and misunderstood evangelicals through the maze of what is real and what isn't and in the process is open to learning something new. We don't need you to sit in your easychair that you're still paying for behind your daily dose of reality and peer past it to tell us how ridiculous our new hair color is or how you could've ripped that hole in our jeans for us instead of us paying somebody else to do it. We need fathers, real spiritual fathers, to lead us, to guide us, to listen to us muse, even if we are wrong. The danger is that if you don't, you, being the bigger man, lose the precedent that God has given to you by default to lead, encourage, mentor, teach and affect for eternity somebody that will outlive you. We need fathers who will love us, give us affirmation, be gentle with us in these difficult early years. It isn't anymore easier for a teenager to be a teenager than it is for an adult to be an adult. You should be happy we're even coming to Church, why scold us for how we do it. There is no bad guy in this; just ask a father who's son has left the Church and how he wishes he could take back some things he said. We need fathers. If you can't listen, if you can't live above the milieu of our self-discovery and you can't be patient, and you can't learn, then I feel like asking you to just please leave us alone, but that's not the answer either. What is? Well why not putting down the paper, getting out of your easy chair, coming to our room and knocking on the door and asking to come in. Please don't say anything about the mess, sit down and just start asking us what we think. We're family.

Philippians 2:1-5 "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ: ..."

ps - these thoughts are general and do not reflect a personal summation of my father and I's relationship. I love him deeply and we are good friends and he has been a good father my whole life.

Here are some links,

http://www.9marks.org/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID314526CHID598014CIID2249672,00.html

http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2005/04/an_open_blog_po.html

www.theooze.com

http://www.9marks.com/

Somalia!

Please pray for this most difficult of nations as it is the most lawless nation in the world right now. Many are dying, 99.95% Muslim. Christian martyrdom central. Check out the link http://www.gmi.org/ow/country/soma/overvw01.html
for more details on just how bad things are and in light of that what God is doing to bring His light, love, justice and mercy there. God has promised to build His Church.

Mountain Sheep

On a trip with my parents 4-5 years ago, I woke up in the back seat to the fact that we were preparing to stop. You know that feeling when you are riding in a vehicle and the droning hum of the road, the constant rhythm of the engine sing you to sleep. Then it all stops and suddenly you wake up. This is what I experienced as I sat in the back seat laying down, looking out through the window at the bare mountain in front of me. In my dreariness I began to scan the crest of the hill in front of me for any sign of a mountain sheep, known to wander throughout the region we were in. I thought to myself, if I focus hard enough and strain my eyes, moving them slowly across the horizon, I might catch a glimpse of one or two of these magnificent animals. You see as a child we used to pull off the road on the way to our town lake next to a massive cliff face. We’d wait there for a good while to just catch a glimpse of any mountain goat moving around along the face of the precipice. I was certain that if I focused hard enough I might just see something this time. I usually didn’t work that hard to see them, but this time would be different. As I continued to peer, striving to see what I planned to see, I suddenly hear the loud honk of cars streaming past the gas station where we’d stopped. I could hear some of them slowing down immediately and sounding their horns as if to say “Get out of my way”. I shot up from my seat and scrambled out of the vehicle to see for myself what had caused such a fuss. There standing right in front of me waltzing down the road were three massive mountain sheep. They just moved as they liked down the pavement while cars maneuvered around them, honked and sped off. Some stopped to look and admire, others impatiently careened around them. They were there for only a moment and then disappeared off the edge of the road never to be seen again. I was dumbfounded! God spoke into my heart, “What you work so hard to see and accomplish off in the distance, I have placed right behind you, up close and without your striving efforts to do so.” I have been sensing lately that God is showing me and others opportunities that he wants us to take advantage of. My first response is then to prepare myself so that I can go and do this thing and be completely ready for it. I am seeing that, though that may be the right way in some circumstances, many times God isn’t interested in us getting ready but would rather us just step into the action, the obedience, the calling without getting our “ducks in a row”. Sometimes it seems, our steps of faith don’t need as much preparation as we think they do, they just need obedience, a willingness to step out, go for it and be prepared to not always be prepared.

Lyon, France

From October 6th- 23rd I will be in Lyon, France attending a Leadership Matters Course that OM runs for missional leadership. I have had a burden for France ever since one of my professors spoke about it as one of the darkest regions of the world spiritually. In the city of Lyon, France itself there are 1.26 million people and 150,000 of them are Muslim. There is a large Catholic influence from the past and the city has been historically dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

-Protestants make up about 1.75 % of the population
-About 25% of the population place thier faith in astrology and mediums
-Over 15% of the population spend approximately 45 billion euros per yer on occult consultations

It is obviously a very dark region of the world. Please pray with me that as we spend time getting taught that we would not forgo any opportunity to share our faith in the midst of this difficult and dark city.

Turin

On October 5th and 6th I will be in Turin, Italy on a one day outreach with some OM friends and two others from a Church in London. Our reason for being in Turin is simple, we want to hand out 1000 pieces of evangelistic literature and wait for divine appointments to share the Gospel with whomever will stop and share some time with us. We will be joined by some Italian friends who will help with the translation. Apparently Turin is the Occultic capital of Europe. Here are some stats,

-98% of Italians claim Roman Catholicism as their faith/religion (though far fewer attend mass), but perhaps the true religion of Italy is the Occult.

-Italy is steeped in the Occult and Satanism. There are over 100,000 full-time consulting magicians (Occult) in Italy. That is three times the number of Catholic priests and 600 times the number of trained pastors in this nation.

-Evangelicals make up less than 1% of the population; there is only one trained pastor for every 350,000 people. The Italian church is weak and divided.

Please pray with us for fruit and spiritual protection and for those that will join us to be empassioned to continue sharing the message of Jesus wherever they are. Recently, I just heard of the Faroe Islands (between Norway and Iceland) where there is only 48,000 people and over 20% of the population is Christian. A bit of a haven compared to Turin. Thank you for standing with us. There will be five of us going for it. I will be sharing the results later on, so be sure to revisit soon. Keep on keeping on!

Singapore and Malaysia

Before the summer began, George and I made out way to Singapore and Malaysia for our last trip together. As we had many times before, Drena, myself and George had breakfast with one another at the airport before our departure. This would be the last breakfast of its kind, so I captured the moment. Upon arriving to Singapore, we were settled in and began a mission conference at a dynamic Church in the city. I soon found out that Singapore is a very different place than I'd ever been to. You are not allowed to chew gum there at all. It is illegal. There are actually people who smuggle in chewing gum and sell it on the black market - I think that is what you call it. Anyways, Amazing country. Their military is trained by the Israeli military because of thier similar circumstances. I also found out that the "Boogie Man" term came from this region of the world. If you email me, I'll tell you why.

Next we were off to Malaysia to greet the Doulos as she docked into Port Klang. What a privilege to share this experience with George for both of OM's active ships. We ministered together on the ship for a couple of days as George spoke and had a wild book bananza. Then it was our last parting period on a trip together. For me it was the end of a year long mentoring relationship but the start of a lifelong mentoring journey. I will always carry in me the mark that George made on my life and heart and it will grow I'm sure as our year together begins to be unpacked for me. The time on the Doulos was priceless except that I didn't get a chance to work because out of all the weeks that I could have showed up, they were just starting their sabbath week (one week of rest and vacation) and it only ended the day I left to fly back to London. I guess God knew that I needed it. We visited a wasterpark and went into the city and rested a lot while I joined the Americans on board to celebrate the 4th of July. That was special as we barbecued and threw the old pig skin (football) around.

I'm talking to you.

I tried speaking with the wildlife whilst visiting Australia, but they weren't too impressed with this Canadian/American. This lady with her little baby kangaroo behind her avoided me and apparently she can be pretty dangerous. At the same time that I was there, Steve Irwin, our beloved Crocodile hunter died or was killed by the wildlife there in Autralia. Maybe I should have taken the hint but apparently it wasn't enough. Thankfully I was spared from being mauled by the hopping terror. Very cute babies!

Best Man!

What does it mean to be a best man? Does anyone out there know the history of "the best man" or anything about the bridal party, the maid of honor, throwing the bouqet, etc...? Where did we get our wedding customs from and why do we do them? I know it was a huge privilege for me to sign as Dan's witness for the legal documents. I guess being a best man means different things to different folks. For me it means a lot since I have been looking forward to being Dan's best man for years now. Dan and I have know each other for four years now. We first met on Dryer 3 at Moody Bible Insitute in August 2002 - almost exactly 4 years ago. I walked into his room as he was organizing his stuff and discovered that he was an aviation major, destined for the dangerous jungles somewhere, but I also found a man whose heart was beating only for Jesus. I knew immediately from our first conversation that God had brought Dan into my life to be my best friend. That may not be completely true but it feels like it now. All I know is that from early on, we connected and have been going strong ever since. He is a great man with a passion for God that I rarely get to spend time with. In our fist month of knowing each other he had already chosen a "little brother" from the projects next to Moody along with me, in fact the boy, "Heavy", that he'd been led to was the cousin of my little brother, "Toof". The next two years were spent chasing down these two yung-uns as we ministered to and loved them through wrestling, eating out, doing Bible studies, taking them to camps, disciplining them and sharing our lives with their families. Our favorite place to get breakfast was "The Original Pancake House" on the Gold Coast in Chicago and our favorite professor who will always have an indelible imprint on our souls, the honest profound, Dr. Rim - all heart! Our favorite past time was to wake up Dan's roommates late in the evening as we always met up after our long days in school to catch up on the what God was teaching us, what our latest escapade was with "the boyz" (Toof and Heavy) or the ever present girl problems. Usually there was some laughs and a "rassle" or two and then we'd lay our day before God and thank him for His love, for the gift of blessing and loving us first and once in awhile, we'd weep before our Savior together for our family, our struggle, our brokenness... I have found that in my visit here with Dan, I have assumed so much in my relationship with him, but they are good assumptions, assumptions that are rooted in a trust that has grown over a long period of time. I like having a best friend, I never had one before I met Dan. When I am around him I feel like we could take on the world and nothing will hold us back - free to worship, pray at any turn and at any moment - there much more to be discovered - the journey continues...

August 27th, 2006

This was the day that my best friend, Daniel Pennington married Catrina Van Dam. Now they are Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Pennington. I have many good friends, some just like blood but the difference I would have to say is that Dan was given to me by God - very specifically - to be my best friend. I know that with out a doubt. I had the distinct privilege of taking part in his wedding as his best man which put me in charge of the bachelor party, being the MC at the reception, holding the ring and driving them to their honeymoon spot. What a privilege. It is a day that I have been waiting for for ages and will remember for many more. Please pray for this couple as they launch out into life together. They trust God. They are wholly committed to serving Him for the rest of their lives together.

The 1st Lesson

1. Hard work, because there is no lion in the street (Proverbs 22) and even if there is we may be called to slay it with our bare hands like David or sit amongst them like Daniel or tame it like the Ringling Brothers. Prayer is hard work. There is no formula or easy way around it – it requires commitment both to prayer and to being in right relationship with God – both of these require a lot of work, over and over again. Last summer I spent a week in Western Canada ministering with my parents at “Bush Camp”, our annual outreach to the children of our Native community. An old friend of the family and respected man of the community, Sam Adolph, was there teaching children how to make drums and other Native crafts. I sought him out to have a drum made so that I could give it to George and Drena as a gift for giving me this year with them. Next time I will be careful what I ask for, because as I discovered, the brunt of the work happened to be skinning the fat, the extra skin and the hair off of the hide to make this wonderful idea of a drum. After an hour of this agonizing, back wrenching work, I had formulated many different ways to make this job easier in my head and I share them with Sam. With a wise grin and a slow start he said, “You know Nathan… I’ve tried every trick in the book and none of them work better than elbow grease. That’s all it is, elbow grease” And then he let out a reassuring chuckle. Something told me, he knew what he was talking about. The famous of author of “Orthodoxy”, G.K. Chesterton shared his thoughts about “elbow grease” by stating, “The Christian ideal has not been found tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried”. Paul Little has said, “The most crucial battle in our lives is the continuing one of securing enough time alone in the presence of God. Our spiritual vigor and vitality in everything else depend on the outcome of this battle.” I finish this point with a quote from John Stott - “The thing I know will give me the deepest joy – namely, to be alone and unhurried in the presence of God, aware of His presence, my heart open to worship Him – is often the thing I least want to do.” The fact that it is just a lot of hard work makes it easier to embrace because I know that I don’t have to wait for the magic formula to hit me. It’s not that there is something necessarily wrong with me, I just need to keep at it and work hard. There’s freedom in that – to just go for it.

The 2nd Lesson

2. Risk taking – fixed results give fixed results – risk gives you something you could have never thought of. It may require some encouragement and a good company of like-minded individuals that really are a team. Many like to think of courage as done by the lone-ranger but more often it is done in the midst of fellowship with those who encourage you to go for it, to take the chance. Remember, “en-courage” means “to enable courage in someone else”. God consistently is speaking these words to us, but many times they are drowned out by false guilt, lies of the enemy, or bad company who only see as Lot did, with his senses, and not like Abraham did, through the eyes of faith. This is to see what is already, but not yet, what could be and what will be. Risk taking is necessary, without a challenge, there is little or slow growth.

The 3rd Lesson

3.Patience and long-suffering. We are to be a people that are not driven by results. We cannot only orient ourselves to our expectations – God wants so much more for us and this requires waiting at times. The suffering our world is facing is already impossible, so it requires a hope that cannot and will not be based on results if anything is to be done. Many good missionaries leave the mission field because they didn’t see the results they expected. We see this in broken marriages as well. As the bride of Christ, be ready to love based on principles, upon character, and upon what you have received freely from God, not on results. Nothing else will do and then be prepared to be disappointed.

The 4th Lesson

4. Anguish. It is a high calling. If you want to be invited into the heart of God, right into the center, embrace anguish. Don’t believe the enemy of our souls when he tells you to protect your heart from hurt, from pain, when he tells you not to care and to transcend the circumstances. You don’t need to look for pain, it will come, but when it does don’t hide from it, let it do what it is supposed to do. God endures pain all day, it’s like a full-time job to Him. If God were to talk about what He did all day, like most of us do after work, I’m sure He would share from the deep anguish of His heart (although not only). I shiver to think what would happen if God disconnected from the pain that we cause Him and decided to care less about us or not at all. Anguish is a stewardship and I personally find it very easy to not be a faithful steward of pain. It is a part of life – we have to accept it and the more that we give ourselves to loving others truly with the love of God, the more painful life will become. C.S. Lewis has said, “The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.” So if you want to know God, know anguish and let it steep you in His love. Many are looking to replace anguish with happiness but only true joy comes in the midst of Anguish. George often quotes Billy Graham by saying, “Life at its best is filled with sorrow.” Many have experienced this and know it, and yet more are trying to escape it and as a result they are missing the blessings that their hearts so long for. The very actions that we make to reduce pain and suffering are the same actions that are stealing from us the very thing we desire from those actions.

The 5th Lesson

5. Complexity. The world will always be more complex than we want it to be. Embrace complexity, don’t look for the black and white so quickly. Expect that there is more to the story than what is reported or what meets the eye. Stop looking for the singular bad guy and look to your own sinfulness to tell you who is at fault – it may not be you, but you’ll at least be looking at the same thing that God is looking at, in each of us. There are always two sides to any story and in my experience from travelling the world, the media truly doesn't give us what we need to hear - the full truth - they tend to give selective truth. I hope to never be a media basher because they give us so much to pray for but our view of reality should not be solely influenced by the media - that is our job and it is not easy to keep up with - but it is our stewardship with all the access to information that we have. We are called to live in the practical of Proverbs, the singing of the Psalms, justice of Job, and the collision and confusion of Ecclesiastes. Wisdom seeks balance of them all and doesn't raise one over the other. It embraces the tension of meaningful and meaningless, of veracity and vanity. It’s really a complex subject so I’ll just move on.

The 6th Lesson

6. Lightheartedness. Look for lightness. In such complexity, longsuffering, hard work, pain and stress there is a need to just let it go at times and escape. This being true, we are not called to look for Heaven on earth, but to bring Heave to earth. I struggle between trying to experience a life without sorrow and a life engaged with sorrow. It is true that in Heaven there will be no more tears, no more crying – pain will cease. Now is the time for pain – it will never happen again, so let’s embrace it before it is gone, it is our last chance to step into what God is doing 24/7. So even though I wrongly look for a complete release from pain and hard work and from being responsible to the growing needs of our broken world, it isn’t wrong to seek the place of solace, humor, laughter and laid back nothingness on a regular basis. But only to be viewed as fuel for the race ahead and not as the final destination- that is replacing Heaven and is an escapist mentality. Many work all year for their 2 to 3 to 4 weeks of vacation to go and do something special or they are waiting for retirement to not have to work anymore. Many make great sacrifices for this kind of lifestyle, but it is completely backwards. Laughter, rest, doing nothing, practicing a hobby is necessary to make it through life, but it is not the point of life. George just came back from Disney France with his grand children and from riding as many roller coasters as he possible could (one he rode 4 times straight) and this all at the age of 67. We need fun, laughter and relaxation but remember what its purpose is; it is not the purpose. A long-haul, long-term, entire life view of living for Jesus is what is required and therefore we need rest in order to make it. It needs to be regular, consistent and focused on rest. This can then give us the fuel for the second greatest commandment, to love others as we love ourselves. One cannot give what one has not first received. Sometimes we are required to arrange for the receiving. This all feeds into the greatest commandment as we steward our body and our time for Christ. Love the Lord your God with all you heart, mind, soul and strength. So take it easy once in awhile. This also requires us to discern the voice of God apart from the voice of our own sinful nature and from the devil’s voice and from the world system (which is completely antithetical to grace). Many times, God is saying rest and the rest of the crowd is saying work harder, longer and never feel like you’ve done enough and then suffer from the guilt until you start working again. This is an on-going battle and the balance is difficult. Work hard at resting right and hearing right.