Time to Change

I woke up with a thought about change this morning inspired by an email a couple of days ago. Why wait until January 1st to make changes. A wise person with integrity will make a change when he realizes it needs to be made. Once you see sin in your life, you have several options. The best option is to repent or change. Our actions are determined by decisions we have made. Too often we just do not have a strong enough resolution to get over problems. So we need to use our stubbornness, which I know most of us have as a strong natural characteristic, and say "I will make this change." Our resolutions usually fail because we really do not want to change that bad. We hold on to that which is comfortable or what we are used to.

Reverse Culture Shock

So I really didn't think that I would experience reverse culture shock upon returning to the US. But I was wrong. I guess it was not too drastic, but there are definitely some changes to be noted and it has led to some sort of embarrassment on my part. My brother Phil was talking to me in preparation for his wedding and he said some words where I just had no idea what they meant. I really did not want to admit that I did not know what he was talking about. This also happened in several other circumstances in talking about technology. I did not know what an iphone looked like and would have no clue what is on the market right now.
Sarah told me that she was nervous about coming back to the US due to her wardrobe possibly being out of style. Of course, we all know, at least I do, that fashion follows her. Sarah was clueless after her sister told her that she had bought a certain style of clothing for Evelyn. Anna replied that she would know soon enough cause "everyone had them."
I also found out that everything is not cool anymore. It is chill. And if you are really chill, you are mega chill. Well, I have had 4 weeks here so far and am trying to adjust. But the truth is that I probably won't fit in for a while. Basically that means that we will not fit in either place, which is kind of a weird feeling. I guess that is just part of life now. So for now I am just working on reaching the chill stage. I am not there yet, but maybe soon.

Aprenpleship

Well, the name might not work, but I am once again writing about a crazy idea I have had. It is for Christians who are serious about making disciples and it is for Christians in the workplace. Maybe not whichever workplace will do, but most could. Through college and a little afterwards I was a painter. I enjoy painting, but sure am glad that I am not doing it for a living. But my old boss/crime partner in painting had started this idea at one point.
The idea has to do with combining discipleship and apprenticeship. During work, Ben would take a few minutes out of lunch break talking to a couple of his workers about God. They actually started going through "The Story of Hope" book, which is a chronological overview of God's Redemptive plan in the Bible. You can use it for both evangelism and discipleship.
Owners of small businesses could provide jobs as well as discipleship to a young person in the church, construction workers, painters, plumbers, electricians, etc... could have a youth work under you and have plenty of time for informal discipleship talk on the job, and most people could find some time in their busy schedules to work God's Great Commission.
What do you think? What would work for you and your job or how would you like someone to disciple you as you work?

A bit on Romans

I do miss writing a bit. I get a chance to write some, but not near as much since having a daughter. I never realized how much work kids are. So while the little Evelynator is napping, I decided to write some. I started writing on the book of Romans a while ago and hope that in the future I can continue my study of it. No other book of the Bible has as much doctrine nor the depth of doctrine as Romans does. I can't think of any book that convicts me as much as Romans does either. But it also gives so much hope. The verse that sums up Romans in my opinion is Philippians 1:6- "Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in me will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ." God calls us from our dirty, rotten sinful background into an abundant life in which He completely sanctifies us in the end. We have our battles that we fight and we choose between God and sin so often, but ultimately, it is God who pulls us through them. Romans explains that process and encourages us to choose to follow Christ every time.

What I have been doing instead of blogging

God is so good to us. You know we don't really deserve much in life. Right now we are in Manaus, Amazonas, the capital city of the Amazon. We have been in the interior for about 3 months now. There have been a couple times during this trip where I have said, "I deserve this cause..." and that really is the wrong attitude to have. What we all deserve is hell. I preach that all the time, but forget it often when I am not preaching.
Doing things in the Amazon is not like the rest of the world. It can be tiring and frustrating. Fortunately the last couple of days in Manaus have gone great! We came to get both an American and a Brazilian passport for Evelyn and we have already applied for both of them and the process has gone well. We are so excited!
Communication has been harder in the Amazon. We don't have internet at our house and so I have not been able to do any blogging the last few months. I do miss it somewhat. Today I am just happy to be able to get online on my own computer. life is all about perspective sometimes. We can learn how to be grateful and not take things for granted by reading and experiences of others, or often God can take you through circumstances that will lead to those feelings later on. I hope that you learn to learn from reading!

Jonah and the Whale

No, no, no, no my friends. It is not Jonah and the Whale. The story is about Jonah and God. The whale takes up 2 verses out of 4 chapters. Dr. David Kemp, my college Bible teacher made sure we learned that. I think we Christians like to have our two verses though. We like to pick out things from the Bible and make them the whole Bible. We like to take little themes and make them big.
But what are the big themes in the Bible. The Bible is a story afterall and stories have to have main themes. What are those in the Bible (I have my thoughts, but I want to hear from you guys first).

Asking for Support

I have always wanted to be like Hudson Taylor who trusted God for every penny and never asked others for a penny. As a missionary, you pretty much start out your career asking for money full time by presenting your ministry. So now that we are here, if we lack money, do we ask men or God? I was talking to a friend about this and said that I did not think that I had the faith to just trust God as Taylor did. He was in situations where he gave away his last coin. I have never been in a situation like that. God has always provided beforehand for me.
So the question I pose to you all is: at what point do you ask others for help, or should that point never happen because we are just supposed to trust God?