I love Jesus, my family, life, international work, coffee, sushi, and the Man in Black....and I direct the Convoy of Hope Internship program. Life is good.
I've spent some time over the last week or so radically redoing www.aroundtheworldwithJesus.com. The old site was simply not usable in any viable way...it had no blog and this blog was not integrated in a good way.
Thoughts on the new site?
I will post blogs both here and there over the next few months, then resort to using this as a backup, pointing people to the main site, www.aroundtheworldwithJesus.com.
People can sign up for feedburner feeds, and update emails for whenever the blog is updated on the new site.
I'd love feedback...my goal is to load it with not only stories and photos, but with resources that have helped me lead teams over the years.
Today at our Convoy of Hope offices, many on our staff met to discuss the various ways we seek to share hope with people around the world. We were all pretty excited and awe struck as the opportunity God is providing grew in clarity and sank in even more. People around the world are facing a really, really hard time and we have the privilege to work with others in sharing hope with them.
Though my five years on staff with Book of Hope International are over, I still see myself as part of the family. Today, I got an email from the president of the organization who mentioned they've changed their name to OneHope. I like it...it does a good job emphasizing "hope" and not so much just "book". You can see more at http://www.bookofhope.net/.
It all reminds me of a billboard I saw in Bangalore, India a few years ago,
In case you can't read it, it states,
"1 billion people
4200 communities
1625 dialects
29 states
18 official languages
9 major religions
1 HOPE Sonia Ghandi"
Now I certainly have no interest in getting into the politics of India. However, if there's one hope for India or anywhere else in the world, it's not a person...not even a politician type person.
There's a whole lotta hope being placed in a whole lotta places. I like Hebrews 6:19 which speaks of the hope we have in Christ as an "anchor of the soul."
My friend Travis is in Honduras now with the newly named OneHope. Read about his travels at www.the1814project.com. Also, our Convoy of Hope interns are in Haiti and doing well. They head out for ministry in the morning...I'll keep in touch about how things are going with them, and will join them in the region soon.
Yesterday, the team and I were in the room with Jorel who's a soccer (futbol for my Spanish speaking friends) freak. Since he leaves with the team tomorrow for Haiti, and since he'll have very little opportunity to view his game of choice, we watched some of the Manchester United game against Blackburn. Manchester United won. Great.
I'm not much of a soccer guy, but back in the day I was one scary, intimidating monster on the field.
It was 1980 just after Mt. St. Helen's erupted. We were the volcanoes. Other than on playgrounds around the world, as an outmatched older guy against elementary kids, I've not played since.
In the mid-late 90's, I shared with the Park Crest college group from Philip Yancey's book, "The Jesus I Never Knew." Great book. I'll confess I'd forgotten his thoughts on the ascension. I revisited the book and his thoughts a few months ago, and have pondered them since. Without getting too theological, or footnoted, etc. here are my conclusions. These are simple thoughts, but a new perspective for me.
If Jesus were here today, there would be two really big things happening:
1. People would do everything they could to get near him to ask Him to help them, heal them, pray for them, etc. It would be like this, but 1000 times over. He would help the poor.
2. People who loved Jesus would be clamoring to find ways to serve Him...can I get you some tea? Can I wash your feet? Here, have the comfortable seat, etc. It would be like Mary and Martha but 1000 times over. People would serve Him.
Jesus isn't here (at least physically). He ascended. He's not back yet. But...
1. People still need help. Since He's gone, we can be stand in for Him and do our best to help those in need. As Audio Adrenaline sang a long time ago, we can be "His hands, His feet." We can help the poor.
2. We can serve Him as we would if He were present in the "Can I get you some tea or wash your feet" sense. We do so when we serve others. In fact, that's the point of much of Matthew 25, which says, "When you do this unto the least of these, you do this unto me". We can serve Him.
Anyways...as you can see, #1 and #2 happen simultaneously when we serve others in His name.
These are some of the thoughts I've been pondering since mid-December. Our interns leave for Haiti on Monday to do just that. I'll join them in the Caribbean soon. My friend Travis just left for Honduras to do just that, you can read more here.
I've wanted to memorize and pray for all the countries of the world for about 5 years. I figured since I've actually started, that blogging about it may help provide added accountability.
I heard a speaker at Book of Hope quite some time ago. His name is Dick Eastman and he's with a ministry called Every Home for Christ. http://www.ehc.org/
If I remember correctly, he spoke of praying for every country in the world every day on his way to work, or wherever he was going that day. I love that idea. Of course, it's a listing thing where he would simply fly through a list. However, with his decent knowlege of the world a passion for those people, and a greater love for God, I bet some cool things happen in response to those prayers.
The prayer...
helps keep his passion alive and growing.
reminds him to pray for the places he's been and the people he's met
helps him be more aware when he hears of places on the news or in conversation
connects him with the desire God has to receive worship from the nations
is heard by our Savior, who responds
He passed out prayer maps that day. I have mine with me most of the time, wanting to actually start the memorization process. The idea is to pray for a few countries a day each day for a month, but I like the idea of just learning them all. I've told other intern teams of my desire to learn them all. Haven't done it. Will do so starting now, or last week actually.
I've gotten Africa, but am a bit worried about all of those Oceanic islands. Wish me luck...or even order the map (it's free). Accountability in cyberspace has arrived.
On my first day of kindergarten, Mom walked with me much of the way to school...and then as she stopped just short of the destination, she took a photo of me walking the rest of the way by myself (carrying a gift wrapped fancy hanky for Mrs. Harper). I'm pretty sure she cried.
Perhaps it's hyperbole to compare the two events, but this morning I watched the spring '09 intern team head to Galveston, Tx. They're on the road now...sans fancy hankies. They've worked hard during our training time, gotten to know each other, discussed a ton of issues related to missions and compassion work in our country and around the world, learned about water filters, relief/development, AIDS, appropriate technologies and more...and now they're off to help. Here's my view from the Convoy of Hope porch.
They'll be in Galveston then the Caribbean, then Georgia (the Atlanta one, not the Tbilisi one like last time).
I'll join them in Dallas next week before they head out internationally.
Here's the last photo before they headed out. Most slept little last night as they packed and cleaned, but they're likely asleep now (except for Karen, the driver).
Please keep them in prayer as they'll be gutting homes in Galveston, Tx, while working with local churches to help those in the community. It's still a devasted area.
It's been a great week. Just over a week ago, our spring '09 team arrived. The team will soon serve in Galveston, TX; Haiti, they'll be in the Dominican Republic and then serve another country in the region, returning to Atlanta for a Convoy of Hope outreach. It'll be a full 2 1/2 months. This is a great team.
Let me introduce them...(left to right)
Natalie is from the Seattle area. As a Bible Quizzer she memorized much of the New Testamant. She just graduated from Evangel with a teaching degree.
Deserai is from Sioux City, IA. She also was at James River's Master's Commission a few years ago. Her cousin (er, her mom's cousin) is Rick Ryan from our Convoy of Hope staff.
Bethany is a Missionary Associate who will work with Karen to lead the team. She's been on the Convoy team for 1 1/2 years.
The bear isn't real or on the team.
Jorel grew up as a missionary kid and will head to seminary after the term. He graduated from Bethany College.
Karen was on the fall team and is helping to lead this team. She's an RN with a Master's in teaching.
We have a great team...just wanted to introduce them to you. Here are 4/5 of them on the couch.
Posts
.JPG)
.jpg)
