Miracle

Miracle was born for a great destiny. She had everything going for her; she was wonderfully gifted, tremendously loved, and she had people around the world praying for her. But the deformation that had been detected by the first ultrasound somehow missed the touch of God and she died nine hours after birth, havening barely been introduced to her family. I was still in Pakistan so they kept her little body on ice until I could get home to Thailand and attend the cremation.

At Miracle’s first diagnosis, the Thai doctor pushed for an abortion, I mean really pushed, he went so far as to call my daughter ‘stupid’ for wanting to keep her pregnancy. Mai’s twin sister Becky stepped in to confront the cold hearted doctor’s agenda and they ended up moving to another doctor in another hospital who was happy to follow the wishes of Miracle’s very commendable parents.

Months of soaking our minds and hearts in prayer and the Word of God did not change the prognosis. Who knows why, and who cares, we know that God does not change and every good and perfect gift comes from Him - who never changes.

Miracle was born into a great family heritage, and for that we are all very thankful. The world is a contrary place; contrary to heaven and contrary to the Word of God. And that makes our lives and our heritage all the more meaningful, however short or long they may be, we stand for right, for truth, for the glory of God, and to fulfill what He has called us to do.

Certainly, for this granddaughter, I would liked to have known her, her personality, her gifts and dreams, what would have excited her and what injustices would have fired her passion. Yet her short life inspires me, challenges me to do what she possibly might have done had she blossomed to the full potential of that passion.

We are all vulnerable, like children, as Jesus said we must be, if we are to inherit His Kingdom. We trust God in impossible situations and we take risks believing Him for things we cannot control. And His heart breaks, along with ours, at the sadness of this contrary and needy world. While Miracle was being born I was praying for people in Pakistan, someone else’s grandchildren, on deathbeds because of their parent’s poverty. While all around us, the people who call us infidels were blowing themselves up in public places.

Miracle didn’t have opportunity to accomplish much in life and we don’t get many memories of her, but she does stir our passion with this: those of us who remain are so much the more responsible to impact this world with the love of Jesus.

Miracle was born at 9:00 am on March 8, 2010 to Pui & Mai Chalermleamtong and passed away at 6:00 pm the same day.

Our next granddaughter, Lydia, was born March 9, 2010 to Neo & Dow Tritippayapitak. She is the cutest thing...

Pakistan

Now I know what a terrorist bomb blast feels like in real life; what detonating 800 Kilos of explosives can stir in the imagination: a bunch of innocent people in the throes of death along with the looser who pushed the button, and dozens more trying to find their bearings and crawl away from a nightmare that just became theirs.

16 dead and 64 injured in this blast that shook us out of bed on Monday morning. A couple days later, Kris and I flew out of Lahore, and two more suicide bombers killed another 44 and injured 115, followed by an unmanned bomb that injured another 4 people, followed by…

It’s all about terror, terror can make your knees weak and your palms sweat but it won’t give you any sensible advice on how to stay alive. Bombs are real but terror isn’t! So you may as well ignore it. We had an awesome time in Pakistan, we preached in five churches and a leadership conference, prayed for a thousand people, and on top of that, we received copious amounts of love and encouragement for our part in the vision of planting churches and training leaders across Asia.

The air has changed in Pakistan. On our first few trips we traveled freely, shooting video and interacting with people. Then in 2006, we happened to land in Lahore the day that Islamic rage broke out over the Danish cartoons of Muhammad. Our conference was interrupted when riots broke out in the streets against anything western. We lovingly refer to this trip as the ‘lock down’ - we were stuck in our room most of the time. In the following year, terrorists began to pillage Christian homes and churches in Pakistan, oppressing the believers into a feeling of helplessness.

But this time, something different began to surface. We preached in a new church that meets in a half finished building, no doors yet, just guards with shotguns and security wands. A couple months earlier they had held an initial open-air crusade in a vacant lot a few doors down. That vacant lot could be seen from the roofs of 12 surrounding buildings and by positioning 12 gunmen on those roofs, there was no fear of snipers that evening. Then we preached at a new church plant in another area, also in an empty lot. Terrorists know this area for its gun-packing Christians and in four attempts the terrorists have not been able to break through. Now days we find ourselves surrounded by Christians packing guns everywhere we go, and I noticed that in many churches the ministry of gun-packing has become a responsibility of the youth group.

The Pakistani police now require churches to have armed guards during services. An AK 47 is nearly a thousand dollars so I think I’ll just buy a shotgun. But should this be a “go buy a sword” or a “turn the other cheek” issue?

Preaching Cambodia Back to Life

A shoe repair man is bullied to sleep by the awful heat of a Cambodian mid-afternoon. 30 years ago a more serious stupor was forced onto the Cambodian people by the genocide of half their population. Today as we preach to a few hundred gathered in the border town of Poipet, we preach to persuade them back to life. "God is good, let there be no doubt, He is absolutely good. No matter what you have experienced, your oppression and degradation was not God's plan."

The Cambodian people, like you and I, can take one of two approaches to recovery: 1) "Why did this happen and when are You going to fix it?" or 2) "I will annihilate the unbelief I have so naturally embraced and replace my contrary experiences with the power of Your promises."

Group #1 will continue to learn line upon line "that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught." (Isaiah 28:13) while group #2 will ask, believe and receive. (Matthew 21:22).

The faces in the crowded conference venue are like the lights in the Poipet market, some are turned on, others remain off. Not all will grasp the Word and rise up but if we can turn the tide away from despondency and toward the goodness of God, this nation will once again live.

Try and make me!

"If you don't forward this immediately to everybody in your contact list you'll be damned!" Or the one I got yesterday, "Please read this it is REALLY sad and if you don't read this that means you are EXTREMELY mean and selfish!" The tear-jerker stories that follow may or may not be true, but with the devil pointing his finger at me you can bet I'm not going to forward this to any of my friends.

Successful communication is not measured by how many people we can mobilize to emotion but to action. And to grab people's attention in the virtual realm, to get them to respond to our message, we must be real, more real than in any other medium.

When I engage in a message through visual or audio media, I'm expecting to be informed, taught and motivated to change. So if I don't immediately find skill, intelligence, and purpose, I'm on to something else. And when I receive unethical threats of damnation, 'delete' becomes my saviour.

I can be hooked by an up-front presentation of what I might gain from the message, and I am held by creative audio/visual, but I am especially moved by creative use of language. You lose your credibility if you use threats in place of language skill or callowness in place of excellence in your productions.

Forward!

Terry & I are in Canada until Christmas day. We're here, we're there, we seldom sit still - a boring idea anyway. But whether we move geographically or not, we all must progress in our God-given purpose. The saddest thing I've ever seen as we minister in Canadian churches, is the believer who asks us to pray for the the same thing asked for last time we visited. A life that hasn't progressed is a ridiculous waste of potential and is a sign of selfishness. A selfish soul is all about me - what I get out of the deal rather than what I can accomplish that will benefit others.

Progress is not a matter of opportunity, ability or money, but a result of a godly heart attitude. Get up, inspire and equip yourself with the promises of God, make war against contrary circumstances, and move forward from where you are!

We've got a bunch of great Christmas banquets coming up in BC and Alberta, we're going to have a great time inspiring each other with the potential that God has deposited in us through Christ. What rejoicing when we get to run with Him.

Look at this prophetic declaration about Jesus and catch the attitude:

You are fairer than the sons of men;

Grace is poured upon Your lips;

Therefor God has blessed You forever.

Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One,

With Your glory and Your majesty.

And in Your majesty ride prosperously

because of truth and humility and righteousness.

Psalm 45:3-4

How's your ride these days?

Ever notice how everybody around you keeps getting older? Here's a recent shot of our aging A&D World Missions Canada directors talking about where we're going to find some younger men and women to add to our team of directors. Matt & Becky were guests at this annual board meeting but they can't be directors right now because they are busy on the other side of the world. Margaret is running the A&D office out of her house here as well as working full time and raising two boys. That's the trouble with all the good, young leaders - they are busy. It's not that the rest of us feel so old, we are just coming into the prime of our wisdom, but we do sense the urgency to mobilize the next generation. The question is, "Are we capturing the passion of a new generation, and how successfully are we transitioning them into this amazing Kingdom call?"

The underpinnings of a great ministry is it's great leaders, imparting wisdom and spiritual gifts into the next generation so that they may be established. God forbid that we abandon them with no inheritance, forcing them to start again from nothing.

Our A&D World Missions booth at Dominion Conference at the Miracle Channel manned by missionaries Kenn & Donna Haase. You never know if the next 'young' person who comes by the table might be the perfect new leader for some Great Commission opening in Asia.

As Christians we must continually and aggressively  strengthen our Word foundations, I mean we had better get solid, grounded, and motivated by the Word and the Word alone.  A compromised Christian will not reach God's purpose. Evidence in present day Christianity reveals that even if we have 90% of our life on track, that other 10% will surely knock us off track and into oncoming traffic. Sometimes I'm surprised at how many times a day the Holy Spirit prods me toward faith-building Word. I love God's Word and there's nothing I would rather do than share it with you and vice-versa. I'm presently building a video course on the Book of Romans, you can watch it progress on YouTube at vbcithailand.