Category: Testimonies

Read testimonies of those whose lives were radically changed by Jesus Christ.

The Least of These

Well, friends, it has been a while. 

And I am anxious to get back into our gospel story.

But before we do, I want to take a moment and tell you how much I appreciated all the prayers so many of you petitioned to the Throne of Grace on our behalf.  Those prayers were needed and felt, and they made a real difference in the work we did a half a continent away.

As I know is usually the case when one goes on a journey such as the one I have recently embarked upon, where the intention is to be a minister unto others less fortunate than yourself, I have discovered that in fact, I was the one ministered to.  I thought that I was the one with much making an offering to those with little, and in the process discovered a paradox. My “much” was not necessarily more.  In fact, I have learned that sometimes our material plenty often proves to be a hindrance, a distraction, and in a way, less.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. What we had to give was definitely a blessing to those on the receiving end.  But what I was not prepared for was what I got in return.  I did not anticipate the way the people we helped would respond with such love and humility.  The physical needs we were able to meet were temporary, to be sure.  I pray that the real gift they received from us was merely a physical expression of the eternal love of Jesus Christ.  I know that was what they gave to me.

I found another paradox.

In going to the Belize Central Prison, I expected to encounter a very dark place.  I was surprised to find that that was not the case at all.

I realized that the darkest place was the cities.   The cities where gang membership provides masculine role models in families where the fathers are largely absent.  Cities where their position and loyalty to the gang is made secure by their willingness to kill a rival gang member.  Where money comes easy in a poverty inflicted society for anyone willing to traffic in drugs or sex.  The city breeds the crime that feeds the prison population. 

 For some of these young men, finding their way to the BCP was the luckiest break they could get. And maybe, luck had nothing to do with it, but rather the Providence of God.

I went to a place where I expected to find tangible darkness and instead found penetrating Light. I went to a facility that houses over 1,000 prisoners, most of them convicted murderers, and I saw that some had found real hope there.  I saw men who, while in prison had been introduced to the message of the gospel and because of it, experienced true freedom for the first time in their lives.  The prison offers real reform to its inmates if they choose to accept it.  It is truly a correctional facility in every sense of the word, and it offers that correction through a life changing relationship with Jesus.

I asked God to take me on this journey to teach and train me how to share the gospel. 

He did so much more.  

 I got to actually see the gospel at work.  The gospel of Jesus is the story of redemption, restoration and reconciliation.  It is the story of forgiveness and grace.  It is healing and hope and promise in places you least expect it.  It is finding abundance where most see scarcity. It is experiencing the joy of giving to those who cannot reciprocate.  It is about knowing your hope is in a Kingdom other than the one of this earth, no matter how desperate or glorious it may be.  

And most of all, it is about discovering that “least of these” are not the least at all.  They are instead beautiful, courageous and resilient.  They have found strength in their weakness, riches in their poverty and freedom in their captivity.  

And I saw that we loved the same God, worshiped the same Savior and surrendered to the same Spirit, and we did this without respect to the color of our skin, social position, or nationality.  We did it as children who honored our Father in Heaven simply by loving each other in whatever way we could.

So again, from the depths of my soul I say “thank you” for the prayers and encouragement I received.  I know without a doubt they played a crucial role in opening hearts and doors for us to do what we went there to do.

Please continue to remember Belize in your prayers. Remember the pastors and congregations there who remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ . Remember those who call the BCP home, and for those who work hard there to make a difference in the quality of their lives and their rehabilitation. Remember the people who struggle against every day challenges that most of us here in the US know very little about. Your prayers truly do make a difference in profound ways!

God bless you!

Boots on The Ground

Please pardon the interruption from our regularly scheduled gospel story for a post of a more personal nature. 

This post is, ultimately, a prayer request. 

First, a bit of a back story.

Last summer I attended a conference put on by a local pastor in my community.  He and his wife network with other likeminded pastors, leaders and teachers who address some of the more “messy” aspects of our culture.

Thank God they do.  Somebody has to.

 By messy, I mean dark issues like satanic ritual abuse, pagan and cult activities, sex trafficking, abortion, and the deep state underbelly of our political system, just to name a few (and they connect most of these issues to each other in a disturbing way).  They are a hard-hitting bunch of warriors who aren’t afraid to lay it all out on the line for the sake of those who can’t necessarily hold the line for themselves.  This was not a pleasant conference. I spent two days learning about the devilish things these men research, expose and confront on a daily basis. I did not walk away with warm and fuzzy feelings, and I was exhausted. 

I was also deeply convicted.

I drove home and just tried to process it all.  I started to realize how self-centered and shielded my existence was.  I had no idea that MOST of those things went on at all, let alone in my country, my state, or worse, in my own community.  I didn’t know because, to be honest, I go to great lengths to protect myself from the messier side of life.  I like my world predictable and… safe.  I keep darkness at a distance on purpose. 

But now all of a sudden, my tidy, safe life felt… benign.  Impotent.  Cowardly even.

I knew that God had used that conference to open my eyes to the sinister workings in the world around me, and that I was not doing enough to oppose it.  Not even close.

So, I did what I have learned to do before I do anything else.  I prayed and asked God to show me what He would have me do.

First, I needed to repent for living my day to day purposely with blinders on.  I repented for being content with a life that was unaffected by the lost and dying, the molested and abused, and the deceived and betrayed.  And I repented for being distracted and satisfied with the things of this world that had absolutely no eternal value at all. 

Next, He revealed to me that my understanding of the true gospel and its power to transform lives for His kingdom was shallow.  This is not easy to admit. I am not a young Christian. But it is true none the less. 

Through the gracious teaching of the Holy Spirit and diligent study in the Word, I learned the depth, the breadth and the beautiful intricacies of the whole gospel message as it is revealed from Genesis to Revelation.  He taught me about the nature of the kingdoms of heaven and earth and His plan for the ages in ways that I had never before understood.

It took root in me.  It changed me, and it changed the way I looked at the world.

 Much of what I learned I am sharing through this blog.

And now it was time for the roots to produce fruit.  I needed to step out of my safe, sterile and calculated world and actually share with others what I had learned.  I had to be brave in a whole new way.

I say all of that to get to the real reason for this post, the part where I need your help.

A few months after I began this journey, I realized how little experience I had actually sharing the gospel on my own. I had witnessed to others in group situations or in organizational settings, but I had done little to proactively, purposefully and directly approach someone with the sole purpose of sharing the gospel.  I didn’t even know how. And I was scared.   So, I asked the Lord to teach me.

Only a few weeks after praying that prayer, a divine opportunity presented itself.

As a profession, I work as a dental assistant. A coworker and good friend of mine had just been approached by a dentist she knew from another state about going to Belize on a mission trip.  It seemed they needed assistants and wondered if she would be interested. Unfortunately, conflicts in her schedule prohibited her from being able to go, so she asked me if I would be interested.  Immediately, I knew I was!

I had a gut feeling this was the answer I was waiting for.

 I learned that this doctor had many years of experience organizing dental and medical mission trips all over the world and that he used it as an opportunity to spread the gospel.   God put a man right in my path who could teach me exactly what I wanted to know and put me in a situation specifically suited to my skill set.

On this particular trip, we will be treating prisoners in the Central Belize Prison.  (Talk about going in a dark place!) and through another effort to share the gospel, we will also be reaching out with food and basic necessities to some local needy families. I am so grateful and humbled that God has opened this door for me.  I pray that He uses it as a type of “basic training” and that I too, will be developed into a “boots on the ground” warrior for Him and His kingdom.

I share all of this with you to ask you to pray for me and our mission team as we travel to Belize in a few weeks.  I am traveling by myself to a place I have never been to work with people I have never met. Pray that we work cohesively as a team and pray for our safety and protection.  And most of all, pray that God will work in the hearts of those to whom we go to minister.  If we do not first appeal to the realm of heaven, what we do on earth, we do in vain.  

Thank you for your help and for your faithfulness to His Kingdom!