Getting Around the Roadblocks

I am sure everyone has a story like this...you rush out the door, jump in the car and take off somewhere only to run into road construction. Usually there is a flag person or signs to direct you to a detour.

Well a few weeks ago I was traveling in Eastern Europe. I was driving with a friend Gord and we were on our way from Krakow, Poland to Malenovice, Czech Republic. No biggie you say? Well we set out on our journey with maps in hand and directions written down. Things were going good. We made our first right turn and were on track...until we hit construction...road closed...no signs (not that we could read them anyway) and no flag people to direct us. No worries, we had our maps! Gord worked at backing us up...no easy feat when you aren't comfortable with a stick shift and the road not wide enough to turn around.

We backed tracked a street or two and starting making our way around the construction. We got to the end of another street...boom...more road closures with no signs and no flag people.

Directions were now useless, the map pretty much the same because I couldn't really read the street names...they all looked the same! All we had were our wits and keen sense of direction. That was enough though, between us we were able to make our way to the main road we needed to be on to head towards the Czech border.

Earlier this week I was reading a couple of devos by Dr. Charles Stanley. Both were focused on anxiety. In the first devo Stanley shared that Knowing God and trusting Him are the two key elements of deep faith. In the second he was speaking about how our experiences often shape what we think of feel about ourselves.

Now you are probably thinking "how does driving around Poland relate to anxiety and deep faith?" Let me explain...it isn't what you think...and you'll need to give me some latitude here...they don't...just the driving reference had me thinking about roadblocks...and the roadblocks I put up in my own life that prevent me from going deeper in my faith.

Stanley talked about a number of root causes of anxiety. He included in his list four specific potential causes. The first was a belief that one can't reach a set standard, another was an erroneous idea of God as a punisher. The third was attitudes instilled in us during childhood. The one that hit me...my roadblock...our guilt over past sin.

I am not sure why I am the way I am but I have always been pretty hard on myself. I set the bar high for myself and when I don't make that standard or when I screw things up, nobody needs to beat me up over it...I do it myself just fine thank you.

I know how majestic God is. I know His amazing grace. I get His incredible forgiveness. What I don't often get is WHY! Ah yes, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all yours ways acknowledge him and He will make your way straight". (Proverbs 3:5-6)

So if He can forgive me...why can't I forgive myself. I know that in my flesh I analyze things...way too much. Then I analyze them more. I think of all the ways I could have done it differently and avoided the sin. I focus in on the circumstances of what happened rather than allowing God's grace to wash over me. Obviously, if I am going to go deeper in my faith, this is something I need to work through.


Oh Lord, hear my prayer. I desire to be in deep relationship with you. I struggle. I screw up. But you are my rock, my strength in weakness. Come rescue me Lord. Teach me Lord to forgive myself just as you forgive me. Thank you for your amazing grace! Amen.

Freedom Isn't Just Another Word

Today I did something I never believed I would do in life. I toured the Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps in Poland.

I don’t profess to be much of an historian, nor am I a WWII trivia buff but today’s experience moved me beyond what I can truly capture in words. Having visited the memorial sites, I am flabbergasted that anyone could deny what happened.

There was a point not long after being at the Auschwitz site, where we were shuffling along a narrow hallway. I couldn’t help but believe the scene was the same some 65 years ago, only the stakes were much different. I walked in freedom because of the sacrifice of a large number of brave men, brave soldiers and also walk in spiritual freedom because of my relationship in Christ. They walked to their grave. Step by step to their last breath.

I stood in a window looking out at the killing wall, the place where innocent men and women were gunned down. Where I stood was in the footsteps where some unknown man/men stood and watched the atrocity 65 years ago.

My heart broke when I saw the piles of luggage with names still on them, the mound of eyeglasses, prosthetics, thousands of pounds of hair from their shaved heads. My eyes welled up with tears when I saw the thousands of pairs of shoes. What devastated my heart was the knowledge that those cracked, weathered and battered shoes made the many, many steps to the camps giving their owners hope that better times were ahead. They were deceived...there was no better life ahead, only death.

I am thankful that I have freedom to live, freedom to believe. I truly hope and pray that nothing in our world in this generation, or any other, would compare to the horrid atrocities that occurred at Auschwitz and Birkenau.

May God's peace be with you and with all your family and ancestors.

Impress the Word

These past few days have been fantastic. It has been an opportunity to meet and share with others, have great quality time with Erin, eat some great food but even more importantly get some spiritual food.

Dave Patty, the JV CEO, has been walking us through a series on Roots: The Fatherhood of God. The focus has been on parenting kids and spiritual kids, which has application for everyone here since it is Family Conference and everyone here works with youth and young adults.

The other day, the topic was Impress - the family way of instruction. I thought I'd share some of this as it really challenged me to stand up and take some action.

First off, Impress comes from the word "Echad" which means sharp or sharpen. If we are going to impact our families and others, we truly do need to be sharp as the message and outcome needs to leave a very lasting impression.

Dave shared out of Deuteronomy 6 and it wasn't really until I went back and reread it today that it home.

We were able to take some time today and consider applications for what we have learned. I began my time by asking myself "what can I do"?

A few verses in advance of the passages that Dave shared on, Moses wrote that the purpose for this scripture was for him to share the commands, decrees and laws that God directed to us for living a long life.

Moses shared, "Hear O Israel, be careful to obey so you may increase greatly, in a land of milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your Father promised you." The command was simple. OBEY! What resonated deepest though was why...to increase DEEPLY. Further in the chapter Moses added that these commands (decrees, laws) are to on our heart and we are to impress (sharpen) them on our children (I extrapolate that to all God's people).

The word says we are to talk about it...when we sit, walk, lay down and get up...guess that really means anytime but when we are sleeping. The word says we are to tie/bind it to us. It adds to tie it to our hands, which we use the most. Lastly it calls for us to write. Where? On the door frames and gates. So this means write it in the places where we are most comfortable.

So after chewing on this some, I had to ask myself the question "what is preventing me"?

I came up with fear, lack of knowledge and understanding of the scriptures, lack or preparation, lack of being intentional, time and desires (that is me filling life with all the other things I love to do).

After pondering that some time, I thought "what do I need to do to change it"?

I need to commit. I need to make certain these things are on my heart.

I need to give God the First Fruits of my time, not the leftovers or what I fit into the rest of the day. I need to get deeper into the word, to study it, work to understand it and not just read it. Kind of like the old cliche, you can be a mile wide and and inch deep or an inch wide and a mile deep.

Another conclusion I reched is that I believe I need to sacrifice something in my life to do this. Not a sacrifice made to deprive myself of something I enjoy but out of obedience and love. By giving up something with meaning to me, it then gives more meaning to what I am doing.

The final action for me is to continue to write. This outward expression "The Experiment" is written for me but I hope it touches you too. We never really know the full impact our words can have.

My heart desires the the kingdom increased greatly. We each have our place.

My prayer is that I will seek Him, hear Him and obey Him. May you seek God and fulfill your calling. May He continue to bless us all richly!

On a venture, a Josiah Venture!

Well we are through the first few days and this trip has been amazing. Council meetings ended after this morning’s session and now I am able to relax some. The intensity and purposefulness of the meetings, combined with the fact everything was new and I was also trying to build relationships with folks took about every ounce of energy I had.

I am truly amazed by the passion every single one of these people have for reaching the lost. I should tell you that the attendees of the council meetings are the country head and their 2-I-C. Every country has one US missionary and one National missionary. Others that are a part of the council are the JV executive and support staff and a few guests like myself.

They are all amazing but I wanted to share about one country leader Mart. He is a national from Estonia. This guy gets it. He is beyond sold out for Jesus. I know that if somewhat were to say he had to denounce his faith or die. He’d fall on the sword without even batting an eye. I have met very few people in life who have this kind of Holy Spirit fire. He had a couple of countrymen traveled to the US on a fundraising trip.

They intentionally sat in seats apart from each other so they could share the gospel. By the time they arrived in the US, each had shared Jesus and one came away with $450 a month support from someone they had never met before. While in Chicago, their first stop, they went to a pizza place for dinner and led their waitress to the Lord at their table. They are so grounded in the scriptures, they believe that the great commission is what God has commanded them to do and it is serious business to them. You gotta meet these guys.

The people they are ministering to are the first generation not born into communism. Some are very open but open to everything. Many are still caught in oppression that communism caused. There is a youth movement sweeping Eastern Europe. When they see Christ, they become passionate, sold out Christians ready win others to Christ.

Eastern Europe needs capacity in the current evangelical churches in order to discipline them. Church plants are happening at an astonishing rate. New churches are parenting another new church in just a couple years. I can’t wait to share more of the amazing stories of life change that is happening in every country. Now that council is done, we are into the Family Conference. This brings all the American missionaries together for a time of fellowship and to be fed. The JV CEO Dave Patty is the speaker and tonight he challenged us all with some biblical teaching on the “Role of the Fatherhood”. After the intensiveness of the first few days it was cool to just worship and be fed.

Tonight we were able to sit and chat with another couple of missionary couples, one in particular who are new to Slovakia. Again it was so inspiring.I could write much more but I haven’t really slept since leaving Canada and am REALLY hoping I can get at least 5-6 hours tonight.

If you have questions, please ask…

Please keep praying and stay tuned….more to come.