New house pics

I posted yesterday that we have a new house. Here are a few pics as promised. Like I said it is very bare, but we hope to have a few things today/tomorrow because the town will be shut down the rest of the week to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

See pics here.

Majidi Mall

We finally visited Majidi Mall. It was here last year and was such a surprise since it is completed different than the rest of the city. The girls visited another mall last night that has a store similar to Best Buy and another one similar to Lowe's.

Here are a few pics:

We enjoy the product names.

For the Psych fans out there.

A new game where you sit in this car and race on several screens.

Second floor... looks a lot like a mall in the US.

Ministry flows out of being

Another quote from CIT: “Ministry flows out of being and results in doing.”

This was brought to mind again today when I was listening to a sermon by Tim Keller on “Living Grace”. Keller speaks of being and doing after talking about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. We want to read the list and talk about the ones we do well and sort of ignore the ones we do poorly. Tim says we should focus on the weaker, because that is the true level of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. Strong words, and for some they are defeating words. But not when you read verses 24 & 25.

“24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

The flesh with its passions and desires HAS been crucified. The chief desire of the flesh is to make us think we have to do good in order to be found favorable in God’s eyes. We want to put the DO as a prerequisite to the BE. However, verse 26 reverses the order. We live by the Spirit, so now we can walk by the Spirit. Our living produces the walking. Our being results in doing.

Quote from Anne Graham Lotz’s book, “Just Give Me Jesus”

“I was recently privileged to hear Dr. Lloyd Olgivie, chaplain to the United States Senate, relate the following incident to a group of distinguished evangelical leaders. He recounted that when he had been pastor of the Hollywood Presbyterian Church an elderly woman had taken him by the hand… and said when earnest conviction, “I pray your life will be as wonderful as it was in the mind of God when He created you.” Immediately following the encounter with the woman, Dr. Olgivie said that he returned to his study, got down on his knees, and pleaded with God, ‘What did you have in mind when You created me?’ In the silence that followed, to his mind clearly came just one word: Jesus”

I John 3:2-3 “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Our will power in the flesh has no power against itself. BUT we are alive in Christ, and through that power the fruit of the Spirit will grow in our lives, sometimes painfully slow, and then we can walk in the Light as He is in the Light.

Proactive living

“I should be proactively involved in God's process in my life.”

This quote was shared during our time at CIT. It came during a session about life-long leadership. The session spoke of having a long view of life. Too many times we get stuck in the moment. We respond to the moment by reacting to what’s going on around us. Being proactively involved is a different way of thinking about life and how we move in it.

The main point to get from the quote is how am I involved in God’s process for my life. Living a life of obedience is what we are called to do, however too often we obey passively. It’s like a child that obeys his/her parent. The parent asked the child to clean his room and the child may, in a moment of respect, reply, “Yes ma’am.” Now this is fine, but it’s passive. Every parent longs for the day when the child will walk into the room where work is being done, say preparing dinner, and say “Mom, how can I help?” That is proactive involvement.

Romans 12:2 says, “…test and approve the will of God…” Testing is proactive. It’s involves stepping forward, leaning forward, taking the next logical step when the next one isn’t known. What would that look like in your walk with God?

Dynamic Teams - CIT

We've been at CIT (www.cit-online.org) for the past two weeks. It has been an amazing experience to be around mission-minded people and live in community with them. Most them have families with children and are planning, as we are, to pack it up and move to another culture. It has been great getting to know them and listening to their journey.

The training session has been Dynamic Teams. It is all about how to help foster effective teams while doing missions. Some say most missionaries leave the field due to conflicts among their own teammates. Sessions have included ideas related to leading a team, following a leader, resolving conflicts, and entering a team. The facilitators have been very thoughtful and thought provoking. Many ideas were pulled from scripture and it has helped me interpret some passages from an entirely different perspective.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes/ideas:

- Africa saying: the last elephant to the watering hole backs in. Think about it!

- Interdependence: mutual effort, mutual understanding, mutual accountability, mutual trust.

- Goal of the Trinity: Inclusion. Seeks to draw us within the circle.

- St. Francis: seek to understand, not be understood

- Apart from God, we have all been inadequately loved

- Hurt people hurt people

- A leader is a person with God given capacity and with God given responsibility, who is influencing specific groups of God's people toward God's purposes for the group.

- Pray you will become all God had in mind when He created you.

- Ministry flows out of being and results in doing.

- Getting a group heading generally west.

- Tim Keller: Words are not the currency of forgiveness, pain is.

- When I am unforgiving, I am disconnected from the gospel.

- Ken Sande: Every time you encounter a conflict, you will inevitably show your view of God.

- Breathe grace.

- Don't shutdown... embrace the pain.

- I should be proactively involved in God's process in my life.

- Preach the gospel to yourself EVERYDAY!

- Let your life be contagious.