Stories That Change Lives , Forever .

Learning to tell the story that changes lives. The Testimony  

These  sessions are soimportant    and practical , as they show the  value shared as each take opportunity to share their testimony among their group , learning the tools of friendship evangelism . 

This  Seminar  covers several methods of evangelism that is 

 Culturally sensitive and easily embraced. 

With these methods , a person can share their Faith with another  who has not had an opportunity to hear , and share with clarity, confidence and often having a second opportunity for  conversation together.

This  method crosses ethnic and socio:economic barriers. Each shares with another as they feel capable and comfortable. It is the mose lively and engaging of the Seminars. 

.  

Off The Plane, Straight To Work

Immediately  after a brief nights sleep, we were picked up by 7 am on motors and whisked away  under cover up for the meeting place.  Here we held our first class ,  inductive . Beginning at 8 it would take most the first 8 hour day, heavy in teaching this method , 

I remain at the back of the class , working  in my "bubble" so as not to distract . However I soon realised, it seemed   Unusual I would have earphones on. 

They do not realize I do my work  at this time , and that o have  attended this seminar and graduated from it 27 years ago.   While I can appreciate their concern, it is misplaced. 

.

 We are in the second day of the second Semina in Evangelism  and it is interactive. This is fun to hear the responses. 

Jim labours to keep it fresh, relative to the situation and encourages feedback . 

Of course some of his dumb jokes fall flat on  my ears.  

The power of ones personal testimony is just that. It is a powerful persuasion because it is Ones story.  It i is moving from head knowledge  to a real life heart relationship. Becoming a person of faith, not solely the intellect.  

Without exception, every person , whether in times during  great-hardship or  broken-hearted ,  struggle to  make sense ,   of the difficulty ,  and others are driven to their knees in prayer. Every one who came to Him, He did not turn away. " john 6:37

Jesus Christ is the same , yesterday, today and forever". Hebrews 13:8

 Jesus Christ heals the broken heart. 

 Regardless of culture  or ethnicity   Or education or professional status or Century ,    Christ  Changes lives.  

So in the end it is His Work, we are only messengers. 

 

CHRIST ALLONE IS YOUR LIFE PRESERVER

Embrace Biblical Ethics , Your Life Preserver

When it comes to ethics, Bonhoeffer noted, "(i)t is not only what is said that matters, but also the man who says it" (Ethics, p.267).

Third, like Aristotle, Bonhoeffer stays as close to the actual phenomenon of making moral choices as possible. What we experience, when faced with a moral choice, is a highly concrete and unique situation. It may share much with other situations, but it is, nevertheless, a distinct situation involving its own particulars and peculiarities, not excluding the fact that we are making the decisions, and not Socrates or Joan of Ark.

And finally, again like Aristotle, Bonhoeffer sees judgments of character and not action as fundamental to moral evaluation. Evil actions should be avoided, of course, but what needs to be avoided at all costs is the disposition to do evil as part of our character. "What is worse than doing evil," Bonhoeffer notes, "is being evil" (Ethics, p.67). To lie is wrong, but what is worse than the lie is the liar, for the liar contaminates everything he says, because everything he says is meant to further a cause that is false. The liar as liar has endorsed a world of falsehood and deception, and to focus only on the truth or falsity of his particular statements is to miss the danger

 of being caught up in his twisted world. This is why, as Bonhoeffer says, that "(i)t is worse for a liar to tell the truth than for a lover of truth to lie" (Ethics, p.67). A falling away from righteousness is far worse that a failure of righteousness. To focus exclusively on the lie and not on the liar is a failure to confront evil.

 

You Must Discern And Choose God Honoring Decisions For Your Lives 

Recall  the Disney Children's Film,  Pinocchio  ,  where having been through all his tumultuous misadventures,  his  father Gipetto sits  grieving at his  sons  bedside, ,  when Pinocchio ,  his lifeless little  body   starts to stir , as if in prayerful mourning    Gepetto   whispers  audibly , 

 " Pinocchio   ,  Pinocchio , my little wooden head, your dead, dead. Put your head down , Pinocchio , your dead"

  All the while Gepetto grieving , Pinocchio stirs to life from   silent slumber wiggling to life and amazement , announcing in delight to  all,  " Father Father I'm not dead, why, I'm alive ,    And  I'm real , I'm a  . I'm a real boy."

Of course there is a  real truth here , and we are rarely  as alive in a  spiritual sense  as when we experience stress by  confronting  evil, that is poised by undermining our moral values. 

Don't stand for it. Let us, like Pinocchio stir from slumber. 

 We are lulled to pacifity   At the humming of the ideology  via  compromise .

  

 If we  are thinking that tolerant is as a virtue in this sense , we are  slumbering still if we are not aroused and called to Action.  "Hell in a Handbag" is pretty much the  condition of things if we remain at  ease. We can hardly "stir the waters" they are already a rolling boil. .  

Dear fellow Christians ,  know  your  Bibles.  You must  practice Spiritual Disciplines such as Prayer and Fasting.   Show yourself  strong, a fortitude of conviction., 

Arm yourself   With a    Resolute  purpose , that is to have your mind made up already  to  be accountable as  men  and  women   of Faith able  minded to embrace righteousness when it is yours to do so, or  reject summarily with  prejudice , such moral filth   that is  now legislated  upon  our collective   Consciences. . 

. "Gird your minds for action "share your convictions and do not be silenced by Political  Correctness , to do so will make your testimony null and void.  this is exactly what the church succumb to in Germany during Nazism . 

  

Let us  be heroines and heroes of the Faith by dissenting  Moral Filth, and in response modelling  godly and virtuous traditional values.  

Innocence   must never be condemned to lies as the alternative  lifestyle. 

It is degrading, shameful ,  debilitating , and unnatural . 

Save children from the Hell of spiritual darkness .  

Do this for our  children, they cannot do this for  themselves  . " 

Shonda Davis July 4 2015 

Compounded Grief of the Widow

It is difficult to imagine in sweltering   temperatures rising to   averages  102  F .  sustaining this for days  to  another   Extreme   Soon  following torrential rain , with absolutely nothing to   alleviate that  condition of living. 

But   this  widow works ,  for her seven children as the sole breadwinner of the home.  

 She  works seven days a week   a humbl  laundry woman   working   in her customers   

homes   

There  are no comforts nothing resembling a belying a purchase anything of  pleasure  . 

 Notwithstanding,  she  is  confronted  continuously    As    sole  Provider  for the welfare  of the family. They are barely making it. Not a big leap to say it is sub sistence    living, but  it  it has been the best she can do. 

 To make matters worse this year is the  sixth  death anniversary observed  , and these independently observed of each other ,  which is  a tradition   acknowledged   in the Phillipines,  two   Children  and  their  premature deaths and   her  husbans  murder.

 

  Her living condition are so deplorable ,  seems  bereft  of hope,  yet , she is not without such. 

Not only is her thankful spirit visibly  discernible , she has a remarkable absence of expectations from others.  Instead she  is motivated with a great sense of duty, in her Faith and for her children. 

 So much so is her great sense of responsibility for her family. 

As of last Sunday Mary Jane slumped forward in her  seat at Church ,  barely aware of her surroundings. 

  She  was taken to the  Provential Hospital , by Simon and Leah who attend that church. 

  She was  admitted. She had had a heart attack. 

And then  in and out of awareness for the next 48 hours Mary Jane  somehow managed to be concerned about her job and having her employers know she would find a temporary replacement.

She had survived but is told if she does not remain at rest she will certainly have another event. 

We have provided a modest supply of heart health vitamins and  remain " vigilant  " in terms of probable financial assistance for her family.

Indeed, "the poor you have with you always". Jesus 

"And the poor heard Him gladly" 

Please  email me if interested  in helping. Thank you . 

First time team teaching

With in a couple of days   arriving in  DUMAGUETE    We hosted  our first team teaching PTA seminar on   Marriage and Family. It was candid very informative and  enjoyable for all the participants . Jim and myself comprised  the team,  below, we are photographed with dear friends. 

Death in Calvary Chapel Bishop brings travailing and difficult birth pangs

Death  in Calvary Chapel Bishop brings travailing and difficult birth  pangs . 

It would forever be the furthest thing from anyone's  mind. No, it would have seemed not on the improbable but nearly impossible to imagine. On the night of March 27th 2015 nobody would ever expected that Pastor Daniel McClenaghan would not wake up in the morning to greet his  wife  Barbara  in bed next to him. 

 While Daniel quietly slipped away from this life in his sleep leaving no trace of pain   Or  struggle it certainly   could  not be said of  Barbara  his wife  , his family    and the church  he left behind. 

 The existing leadership cloistered around Jim and I when we arrived that late morning on March 28. The necessary questions of priority and what came first and a sense of organisation were the primary jobs for the next 48 hours, under Jim's leadership.

   It  was evident that this Body was committed to each other, and committed to working through and supporting each other  in the  midst of  this difficulty. 

I personally  sat with those through the grieving process listening and offering my heart and in general being available any time for them, either at the graveside or in the service and on Sunday morning.

Jim has made himself available as  Interim   Pastor  assisting in the administration the phone calls to set up  visiting pastors and we have   stayed with members of the Body and found them very giving and loving. To us this feels like our own loving church family we are very close to them. 

New life has begun a  Calvary  Chapel  Bishop  it has been a  triumph beset by tragedy  but God is doing a work of healing and hope.

Photo by Rob Miller

ELEPHANT COUNTRY

Elephant country

The photos show  the place we are staying and the heat of the sun by 7:30 am

 may give you the sense it's blazing. I refer to this inescapable  heat as the, " Ill Tempered Sun " 

 In the shade we read 92 on the temperature gauge but have added  10 degrees more under the sun. I walked under the shade of  our  umbrella. 

  The local people living in this vicinity  live with the constant. ever present threat  of the  wild  elephants.  These  live under such risk to life and limb. Largely due to the lawlessness in the jungle borders with the armed militia. The elephant  reacts aggressively. 

The very  act of returning  home at night on the motorcycle is far from benign.  We have seen fires along the road for xtra light and as an attempt to turn away any oncoming elephants, but the alarm of sightings rise as the sun sets. The land  cools , the winds blow and the herds begin moving. 

Two months ago a young woman was coming  back  to her home here on her motorcycle and when dropping the package, she stopped to retrieve i   She  was then attacked and killed by the  elephant .  . 

Sad and tragic loss. In light of all the precautionS, these animals are largely unpredictable. 

These visits by the marauding. Hulks have come in the cool if the night and Jim and I hear only the short and rhythmic pops of firecrackers.  One mornings  we were shown a coconut tree , plummeted and pushed over for the coconuts. 

After dinner   We  left for the evening session  of the    marriage  seminar . 

As I listened  and joined in  with the   laughter , punctuated  appropriately during the sessions his  obvious enjoyment  with his  students , has become his signature style.  

It is recognized as a warm tribute to his method  of teaching, and the passion which has made his work so memorable through  these   Past 27 years . 

His knowledge  of random information , inserted with his customary expressions , finds  favor and easy assimilation . Through these years he additionally has acquired various cultural nuances and this has enriched the  work,

He is a gifted Missiologist . 

If you know my  husband  Jim,  you know he has  an unreal amount of information that he makes work for him. It is respectable.  He warms  hearts to himself .

 He remains equally interesting in every culture  to hear  and  watch. 

Just avoid trying to untangle the into nations of English once home. 

   . To sum it up, I like this quote . 

  

". The secret of success is to go through life   As a man who never gets used up . "

Dr Albert Schweitzer  

 

 Fully .