Ministry glimpses

4 April 2005

Meet the Meximize Team!

I’d like to introduce to you the Meximize Team! These are the people that will be going into the urban wilds of Central Mexico in July to serve God and be a part of what He’s doing there! You can see a picture of them and read a bit right here at the Lansing Avenue Baptist Church website. I’m really excited about what’s being cooked up for us in Mexico as we speak. I’ll tell you more about it as the details come together.

The team will be working primarily with Bryan and Lori Smith. If you get our newsletter you may remember the feature we did on the Smiths a year ago February. (read the newsletter here) I’ve been in touch with the Smiths quite a bit, but I’ve never met them in person. They came to Mexico after we were there. If you prayed for the Smiths, you can find out the latest way to pray by reading their prayer requests here.

4 April 2005

The VORTEX

Jim Ministry glimpses 0

I feel like I’ve just passed through the VORTEX. At least, I hope I’ve passed through the vortex! Yesterday I drew for Shari a little illustration of where I feel life is at right now:

The space between the dotted lines represents all the “urgent” (what a subjective word!) work that needs to get done, and the space between the solid lines is the available time to get it done. The up and down line is the recent past, where I hope I passed through the vortex – that time when everything has to be done and there’s no time left to do it!

So, in non-visual terms, I have far too much to do today, but we’ve survived a couple of crazy weeks.

Not that it’s been a bad time. We enjoyed a visit from some friends from Manitoba who were passing through, and that was great. On Saturday we celebrated my nephew Jevon’s birthday, which was a lot of fun. You can see some pictures in our album if you’re interested.

On Sunday I enjoyed the chance to speak at our home church. I spoke on Hilkiah the priest…well, actually, I spoke as Hilkiah the priest. Quite a story about the miracle of God’s Word – you can read the story in 2Ki 22-23:30 and 2Ch 34-35.

So, after a bit of a break yesterday it’s back to work. Among the priorities of the day, paperwork, training stuff for the team going to Mexico, van maintenance and errands of various colours. I just hope that work-to-do vs time-to-do-it ratio will even out soon! 😯

17 March 2005

2 steps forward, 3 steps back?

Jim Devotional and Bible, Ministry glimpses 0

I was just going over the financial details related to our ministry, as I try to do every month, to see our progress toward Mexico. (During our years working for mission agencies we’ve been responsible for our own funding. Of course, missionaries aren’t the only ones who do this – the first other group that pops into my mind is explorers, and there are actually a lot of parallels! As many of you know, we have to make sure that our funds are in place before we make the big move to Mexico. That includes “setup costs” as well as monthly support. It’s those donations from people who believe in this ministry that put food on our table.)

Anyway, for the first time in a long time our monthly support has actually dropped instead of risen. So you’ll see on our donation page that we’re 1% lower this month than we were last month!

Yes, that is discouraging, since this is one of the major things we need to take care of before moving to Mexico. But I’m reminded again of the many people of faith in the Bible, and the situations that they faced. Faith of course involves trusting in what we can’t see, and there are lots of examples of that in Scripture. But very often it seems to also involve apparent set backs, or at least a long time of waiting. We all know about Abraham, who waited until he was 100 for his promised son. And then after he had the promised child, God told Abraham to sacrifice him! Talk about a setback. Joseph dreamed of power, and ended up in a prison.

Ummm, isn’t this the wrong direction, God? Moses seemed to have some ideas of being a deliverer when he was a prince in Egypt, so what’s with his career change – becoming a shepherd? Gideon was raised up by God to deliver Israel – how was he supposed to fight an army of 1000s with only 300? David was to be king – he was anointed by the great prophet Samuel. So how come he spent the best years of his life as a fugitive, not even welcome in his own country? And of course at this time of the year, we remember the Messiah, who came to show us the face of God and ended up being crucified.

We certainly don’t have it as bad as these people, and we don’t claim to have their faith! But it was God who fulfilled the dreams He had for them. Abraham did become a great nation. Joseph ruled in Egypt. Moses led the people out of Egypt. Gideon won the battle because God won it for him. David became one of the greatest kings of history. And the Messiah came back to life and rules forever. A little tiny setback – or even a drastic one – is no setback for God. So if you’re facing it setback, keep climbing! God loves a challenge…

5 March 2005

Wetaskiwin

Jim Ministry glimpses, Missions 0

I’m actually home for a brief interlude before we head to Ontario tomorrow. Yesterday afternoon I drove the 2 1/2 hours to Wetaskiwin, Alberta (near Edmonton). After some delicious chicken pot pie with my friends the Farrs, I got to meet up with their Bible study group. They’ve been doing a Bible study on missions, based on a study by Helmuth Graewe at VTI. So I came as the “real live missionary”, and shared a bit about our ministry and about missions in general. It’s so great to see a group of people really interested in serving God at home and around the world. I was inspired!

One of the questions that was asked that I really need to add to our Missionary FAQ revolved around the qualifications for being a missionary. I have thought about it before from various angles – such as, why are we missionaries, why should other people be missionaries, why do missionaries succeed and fail, and so on. I was reminded of several things last night. For one thing, there is a place for all types of people with all types of skills on the mission field. Another important thing is God’s call. This is actually a simple and yet complicated topic. I think we waver between two extremes – (1) Oh, I haven’t been called, so I don’t need to be involved in missions (oops – read the Bible – we’ve all been called already!), and (2) I’m so convinced that God has called me to this specific ministry that I refuse to listen to any counsel (some people think they’ve been called for all the wrong reasons, and with all the wrong motives, and no one can make them see it!). Somewhere in the middle is a solid conviction of God’s leading, and a teachability as He leads you forward.

I got home late late last night, crammed in a few hours of sleep, and now I’m getting ready to fly in the morning. Hannah’s looking forward to the airplane trip. We’re not looking forward to the cold Ontario weather (it’s 18C or 64F here right now, but about 1C or 34F down there). Ok, it could be colder! 😉

It will be good to see family and friends. Keep us in your prayers as we travel, and remember the family as we attend the funeral on Monday.

19 February 2005

Building breakings and Brainerd Blogs

Jim Computers and internet, Ministry glimpses, Missions, Other missionary blogs 0

There’s been some excitement around home lately. Over the weekend someone broke into our apartment building (that is, assuming it was an outside job), broke into the manager’s office and stole all the keys. The keys to the front and back doors of four buildings, the keys to every apartment, deadbolts and doorknobs, storage rooms, and even the keys to all the mailboxes. Yes, that’s right – this means that whoever stole them could walk right in anywhere at any time. Now we’re not sure exactly how long it was until this was discovered (it seems it happened on the weekend, and was discovered on Monday), but very quickly there were security guards hired and we had to show ID to get in. Locks were changed, new keys handed out. I believe it was said that the whole deal was costing the company $70,000. (Hmmmmm…I wonder who will end up paying that in the end?)

Anyway, so far we haven’t heard of anything being stolen except in the office, although the investigation is continuing. There’s been more mischief around here – when Shari’s parents were here at Christmas, a window in their car was smashed (I think we actually heard it happen – sounded like a gunshot). Oddly enough (and this is why I call it mischief), all the gifts they were giving for Christmas were in the car, and nothing was stolen.

Ah, life in the city. I once told myself that I was only living in the city temporarily, until I began to feel that God was leading us to be city missionaries. Today, that’s where the people continue to gather.

Cities are also key places for contact with unreached communities in surrounding rural areas. So there is a tremendous need for city missionaries. Perhaps a post like this doesn’t encourage you to become a city missionary, but remember that wherever you go it is God who is your security, not a lock or a security guard.

Now for a real missionary experience. Here’s a really neat blog, from a missionary long promoted to Heaven. This pioneer missionary worked among native peoples in the USA, and inspired many famous missionaries, most notably William Cary. Do you know who it is? That’s right, David Brainerd. Though he had a very brief career, his influence has been incredible.

Basically, someone is blogging his journal day by day. Check it out and leave your comments. David Brainerd’s Blog will open in a new window.

13 February 2005

Migraines by the number

Jim Ministry glimpses 0

One of the tricky things about getting sick for me is the fact that it often goes hand in hand with migraine symptoms. So if I’m sick already, on any given day I may be very sick. If Shari’s sick too – well, then we could be in trouble. 🙂

This has been a rather…challenging week as far as that goes. And now, you can see what that means in real numbers! This little graph is from a “headache diary” that I developed a while ago. The chart here gives you a week at a glance. The higher the number, the worse the discomfort. Migraine of course does not always involve pain, so I use the word discomfort. For me there’s usually (but not always) a headache involved, though not always. 10 is at the top – it’s kind of a theoretical number, I’m not sure I’ve ever put a 10. 9 would be pretty nasty. It’s rare, but it happens. Anything 2 or less is rare but great. Anyway, here’s last week:

So that’s really two bad migraines on Wednesday and Friday, a little guy Sunday evening, and one sneaking up on me on Saturday. Here’s a slightly more typical, or perhaps a good week – the week before:

Yes, Monday was not good, but the rest of the week was not bad at all. Of course, I was still sick with some virus or another, but better that. Actually, it’s really pretty good, since migraines seem to be worse with colds and flus. However, you’ll notice there was very little under 4 – that’s unusual. So I guess it wasn’t that great after all.

Anyway, I can praise the Lord, and can do so specifically because I was able to make it through a solo in church this morning. I sang and played the piano, which, just for the record, is unheard of for me. I’m not sure I’ve ever done that in church. But I decided to stretch myself, and I played a song I wrote probably 10 or 15 years ago. Here’s the first verse and chorus – it seems somehow appropriate:

With His hands He holds the universe together
And with a word were the heavenlies made
In holiness He reigns
And our very lives sustains
How is it that He cares about our pain?

Oh Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth
You have set Your glory above the heavens
And You’ve given the weak Your strength

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