Five Loaves & Two Fish...

“Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, "Send the crowd
away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place." But he said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish- unless we are to go and buy food for all these people." For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." And they did so, and had them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.” Luke 9:12-20


Have you had those times when you are frustrated with because of something out of your control? Well, just the other day I had one of those times. The downturn in the economy and dollar plummeting world-wide has affected our lives and ministry. After providing for our living expenses and salary (those cost which are fix and cannot easy be changed) the mission was left with much less than usual to use on ministry related expenses (those which are not fix and can be changed). Our team only received about 40% of the amount it requested. This means we will be able to travel much less next year and that we will be limited in what we can do. So, sufficed to say, I was not happy with the news.

The next day, I was speaking with a brother in Christ and a missionary college in southeast Asia, who when commented on our budgets said, “I guess this is our five loaves and two fish.” This statement stopped me in my tracts. All that frustration and self-pity was gone. For you see, I was reminded of my God. For you see, my God came to earth to offer Himself as a sacrifice for my sins. In the process, as He lived a life and taught… the showed us the character of God. When those around him thought it best to send away the people (for you see they saw that it was impractical if not impossible to feed them all) Christ desire to provide for them (for nothing is impractical or impossible for God). Therefore, as a minister of the gospel in a foreign land, I must not trust in my budget to help me spread the gospel to every single community. For you see, this kind of movement of the gospel is a God-thing. So, whether funds are plentiful or meager we will trust in God and God alone… for next year’s funds and for the lost souls in the Amazon Basin. Glory be to God.

Refreshed and Ready...

A great big thank you to Parkwood Baptist Church in Gastonia, North Carolina for it wonderful Mission Impact Conference. It was a huge success in many aspects... many hearts now have a renewed desire for mission, some where called out among the flock to serve, and the lives of missionary were touched.

Thanks kindly for showing God's love by supplying our every need. Thank you Parkwood Baptist Church, especially Kem Lindsay, for going above and beyond to make our visit easy and refreshing. We are again ready to serve our Lord and Savior with a passion that can only be found in a period of Sabbath rest.

The Love of the Word...

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Do we love the word of God? Do we read it daily? Do we meditate on it? Do we memorize it? These are questions we should ask of ourselves. Yet it is much more difficult to ask and answer these questions when the ‘we’ is replaced with ‘I’… for when this is done the question hits awful close to home.

As I prepare the curriculum for the basic course, a non-degree training program through the Equatorial Baptist Seminary, I am again and again brought to ask myself how I can transfer the academic knowledge the students receives in their minds and cause it to appear in their lives. The answer that continues to present itself is that the student must love the Word and the Lord more than anything. If this course is going to train leaders of the church who desire to see churches grow and multiply it must be focused on Scripture. If the life of those involved in the program, whether as professors or as students, are to truly reflect God then they must have at the center of their days the Word of the Lord. So, as we create a course to train we use the mirror. When we hold us the professors, the students, the textbooks, and all other things, we keep asking if these things reflect the Bible.

After reading again the verses in Deuteronomy, the question as to the place given to the Scriptures in my life presented itself. As I focused on the Bible in preparation for the course, I have come to wonder if it is the center of my life. Do I place it the prominent shelf or do I delegate it to corner shelf with all the other knickknacks in my life? Then I remember something from one of our trips into the interior region. A team of American volunteers, some missionaries, and myself were docked in the small river town of Bagre to do evangelism with house-to-house evangelism. We during this time we came to know many members of the small Baptist congregation and some of them would visit us on the boat where we were staying. One day, I was sitting talking with some of the team and some Brazilian nationals when a small girl came to the boat. She talked to one of the team members and they looked at me with a ‘help’ expression. So, I spoke to this ten-year-old girl and found out that she had come to the boat because she thought we might be able to give her a Bible. She was the only believer in her family and a faithful attendee of the church but did not have a Bible. We had brought with us some Bibles to give out and to leave with the church to give out later. So, I went to get one while she waited. I gave her the Bible and it was then that I saw what has affected me until this day… she took the Bible and hugged it. Oh, what a beautiful sight… to see how she cherished the Scripture!

So, often we are careless with our Bibles, yes, many of us have more than one. They end up for days on the floor of the car or gathering dust on the side table next to the bed. We treat the Bible itself like a common magazine, unimportant and disposable. However, the sweet young Brazilian girl held this Bible in such a manner that it was clear that the Lord and His Word had first place in her life. Oh, how I wish I could say that every day in my life I held in esteem the Scriptures like this young believer. Alas, I regret to say that I too often find dust on my many Bibles. It is therefore my prayer that each us will learn to treasure the Bible like this young girl.