God did not call us to a life of misery; He called us to a life of pain. -Piper

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. -Paul (Colossians 1:24)

Why did Paul write this? 

          The Scriptures say that the death of Jesus was sufficient. So what is Paul talking about? 

           What's lacking in the sufferings of Christ is that millions of people don't know Jesus suffered for them. 

          In 2015 the person of Jesus cannot suffer for the Margi of Nigeria, the Bedouin of Arabia, or the  Dinka of South Sudan. That piece of history has passed. And the very suffering of Christ has been passed to us, the church.    

         When you go to the unreached and stand before them having endured trials and hardships just to make Jesus known among them, you can say, "In me behold the love of God, as I sacrifice to come to you and preach to you, and risk my life."  -Piper

          When you go to that unreached people group and risk everything. You are making the sufferings of Christ complete. You show people the incarnational Christ in you and through you they will see Jesus suffer for them... (I stop here as tears fill my eyes. This has been our greatest honor in life. To have the opportunity to suffer some small discomfort together as a family is an unimaginable joy.) This does not mean the suffering will be easy. 

          The pain still burns and the wounds still bleed, but we suffer for Christ with His own strength. When my two month old baby was vomiting blood, I was scared out of my mind. I thought I might loose my son. But, I found strength in my wife as we both found strength in Jesus. When gunfire erupted all around our home we fell upon the will of God as we dropped to the floor. 

          For LOVE we endure and show others the sufferings of Christ made evident in our lives and in the lives of our families. What a great blessings to be given anything by Christ. Even hardship if it comes from Jesus is a blessed and wonderful gift.        

the thing about bullies

Bullying has recently come to the forefront of pop-culture. And the issue is receiving some much needed attention. Everyone from Jamie Foxx to Desmond Tutu has weighted in on the conversations. 

          Still, I'm a bit confused to see why nearly all the attention is is focused on helping kids deal with being bullied. The U.S. Government defines bullying as: Unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. 

          Why do we choose to reduce the cultural issue to the school yard and social media of school aged children? The problem is much much bigger. We need to take a step back and look at the issue a bit more objectively. 

          Does American culture make room for this type of aggressive behavior outside the school yard, yet criticize the very same behavior when children simply imitate adults? 

          What does the Bible say about bullying? 

The Bible says much about the issue of how we should treat one another. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you" (Matthew 7:12). 

          I cannot tell you how many times I heard this expression during my childhood. And so often I wished that the guy picking on me knew it as well as I did. But there has to be more than simply giving anecdotal advice to the kid getting picked on. 

          King Solomon said, “drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease” (Proverbs 22:10). Think about this in the context of social media. 

          Facebook is a powerful platform for bullies. Twitter allows many horribly embarrassing comments and photos to hurt adults and children. Bullies are no longer the big kids with an attitude. They are often individuals that feel no other recourse is available to resolve conflict or pain. 

          How easy it has become to belittle others with complete remote anonymity. This problem is sharply felt in the lives of our kids, but it is an adult culture that feeds into the patterns of our youth. We must drive out a scoffer, but with what? The answer is found in the words of Paul.      

If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. -Romans 12:20-21

          The aggression and hurt that is passed around on social media must be displaced by love and encouragement. Yes, the bullies need to be punished and misbehavior should not be tolerated by those in authority, but what can we all do to reverse the

culture of insult retribution? Make Facebook a place of positive communication. Create a culture among your friends where the scoffer is not encouraged to tear down others. Do not allow an insult to go unchecked in our adult lives; and in doing this, we can set an example and standard for our culture.    

A piece of my life from 2006 -Guatemala

We really didn't know what we were getting into. We were green as clover. Corey and I had never been on a mission trip without adult supervision. 

          Before we left my father gave me an email of a missionary that he had met once at the local buffet back home in Tennessee. We wrote the missionary to see if he had any advise. 

          When we arrived at the airport there he was. The older missionary was there waiting for us. 

          I was amazed at his hospitality and generosity. He drove us to a city where we could catch a bus to our language school. He bought us supper and spoke encouraging words to our ears. He prayed for us. After we were settled in a hotel and had a plan the next day he left us. I've never saw him again. 

          The older missionary lived hours away from the airport. I was shocked at his sacrifice of time and money to help us in our time of need. I still remember his words; "We got to get you boys to the mission field." There was an urgency in his voice that I didn't understand. 

          He understood the importance of my obedience to Christ more than I did. 

          He did not know me. I had never seen his face before that day but still he treated me like I was his son. My dear brother in Christ has now received his eternal reward. And now that I have a few years under my belt and a different perspective on life, I am beginning to understand the responsibility he felt to God to help us “get to the mission field.” This is how we replace ourselves. This is how we pass the torch. 

The Kuajok Team

It is not by chance we came this far

We bear together every scar

For easy is the wound to heal

When boar by brothers through every ordeal

We are four and each a portion bear

The pain the joy even despair

Pressed hard on every side

Christ as our mortar

We will not divide

-written one difficult day. Warrab, South Sudan

#theGospel

The Gospel never changes and it should never stop changing us. As believers we never outgrow the message that Jesus came, died, and was raised from the dead. When this message entered your life it reoriented you at the deepest level, your story changed, but the changing mustn't stop. 

        Every book of the Bible reflects the Gospel in a unique way. To read Scripture untethered from Jesus' life is like watching TV when the power is out. You only see yourself setting there in the reflection of a gray screen. 

The Gospel is not only for lost people. 

          Without Jesus, the Bible is only interesting history and ancient wisdom like Homer, the Vedas, and Gilgamesh and these provide no escape from death. Only in Christ is there life. 

Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. -John 14:6

          Staying close to Christ is how we understand what to do with truth. Some people collect truth only for display like artifacts in glass cases. They happen upon some nugget of truth and use it to impress others with their own understanding. 

          What happens to even the best fruit when kept inside a glass case? It rots. But when that same fruit is planted in good soil it brings forth a mighty tree and produces fruit a thousand fold. 

          The truth we find in Scripture is to be planted in our own lives and the fruit it bears will be food for others.  

The time to DO is now

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? -James 2:14

           In developed countries, we're often told to give our money to those in need; I believe we should. There's much good you can do in funding disaster relief, social justice, and the promotion of equality throughout the world…but there’s more, by God, there's so much more!  

Brothers, don't miss out. 
Sisters, don’t let anyone stop you. 

          Most of you have blue passports, excellent educations, a protective government, and the ability to travel to nearly every country in the world. Have you ever asked, Why?

I’m writing this as I study through the book of James, a dangerous thing. The last time I studied through this book was in 2003. The year my life changed. The year I pressed myself into the wound. 

What more do we have but these few pitiful  years to give? 

          I have given food to hungry people, but there's more to a person than their stomach. The starvation of a child's soul is the greatest injustice upon this planet. 

What can you DO? 

          What can you do to make the Gospel more accessible to billions of unreached people? I'm not going to give you a website. I'm asking you to pray. 

          Pray, Hear, and Do.  Go on a mission trip, visit refugees in your city, or study abroad. Lay all of YOU on the table and ask GOD what He wants, then, see where it goes. You have everything to lose, but your salvation.     

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” -James 1: 22

          The Word will always be with us. I will enter into an eternity of worship and give myself to infinite hearing of the Word. 

          There are no lost people in heaven. In the Church's eternity we will all be healthy and clothed. All of us will enjoy our salvation without end. We will have the Word with us forever. Many will not.   

          I've seen their faces and know where to find them. They are lost because their fathers chose to leave truth. The truth we all had when Noah got off the boat.   

          If you are to love the lost; if you seek to bring a sinner back from their wandering, the time is now. Only this current existence gives us access to sinners. Here are the wars. Here you will find sickness. Here is starvation. Here is suffering. Do not deceive yourselves into hearing only, there will be plenty of time for that. 

     

I have...

I have been absent from silence

The woods are only silent in photographs

And children when they sleep

There are some who have lived a quiet life

But I envy them not

The joys of song and story 

Of cheers and praise are seldom tame

The docile life is always short 

For a great number of small years amounts to little