April 22, 2006

• Michael here in Stephenville.  We had a great call to Lorena last night.  I get down and morose at times.  For example, fter the day heated up today, I came inside to do paper work, where I continually find notes written by Lorena of things to do, folks spoken with, dates due, etc.  She did all our business dealings and kept our records.  Each of those reminders of her that I find rekindles my feelings of loss and longing anew.  I completely lost it once today when I found a note she had written listing the things we had put off until after her graduation.  Carpe diem!!!

  
  

  Today has been strange.  I saw and spoke with Caroline Harris today for the first time in a couple of years.  Her daughter, Kim, was my first love, and she broke my heart.  However, the family and I stayed close, and I was traveling with Caroline's husband Jerrell and with their son Jerry as well as with cousins Chris Harris and Randy Guidry when I met Lorena in Mexico that summer so long ago.  The Harris family will always hold a very dear place in my heart.  The last time I spoke with Jerry, he was leading a group of touring cyclists through Mexico, and we were actually hoping he would make it to Tepic so he could see Lorena.  Unfortunately, that did not work out.  However, he is now somewhere between Rising Star, TX, and the big touring bike convention in South Dakota.  It was wonderful talking to Caroline today.  Without them, I would never have met Lorena.

  
  

  Melissa Neeley sent me the following message [that I really needed to see]:  

  
  

  Malachi 3:3

  
  

  "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.

  
  

  "She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"

  
  

   

  
  

  If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you. Pass this on right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them. And, whatever they're going through, they'll be a better person in the end. "Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once." 

  
  

   

  
  

  Melissa also sent the following that I will post for Lorena and anyone else who might not have seen it. 

  
  

   

  
  

  DADDY'S EMPTY CHAIR
  A man's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with
  her father.  When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his
  head propped up on  two pillows. An empty chair sat at his bedside. The minister assumed that  the old fellow  had been informed of his visit.  "I guess you were expecting me," he said.  "No, who are you?" said the  father.  The minister told him his name and then remarked, "I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up."  "Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man. "Would you mind
  closing the door?" Puzzled, the minister shut the door.  "I have never told anyone
  this, not even my daughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how
  to pray. At church  I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over
  my head.  I abandoned  any attempt at prayer, the old man continued, until one day four years ago,  my best  friend said to me, "Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of having a  conversation  with Jesus. Here is what I suggest. Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of  you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because he  promised, 'I will be  with you always'. "Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with  me right now."  "So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful  though If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a  nervous break- down or send me off to the funny farm."  The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old
  man to continue on  the journey. Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and
  returned  to the church. Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy  had died that afternoon.  "Did he die in peace?" he asked.  "Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back  from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?" The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, "I wish we could all go like that." 
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  Prayer is an awesome thing. God hears our prayers and anwers accordingly. One of the awesome things is that I prayed to God that I be blessed with a "real friend", and I have everyone of you that are great to me. See how awesome He is!!!!!!!!

  
  

   

  
  

  I ask your prayers for my exstudent K as she ministers to others.  Her last email says:  
  

  
  

  
  

  Praises:

  
  

  -         *my and Reaiah’s safety in a recent bike accident (nothing builds team unity like a near-death experience…haha)

  
  

  -         *continued growth of our friendship and mutual trust as a team (she has been such a huge blessing to me!)

  
  

  *little treasures from my Father

  
  

  Requests:

  
  

  -          *my anxiety over settling down for two years in a place so foreign to what I know

  
  

  -          *the right language helper for us, and steadfastness in language learning

  
  

  -          *divinely appointed acquaintances and new relationships among our people even from the very first day

  
  

  -          *eyes to see and ears to hear what the Lord is showing us in the people/culture—their lostness, their hearts, their mindset and belief

  
  

   

  
  

  Our first round of training for our project is drawing to a close and me and Reaiah have returned home to Africa. It is still strange for me to think of Africa as my home (at least for the next two years). But God has been so good to me in these last few weeks and I hope that I can do Him justice by sharing with you a little of it…

  
  

   

  
  

  In our morning times of devotion we have been telling stories from the Word from the Old Testament all the way through the life of Christ, outlining the story that God has been writing since the beginning of time, the story of Himself, the same story we are being trained to share with those who have never heard. It has been completely amazing to see how clearly God has revealed Himself through the Word, how He continues to reveal Himself so blatantly to those who are willing to listen. Do you know the stories?

  
  

   

  
  

  As part of our training we have been working with a few young people, learning how to “craft” a story into a new language (basically teaching them the story using every means possible and then they tell it in their own language in a way that someone on the street could understand). It has been so amazing to watch him hear, learn, and essentially memorize the stories that he’s never heard before and then retell them in his words, as he understands it. Everyday I just watched him as you could see God’s story opening up before his eyes and to hear his questions as he tried to make sense of the story line he was learning. It made me so excited to begin working with my people group and seeing some of the same revelations appear on their faces.

  
  

   

  
  

  Ok, now for some other, slightly less spiritual matters:

  
  

  The group of OneStory trainees (they call us Questers in case I use that term again) that I am apart of have been officially dubbed The Wrecking Crew. Of the seven teams of two here, only a few remain who have not had some sort of physical ailment since we got here a few weeks ago involving broken glass, broken bikes (motorcycles), broken furniture.... Injuries include several burns, bruises and scrapes from motorcycle and dirt bike accidents, a broken arm, a sprained ankle and shoulder, and even a minor surgery. Yeah, we seem to have a knack for hurting ourselves, and yet God has shown His faithfulness over and over in protecting us from much more serious damage in the incidents that have happened and guarding our lives during a particularly hazardous time of the year in the city we are in. It makes me smile to think of how He has answered my own hurried prayers as we sped around on the bikes trying to keep from getting run over or knocked off the bike by a wave of water thrown in our faces—you might want to check out the blog for more on that story.

  
  

  -- just in case you were curious, my own injuries were one of the burns (from an attempt to swing out of a tree on a vine), scrapes and bruises from getting hit by a car on our bike, and a bunch of scrapes from rock climbing and when we lost the trail hiking one day.

  
  

   

  
  

  But even in light of all of that, God has been so good to me. I have been blessed beyond words to be here. I’ve met some amazing new friends, gained a clearer vision for what we are going to do among the Maninka and how God speaks through His Word. The Lord is really opening my eyes to see Him more clearly and to want to know Him even more. And for my cherry on top—everyday he offers a new adventure and experience that I joyfully write home to you about. A few of my recent adventures include:

  
  

  Eating bugs (a two inch roach, a locust, and some frog parts)

  
  

  Rock climbing

  
  

  Kickboxing match

  
  

  Street food venders

  
  

  Language learning with waterballons

  
  

  Bargaining in the market

  
  

  Biking to top of the mountain for campfire (not to mention biking in general)

  
  

  Public transportation- tuktuks and sungtoaws

  
  

  Thai massage

  
  

  Songkran- citywide water fight

  
  

  Hiking, swinging from a vine, swimming in a random lake we found

  
  

  fellow Questers who are even more crazy for ice cream than I am

  
  

   

  
  

  Final lesson from my time in Asia:

  
  

  Just sit back and enjoy the ride… the tuktuk driver probably doesn’t know where he’s going anyway.

  
  

   

  
  

  I will try to put a few of the more exciting stories up on the site, but give me time. A lot has happened in the last month. As always, thanks for your prayers, and I wanted to thank all of you who sent notes for me.. I am enjoying reading through them and hearing your encouraging words. Thank you.

  
  

  just another servant,

  
  

  kacy

  
  

  www.thegreatwestafricanadventure.blogspot.com

  
  

   

  
  

  I thank God for Kacy, Nony and Duane, Melissa, and all of you out there who are accompanying Lorena on her journey.  Thank you so much.  Her miracle continues.  Friends such as you are precious.

  
  

   

  
  

  A couple of other things.  If you need directory assistance on a land line or a cell phone, call 1-800-FREE411 (1-800-373-3411) for free directory assistance.  You can check it out at  www.free411.com.  I have it stored in my cell phone.  Especially travelling, we have needed numbers, and I hate to pay for directory assistance or stop to try to find a phone book...

  
  

   

  • 7:09 pm
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