Insights from Weeding

This morning I spent a few hours weeding our flower beds. While weeding I was meditating on the Bible lesson I'll be teaching tonight - the creation story from Genesis 1:1-25. I had several insights that I wanted to share with you.

First, I was thinking about how many times in that passage that God was separating something. He separated light from darkness, day from night, waters above from waters below, and water from land. Here I was separating weeds and grass from plants. I was thinking about how God also makes set apart, or holy.

Thinking about our holiness or "set apartness" made me think about the parable of the wheat and the tares. In that parable we learn that there are non-believers in among the believers and that God would separate them in the harvest. This is also established in Matthew 7 where we're told that many prophesy and cast out demons in His name, but at the judgment he'll say, "Depart from me for I never knew you." This had me thinking about our churches and wondering how many people are there that don't know God through faith in Jesus Christ. Said another way, I wondered how many people in our churches don't have saving faith. In my garden, there's more weeds than plants. Is it that way in the church too?

As I pulled weeds I also thought about how creative our God is. Do you know how many varieties of grass and weeds there are? Do you know how distinct pieces of the same type of weed can be from one another? In Genesis 1 it says He created grasses and plants that reproduce according to their kind. There are so many kinds, it's amazing! The differences in shades of green alone is amazing! Our God really went all out. I could also go on about all the different kinds of ants he's made, many of which emerged to display His glory as I was plucking weeds.

I also thought about sweat. You know there was this curse as a result of man's sin that had something to do with working by the sweat of the brow. Was my brow ever sweating! It had me wondering how much easier that work might have been had man never sinned. In fact, I started wondering if weeds themselves were not a result of the curse. Thank God that even though there's a curse for sin, in Christ there's redemption and blessing!

In the beginning God created.... and His creation is really amazing! He said, "Let there be light" and there was light. He said the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness. Even in my life I see Him separating light from darkness as I'm sanctified. Praise Him that the same grace that redeems us and separates us by declaring us just also separates us by conforming us into His image.

It's pretty cool what you can observe just weeding the garden!

Pythons and Swords

Last night I went to Tilabari with one of my disciples to see one of his disciples lead a small group in Bible Story telling. When we arrived in Tilabari, we got a rare treat. There was an enormous crowd at the edge of the village and Nasib was waiting for us nearby. He explained that some of the villagers had caught a large snake and asked if we wanted to go see before we started our small group. So we went.

When we arrived there was a large crowd around a very large snake. This thing was at least 11 feet long. It was a python (I believe a Burmese Python). Nearby there was a goat that it had killed, but not yet eaten. The villagers were waiting for the forest department officials to come and relocate the snake.

Just so you can get a better idea of the size, Here's a picture with the people in the background:
So that's the deal about snakes, let me tell you about swords. Jyotish was leading the small group and was supposed to be telling the creation story. When he arrived, he hadn't prepared well. He couldn't remember which days what happened. While he was fumbling through telling the story, a lesson came to me from God's Word.

I shared with the students how important it is to learn God's Word. They really need to learn the stories they'll be telling completely. I reminded them that God's Word is called a sword (talvar in Hindi). I told them that if we're going to battle it is important that we handle the sword properly and hold it tightly, not allowing it to be removed from us. I reminded them that in 2 Tim. 2:15 it says an approved workman who doesn't need to be ashamed handles God's word accurately. I told them that this is akin to learning the story and telling it exactly right. How can we make good observations and applications from a story if we don't tell it right. I told them to get to practicing handling their sword reminding them of the promise in Joshua 1:8 that if we don't allow the book of law to depart from our mouth, but meditate on it day and night so that we're careful to do all that it says, that we will then make our way prosperous and successful.

Please pray for Nasib and Jyotish as they lead this group of 7. Pray for their 7 disciples, that they'll handle God's Word like a sword.

Going Batty

Yes that's a bat Trish is holding. It's a fruit bat, but at night when it swoops over your head, you'd swear it was a pterodactyl or a vampire bat.

Every year in February and March these creatures visit the cotton tree just behind our house for several weeks. We love going up on the roof and watching them.

This particular critter had the misfortune of running into a power line and getting electrocuted. We discovered him the next morning.

Our friend Gopal (pictured) said he was going to eat it, but chickened out when he got home. He said by the time he got it home, it didn't smell very good, so he threw it out.

I Took the Bob Challenge

One of the great things about travelling is it gives me lots of time to read. One of the books I read on this trip was, "If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat," by John Ortberg. It impacted me through the "Bob Challenge."

In the book, he tells a story about a guy named Bob who was basically dared to pray for something specific every day for six months. In fact, they made a bet about it. If nothing happened Bob would get $500, but if it did, he'd have to pay $500.

He chose to pray for Kenya. For a long time nothing happened, but then one night at a dinner he met a lady from the largest orphanage in Kenya. He began asking her lots of questions about Kenya and she invited him to visit. He went, was moved by the poverty and came home and arranged for prescription drugs to be sent there worth one million dollars.

The orphanage invited him back to celebrate. While he was there, he met the president of Kenya, who ended up taking Bob on a tour of Nairobi. While on the tour Bob saw a prison full of political prisoners. Bob told the president he should let them go. Sometime later the US state department called to thank Bob as they'd been working for a long time to get those prisoners released.

Several months later the President of Kenya called and asked Bob to come pray for him for three days while he selected his government.

After telling this story, the author challenged me to take the Bob Challenge. He didn't say he'd give me $500, but he said if I pray for every day for six months for something and don't get it he'll give me back the price of the book. If I pray every day for six months and something happens, I have to write him an email and tell him about it. I'm looking forward to writing that email.

December Nagaland Trip

With this post, I'm finally caught up on posting our pictures from the past 3 months. In December, we went with some friends to Nagaland for a wedding. This was a great time to help them out, experience local culture, and just have a good time. You'll see some crazy stuff if you check it out.

Make a Smilebox postcard

Macaroni and Cheese

Yes, that is mac n cheese! It was the first time they've had it since being home in the states. Someone who loves them very much sent them Velveeta. It was a cutthroat evening with family member pitted against family member over the last bites of the cheese delight. Towards the end they were even offering monetary compensation per noodle. What a night!

~camille

Lakla Reunion

In October of last year, Awor, Kikon, Taipi and Jeff led "Simply the Story" Training in Lakla. They had such a good time together that they decided to have a Lakla reunion 30 days later. These are some pictures of their silliness.

Make a Smilebox slideshow