Reveration Blog
4/4/2007 SpiritistsNadjya* came into our center to get food. As Bryan had her fill out forms, she shared she was mentally struggling. He forewarned me that she seemed kind of bizarre. I called her in and asked her questions to determine her financial and spiritual status. Essentially, a bout of pneumonia and lingering weakness caused her to miss enough work that she was in need of our help. I was surprised at how well her job paid. Most people who visit us make very little money or are in between jobs. I was also impressed with her faith in God’s mercy and forgiveness. She seemed to have a good grasp of the Bible.
11/9/2006 0 Comments CirculationEvu* lost his wife twelve years ago to breast cancer. He is still angry with God because He did not answer his prayer to take his life and spare Lori’s. Yet, Evu also readily shared that God had in many cases answered his prayers. And he clearly saw the hand of His Maker at work keeping him from death. Several years ago when a construction project at Portland airport collapsed killing three men, Evu’s life was spared because of a cell phone call from a friend that lasted so long he was not where he could have been when it rained cement. When Evu later asked his friend why he called him, the friend responded that he felt led to do so! Clearly, God has a plan for this gentleman with a special heritage. That’s not so surprising. His dad worked with Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement.
10/12/2006 Body of ChristFran* came in the ministry center for food. She is a tall woman with a firm handshake and eyes that tell me she is weathering brutal storms. She sat across from me and shared her story. Her husband is 6’ 3” and once weighed 240 lbs. Now he weighs 140 lbs and is barely clinging to life. For years he sprayed Crossbow, a chemical treatment that kills weeds, on poison oak and blackberries. Often when the summer heat bore down he took off his protective gloves. Eventually, the amount of chemicals that penetrated his skin produced a condition I cannot even pronounce that is now killing him.
5/27/2006 0 Comments Long SufferingRecently, the Vietnam Traveling Wall (the 3/4ths replication of the amazing black wall in Washington D.C.), traveled to Portland, Oregon. Etched in somber stone is the name of every veteran killed in Indochina. During the opening ceremony I represented the 104th Division. Afterwards I was invited to a dinner with the special people from the cemetery that planned the event.
1/28/2006 0 Comments StrivingWhen Nancy was thirteen years old she was diagnosed with a disease in her heart, osteoporosis, and the verdict that she would never bear children. She and her mother bargained with God. They would pray wherever they were every day for two months at six a.m. and six p.m. if He would heal her. At home they had no food and life was miserable. One day several Costa Ricans came to her Nicaraguan church. While the visiting pastor spoke with Nancy’s mom, his wife spoke with Nancy. On a Friday afternoon she told her that she would receive everything back in double for her faithfulness. On Monday when the doctors examined her, she was completely healed. Though He did not have too, God in His mercy, blessed the young girl.
9/1/2005 0 Comments PremonitionsMeditation
Job 3:25,26--For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.I cannot relax or be still; I have no rest, for trouble comes. He was the picture of success, a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil. He had ten children and was fabulously wealthy—the greatest man among all the people of the East. Job was so concerned about living a pleasing life to God that he would have his children purify themselves after partying and he offered sacrifices on their behalf in case they might have sinned. So why was this mighty man fearful that something bad would happen to him? 8/5/2005 0 Comments OppositionAngel started her job in July. She looked forward to the opportunity to share Christ with her new coworkers and to utilizing her cooking skills in the popular restaurant on the busy street of MG. A month later, she fought back tears—work was not going as she had expected. When the other girls on her shift learned she was a Christian, many were curious and began to ask her questions, but not Varuni, a tall, woman from Pune. She let Angel know in no uncertain terms that she did not care for Jesus chatter.
2/11/2005 0 Comments PersecutionMahesh and Seetha Gopal* were raised in Hindu families. They married and operated a successful business but their lives were unfulfilled until they met Christ. When they chose to follow Jesus they encountered much persecution from their relatives and countrymen. Eventually, they moved away to Wayanad, a city in the hill country of northern Kerala. They bought a piece of land and built a house. Seetha asked her new neighbors if she could draw water until they could afford to dig their own well. But they refused to share with her because she and her husband were Christians. So, everyday, the Gopals had to walk two miles just to get their water.
12/30/2004 PainI don’t know her but I feel from her face a pain that I can deeply understand. It is the pain of loss. There is an old Hungarian proverb, “Adam ate the apple and our teeth still ache.” When man corrupted God’s plan the consequences were staggering. A fruitful planet became a fallen world where evil, disaster and death leave no one untouched.
6/18/2004 0 Comments TimingHave you ever engaged on a mission convinced you were doing the Lord’s will only to see your efforts defeated by some unforeseen event? Have you taken a job sure that it was God’s choice for you only to discover the boss was mean-spirited or the co-workers adept at making your life miserable? Have you lost a family member or experienced prolonged illness, convinced that God would bring healing and He didn’t? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions you probably have sincere issues to discuss with God regarding His will and timing.
4/16/2004 0 Comments GloryIn March of 1992, Captain David Knecht learned he was passed over for promotion to Major. Despite the setback, he determined to press on with his career. Weeks later, on April 8th, he was out on a field exercise conducting a routine night live fire defense. When it ended he looked forward to traveling to Russia for a short gospel mission trip. That night an M2 Bradley platoon was positioned about one kilometer to the right of the spot Dave selected for his Command M113 vehicle. Apparently the platoon leader or his gunner was scanning for targets out of sector to their left because when Dave’s M113 showed up in their thermals sights, “they lit me up with eight 25mm rounds.” One training round glanced off the hatch next to his head and penetrated the soft CVC helmet he was wearing, exploding fragments into his brain and right eye. Dave was flown by two helicopters, a UH-60 Blackhawk and later a CH-47 Chinook to a civilian medical center for emergency brain surgery.
11/24/2003 0 Comments TribulationMost American Christians are familiar with the term “rapture.” The belief that Christians will avoid living through the tribulation is largely attributed to 1 Thessalonians 4:17—“Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.” The fictional series Left Behindglamorizes this view and reinforces the notion that the church will escape the tribulation.
8/29/2003 0 Comments ElianaShe is beautiful. Her serene, unblemished face is a remarkable sight. Her tiny feet wiggle to the tickling touch of her mother’s loving fingers. Her black hair is thick and astonishingly full for a newborn. But inside this lovely baby rages some unknown storm that throws her into seizures and more than once has arrested her ability to breathe. The doctors have no answers. Meanwhile, two hearts burst in agony. Henry and Melody helplessly watch their first child not knowing . . .
7/25/2003 0 Comments ControlBeria Emulous paces the floor. He’s angry with Crassus Arrogate, a man who controls information to protect his dominion. The two consistently spar. On the surface they remain civil but underneath these two gray veterans are cauldrons.
10/30/2002 WorldMeditation
James 4:4--Adulteresses! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy. 9/12/2002 0 Comments Introspection--The Day After
3/15/2002 InterestsRuss and Marianne Lambert are the kind of couple I imagine almost everyone would want living in their neighborhood. Russ was my High School principal at Faith Academy in the Philippines. Not only did he take a personal interest in us as students, he worked to relate to us at our level—not an easy task with teenagers. Marianne, like her husband, was immensely popular and very gracious—like a den mother to a pack of—well we weren’t wolves, but you get the idea!
1/19/2002 0 Comments SufferingIn an Indonesian restaurant in Sweden, Jonathan, a Swede who grew up in the Congo, shared with us Tulo’s* story. Tulo and 44 of his friends and relatives (to include a two-week old baby), fled Bukavu, Congo to escape an enemy intent on taking their lives. For one month they walked approximately 700 km (434 miles) and lived off monkey meat, fruit and anything else they could scrounge until they reached the city of Kisangani. It took a week in a hospital for Tulo to recover—others remained longer. Miraculously, none of these Jesus-followers died!
1/12/2002 0 Comments LagomSilas took me to lunch at a Swedish restaurant in Gothenburg called Lagom. Lagom has no single English word that matches its meaning. Essentially, it translates “enough, sufficient, not too much or too little—just right”.
8/22/2001 0 Comments DifficultiesMeditation
Philippians 1:29-2:4—For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (NIV) |
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Photo from Rachel Maxey Miles