Heaven!!

Yesterday I felt so blessed to be able to preach about heaven. It's not really a subject that I might have preached about in my career more than 2 or 3 other times. I said to my congregation that when I was younger, in my 20's and 30's, I really didn't think much about heaven. Now that I'm older, 55, and both of my parents, grandparents and in-laws have passed away it's a subject that I'm thinking more about. I appreciated all the comments after church about books I should read for instance, "90 Minutes In Heaven" and "Heaven Is For Real". These are true stories from people who have actually had authentic out of the body experiences. Now I've never had an experience like this and haven't known anyone who ever has. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen or hasn't happened. I for one believe that it does happen and that there is a reason for such experiences, although I haven't been able to ascertain what that meaning might be. Perhaps it's God's way of confirming His Word to us about what heaven might be like, not for His sake but for ours. Outside of these out of body experiences we still have the promise of God that heaven exists for His children who choose to follow Him with heart, mind, soul and spirit. Another thought about heaven that I mentioned yesterday is that heaven is the reward for the hell that people have had to endure while here on earth. Sorry that isn't right thinking. Heaven is a place that has been prepared for His children as their "reward", their "prize" for having "run the race that was before them". A fellow pastor who has battled and suffered with pancreatic cancer, along with his family, for about the last 3 or so years passed away yesterday. I didn't know him well but knew him well enough to know that he had a place secured for him in that glorious place called heaven. And it really wasn't anything that he had done except say yes to Jesus as his Savior. With that simple yes, his name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life and when life in this world came to and end he was immediately transported to Heaven. How? I don't know. It's simply something that you have to take by faith. God promised it to be and so it is. I have to say, that is certainly good enough for me. Blessings on you all.

Home Sweet Home

Good afternoon! I've been home since last saturday, October 22. The team I was traveling with arrived in Chicago at O'Hare Airport about 5:15 pm. It took about 45 minutes to an hour to gather our luggage and meet the party who would give us a ride back to Fairfield Iowa about 5 hours southwest of Chicago. Altogether including the drive home it was about 22 1/2 hours. To be honest by the time I got home to Des Moines I felt like my eyes looked and felt like two burnt out holes in a blanket. I was pretty miserable but so glad to be home and back in America. I really didn't think that I would miss home as much as I did but life often has a way of surprising us. I think I was alright for the majority of the trip but the last 2 or 3 days my heart began to ache for my wife and daughters and grandchildren. My youngest granddaughter turned one while I was in Manila and my family waited until the following sunday to celebrate her birthday. What a great celebration it was! Friends of my daughter that I hadn't seen in sometime were there with their children and famiies. As I looked over the group of people there I felt so blest to be part of such a loving group of people. Enough of that. As I was contemplating the last few days about the purpose of my trip to the Philippines I was asking God how on earth will I be able to put all these wonderful experiences into perspective for the people in my church. As I was praying it seemed like He was saying to me, relax and just tell them about the great need in this country. Tell them about how hard working they are and tell them about their love for Me and My Kingdom. He also said be sure and tell them about how they are making inroads into the hearts and lives of people who are being restored daily into a right relationship with Him. So there you go, the purpose for which God sent me there. My heart is full to overflowing with all the wonderful blessing that the pastors and pastora's were to me and to their people. I was reminded of the scripture passage where Jesus commanded the disciples to go and make disciples in all nations and places. Of course that is a Hopperism, but I believe that it is implied by what the Lord had to say to us and His disciples. That is exactly what is happening right now in the Philippine Islands through the Free Methodist Church and perhaps many others as well. I know that the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination is also doing such work. In fact they have committed to plant 500 new churches by the year 2025. Now that is quite a goal to achieve. But it isn't really about how many churches that any given group can plant, but rather about how many new souls are won to the Kingdom of God. They along with their brothers and sisters in the Free Methodist Church recognize that Satan is alive and well on planet earth and is working so very hard to take as many with him to their eternal damnation. Strong words I know but it is truth and as it is said, "The Truth Hurts"! And we here in the US need to get with it. Unfortunately it appears that in the massive growth of some churches it seems to be that many are more focused on something other than bringing souls to a place of accepting the salvation of their Savior, Jesus Christ. That is our primary goal as followers of Christ, to win others not to a church or to denomination, but to Jesus Christ. And it all starts with asking for forgiveness of sins and entering into a relationship that can last a lifetime should we so choose, and hopefully we will choose life with Christ. Don't misunderstand me, I do think that there are many churches in America are doing an outstanding job, both large and small, at reaching those who need Christ as a personal Savior. But we all need to get on board to see that all hear the message of forgiveness and salvation. Finally I want to say thank you to all who helped make my trip to the Philippines possible financially and for all your prayers lifted up for me and the team I ministered with. God certainly honored those prayers and I am a better person a better pastor and a better Christian because of them.

So Much Too Say!

So we've been here in Butuan for about 8 days or so and will be going home, at least starting the trip back home in just a few days. I wanted to write about some of the unusual things that I have noticed here. First of all, alarms clocks are not needed. Why you ask? Because the roosters will wake you at the crack of dawn that's why!! And should they fail then the barking dogs will wake you at about 5 am. Even though the mission house we are staying in is in the city limits people have animals all around us. Cats, dogs, chickens, roosters, monkeys, snakes, water buffalo and the like. It's so strange to see farm animals in town but this is not Iowa for sure and we are very far from the farm. Second when you call a taxi don't think you'll get the standard run of the mill taxi like we'd have at home, you know the one I'm talking about, 4 doors, air conditioning and padded seats. Oh no, here when you grab a taxi you might be riding in what the Philippino's refer to as a tricycle. A motorcycle driven taxi with three wheels and a cab with seats. I think I saw one the other day with about 6 people in it and there's really only room for about 4. The other mode of transportation around town is what is called a "jitney" (sp.). This is more like a openair van that can comfortably hold about 8 or 10 people depending on their size. Yes we americans are a little wider in the middle than most of the folks around here. You can go just about anywhere in town for 8-10 pesos which in american dollars is about a quarter per person. Next there is no rhymne or reason to the streets here. They go anywhere a neighborhood pops us, some of the streets are paved in concrete others are gravel or mud. Most of the streets on the ourskirts of town are gravel or mud. Some are in need of a great deal of repair, but don't get in a hurry, since we've been here it has rained everyday. It is an island nation ya know. With all the rain it's hard to repair the roads once they get torn up as they continuously fill with rain water. Speaking of rain, if you plan on being out and about around 3 pm but sure and bring your umbrella, it's certain to rain. We visited a school this morning to evaluate how some of the children sponsored by ICCM were doing in school. They attend from 8am until 5pm every day except the weekend. The minimal students per class is about 32. We visited one that had room for 66 and every seat was full and another that had 52 and again nearly every seat was full. The teachers are all alone with their children, no helpers or assistants. What a challenge in a of itself. However, the children are very respectful to us. They are some of the most beautiful children besides my own that I have ever set eyes on. Black haired, brown eyed and dark complexion, so beautiful. At other schools they sang for us and quoted scripture and probably knew what it meant too. Today we also visited the Bay of Butuan. It is about 20 or so minutes from the city. Butuan was originally discovered by Magellan in the 1500's I believe and they have a neat monument to commenorate it. The beach we stopped was beautiful. It was surrounded by mountains as it flowed out to the Pacific Ocean. The water was warm and clear. I picked up a few sea shells for my older grand kids. The sand is black from two volcano's. One is now extinct and the other is active but hasn't erupted in a few years. It was a pictureqest view and very breathtaking. with the bay flowing gracefully into the pacific ocean. The surf seemed gentle and almost reserved but the tide was beginning to come in fairly quickly. The food is probably the last thing to consider. I haven't ever eaten so much rice before in my life. It is a staple as potatoes are at home. The Philippino's eat rice for every meal. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is explored or changed at all, just plain white rice. On our drives we have seen many rice fields just ripening or being harvested. I think if something else had been done with the rice it would have been more enjoyable. Which is probably a matter of how one culture over another looks at food. In America we look at food as something beyond nutrition. For us it is about delicious it is and how it satisfies our palate. For these people they eat to survive. If you ever sit down and watch them eat you'll know what I mean. During the latter part of last week we took a short 2 day trip to Upper Augusan Del Sur. This "short" trip took about 4-5 hours due to the roads. Not the lack of roads but the condition of the roads. Most of them were gravel, some were concrete, but nearly all were bumpy. Lots of potholes to avoid. Anyway, just before our return trip the church we visited roasted a pig for us. It was about 3 years old with more fat and bones than meat. Don't get me wrong it was delicious and we all ate from it but by the time we left about 30 or 45 minutes later there was nothing left but the bones, we had devoured that pig and everyone was full and happy, grateful to God for the pig that gave his life to feed them. They would survive another day. Another interesting food is a fruit they call durian. It grows on a tree much like a coconut and when ready to eat one must split it open with a machete. The odor that rises from it is almost unbreathable and the fruit is sweet but but bitter at the same time. I tried it but didn't eat much of it as it immediately began to have heartburn. There is mango, pineapple and coconut to eat as well and all manner of fish and chicken. All in all quite the culinary choice but not necessarily to my liking. The best part of being here is the people. They are gracious and loving. Most have a tremendous sense of humor and a hardy laugh to go with it. God willing I think I may return next year to visit my new found friends and family here. They love the Lord intensely and without reservation. To my new friends, BeBe, Tesora, Bishop Tuan, Pastora Tess and a host of others that serve and love Jesus I hope to return and renew our friendship.

The Tour!!

Here I am typing the entry on Monday afternoon at about 3:40. The Philippians is 13 1/2 hours ahead of Des Moines, Iowa in time. Let me tell you that it really does matter when it comes to figuring the sleeping schedule out. It gets better each day and last night I woke up at about 5:30 in the morning. Not bad compared to the morning before when I woke up at 2 and couldn't get back to sleep. We left Sunday morning at 6 am for a tour of the churches east of Butuan City, we got back to the FM Mission house about 12-14 hours later. I took many pictures and will attach some at the end so you can see what I'm talking about. One of the interesting things is that nearly every church has a school or feeding program for the children. Without the additional aid many of the children wouldn't have a warm meal or an education. Pastor Jim and I both preached twice yesteday in different churches. I was blessed to be able to preach the same message I preached to you several weeks ago regarding Jehosaphat and that the battle belonged to God. It was well received and it got better by the time I had preached it for the third time. We traveled to church out in the jungle and it was surrounded by a road and "houses" of people who lived their. As Americans we would see their living conditions as deplorable but they have learned to accept them as normal. Conditions such as no running water, which means no indoor plumbing which means no toilet or sink to wash up in. They had a community toilet and banana leaves for toilet paper. Their houses are made of whatever lumber they could find and the roof was made of grass or palm leaves. But there was no mistaking their love for the Lord and their ability to bring others to the Kingdom of God. They love Jesus flat out and are gracious loving people who really don't need much more than that. They eike out an existence by earning about 300 or 400 pesos a month. That amounts to about 9-10 dollars a day. That's working for about 10-12 hours a day 7 days a week, maybe 6. But always have more than enough money to support the church. Why? Because they love Jesus. One of the churches we visited produced a children's program and 115 children participated. I videotaped one of their songs, it was really sweet, maybe we'll be able to show it when I get home. At all of the nine churches we visited we were fed, by the time we got home we were stuffed to the gills and couldn't drink another bottle of water. The people have treated us like royalty and have been so very gracious, it's humbling beyond description. God is so good to take such good care of us while we're away. Well I think that's it, I'm going to add pictures to this blog and a video to the church facebook page so be sure and look. Take care and we'll see you in about a week and a half.

We made it!!

This morning about 9:45 we landed in Butuan City after and hour and fifteen minutes in the air. I did that standing on my head! After getting settled in the mission house we met with Bishop Jim Tuan for introductions and lunch. I will have to say that the food here isn't really all that different than what we have at home. I guess all those chinese dinners are HyVee are finally paying off. Today we have barbecue chicken with chop suey vegetables along with white rice.

After lunch we visited the local grocery/clothing store. It was huge. This store covered four floors with a huge variety of things to choose from all the way from groceries to diamonds. Food is pretty expensive here but people don't seem to mind and continue to pay the price, everybody has to eat afterall. There are extremes here from the very poor who live in shacks to those that live in very nice homes or apartment buildings. The thing that is most amazing is that houses are connected on all sides and as you'll see power lines run by the droves above the streets. To look at the neighborhood you'd think it not a safe place to live but everyone assures us that it is quite safe.

Pastor Jim and I received our preaching a

ssignment from the Bishop today and we will be preaching at two different church beginning at 6:30 in the morning which is their first service and they continue throughout the morning. We'll be busy the rest of the week at the Bible College and going to outlying villages for ministry and visiting local pastors and churches.

Please enjoy a few more pictures that I've added.

Philippine Trip

Hey everybody, good evening here from Manila, Philippine. Our journey started on Wednesday early morning. I went to Fairfield to join Jim McGaffey to drive to Chicago to catch out first flight that was scheduled to leave at 12:35 in the afternoon. Well believe it or not we were all loaded and leaving for the runway at 12:35, unbelievable as it may seem. This began our first leg of our trip that would last for 13 1/2 hours. The plane was a huge Airbus with two stories, which by the way I had never been on before. The plane was packed from stem to stern with people from all places and races. As much as I might have tried I wasn't able to sleep a wink. The night before was pretty shy on the sleep side as well and I began to experience the effects. I tried so hard to sleep but to no avail, it escaped me and I was beginning to look like someone who had been beatdown and I couldn't remember who had done it.

After arriving at Seoul, Korea we had about 3 or 4 hours of lay over and I curled up on several seats and got some shuteye. What contact I had with those at Seoul they seemed like a very gracious people full of life. They do talk fast so it's hard to follow them in conversation but they didn't mind slowing down a little for our sake.

After boarding the plane for Manila at 7:35 in the evening we finally made it about 12:30 and meet Jim Wilson and he graciously took us to our hotel, which by the way is a beautiful hotel owned by a Christian group and if you can believe it only 21.00 a night plus tax. Try to find that in the US and you'll probably be sharing it with the bugs. Anyway, we were just exhausted when we got to the hotel and went right to bed. I think we were all so tired that we just fell into bed, basically we had gone without sleep for about 48 hours and after you cross the international date line and have time changes we are actually 13 1/2 hours ahead of you. So right now it's 6:05 PM.

Tomorrow we will leave for Butuan at 7:30 in the morning and arrive about 9. We aren't fully sure what we'll be doing yet but know for sure that we will be working at the AHON Orphanage in the afternoon. This is an orphanage for boys and some of them are supported by the International Child Care Ministries through the FM Church.

Well that's it for now. I'll write more in the next day or two. Pastor Jim McGaffey and I will be preaching at two different locations on Sunday and possibly Sunday night we'll be preaching as well. Please pray for us that God would use us to preach His Word powerfully and with purpose. Below you're see some pictures of our plane, the others on our trip and the hotel where were are staying in Manila. Enjoy.

Miracles and Majesty

After the message yesterday, for those who weren't able to attend, I preached on the Miracles and Majesty of the Lord Jesus. We found ourselves in Acts 9:32-43. This is the time that Peter is in the limelight, so to speak, for the next several chapters. In this specific passage, Peter finds that he is called upon to heal two people. Aeneas who is a paralytic and Tabitha/Dorcas who has fallen ill and died. In both cases without a miracle these people would have suffered like crazy. Aenea because of not being about to get around and Dorcas, well not much happens in this life after you're dead.

What I'd like to say to those of you who are reading this today is that just because you can't identify a miracle that may have happened in your life doesn't mean they haven't happened. Likewise, it doesn't mean that you won't experience a miracle for whatever the reason. It could be that without a miracle your business will fold, or without a miracle you won't be able to conceive or without a miracle you'll never find real lasting love. Not so!! God's ability to provide a miracle is not limited to what we can see, think, feel or believe. Yes we do have to exercise our faith and trust that God will make a way.

However, we shouldn't be looking around the corner for our next miracle. It will happen when we least expect it to. As I've said to each of you so many time before, God knows what is best for us and will provide it at just the right time. Trust in Him to do just that, to provide in just the right time and who knows, the next time you round that corner your miracle may be waiting their for you.

It is then that God's Majesty is displayed. It is then that we have to realize that it could only have been God who could have done whatever it was that we needed. Maybe you need a miracle because you've got some sort of addiction, or perhaps you need a miracle to be delivered from a deep dark pit of depression. Remember, God cares about you as a whole person, with all of our problems, with all our sin, with all our deceptiveness and manipulation tricks. Whatever it is, He can handle it. Nothing surprises Him. He loves all of you and me and only wants His very best for us.