Question For You

I have been back in the states from Sudan for almost two weeks now. I'm still processing my time with our persecuted family and at the same time trying to run my business and spend quality time with my family. Not much time for introspection but Allyson and I did enjoy a few days in Dallas at our annual convention....very relaxing.

I have shared enough about the trip now to discover that one of the first questions people ask is "what did you eat?" Doesn't it seem that food is always on our minds? I must confess that around 10am each morning in my office, the conversation turns to what's for lunch. I found that much of the Sudanese have food on their minds as well.....but in a different way. You see, back in April the village we stayed in was suffering from a famine. The previous rainy season did not produce enough rain and their crops failed. People died. God did provide through believers here in Birmingham as money was raised to transport over two hundred and thirty thousand pounds of food to this impoverished region. The food was only 120 miles away but with no means of transportation it might as well have been sitting on the moon.

But their discussion did not focus on food or what resources they did not have but rather on the riches they have found in Christ. They know that these eternal riches are kept for them at the Father's right hand and this is their destiny. The hope of these riches far surpass their current suffering.

Case in point is a man I met named Abraham. He lives in the capital of Southern Sudan, Juba, which was until recently controlled by the Northern Army...which are Arab Muslim. The Muslims have persecuted the Christians in Sudan for some fifty years now. Abraham spoke of this persecution and how they would go house to house and either take Christians to prison or kill them. They were trapped inside the city with no means of escape.....but they still witnessed in the marketplaces and risked their lives to lead many Muslims to faith in Christ. Abraham told me, "We do not have money and we do not have transportation, but we have our feet and we will use them to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ out even today."

I cannot express in words the privilege it was to speak with Abraham and then to have the opportunity to teach him at the University of Juba about the discipleship strategy of Jesus Christ. It was the most humbling experience I had in Sudan. Abraham has plans to continue to risk his life to take the Gospel to the unreached Muslims in Sudan.

So now I have a question for the few of us who will read this....When standing before our Father one day soon, will we have an excuse for not sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us? Our co-worker who does not know Him? Our neighbors who do not know Him? Our relatives who do not know Him?

Paul said in Philippians 1:14, "Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the Word of God more courageously and fearlessly." Because of Abraham and the persecution he endures for Christ, I will speak the Word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

Sudan - The Final Countdown

Friends,

As you know, I will be leaving for Sudan on November 14th and returning the day after Thanksgiving on the 24th. It is fast approaching and I am feeling a bit out of my league (as my friend Mark Whitehead says). There is so much to do in the way of packing and gathering materials to take. On top of that, I am studying five lessons that I will be responsible for teaching to some students in the city of Juba.

Although we are several hundred miles from the Darfur region (Google Darfur if you are unfamiliar with it), there is still much unrest between the Muslim north and the Christian south where we will be staying. In the past twenty years the attempts of the Islamic government in the north to eliminate a viable Christian presence have been extreme and have included bombing of Sunday church services, destruction of hospitals, schools, churches and Christian villages, massacres, killing of pastors and leaders and a 'food-for-conversion' policy for refugees banished to desert areas around the capital, Khartoum. Slavery has been re-instated with slave raiding and trading.

As we go, I want to ask you to pray for the believers in Sudan who will risk their lives to take the Gospel into the north and other hostile countries around them....Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea. Pray that they may bear good witness to their persecutors in their sufferings and become spiritually strong as a result. Pray also that the sufferings of Christians might be used to advance the Gospel to those living in Sudan who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.

Please keep these things in your prayers as we go to strengthen the church and equip them to make disciples of all nations. The question I would like to ask is, "If they can do it, why can't we?" The desire they possess to impact the world with their one life is inspiring.....but to them they are simply obeying our Master's mandate, The Great Commission.

May the peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be with you in abundance,

spencer

10 Things I Wish I Knew How To Do (But don't really want to learn)

1. Wash dishes (that's for you Ally!)

2. Plumb - what a racket

3. Fly a plane

4. Sing - some folks have it and some don't....I don't have it and I'm "never gonna get it" (En Vogue - 1992)

5. Speak Spanish - this is something I should really do.....but.....

6. Change my own oil - I would be happy never to hear "Your air filter needs changin" or "you seen your brake pads lately?" ever again

7. Finish a book - I have at least three staring me in the face right now.....but I've got to start this new Piper book NOW

8. Carpentry work - I am 'fix it' deficient

9. Spell - When my kids finally get a hold of my spell-checkless journals, they are going to be appalled wondering how I ever made it out of grammer school

10. Survive without coffee - I have a caffeine stronghold in my life. But then again, everyone should start their day with the Word, prayer and a jolt of java

Follow Me

I must say that there has been a lot of discussion about discipleship in our church over the past several months. You see, the Lord led a new Senior Pastor to us this summer and 'making disciples' has been heralded from the podium ever since. At first I must admit the concept was quite foreign to the vast majority of our Body. "Make disciples?" What's that? We want to come in to church and worship God, fellowship with each other and go to lunch! Well now, that seems to be the problem.

Here in the west we are so proud of our church buildings and we hold up our Pastors in a hierarchy of knowledge and godliness. Why are there seminaries? Why are there non-profits? Is it because we, as the Church, have not done our job of discipling our Body into the likeness of Christ? Don't we judge our church success by how many people we can get into church? I read that that is like trying to shove meat inside the saltshaker or an open wound inside the salt container. Just as salt must leave the container to accomplish its purpose so a believer must penetrate the world to accomplish his.

So, who are we intentionally pouring our lives into? God's desire is that every one of us become a world visionary, world impacting, reproducing disciple of Christ....coincidentally, a task only He can accomplish! Let us lift up our eyes and see the world around us and the desire of God to impact the nations for Christ....His Great Commission demands no less.

Quietly as Friends

We all have those kinds friends...you know, the ones that talking to always comes easy no matter the distance in miles or calls between you. You're probably thinking of them right now....thinking about the last time you were able to get together or talk on the phone. It may be months or years but no matter, they are always there quietly, as friends.

Ally, the kids and I spent this last weekend with these friends of mine. What a great time of golf, cookout, tire swings for the kids and general catch up. Between us we have eight children and it's the first time in over three years we've seen each other in a social setting. With kids hanging on every limb or shouting in every ear we were able to chatter as if we were still hanging out on the seventh floor of High Rise.

I was able to bring some old college footage with me for our unofficial reunion. We waded through years of material to find those few precious jewels....John playing basketball in short-shorts and our brilliant but lame attempt to make a sequel to the classic movie 'Hoosiers'. I was amused as our bad acting and even worse script made John's wife so uncomfortable she had to cover her face to keep from watching this horrible train wreck.

Aren't friends great? I will never forget Mark's advice to me as I wrestled with a pivotal decision on who to date my Junior year of college....Allyson or Julia. The choice was clear to him, it must be Allyson! Our dating eventually lead to our engagement, which soon led to our marriage, which then led to our children...thank you for the advice Mark.

John and I were roommates and what a great time we had that year together. I won't get into details but the haircut I gave him almost single handedly ruined his dating career. Had it not been for his plethora of hats, he would have been done for. I have always been amazed at John's writing ability. I remember one night in particular we were at the beach hanging out and looking out over the ocean from our deck. The moon pierced through the clouds in full force. We both wrote that night.....and this is his:

A Clear and Cloudy Night -
Oh God, turn on Your spotlight
Search my heart, where does it start?
I know there's pain behind the clouds
But they look so strong
Why can't I stay here all night long?
Let the stars touch my back
Hide my face in the black
Of this night of twisted dreams

I know someday I'll see
The way it's all supposed to be
But for now I'll stay inside
My pillowed cloud of suicide.
8/12/92

Those old times are long gone but the images and memories are still fresh on my mind. There is something about those kinds of friends that help you remember your glory days...or in my case, lack of glory days! Nonetheless, the great thing about getting together and reminiscing is that I know no matter the distance in miles or separation of states, these friends of mine are always near.

Vision

Watching my son grow up into boyhood has been a great gift to me. His imagination seems limitless and he quite possibly has one of the sweetest hearts on the planet. He inspires me.

Just the other night he and I were talking and I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up. His eyes brimmed with excitement and he didn't have to think at all because it's been on his mind, on his lips and in his heart for about the past year...."I'm going to be a superhero!"

Now I'm trying to train up a child here and so I try to redirect those thoughts towards God and I say something like, "Bud, you know what dad would love for you to do when you grow up? I would love for you to go around the world and tell others about Jesus and how much He loves them. You know there are a lot of boys and girls who don't know how much God loves them and haven't even heard of Jesus....don't you think we should tell them?"

Of course his response comes without a second of hesitation and in complete childlike faith...."Why don't I be Superman and fly over the ocean to the world and when I get there I can change back into a person and then tell them about Jesus and then put on my Superman costume again and fly back?"

Sweet but ridiculous, don't you think? Let me ask you... why can't we have a vision for the world that sounds so ridiculous we could never accomplish it ourselves?

I read recently of a Pastor who was praying in his study for God to bless and be with his ministry. He was prostrate on the floor pouring his heart into his prayer and confessing that he didn't want to preach without God's power. However, he declared that suddenly it seemed that the roof over him opened and a hand came down and touched his shoulder and it seemed that God's voice spoke within him, saying, "My son, stop praying! When he became quiet, the Voice seemed to clearly say, "My son, with plans no bigger than yours, you don't need my power!"

When you hold a seed in your hand do you see just a seed.....or do you see a forest? "Where there is no vision, the people perish." - Proverbs 29:18

God, give us a vision and a heart for the world that is all encompassing and Christ directed! Give us vision that is impossible for us to accomplish on our own. He's given it to Grant....can't He give it to you?

Cleats of Destruction

Wednesday night Grant had a friend sleep over. This is the middle boy of our best friends and what a character he is! Sam is always up to something and it usually involves his great imagination or bargaining for Grant's toys....he is a dealer much like his father.

So here I come home from church and as I was walking up the stairs they were there to greet me. These two boys have a great time together and Ally and I were happy to have Sam over.....until.....I caught something out of the corner of my eye. What were those things on his feet? The noise was a piercing yet familiar one that took me back to my little league days. "Surely not" I thought....but as I focused I saw something I hadn't seen since the late 70's, early 80's! CLEATS on hardwood floors!!! Immediately my blood pressure spiked because I could see the hardwood floors being torn to shreds underneath his feet. Pieces flying everywhere exposing down to the sub-floor....ahhhh, the horror!

From everything I was taught back in the day, cleats were the death of hardwood floors. I can still see Hyatt's (my brother) cleats lined up on the hearth next to mine where we were to take them off. Even the steps from the front door to that hearth were to be executed in stealth mode as not to leave the slightest mark. And what if they were muddy from our field of dreams at the Jewish Community Center (baseball) or Boys Industrial School (soccer)? They were excommunicated to the garage or left outside the basement door. I will never forget the day my brother was stored in the trunk of my dad's car on the way home from a game because his cleats were filthy! Does it get any better than that? I think not!! We have laughed about that around the dinner table for some 25 years now.

So what was I to do with little Sammy? I took the road less traveled.

"Hey Sam, what are you wearing on your feet?" (I'm still processing here)

"My soccer cleats"

"Why you wearing those, bud?"

"Because so I can run real fast and race."

Makes perfect sense to me....and I dropped it.

Don't get me wrong. You will never see Grant in our house with cleats because I do believe there are family traditions that should be passed down from generation to generation. And if I ever have the chance to put Grant in the trunk, I won't hesitate....for his sake and the sake dinner conversations to come.