40 Nations, 40 Days, >40 Seconds a Day

www.PrayEurope.com

What does prayer mean to you?  Is it a ritual performed before a untouchable being or an intimate conversation between you and your Best Friend (who also happens to be the all powerful and holy God)?  Over this past year, prayer has evolved in my life from presenting a list of wants and needs before God to a conversation about the things that matter most in my life where He has listened and told me what’s important and revealed even more things.

Beginning Ash Wednesday, February 17th, I will be joining with people from around the globe to pray for Europe for the 40 days leading up to Easter. We want to use this opportunity to engage our own prayer partners and your networks to pray with us and for our work here.

Think of how you have experienced God’s response in your life as a result of answered prayer. We are anxious to see God move in Europe, North Africa and Eurasia – areas where we have seen great need for people to experience living examples of Christ’s love.

This focused time of prayer for Europe is being called 40-40-40.  It highlights over 40 countries of Europe for prayer for the 40 days of Lent (starting Ash Wednesday, Feb 17) for at least 40 seconds of prayer each day.

Want to participate?  Go to www.prayeurope.com and

• sign up for the E-Newsletter (link in upper right corner)
• Follow PrayEurope on Twitter
• Become a PrayEurope Fan on Facebook
• Tell your friends and family (you can use this PrayEurope Flyer (pdf) if you like)

Would also be so kind as to let us know you’ll be participating by filling out this quick form?

Update on Sudan in Last Post

I’m still working on putting up our pictures (coming real soon) but I just wanted to share with you an update about the incident that happened in Sudan right before we left Kenya.  This is an excerpt from an email from my father-in-law:

“What is keeping us occupied now is three families – two from Ethiopia and one from Nigeria who serve with SIM in Sudan.  They were evacuated to Nairobi on Friday.   Their station in Sudan (Atar),  was attacked at 4:00 am on Dec. 30th.  Shilluk Sudanese from a nearby tribe came secretly in the night and lit the house of the Nigerian on fire – shooters standing outside to shoot the family as they tried to escape.  Their grass dwelling had a plastic cover under the grass to keep the bugs and rain out.  When that caught fire, it rained drops of hot melting plastic on them as they rushed to flee.  The husband was badly burned.  Drops of melted plastic also go the mother and one of the children.  The bad guys went on to the homes of the two Ethiopian teachers and their families.  Again they piled dry grass outside the house and lit fire.  Then they shot bullets into the house. Amazingly none if the bullets found their mark and everyone escaped.  The Nigerian ran for the Nile river and dived into the water to put out the burning plastic on his back – he is quite seriously burned but it does not seem life threatening.  Anyway, all three families lost everything down to their clothes, cell phones, cameras, pots and pans – suits, everything they owned.  They came out in blankets, someone lent one of them a pair of flip-flops for shoes – one came out without even a shirt.

So we are trying to care for them at the moment.  The Sudan team is doing everything they can to provide immediate and long term care.  There will be some serious trama care here.  We had the Nigerian (XXXXXX XXXXXX) for dinner last night and had to help him to his room.  On the way down he told me he cannot sleep – and has terrible dreams when he does.

These people need our prayers.

And by the way for those connected with SIM – you can made a contribution to their restoration by sending any gift to our SIM office and mark it Sudan Relief and Contingency Project # KE 82490.”

Please keep these people in your prayers as it will take a long time for their recovery and the ministry that they have so worked so hard on for the past 4 1/2 years is now burned down.  Pray for those that did this that they will understand a peace in life that only comes from knowing Christ personally.

If you are interested in financially helping these families and the ministry there, you can find the information about how to donate at SIM’s Website – http://sim.org/index.php/content/donate.

Pray about it but don’t get involved

When I was in a church youth group, we did this thing where the youth leaders had us come up with a “one line” answer to all of life’s situations.  We then split up into groups and thought about it for a while.  One group wanted to make sure they were very spiritual but also didn’t want people to feel a need to “fix” the situation so they came up with the one liner – “Pray about it but don’t get involved.”  So as the youth leaders came in one by one with their “situations” and it went something like this:

Leader:  I’m so upset.  Nothing’s going right for me.  I just don’t know what to do.  I could just die.

Group:  Pray about it but don’t get involved.

Next Leader:  My friends all think I’m totally square because I don’t party and drink.  What should I do?  (Remember, I grew up in the 80′s – era of cheesy sayings and cheesy youth groups)

Group:  Pray about it but don’t get involved.

Next Leader (female):  I’m 16 and pregnant.  What do I do now?

Group:  Pray about it but don’t get involved.

Ok, while the saying “Pray about it but don’t get involved” sounded good, the reality is it doesn’t work.  Not the prayer part but the “don’t get involved”.  Praying does get you involved. When we pray, we ponder upon what is God’s perspective of the situation.  When we pray for the 16 year old whose pregnant, we stop thinking about how she should have listened to us about abstinence and God reveals to us His love for her and how she’s a scared young woman in need of a hug rather than a rebuke.  When we pray for that man in prison, we stop seeing him as this wrong doer needing to pay for his crime but instead a person who has already been forgiven by God not by anything he did but by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.  Forgiven just like I am.  Now in viewing this guy in that way, don’t you want to help him understand how he can accept that forgiveness and help him to see himself as how God sees him!!!

As for the pregnant young lady and the man in prison, when they pray they too gain God’s perspective.  The reality is that God is bigger than their situations.  When they/you pray inside your situations, you put forth a trust that God is bigger than what we are having to deal with.  Will the young lady still have to deal with the situation that she’s pregnant and will the man still have to deal with the situation that he’s in prison – Yes.  However, through prayer they are actively looking to God to help them through the situation, putting their trust in Him and He is faithful and will see them through it.

So the next time you say you’re going to pray for someone, know that you are getting involved and look to God for the understanding of how.  Know that when you talk to God about your own situation, you are looking to Him to be involved in your circumstances and He will be!!  So let’s pray!!

My Perception, God’s Reality

I started this post as a draft back in October 2006.  This is something that replays for me over and over again.  It’s the reality that I’m in a silo many times and am unable to see the world as it really is – that is from the perspective that God has.  I make many decisions based on the perceptions that I have.  For example,  I wear certain clothes because I think they look good on me (well, at least decent enough to wear in public) but then I’m given a reality check when my wife says “You’re really going to wear that?!?  Outside?!?”  That’s usually when I know my perception about clothing is wrong.

Here’s some of my perspectives with the contrasting of  God’s reality:

• I sometimes feel alone and isolated BUT the reality is that God is always with me and He has given me a great family, friends and co-workers.  I’m not always physically by them (well, except God) but they are there with me – praying for me, thinking about me.  If you’re reading this, then you’re “being with me” right now.
• I’m the only one who can do the work I do BUT the reality is that God could raise up anyone to do what it is He has me doing – but He wants me to do it.  For some reason that is beyond me, He has called me to do what it is I do.  I am blessed, not burdened.
• I’m tired and overwhelmed by what God has called me to do and don’t see how God expects me to do it all BUT the reality is that He hasn’t called me to do it in my own strength but by His strength.  This is the reason I have a sign in my office that says “It’s the Holy Spirit working – not YOU!!” which I try to read to remind myself every day.
• Sometimes I feel wronged by someone wondering how God could allow that person to do that to me BUT the reality is that that person is also loved by God (whether they’re a Christian or not) and that God may be looking to me to show some of the grace that He has shown me plenty of towards that person trusting Him that any wrong doings will be taken care of as God is the God of justice but that He will do it in His way and in His timing.
• I look to the future and can’t see a way for things to work out well BUT the reality is God sees (and is IN) the future and is taking care of it for me.  I’m just suppose to obediently trust and follow Him into that future.  Trust is the key factor there.

So sitting here today – here’s my perspective:  This is the longest I’ve ever gone without seeing my parents & sister and know that it will be a while before I will see them again face to face.  With the economy & spiritual situation here in Europe (and beyond), requests for help have multiplied considerably causing me to feel overwhelmed by the lists of “todos” that surround me and moving so fast is sometimes causing friction with the other people I work with.  I’m looking at our bank account and will have to make some serious decisions about the future.  Decisions that I don’t want to deal with.  This is my perspective BUT the reality is I’m in God’s hands and as I listen to Joan Osbourne’s “One of Us”, I’m reminded that “God is great, God is good.”

[Note:  If you are wondering how do you find out what is God's perspective? - talk to God, read the Bible and be a part of a community of believers.  Over time, you'll begin to see it too]

Ramadan

Ramadan is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar.  So why do a I bring this up? – because we are in it right now.  Several people I know and many throughout Europe and the world are celebrating Ramadan right now.  They describe it as one of the best months of the year as families get together multiple times through the month.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a month where they fast (giving up food and drink and other things) during the daylight hours so that they can concentrate more on praising and worshiping Allah.  It’s a time where they focus on living more pure lives in hopes that this will continue through the other months of the year.  Many believe that Allah locks Satan and his workers away preventing them from misleading and deceiving people during the month so that no sin committed during Ramadan can be blamed on Satan, only on the hearts of those committing the sin.  They believe that if you participate properly in Ramadan, then all your past sins will be forgiven.  They are taking the time to better themselves before Allah.  It’s also a time of celebration as when the sunsets, many get together with families and friends to eat their meals.  One friend of mine says that he loves to be around his family during Ramadan as its a whole month of being close to his extended family.  Kinda like how some Christians feel of the Christmas holidays – a really good time with family.

Currently, some friends of mine just moved to a Muslim country and are participating in their first Ramadan.  Since they are foreigners, the locals don’t expect them to actually fast.  But to show respect for the culture, my friends have decided to participate in the fast and the evening celebrations.  If this is something you have not experienced, then know that this is a difficult thing to do.  You have no energy during the day (and its HOT!) and you are up most of the night eating and celebrating.  So basically you are hungry and tired for the month.  However, they want to show their intentions of being true and respectful to the culture they are in.

To show our support of them, many of us are participating in the fast by signing up for one day during Ramadan (mind you, its only one day).  Today is that day for me.  As I’m praying and worshiping God in my extra time or whenever my stomach rumbles, here are some of my prayers:

• That people of all religions around the world will understand that God doesn’t require us to do or behave in a certain matter (removing the bad things or sin from our lives) to be able to be with Him – instead He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to wipe out our sins so that we can be with Him.  That it is once we accept and have faith in what Jesus did this for us (and we don’t have to) that God will work within us, through the Holy Spirit, to start removing the things in our lives that hurt our relationship with God.  (if you have questions about this – feel free to contact me or comment below)
• That as people all around the globe participate in Ramadan, that God will use this time to speak to them LOUDLY as they open their hearts to more spiritual matters.
• That God will strengthen my friends whom I’m supporting on this day and that they will be influencers of the Truth where they are now living.  This also goes for many other friends that I have living in and out of Muslim countries who are interacting with those that are participating in Ramadan.
• I pray for the millions of Muslims living in Europe who see relics related to the Christian history (much of it with disdain) but that they will instead see Christianity as a relationship with God.
• That as people are seeking spiritual matters during this time, they will use whatever means is open to them (friends, cell phones, the Internet, etc) to ask the hard questions that they are sometimes afraid to ask and that they will find the answers that point them to the Truth.  Praying that the people/websites/technological systems that they ask these questions of will be ready and willing to share the Gospel with them.
• That those that do find the Truth during this time will be able to live it out even though their families may reject them, they may lose their jobs, their friends may abuse them and the authorities may arrest them.

Would you pray with me?

New & Untried Solutions

"We’re often more comfortable with old problems than new and untried solutions."  – Eric Celerier, director of Top Chretien

As I frantically run around trying to get things ready for our mission’s Annual Conference, I keep thinking about this quote.  For us in eDOT we are preparing to show some projects we have in beta that are "new & untried solutions".  We know that some people will not be comfortable with them but we think they have a lot of potential and are excited about seeing them used to impact people for God.

Pray with us as we work on the systems to get them ready to show and as we prepare various presentations at the conference that incorporate our solutions.

Thank you.

Economic Crisis is World Wide

We hear in Europe from friends and family in the US about how the economy is not good there.  We hear about friends losing jobs or being required to take paycuts and we hurt for them.  (We too have had cut-backs in income)  We just want ya’ll to know that you are not alone in all of this.  US News & World Report released an article the other day talking about economies that will take longer to recover than the US.  Ironically, of the 10 economies that will take longer for recovery, 8 are places we work and/or live in:

from US News & World Report

Recently I spent some time in Moldova and they are being hit hard.  All construction in the country has come to a halt (literally ALL CONSTRUCTION) and what exports they were able to have are now not selling – their buyers have shriveled up.  The conversation continuously came around to “Why did this happen?”  For people who build their own houses, they don’t understand when I talk to them about mortgages and defaulting on loans.  These are people who live on only a few hundred dollars a month and now its even harder for them.  My friends in Ukraine are seeing their inflation go through the roof as it was based on the US dollar but their spending was on imports from countries based on the Euro, so now things are too expensive for them to purchase.  (The Euro/Dollar ratio is back up in favor of the Euro again)  You may have heard in the news that Ukraine may not have the money to pay it heating bill (which is supplied by Russia) and that quite possibly may be true.  And I’ll tell you this, Ukraine is not a place you want to be without heat (been there, done that!).

We are here as we want to help these economies as best we can.  Many of them will be “reborn” if you will as they recover and technology will be a major part of their recovery.  People will need computer training to get the job skills needed for these new economies.  Ministries and churches in these places will look to technology to reach more people on tighter purse strings.  We see the purpose of our being here ever so much clearer in light of these times.

Pray with us

• for the many who are without right now (whether it be a job, knowing Christ personally, etc)
• for the obstacles that hinder our being focused on working here (our visa renewal, low support account)
• for the whole world to look at economic recovery not as a means to get back to like it was, but to look at what they’re using money for and is it worthwhile.

Thank you.