tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55518932085645986222024-03-05T13:41:54.474-05:00Bill DrakeBlog by Bill Drake: Director of OM Arts InternationalBill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-50182545247995035652018-11-04T01:27:00.000-05:002018-11-04T01:28:06.535-05:00The Art of Communication<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><h2 style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:1.5rem 0px 0.75rem"><font color="#707173" face="Lato, Arial, Helvetica, sans serif"><span style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;font-weight:500">I am blessed to be able to share with you this beautiful story coming with Taiwan, about how God used some of our Incarnate 2018 Graduates in a powerful way in Taiwan, to communicate some of the deeper truths we hold in the Kingdom of God.</span></font></h2><h2 style="font-size:2.4rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:1.5rem 0px 0.75rem;font-weight:500;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:"Roboto Slab",Lato,"Sans serif";color:rgb(210,38,48)">COMMUNICATING THROUGH ART</h2><h4 style="font-size:1.25rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:1.5rem 0px 0.75rem;font-weight:500;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">OM International | <a href="https://stories.om.org/world/asia/TWQ" title="See stories from Taiwan" style="box-sizing:inherit;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(210,38,48)">Taiwan</a></h4><div class="gmail-item-image" style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.5rem 1.5rem;width:410.59375px;padding-bottom:0px;overflow:hidden;max-width:60%;float:right;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif""><a href="http://www.om.org/img/l60343.jpg" style="box-sizing:inherit;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(210,38,48)"><img class="gmail-album gmail-article-image" src="https://www.om.org/img/m60343.jpg" alt="A local woman receives a postcard hand drawn by a visiting Incarnate artist at an art exhibit put on by OM in Taiwan." style="box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; border: 0px; top: 0px; width: 410.59375px; left: 0px;"><span class="gmail-caption gmail-visible-desktop" style="box-sizing:inherit;display:block;padding:1rem;background-color:rgba(32,34,41,0.901961);font-size:1rem;opacity:0;color:rgb(255,255,255)"><strong style="box-sizing:inherit">Taiwan:</strong> A local woman receives a postcard hand drawn by a visiting Incarnate artist at an art exhibit put on by OM in Taiwan.</span></a></div><span style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">In May 2018, OM Taiwan received three Christian visual artists from the U.S.A., East Asia and Hong Kong. Before they came, they had received a three-months training in Italy with OM Arts </span><span style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;font-style:italic;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">Incarnate</span><span style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif""> – where they lived with various Christian artists from all over the world and learnt how to exercise their artistic gifts for the Lord.</span><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif""></p><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">After the training, they stayed for one month in Tong Luo, a Hakka town. In Taiwan, the Hakka people are considered least reached, with only a 0.2% evangelical Christian population. The artists were asked to create artwork which reflected the characteristics of the Hakka people as well as Christian values. By connecting with locals, the artists were able to find some cultural Hakka elements to include in their artwork. These pieces were pulled together in an art exhibition at the Tong Luo train station – the most populated public area in the small town.</p><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">The main purpose of the exhibition was to reach out to those who did not know Christ. The OM team had never done a one-week long event in the train station, and were not sure if the permission would be granted to do so. Surprisingly, when they met the train station master, he did not ask too many questions. Within only a few minutes, the permission was given for the exhibition. The OM team believes that it was God who opened the door for the event to happen in that location.</p><h3 style="font-size:1.7rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:1.5rem 0px 0.75rem;font-weight:500;font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif";color:rgb(170,170,170);font-style:italic">'What is home?'</h3><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">These three artists have different artistic styles. Jane* from East Asia creates artwork using languages and words. One of her pieces was to separate Hakka into "Hak" and "Ka", which in Mandarin can mean 'guest' and 'home.' Then she wrote 'What is home?' and 'What does it mean to be a guest?' on a large sheet of paper. Many visitors came and left their comments. One uncle wrote, "I am a Hakka. I eat my dinner and watch TV every night." A team member wondered why he wrote this because it didn't seem to have anything to do with being Hakka. The elderly man explained that his children all work in other cities, his wife passed away a few years ago, and therefore, every night he watches TV together with the photo of his deceased wife and has his meal all by himself. He expressed his deep feelings towards the words 'guest' and 'home' because even though physically he was at home, emotionally he felt like a guest. This man visited the team every day during the exhibition to chat with them. Through these conversations the team learnt to deeply feel and identify with the loneliness of the elderly in the community.</p><h3 style="font-size:1.7rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:1.5rem 0px 0.75rem;font-weight:500;font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif";color:rgb(170,170,170);font-style:italic">'Conversation'</h3><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">Sherrie from the U.S.A. often projects her own situation and feelings into her work. In this exhibition, she decided to use 3-D abstract objects to express her concept. Sherrie grew up in the U.S.A. as a second-generation Taiwanese descendant as both her parents are Taiwanese. She created an artwork named 'Conversation.' She explained that in Chinese society, it is quite difficult to have a real conversation within families. Even though parents love their children, they seldom express their love verbally. In her piece, she reflected that people should strip away their pride and societal norms and allow God to give the courage to be real and talk to each other. Her artwork reflected the family situation of the town because many parents work in other cities and leave their children with the grandparents. Grandparents usually express their love to their grandchildren by providing for their material needs but are not good at conversing with them; seldom expressing their love verbally. Sherrie's artwork was something that the younger generation could easily identify with.</p><h3 style="font-size:1.7rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:1.5rem 0px 0.75rem;font-weight:500;font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif";color:rgb(170,170,170);font-style:italic">'Guest Postcard'</h3><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">Amy from Hong Kong created an artwork named 'Guest Postcard.' She, as a guest in the town, invited locals to sit down at a table and share their Hakka stories with her. After that, Amy would make a hand drawn postcard according to what they shared and mail the postcard to them from Hong Kong. However, the project did not go well at first because people did not have the time to stay long. So Amy adapted and had visitors share their stories, and then select a prayerfully pre-prepared painted postcard in an envelope. People then opened the postcard and miraculously, almost all the visitors got one that matched their stories. The team believed that it was the guidance of the Holy Spirit.</p><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">A retired elementary school principal came to the exhibition and was amazed when she got a picture of many chairs lined up in a queue just like in a school setting. Amy explained the meaning of the postcard to the principal: That the chairs symbolised children waiting for help, and whoever choose this card would be the one who helped them. The principal responded that it was exactly her situation. This principal is not a Christian yet, but has partnered with the OM team for campus ministry for many years. She helped them expand the ministry among other schools. Last year she retired and the team has been praying that God would continue to use her in new ways; most importantly that God would draw her close to Himself.</p><h3 style="font-size:1.7rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:1.5rem 0px 0.75rem;font-weight:500;font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif";color:rgb(170,170,170);font-style:italic">Leading people to the truth</h3><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">Artists often use metaphors to express their ideas and look at things from different perspectives. Their artwork helps people think deeper into the reality behind the surface. Even though the artwork itself is not a direct communication, it provides many interactive opportunities for the communicators and visitors do not feel they are forced to listen to a lecture. Instead, they take the initiative to interact with the artwork and chat with the creators. In this exhibition, the OM team had many chances to share the gospel and their own personal testimonies with visitors. One said "We experienced how Art combined with the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit can lead people to the Truth."</p><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">*name changed</p><p style="font-size:19.200000762939453px;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.3rem;color:rgb(112,113,115);font-family:Lato,Arial,Helvetica,"sans serif"">Published: Thursday, 01 November 2018<br style="box-sizing:inherit">Credit: OM International<br style="box-sizing:inherit">© 2018 OM International </p></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><img></div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-53663984137443085562018-08-27T18:33:00.001-04:002018-08-27T18:33:56.717-04:00Something Old, Something New<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4zDCafKk1QDrvhFKOfa0pLBq-Qb8MGf-v2SUB75zMnd3kd1rpFlPSIK03l30ARRboCSrlMKgNHQQxWdbzBAm6k5mWZswGBUT6EVXr_ruvkeR2-zoI3llE2hXeUpVs1Fc6MRxhV1po2QsP/s1600/Bill%252BGabor-Hungary%252718-001-736743.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4zDCafKk1QDrvhFKOfa0pLBq-Qb8MGf-v2SUB75zMnd3kd1rpFlPSIK03l30ARRboCSrlMKgNHQQxWdbzBAm6k5mWZswGBUT6EVXr_ruvkeR2-zoI3llE2hXeUpVs1Fc6MRxhV1po2QsP/s320/Bill%252BGabor-Hungary%252718-001-736743.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6594532460791950034" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">A very cool thing, 25 years in the making, happened yesterday in Ujpalota (Wee-pal-oat-a = "New Palace) a suburb of Budapest, Hungary.<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">The Pastor there, Gabor, met us with such enthusiasm! We found out that he had been following OM for many years. He is the man who discipled Attila Kapoc, the current Field Leader of Operation Mobilization in Hungary, when Attila first came to Christ many years ago. Gabor's church building is brand new, and he was so excited to host us in his modern facility.<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">As he was "briefing" us on the church, the upcoming concert, etc., he pointed us to a shelf that held a "Bill Drake Band" Cassette (!) that he purchased at a Bill Drake Concert in 1993, shortly after the Iron Curtain came down. He said it was the first contemporary Christian album he had ever bought - and he even had it signed by the author!<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">It was amazing to see a cassette of mine from 25 years ago, still intact, bearing my signature, and well-worn. But I was not ready for the "rest of the story", which Gabor shared at the end of our concert when he came forward to wrap everything up.<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">As the concert was about "Legacy", he got up and shared personally about his own story of following Jesus, and how The Lord called him into the ministry, when he was visiting St. Andrew's in Scotland in 1992. He returned to Hungary and went into seminary, but found out quickly that it was more like "cemetery", where many men had their faith shipwrecked. He himself was ready to quit.<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">Then Gabor was invited to an OM Concert, where he heard an artist called "Bill Drake", and he was captivated by the deeper lyrics translated into Hungarian, and the testimony of a transformed life - from rejection to fatherhood, from suicidal to missionary. He especially liked the song "I'll Obey and Serve You". This prompted him not only to buy the cassette, but also to re-commit his life to ministry and pursue the pastorate, regardless of the "hot mess" that the reformed seminary there was or had to offer.<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">And here we were 25 years later: the same artist now stood in Gabor's brand new church, where under his leadership, by Hungarian standards we were witnessing nothing short of a miracle - vibrant congregation growing like crazy had built a brand new building for the glory of God to service the local community there in "New Palace". <span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">And there was Attila, the young man he discipled, now the Leader of OM in Hungary, bringing to Gabor's church the artist Bill Drake who brought Gabor the song that encouraged him to recommit his life to following his dream of being a Pastor one day - all in the same building. The convergence was nothing short of God-wrought.<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">The concert went extremely well. The Gospel was preached, people were impacted, tears were shed - all in all an awesome experience. But I walked away in dumb-struck awe, at how the God of the Universe rolled back the curtain for just a moment, for me to see how a difficult trip from England to Hungary in 1993, had a significant role at a critical juncture in this Pastor's life, which ended up discipling the future leader of OM in Hungary, and leading to his building of a church and a congregation that is making huge impact in this part of Budapest.<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">What is so cool about this Brian, is that you are part of this - I would never have been able to go, if you guys were not supporting us, holding the lifeline, in prayer, in finance, and in partnership on the Mission Field, wherever God calls us to go.<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:medium;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0)">So thank you. And thank you from Pastor Gabor. The look on his face when I presented him with the brand new CD that has the new version of "I'll Obey And Serve You" on it - was priceless (Legacy – The Mission). He beamed, full of joy, as obviously the Lord reminded him again that He holds all of these things in His hands, and nothing we do for the Lord goes un-noticed. Hallelujah!<span></span></p></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-29854052997064280162017-10-31T09:49:00.001-04:002017-10-31T09:49:59.713-04:00On Beauty, Structure, Hospitality, and Worship...<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwnrFYhXunGiFAJBLI-vytgPS7HcZz1Nm9Rfx3ed70f1lFK6yWrlBmWAupYJsHqyIyRVJ1HY5nKvDq9RCgQAwwPrqU5UCxMP1-x1SKKn5q9epVpdiX8BQwXUl_dgW_zfPK4qqUZ8ZCgNsu/s1600/Montenegran+Coast-799714.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwnrFYhXunGiFAJBLI-vytgPS7HcZz1Nm9Rfx3ed70f1lFK6yWrlBmWAupYJsHqyIyRVJ1HY5nKvDq9RCgQAwwPrqU5UCxMP1-x1SKKn5q9epVpdiX8BQwXUl_dgW_zfPK4qqUZ8ZCgNsu/s320/Montenegran+Coast-799714.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6483071888153503122" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">I thought on this day that many in the West "celebrate" or "glorify" the spiritual ugliness inherent in Halloween, I would post something I have been pondering concerning Beauty. And I want to thank Mat Carson, Director of OM Arts International, for helping me to set my brain on things like this - </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default"><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">The relational God Who brings order out of chaos has invited us into the process of His ongoing creative acts - right down to having children, refining culture, or shaping the physical and invisible architecture of Worship.</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">One of the things we have been considering in the Arts, is that "Beauty is Hospitable" - I liken that to the warm feeling of invitation that comes from approaching a well-laid and appointed dining room table. In fact, when it comes to Worship, we are told in the Scriptures that Worship itself is Hospitable - The Lord God has chosen to inhabit the praises of His people. </font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">The effort God went to in order to give instructions concerning His Tabernacle, His Temple, and the Beauty and Order that went into that, (not to mention the order that is found in our physical universe) demonstrate to us how concerned God is that there is a reciprocal relationship between Worship, Beauty, Order, Structure, all for the purpose of Hosting "right relationship".</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">But lest we get stuck in the Old Testament, the New Testament has the same instruction - in the unseen recesses of the heart - God still wants to inhabit the praises of His redeemed people, corporately, but also individually - which is why we are all likened to being the Temple of the Holy Spirit. For a New Testament redeemed Jew, this temple metaphor would bring enormous meaning - including Beauty (virtue), Structure (order and governance), and yes, right Relationships. </font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">Hence the enormous emphasis on Discipleship, and now Spiritual Formation - we have been tasked with the privilege of Hosting well the Holy Spirit, and living our lives out as Living Sacrifices of Worship for the Most High God - to behold the Beauty, the Beauty of the Lord - to inquire in His Temple - The Temple of the Lord (with all New Testament meaning intended!). This cannot be done without some form of governance and structure - God is not the author of confusion or chaos - in fact, He intrinsically reacts to confusion to bring Meaning, and He intrinsically responds to chaos, to bring Beauty and right Order.</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">And the minute we become more enamored with our structures, or serve our structures, or spiritualize our structural preferences, over maintaining right relationships with one-another and with The Lord God, we have then left Beauty, and strayed into the ugliness of Idolatry...</font></div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br><div><img></div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-72198387996754945022017-09-27T17:34:00.001-04:002017-09-27T17:34:33.223-04:00As I Come Into Your Presence<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicuFOMA-cQ_-alKxYaq0cwvnBDpvZH1eFp9uZqkX2IzCS0gkAgPAZ5l0KA_KgR-sa4FZp5C742HUR5VpJzFo4Ki01vV9ajFzZMxD1HjZ_pFw1cCEXo2h2kixvzrwaXeZ_JQzavVDCHH_B3/s1600/As+I+Come+Into+Your+Presence+Thumbnail-773224.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicuFOMA-cQ_-alKxYaq0cwvnBDpvZH1eFp9uZqkX2IzCS0gkAgPAZ5l0KA_KgR-sa4FZp5C742HUR5VpJzFo4Ki01vV9ajFzZMxD1HjZ_pFw1cCEXo2h2kixvzrwaXeZ_JQzavVDCHH_B3/s320/As+I+Come+Into+Your+Presence+Thumbnail-773224.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6470574704365828114" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">This song was written while two precious young women were blown into eternity by a terrorists grenade in the Philippines. God has used their ultimate act of worship to inspire thousands around the world to continue to spread the love and grace of His Son Jesus Christ.<br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">You can see the Video here: </font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"><a href="https://youtu.be/BQx7UWlHu04" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/BQx7UWlHu04 </a></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">You can read the full story of their martyrdom here, and scroll down to <i>As I Come Into Your Presence</i>: <a href="https://www.billdrake.com/legacy/legacy-the-song" target="_blank">https://www.billdrake.com/<wbr>legacy/legacy-the-song</a></font></div><div><div class="m_8767747591165905815gmail-m_7740218147743783285gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-30143525897173783102017-06-11T14:08:00.001-04:002017-06-11T14:08:33.856-04:00Drake's Update Summer 2017!<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><center style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-webkit-standard;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" width="100%" id="gmail-bodyTable" style="border-collapse:collapse;height:5564px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:1426px"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" id="gmail-bodyCell" style="height:5564px;padding:0px;width:1426px;border-top-width:0px"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" id="gmail-templatePreheader" style="background-image:none;background-size:cover;border-top-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;background-position:50% 50%"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="gmail-templateContainer" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:600px;width:600px"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="gmail-preheaderContainer"><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockInner" valign="top"><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="18" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;background-color:rgb(220,81,81);border:6px groove;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(242,242,242);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;text-align:center"><div style="text-align:left"><span style="font-size:24px">A long overdue letter!</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top" id="gmail-templateHeader" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);background-image:none;background-size:cover;border-top-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0px;background-position:50% 50%"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="gmail-templateContainer" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:600px;width:600px"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="gmail-headerContainer"></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top" id="gmail-templateBody" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);background-image:none;background-size:cover;border-top-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;background-position:50% 50%"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="gmail-templateContainer" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:600px;width:600px"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="gmail-bodyContainer"><table class="gmail-mcnImageBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnImageBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnImageBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnImageContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnImageContent" valign="top" style="padding:0px 9px;text-align:center"><img alt="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/262662d703988c21bb12c6aae/images/4944e734-c6ca-4bba-967d-c35a98ccce6e.jpg" class="gmail-mcnImage" width="355" align="middle" style="border: 0px; height: auto; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; max-width: 355px; padding-bottom: 0px; display: inline;"></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockInner" valign="top"><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="18" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;background-color:rgb(220,81,81);min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;text-align:center">It's hard to believe that we are already into June! Where has the time gone? Well, after a season of unprecedented travel and some health issues, here we are! We are grateful now to be able to give you an update on what we have been doing these last 5 months! </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top" id="gmail-templateFooter" style="background-image:none;background-size:cover;border-top-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;background-position:50% 50%"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="gmail-templateContainer" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:600px;width:600px"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="gmail-footerContainer"><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockInner" valign="top"><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="18" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;background-color:rgb(220,81,81);border:5px groove;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;text-align:center"><div>Personal Stuff</div><div>I am very proud of my husband, Bill, for his accomplishment of losing over 50 pounds to date, as it isn't as easy to lose weight with a slow metabolism!. He is enjoying starting to get a new wardrobe and a better feeling of well-being!<br><br>I (Teri) had surgery for a retinal detachment on April 11th. They say the recovery period is about 8 weeks or more, and presently I am in the 8th week and am enjoying improving sight day by day! There was no special reason for the detachment other than being over 50 (what?!) and having had cataract surgery (which increases the risk of a detachment) two years ago! Part of the recovery required me to lay on my right side for 20 hours out of a 24 hour period of time for two weeks! I listened to a lot of scripture and books as I couldn't read either! Definitely a trying time! But thank God my eyesight is about 90% back to normal!<br><br><span style="font-size:12px">On another note, after spending some quality time with God at a retreat center, I decided I want to return to using my given name of Teresa out of respect for my parents and the name they gave me at birth. I am in the process of making the change, which might be a bit of a challenge for friends and family after all these years! But I really felt the freedom to do it, and so I will! :) </span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnDividerBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;background-color:rgb(158,47,47);table-layout:fixed"><tbody class="gmail-mcnDividerBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnDividerBlockInner" style="min-width:100%;padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnDividerContent" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;border-top-width:2px;border-top-style:solid;border-top-color:rgb(234,234,234)"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding-top:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:100%;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;text-align:center;padding:0px 18px 9px"><span style="font-size:18px">Now for the Ministry Stuff!</span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding-top:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:100%;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;text-align:center;padding:0px 18px 9px">After 25 years of faithful service in OM as International Music Minister, and then founder and Director of OM Arts International, Bill was asked by the International Director of Operation Mobilization to become the Director of Catalytic Ministries.<br><br>"What exactly is that?" you might ask! Well, firstly Bill has not been asked to stop doing public ministry! He will continue to do concerts, lead worship, evangelize, preach and teach and disciple, and he even gets to continue in his role as Director of Incarnate: OM Arts' school of mission which raises up other younger Artists to become missionaries.<br><br><strong>Bill is now in a top, Senior leadership position in OM, where he is the supervisor for all those who are running ministries that are seen to be catalytic ministries for "Planting Vibrant Communities of Jesus Followers Among the Least-Reached" </strong>(OM's new mission statement and ministry focus). As OM moves more and more toward becoming a church-planting movement, there are a number of key strategic ministries that have been raised up over the years that have a demonstrable impact in evangelism and church planting, especially in nations and people's that tend to be in difficult regions of the world that have been resistant to the gospel. Bill's experience in developing OM Arts was part of the reason why he was chosen for this new role, and as such, he will be overseeing the extremely talented people who run ministries in OM engaging in Arts, Sports, Business 4 Transformation (B4T), Relief & Development, HIV/AIDS, and Justice.<br><br>One of the things that makes ministries like this so powerful, is that they all are engaging in cultural universals - these ministries touch culture where culture "lives", and as such, speak to a culture in ways that the culture is already speaking to itself. These ministries are <strong>"Incarnational"</strong>, in that by engaging in these arenas of life as Christians with those we wish to bring Jesus to, <strong>we <em>humble</em> ourselves</strong>, we are<strong><em>birthed</em> into other cultures</strong>, <strong>we <em>embody</em> Christ in our life and work</strong>, and we <strong>"<em>dwell with</em></strong>" those to whom we bring the love of Christ. These four ingredients encapsulate what it means to be Incarnational, as Jesus exemplified for us in Phil. 2 and John 1:14, and we are never more Christ-like than when we are incarnational in the way we approach those we want to reach with the gospel.<br><br>The result is that Bill has embarked on probably more travel than he ever has before in his life! Just this year alone, he has been to Thailand, Turkey, Germany, and Sweden, and before the year is out will be in Hungary, Austria, Canada, South Africa, Zambia, and Moldova, the poorest country in Europe. <strong>These Catalytic ministries are meeting people on the raw cutting edge of life, and are bringing the truth and hope of Jesus right where they live, breathe and work.</strong> It is an incredible privilege to be used in this way, and we look forward to how God is going to use us further in the coming days.<br><br>See below for two stories that come from two of these Catalytic Ministries, and how people were brought to Christ, and lives were totally changed!</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockInner" valign="top"><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="18" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;background-color:rgb(243,130,130);min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;text-align:center"><div style="text-align:left"><span style="font-size:12px">Teresa's Corner -<br>I have been working with our team regarding curiculum, spiritual formation etc. for our upcoming <strong>Incarnate</strong> school starting late January 2018! We aim to make this the best one yet. Of course learning from the past year's experience always helps. I also am available to Bill for some administrative tasks. I also have 2 young women I mentor regularly and often Bill and I find ourselves counseling with young marrieds and singles as well. Being available to server in various roles as the Lord leads seems to be the season I am in at the moment.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12px">-----------------------------</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12px"><strong>Applications are being accepted for Incarnate 2018! If you know of anyone who would like to join us for 90 days to learn how to use their artistic gifts<br>(visual art, music, dance, and/or drama)<br>in the ministry, please direct them to<br><a href="http://www.arts.om.org/incarnate">www.arts.om.org/incarnate</a></strong></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnCaptionBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse"><tbody class="gmail-mcnCaptionBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnCaptionBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnCaptionBottomContent" width="false" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnCaptionBottomImageContent" valign="top" align="center" style="padding:0px 9px 9px"><img alt="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/262662d703988c21bb12c6aae/images/d4429584-aae8-4f88-8beb-deee0bbfc1c7.jpg" class="gmail-mcnImage" width="240" style="border: 0px; height: auto; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; max-width: 240px;"></td></tr><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" width="564" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(101,101,101);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;text-align:center;padding:0px 9px"><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:18px"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif">We met Nabin* and Suraj* in 2012 through the fact that the OM Nepal guys team used to buy their coffee there. An investor trip was planned for that August,and in June we had already started putting a business plan together.</span></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:18px"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"> The brothers had many ideas, but we felt that the most critical and 'catalytic' would be for them to acquire a larger coffee roaster. <strong> At the time they were roasting coffee in an old popcorn roaster…roasting 1 kg every hour. </strong></span></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:18px"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"> </span></span><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif">We submitted their business proposal and they were able to secure a loan of USD22,000.</span></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:18px"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif">They sourced a roaster in India, and Nabin went for training, and this roaster was able to roast 20kg in 20 minutes. <strong><em>A 60 fold increase…</em></strong> This led to an increase in production of roasted coffee beans, more employment opportunities in Kathmandu and rural communities, outreach into communities, strengthening relationships, more finances released into ministries that they support… etc.etc.</span></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:18px"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"> Nabin and Suraj source their coffee from 8 collection centres in the Himalayan foothills. Each collection centre serves around 10 farmers. They therefore now have direct contact with 80 farmers, their families and their communities – <strong>all in an area of the world that is crying out for communities of Christ followers …</strong></span></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:18px"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"> </span></span><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif">After the earthquake in 2015, Nabin and his family and church were able to go into these areas, share the gospel of Jesus Christ and minister in practical ways His love to people who had lost almost everything. Another person working in Nepal has had the following words spoken to him: <strong><em>"Thank you for what you are doing for us. Our own people are not doing what you do. We love your religion!" (Matt 5:16)</em></strong></span></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:18px"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"> By B4T partnering with ONE businessman, we are growing and strengthening the Kingdom of God in a very real and tangible way, in tens, if not hundreds of communities in the Himalayan region… <strong>Jesus is demonstrated in word and deed, and people lives are being totally transformed.</strong></span></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:18px"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="color:black;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"> PS. Spin-offs of High Mountain Coffee has been the opening of Kathmandu Café, Grace Café, and soon to be opening a third café. This has led to twenty or more people being trained as baristas, and others in the catering business – a key issue in Nepal, a country that loses many, many people to overseas work, pulls families apart and breaks down the social fabric of the society… and all hear the Gospel!</span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnDividerBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;background-color:rgb(158,47,47);table-layout:fixed"><tbody class="gmail-mcnDividerBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnDividerBlockInner" style="min-width:100%;padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnDividerContent" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;border-top-width:2px;border-top-style:solid;border-top-color:rgb(234,234,234)"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnCaptionBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse"><tbody class="gmail-mcnCaptionBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnCaptionBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnCaptionBottomContent" width="false" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnCaptionBottomImageContent" valign="top" align="center" style="padding:0px 9px 9px"><img alt="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/262662d703988c21bb12c6aae/images/aafc09a3-5038-4460-bbea-29a68a7e69ea.jpg" class="gmail-mcnImage" width="240" style="border: 0px; height: auto; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; max-width: 240px;"></td></tr><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" width="564" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(101,101,101);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;text-align:center;padding:0px 9px"><span style="font-size:18px"><strong>The Lock and the Door </strong></span><div><em> (In a Middle Eastern City) </em><br> </div><div>The young artist looked at the painting she had just completed, and wondered,<br>"How could God ever use this?"<br><br>This artist, in a Muslim country with a team of visual artists for a short term mission trip, had struggled to render the concept that OM Arts had asked the team to paint: <strong><em>I am the door</em></strong>, those beautiful words of Jesus that invite us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But she had painted a lock—a heavy, massive medieval kind that looked impenetrable and imposing. Through the keyhole another door was visible, slightly open with light emanating from it. How could this communicate? How could God take that which she had painted and use it for His glory?<br><br>The old man strolled slowly through the open-air art gallery that had suddenly appeared in the plaza. He surveyed the beautiful pictures of doors and gates. There was one that captured his attention; it was of a lock. He stood stunned, as the revelation hit him. <strong>Someone had painted his life, his longing, his desperate condition of being locked out from the light.</strong> Light that he just knew was there for him, but had been so elusive in his own religious tradition. <strong>He knew in the moment he saw the painting that the artist who painted it had the insight and wisdom he had been seeking his entire life.</strong><br><br>The young artist approached the old man with a translator, and asked him why he was staring spellbound at her painting. Through tears, the man said to her, "My entire life I have felt locked out from all God had for me. I can see it through the keyhole, but I can't get to it. <strong>Can you please tell me, what is the key that will unlock the door of my life, and let me run into the light of God?"</strong><br><br>At that moment the young artist had the privilege of sharing the love of Christ with this man<br>right there in the plaza. The Holy Spirit had used her painting to unravel this man's heart, and draw him to the Father heart of God. </div><div align="center"><hr width="100%" size="3" align="center"></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnDividerBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;background-color:rgb(158,47,47);table-layout:fixed"><tbody class="gmail-mcnDividerBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnDividerBlockInner" style="min-width:100%;padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnDividerContent" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%;border-top-width:2px;border-top-style:solid;border-top-color:rgb(234,234,234)"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnImageBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnImageBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnImageBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnImageContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnImageContent" valign="top" style="padding:0px 9px;text-align:center"><img alt="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/262662d703988c21bb12c6aae/images/0064d4b2-c98b-4155-8e12-d23e464cb8da.jpg" class="gmail-mcnImage" width="240" align="middle" style="border: 0px; height: auto; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; max-width: 240px; padding-bottom: 0px; display: inline;"></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockInner" valign="top"><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="18" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;background-color:rgb(220,81,81);min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(242,242,242);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;text-align:center">The near future...<br>Our next ministry trip takes us on our annual Bill Drake Band tour in <strong>Hungary</strong>! We are privileged to be doing this trip with our daughter, Sharayah, and our Hungarian son-in-law, Bence. That's where it all started for them anyway back in 2010! We will be doing 10 evangelistic concerts in 14 days. Some of the venues are outdoor in a town square, another includes a drug rehab center and then crossing the border into Vienna. All concerts are done in partnership with local churches and OM Hungary.<div>------------------------------------------------</div>A few weeks after we return, Bill will be going to Canada to lead worship for a missions conference and then to Zambia and South Africa for a variety of different kinds of strategic ministry from teaching, evangelizing, helping with church planting, and mobilizing Africans in to mission.</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding-top:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:100%;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;text-align:center;padding:0px 18px 9px">Thank you for your interest, prayer and support for us! We appreciate having you all our our prayer and financial support team!</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextBlockInner" valign="top"><table class="gmail-mcnBoxedTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:9px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnTextContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="18" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;background-color:rgb(64,64,64);min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(242,242,242);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;text-align:center"><div><strong>Prayer Points</strong></div><ul><li style="text-align:left"><strong>Safety and favor in Hungary</strong> - we will be doing a lot of driving and with all the terrorist attacks going on pray for none to come near us.</li><li style="text-align:left"><strong>Safety and favor for Bill </strong>while traveling to Canada, S. Africa and Zambia.</li><li style="text-align:left"><strong>Wisdom for Bill</strong> as he takes on this new Senior leadership position in OM. Bill leads the Catalytic Ministries Division of OM International, and as such plays a very strategic role in seeing vibrant communities of Jesus followers are planted amongst the least reached peoples of the world.</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnButtonBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnButtonBlockInner" valign="top" align="center" style="padding:0px 18px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnButtonContentContainer" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border:6px groove;border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px;background-color:rgb(236,147,147)"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnButtonContent" valign="middle" align="center" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;padding:15px"><a class="gmail-mcnButton" title="Donate to the Drake's ministry (USA)" href="https://my.omusa.org/donate?id=6bb42a1d-8fff-449e-bc76-bc75fd26aa6a" target="_blank" style="display:block;font-weight:bold;line-height:16px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Donate to the Drake's ministry (USA)</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnButtonBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnButtonBlockInner" valign="top" align="center" style="padding:0px 18px 18px"><table class="gmail-mcnButtonContentContainer" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border:6px ridge rgb(255,255,255);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px;background-color:rgb(236,147,147)"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnButtonContent" valign="middle" align="center" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;padding:15px"><a class="gmail-mcnButton" title="Donate in the UK" href="http://www.uk.om.org/index.php/support-individuals" target="_blank" style="display:block;font-weight:bold;line-height:16px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(255,255,255)">Donate in the UK</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="gmail-mcnFollowBlock" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody class="gmail-mcnFollowBlockOuter"><tr><td class="gmail-mcnFollowBlockInner" valign="top" align="center" style="padding:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnFollowContentContainer" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td align="center" style="padding-left:9px;padding-right:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnFollowContent" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" align="center" style="padding-top:9px;padding-right:9px;padding-left:9px"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center" style="border-collapse:collapse"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" align="center"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse;display:inline"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnFollowContentItemContainer" valign="top" style="padding-right:10px;padding-bottom:9px"><table class="gmail-mcnFollowContentItem" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse"><tbody><tr><td valign="middle" align="left" style="padding:5px 10px 5px 9px"><table width="" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse:collapse"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-mcnFollowIconContent" width="24" valign="middle" align="center"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-twitter-48.png" class="gmail-" width="24" height="24" style="border: 0px; 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Box 444 · Tyrone, Ga 30290 · USA <br><br><a href="http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monkey_rewards&aid=262662d703988c21bb12c6aae&afl=1"><img src="https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/monkey_rewards/MC_MonkeyReward_15.png" border="0" alt="Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp" title="MailChimp Email Marketing" width="139" height="54" style="border: 0px; height: auto; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><img></div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-52592782321266465982017-02-26T08:35:00.001-05:002017-02-26T08:35:41.984-05:00The Creative Process<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGf3pggZFmbvLcLzi2pRiuXTk-vGl7257cPFOILRmw1SfiSxDgOM2h46UGoCa0xJwvMEvJTjxdMf9B02KmqW3Q3UEGC9HeBRC5EAsssKQhxOjtZouNN_DUEGwsGcGkantcdf-1K1MdVIhv/s1600/Montenegran+Coast-741986.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGf3pggZFmbvLcLzi2pRiuXTk-vGl7257cPFOILRmw1SfiSxDgOM2h46UGoCa0xJwvMEvJTjxdMf9B02KmqW3Q3UEGC9HeBRC5EAsssKQhxOjtZouNN_DUEGwsGcGkantcdf-1K1MdVIhv/s320/Montenegran+Coast-741986.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6391410165420533010" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color:rgb(0,19,32);font-family:arimo,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px;text-align:justify;background-color:rgb(253,254,255)">He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. - Eccl. 3:11</span><br></div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">Meditating this morning on the mysteries of the Creative Process, inspired by a colleague who wrote insightfully about nurturing his desire to "Listen". It has been obvious to me that in his artistic work, he has been learning to "perceive" better and better, as it has beautiful impacted his artistic expression... </div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">I have been using that paradigm much lately when explaining "how the arts work" to people who are just beginning to notice their power, their allure, their ability to engage at the most visceral level:</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">- that we all "<i>Perceive</i>" things, but Artists are granted by God with that innate ability to see further, deeper, wider - its part of the prophetic nature of the arts... and true "listening" is part of the art of perceiving...</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">- and then of course there is the "<i>Process</i>" part of it - and that brings in all our filters, our experiences, the nuanced hues of our differing rainbows, all pointing back to the God of Restoration, but at the same time allowing us to put our own autographs on things as small "c" creators...</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">- and then "<i>Production</i>", that sometimes glorious, sometimes tortured process of giving birth to something that at once produces stretch-marks and relief, a product that comes from the convergence of those internal forces of perception and process, incarnating something that tells a story, invites a journey, confronts a stronghold, brings reconciliation - so many uses God has for the things He helps us procure... </div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">And that leaves me with the beauty of Philippians 1:6 converged with Ephesians 2:10. Seems the Apostle Paul understood a bit about the Creative Process as well...<br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><img></div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-30439430007622248002016-08-26T17:17:00.000-04:002016-08-26T17:17:42.445-04:00Light Into Darkness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJB6tEl1QeL5ulAvz5CDSJFJKI87UTDFag3cnhARp4BuGR8Hb6Zp1HMmEM3tKvOtMw_fsCEIMwJ4YzA7TSbwI-EreAMi2bxbssm3_vHyJUoDmFMeubfKQ9Y0CkHISIHnh6Qmr456cC2gHf/s1600/Rackeresztur+Concert.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJB6tEl1QeL5ulAvz5CDSJFJKI87UTDFag3cnhARp4BuGR8Hb6Zp1HMmEM3tKvOtMw_fsCEIMwJ4YzA7TSbwI-EreAMi2bxbssm3_vHyJUoDmFMeubfKQ9Y0CkHISIHnh6Qmr456cC2gHf/s320/Rackeresztur+Concert.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="font-size: 9pt;">The Bill Drake Band at
Rackeresztur, Hungary</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The Bill Drake Band has
toured in many countries all over the world, and as such, we have been in a
variety of circumstances – on a ship in Turkey, in a prison in the UK, playing
on truck trailers in Azerbaijan, and setting u</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">p the drums on table tops in
Serbia!</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But rarely have we had the
opportunity to do a concert in a Roman Catholic Church, and even be allowed to carefully
move some of the more “valued” items on the platform, such as a statue of the
Mother of Jesus, or a solid stone lectern used for the Scripture Readings.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">But the little Catholic
Church in Rackeresztur (pronounced: ‘rats-care-est-tour’ whilst rolling all the
“R’s”!) Hungary, not only allowed us to do so, but welcomed us with open arms
to bring the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the men of the local drug
rehab center and their extended families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">We arrived at the rehab
center for lunch, and were treated to a great Hungarian meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marcel, one of our translators, noticed a
young man looking extremely dejected, as he was apparently being enrolled in
the drug rehab center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hovering nearby,
his mother was extremely distraught, while his father, obviously distancing
himself from what was an embarrassing and disappointing situation, was trying
to stay detached.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mother was trying
to get her son to go to his father, but neither man was willing to bridge the
gaping chasm that was separating them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Later, after setting up,
respectfully moving certain religious paraphernalia, and sound-checking in the
difficult space, we started the concert to a hall nearly filled to
capacity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the first three songs, I
usually share my testimony, and this time was no different, emphasizing the
part where my dying mother prayed for me even though I cursed Jesus in her
face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shared how I rejected God after
her funeral, and went out and trashed my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">As I was sharing, many in the
room began to tear up, and some began to weep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That particular testimony ends with me sharing how Jesus Christ saved my
life, and how I hope my mother can see her prayers have been answered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I close with dedicating my next song, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There’s a Place of Immeasurable Blessing</i>,
to all the mothers in the room who pray for their children, regardless of where
they might be at with God in the moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was obvious to all of us that the story and song had a deep impact on
the audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">At our next tour Devotions,
my daughter Sharayah humbly shared that she had had a vision during that part
of the concert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said through great
emotion, that as we sang the lyrics,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">There’s a place of immeasurable blessing<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">There’s a song that cannot be unsung<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">There is God Who inhabits our praises
and sings over us<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">…it appeared to her as if the
painted ceiling of the church opened toward the back of the sanctuary, and
angels began descending into the church, and began processing up the
aisle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were carrying torches, and
bringing light into the areas and hearts in the room that were dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the song finished, repeating the same
opening lyrics, Sharayah felt as if God were impressing on her, “These
messengers of mine are inhabiting My presence.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Others in our Devotional time
recalled that many responded to the Lord at the end as we impressed upon them
the message of reconciliation from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">17 </span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the
new has come. <b>18 </b>All this is from God, who through Christ
reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; <b>19 </b>that
is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. <b>20 </b>Therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you
on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. <b>21 </b>For our sake he made
him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Marcel then shared the
epilogue to his story:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the
invitation time to the concert, he noticed that the father of the troubled son
had moved next to him in the pew, and had his arm around him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Praise God for the ministry of
reconciliation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-33688686681791846002016-08-05T21:05:00.001-04:002016-08-05T21:05:38.479-04:00The Arms of Jesus<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7YPRSeRt41iGf_zgNzaVOjUH-yPcL6T46ROdyyDhREILXCoGQWsUp3H3iuIzo3QGnttqUVMgGvsw-BRH2GEFU9VIpXjS_HSxBdM0lOdnaiCLKHMkPyj5muy0ZfoRjJn9TrkM7i4osyWY/s1600/Rakospalota+Girl%2527s+Prison-738480.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7YPRSeRt41iGf_zgNzaVOjUH-yPcL6T46ROdyyDhREILXCoGQWsUp3H3iuIzo3QGnttqUVMgGvsw-BRH2GEFU9VIpXjS_HSxBdM0lOdnaiCLKHMkPyj5muy0ZfoRjJn9TrkM7i4osyWY/s320/Rakospalota+Girl%2527s+Prison-738480.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6315515498389923634" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9pt">By William Trimper & Sarah Liu</span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i> </i></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bill Drake Band at the Rakospalota, "Youth Women's Prison"</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">This was the second time we have presented a Bill Drake Band Concert at this facility. Both events felt dark, lonely and heartbreaking and we prayed hard for God to reach out to them thru Bill Drake's ministry in music and words.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Just before the inmates arrived, a leader of the prison told us we could have some limited contact with the women, but no photo's were to be taken of their faces. After the concert was over, the women would immediately be taken out of the concert area. We also had restrictions as to the area we could walk around the campus. He also told us to sit in the back row and the next row in front of us would be where the more hardened women would be required to sit. One mother-killer was also going to be in that row!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">After that row filled up, and all the other inmates were still waiting to come in, the women began to ask about the 8 year old Chinese boy who was with us, and what his name might be. "Sarah's son, Casson" we answered. When they all turned around to look at Casson, he began to hand Salvation Bracelets to each of these woman in the last row, bracelets with the colors: Black, Red, White, Blue, Green and Gold. One woman happened to speak English and listened as we explained what each color represented for a person who trusts Jesus Christ for Salvation. She promised that she would share what the colors meant with the inmates.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bill Drake's testimony is used tremendously among any Prison Ministry and our team was praying for the Holy Spirit to speak softly to the hearts of these young women. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sure enough, one of the young women directly in front of Sarah Liu (dancer, media person and evangelism team member from CVCC), began to weep; softly at first, then harder and harder. Sarah has a mother's sensitivity, and felt the need to offer a tissue, then a soft voice, more tissues and then hugs, not to just one, but three, one on each side of the original woman had also broke down and was weeping. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sarah recalls, "When I used my whole arm to hold the original girl, that girl started to kiss my arm many times and that caused me to tear up immediately. Then when as I wiped the tears off her face, the girl kissed my face, as I leaned into her. Nearby, another girl didn't cry, but always was staring at me. I felt she was so hungry for love, so I held that girl also, as my heart was being broken for what was happening to them. I wish I had more arms to hold all the girls who were crying at that moment!"</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sarah softly asked them, "Did Bill's testimony about his mother touch you? " to the first</p> <p class="MsoNormal">woman to cry. She said yes, then Sarah asked the second the same question, and she too said yes! Then Sarah asked the third and the terse response was, "NO! I don't have a Mother!" Sarah and others think she had just found the mother-killer…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sarah made sure that every woman in that row had a "Hungarian Gospel Tract" in their hands as they were led away. How thrilling for us to have the privilege to pray for each of these women as they passed by us and back to their confinement areas. They were short prayers, but we know God heard every one of them. (Psalms 116)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Only God knows for sure how many girls came to Christ that day, and if the "Mother-Killer" will come to repentance and reconciliation. We are praying for that to happen!</p> </div><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br><div><img></div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-41604985399020815342016-08-04T13:22:00.001-04:002016-08-04T13:22:37.481-04:00You Just Found Him<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Uq7gDo-Cm1P-4xzUDARCcC_oEgm0DqwWkvft2bzcJ1-KYcxGjkNPyqALVtZnVhlqqAqsyJ1yMLlXfn6aQyugovrIFja2ubsuAOT24jJ-G05MUK2Dm-kVbIRv5cR6gqVl1pfydPdqEdUO/s1600/Hungarian+Prisoners-757482.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Uq7gDo-Cm1P-4xzUDARCcC_oEgm0DqwWkvft2bzcJ1-KYcxGjkNPyqALVtZnVhlqqAqsyJ1yMLlXfn6aQyugovrIFja2ubsuAOT24jJ-G05MUK2Dm-kVbIRv5cR6gqVl1pfydPdqEdUO/s320/Hungarian+Prisoners-757482.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6315025095703305202" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9pt">By Bence Fonyad & Bill Drake</span></i><br></p><div></div><p></p> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>Bill Drake Band at Baracska Prison - Hungary</div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>I would like to share a story with you from yesterday when we had a concert in Baracska, a male prison. This is another testimony of how Jesus is lining up encounters for us decades before we even show up. It also testifies to the reality and significance of Romans 12:1, which says to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Basically showing up at a certain place at a certain time in this case regardless of opposing circumstances.</div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>The inmates at Baracska responded very well to the Bill Drake Band concert. At the end, when Bill gave the invitation, at least a third of men (around 30) raised their hands to indicate that they wanted to receive Christ; to surrender to "The Lamb" before every knee will have to bow to "The Lion". It was an awesome sight to see these convicts being set free from spiritual chains in Jesus name!</div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>Some inmates were chosen to stay behind to help us load the equipment and they started to talk to me. One of them was a gypsy man named Csaba (pronounced Chaba), and he just began to share his son's story with me:</div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>His son had an accident about 20 years ago when he was almost four. He was playing outside and fell off of something, got hooked into a rope or something, and basically got hanged by his throat. He was taken to the hospital where they said he will most likely not make it, but even if he did, he will have severe brain damage. He spent the night on the ICU where his bed happened to be between the beds of two old ladies. One of ladies died during the night. </div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>In the morning the son woke up and was completely fine and wanted to have his favorite breakfast! Later Csaba asked him what happened during the night, and how does he feel now? The son shared that a guy with a shiny face in a white robe came to him in the night, stroked his face and told him he needs to go back because he's got nothing to do there yet. As he was going back through some kind of a corridor he saw one of the ladies who had been in one of the beds next to him coming past him...</div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>The father then said to me, "Three year old kids don't lie about things like this. They don't make up stories like this either. Ever since then I have been looking for this man with a shiny face in a white robe, and I wanted to know who he is."</div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>I then asked him, "Have you found Him yet?" He said, "No". I immediately replied that he actually had just found Him and His name is Jesus - the Savior that we all had just sang and talked about during the concert, and Whom so many just received when they put their hands up to indicate their surrender to Him. I told Csaba that he can get to know this Jesus better from the Bible and through a personal relationship with Him. </div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>After this I prayed with Csaba, and asked Jesus to meet him, in the same way He did with his son. Csaba was saying he will try hard to meet Jesus, but then I told him, "No need to try hard, He will come to you so just expect Him to show up sometime soon."</div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>Csaba shared proudly that his son is a successful young man today, who speaks 4 languages.</div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div>As we drove away from the Prison, I was reminded again that God meets us right where we are at, reveals to us what we need to know, and is always waiting to receive those who will humbly receive Him. </div> <p class="gmail-MsoNormal"></p><div> </div><p></p> </div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div><br><div><img></div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-83525173225489365122016-03-23T06:02:00.001-04:002016-03-23T06:02:41.741-04:00Truth or Poison<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCd9Nl5kZwVhyGZvZSuKZVYYBhZDPUes7TOIWD3RrWTwb7Wpv9vUkjvPE0zU_t5X7ntVu2MzIontrIPfbh2WMpYAgf9TMEoOjYNVt2zZX0ikRPiw0OYh3_UqQTGbmbZi1G7GIbedp8xDmj/s1600/Spiritual+Warfare-761742.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCd9Nl5kZwVhyGZvZSuKZVYYBhZDPUes7TOIWD3RrWTwb7Wpv9vUkjvPE0zU_t5X7ntVu2MzIontrIPfbh2WMpYAgf9TMEoOjYNVt2zZX0ikRPiw0OYh3_UqQTGbmbZi1G7GIbedp8xDmj/s320/Spiritual+Warfare-761742.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6265186317744776754" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:11pt">You see my Father and I, we haven't really got on. Pretend it was all right, but both knew something was wrong. There was irritation, miscommunication, in desperate need of reconciliation. I didn't want to be around him and felt that it was mutual. Not wanted, not needed. Oh yeah. That's the usual.</span><br></p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:11pt"><br></span></p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">The space between my ears, it's filled with thoughts and emotions. They're not always loving and they're not always true. There's thoughts that are poison, in instant reaction of dislike and judgement.</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"> </p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">Love is a decision yeah, a choice and an action in the world out there, and the same laws of physics apply for the world in here. There's choices every moment for how I react. What I believe about myself, what I believe about my Dad, what I believe about our Dad. I've noticed so many attitudes in my head telling me lies, judgements about people and myself who I suddenly despise. </p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"><br></p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">When the bible says to take every word captive, I imagined a huge net of rainbows and of butterflies. But there's good and there's evil, there's light and there's dark. One of them is from God and the other certainly is not. The people around us, our peers and mentors, their attitudes and opinions have a massive influence. But the crux of the matter is what we choose in here. The battle is raging, whose side are we on? Whose advice are we listening to? Whose flag are we flying? Sure I can decide to love, but I need to decide to listen. To actively pick up every thought that flits inside my mind, to question, is it agape? Is it from God? Or is it a lie? Am I focusing on poison, giving it the power to destroy me from the inside?</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"> </p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">Do I now need to fear? Am I destroying myself? In the midst of the fight I've forgotten the punch line: God isn't simply a figure on my bookshelf. He's alive, he's here, in both of my realities. I don't need to sit there alone, sifting the bullets from the beauty, but simply need to ask for his perspective, to view the way that he sees. To choose truth, not poison; life, not distortion. Not just a good idea but to be actively lived out. Not a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. THAT is the influence that I choose to let surround. </p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"><br></p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">- "Truth or Poison" - a Spoken Word piece from an Incarnate 2016 Student</p></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-12623502762071922282016-03-01T11:49:00.001-05:002016-03-01T11:49:51.037-05:00Unity & Diversity (Trinity)<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSsW67DsJ8Du8a3dB_BvllGyYp5BbRx7tXZvmmAVoaqU-n1n_JqHVshEn2vkQDR8utHc8fsylz0LnWWUtkwuEnVFDJ-yFrm-re3FvOhYmpAXsUzfcw58ta34NjOieM6Y_AdKSR-rbwVeL/s1600/Prism-791038.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSsW67DsJ8Du8a3dB_BvllGyYp5BbRx7tXZvmmAVoaqU-n1n_JqHVshEn2vkQDR8utHc8fsylz0LnWWUtkwuEnVFDJ-yFrm-re3FvOhYmpAXsUzfcw58ta34NjOieM6Y_AdKSR-rbwVeL/s320/Prism-791038.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6257127364285584770" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large">Dear Friends - I wanted to share with you this work done by three of our students at Incarnate, as a sample of what they wrestled with, concerning the implications on humanity of being made in the image of our Trinitarian God. It was a remarkable effort on a number of levels, and while not being perfect, I couldn't help but share it with you as an example of the kind of interaction we are having here. Please enjoy!</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left;font-size:large"><u><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Adobe Fan Heiti Std B',sans-serif"><br></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left;font-size:large"><u><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Adobe Fan Heiti Std B',sans-serif"><br></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left;font-size:large"><u><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Adobe Fan Heiti Std B',sans-serif">The example of a prism: One source of light (God) gives rise to many expressions of colour for a reason.</span></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial">This assignment was written by H., E., and D. Each of us chose to answer one section of the question. D. has commented on whether we<b> agree or disagree</b> with the reaction in the essay (Bill Drake wrote on "The Myth of Biological Race" by Eloise Meneses). E. has commented on what she has <b>learnt from this essay</b> that she didn't know before. H. has commented on how the ideas in the essay <b>intersect with the teaching on the Trinity. </b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial">D: </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial">I agree with the conclusion of the essay by Bill Drake, which is written in response to the essay by Eloise Hiebert Meneses. Drake's conclusion to his essay reminds me of a personal experience I had while serving in Missions. I met an older lady in Talamanca, Costa Rica. She was illiterate. Nevertheless, she found the Bible in audio tapes and she memorized the whole Bible. What I learned from this experience is that there are no limits when we desire God with our whole heart. She didn't have anything and at the same time she had it all. <b>Each culture, tribe, and tongue have their own essence.</b> It's impossible to think that we cannot learn from one another just because we are different. Even though, we are from different cultures and we have different personalities and knowledge of the world around us, we should feel proud and thankful of the way God made us. <b>Each different country and culture that we are from is individually important. They all matter equally. </b> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial">E: </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial">What stuck out to me was that <b>race and ethnicity are different things.</b> I learnt that the answer to solve racism isn't to simply merge everyone together and so become 'equal' in that way, but to look at it from a different perspective. <b><span style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Genesis<span> </span><span>1:27</span></span></b><span> </span>tells us we're all created in his image, and <b><span style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">1 Corinthians 12 </span></b>talks about how we're all parts of the body and none is more important than another; each part has something valuable to bring to the table. I realised that the<b> 'us and them' mentality</b> is an issue in (my country) and so I found it so interesting that <b>God has created us in a way that is scientifically proven to not be separate races. Ethnicity and culture is not here to separate us or to give levels of importance to people groups but to bring us together</b>, not as racial groups somehow making it work, but as God's people celebrating the beautiful differences he's given us. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial">H: </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Somewhere along the line, a group of people (Caucasians), driven by a healthy desire for exploration (being inquisitive is normal and good) and spices (desiring that which tastes good is positive)<a href="#-1385570687__ftn1" name="-1385570687__ftnref1" title=""><span><span><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%">[1]</span></span></span></a>, made a decision that their difference in skin colour, their race so-to-speak, meant that they were not only different in some manner, but that they may be superior. The <b>sin of the illusion of superiority overran a positive desire to explore other parts</b> of the world (ie- diversity). The illusion of superiority resulted in colonisation, and later on, it resulted in the South African apartheid. We still suffer the consequences of the decision that was made, somewhere along the line, that one group of people was 'better' than another. The South African economic structure, employment opportunities, and education/ literacy discrepancies are still testament to the wrong thinking that crept into one, or perhaps many mens' hearts centuries before. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Drake's essay, which responds to Meneses' essay, makes it clear that we as human beings are one body of people made in God's image. I am not a scientist but am aware that genetics have made it such that many skin colours, body shapes and types have been brought into the world through genetic mutation. Due to us all <b>being One in the body of Christ,</b> this would mean that God would need to have created all of these facets in people. He created <b><span style="color:rgb(0,176,80)">male and female </span></b><span style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">(</span></span><span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1:27&version=NIV" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0);text-decoration:none">Genesis 1:27</span></b></a></span><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0)">. </span></b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0)">So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; <b>male</b> and <b>female</b> he created them). </span><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">God also created the potential in people as <b><span style="color:rgb(0,176,80)">different and diverse</span></b> in terms of culture and place of origin. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">With reference to the Jewish people group and the Gentiles (non-Jews), one people group had power over another due to the political setting of the time </span><span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nehemiah+5:8&version=NIV" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0);text-decoration:none">Nehemiah 5:8</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0)"> "As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow <b>Jews</b> who were sold to the <b>Gentiles</b>. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!" They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.</span><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> These two cultures were different, yet one had power over another at the time. Later on in history, the Jewish population suffered under the rule of the German government and many Jews lost their lives during the Holocaust. This is another example of how diversity is seen as negative, as opposed to positive. Preserving one race or ethnicity unfortunately became more important than celebrating differences. <b></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"><br></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Due to God being tripartite, having three roles, but being fully One, we as His followers, no matter what so called 'race' or 'ethnicity' we are, need to imitate diversity</span></b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> (many roles and different types of people) as well as unity (the trinity functions in complete unison).</span><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:black"> </span></b><span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+10:38&version=NIV" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0);text-decoration:none">Acts 10:38</span></b></a></span><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0)"> </span></b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0)">…"<b>God</b> anointed <b>Jesus</b> of Nazareth with the Holy <b>Spirit</b> and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because <b>God</b> was with him. </span><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">What I take from the above scripture is that The Father needed Jesus to show His (God's) love to the world. Jesus needed The Father because this is where he (Jesus) took his power and authority from, as well as directions. Jesus needed God's Spirit as this is what physically and spiritually gave him the power to carry out His Father's commands. The Father never gave Jesus a direction that He (God) didn't provide for. The Father, Jesus and the Spirit work in unison.</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial">If I examine scripture, I am aware that my thinking has also been wrong. I am fully aware of the fact that one people group is not better than another, this is settled. As D. has said: We "all matter equally". But my thinking is incorrect in that I have accepted that history is just how it is. What has been missing from my thinking is this: There is no fear in love and God (the trinity) IS LOVE. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0)">There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. </span></b><span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NIV&search=1%20John%204:18" title="1 John 4:18" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0);text-decoration:none">1 John 4:18</span></b></a></span><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0)"> </span></b><span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/index.php?action=getVersionInfo&vid=31" title="New International Version" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0);text-decoration:none">NIV</span></b></a></span><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(192,0,0)">.</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">It is truly possible that one people group could have arrived on the shores by ship to the home of another people group many years ago without difference getting in the way of celebrating diversity. Perhaps if the fear of losing what one has to the pale strangers that just arrived was not present, then it may have worked. Perhaps if both people groups decided to love their differences and share their skills, and resources, they may have come to a better outcome. If love replaced fear and wrong exertion of power, then the outcome would have been more Christlike. History cannot be un-done, however, it can be examined with right-thinking and hope. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">I return to the image of the prism- if we acknowledge that there is <b>one source of light (UNITY)</b>, then it is easier to understand the equal importance of each colour and <b>expression (DIVERSITY)</b> which comes forth from it. <span style="color:rgb(192,0,0)"></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:large;margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,176,80)"> </span></p> <div><br clear="all"> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" style="font-size:large"> <div> <p><a href="#-1385570687__ftnref1" name="-1385570687__ftn1" title=""><span><span lang="EN-ZA"><font size="1"><span><span lang="EN-ZA" style="line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri">[1]</span></span></font></span></span></a><span lang="EN-ZA"><font size="1"> The need for a stop-over station on the sea journey from the Netherlands to India, in the quest for spice, as part of the Spice Trade; was the inception of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The DEIC (Dutch East India Company) settled in the Cape and Caucasian people inhabited the same spaces as Khoisan and black people (Negroes as it was termed) who were already living there.</font><font size="4"> </font></span></p> </div> </div> </div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-75157365322074255012016-02-26T22:18:00.001-05:002016-02-26T22:18:56.647-05:00Culture Shock<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxwA5o9D166xVsolsWva3219vwhr481ljSltynnvtJAC7h56QT5S-vr3B6kLYkI9haCeiwrxF2e8XbhWvLbMvZbYPwBn2fnLs5BBZM5seQcb3fg7U667w-31CkCdGPY-wow6Xerk9ixZf/s1600/Unknown-736648.jpeg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxwA5o9D166xVsolsWva3219vwhr481ljSltynnvtJAC7h56QT5S-vr3B6kLYkI9haCeiwrxF2e8XbhWvLbMvZbYPwBn2fnLs5BBZM5seQcb3fg7U667w-31CkCdGPY-wow6Xerk9ixZf/s320/Unknown-736648.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6255805142021634770" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">...and then the angry man punched the Bus Driver in the face...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">You know, there is only one thing in life that we can control - only one. And when things don't go the way we like, we still have control of that one thing. And this became so apparent last Saturday as we prepared to take Incarnate 2016 into Rome for the day.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Dileep did his job right, booking 34 bus tickets on the "Express/Roma" bus line, which was to pick all of us up at the end of a lonely off-ramp called "Colledara", just outside of Isola del gran Sasso where we are running Incarnate. And some of us got up quite early that morning, to wait for the second round of vans to transport us the 4.5 kilometers from our School to the stop.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Then the bus pulled up, and 34 of us tried to get on. Whoops - there were already too many people on the bus! It seems the driver and his helper had already allowed too many people on who had NOT booked their tickets online or ahead of time, on this bus - after all, this is rural Italia - and the result was chaos. The poor bus driver kept coming on the bus's little PA system, asking the Italians on board different things (we found out later that it was "scrunch up", or, "Maybe get off if you got on without a ticket", and the final straw for one angry man, "please take all your children off the seats, and put them on your lap now". We all started to pray.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Dileep and I realized after 10 minutes of going no-where, that the situation was deteriorating - you could feel the tension rising in the bus. More prayer, and then a determination - Teri and I stood up, and asked for 6 Incarnate Students to volunteer to get off with us, not knowing if we'd get to Rome that day, but it was obvious that the bus wouldn't leave with people standing in the aisles. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">6 wonderful souls got off the bus with Teri and I. The bus doors were just closing when there was suddenly screaming coming from inside. It seems one of the Italians on board had had enough with the chaos, and so brought some of his own to play - by slugging the bus driver in the side of the face, after reaching between two of our students to do so!!! </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">The screaming came from the Bus driver's wife and child, who were sitting in front along with some other concerned passengers, who grabbed the man and pulled him back! The Carabinieri (Police) were called, and the drama continued. When it was all finished, the man was fined, the bus left 8 of us there on the side of the road, with four empty seats we found out later!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">One of those who got off with us was a lovely Italian from the Center that is hosting us, who has befriended us, and was coming into Rome with us that day. She called the Center's leader, and he in turn called the Express/Roma company to tell them that what was happening was entirely out of order, and to get a vehicle and someone up there to take us to Rome straight-away. Low and behold, a van appeared within 10 minutes, and the driver went so fast down the motorway, we overtook the bus and got to Rome 5 minutes ahead of the bus!!!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">We had an awesome day in Rome after all. But came away with some great lessons from the experience earlier that morning. At the end of the day, none of us can control our circumstances, but we can control our response - our attitude towards them. And the lesson I took from that experience once again, is that no matter what happens, look to God. He is the one who is in charge of our plans. He is the one in charge of our timetables. And of course He is the one Who holds our lives. Friends, never let your circumstances dictate your attitude - let that rather be the Holy Spirit Who reigns within our hearts.</div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-65882891847472221732016-02-18T15:15:00.001-05:002016-02-18T15:15:21.014-05:00The "Stuff" of Trinity<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZa8MdT-xK_1G_OqDnd0LTrmx2H8UeHMRjPPh8WytfO6LoBEhJ8FSsai-TLcKLiPpxYV8DcCK68K_gZblA-2m3dicZB4FZpfUv-ZRw8WoMKhlv3LgZ07Gma5cAtRWMW12uRrmnxwPiyl4/s1600/IMG_1543-721014.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZa8MdT-xK_1G_OqDnd0LTrmx2H8UeHMRjPPh8WytfO6LoBEhJ8FSsai-TLcKLiPpxYV8DcCK68K_gZblA-2m3dicZB4FZpfUv-ZRw8WoMKhlv3LgZ07Gma5cAtRWMW12uRrmnxwPiyl4/s320/IMG_1543-721014.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6252727300105385314" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">One of my favorite exercises that we do here at Incarnate is the worship session that happens right before we unpack the concepts of <i>Unity and Diversity</i>. The Students sit around tables in groups of three, and have to work together to paint, pastel, pencil, marker, whatever (!) on pre-drawn ancient symbols of the Trinity. The artwork that gets produced in this just over 30 minute collaboration is inspiring, even if is is Dancers and Musicians doing the work as well as Visual Artists!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Of course delving into the Trinity is to jump straight into the deep-end of a seminal and over-arching truth so basic to Christianity, that you don't have Biblical Christianity without it. Scholars and Theologians alike have tried for centuries to "nut this out" as my British friends like to put it, and although many have come up with some incredible thinking, and certainly some truth, there is still mystery, and how can't there be - God is God and we are not. I'm a little concerned about a god that I can wrap my head around!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Of course there are some beautiful examples in nature - I think one of the best is H2O - 3 atoms make the most incredible substance needed for all life, and even those 3 atoms form a molecule that comes in 3 forms depending on the temperature. Not to mention that so many standards of volume, weight, temperature itself, and altitude, are all measured by the most basic substance for life itself that is 3 in 1. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">But it gets more personal than that. Here-in the truth of the Trinity is the "stuff" of Unity, and the "stuff" of perfect Love. God is one - as part of His essence, not His will, and the same goes for love. He doesn't love because He wills to, or feels like it - He is love - it is integral to His very nature, because of the love that Father, Son, and Spirit intrinsically have for one another. Isn't it interesting that the most powerful emotion, commitment, and motivation known to man, comes from the very essence of our Trinitarian God. Colossians 1 tells us that "in Him all things hold together", and yes, atomically they do. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">But also, in terms of relationships, God is so love and so unity, that He instinctively responds to brokenness and separation with the desire to reconcile things back to wholeness, and back to Himself. Just read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, and you'll get the idea - that God was in Christ reconciling the whole world back to Himself, and now, He has given that ministry to us.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">And that my friends is one of the main reasons we move to Italy for 90 days every two years and pour into some awesome people who traffic in some of the most powerful communicative medium known the man - The Arts. If God Himself calls on his awesome creation to declare His Glory, then certainly the human beings who have been created in His creative image are called to do the same.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">It is one of the great privileges of my life to engage in this work. Teri and I literally love it, and experience the fulness of faith and the pleasure of God to do this. We were born for this. To help fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow artists, launch into the depths of their potential for the greater glory of God and the "proclamation" of the Gospel and the furtherance of Gods' Kingdom? Well, in terms of ministry, for us it doesn't get much better than this!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Thank you for your prayers for us in this season. We could not be here doing this without that, and we trust that you too are experiencing the fulness of joy in your ministry as well, that you were called to do with all your heart soul mind and strength.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">God Bless</div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-14589523987881069062016-02-03T11:26:00.001-05:002016-02-03T11:26:39.543-05:00The Beautiful View from Here<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjoLUE8MkEj9tpVb6xu4kV8kz7BihR8xgmFOsNpa2E_wmaH4N83WzuHJtDtX-rOwzH46UW61WZk1o9XvTVi8NV1gEqb-3T3XF-n2hNix42O6ffKMuPaIWx9rcI9AAhSU3h9qhl9zVnG4YZ/s1600/Isola+Ruin+Panorama-799544.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjoLUE8MkEj9tpVb6xu4kV8kz7BihR8xgmFOsNpa2E_wmaH4N83WzuHJtDtX-rOwzH46UW61WZk1o9XvTVi8NV1gEqb-3T3XF-n2hNix42O6ffKMuPaIWx9rcI9AAhSU3h9qhl9zVnG4YZ/s320/Isola+Ruin+Panorama-799544.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6247102088538214722" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">What do Bill & Teri Drake (and an AWESOME team), 26 Students, 3 Artistic Disciplines, 12 nations, and 90 days all have in common? </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">INCARNATE 2016!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Gathering here in the middle of Italy, we all arrived safely, and are beginning the journey of "Living Beautifully Together" for the next three months. The opportunity to be in such a Creative Community is not only awesome, but so fulfilling as we get to participate in the missional discipleship of incredible artists from all over the world!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">We also believe strongly in the Body of Christ, and that we are never more "god-like" than when we are in united community, for our triune God is in a sense a community as well! The opportunity to live in transparency, authenticity, integrity, and humility speaks every bit as much as any artwork we do, and when it comes to pouring into artists who we want to incarnate the truths of Christ into their world-views and artworks, we are totally committed to 'walking the talk'.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">It's also a great encouragement when you discover that God has been here in the Body of Christ since at least 700 AD, and most likely long before that. We found a ruin just down the road, San Giovanni (St. John's), and it is obvious to anyone who goes there that our fellow-followers of Christ back then knew exactly where to build something for maximum beauty and effect! WOW!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">And I guess that would be the main point here for the first blog of this three month journey -- Beauty -- Beauty in Brokenness, Beauty in Longevity, Beauty in Creation, and Beauty in Community. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"> 'Beauty is the reflection of the eye of God' </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">...and in that, we get further glimpses of His Glory (Psalm 19). We are aware that we are so-not-perfect, and are so becoming more and more aware of the growth process He has us in: exchanging us from "glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18). </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">And these experiences change our lives forever - we are a part of a much larger story that has been going on for a LONG time, but it is time to take the baton, and take our place in the race set before us; we are creating as part of a larger creation that was launched by the ultimate artist eons ago, and yet He meets us in our humble offerings and plays with us, paints with us, dances over us, and fills us with more that we can then give back to Him; and we are together in this - not isolated, not stalwart individual artists, but an interdependent Body of Christ whose mission is to know Christ and make Him known where we are, for so much of His beauty comes from those who will choose to live beautifully together in Him.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">We are staring our journey together - hope you can join us for it! Blessings!</div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><br><img><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-34521219768905815242015-08-27T14:30:00.001-04:002015-08-27T15:38:16.610-04:00Revival!<div class="mobile-photo">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmy2pzR8NqEP7M__DDdZ1YP_8mhK88UMYtQvzBZBeZpVu0TBMfjaJzRTkFXNIdrYLTfBwaOzRC7d9pZ2MEEt7tWgQv-XNOQXeO4I_d8kCZQLRbcCfLI_euzMGhkLATc2MzT2nfOkFwLue/s1600/Hungary-Tour-2015_Highlights-105-716009.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6187760311839275922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmy2pzR8NqEP7M__DDdZ1YP_8mhK88UMYtQvzBZBeZpVu0TBMfjaJzRTkFXNIdrYLTfBwaOzRC7d9pZ2MEEt7tWgQv-XNOQXeO4I_d8kCZQLRbcCfLI_euzMGhkLATc2MzT2nfOkFwLue/s320/Hungary-Tour-2015_Highlights-105-716009.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17px;">Somosgyuruska Baptist Camp - </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 17px;">(Shomosh-durooshka)</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 17px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Words don't begin to explain what just happened here! Revival hit the camp! It was a Baptist Youth Camp - the organizers were a Pastor and his wife, Lotsi and Gabriella. She had had a dream/vision the night before we got there, that the Holy Spirit fell on the camp and left the ground shaking... They were SO expectant for our ministry when we arrived, and this was the reason why - they truly </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">believed</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> God was going to move!</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 17px;">During Devotions that afternoon with the team, I felt led to read Isaiah 61:1-4 over us as a team:</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">"</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">The Spirit of the Lord God is upon us</span></span></span></i><i><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">, </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">because the Lord has anointed us </span></span></i><i><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">to bring good news to the poor; </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">he has sent us </span></span></i><i><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">to bind up the brokenhearted, </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound"</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 17px;">I had no idea how those verses were going to be played out in real time right before our eyes! Pastor Lotsi gave us total freedom, believing that God had brought us there for such a time as this... but he asked us to please give an invitation at the end for Salvation and Rededication.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;">The Concert started with a bang! The first songs went extremely well, audience was focussed and responding. But then a BIG insect came in and brought a distraction, <i>RIGHT</i> when I came to the punch line of the key testimony. But we powered through it, rebuked the enemy for distracting us, and did a serious commitment song</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px;"> (</span></span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">I'll Obey And Serve You</i><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px;">) and they clapped, stood and sang with! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px;">Then came the direct invitation - MANY put up hands, and then came forward for prayer. Many were saved (including the hardest, most difficult kid in the camp), many rededicated their lives to Christ - it was like a spiritual grenade went off during </span></span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">"Let It Rain, Open The Floodgates of Heaven"</i><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px;"> - God seemed to literally open the floodgates of heaven. Kids were standing four and five deep to get to a councilor, and some were on their knees weeping and repenting before they even got to the front.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;">When the invitation time was over, we did another praise song, and it brought more Spiritual Explosion! Our Dancelink team went first, and pulled people onto the front, and then suddenly everyone broke loose, and it wouldn't stop! They called for us to play </span><i style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;">God's Great Dance Floor</i><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;">, and a spontaneous "dance-off" started! </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;">Just when we were running out of songs, their worship band came up, and elicited more dynamite! The meeting just didn't want to stop! Their worship band did three songs total, and by this time then entire camp was dancing, including our bus driver. They ended with </span><i style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;">We Exalt Thee</i><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;"> in Hungarian- we all ended up on our knees, tears, praise, repentance - off the chain. More prayer groups spontaneously developed outside, on the ground, on the dirt roads, more singing and dancing erupted around the campfire, etc!!! Revival.</span></span></div>
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Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-23391046269505746872015-05-16T02:07:00.001-04:002015-05-16T02:07:55.765-04:00Celebrations!<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFZLqhSGbR-go-hRY3cTfKFcRZaXEJjlGZKa7D69ECETKZ0kA0qbvtP_D-4nSjSDbMaiZJh1m0yGIe4FL3p3W7qerWDH7ptPKVvDmm4PQHPZGEB1x4R4q2B24ISgggBW5a2FDT91hfjMI/s1600/Bill+%2526+Teri+%2526+Sharayah+at+her+Graduation-775766.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFZLqhSGbR-go-hRY3cTfKFcRZaXEJjlGZKa7D69ECETKZ0kA0qbvtP_D-4nSjSDbMaiZJh1m0yGIe4FL3p3W7qerWDH7ptPKVvDmm4PQHPZGEB1x4R4q2B24ISgggBW5a2FDT91hfjMI/s320/Bill+%2526+Teri+%2526+Sharayah+at+her+Graduation-775766.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6149347240403204322" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">You are looking at a miracle. The miracle here is not only that our daughter Sharayah graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors from Liberty University on May 9th, but that Teri was able to attend, and go through a grueling 11 hour day of navigating TWO graduation ceremonies and over 34,000 people swarming the Liberty Campus to celebrate the over 7,000 graduates that day! This photo was taken toward the end of the day, and Teri, while tired, was still holding up well. Amazing!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Just 8 weeks ago Teri was in the hospital with Septicemia, and still going through harsh Chemo treatments. The Chemo stopped on April 2nd, but she was left with 2 large and deep open wounds, debilitating exhaustion, and a pic-line coming out of her left arm. Today the pic-line remains, but one wound is closed, the other almost closed, her hair is growing back, and her energy is back to where she can navigate graduations, Walmart, and even my busy schedule! Praise God!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">At the end of the last blog, I gave a personal quote that so many of you graciously responded to: </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><i style="color:rgb(26,26,42);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;line-height:25px"><br></i></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><i style="color:rgb(26,26,42);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;line-height:25px">"To be accepting of God's will and leading, but then not accepting of what the enemy has in store for us once we are there, is a skill in timing and discernment that all who would be abiders and fighters must learn to navigate well."</i></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><i style="color:rgb(26,26,42);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;line-height:25px"><br></i></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px">I promised to elaborate more on that, as Teri and I have been learning and living it out daily. And it comes down to this truth laced throughout the Old and New Testament: <i>two things are many times true at the same time</i>: We are eternal beings, but our flesh is wasting away. Concerning Salvation, we are Justified if we are "in Christ", but we are still being Sanctified, and we will be Glorified. And we are feasting on the goodness of God and his provision, and yet we are surrounded by enemies (Psalm 23). Peace can get "hostile" in Philippians 4:6&7 when it stands ready to take down anything that comes to attack your heart and your mind. And we can fight, and abide at the same time.</span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i><br></i></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i>There is a special place, a place of no fear, a place of perfect peace, a place full of joy, a place that is forged with an eternal weight of glory in the face of light momentary afflictions, a holy place that is reserved for those who would fully "Abide in Christ".</i></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i><br></i></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px">One of the greatest lessons I will take from this season of life and the front row seat I had in watching a godly woman of God wade through it, is that if one is abiding in Christ, where their identity, their self-esteem, their life, and their very future is hidden in Him, they are safe from the tyranny of the possible and they are protected by a shield of faith and a helmet of salvation. One who is abiding in Christ is <i>much</i> better positioned to take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ whilst the temptation to fall into the fear of dying a horrible death due to a degenerative disease stalks their every waking thought. One who is abiding in Christ sees themselves as <i>already</i> seated with Him in the heavenlies, and therefore understands their very life, and the value of their life, is measured by nothing else except the perfect will of the God who is free to spend them as He will, and nothing will befall them except that which is allowed within His will, and nothing will happen to them except whatever He has already sovereignly decided will give Him the greater glory. </span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><br></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px">I find that as I journey through this life and encounter others who are dying or in pain, even the persecuted church that faces far greater dangers than Teri and I have been facing, that those who do not give up in despair are those who have recognized that by <i>abiding</i> in Jesus' words of truth and the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence of power have gained a higher perspective, an elevated level of living, that does not succumb to the decay of this world and the victimizing shackles of self-pity, but rather projects the fragrance of Christ, the economy of heaven, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit. </span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><br></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px">I have had the invaluable privilege of being married to a woman who is doing this, who is living this, who is literally abiding in Christ, and my walk with Christ, even as a missionary, a musician, and a preacher of the gospel, will never be the same, but will forever be impacted by the force of a peace that went beyond all understanding and has inscribed our lives with the autograph of Jesus.</span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><br></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#1a1a2a" face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px">I hope the sharing of our journey has encouraged you. Thank you for journeying with us, and encouraging us along the way. </span></font><span style="color:rgb(26,26,42);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:large;line-height:25px">Thank you for your love and prayers.</span><span style="line-height:25px;color:rgb(26,26,42);font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;font-size:large"> Thank you for bearing our burdens, and thus fulfilling the law of Christ. May God bless you with all the fulness of what He has in store for you, as you Abide in Him.</span></div></div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-60630759960851325372015-03-23T00:42:00.001-04:002015-03-23T00:42:36.949-04:00Fwd: Complications<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFyIHJMgzJnsdeGnOOvnFQS8ULAfuhyphenhyphenXzS8DN3J5dvInJHRULyfX6WlR-_qYZwKNcGIeePz41nVErwBH42V3n_Qi39vpVJB7mnn8GUIHoPjQiVYYTONmrxk2kpAOnFTE_PS2MTP8Xo_UN/s1600/IMG_0533-756950.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFyIHJMgzJnsdeGnOOvnFQS8ULAfuhyphenhyphenXzS8DN3J5dvInJHRULyfX6WlR-_qYZwKNcGIeePz41nVErwBH42V3n_Qi39vpVJB7mnn8GUIHoPjQiVYYTONmrxk2kpAOnFTE_PS2MTP8Xo_UN/s320/IMG_0533-756950.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6129286656580404450" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">"Bill, I think I am developing a fever…"<br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">These are not the words you want to hear from someone who is 'immuno-compromised' because chemotherapy has mostly taken out their immune system. This is also not something you want to hear from the person on earth whom you love the most, and in that moment, are almost exactly on the other side of the planet.</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">I was in Thailand for OM's International Leaders Meetings, and Teri was coming home from Washington DC with Shelby. About an hour outside of Atlanta, Teri felt it coming on, and it was not good.</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">A few weeks before, Teri's port had flipped (this is the surgically installed device in her upper left chest that delivers the chemo directly into a main vein deep inside her), and they were unable to get the 4th Chemo treatment into her that way. They had gone for a vein in her arm, and could't find a good one, and while they 'poked and hoped', Teri had passed out, and they had to call 911 because she wasn't coming to… I can't tell you how unpleasant it had been to hear that - when I was in Mexico at a YUGO meeting. Why is it that the only two times I have travelled away from her during this entire ordeal, is when the enemy decides to pounce? We all know the answer.</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">Minor surgery put the port right, but during that surgery somehow, an infection began, which was now manifesting itself as she and Shelby approached Atlanta. After phone calls, pills, inspection, etc., the port was removed in an emergency procedure while I was still in Thailand, and it was determined it had become septic. Then started home health-care with IV drip antibiotics, and I arrived home on Friday late evening, just in time to learn how to administer this new treatment to my wife.</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">But we weren't done the drama yet.</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">Over the weekend, things got worse. The wound (where they took out the port) began to get more red and swollen, and her fever never went back to normal. We called early on Monday, saw the wound doctor, and were referred to the Infection Disease Doctor for Tuesday. She saw Teri, and in less than 5 minutes, scooted up to her very close, put her hand on Teri's shoulder, and gently and firmly said, "You have Septicemia, and I am admitting you to the hospital immediately."</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">I have only seen Teri cry twice during the entire journey. Once, when she was told she had cancer, and now. I just held her. The Doctor made the arrangements, and sent her office manager with us into the Emergency Room, where we had to be admitted, cause the hospital was totally full. So was the ER. It looked like a triage zone! 2.5 hours later, Teri was given a gurney to lie on in a corridor. Another hour later, she was given a tiny, tiny room, still in the ER. And they were taking blood, more blood, and flushing her blood with antibiotics. And we were crying out to God - from beginning to end. And He was with us. </div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">He was with us in the ER waiting room when a woman who didn't even know us came up to us, said she would put us on her prayer chain, and eventually gave Teri a gift bag with some hand lotion, some chocolate, and a beautiful cross. We eventually put that cross on top of the TV in her eventual destination, her own hospital room, but she didn't get there until 30 hours later. But that cross ended up being SUCH a blessing, as is became a conversation starter for most everyone who came into Teri's room.</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">In fact, on the second morning Teri was in the hospital, I called her before I came to visit, and asked her, "Baby, what can I bring for you?" expecting some personal items or comforts from home. Instead she said, "I need at least 10 of your Broken and Complete CDs to pass out to all the people I have been sharing and witnessing to!" Why am I not surprised???</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">All in all, Teri was in the hospital from Tuesday early afternoon, until Saturday late afternoon. They were not going to release her until her fever went away, and there was no more staphylococcus bacteria in her bloodstream, AND her white blood cell count was up. Praise God that all came together on Saturday morning. We came home to a house decorated by our daughters Shelby and Sharayah, and it was awesome. I even helped by baking a cake the night before (first cake I ever baked in my life!!!)</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">And what have we learned? Oh my - I can't put it all here. But let me leave you with this one thought that seemed to dominate our prayers and thoughts, and I am still considering this in light of God's sovereignty and authority: <i>To be accepting of God's will and leading, but then not accepting of what the enemy has in store for us once we are there, is a skill in timing and discernment that all who would be abiders and fighters must learn to navigate well. </i></div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">Psalm 145 tells us He trains our hands to war. Psalm 23 says He leads us by still waters. Philippians 4:6&7 delivers a promise of peace that will protect us like the Praetorian Guard. And we are to take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ. How to be at peace and at war at the same time?</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large">More on that in my next post. But thank you for your prayers, love, concern, and encouragement. There was NO DOUBT during the ordeal last Tuesday onward of the presence of the Lord, and the prayers of His people. That is the only reason we are still standing, and we are eternally grateful. God Bless</div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div><div style="font-size:large"><br></div> </div> </div><br></div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-45778612056460147952015-03-23T00:39:00.001-04:002015-03-23T00:39:09.834-04:00Complications<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7x4Axkuc5DbVqWP_VJAfUDA3QTytbmZXvwenh6pBLfvUT3_GJBpRUrrhuU7cub9bwT-ST8UjQSokGMZRKg_JKmzZ7Rwj8KfRvlsM5r9t1MJEvUMhcgpxD6_Llozi7Z1Dbghl5556tebYK/s1600/IMG_0533-749834.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7x4Axkuc5DbVqWP_VJAfUDA3QTytbmZXvwenh6pBLfvUT3_GJBpRUrrhuU7cub9bwT-ST8UjQSokGMZRKg_JKmzZ7Rwj8KfRvlsM5r9t1MJEvUMhcgpxD6_Llozi7Z1Dbghl5556tebYK/s320/IMG_0533-749834.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6129285767648418322" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">"Bill, I think I am developing a fever…"</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">These are not the words you want to hear from someone who is 'immuno-compromised' because chemotherapy has mostly taken out their immune system. This is also not something you want to hear from the person on earth whom you love the most, and in that moment, are almost exactly on the other side of the planet.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">I was in Thailand for OM's International Leaders Meetings, and Teri was coming home from Washington DC with Shelby. About an hour outside of Atlanta, Teri felt it coming on, and it was not good.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">A few weeks before, Teri's port had flipped (this is the surgically installed device in her upper left chest that delivers the chemo directly into a main vein deep inside her), and they were unable to get the 4th Chemo treatment into her that way. They had gone for a vein in her arm, and could't find a good one, and while they 'poked and hoped', Teri had passed out, and they had to call 911 because she wasn't coming to… I can't tell you how unpleasant it had been to hear that - when I was in Mexico at a YUGO meeting. Why is it that the only two times I have travelled away from her during this entire ordeal, is when the enemy decides to pounce? We all know the answer.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Minor surgery put the port right, but during that surgery somehow, an infection began, which was now manifesting itself as she and Shelby approached Atlanta. After phone calls, pills, inspection, etc., the port was removed in an emergency procedure while I was still in Thailand, and it was determined it had become septic. Then started home health-care with IV drip antibiotics, and I arrived home on Friday late evening, just in time to learn how to administer this new treatment to my wife.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">But we weren't done the drama yet.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Over the weekend, things got worse. The wound (where they took out the port) began to get more red and swollen, and her fever never went back to normal. We called early on Monday, saw the wound doctor, and were referred to the Infection Disease Doctor for Tuesday. She saw Teri, and in less than 5 minutes, scooted up to her very close, put her hand on Teri's shoulder, and gently and firmly said, "You have Septicemia, and I am admitting you to the hospital immediately."</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">I have only seen Teri cry twice during the entire journey. Once, when she was told she had cancer, and now. I just held her. The Doctor made the arrangements, and sent her office manager with us into the Emergency Room, where we had to be admitted, cause the hospital was totally full. So was the ER. It looked like a triage zone! 2.5 hours later, Teri was given a gurney to lie on in a corridor. Another hour later, she was given a tiny, tiny room, still in the ER. And they were taking blood, more blood, and flushing her blood with antibiotics. And we were crying out to God - from beginning to end. And He was with us. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">He was with us in the ER waiting room when a woman who didn't even know us came up to us, said she would put us on her prayer chain, and eventually gave Teri a gift bag with some hand lotion, some chocolate, and a beautiful cross. We eventually put that cross on top of the TV in her eventual destination, her own hospital room, but she didn't get there until 30 hours later. But that cross ended up being SUCH a blessing, as is became a conversation starter for most everyone who came into Teri's room.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">In fact, on the second morning Teri was in the hospital, I called her before I came to visit, and asked her, "Baby, what can I bring for you?" expecting some personal items or comforts from home. Instead she said, "I need at least 10 of your Broken and Complete CDs to pass out to all the people I have been sharing and witnessing to!" Why am I not surprised???</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">All in all, Teri was in the hospital from Tuesday early afternoon, until Saturday late afternoon. They were not going to release her until her fever went away, and there was no more staphylococcus bacteria in her bloodstream, AND her white blood cell count was up. Praise God that all came together on Saturday morning. We came home to a house decorated by our daughters Shelby and Sharayah, and it was awesome. I even helped by baking a cake the night before (first cake I ever baked in my life!!!)</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">And what have we learned? Oh my - I can't put it all here. But let me leave you with this one thought that seemed to dominate our prayers and thoughts, and I am still considering this in light of God's sovereignty and authority: <i>To be accepting of God's will and leading, but then not accepting of what the enemy has in store for us once we are there, is a skill in timing and discernment that all who would be abiders and fighters must learn to navigate well. </i></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Psalm 145 tells us He trains our hands to war. Psalm 23 says He leads us by still waters. Philippians 4:6&7 delivers a promise of peace that will protect us like the Praetorian Guard. And we are to take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ. How to be at peace and at war at the same time?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">More on that in my next post. But thank you for your prayers, love, concern, and encouragement. There was NO DOUBT during the ordeal last Tuesday onward of the presence of the Lord, and the prayers of His people. That is the only reason we are still standing, and we are eternally grateful. God Bless</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-71719142835608315472015-02-26T16:17:00.001-05:002015-02-26T16:17:55.242-05:00Teri's Smile<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkxvllR6ElANF1MG7MH9kC8tt0lmESPCVndgHrI7dF6hwUouwsi5aMVpAdnaiWO0rge88WRrpqRQF3boU4lVALpTXqfRTPlOQ1D5zYpMn-6wi0MmnY9bv7PJnnomeOugovmoYWuD7uDHkJ/s1600/Teri+Headband-775243.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkxvllR6ElANF1MG7MH9kC8tt0lmESPCVndgHrI7dF6hwUouwsi5aMVpAdnaiWO0rge88WRrpqRQF3boU4lVALpTXqfRTPlOQ1D5zYpMn-6wi0MmnY9bv7PJnnomeOugovmoYWuD7uDHkJ/s320/Teri+Headband-775243.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6120266015942440178" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><div class="gmail_default">I've been waiting for the right time to show you this picture. It is so very special to me, not only because it shows physical beauty, but also for what it represents: a garland of joy, beauty from ashes.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">Teri is in the middle of her Chemo now. Two more harsh treatments to go. There have been three experiences that I have had during this that qualify for the "I never, ever want to do that again", although really, I would do it in a second for the woman I love so much. One of these would be shaving off half of her hair, after half of it fell out.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">Here is the second one: last Thursday they couldn't attach the Chemo from the IV to her "port", a device which was surgically implanted within her chest, which then feeds the chemo directly into her veins. It was discovered the port was "flipped", a rare but known occurrence, where the device turns over inside of her, making it impossible to access. They then decided to use her veins to drip in the Chemo. Well, Teri is famous for having difficult veins to access, and after a number of minutes of "poking and hoping", Teri passed out - for over 5 minutes. 911 was called, and fortunately they were able to awaken her before the ambulance arrived. The doctor told us today he was 5 seconds from putting her on the floor, and doing CPR. Hmm.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">All this happened as I was on my way to Mexico. No one told me, cause Teri et al didn't want to "alarm" me. Imagine then my "alarm", when I read about this ordeal on Facebook between concerned friends and prayer partners! I had a "moment". But God saw us through it, including the minor out-patient surgery Teri had yesterday to put the port right again. More cutting, more scars, more blood being drawn, more needles, more bruising, more signatures, more insurance approvals, more deep fatigue, more checking your attitude at the door, or better, at the foot of the cross. We need a category for these things when they assault us, and I can't think of a better filing cabinet for experiences that 'take life' than the cross of our Savior.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">I asked myself just today - is God still good? Of course I believe it. Am I abiding in it? Am I walking in it? I also remind myself, would I think that God was still good if I was being marched down a lonely Libyan beach by "Jihad John" - who would behead me in front of cameras that would show my bleeding disembodied corpse on the global stage? I am convinced that my faith needs to be large enough for tragedy and horror, not just medical inconvenience. What this means to me, is that my attitude must never be related to my circumstances, and I don't know about you, but that I find to be very hard. But also necessary.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">And that brings me back to Teri's smile. Here she is, trying on wigs. This was not an "…ok, I guess <i>I have to</i> go find a wig…" moment. Oh no, not for Teri. It was an "Awesome! <i>I get to</i> go try on wigs!" moment. Some dear friends went with us, and got in on the action. One of them found this one, as the last to try on, and guess what? Teri loved it! So now I have a blonde wife!</div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default">But the smile… this is the outward sign of someone who is walking in the deep-weeds with Jesus - so closely, that there is no degree of separation from her faith and her attitude. And there it is, written all over her beautiful face...</div></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-77156601782068453362015-02-16T12:59:00.001-05:002015-02-16T12:59:41.226-05:00"I Find God In Suffering"<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><h2 style="font-size:30px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-weight:normal;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;text-transform:uppercase;line-height:33px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">KAYLA MUELLER </h2><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><img src="http://incontextministries.org/images/00kaylamueller.jpg" width="750" height="286" alt="00kaylamueller" style="border: none; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><strong style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;line-height:1.3em">COUNTRY:</strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;line-height:1.3em"> Syria</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><strong>MARTYRED:</strong> 2015</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><strong style="font-size:12pt">CASE:</strong><span style="font-size:12pt"> </span></span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt">Kayla had been held hostage by ISIS since August 2013 in Raqqa, a militant stronghold in northeastern Syria. The Christian aid worker was abducted in 2013 as she left a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders in Allepo, Syria. United States confirmed on Tuesday 10 February 2015 that the 26-year-old has been killed at the hands of terror group ISIS</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"> </p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px;text-align:center"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:24pt">RECENT NEWS </span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"> </p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><strong style="font-family:helvetica;font-size:11.1111116409302px"><strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;font-size:14pt"><strong><strong>12 FEBRUARY 2015</strong><strong>:</strong></strong></span><strong><span style="font-size:19px;color:rgb(51,153,102)"><em><span style="line-height:1.3em"><strong> </strong></span></em></span></strong></strong></strong><strong><span style="color:rgb(51,153,102);font-size:14pt">Kayla Mueller, killed at hands of ISIS, drew comfort from 'deep Christian faith </span></strong></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"> </p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The United States confirmed on Tuesday 10 February 2015 that 26-year-old American aid worker Kayla Mueller has been killed at the hands of terror group ISIS. President Barack Obama said that Mueller represented what is "best about America," while her family revealed that she drew comfort from her "deep Christian faith" while in captivity.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">"Our hearts are breaking for our only daughter, but we will continue on in peace, dignity, and love for her," Mueller's parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, and her brother, Eric, said in a statement.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The aid worker had been held hostage by ISIS since August 2013, The Guardian noted. Supporters of ISIS said last week that Mueller had been killed during a Jordanian air strike, and though the U.S. confirmed the news, it could not determine the cause of her death.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Mueller was reportedly taken by militants in Syria while working at a hospital run by humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières. In a letter to her family written sometime in the spring of 2014, she asked them not to worry and claimed that she was being treated with respect and was unharmed.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">She said that her deep Christian faith gave her comfort during her captivity:</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><em><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(178,34,34)">"I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator. There was literally there was no one else ... + by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall."</span></em></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The aid worker had travelled to Syria to help provide aid to refugees and those suffering in the ongoing civil war. Before that she also worked for humanitarian initiatives in India, Israel and the Palestinian territories.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Mueller said in a 2013 interview with the Prescott Daily Courier, a newspaper from her hometown of Prescott, Arizona: </span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><em><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(178,34,34)">"I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine, if this is how you are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you."</span></em></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Fox News revealed further details about Mueller's capture in a report on Wednesday, and noted that she had spent several months being transferring between holding cells — and was held both at a children's hospital in Aleppo, and the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Mueller became the fourth U.S. citizen to die at the hands of ISIS, following fellow aid worker Peter Kassig and journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff in 2014. </span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Obama vowed to bring those responsible for Mueller's death to justice.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">"Kayla represents what is best about America, and expressed her deep pride in the freedoms that we Americans enjoy, and that so many others strive for around the world," he added in a White House statement. "In how she lived her life, she epitomized all that is good in our world."</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Mueller's family said that they are proud of her work, and noted that she lived with a purpose.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The family added: "We remain heartbroken, also, for the families of the other captives who did not make it home safely and who remain in our thoughts and prayers. We pray for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Syria."</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><strong><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,153,102)">Kayla Mueller </span></strong></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Mueller, 26, had a long history of volunteering to help women and children, having worked for aid groups in Arizona before setting out for other countries. She spent her life moving quickly — earning a college degree in five semesters, helping at hometown AIDS clinics and embracing overseas struggles between hope and hopelessness. She saw the need for humanitarian aid in the mountains of Tibet, in tiny Palestinian villages and, finally, in Syria, where she is believed to have died after being taken hostage in August 2013. </span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">After attending Northern Arizona University, she worked with aid groups in northern India, Israel and the Palestinian territories. She returned to Arizona in 2011, where she worked at an HIV/AIDS clinic and volunteered at a women's shelter. Late that year, she moved to southeastern France and worked as an au pair while learning French in preparation for a planned move to Africa.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">But the plight of families fleeing the violence in war-torn Syria drew her to Turkey in December 2012. She worked with the aid groups Support to Life and the Danish Refugee Council, assisting women and children who crossed into Turkey as refugees.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">She also ventured into Syria to help families separated by the fighting. Her trips into the country took her to Aleppo, where she was eventually kidnapped.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">She was abducted as she left a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders and was being held in Raqqa, a militant stronghold in northeastern Syria.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The family statement included letters Mueller wrote to relatives, including one on her father's birthday in 2011.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="color:rgb(178,34,34)"><em><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">"Some people find God in church. Some people find God in nature. Some people find God in love," she wrote. "I find God in suffering. I've known for some time what my life's work is, using my hands as tools to relieve suffering."</span></em></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">In correspondence to her family, which she slipped to other detainees who were being freed, Mueller was contrite and seemed to be trying to assuage her family's worry. She told them she was being treated well and was not in harm's way.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">She said in the letter that she was willing to wait for her freedom if it meant that her family would be absolved of the burden of negotiations. "I DO NOT want the negotiations for my release to be your duty, if there is any other option take it, even if it takes more time," she wrote. "This should never have become your burden."</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Her family described her as relentlessly optimistic. Even while held hostage, Mueller said she found reasons to be grateful.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><em><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">"By God and by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall. I have been shown in darkness, light (and) have learned that even in prison, one can be free," she wrote. "I am grateful. I have come to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look for it."</span></em></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">She closed her letter with a song she wrote while captive, once again making a plea for hope against hopelessness.</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">"The part of me that pains the most also gets me out of bed, (without) your hope there would be nothing left."</span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">SOURCE: </span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/american-aid-worker-kayla-mueller-killed-at-hands-of-isis-surrendered-to-god-during-captivity-drew-comfort-from-deep-christian-faith-133898/" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:none;color:rgb(233,93,34)">http://www.christianpost.com/news/american-aid-worker-kayla-mueller-killed-at-hands-of-isis-surrendered-to-god-during-captivity-drew-comfort-from-deep-christian-faith-133898/</a></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-captive-kayla-mueller-saw-relieving-suffering-as-her-lifes-work/ar-AA9eJth?ocid=ansLATimes11" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:none;color:rgb(233,93,34)">http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-captive-kayla-mueller-saw-relieving-suffering-as-her-lifes-work/ar-AA9eJth?ocid=ansLATimes11</a></span></p></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-2766365048045071912015-01-26T18:30:00.001-05:002015-01-26T18:30:49.680-05:00"Embracing The Journey"<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU8PhFMd_UDMsUSyYKhh4qTQzEgCaTMt84HRyLnMsFqDIdtPtiWQA1qfEo1LC_T1S7glfntRchVVs186m8gIgNQcMTcW7dokpGOJhrzpuCNTVtKULDXnX-2HShYPIZkYkwKgrM9C6Ynrls/s1600/Teri+on+her+%2522Journey%2522-749681.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU8PhFMd_UDMsUSyYKhh4qTQzEgCaTMt84HRyLnMsFqDIdtPtiWQA1qfEo1LC_T1S7glfntRchVVs186m8gIgNQcMTcW7dokpGOJhrzpuCNTVtKULDXnX-2HShYPIZkYkwKgrM9C6Ynrls/s320/Teri+on+her+%2522Journey%2522-749681.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6108796624785741666" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Settling Teri into her new surroundings, I glanced around at the room - a fairly "clinical" looking space, a nurses' station in the middle, and quite a number of specialty chairs made for long sits, and hurting bodies. Next to each chair was an I.V. tower, and a small multi-storage unit for putting your personal belongings whilst chemicals are slow-dripped into your bloodstream. Surreal...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Thinking through this one more time, I could have never imagined that we would be "here". Cancer of course took my mother, but that seemed like a lifetime ago, and certainly before Jesus began healing my broken life. Disease, War, and other maladies of life of course afflict myriads of people every year. And we follow a Savior who can empathize with us in every way except in sin. Should I therefore be surprised that part of the walk with Him should entail footsteps that take us through suffering? No one who sets out to follow Christ gets through this life without scars, nail prints, crowns of thorns, and ultimately the cross - "as the Master so the Servant shall be…"</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">I turned to say goodbye to Teri, as she prepared for her first 5 hour date with Chemotherapy. She flashed me one of those beautiful smiles, and said with anticipation, "I'm on a journey Bill, to a destination that has yet to be fully revealed!" I started to weep, but didn't let the tears fall - 'till I got to the car and... The beauty of this woman, her heart, her attitude, her response to this ugliness - this all has to be coming from the beauty of the Savior, and to stand in its wake is to be overwhelmed by it's glory. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">None of us know where our particular journey will take us in the short-run. But we can know where it will ultimately lead! I'm experiencing this journey with Teri and her attitude of anticipation. What God is doing in and through it, and what it will ultimately produce - is an "ever eternal weight in glory" last time I checked… (2 Corinthians 4:17). And we are tasting it even now...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">In my next post, I'll update you on how she is doing to date...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"></div></div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-84535053970827870022014-12-12T11:32:00.001-05:002014-12-12T11:32:30.657-05:00The King Has One More Move<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:16px"><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size:19px">As shared with me from my friends in South Africa...</span></font></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><br></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><img src="http://incontextministries.org/images/01Funeral.jpg" width="750" height="242" alt="01Funeral" style="border: none; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt"> </span></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt">The king has one more move.</span></strong></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Today we stood at the graves of Werner Groenewald and his two children, Jean-Pierre and Rode. When I said goodbye to Rode a month ago, after an incredible week of fellowship in China, I did not foresee that my next encounter with this beautiful young girl would be carrying her coffin to an empty grave. </span></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">I kept on reminding myself the whole morning, over and over, to <strong>"THINK KINGDOM" </strong> I remembered the song sung by Christians in Egypt after their Church was burnt down in Minya last year. After the sorrow of losing friends, family and fellowship they still declared bravely: "We declare it to the whole world, our considerations are not like yours. Our goal is the Kingdom of heaven." I found comfort in this and yet we wept</span></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">I read again this morning in Acts 7 how Stephen, a young fearless disciple, was violently dragged outside the city by members of the Sanhedrin and then, under the supervision and approval of a young man called Saul, they stoned him to death. I thought of Werner and the kids. Where was God in all of this? Has the presence of God failed Werner and his children when they needed Him most? On the contrary. We find one of the most beautiful descriptions of an ever present Christ in the Bible. Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. What a glorious comfort. This is the only place in Scripture where we find Jesus standing at the right side of God. Throughout Scripture we read that Jesus is seated on the right hand of God but in this occasion Jesus was standing up to welcome His faithful servant into eternity. He was not absent nor ignorant. He was there and Werner and the children knew this and probably echoed the words of Stephen. I found comfort in this thought and yet we wept</span></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Finally, at the service this morning, the Pastor shared a story that provided yet another seed of comfort. This story has been told by Christian speakers as far back as 1955 when Billy Graham told a variation of it early in his ministry.</span><br><br><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Two men are standing in front of a painting called <em><strong>Checkmate</strong></em> in an art gallery. In the painting, a man is playing chess with the devil. The devil is grinning ear-to-ear because he has the man cornered. The title of the painting, <em><strong>Checkmate</strong></em>, indicates that the game is over. The devil has won the soul of his opponent in this chess match and he has no more moves left.</span><br><br><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">The first man looking at the painting wants to move on to other paintings in the gallery. But the second man, a chess champion, wants to look at the painting longer, so he waves his friend on and tells him he will catch up later. The chess champion stares and stares at the chess board, then suddenly he steps back, flabbergasted."It's wrong!" he exclaims. "There's one more move." He runs to his friend and together they look at the painting. "We have to contact the painter," the chess champion says. "It's not checkmate. <span style="font-size:12pt"><strong>The king has one more move.</strong></span>"</span><br><br><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Indeed, the Taliban might think it is game-over and that the Christian witness of the Groenewald family has been wiped out. Check Mate! Well, the king has one more move. We believe this. And as we wept we were once again reminded of Psalm 126:5 <em>They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.</em></span></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Yes, there will be a reaping. Yes, the King has one more move. Yes, our considerations are not that of the world. And yes, Werner and his family are now at a place where Christ stood up to welcome them. There was a joy in heaven as the heroes received their crown. We should rejoice with them! And we are!</span></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-size:12pt"><strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Please continue to pray for Hannelie and the family. The loss is great, despite the promise of eternal joy.</span></strong></span></p></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-57142078049866577692014-12-04T00:14:00.001-05:002014-12-04T00:14:40.588-05:00"We Only Die Once, So It Might As Well Be For Jesus"<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjNIp_SzUtv_BmAsbFi76RbcW4H0h4hA679eEpikeVfFNOKdgJ9nqHvS09ILPyDzz3_e0ieXyp8QMe7w4WGvS59T-wWog0dQhEKlYf3OfSW-88rg8bBktJkN361FWe030qysOVzcFy7NK/s1600/1129Werner-780589.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjNIp_SzUtv_BmAsbFi76RbcW4H0h4hA679eEpikeVfFNOKdgJ9nqHvS09ILPyDzz3_e0ieXyp8QMe7w4WGvS59T-wWog0dQhEKlYf3OfSW-88rg8bBktJkN361FWe030qysOVzcFy7NK/s320/1129Werner-780589.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6088846634029829410" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><p style="margin:10px 0px"><font color="#333333" face="helvetica" size="4"><span style="line-height:16px">While in Asia recently, Teri and I had the opportunity to meet the coolest family, the Groenewalds, who had given up their careers in South Africa in order to help the people of Afghanistan. Bill had a few great conversations about music with their son, JP, and gave him a couple of his CDs, including "Aroma, the fragrance of Costly Worship", the CD that has "<i>Wear The Crown</i>" on it. Then just over a month after we met them, fellowshipped with them, and worshipped with them, came this news and story. I want to share this with you, as it is so powerful.</span></font></p><p style="font-size:13px;margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><strong style="font-family:helvetica;font-size:11.1111116409302px"><strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;font-size:14pt"><strong><strong>29 NOVEMBER 2014</strong><strong>:</strong></strong></span><strong><span style="font-size:19px;color:rgb(51,153,102)"><em><span style="line-height:1.3em"><strong> Werner Groenewald and his two children martyred in Afghanistan </strong></span></em></span></strong></strong></strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt"> </span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4">This morning (Sunday 30 November 2014) our hearts are broken. We have lost a dear friend, a faithful worker and a precious soul-mate. Werner Groenewald and his two beautiful children, Jean-Pierre and Rhodé, were killed in a Taliban attack in Kabul on Saturday 29 November 2014. Hannelie, his wife, was not at home during the time and survived the attacked but lost everything. </font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">Three gunmen and suicide bombers stormed the compound where Werner and his family lived in Kabul on Saturday, exchanging fire with security forces before leaving Werner and his two children dead. Six other hostages were rescued after the afternoon attack while one Afghan worker also died in the attack</font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">The bloodshed began around 4 p.m. local time, when a grenade was lobbed at the gate of the compound, after which the militants stormed the building. The men were carrying machine guns, grenades and wearing suicide vests. A Taliban spokesman said in a statement that it was targeting "a secret Christian missionary and foreign invaders' intelligence center."</font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">This report is not an attempt to explain another theology of martyrdom. It is simply an expression of grief and anguish and an appeal for the wider body of Christ to share in the pain of the Groenewald family, especially Hannelie and Werner's parents. </font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">How do we express our deepest empathy and condolences with the family members who now have to face the reality of losing a son, a brother, a husband and two children in one horrific incident of terror? What words or theology can relieve the pain?</font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">Like Jesus at, the grave of Lazarus, we can only weep. Words are insufficient but tears can be offered on their behalf before a loving Father who understands the acts of violence against a beloved Son. Yes, we celebrate the life of three martyrs who loved Christ more than they loved life but we mourn the death of three dear servants, friends and co-workers. </font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">Our last time of fellowship together was a month ago in Asia when we contemplated the joy set before us of serving Christ. In Werner's last message to the international group of co-workers he spoke on "Counting the cost of following Jesus". His words will remain in our hearts forever as he closed the session with these words: <em><span style="color:rgb(255,102,0)"><strong>"We only die once, so it might as well be for Jesus."</strong></span></em></font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">We had invited Bill Drake to lead the worship, and we listened to him sing the song "Wear The Crown" and the words rang in our hearts<em><span style="color:rgb(255,102,0)"><strong> "It is your time to wear the crown"</strong></span></em>. We did not know that soon it would be their time. Together we worshiped, we laughed and we cried. Together we knew that the call to carry our crosses and deny ourselves is not a theology but a reality. Today we know that Werner, Jean-Pierre and Rhodé are wearing the coveted crowns set apart for an elect few. </font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">May we appeal to you to set some time apart in your service today to pray for Hannelie and the family. Weep before God as you share in the pain of a loving wife and mother who lost everything and an extended family who lost a son, brother and grand children.</font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">We also pray that their death would not be in vain. May the blood of the martyr truly be the seed of the Church and ignite something in the hearts of believers across the globe, especially in South Africa, to follow Christ unconditionally, whole-heartedly and faithfully. May we be inspired to be Kingdom-minded and pursue the redemptive purposes that Werner's s family so faithfully pursued in Afghanistan. May our live be a testimony of Christ, and our deaths ultimately point to His glory</font></span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:16px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">We honour these three heroes of faith who have given their lives for those who hated them. We celebrate the invisible victory that can only be seen by those who understand the cross. </font></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </span></p><p style="margin:10px 0px"><font color="#333333" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:16px">(this </span></font><font color="#333333" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:16px">article</span></font><font color="#333333" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:16px"> was written by our dear friends at <a href="http://www.incontextministries.com">www.incontextministries.com</a>)</span></font></p></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-53820612313163298782014-11-22T19:49:00.001-05:002014-11-22T19:49:20.129-05:00A Note from Teri, and Incarnational Compassion<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Hello,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Bill and I went to the oncologist today to get the final report on the testing of the cancer tissue that was done over the last month. </span><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">We were told that I would need to have chemotherapy due to the type of cancer they found. Even though I don't have any cancer now, this is a preventative measure because they found that the cancer is HER2 receptor positive. Here is a brief explanation of what that means:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">About 15 to 20 percent of breast cancers are HER2-positive, meaning the cancer is fueled by over-production of the <i>human epidermal growth factor receptor 2</i> protein. HER2-positive breast cancers contain excess copies of this gene, leading to dramatically more HER2 protein on the surface of cancer cells. With more HER2 protein producing signals telling the cells to grow, they do so out of control, causing cancer.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The tissue was sent to 3 different laboratories to get three independent analysis. They all came back with a mid-risk result regarding the HER2 protein. There is a 20% chance of the cancer returning and in the cancer "world" that is high. This isn't something I inherited from my parents so much as it's just the DNA of my body from what we can understand. He also presented my case to a board of cancer specialists he is part of and with all the results that came back to him, he came to the conclusion I should have a year-long chemo treatment.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font face="arial, sans-serif">We really weren't expecting this kind of news today so it's taking some time to sink in. We so appreciate the professionalism of the Doctor, and the lengths he went to in order to get to a proper diagnosis. And we ARE thankful that it's all about preventative and not about trying to reduce a tumor etc.<u></u><u></u></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Bill and I are both in agreement that I will go ahead with the treatment. Of course we are a little bit staggered by it but not knocked out of our faith. Bill actually told me earlier today that he had a "hunch" that things were going to play out this way given the way the Lord likes to use things like this in the lives of His children to minister to the lives of other people in the midst of their pain. Bill calls it Incarnational Compassion. <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Please know that one of the great sources of blessing in our lives is you all. Your love, support, and encouragement are deep wells that we continuously draw encouragement from. Thank you for being there for us and thank you for praying for us as we continue to try to navigate well the footprints that Jesus is leaving behind for us.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">On the Potter's wheel,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:13px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Teri and Bill</span></p></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><br></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551893208564598622.post-189234140527142452014-11-13T23:13:00.001-05:002014-11-13T23:13:48.005-05:00Persecuted to the Persecuted<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKc-nlhLWpMC4O0dykDguY2KseDU1_zNmjUWF-oFTJd0oyxG7sIMNMHCoyFDnzV0DVZTyQqPi_YfCS0Eo8CaE1XS9ulbO7hBSNd8dfaW1lvl82Sb3tmbdjRw9fBKVOOp3sEr_MB7bv1e5r/s1600/1-barbed-wire-mike-malloy-728005.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKc-nlhLWpMC4O0dykDguY2KseDU1_zNmjUWF-oFTJd0oyxG7sIMNMHCoyFDnzV0DVZTyQqPi_YfCS0Eo8CaE1XS9ulbO7hBSNd8dfaW1lvl82Sb3tmbdjRw9fBKVOOp3sEr_MB7bv1e5r/s320/1-barbed-wire-mike-malloy-728005.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6081409244083821282" /></a></p><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4">What do China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Sudan, the USA, Turkey, and Egypt all have in common? These are places in the world where the church of Jesus Christ is being persecuted by various degrees. And Teri and I recently had the incredible privilege of worshipping Jesus with believers from all of these nations, while being hosted in one of them - an experience that we both will never, ever forget.</font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4"><br></font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4">Basically there were two conferences happening back to back: a Summit, and a Missions Conference. The Summit was a gathering of numerous believers from the above mentioned countries, in order to have fellowship, worship, inspiration from the Word and from one-another, and to pray for each other's churches. The Missions Conference followed, and was hosted by the believers in our host nation, the most incredible people you'll ever meet, who basically pledged their lives as martyrs if needs be, but they would not miss out on the honor of being able to bring Christ back to Jerusalem whilst sojourning through some of the most violent places to the gospel in the world today.</font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4"><br></font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4">One of our brothers from Egypt was running a short-term trip in the Sudan, when they were accosted by Islamic extremists, and four of his closest friends were shot before his very eyes. He himself was taken into an interrogation room, and screamed at by a policeman, who said, "I have been told to deport you from our country. I don't want to. I want to keep you here, so you can see what else we like to do to you Christians here." It is a miracle he escaped with his life, but as he says today, he doesn't have his life - he has already lost it in Jesus. Everything that happens now, is for the glory of God.</font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4"><br></font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4">And a brother from Iran, sharing about the incredible growth of the church in that country, even amidst massive oppression. While describing what it is like to worship in Iran in an underground church, he shared this: in the western nations, many a church will have a sign over their exit door, reading, "You are now entering the Mission Field", and hopefully for the parishioners, this is truth for them. However, in the Iranian church, when you leave by the exit, there is no sign. Just the Pastor of the church, shaking your hand, looking you in the eye, and as you depart, he says to you, "Are you willing to pay the price?" This is the truth for them.</font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4"><br></font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4">I'll close with this story, of a Chinese underground church pastor who makes it an annual field trip for his little children's Sunday School class - they visit the graves of the western missionaries who would not leave as the Boxer Rebellion over-ran the nation, and millions of people were killed and missionaries were beheaded. Pointing to the tombstones the Pastor reminds them, "This is why we have the love of Christ, because these people loved not their lives, even unto death." </font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4"><br></font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4">In some ways, Teri and I felt extremely unworthy to be at these events. We were invited by the South Africans who organized the Summit, and helped to pull-off the Missions Conference. My role was to lead worship, and bring the message of "Wear The Crown", which I had the honor of doing at both events. Teri had the privilege of giving the timeless written words of our Father to two precious women who previously did not have them. But the enriching that went on in our hearts and minds, the purification of our priorities once again being around people of whom the world is not worthy, and hearing again and again the stories of persecution, and the honor that these saints feel for being called worthy to do so, is deeply impacting in a way that irreparably changes you. </font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4"><br></font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Noteworthy-Light;font-size:15px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><font face="Helvetica" size="4">How can we be the same? We have passed from death to life! We have been made part of the family of God, having come from being outcasts in sin. We are living stones, crafted into the living temple of the Holy Spirit, having been at one point useless rubble. We were once lost, hopeless, without God in the world, but now, we have been brought near, and have been called out of the darkness into His marvelous light. Hallelujah! Amen!</font></div></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div> </div> Bill Drake's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568207267172766768noreply@blogger.com1