Standing Stones teaching and support for missions trip

                                     Teaching at Standing Stones

Visiting with Dave

I was blessed to teach and spend quality time with the men and staff at Standing Stones Orchards in Wapato, last Tuesday to Friday.  

I returned after visiting with our PFC worship tour team the previous week when I learned Dave Gorton, the director, suffered injuries while working in the orchards. I asked how I might support him in a very practical way so he invited me to come over to teach and spend time with the men and him.  On the way home, the Lord prompted me to get back over there.  

I taught from the PFC Bible correspondence series on Old Testament characters and from the SS discipleship training manual on relational Christianity and salvation. I rejoiced to combine listening and mentoring with the four men in te program while enjoying fellowship with Dave and Gail Gorton, the directors.

                            Support two thirds in for missions trip

I am thoroughly thankful to the Lord as two-thirds of my $3,200 support for our PFC short-term missions trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda in early November has come in.  We have our next team meeting this Saturday in Woodinville. 

The dates and itinerary for the trip are still being worked out by PFC staff.  My preparation focus has been to pray, read Acts, and on develop three preaching outlines.

On Tuesday afternoon, Dick Rothlisberger, my PFC teammate chaplain at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, and I trekked to Woodinville for encouragement and re-training in the church liaison leadership program.  I am motivated to invite more of our Faith Baptist Church body to participate with me in active ministries.

His Harmony

Back in the units with the inmates at the NMRJC, I was once again incredibly blessed to hear how our "His Harmony" women's group from Faith Baptist was received during a recent concert. His Harmony has been doing PFC concerts for 16 years.

While meeting with Chris in the S-unit on Monday afternoon, two other men joined us. Chris has encouraged these men as they begin their new walk as followers of Jesus. I love to see men sharing what God has touched them with in the spirit on 2 Timothy 2:2.

Next Monday night, our Chaplaincy Advisory Group hosts our annual  appreciation dinner in Tukwila for our faithful volunteers at the NMRJC. 

Original Forgiven to Walla Walla, Pendleton, and Standing Stones

I was hugely blessed to take Nathan Jacobsen, Jonathan Stanton, Peter Richardson, Peyton Burkhart, and Jim Dixon on a PFC worship concert tour to Walla Walla, Pendleton, and Wapato at Standing Stones.  Each one of the team flourished in their participation.

We started out Friday night at the Juvenile Detention in Walla Walla with seven inmate boys and one girl.  Peyton preached on the characteristics of our Christian lives from Ezekiel 1.  Jim played several songs and Nathan, Jonathan, and Peter played their first phenom set of the weekend.  Our altar call rolled into individual prayer time with each of the inmates and that was a rich experience.

The inmates named our band the "Original Forgiven," which really fit them.  Right away, I could see the group was going to far exceed my expectations to God's praise and glory.

Saturday, we held services at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary-east chapel, the Eastern Oregon Corrections Facility in Pendleton, and back to the penitentiary on the west side for an evening service.  Yes, that was one full day. 


Our first service on the east side was shortened to 75 minutes with prayer and breakdown of instruments as we needed to scramble down to Pendleton by noon.  Jim and the OF each played shortened sets and I preached a shortened message on being a friend of Jesus from John 15.  We had 34 and enjoyed a fruitful time of prayer with 12 in our closing.

We ended up ministering 2 1/2 hours to 83 in Pendleton, pictured to the right, highlighted by Peyton message on defeating giants and Jonathan's really transparent testimony. Again, we enjoyed fruitful prayer after our altar call with 18 men.

On the left here, on Sunday night back at the WW State Penitentiary-West chapel, we provided a shortened musical presentation for 32 as we shared the service with another group, which was very unexpected.  We participated in the entire service with prayer at the end.

Sunday morning we drove to PFC's Standing Stones Orchards and enjoyed fellowship with Dave and Gail Gorton, pictured to the right, with three program residents. Here on the left, Jim, Nathan, and Jonathan were enjoying bringing back peaches and apples from the SS orchards.

They are overseeing the Christian recovery program there.  We were privileged to hear an introduction to the transformation happening there and an overview of their program.

I am heading back over to Standing Stones this Tuesday to Friday afternoon to fellowship with Dave and Gail and support Dave with the teaching after he broke his left shoulder and cracked ribs last Tuesday.

Great team to Eastern Washington and Oregon September 10-12

I will be leading a PFC team to Walla Walla, Pendleton, and Wapato, September 10-12 for a series of worship concerts.  The team is Peyton Burkhart, Jim Dixon, Jonathan Stanton, Nathan Jacobsen, Peter Richardson, and me.

There are usually between 30-60 at most services with 75-100 in Pendleton. We often see 300 in all the sites and many acknowledge receiving Christ for salvation or take very positive steps in following Christ.  We have enjoyed remarkable interaction with the site chaplains and even the officers. For several years, I have been leading these PFC Eastern Washington and Oregon teams two or three times yearly. 

, At the right, Peter rehearsed with Jim and Nahan  in our church library.  On the left, Jonathan is pictured. He rocks with his guitar and singing.  They will be awesome and very much appreciated by the inmates. 

Jim, jamming with Nathan to the right,  comes with me regularly and plays the guitar as he evangelizes, shares his testimony and plays his own music in ballads.  He and Jonathan,  Nathan, and Peter will carry the worship and concert sequences. The young men will be sharing their testimonies, as well.  I'll keep 'em busy.

Peyton, taking his first tour with us, and I will team up to minister in preaching.  Peyton is the respected editor of the PFC Yard Out newspaper which is widely distributed to prisons across the US and international locations.  

Penny Castro, on the left here, is the PFC director of volunteers and many other tasks at the PFC in Woodinville.  She facilitates these prison tours. On this tour, Penny scheduled us to start with a Friday service at the Walla Walla juvenile facility. On Saturday, we have two at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla and the Eastern Oregon Institute of Corrections in Pendleton, Oregon. Sunday afternoon we finish at the PFC Standing Stones rehab and training site in Wapato.

Sitting under awesome preaching

Terry Virgo recently shared reflections sitting under the preaching of Martyn Lloyd Jones in London-- 

The famous Doctor was one of my great heroes. For three years I studied in London and had the privilege of regularly hearing him preach from the historic Westminster Chapel pulpit.

Gathering with the hundreds, I awaited the arrival of his bald dome as he ascended the stairs behind the rather massive pulpit, approached the podium and led us into our opening hymn.

Of course the atmosphere of the meeting was extraordinarily formal. Having said that, his long prayer which was part of the service wedged between two or three hymns was always uplifting and edifying, but what one actually attended the Chapel for and eagerly awaited was to hear the great man preach.

Often he would hold you absolutely spellbound by his exposition. The style differed considerably from most modern preachers. There was very rarely any humor or any personal reference. This was Bible exposition at its very best with very great dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit.

The fear of God

On another deeply memorable night at the Chapel, he started his sermon in Acts but was drawn into Romans 1 and concentrated on the three times where it is stated ‘God gave them up’. I haven’t heard such preaching before or since. 

I have never felt the sense of awe and fear of God as I felt during that amazing sermon.

As he concluded, we sang the inevitable closing hymn, but, having sung it, everyone sat in silence for long moments and no one rushed to leave the building.

It was perhaps the most awesome moment I have ever known in church and an experience that was not simply personal to me but being felt across the whole hushed congregation."

If you are drawn to read more, I invite you to click over to:
 Terry Virgo’s Blog » Blog Archive » Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaching in Pensacola.

TIBET goals as SEAL missionaries to Africa

On our November PFC missions trip to the Congo and Rwanda, our desire is leave behind Christ-centered, on-fire believers who truly understand the importance of  their continuing decision to follow Christ and who will be involved in a local church.  

We serve the local church as it wins souls for Christ and mentors new followers of Christ within the inmate population.

We focus squarely on five goals when we go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda on November 2-13.  These goals direct everything we do on a PFC missions trip. Everything we do is aimed at these five TIBET goals.

• TRAIN saints currently doing prison ministry.
• INTRODUCE the PFC umbrella and seek to raise up a missionary partner.
• BLESS saints with resources and prisons with humanitarian aid.
• EVANGELIZE inside the national prisons.
• TEACH the church how to recruit volunteers and to multiply in other churches.

The U. S. Navy has an elite team known as "SEALS."  Their code challenges each of us as we serve the Lord Jesus wherever He places us every single day.

Navy Seals Code

"Loyalty to the King of Kings, His team and teammates,

Serve Him with integrity on and off the battlefield,

Ready to lead, ready to follow, NEVER QUIT,

Take responsibility for your actions and the actions of teammates,

Excel as warriors through discipline and innovation,

Train for war, fight to win, defeat our enemies,

Earn your crown every day."

The Navy Seals actual philosophy begins as follows:
“In times of war or uncertainty there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer our Nation’s call; a common man with uncommon desire to succeed. Forged by adversity, he stands alongside America’s finest special operations forces to serve his country and the American people, and to protect their way of life. I am that man.”

All of this stands firmly with Paul's charge to Timothy:

Good Soldiers of Christ Jesus   

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.  
2 Timothy 2:1-2

Upcoming missions trip adjustments and update

Ron, Tall Mark, Don, Dave, and I met in Woodinville last Saturday preparing for a PFC short-term missions trip to the Congo and Rwanda.  Now, we are scheduled for November 2 through 13 in order to save $750 for airfare per person and facilitate specific arrangements to enter the Congo. 

Don, in the middle with the blue shirt, is the team leader.  Ron, on the far left, and I are the PFC short-term missions first-timers.  Our team has met together three times to encourage one another.

I continue to serve regularly at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.  On September 10-12, I am leading a PFC concert and worship service trip with five others to Walla Walla, Pendleton, OR, and Wapato at the Standing Stones Ministry site.  I'll write more about that trip in my next post, soon.

For the Congo-Rwanda trip, I am almost at 50% in fund-raising which is a huge answer to prayer.  Many wonderful people are already participating with us as they are very sacrificially and lovingly supplying their earned finances in a very challenging economic season to support this trip.  

Even in our own home church, the status of church finances clearly argued for not taking this trip. There are always reasons "not" to go.  Those arguments are all the more reasons to "make disciples of all nations" by going to all the nations, baptizing and getting saved sinners identified in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching the people groups of the world to obey Jesus, Matthew 28:19-20.

The change in schedule from late September to November shows us the Lord's sovereign hand is actively involved with us in the details of this missionary outreach to the men and women in the prisons and others with hearts to reach them in the Congo and Rwanda.  

We have five very clearly established goals for this short-term missions trip through PFC using a "TIBET" acronym.  We will be:

• Teaching to reach the lost and encourage followers of King Jesus.
• Inspiring the inmates with humanitarian aid.
• Building up the established chaplains and supporting churches.
• Encouraging those already serving to persevere in faithful outreach.
• Training faithful workers in churches to establish and continue serving.

Humble transformation

I "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" with Bo's stunning transformation at the Regional Justice Center these past several weeks. 

He invited me to check his story on-line and I was once again amazed at what evil befalls men and women who are controlled by the drug culture, in this case "meth."  You might have read about Bo and his female accomplice in the media.

Bo was hard and proud the first time we met.  He wanted to talk just a little but didn't need any help.  I passed him several times in his unit when he sent me a kite request to visit.  This time, his entire countenance was transformed from the inside out. 

He is not in denial about his crimes.  He said,"When we were on meth I don't even know how many cars we stole and things we robbed.  I stole one computer that may have contained pictures and records of someone that we couldn't even put an amount on.  I sold it for $100 for drugs.  That is just the beginning." 

He is repentant from the inside out and fully expects to be sentenced for his crimes. Still, he is learning a whole new life walking with Jesus.

At Faith Baptist Church, I recently met with our missions committee about being invited by Bob Jordan and Greg Von Tobel to participate in a short-term international missions trip to the Congo and Rwanda beginning in late September.  They were so encouraging. 

I am very excited to have Peter, Jonathan, and Nathan join Jim, Peyton and me for an eastern Washington and Oregon on the weekend of September 10-12.  My goal is to get some of our church family actively participating in the PFC mission with me.

I am stumbling over mail merge with my letter I need to get sent out to faithful supporters as I need to raise $4,000 for this trip.I got most of my shots taken care of last week, as well.  Our Congo-Rwanda team meets every couple of weeks, the next meeting is October 21 in Woodinville.

beloved brothers incarcerated

I came out of an incredible experience with in a message I gave in one of the units this morning at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.  The men were really hungry and receptive. 

They asked me to speak to them from James 1 where they were already engaged so we set up camp in James 1:18-21.  James is about walking in faith, its a textbook on Christian living.  James was a brother of Jesus and shares a great deal in common with what Jesus said in Matthew.  The theme is commonly presented as "working faith" or "faith that works."  Genuine faith is proven by how we really live.

These verses from James 1 teach about living as beloved brothers right in their unit.  It was God's will for them to be created to become firstfruits of His creatures.  We start loving each other by carefully listening to each other.  When anger stirs, all of the momentum toward walking as men of God gets derailed. In contrast, a spirit of godly meekness with one another and toward God's word builds us up as we live together in the body.  We listen, care, and love each other.

What became so awesome was how the men applied what I was speaking to them about.  Then, the Lord touched deep inside my heart about experiencing personal meekness at home and where we are members, Faith Baptist Church in Kent.  I felt the Lord's presence like He was sitting right beside me, with His arm around my shoulder.  "Mark, this is for you."

Robert started this study group when he entered this unit on June 10th.  We prayed about him faciltating a faithful group of church men, a gathered church in that unit.  Now, he meets daily with Gil, Luis, Lepo, Jim, Junior, and Rich.

Tyrone is doing exactly the same thing in another unit.  The groups change as men transfer to other units or are released.  Others join the group and drop off.  Tyrone's group is doing "Don't waste your life," by John Piper.

In another unit,  Eric meets with another group of beloved brethren.  He's not the facilitator there but is experiencing remarkable change.  He memorized Psalm 23 so we talked about Scripture meditation.  You should see the change in his demeanor.  He said, "memorizing Psalm 23 changed my life."

Manute Bol, a fool for Christ

Manute Bol, who died last week at the age of 47, is one player who never achieved redemption in the eyes of sports journalists, according to the Wall Street Journal.

His life embodied an older, Christian conception of redemption that has been badly obscured by its current usage.

Bol, a Christian Sudanese immigrant, believed his life was a gift from God to be used in the service of others. As he put it to Sports Illustrated in 2004: "God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart so I would look back."

He was not blessed, however, with great athletic gifts. As a center for the Washington Bullets, Bol was more spectacle than superstar. At 7 feet, 7 inches tall and 225 pounds, he was both the tallest and thinnest player in the league. He averaged a mere 2.6 points per game over the course of his career, though he was a successful shot blocker given that he towered over most NBA players.

Bol reportedly gave most of his fortune, estimated at $6 million, to aid Sudanese refugees. As one twitter feed aptly put it: "Most NBA cats go broke on cars, jewelry & groupies.  

Manute Bol went broke building hospitals.

When his fortune dried up, Bol raised more money for charity by doing what most athletes would find humiliating: He turned himself into a humorous spectacle. Bol was hired, for example, as a horse jockey, hockey player and celebrity boxer. Some Americans simply found amusement in the absurdity of him on a horse or skates. And who could deny the comic potential of Bol boxing William "the Refrigerator" Perry, the 335-pound former defensive linemen of the Chicago Bears?

Bol agreed to be a clown. But he was not willing to be mocked for his own personal gain as so many reality-television stars are. Bol let himself be ridiculed on behalf of suffering strangers in the Sudan; he was a fool for Christ.

During his final years, Bol suffered more than mere mockery in the service of others. While he was doing relief work in the Sudan, he contracted a painful skin disease that ultimately contributed to his death.

Bol reminds us, the Christian understanding of redemption has always involved lowering and humbling oneself. It leads to suffering and even death.

Touch of the Master's hand

 
 The Touch of the Master's Hand
Myra Brooks Welch
It was battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.
"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"
But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.
"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.
The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Master's Hand."
And many a man with life out of tune
All battered with bourbon and gin
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.
But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Master's Hand.

"Touch Of The Masters Hand" By JD Sumner (FULL)

www.youtube.com

Falling in love with Jesus

Over the past couple of months, the Lord has taken me on an incredible journey, or real experience, in growing deeper with Him.  It started back in April with a really remarkable intercessory prayer time for Greg Von Tobel when I experienced the very real presence of God as we prayed in the hallway at our Prisoners for Christ University for Greg's deliverance.

My Bible reading is rich and rewarding especially as I read through five Psalms daily.

I read "The glory of Christ," by Puritan John Owen, and "Signs of the Spirit," (an interpretative reflection on "Religious Affections," by Jonathan Edwards) by Sam Storms.  During this ongoing experience, I sense His presence in terms of virtually hearing His voice and seeing Him.

I am now in the midst of "Pleasures evermore," by Sam Storms, and George Marsden's biography on Jonathan Edwards.

Falling in love with Jesus

 "I want to be attuned to God's heart, to be of one mind, one spirit, one disposition with Him. If this occurs, it will only occur as the fruit of fascination with all that God is in Himself and all that He is for me in Jesus. The ability to walk with consistency in the things you know please God ultimately will only be overcome when your heart, soul, mind, spirit, and will are captivated by the majesty, mercy, splendor, beauty, and magnificence of who God is and what He has and will do for you in Jesus," Sam Storms writes.

"I must confess that I have ransacked the dictionary for words to describe what I have in mind. Here is what I mean by falling in love with Jesus. I, you, we were made to be enchanted, enamored, and engrossed with God; enthralled, enraptured, and entranced with God; enravished, excited, and enticed by God; astonished, amazed, and awed by God; astounded, absorbed, and agog with God; beguiled and bedazzled; startled and staggered; smitten and stunned; stupefied and spellbound; charmed and consumed; thrilled and thunderstruck; obsessed and preoccupied; intrigued and impassioned; overwhelmed and overwrought; gripped and rapt; enthused and electrified; tantalized, mesmerized, and monopolized; fascinated, captivated, and exhilarated by God; intoxicated and infatuated with God!"

Sam concludes, "Does that sound like your life? Do you want it to? Do you realize how difficult it would be to sin if this were true of you? This is what God made you for. There is an eradicable, inescapable impulse in your spirit to experience the fullness of God in precisely this way and God put it there!"

Watching the Lord change men and revisiting "The Shack"

I met with two very unusual men at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent these past two weeks.  One is Ben, an 18 year-old self-proclaimed Kent gang member.  The other is Alex, a 33 year-old cocaine addict.  I was privileged to share "the greatest news they will ever hear," the gospel good news, with both.

Ben even wrote out several gang signs with his name and identity for me.  As we shared the Romans Road and related Scripture texts together, I witnessed a clearly visible transformation of his spirit.  I will be visiting with him later this week to see how he is progressing with the verses I asked him to read and answer his questions.

Approaching me as I was leaving the unit, Alex begged me to talk to him about needing the Lord and straightening out his life. 

He said, "I want to do what is right but I lie, cheat, swear, and steal.  I just get into trouble all the time.  Can you help me?"

As so often I experience, despite his reading and spelling level being very low, he was really working hard at it.  When we got to 1 John 5:11-12 and 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 he was marking his Bible carefully and was in tears. 

Both men took the first steps in receiving Christ, or made positive responses to the gospel. Chaplain Dick met with Alex later in the day to follow-up.  I often follow-up with men he has shared with.  Then, we debrief together.

About two years ago, I read "The Shack," and enjoyed it as fiction although I was deeply troubled with several theological issues.  While it has several really great scenes, I've become more alert to significant troubling issues other bloggers helped me clarify. 

This mass adoration for this novel has helped seemingly cement William Paul Young's "The Shack" to the stratosphere of numerous best-sellers list--where it's remained for more than 100 weeks--a claim no other book can make.

Yet it is infused with counterfeit Christianity, says author Dr. James De Young in his new book, "Burning Down 'The Shack': How the 'Christian' Bestseller is Deceiving Millions," and its depiction of God the Father as an African woman who bore the scars of Calvary with Jesus Christ is just one example of its many dangerous deceptions.

Dr. De Young was my New Testament Language and Literature professor at Western Seminary in Portland, Ore., and a former longtime colleague of Paul Young, and was his Portland-area neighbor when Young wrote The Shack.
 

From Tim Challies’s review of Professor James De Young’s book-length review, entitled Burning Down the Shack:

In April of 2004, De Young attended a Christian think tank and there Young presented a 103-page paper which presented a defense of universal reconciliation, a Christian form of universalism—the view that at some point every person will come to a right relationship with God.

If they do not do this before they die, God will use the fires of hell to purge away (not punish, mind you) any unbelief. Eventually even Satan and his fallen angels will be purged of sin and all of creation will be fully and finally restored. This is to say that after death there is a second chance, and more than that, a complete inevitability, that all people will eventually repent and come to full relationship with God.

De Young believes that Young’s belief in universal reconciliation is absolutely crucial to anyone who would truly wish to understand The Shack. It is the key that makes sense of the book and the theology it contains. Though far from the only theological problem with the book, it is the one that makes sense of the others.

John Wooden as a Christian

At the passing of John Wooden, here is a reflection on his religious or spiritual life.  These are the things related to his faith that were the most meaningful to him.  I will never forget when his UCLA dynasty teams came to Pullman to play in the old Bohler Gym and the Performing Arts Center in 1973 and 1974.

I hold John Wooden up as a genuine American hero.  I always wondered why he didn't take a more active role or speak out as a Christian about Christ.   I have several books about basketball and life by him and I've read them carefully.

Another influence on Wooden was the religion of his youth – and the girl he shared it with, Nell Riley. “I was baptized with the young woman who was to be my wife later on, the only girl I ever dated, in 1927,” Wooden says. “We were juniors in high school and she was the only girl I ever went with and we had a relationship and she suggested that we join at the same time. 

"I don’t want to say that I accepted Christ at that particular time because of the fact that I did this primarily because she wanted me to. But my acceptance came gradually as time went by.”

Wooden took great solace from the Bible, a copy of which sits in each room of his home today. His favorite passage, 1 Corinthians 13, reads in part: “Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 

It is yet another theme that marks his life: “I do believe that adversity makes you stronger,” he says, “And I do believe in many ways, perhaps not in financial ways, that adversity from hard work does make you able to accept the more difficult things as they would come along later in your life.”

Religion continued to be major factor in Wooden’s life. He read Scripture daily, attended the First Christian Church of his childhood, and professed deep admiration for evangelist Billy Graham, who is a personal friend.

From Indiana to UCLA

From the book Wooden: A lifetime of observations and reflections on and off the court, by John Wooden and Steve Jamison


Randy Alcorn's blog contains this account of John Wooden's move from Indiana to UCLA.  He calls the moving events "fate."  The great coach is 99 years old and one of my heroes.

I was teaching and coaching at Indiana State Teachers College when I was offered coaching positions at both the University of Minnesota and UCLA. I was inclined to go with Minnesota because it was in the Midwest, but there was a little hitch in the offer. They wanted me to keep Dave McMillan, the fellow I would be replacing, as an assistant.

I didn’t think that would be for the best, so they offered to consider giving Mr. McMillan another position at the university, one acceptable to him. However, this would take a few days for the board to determine.

They promised they would call me Saturday at 6:00 P.M. with their decision. I told them if they could make the change and it was acceptable to Mr. McMillan, would come to Minnesota to and coach their basketball team.

Meanwhile, UCLA was waiting for a decision. I told them to call me on Saturday night at 7:oo. By then I would know what Minnesota had decided. I informed UCLA that Minnesota made the offer I would be staying in the Midwest. But fate stepped in and changed things.

On the day the University of Minnesota was supposed to call me, a blizzard hit the Twin Cities and knocked out all phone service in and around Minneapolis. Unaware of the situation, I waited patiently for the call. None came, not at 6:00, not at 6:30. My phone didn’t ring at 6:45.


However, right on the button at 7:00 P.M., UCLA called. I assumed Minnesota had decided against offering me the coaching position, so I accepted UCLA’s offer.


Almost immediately after I finished talking with UCLA, the call came through from Minneapolis. I was told about the storm. I was also told that the adjustment had been approved and they were offering me the position of head basketball coach at the University of Minnesota, the job I really wanted.

Had I been able to terminate my agreement with UCLA in an honorable fashion, I would have done so immediately. But I had given my word just a few minutes before. If fate had not intervened, I would never have gone to UCLA. 

But my dad’s little set of threes served me well: 

“Don’t whine. Don’t complain. Don’t make excuses.”

I resolved to work hard and do the best job I was capable of­—even when I discovered upon arriving at UCLA that I wasn’t actually working for the university but rather for the associated students. The president of the student body was actually my boss!

I believe that things are directed in some sort of way. I’m not exactly sure how. I also believe that things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.

Word attack to God's Word

 At the RJC, I've been working with Cedric, a 30 year-old cousin of Billy, who recently was transferred to Shelton.  Billy introduced me to Cedric who has a heart to grow spiritually.

Cedric struggles with reading--both word attack and comprehension.  He asked me to help him learn to read more effectively while he is trying to prepare to take a GED.

In school, he was a special education student and did not graduate. We read the Bible together out loud and I provided a small, powerful book called "Prison to Praise."  He gets most of it but stumbles a great deal.

So, he doesn't get it.  He understands that and wants to learn.

I collaborated with Judy Roberts, the Kent School District teacher at the RJC to work on a third grade-level packet which was too advanced to build on. So, she provided a solid, more basic packed on syllables and word parts.  Excellent!  We'll see how far he gets over this weekend.

Consider Eric Liddell, the famous Scottish Olympian celebrated in the film "Chariots of Fire."  Liddell became a missionary in China. For ten years he taught in a school, and then went farther inland to do frontline evangelism.

Here is D. A. Carson's account:

The work was not only challenging but dangerous, not the least because the Japanese were making increasing inroads. Eventually he was interned with many other Westerners.

In the squalid camp, Liddell was a shining light of service and good cheer, a lodestar for the many children there who had not seen their parents for years, a self-sacrificing leader. But a few months before they were released, Liddell died of a brain tumor. He was forty-three.

In this life he never saw the youngest of his three daughters: his wife and children had returned to Canada before the Japanese sweep that rounded up the foreigners. Didn’t the Lord withhold from him a long life, years of fruitful service, the joy of rearing his own children?

Perhaps the best response lies in Liddell’s favorite hymn:

Be still, my soul! the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul! thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

fathers and sons and missions

 This Sunday, our pastor closed his sermon with a true life story of John Paton and his family being encircled by angels.  The band of angels protected his family from a tribe that was seeking to kill his family.

It made me recall this account about him--

Happy as were the Patons in their cottage home, the day came when separations were begun. John had applied for a position in Glasgow, and must go there to be examined. It was about forty miles to Kilmarnock, where he could take a train, and he had to go on foot, because he could not afford to travel in a stagecoach. His baggage consisted of one small bundle.

But the One who said, "I know thy ... poverty, (but thou art rich)," was with him, and courageously he launched out on the ocean of life.

His father, who loved this oldest son very tenderly, walked with him for six miles, and his "counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey" were never forgotten by the son. During the latter part of the way they were speechless. The father carried his hat in his hand, and his long yellow locks fell on his shoulders, while silent prayers ascended.

When they reached the place appointed for parting, they clasped hands and the father said, "God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!"

The young man went his way, turning at the corner and waving his hat in farewell. A little farther on, he climbed the dyke for one last look, and there saw the father who too had climbed the dyke, hoping for one more glimpse of his boy. The father's eyes were not so keen as the son's, and he looked in vain for a few moments, then climbed down and started for home, his head still bared, and his heart, no doubt, still offering silent prayers for his son.

In the years that followed, temptations came, as they will to every boy, but the form of his father, as he saw him in parting, seemed like a guardian angel. The blessing his father invoked was upon him and he was kept from sin.

The years which followed were busy years for young Mr. Paton -- sometimes distributing tracts, sometimes teaching school, sometimes hard at work as a city missionary, and all the time fitting himself to be still more useful in the Lord's vineyard.

But the time came when he seemed to hear a voice plainly calling from the New Hebrides, and he longed to give his life as a missionary among the cannibals there. He thought and prayed about it a great deal, for he wanted to be sure that he was really called of God.

When he was convinced that it was the voice of the Master, he offered himself. Dr. Bates, who was in charge of the Heathen Missions Committee, cried for joy. Mr. Paton went to his room with a happy heart, for he was obeying God's call.

kicking and screaming

"Calvinism does not teach and never has taught that God bring people kicking and screaming into the kingdom," R.C. Sproul said, "or has ever excluded anyone who wanted to be there.

Remember that the cardinal point of the Reformed doctrine of predestination rests on the biblical teaching of man's spiritual death. 

"Natural man does not want Christ. He will only want Christ if God plants a desire for Christ in his heart. Once that desire is planted, those who come to Christ do not come kicking and screaming against their wills. They come because they want to come. They now desire Jesus. They rush to the Savior."

Do you want to be saved?  You might call out to God for salvation like this:

I know I am lost and cannot come to You on my own. I need to be saved, right now, Lord. Save me. I ask you to forgive me of my sins and save me. I repent of my sins and turn to You! I am jumping into Your arms, right now. 

I cannot save myself. What can I do? Who can I run to? Where should I turn?

I am crying out to You and know You will save me based on Romans 10:11-13. 

Thank you for taking all my sins and placing them on Jesus, past, present, and future. Thank you for cleansing me with Your blood and covering me with Your righteousness. 

Thank You--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for saving me. This is the beginning of my journey with You. 

"R.C. continues, "The whole point of irresistible grace is that rebirth quickens someone to spiritual life in such a way that Jesus is now seen in his irresistible sweetness. Jesus is irresistible to those who have been made alive to the things of God. Every soul whose heart beats with the life of God within it longs for the living Christ. All whom the Father gives to Christ come to Christ (John 6:37)."

How we overcome

Recently Of First Importance posted a citation from D. A. Carson.  Contemplate these biblical and powerful words:

“How dare you approach the mercy-seat of God on the basis of what kind of day you had, as if that were the basis for our entrance into the presence of the sovereign and holy God? No wonder we cannot beat the Devil.

This is "works theology." It has nothing to do with grace and the exclusive sufficiency of Christ. Nothing. Do you not understand that we overcome the accuser on the ground of the blood of Christ?

Nothing more, nothing less.

That is how we win. It is the only way we win. This is the only ground of our acceptance before God. If you drift far from the cross, you are done. You are defeated.

We overcome the accuser of our brothers and sisters, we overcome our consciences, we overcome our bad tempers, we overcome our defeats, we overcome our lusts, we overcome our fears, we overcome our pettiness on the basis of the blood of the Lamb.”

—D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 103

Suffering and the Sweetness of Christ

by Jonathan Edwards 

In the last several months, I have been on an incredible reading journey.  The most recent book is "Signs of the Spirit, " an interpretation of "Religious Affections," by Sam Storms. 

Through this book, I am invited and escorted into a deeper, deeper walk into experiencing the pleasure of the glory of God. Here, Edwards tells about his delight of soul amidst a crippling illness.

In September, 1725, I was taken ill at New Haven, and while endeavoring to go home to Windsor, was so ill at the North Village, that I could go no farther, where I lay sick, for about a quarter of a year. 

In this sickness, God was pleased to visit me again, with the sweet influences of his Spirit. My mind was greatly engaged there, on divine and pleasant contemplations, and longings of soul. 

I observed that those who watched with me would often be looking out wishfully for the morning; which brought to my mind those words of the Psalmist, and which my soul with delight made its own language, "My soul waits for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning;" and when the light of the day came in at the window, it refreshed my soul, from one morning to another. It seemed to be some image of the light of God’s glory.

Kingdom of grace in Forks

Jerry Corelli, Jim Dixon and I trekked to Forks on Saturday to the Olympic Corrections Center for a concert with 19 inmates and two officers.

The chapel, pictured here, reflects effort by Chaplain Terrence Madden to make it inclusive of multiple religious expressions.  By Department of Corrections policy, the chaplain accommodates as many diverse spiritual groups as choose to meet for worship.

Jerry provided the concert with a great song about the "kingdom of grace," Jim shared an awesome testimony about the transformation in his son's life, and I preached a shortened message about the awesome supernatural work of the Lord Jesus, the King of Grace.

Jerry shared reflections on his spiritual experience with the men in between his nearly hour-long concert.  He really blessed the men.

Jim Dixon and I travel to OCC in Forks four to six times a year and are constantly rejoicing as we reflect on the blessings we receive from the men at each visit.  We are hoping to do more things with Jerry, as the Lord provides opportunities with PFC. Jim loves to play hymns with the men in our concerts.

On this visit, an inmate named Dan met with me to share his need to seek forgiveness from Jake, another inmate he abused while they shared a cell in the past year.  I did not share that I knew about the chain of incidents he spoke about that got him transferred to OCC.  I continue to correspond with Dan and Jake.

We were able to pray about surrendering this matter and acknowledging that one-to-one resolution is likely very difficult in this situation. I originally met with both men at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.