Missions

What is your perspective on missions?

1) How do you witness, or how would you verbally witness given the opportunity? What do you believe are the 'essentials' to communicate, if you are proclaiming the whole salvation 'package deal'?

2) Have you been to Urbana? What are its strengths, and would you recommend it?

3) If you are or know someone who is a missionary, what is the daily life like?

4) What do you think about tentmaking or raising support? If you know someone who raises support, is it extremely hard for them to do so?

5) To your knowledge, does the overseas missionary usually feel that a strong desire has been placed on his / her heart by God to go in the first place? Or, does the person just follow the opportunities and loosely follow their interests, or some kind of combination of all the above?

I believe that overseas missions shouldn't be equated as being necessarily more holy than people serving God in/through their own faiths & various life circumstances. I also believe that overseas missions can be used by God to have eternal impacts on others' lives...although of course God can use people to influence others no matter where they are... hmmmmmmmmmm.

In Memory of Grandma (1922-2006)

The Love of God (Lehman, Nahorai)

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled, And pardoned from his sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure - The saints' and angels' song!

When years of time shall pass away And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,

When men who here refuse to pray, On rocks and hills and mountains call,

God's love so sure shall still endure, All measureless and strong;

Redeeming grace to Adam's race- The saints' and angels' song.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure - The saints' and angels' song!

Could we with ink the ocean fill And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill And every man ascribe by trade,

To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Tho' stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure- The saints' and angels' song!

Teaching

*So there's a note near a computer at my work (I teach ESL) noting the following:

"1. Treat goals as hypotheses
2. Treat intuition as real
3. Treat hypocrisy as transition
4. Treat memory as an enemy.
5. Treat experience as a theory."

More from Edwards -

Quote from http://jonathanedwards.com/text/Diary/May1723.htm

"Saturday morning, June 29. It is best to be careful in prayer, not to put up those petitions, of which I do not feel a sincere desire: thereby, my prayer is rendered less sincere, less acceptable to God, and less useful to myself. "

Quotes from http://jonathanedwards.com/text/Diary/Dec1724.htm

"Tuesday, July 7. When I am giving the relation of a thing, remember to abstain from altering either in the matter or manner of speaking, so much as that, if every one, afterwards, should alter as much, it would at last come to be properly false. "

It's interesting that when people relay stories where they are trying to paint an unpleasant portrayal of someone, their voices often change into a despiteful tone, which probably often exaggerates or twists the actual tone of voice of the victim of the imitation.

"Sabbath, Nov. 15. Determined, when I am indisposed to prayer, always to premeditate what to pray for; and that it is better that the prayer should be of almost any shortness, than that my mind should be almost continually off from what I say. "

Edwards

Quotes from http://jonathanedwards.com/text/Diary/Oct1723.htm

"Thursday, Oct. 18. To follow the example of Mr. B. who, though he meets with great difficulties, yet undertakes them with a smiling countenance, as though he thought them but little; and speaks of them, as if they were very small. "

I should pay more attention to the exlempary behavior of others and look at them as role models...but of course I should be aware that they are human, no matter how 'put together' or 'holy' they may appear, and that they may disappoint me. Only God is perfect ~

"Tuesday forenoon, Nov. 26. It is a most evil and pernicious practice, in meditations on afflictions, to sit ruminating on the aggravations of the affliction, and reckoning up the evil, dark circumstances thereof, and dwelling long on the dark side: it doubles and trebles the affliction. And so, when speaking of them to others, to make them as bad as we can, and use our eloquence to set forth our own troubles, is to be all the while making new trouble, and feeding and pampering the old; whereas, the contrary practice, would starve our affliction. If we dwelt on the bright side of things in our thoughts, and extenuated them all that we possibly could, when speaking of them, we should think little of them ourselves, and the affliction would really, in a great measure, vanish away. "

"1724. Wednesday, Jan. 1. Not to spend too much time in thinking, even of important and necessary worldly business, and to allow every thing its proportion of thought, according to its urgency and importance"

"Friday, Jan. 10. (After having written to a considerable extent, in shorthand, which he used, when he wished what he wrote to be effectually concealed from every one but himself, he adds the following.) Remember to act according to Pro. 12:23, A prudent man concealeth knowledge. "

"Monday, Feb. 3. Let every thing have the value now which it will have on a sick bed: and frequently, in my pursuits of whatever kind, let this question come into my mind, “How much shall I value this on my deathbed?” "

"Saturday, May 23. How it comes about I know not, but I have remarked it hitherto, that at those times, when I have read the Scriptures most, I have evermore been most lively and in the best frame. "

The Word of God -- Deut. 6:6-8

" 'These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead."

We should keep the Word in our hearts. It should be taught to children. We should talk of it in our day-to-day lives. It would be nice if God and His Word more often sprang to mind. What goes in comes out though, right? To some extent? I should chew on His Word more, and at spontaneous moments.

Edwards' Resolutions

The following are some of Jonathan Edward's Resolutions, as recorded on
http://www.jonathanedwards.com/text/Personal/resolut.htm :

"Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life."

"Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God."

"Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die."

"Whenever I hear anything spoken in conversation of any person, if I think it would be praiseworthy in me, Resolved to endeavor to imitate it. "

It's a good idea to imitate other good attributes found in others! Or better yet, if we recognized those characteristics, and tried to consciously implement them in our lives. However, hopefully we wouldn't imitate uniquely 'trademarked' characteristics of others' personalities, with bad motives/intentions. I think imititating those things doesn't have to be bad necessarily, as long as the motives are okay. (It could be fun if someone has a peculiar vocabulary item, or joke, if it rubbed off onto others.) Probably most ideas are basically 'plagarized' anyway... is anything new under the sun?? (Ecc. 1:9b: 'So there is nothing new under the sun.') Well, I guess I-pods and laptops and astronauts haven't been around since the beginning of time, but...

"Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them."

It's a good idea to try to see the good that may have resulted from afflictions...afterall, as Rom. 8:28 goes..."And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." We may not always see the good, though -

"Resolved, always to do that, which I shall wish I had done when I see others do it."