Beseech...

My friend suggested to me recently that I pray before I venture out with our family each day.

And I've been thinking about that a lot.
A lot...
Thinking about my prayers for our family...

I have been praying.  I can say without any intended exaggeration that I have committed a serious prayer to the Lord every time I have left the house on my bike since we got here in December.

And at the time, or before too much time I pray to Him while crossing through our gate from our property to the street.
And I pray at the first speed bump.
And at the guard shack, while leaving our neighbourhood, with either kid in the seat behind, I earnestly plead.
I beseech the Lord.

I pray for safety.  I pray we will not be hurt.  I pray that THIS DAY will not be THE day.

And when we get to where we're going...  I pray.  And I thank God.  And I say, "YOU did that Jesus."  YOU cleared the road.  YOU kept my tires from veering.  YOU made the other drivers see us.  YOU did that.  And Cecil and I celebrate with a high-five and a shout a praise to God.

I had been praying that we could see Jesus' work here and be ASTONISHED and that we could (like John) "BEHOLD the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!"

When we return home from some place.  I AM astonished.  And so thankful.  And I don't ever want to take his protection for granted.  And I know I have BEHELD the very Lamb of God.

But what about when I DO get hurt while I'm out?  What about the cuts and bruises and falls and tears?
I've been wondering...  What about THOSE?

If I pray for safety, then why does stuff still happen?

I'm still thankful.  Thankful the falls aren't as bad as they could have been.
Glad we fell into the bush and not into a ditch.
Glad it was me, and not our friend who was pregnant and riding while she was in language school.

 Glad the kids are always not only unharmed, but sometimes not even phased.

Brings me around to another lesson I've learned many times.  That the answer to my prayer isn't always what I expected.

Does this story end happy and wrapped up in a nice little red bow?  Not yet.

I just wanted to bring you into a quandary I've had with the Lord this week.

And when I was thinking about my prayers, I realized for the first time today.....
that I've been BESEECHING him.
 BESEECHING.

I leave the neighbourhood and ask him... for our lives.

And I know it may seem a silly or at least strange thing to pray.
I just feel that if HE DOESN'T protect us and actually PRESERVE our very lives....  than we won't be.

Psalm 116:4

Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beseech You, save my life!”

well.........  just a glimpse into my mind's pursuits.

-Tracy

Glory

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! (John 17:20-24 NLT)

This is part of Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17.  Truly a phenomenal section of scripture.  I remember the first time I heard this passage preached was at a college retreat at Hartland Christian Camp.  Galen Norsworthy invited a friend of his Bert Downs, former president of Western Theological seminary, now the chancellor of Western.  He preached about how followers of Jesus have His glory...it was so impactful.  I couldn't believe it.  A guy like myself who grew up without a father, insecure, without much money or influence, could have the glory of an almighty, all-knowing everlasting God, is truly beyond me.  The scripture says The Lord  gave us this glory to be one, so that the world would know that world may know that God sent Jesus His only son, and that they may know that the Father loves them as He loves the Son.  This is amazing news.  I am convinced that it is imparative that I encourage and build up the missionaries here, those part of MB Mission and those in my realm of influence.  It truly is a battle...I meet so many missionaries who are struggling maritally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Many of them have no one to talk to...they feel all alone.  May the Spirit of God come along side them, comfort them, build them up, bring the body of Christ around them and unite them to reflect His Glory, His light.  I heard one pastor say "we are meant to be a light, that means to be a reflection of His affection."  My desire is to demonstrate unity with fellow believers and to remember this amazing concept that, in a sense, Jesus has given me his glory.

Cecil

Hell bound or Erasing Hell

                                   

So about a year and a half ago I went with a friend of mine named Arnold Mayorga to Regent College in Vancouver BC to see the showing of "Hellbound."  To be perfectly honest this film really questioned a lot of my beliefs regarding how and eternal torment.  I think it's a good thing when someone calls into question your belief because it caused me to dig deeper theologically.  

Recently I was staying up watching Netflix and came across Hellbound once again.  After I saw the film again I thought to myself, "I would love to read up on some material specifically about Hell.  The next thing you know a missionary who lives in my neighborhood--named Jay Ballou--let me borrow his Kindle and said for my birthday he wanted to challenge me to read a book a week.  I actually didn't think I would be able to but as I looked over his list I realized that he had the book "Erasing Hell" by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle addressing the very topic of Hell.  Well, it's been a week and I devoured the book!  The Lord provided it in a very pivotal time, many questions that I had after watching the film was answered in the book.  The film called into question that the Bible actually taught about a physical Hell, the book answered that.  It also called into question whether Jesus and His disciples actually believed in the notion of a place of punishment for eternity, and the book answered that question as well.  Truth is many people feel very uncomfortable at the notion of Hell and consequently try to edit The Lord and His Word.  This is something that I would never want to do.  My deep desire is to fear God and not man.  One of the reason why I am here in Thailand is because I believe most people living in Thailand today are living away from the love and grace of Jesus and that due to their rebellion and rejection of him when they die they will not go to be with Him in eternity.  My desire is that they would know, love and trust him in this life...and in the next.

Cecil 

Cinco De Mayo Birthday Outreach

                         

      

                                

                              

                                     

        

        

     

So we just celebrated my birthday recently, yes it is on Cinco de Mayo!  Tracy surprised me with inviting Andy Owen,  Spire-who is a Thai guy that I met about a month ago and has been hanging out with me and learning some Muay Thai together, and Koss-who has been our taxi driver since we moved here.  We had a blast and later that night we invited our teacher Khru Pai--who is our language teacher and is sitting to the left of Tracy.  Then we have Khru Oi who has been our boys tutor for the past month and she I sitting on the right of Tracy.  We are so grateful for the Owens and the Ballou family who helped us love and make the Thai families feel comfortable at our house.  It was such a great day and I was so thankful for the people we have been able to connect with.

Cecil

Muay Thai and MMA Ministry

So the guy right above me is named Francisco Ayon.  I was told about him when I first arrived, that he's a Mexican guy but is here teaching Muay Thai, Jujitsu and other mixed martial arts.  I was given his phone number but never called because many friends told me about how expensive it is to train in Chiang Mai.  Oddly enough several month later I was on a street corner with another fellow missionary named Jon Esau and Francisco comes up to me and gives us his card.  I looked and him and said "where are you from my fiend?" He told me he was from Mexico!  I looked at him and in Spanish I said, "hey, you're Francisco aren't you."  Several days later I checked out his facilities, he invited me into his home and introduced me to his family.  Later that night Tracy and I had them over for "Friday night pizza" and had the opportunity to get to know them more.  It was at our dinner table that he told me it has been a life long dream of his to move his family to Thailand and train people.  He said that he only charges about $390 for foreigners to come and terrain with him, room and board included.  He mentioned that his greatest joy is to share Jesus by the way he lives his life.  It was a very pleasant surprise!  I have been training for a few weeks and it honestly feels like I'm back in HS wrestling practice the workouts are so intense...however it's a blast as well.  I've had the opportunity to introduce about a half-dozen of my fiends to his gym.  Especially Spire--pronounced Spy-who isn't a Christian but I've been hanging out with for the past several weeks.  Pray that I would make the most of this opportunity to minister to guys I meet, that I would grow in my friendship with Spire as I use my Thai with him, and that I would be able to bless Francisco by bringing more business to his Muay Sangha MMA gym.

Cecil