Some of the Latest Thoughts

I have been very busy writing down testimonies of conversion and life stories that I gathered from my trip. What my trip taught me: 
 Wow, so much to do and the clock still clicks on. The answer to me is a total dependence on God. This last trip opened my eyes to the frailty of human effort. No intellect or personal ability amounts to much on the table of the Gospel, just a willingness to be nothing and have our eyes on Christ and his will for our lives. Prayer has also become so meaningful....


Phil 3:8
KJV
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 


NIV
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

Home Again!

Contentment is easy when it means home with my wife and two boys. Enough said.

Oriani Haiti: (Quickly typed excuse typo errors)
I have received at least 10 different testimonies the last two days. I
talked also at length or spent the day with Minister and missionary
Dallas Koehn. I shared with him some of the issues shared earlier. He
added one more example: Another minister brother's wife here makes a
extra 8 plates of food a day for there immediate neighbors that do not
have enough food.The culture is community oriented and has also quite a 
social courtesies and social respects I need to brush up on back in NA.

One of the more touching testimonies I received was from a single
mother with two children. Her mother is dead and she lives in a very
poor life. She survived the earthquake in Jacmel in a house that lost
some of its inhabitants. She has made a change the last year to live
for God. She is not yet in doctrine class. She wants so much to be a
member, but first she wished she was married, because in hard times
when her children are hungry men prey on her with gifts of food for
immoral pleasure. She is basically a orphan and relies on her sister
who is our sister for help. She said she is committed and is following
through. We were moved to pray for her.

Another was a home where a brother and sister and their children were
sitting together in the yard. They had no food and had not eaten that
day. They have a garden but it is not ready to harvest. He dug a
16x16x12 hole the last four years through rock for a cistern. He is
waiting for CSI to help him complete it. However it has not been done
before some good rains caved in the space between the cistern and the
house. Now his house is cracking and settling into the hole. His
children now moved from their room to the only other room with their
parents.  (8'x8') Side note is that his wife got cholera just a little
while ago and nearly died twice. However --no lie--- the woman's face
glowed with happiness, though the husband seemed clouded with
responsibility. six children--by the looks of it all under 12.

Today an old man shared two times he was saved. Once when his mule
fell off the side of the mountain with him on it and something held
him as he watched his mule continue falling. He broke down and said
that memory affects him greatly because God held him for no reason
other than to save him. The other was when he was a soldier at an
outpost and his friends told him not to go on a patrol to a certain
area. When he got there he fell on the ground while his fellow
officers were shot. He cannot believe God counted him worthy to be
spared and allowed him to become his child.

The missionary and I were both touched and impressed with hearing the
testimonies of these mountain people. It is a revival as they tell you
of the different churches they have belonged and as they have said,
"This Church does not play" and "This Church teaches the Bible" and
most in this area mention the doctrines and their soundness. Thanks
for you time and remember to pray for your brother and sisters because
they are not without their weaknesses.

Well I'm in Haiti

The area where I'm in


Lasstik Canyon

Working on the Haiti Book. I have interviewed two people today and spent the day with Enel Henri's. I am spending the nights in a nearby missionary house in a upstairs suite. Tonight I walked into the village a talked with my interpreter and guide Fre. Joule. Tomorrow Fre. Samuel will pick us up and take us to Fond Parisien where I will talk to Min. Brutis and plan out the rest of my trip. Praying that I will find a vehicle from one of the missions that I can borrow so we can redeem the time and make the most of it. We will still use public transportation some of the time, most likely. The goal is to interview a number of brothers and sisters experiences to finish the book. It is rather exciting, but also intimidating when you lack the language skills.
Yesterday I helped the CPS VS boys and Kevin Bronson unplug the Lasstic pipe. Their was a hole in the top of the pipe where the local people were filling their jugs. The water is running so fast that it swept some of the jogs out of their hands and lodged in the pipe. We took a long fifty foot welded 3/4 rebar down the shaft and speared a couple jugs which we pulled out. They are hoping to plug of the hole to keep out the jug fillers. They estimated the water was running 14mph.
Thanks for those that pray, and please pray for my family at home, that I wish were with me. Well I need to get back to typing before I head into bed.

How Many Hours Do You Have To Live?

Yesterday evening my son said “I want to stay awake a million hours”.

Think about a million.  In one sense, it’s a lot, on the other hand, it’s relatively a comprehendible number.  For instance, there are truckers that put on a million + miles in their career.

The numbers:

Almost no one lives a million hours.  A million hours is over 114 years.  Considering how fast an hour goes by, I was a little shocked.  Just think of the hours ticking away.  Most people probably only have about 700,000 – 750,000 hours total to use, and close to 1/3 of those will be spent sleeping.

Only about 880,000 hours have passed since the Titanic sank.

What are you and I doing with the few hours we have to use?

By Brian Dirks

Calculate your Hours at

http://www.mathcats.com/explore/age/calculator.html

Noah's Ark Fact's: On the Water

Just some notes to Ponder About Noah's Ark in the Water 

Noah's Family:


II Pet. 2:5 says 8 souls were saved
Noah and his wife, their 3 sons - Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives.
Noah's wife's name is not given in the Bible but Jewish tradition uses the name "Naamah."


The Animals


 In Gen. 6:19 Noah is instructed to bring mated pairs of every kind of bird, every kind of animal, and every kind of creature that moves along the ground.


How Many Animals?


 In Gen. 7:2. He is more specifically instructed to bring seven mated pairs (14) of clean animals and seven pairs of all birds.

Only air-breathing animals needed to be included on the Ark
There are less than 18,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians living in the world today.
Double this to allow for extinct species.
This would gives us 36,000 species times 2, or 72,000 animals.
 Adding for the clean animals, we might say there were as many as 75,000 animals.
 most animals are smaller than a common house cat.
Some creationists believe there may have been far fewer animals if Noah only took on board pairs of "kinds" as the word is used in Genesis 1. God created these "kinds" with potential for rich genetic diversity.
Think This:  For instance, at the time of Christ there existed only two types of dogs. All the diversity we see in the modern breeds of dogs came from these two!


Feeding the Animals:

 Noah was instructed to include food for the animals (Gen. 6:21).  Naturally this would have been a big chore
Ever think of cleaning all the stalls?
It is suggested that perhaps many of the animals went into a hibernation mode or at least their metabolism slowed down considerably.
At this point I doubt that anyone on the boat doubted that God was in control of the situation or what do you think? 

The Most Important: The Meaning of the Ark to us Today

 The Ark of Noah is a rich picture of the salvation provided by Christ who today is our Ark of safety.

 Some of the points of comparison are:

1. God took the initiative in sparing Noah and his family. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8.

2. There was a divine and human side to the Ark as Christ is both human and divine.

3. There was only one door to enter into the Ark as there is only one way to God and that is through Christ Jesus. "I am the gate for the sheep..." Jn. 10:7. See also Acts 4:12.

4. There was great security for the passengers of the Ark. Likewise, if we are in Christ we are secure. See Rom.8:31

http://www.ldolphin.org/cisflood.html

Wiebe's Corner Quotes

We will experience the freedom to be ourselves in Christ when we accept that we are ordinary people within whom an extraordinary God abides.

Lesson 10

A Godly Woman's Virtue

Adult & Youth Sunday School Lessons

March, April, May 2012

Life is Fragile in Fukushima Japan

Well to put it in a nutshell, apparently we have not heard the end of the Fukushima Nuclear disaster in Japan. They have quite a number of spent Nuclear rods up in the air in a pool of water with no where-- easy to go. They have to keep those thousands of rods submerged and move them somewhere safe. A crane to lift them individually will expose them to the air and cause damage. Why is it a problem?--because the aftershocks from the fault line that caused this mess could bring it down for us-- a little too quickly. So what? Well read this quote:
"Many of our readers might find it difficult to appreciate the actual meaning of the figure, yet we can grasp what 85 times more Cesium-137 than the Chernobyl would mean. It would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival."
from http://akiomatsumura.com/2012/04/682.html


I am not trying to scare anyone unduly but it reminds us that we humans live in a pretty fragile condition and we owe it to God to keep us out of harms way with all our ambitious projects,etc. It also makes me more concerned to continue to pray for our leaders to receive wisdom from on High to get the answers---- for these mind boggling problems we as humanity get ourselves in. I feel for those scientists that are receiving ulcers because they can crunch all those apocalyptic numbers and not know where to turn except to fear and human reasoning. We have also to admit that prayer for our people in power is essential for all involved.

1 Tim 2:1-4

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 

The Poor You Shall Always Have With You: Help Me Lord with these Verses

Think about these verses and our Brethren abroad that have needs like in Haiti ,India etc. and here in NA for that matter. What thinkest thou???

 Det 15:7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren
within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy
poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt
surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. 


Pr 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and
that which he hath given will he pay him again.

James 2:15 +16 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily
food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and
filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are
needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Mat 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow
of thee turn not thou away.