God moving despite deep despair and a Providential turn of events

​Hiya folks.....

In the last blog, I marveled at our fresh & unexpected growth. W/little effort, great stories of glory are popping everywhere. 

The pic below of "Aerialist Bro (AB)" is classic. You've probably seen it before. He's hosting a family from a country where the democratically elected gov't was overthrown a couple of yrs. back. The patriarch & several members of their ext. family fought a good fight & now live here....For some context, the insurgency came from their tribe....& I'll bet they fought cousins. Very resistant to the Gospel, Joshua Project divides them into 2 groups: respectively .01% & .02% evangelical.  

There's been a tragedy but God is working....A young man from this family got in serious legal trouble a while back. He was jailed for a few months but is out on bail.....He & others in his family are now curious about Jesus. 1) While in jail, AB sent him a Bible in his language. He read a lot of it & asked many theo questions when AB visited from several hrs away on 2-3 occasions.  2) Clueless about this, the young man's father asked to "look at"....(drumroll) A BIBLE! YAYYYY!!! He "looked at" it. NEVER RETURNED IT! (Not that AB wanted it back.) This sprang from a question he'd asked AB about why Americans say "hi".....which turned into a discussion on Eastern customs. NEVER forget. The Bible is Eastern! 3) His daughter was later seen reading it! 4) The young man's uncle asked if he "could take a look at" his Bible! He gave it to him! 

This incident has sparked law enforcement toward more candid discussions w/new arrivals. Marriage in their tribe between preteen girls & 30-40 yr old men is normal. Yet more disturbing is the prevalent rape of boys, often seen as women in rural areas. Males are only seen as men after puberty. This seems to parallel women being kept indoors. There's no context in many places for platonic friendships between the 2 genders. The Gospel can transform this. Pls pray against this demonic activity. 

We want justice but also what's best for him. They're not mutually exclusive. Prison is likely & that exp. could achieve both ends. Pray w/us that the Spirit moves....that salvation comes to the entire ext. family! We serve a God Who speaks into darkness w/results. (Genesis 1:2-3, John 1:5, 2 Corinthians 4:6).

People often ask, "What is the 6 degrees of separation"? The concept is that we're all 6 or fewer connections from everyone on earth.....but nothing matters if we're not connected to the Father via Jesus. (John 17:22)  

.....& we've been praying for a "house Church" to sprout from a business owned by a believing friend from the same country as the family I just mentioned. We've been discipling him when possible but he has numerous challenges as chaos is normal for newcomers. Late one eve, he suddenly called the very moment I'd given up on meeting w/him.

He sent us the address of an elderly man for whom he'd recently done work. This man had initiated w/him about Jesus. Impromptu fellowship!!! Turns out he's a pastor from yet another country whose language our multi-lingual friend also speaks. He said the pastor reminded him of his uncle! He's been bringing him to his shop, which is a PERFECT place for a Church!....as his customers are 90% foreign born. Who knew? It's only important THAT but not HOW this sprouts!!! Below is a pic of the little chapel in a spare bedroom in the pastor's apt. 

Social calls are welcomed but we've hesitated to go & just "hang out" at his shop....Americans don't do that. I felt God say: "The 'ministry of presence' is needed". Wherever we go, the Spirit is w/us. We need to receive hospitality. So, I've also started bringing his new "uncle" over there....Its more about BEING than DOING! 

​For more appropriate climbing equipment, letting God be God, hanging out...and the nations......

Just another witness to His Glory