The Mountain Climber

THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBER

They tell the story of a mountain climber, who desperate to conquer the Aconcagua, initiated his climb after years of preparation. But he wanted the glory to himself, therefore, he went up alone. He started climbing and it was becoming later, and later. He did not prepare for camping but decided to keep on going. Soon it got dark...

Night fell with heaviness at a very high altitude. Visibility was zero. Everything was black. There was no moon, and the stars were covered by clouds. As he was climbing a ridge at about 100 meters from the top, he slipped and fell. Falling rapidly he could only see blotches of darkness that passed. He felt a terrible sensation of being sucked in by gravity.

He kept falling....and in those anguishing moments good and bad memories passed through his mind. He thought certainly he would die. But then he felt a jolt that almost tore him in half. Yes!! Like any good mountain climber he had staked himself with a long rope tied to his waist.

In those moments of stillness, suspended in the air he had no other choice but to shout, "HELP ME GOD", "HELP ME!"

All of a sudden he heard a deep voice from heaven..."What do you want meto do?"

"SAVE ME"

"Do you REALLY think that I can save you?"

"OF COURSE, MY GOD"

"Then cut the rope that is holding you up."

There was another moment of silence and stillness. The man just held tighter to the rope.

The rescue team says that the next day they found, a frozen mountain climber hanging strongly to a rope... TWO FEET OFF THE GROUND.

How about you? How trusting are you in that rope?


Why don't you let it go? I tell you, God has great and marvelous thing for you.
CUT THE ROPE AND SIMPLY TRUST IN HIM...

-- Author Unknown

Three Bullets

There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for dinner.

As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot at the rabbit and missed it. The rabbit ran away.

Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it. The squirrel disappeared into a hole in a cottonwood tree.

As he went further, he saw a large wild turkey up in a tree, but he had only one bullet remaining. A voice spoke to him and said, "Pray first, aim high and stay focused." However, at the same time, he saw a deer which would provide more meat than the turkey. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Still, the voice again said to him, "Pray first, aim high and stay focused."

So, the man decided to listen to God's voice. He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree, and shot the wild turkey. The bullet went into the turkey, deflected off a bone and hit the deer, killing it. When the gun fired, it knocked the man off balance, he stepped on the rattlesnake's head which killed it and fell backwards into a pond. When he stood up to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a deer and a turkey with which to feed his family. The snake was dead simply because the man listened to God.

Moral of the story:
Keep God first and everything else will follow.

Pray first before you do anything. Aim high in your goals, and stay focused on God. Never let people or things discourage you concerning your past. Do not look to man for your blessings, but look only to God.

-- Author Unknown

The Gift

THE GIFT

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him.

He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold.

Angry, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible. Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day.

Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt. 7:11, "And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father which is in Heaven, give to those who ask Him?" As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

-- Author Unknown

words of wisdom...

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well."  -Martin Luther King

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. -Colossians 3:17

signs and wonders-everyday Christianity?

Kia ora and blessings to you, beloved children of the King! I've been soaking here as per usual, a continuous bath of sorts! These last few days I've watched 2 incredible movies that you must watch-"Finger of God" and "Furious Love", by Darren Wilson. Perhaps some of you aren't so keen to waste away your day watching a pointless movie, and I'm right there with you. However, these movies have purpose and really make you think.

So I'm talking about Finger of Love today. This movie has people showing gold teeth God gave them in the first 5 minutes, and it continues to blow you away-the next few minutes include gold dust, gemstones appearing from thin air (which jewelers cannot identify as these gems are completely perfect and flawless), as well as manna turning up in people's hands and (one man's) bible-just a few of many signs of God's power. This filmmaker proceeds to travel around the world capturing many more signs on tape, as well as interviewing alot of people. As the film progresses, he asks a thought provoking question, something to the lines of "Could it be that signs and wonders are not to be once-in-a-while occasions, but part of everyday life as a Christian?" He interviews Heidi Baker as well, who drops this "Children believe God can do anything, until an adult tells them otherwise."

Fast-food Christianity is simply not cutting it. Where in the Bible does it say go to church once a week, maybe the Tuesday prayer meetings, then put your Bible aside til Sunday and she'll be right?

I have yet to find this in the Bible-so I'm quite curious how this perspective engulfed most of the Western world. I'll tell you what Christ does say, though: "Follow Me."  If you're going to follow someone, you need to walk in their footsteps. Christ didn't simply "do" church. He went around loving people and doing signs and wonders-even in cities where unbelief was present. He also gave us authority and said we would do greater works...so what are we waiting for?

Safely Home-an absolute MUST READ

A fantastic book about the persecuted church in China.

And the picture from which the author took great inspiration...

staying warm by the fire, for starters...

Kia ora whenau, from the winter wonderland here.

It's about time for an update. Hard to believe I've been here in Queenstown, New Zealand for a month already-and what a month it's been. I'll be honest, I'm struggling to think up words to write, to even begin to tell you about life. What does my life look like? That's tough to answer as each day changes-after all, it's not my day, but God's. Some things that are constants in my life right now include digging into Scriptures, worshipping, and praying with/for others. As I wrote that I remembered how Jesus taught with stories. I think I will do as He did with a few testimonies of what God's been doing...

1. provided a baby grand piano-so upon arriving in Queenstown I was disappointed to find out the church I'm plugged into here had no piano, or even a keyboard. So I prayed a simple prayer-God, I would like a piano at the church-not a keyboard, A PIANO. I did not travail many hours in prayer, but of course Jehovah Jireh responded because He's awesome like that. 3 weeks later the church purchased a beautiful baby grand piano for less than it was worth-the woman who sold it preferred it go to a good home. It was in a spiritually dry dwelling so we laid hands on it and prayed. And what a blessing it's been-to me and to others. I continue to pray and hope each note I play is to the glory of God. Janet says it well, "I would rather have that piano played with no technique/expertise but a heart full of passion for Him, than played with all the expertise in the world but no passion."  Oh and get this-my sister Lara also got blessed with a steazy keyboard for our house.

     2.  God's into fulfilling our seemingly small desires as well. The boys had bought some delicious raspberry lemonade with me in mind and one day Seth wanted some. I told him it had all been consumed, but not to fear as I would pray for more, knowing Gabe and Kent planned to go grocery shopping that day. Again, a simple prayer-for God does say "don't pray like the heathens do, babbling on and on...vain repetition, etc." "Dear God, please tell Kent and Gabe to get more raspberry lemonade." Seth looked at me as if I was ridiculous. Imagine his surprise and my delight when the boys got home later, and the first thing they pulled out was this juice.

And that's the tip of the iceberg-There's many more stories, enough to write a novel.

Rereading what I've just written, it seems like a huge thread weaving it's way around right now is prayer-and what power prayer has indeed. I recommend listening to the song "history maker" if you haven't already. God's always speaking, and I pray you and I will always listen. I read in a book (Living Water, by brother Yun) the other day "it is only those who get away from the roar of the world that are able to hear God." May you find that stillness.

Prayer requests:
-that God would give me even more of a heart of worship, and more capacity for said heart
-continued prayer for the visa application I have in, favor from the people looking over it, and that it would be granted quickly. (I just called today and it is still in a line waiting to be looked at)

Thank you heaps for praying. And I would love to know, how can I be praying for you?

May the love of the Father, the grace of Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit go with you all.