Moving to Blogger!

I have decided to move my blog to Blogger. It is easier for me to access and upload information there. I do enjoy wordpress but it does not meet my needs at this time. All of my blogs will be moved to Blogger in a couple of weeks.

A 19 minute interview

http://web.thejoyfm.com/cruise/lightforce/steveninterview.mp3

I give you permission. Go on and listen to the interview first. WAIT! Only listen to it if you are prepare. First of all it is 19 minutes long. Be ready to hear some seriously challenging statements that will make you check what you say, express and even think about how Christians live in the western world. I wish I had a personal copy of this interview to take with me and give to people that sit high on their soap box. Then again I would fall in to their world if I did that. This post is going to be a response to what Steven said and I will post some of the book resources that he mentions.

This interview takes place back around 2005. I really love the music of Anberlin and the message they are trying to convey. I am glad they are taking steps to go beyond the typical “Christian” band. They are pushing into the realm of reality and beyond a four wall building to define the church. I am excited to hear and see the social issues that are addressed here and how to deal with it. In contrast I get disgusted with how, the Christians are that are explained, are trying to evangelize. It makes no sence and lacks all biblical principals of what Jesus taught. We need to know our who are God is and what he has done. We should not shut people off to the gospel. It is the good news for all people. So how is offending people about their shame good news. God in the OT and Jesus in the NT only offended the people that were self righteous, proud and the religious. Being set apart doesn’t mean to walk away from the world. Shunning people makes no sense in the message of Jesus and what He accomplished. At some point in this interview I just can’t comment any more. It is not because I don’t have any more thought, feeling or emotions about it. I just stop to be in awe. I really respect this man, his life and what his heart is. I don’t think this man needs to be idolized or to be the roll model for life, but I think his message stands to say that Jesus is the roll model. Jesus is to be the only idol in our life and nothing above Him.

Resources:

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

Raggamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning

Case For Christ by Lee Strobel

What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey

Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

Life at home

While at home I have been, for lack of better words, board! I have been staying mostly at my grandparents place. Don’t get me wrong, I love my grandparents but they do nothing. It seems like they are waiting to leave this earth and they will get crabby with anyone that tries to help them. I can’t help myself but to do something around the house. The house smells so I lit some candles, swept the floors, wiped off counters, cleaned out the fridge, need I go on? It is not the fact that my family needs taken care of. The problem is that it feels so lonely here. I was chatting with a friend on-line the other night and the always have the same feelings when they are here. People my age have some many opportunities. From this area they usually only follow a few paths. Stay here, get married and start a family is one. Another is go away to college. The other way is a struggle of the person hiding in fear of responsibility in which the person could either stay here or run away. In essence what I am trying to convey is that there is no one left here. If they are here, their life is rolling and it doesn’t involve much for going out with friends.

Reflecting on what I just said, some of my thoughts come from my own insecurities. I love the work that I am doing, but there is an internal conflict. I want to have a person to share life with. Do I think I am ready for marrage and to settle down with a wife? Probably not, but I keep seeing friend take that step. I think to myself that I want a relationship with someone that is at least leading to marriage. I can only say right now that I am still meeting many new people. All of them are good people and out of the women I just can’t say that I am wholly interested in building that relationship with them.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

At my resting place

I have been thankful to be home at this time. This past week of being here has been a great blessing. I was able to see my niece play some softball games, spend time with my mother on my birthday and stay with my grandparents. I have been catching up with some friends along the way. Also I have been getting some business done. I sent in my camera to get repaired. They have already sent me a UPS receipt saying that the camera is on its way back, hopefully by tomorrow. I don’t know whether they fixed it or not but it could be worse. Another process that I am trying to work out getting a new phone. Honestly this process is absurd and sucks. I am trying to be with Sprint so that my plan can be connected with my work. My trouble lies in my credit. I have virtually no credit. They won’t let me have a phone without putting in a $500 deposit (that will be held for 13 months). I looked at some of my options and I have decided to get a credit card through my bank. Of course, to get a credit card with a good interest rate you have to have good credit. Again that means I have to take another hard road of having a credit card with interest of nearly 20%! What can I say? You got to do what you got to do. My first option was not to get a credit card. My personal opinion is to stay away from them, but getting a personal loan was not the best way to build my credit at this time. Once everything is settled I will likely get a new phone number.

My current plans are to have some speaking engagements while at home, try to set up a fundraiser, then prepare to go back to Dayton. I look to going home no later than July 19. I will be getting back to Dayton just in time to prepare for the tour of events. Events will begin in September and go through Thanksgiving. We will be competing with HS football but it is not too big of an obsticle. Greater is He within me that He that is in the earth.

back home

That’s right, we finally made it back to the states!

It would be great to start out by telling you the stories of people that I met and what all I encountered along the way, but I am not going to do that in this blog. I am going to try and accomplish what is usually hard for a guy to do. I want to express some emotions about the trip and being back so let me know if this works.

Traveling by plane is a great way to travel fast, but as for my body it doesn’t like it too much. I have a little bit of nausea. It wasn’t bad, just the take offs and landings. Once there we took an old bus to get to the orphanage. It was a rugged bus. That didn’t bother me but the fact that all the vehicles ran on diesel didn’t help my lungs. If you understand that I am stubborn and resilient than these things don’t get to me. Now we arrive at the Hogar De Ninos Refugio Del Rey aka The King’s Refuge Kids Home. We were greeted with kids that were excited to see us. I had the same feelings back. I was ready to have fun and be a big brother to these kids. During the course of 2 weeks there I did just that. Some of the young boys were hanging off me and the girls were having fun with me. I was had mixed emotions. I knew that this time was only a fraction of the trip and that there are 5 more weeks ahead, but I also knew that these kids need older “brother” to be there.

Like a guy can so easily do, I compartmentalized that time and looked forward to Mendoza. This base that I would be helping was 5 years old but the ministries that help build it have been in process for a couple decades. My group was only there a couple days and we were off to stay in El Campo.  What is El Campo? At first we didn’t know that term. We knew it as the desert, but the word desert is a word of curse. The people that have been doing the ministry know the people that live there and they all call it El Campo. So what does it mean? In English terms it means country side, but that doesn’t translate correct so we left it as El Campo. The people there are very hospitable. I have not witnessed that volume of welcomeness by anyone in the states. The best I have encountered is the phrase “make yourself at home,” and unless I really know the people I don’t transition to that mode easy. We got to meet several families and each time was a huge blessing. Back at the base we developed friendships with some of the DTSers. They had great hearts and all had boldness to share Jesus. Many of them made impressions on me. There were former drug dealers, who radically had their hearts changed, and others that are funny, others that traveled lots and others that were the sweetest people ever. I look forward to meeting them all again.

I think the last thing I will comment on is how the “tourist” time went. I was able to take in some history before the whole trip ever started but so much more about individual cities came from the locals. I was able to encounter spiritual strongholds in cities and understand some of why Argentina is the way it is today. They have so much influence of other cultures but little of there own ancestry. It was amazing to see how they lived and what type of things transform their culture. I expect God to continue moving and shaking through that place as he has already started.

El Campo

Wow, what a week! I spend the past 6 days in El Campo. My group was able to meet nearly 10 families and share words of encouragement and blessings. One family that we visited was just a mother and her son. They take care of many animals and have very little. They are also having problems with a man who wants to claim the property for himself. Right now the government has said that they can not kill any of the animals for food or to sell. This is a major source of food and income and it is all taken away from this mother. She lives on 300 pesos (conversion rate if 3 pesos to $1USD, which equals $100 USD) per month. Please pray for her and for the government to release the hold on her animals.

Speaking of animals, we have seen so many different ones in the desert. Some of the girls in our team seen a scorpion, all of us got to see a tarantula, and some of us got to watch a cow get butchered. After the cow was cut up we cooked it for food. Who needs the market to get fresh meat. At every house we went to we had Mate. Mate is more popular than coffee down here. It is very similar to tea and they use the herb called Yerba. Many of the people drink this Mate with a lot of sugar and it is very delicious.

If you get my emails you will know that there are many ministry oppertunites comming up this week. Please pray for the continual outporing of Holy Spirit.

Blessing

Missionary Michael

Preparing to leave La Plata

We have got to know the kids at the orphanage very well. They are all very beautiful and have many dreams. The kids are all very energetic and are fun to play with. I wish I could bring them all with me. The orphanage is called The Kings Refuge. After we get back in the States I will send pictures and interview details to someone that will regulate a website for the orphanage. The will be used for helping support The King´s Refuge and also the kids individually. So far we have gone to see on professional soccer game with the kids. This Saturday we are going out to a park where we will spend most of the day just hanging out for our send off.

We will be leaving on Monday afternoon in a double decker bus for Mendoza. The travel time is about 12 hours. This will be my first long bus experience. I don´t think it will be a big deal, but maybe some great sight seeing. I have been filled in that we will be doing some work on a ranch, as that is where the YWAM base is located.

Just about 4 more weeks to go. I am excited to see many things here and also meet great people. There is much more to be done on this trip but it has already felt like we have been here a month. Some of that is probably because I am having a quick refresher course in the Spanish language. I have been able to communicate with the kids because they are willing to help back but it is slightly difficult with going to restaurants and some stores.

Other than that everything is going good. I appreciate the prayers greatly. This has been a good growing time and I hope to love more of God´s people through this experience.

 

Blessings

Mike

Clothes for the Orphanage

Our group is in our last week of preparations. One of our final tasks it to get clothes ready for taking to the orphanage and printed material. The orphanage is in Buenos Aires. It is apart of a network of ministries through Streams of Mercy (www.streamsofmercy.org). We will bring the printed materials with us to Mendoza, where they can be used by the YWAM base there. So far one have one set of clothes for the two kids that I am responsible for. The outfit above is for a girl named Jessica. We hope these bless her. There are 19 kids total at this orphanage and we plan on giving each one of them a new outfit. This is an awesome privilege. Also we are finalizing our travel insurance. It appears that we will be getting a good deal. Today we got our travel itinerary. Let me just say we have a lot of travel ahead. Until next time.

Paid in full

I probably won’t write this often but I figure this blogging should be tested out for a little time before I give a final approval. Today was the deadline for paying the tab on my training school. I was amazed to see how quickly friends and family responded. I am usually not one to ask for money on a regular basis but this time I was in desperate need. I had $2400 USD left to pay and I could only come up with $800 on my own. There was no way I would have the provision for that much. So on Tuesday I launched an email that called out to nearly everyone I could think of. Even though I was in need of money sometimes God provides in miraculous ways, so the first thing that I wanted to put the importance on prayer. The very next day I started to hear from family and not too far after from friends. I started to understand that joy is in all situations whether you are in need or if everything is provided. Today I can say that everything was paid! All praise be to God who is the giver of every perfect gift!

Training School

Today I have been hit by God. How do I explain being hit by God? Imagine being hit by a 40 ton semi. Now imagine the exact opposite. I have been in a training school now for 3 months. This school has been teaching us about a personal God that wants to be with us and his heart is broken because we are separated. We are separated the path that we choose in life. Just like what can happen with friends we have taken different paths that lead us apart. But the most important detail is that God is the one that created us. He knows all of the details of our life and he knows what purpose your life has and why it is important. How do I know all of this. Well like I said I am in this training school and I have a need to pay for this school but I don’t have an income sufficient to pay for it. By Monday I need to pay nearly $2400 or I cannot continue. It has all been a great experience but now the rubber has to meet the road. I have about $1000 of this that I can give but the rest will need to be provided by God. We will see what happens next.