Saturday, April 23, 2011

Allie and me at the pool

allie-me-pool Summer's here. At least here in Florida where summer lasts 300 days, spring 60 days, and winter 5. So the pool is where we go to play on afternoons after Allie's weekend naps. She wakes up kind of cranky after a nap and the pool is the perfect pick-me-up. It does for her image what a chocolate brownie frappuccino does for me.

We're in our first year in the community where we live now. So we're making new friends at the pool. Allie's physical challenges invoke inquiries from fellow pool users. The age of the person with questions is inversely related to the volume with which questions are asked. image Five year olds ask questions with the volume cranked at "10", and 35 year olds ask their questions with a polite nod and a smile, volume turned down to zero.

We're very much in tune with the discomfort of parents as their kids interact with us. At least I think we are. And we do everything we can to keep parents from being embarrassed by their kids' curiosity. We try to engage both child and parent; I'll talk to the kid while the Charming and Beautiful Susan befriends with the mom.

One time a mom asked me, "What should I say to my kids when they ask questions? Should I say God just makes some people handicapped?"

Wow. That's a heavy question; a theological minefield even. And we didn't even talk long enough for her know about my pastoral background. So, in my most pastoral tone, I stammered, and then, I began to pontificate about giving children information appropriate for their age and level of cognizance of the world in which they live and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah.

I was so unnerved by the question and bringing the idea of God into what you tell a child that I was totally thrown off. The conversation got a little awkward and, to the relief of both of us, we switched subjects.

What I wish I said was that God allows plenty of problems into our lives so that we, as we live in community, have plenty of ways to bless each other and represent Him to each other. I wish I said that opportunities for redemption constantly present themselves from the time we're small children until we draw our last breath. What I wish I knew how to say to small child is that some are born strong and some are born weak and the strong please God when they protect the weak. That's how Jesus cares for us and wants us to care for each other.

When things go wrong, God gives us a chance to partner with Him to make them right.

JULIAN SMITH - Mr. Timn in Candyland

That's "TimN," with and "N"

Quote of the day

"Feed a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Feed a fish a man and he'll eat for like two and a half months."


---Rainn Wilson

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Missionary God: Lesson Four

This is the fourth installment of Pastor Jeff Jackson's Missionary God series. This is by far one of the best teachings on the nature of God as it relates to being a missionary. Enjoy.

Download
Time: 52:02


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Monday, April 18, 2011

Book Review: Max on Life

lucado Max Lucado
Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 2010
229 pages

Who is he? What is he? A writer? A pastor? Will the real Max Lucado please stand up?

In Max on Life, Writer Max Lucado merges seamlessly with Pastor Max Lucado. Lucado is most well-known as an author. His books have blessed multitudes around the world for decades. He has a way with words. Lucado is also a pastor. He has a way with people. His fans out number his critics by far because he speaks to the hearts of real people with words that move and encourage and challenge.

Max on Life is a collection of 172 essays fielding questions on marriage, sex, forgiveness, assurance of salvation, heaven, hell, angels, prayer, affliction, worship, bad habits and more. Many of the questions you've had are answered in this book. Lucado doesn't preach, he pastors; teaching with authority, kindness and respect.

As a daddy to a special needs little girl, here's a question Lucado answers that hits close to home for me:

116. Our little boy suffers with a crippling disease. It breaks my heart to see him suffer physical pain. But it hurts even more when he suffers pain from rejection and hurtful words from children. Sometimes I can barely breathe because my heart hurts so much. How can I keep his suffering in perspective?

Here's an excerpt from Lucado's answer:

God himself is a father. What parental emotion has he not felt? Are you separated from your child? So was God. Is someone mistreating your child? They mocked and bullied his...

You have to get the book to read the rest of Lucado's answer on page 157.

Each essay is about a page long. You can read the book like a devotional in small chunks, or you can sit in your favorite chair and read and think and process for an hour or so at a time. You'll be both built-up and encouraged as you do.

It's my prediction that this book will be grabbed off the shelf often and thumbed through as a referenced by the whole family.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Appeal for Prayer for Japan

blog-pray-for-japan-2Pray that God changes the spiritual condition of the affected areas of the
earthquake. The areas affected by the earthquake and tsunamis of Miyagi,
Fukushima, and Ibaraki are some of the most spiritually needy places in
Japan. With over 4.9 million people yet only about 9,000 active Christians
(about 0.15%) in 454 churches. Fukushima has the lowest average worship
attendance with only 19 per church. There is one city and 44 towns still
with no church. Pray for CRASH relief efforts as they assess needs and
resources and mobilize people for relief efforts
http://crashjapan.com/
Other agencies are very active and networking together.
To comment or inquire on this item, browse to ...
http://www.brigada.org/2011/03/27_6794

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

On location in Japan

This is an email from missionary friends in Japan. Geigy and Jeremiah serve as missionaries with GO! Ministries. Please continue to pray for them as they live and serve where people are trying to put their lives back together.

image Hello friends,

It has now been over a month since the earth shook and life as we knew it changed to our "new normal."  For many still displaced in the shelters, their lives continue in uncertainty and disturbance.  Please continue to lift them up in prayer.  The nuclear situation continues to be tenuous although the last couple of days has seen the levels remain constant.  We continue to monitor those as well. 


We thank you for your many kind words of encouragement and warm wishes and prayers.  These have continued to sustain us so we are grateful from the bottom of our hearts.  Our children are back in school now, another school year underway with Justus starting 3rd grade with a new teacher and Jazz who just celebrated his double digits birthday and is a big 4th grader.  Both boys are still in our local soccer club and this past Sunday, on Jazz's birthday, they won the MFA Spring Cup with both Boek boys playing goalkeeper on the combined 3rd & 4th grader combined team.  Horray for them!  Cali is back in school as well and is in Jr. High 2nd year, equivalent to being an 8th grader.


Jeremiah has been staying busy.  The past two weeks, he has been on two relief trips to Iwaki City in Fukushima.  The first trip was with the college group from our church.  The second trip, he went along with people from our fellowship including our daughter Cali.  It was a blessed time.  Yesterday (Mon. 4/11), he left along with the Calvary Chapel teams here in Japan for a 4 day trip up to Sendai.  You can read up on their trip via updates posted on this site:  CALVARY TOUHOKU RELIEF


It is a blessing to link arms with brothers and sisters from all over Japan.  Larry and Nari from our fellowship are there with Jeremiah.  They had a very long trip last night as there was a very strong aftershock which caused the expressway they were on to be closed.  Please pray for them to have God directed travels and opportunities to share the Good News and to go in His name.


We are holding down the fort here in Tokyo.  I'm staying busy with the kids schedules and baking some goodies to send to the volunteer center for C.R.A.S.H. site.  It is a blessing to have everyone doing their part in this extra ordinary times. 


In case you haven't seen this video, please take a moment to watch this video done by the Christian churches in the affected areas up north.  Hear their hearts and their cries for God to do amazing things in this land "for such a time as this."  Jeremiah and our church has had the great honor of coming alongside Pastor Mori and the Global Mission Chapel in Iwaki.  You will see him in the video.  As missionaries, we stand behind our Japanese brothers and sisters and we link arms with them and hold their arms up when they grow weary.  We along with them ask God to not only heal this land but to bring revival.


"The light of the world" - Japanese and English

Thank you for standing with us.  Thank you for being a part of the work here and again thank you from the bottom of our hearts.


At this time, we will continue to update via Facebook.  Please feel free to "friend" us.


blessings to you all,

:)Geigy for the 5 Boeks

Tokyo Japan

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Aaron's picture

My son created this...

jesus-superman

Short-term mission trips: An Agent of Change

Here's a post I wrote for the Calvary Blog...

event Header - Short Term Missions - Missions Trips

Missions is not only for professional Christians.

God's mission is for all of God's people. Every person in the body of Christ is called to be a front line agent of the Holy Spirit.

The vast majority of Christendom is not in full-time, vocational ministry. If the fields are white for harvest and the workers are few, then the problem must be that the few missionaries in the foreign fields are the full-timers waiting for the rest of the church to pitch in. How will the work get done? Regular, everyday Christians engaging in short-term mission trips will definitely move the task toward completion.

What does God want to do through you? What does He want to show you about the people in another part of the world?

Tray went with Pastor Jym Kay to Nicaragua in January.

blog-open-quotes2 - pull quote
These people have so little materialistically, yet they have so much love and joy.  Most houses were one room sheds blog-close-quotes2 - pull quotewith dirt floors and a lot of them did not have windows or doors. They used outhouses for bathrooms. The people of Nicaragua were so welcoming and loving. I haven't seen anything like it.
---Short-term missionary, Tray.

When the Lord begins to arrange a person’s life to go on a short-term mission trip, the thinking is that God wants to use him or her to turn the world upside down solo. But God’s plan is not only to reach the people in a remote location hungry for the Gospel, but, in the process, to totally refurbish the traveling Christian's life.

blog-open-quotes2 - pull quote
"My first short-term trip was life changing and a huge blessing, I have never felt closer to the Lord.  blog-close-quotes2 - pull quoteThe trip completely opened my eyes to what the Lord is doing in other countries, the work of missionaries in the field and the lifestyle sacrifices they make in their service to the Lord."
---Short-term missionary, Joe.

Joe knew after his first trip to Haiti in the spring of 2010, that God was doing some major heart renovation. God confirmed in Joe, after his third trip to Haiti, that this is where he and his wife would spend the next portion of their lives now that the kids had vacated the nest.

blog-open-quotes2 - pull quote
I recommend all Christians blog-close-quotes2 - pull quotego on at least one short-term mission trip in their lifetime as it totally brings the book of Acts to life on a personal level.

It’s been said that when it comes to the Great Commission (see Matt 28:18-20), there only three options:

Go
Send

...or Disobey

How does the Lord want to use you to participate in the many opportunities presented throughout 2011? There’s a trip to just about every continent on the planet.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Missionary God Lesson Three

This is the third installment of Pastor Jeff Jackson's Missionary God series. This is by far one of the best teachings on the nature of God as it relates to being a missionary. Enjoy.

Download
Time: 1:00:02


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The Connection Between Human Trafficking and Compassion

I was privileged to write this blog post for Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale's Outreach ministry.



CN-401-BeautyForAshes_Header.jpg - Beauty for Ashes Header

Beauty for Ashes
is back by popular demand.

The Calvary Chapel Outreach Ministry presents Beauty for Ashes on April 15 and 16 in the Calvary Chapel Theatre. The production played to a sold-out crowd a few months ago and created a buzz that got people talking about both the performance and the message of the presentation.

blog-open-quotes2 - pull quote
Beauty for Ashes is a dance/drama performance that is created to blog-close-quotes2 - pull quoteraise awareness to the reality of human slavery in our world and in our back yard.
--Lysa McMillan of Calvary Chapel's Outreach Ministry.

According to UNICEF statistics, 50% of the victims taken into human trafficking are children. It's the fastest growing industry in the world yielding an estimated 32 billion dollars a year. It's not only an international catastrophe; it's a domestic crisis. With the aid of the Internet, the sex trade is rapidly growing in the United States. Some statistics say that America is the easiest place in the world to purchase sex with a child. Florida is listed as one of the top three human trafficking hubs in the country. International demand for child slavery is exceedingly high and law enforcement agencies only recover a tiny fraction of children taken.

blog-open-quotes2 - pull quote
Prevention is a priority.blog-close-quotes2 - pull quote




Compassion International
is a strategic option for people who want to do something about human trafficking but don't know exactly what to do or where they can make the most impact. Through the generosity of child sponsors, Compassion works in 26 of the world's most impoverished countries tangibly working to change the lives of over one million children and their families. On April 16 and 17, you will be given the opportunity to rescue a child through Compassion Sponsorship.

Compassion's mission statement is "Releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name." Through Compassion sponsorship, the child goes to school every day, is fed a meal, gets medical attention and is cared for spiritually daily in a local church where he is exposed to the gospel and discipled.

Traffickers prey on the impoverished. In Africa, India, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala and more, if parents can't afford to put the kids in school, they run in the streets. Traffickers approach families who can't put food on the table with false hopes and empty promises of jobs as domestic or restaurant workers. Sometimes children are lured right off the street with food or an offer of easy money. Since the child isn't in school and every available adult family member is working, the child is left to fend for himself in the world's meanest streets.

Enrollment in Compassion programs removes this vulnerability. Children are given caring supervision and not left to roam the streets. They are in school or in Compassion sponsored programs with local, evangelical churches where children are taught the Good News of Jesus Christ, often bringing spiritual renewal to entire households. Some kids are even offered a chance to pursue a university education.

blog-open-quotes2 - pull quote
Through child sponsorship, you a play a significant role in helping prevent a kid from falling victim to traffickers because you're pulling her off the blog-close-quotes2 - pull quotestreet, giving her an education, putting food in her body and giving her impoverished parents a little bit of financial relief.

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Best April Fools’ Jokes

Google had the best online April Fool’s Jokes yesterday…

Auto completer job description

 

blackberry-dauntless_1[1] Screenless Blackberry

example[1] Ad Blocker Glasses

Hulu 90’s video – Mon, April 1, 1996

Left or Right TV

Friday, April 01, 2011

"Minority Report" style innovation

This software was officially launched today. Because I do some web development by trade, I got my hands on a pre-release of this software. The Charming and Beautiful Susan and I have been using it for a couple of weeks and have been loving it.

Check out the video and then download it for yourself.