In the Gathering Dusk - 2007

I read an excellent post Mr. Doug Phillips this week- Three of the Most Important Things you can do at This Time of the Year. He comments on 1) Chronicling the Providences of God 2)Saying Thank You to those who Investing in your life, and 3) Extending Forgiveness. It is well worth 5-7 minutes to read his post.

Prompted by his article, I took a few hours yesterday afternoon to chronicle on paper the major events of my 2007: the experiences, new friendships, travels, books, lessons, failures, and joys of the year. With chilling weather outside, and a warm cup of tea at hand, the memories flooded back, new resolves were put down, and praise offered. He is faithful.

If you are reading this blog, look for improvements coming. In 2008 I have plans of expanding my posts with greater variety, outside guests, and certainly improved consistency in posting. Things are starting out with a bang; the first few months of the year I'm looking forward to a ministry trip to Peru with Global Encounters.

Also, I'm excited about attending a Perspectives partner course called Encountering Islam in February and March. Is there a course near you? I'd love to discuss the course topics with other people. For the past few years, I've wanted to learn more about Islam, but done relatively little to actually pursue that. This year I'm resolved to break from my comfort zone and learn in depth about this religion that has millions upon millions of people in spiritual bondage. I'm delighted that the same church that hosted Perspectives spring 2007 is hosting Encountering Islam this year.

As the last minutes of 2007 settle resolutely to the end, may they find you and I waiting for, longing for, and hastening the Return of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Even so, come Lord Jesus, Come.

Praying for Pakistan

Pakistan and Afghanistan are home to one of the worlds "top 10" unreached people groups, the Pashtun. It has been extremely difficult to bring the Gospel into that Islamic stronghold, but the little by little advance of democracy aided by Prime Minister Bhutto was opening doors. Gospel for Asia has a thoughtful write-up on the impact of Prime Minister Bhutto assassination.

Dr. Yohannan pointed out that the Church, both in Pakistan and in other South Asian nations, is not separated from the larger society.

"This situation affects the kingdom's work," he said, "making life more difficult for everyone.

"But is it my prayer that through this terrible event, the people of Pakistan and India will realize the need for a greater reality. I ask all Christians to join with me in praying for the people of Pakistan, and that God will use this crisis to open the eyes of those who do not know Him."

A Light for the Gentiles

Last night before bed I was re-reading the Christmas story. Something beautiful leapt out of the pages at me when I came to Luke 2:28, where Simeon prophecies over the infant Christ.

"Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."


A light for the Gentiles. What Gospel words...including every nation, tongue and tribe. Including me. Had his prophecy only included Israel, you and I would still be in darkness. But what sweet grace, that the Light came into ALL the world.

A Blessed Christmas to You

His Omnipotency

"How often do we attempt to work for God to the limit of our incompetency, rather than the limit of God's omnipotency." J. Hudson Taylor

Bloglines—A Communication Resource

Technology turns into a slave master unless you and I make a point take dominion over it. Cell phones, instant messaging, email, facebook, and yes, even blogs, all seem to emanate some sort of "tyranny of the urgent" in demanding our attention. I find myself having to deliberately swim upstream, lest I get sucked into wasted hours.

So here’s a tool I’ve found and value for helping me control the inflow of technology communication in my day. It’s called Bloglines and I’m sharing it on this Missionary Heart blog, because, while it’s great for many reasons, it’s especially valuable for helping us keep up with your missionary friends.

Missionaries are starting blogs by the day (like this), as a tool for communicating with all us folks back home. They can put up pictures, prayer requests, and family updates easily. The different missionary friends I know don’t post frequently, maybe every few weeks, but I enjoy reading them so I can pray specifically. However, because they are less frequent, they can be easy to forget about checking on.

Bloglines is a free service that cuts down on the chase. I’ve been a user for several months now and would not even think of going back to my old way of looking at blogs. It has cut my hunt and read time in half easily. Not only that, but it is ad free.

Instead of having a dozen blog links saved in my Favorites folder, Bloglines allows me to “subscribe” to blogs and view them all on one screen. I just have my Bloglines account saved in favorites now; they keep track of the rest. It’s so easy and probably took me 10 minutes to set up.

The left side of my Bloglines screen shows my blogroll, the list of blogs I’ve subscribed to. The blog is highlighted if there has been a post, along with the number of postings added. If I click on it, Bloglines allows me to view the new postings on the left hand side of the screen. With Bloglines I can see at a glance when all my favorite bloggers post.



I hope you will give Bloglines a try, redeem your time, and make use of it for Kingdom purposes.



Phillipians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

~Christie