I opened the Bible and SURPRISE !

May 14.  In 1961 it was a Saturday.  Since I had received Christ, I had suddenly found a new and inexplicable interest in the Bible.  Since it was a Saturday, I had a little free time.

I hunted around my room until I found the Bible my Grandma Miller had given me for Christmas when I was about 10.  It was still stiff and unused, still in the box it came in.  I'm sure I politely thanked Grandma for it along with my other gifts, but I remember that I felt disappointed when I got it.  What would I do with a Bible?  I hadn't yet begun active disbelief.  I just wasn't interested.  So I put it away in its box and never opened it again until I was 15.  May 14, 1961.

I began first by trying to find the verse I had memorized as a child in Vacation Bible School.  As I underlined those to make them easy to find again, I noticed other verses around them that seemed just as significant.  I underlined those, too.  Underlining became a habit as I continued reading the Bible with spiritual eyes freshly made alive in Christ.  It took about one year before almost the whole Bible was underlined.  Funny how one day it was all so irrelevant and the next it all became so very important.

Our family's attitude toward the Bible was kind of strange.  My mother was horrified if anyone ever set any book on top of the Bible.  So somewhere there was a certain kind of respect for the Bible.  However, I never recall anyone in the family ever reading it, LEAST OF ALL, ME!  That all changed when I received Christ.

I am sad and ashamed to say that I have not always followed all that I read, and sometimes I have messed up pretty badly.  It's still true, though, that the Bible came alive for me the moment I received Christ.  It's as if blinders were taken off my eyes, and before me was a royal banquet table filled with all varieties of delicious food and set with the most beautiful flowers in the world.  I've been reading and studying the Bible for 51 years now, and I still marvel at its depth, its beauty and its significance. 

When someone tells me the Bible is boring or outdated, I always wonder if they have truly met the author, or if, like me in my unconverted days, they only learned to recite facts about Him.  I always encourage them to actively seek God, because that most exciting of books assures me that those who seek God will always find Him.  Or sometimes, like me, like Saul of Tarsus, like Matthew the tax collector, God will find them when they are not even seeking for Him.  That is because He seeks for us.  I love the Bible, and I first began to read it 51years ago today.

The New Has Come

My Spiritual Journey, Continued

May 13. In 1961, it was a Friday. I had made other plans, but I asked my parents if I could change them. I wanted to go back to the church meetings at Michigan Center Bible Church and hear more.

My folks had a hard time hiding their surprise. Looking back, I understand why. I had never shown the slightest interest in spiritual things before. When my aunt had suggested I attend a church camp I had sneered, "Yea, I bet that's a lot of fun. What do they do, sit around reading the Bible all week?"

I went back that night, and again I wanted to go forward and publicly confess Christ.  I wanted to tell everyone that I had received Him in my own bedroom the night before.  But still I was afraid.  I simply stood there, clutching the pew in front of me as tightly as I could.

When I went home that night, I asked my parents if I could go back again on Sunday.  I still didn't tell them about my decision, but I know they realized something was up.  My interests had suddenly changed, mysteriously and quite totally.
More tomorrow as the journey continues.

My Spiritual Journey

May 12. It's my spiritual birthday.

  It seems SO hard to believe that 51 years ago, on May 12, 1961, I began a spiritual journey that so revolutionized my life.

It began when an acquaintance, Cheryl Phillipi, invited me to attend special meetings at her church. Cheryl and I were members of a club together, but I did not know her well. I was very shy in those days and had hardly any friends, probably because I was too shy to actually speak to anyone. An invitation to go anywhere was extremely rare, so I could not say no to her invitation.

I sat by myself, as was my custom in my shy days. The meeting began and something unusual happened, something that had never happened to me before even though I'd gone to church all my life. God began to speak to me. It was not audible, but it was real, clear, distinct, unmistakable. It reached the depths of my soul and shook the foundations of my life.

It was not the style or personality of the speaker. God began to speak to me even before he began. He began to speak through the songs. I remember that they sang, "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine." I was shocked. Could someone really have assurance in things relating to God? Could they really know that Jesus was theirs, personally? Could I know that Jesus was mine? I realized immediately that I did NOT know that. I did NOT know Jesus, although I knew many facts about Him.

The guest speaker, Evangelist Billy Walker, preached about hell that night. I had never heard a message about hell or teaching about hell. I only knew it was a bad word and my mother didn't like me to say it, so us kids substituted "H E double toothpicks" instead. That didn't seem to bother mom. I did not believe in hell when I went into the church, although admittedly I had not given it much if any thought.

Along about in my junior high years, I had begun to read the science books of atheist Isaac Asimov, and I had become convinced that science had the answers to all the world's problems. I was not really sure that I even believed in God, really, although I still went to church because if I stayed home my dad would make me work in his garage.

Somehow, as Billy Walker proclaimed what the Bible says about hell, I knew it was real. I knew God was real. I knew I had sinned and offended God's holiness. I understood that I was in awful trouble with Him. I knew I desperately needed Jesus. An invitation was given to come to Jesus, but it involved coming forward to the front of the church to get help. My hands clutched the pew in front of me so tightly that I wonder if there might still be marks there. Others were going forward, and I could see that they were being treated kindly and not being caused embarrassment. Still, my shyness would not permit me to go forward. It is just impossible to overstate how much that shyness ruled my life.

All the way home,I was afraid we would have a car accident. I knew I would die and go to hell. When I got into bed that night, I could not go to sleep. I remembered Bible verses I had learned as a child in Vacation Bible School. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). I still remembered it clearly, but I had wiped it off, thinking it meant that nobody's perfect. I hadn't understood that sin was a very serious offense to God. I also remembered, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). I also remembered how to pray to receive Christ, which had also been taught by "Uncle Fran the Bible Man" Goodman in Vacation Bible School.

Realizing how deeply I needed God's forgiveness, I began to call out to Him, laying there in my own bed. I asked Him to forgive my sins and asked Jesus to become my Savior. I remember that I started that prayer in the only way I could at the time, "Oh God, if there is a God...." When I finished praying, my doubts about God were gone. He had become real to me. More tomorrow, as my spiritual journey continues.

Hope for the Educationally Disadvantaged

I am so excited about the expansion of our school in Ghana for the educationally disadvantaged! It's called Haven of Hope Academy, and it works alongside our children's home, Haven of Hope. Besides taking in kids in all kinds of crises, Haven of Hope provides a safe shelter in a loving, home-like atmosphere. 57 kids live there right now, from preschoolers to teens. Then at the school we also provide education for over 120 additional kids from the surrounding community. I am excited, but I am also frustrated. We really needed additional classrooms, as we have been growing the school year by year along with the kids. We have 8 acres at Haven of Hope, but we already have seven large buildings and several smaller ones on the property. We wanted to preserve adequate land for gardening in order to enable the home to be as self-sufficient as possible, and to enable it to have a chance to survive in case a crisis or emergency made supplies and food difficult to come by. So, when we needed to add the jr. high, we decided to build UP instead of OUT. We thought we had planned carefully and raised the needed costs, but our experience so far has been with building one story buildings. Ghana had a minor earthquake in recent years, and unknown to us, she had changed her building codes, requiring MUCH more foundation, reinforcement and pillar support for the upper story. That's all good, because it will result in the safest possible building for the children. The problem is that it more than tripled our expected costs. With the funds we initially raised, we were able to complete the foundation and the shell of the first story. It is not finished--just rough cement, no electricity yet, and only open spaces in place of doors and windows. We were also able to press on to build the stairwells and the support pillars for the second story.

At this time, we are entirely out of money. The home director contacted us the other day and asked if we had anything to keep construction going. I felt sad, ashamed and embarrassed to tell him that we had nothing at all. !

We have had to lay off the workers who were on the project. The kids at Haven of Hope were so anxious to get their new school that the older boys volunteered to do some cement work. They really worked hard! But now we are out of supplies to continue, even in that way. We know that we serve a big God and that His arm is not too short to help us. Would you join us in prayer that God will show us how to obtain the remaining funds? If you are able, would you send a special gift for this project in whatever amount you are able? We estimate we still need $200,000 to completely finish the project, but even $10 can put one more brick in place. The next big step is putting on the roof, which will cost us about $25,000, but a gift $25 could pay for one square yard, including supplies and labor. EVERY GIFT will be deeply appreciated. Thank you so much!

Water Games in Kinshasa

I just returned from my latest trip to Kinshasa to confer with our staff there. The night I arrived, I made sure we bought drinking water on our way to the guest house. After the staff prayed with me and left for the evening, I went to turn on the faucet to wash up. Nothing. I thought the water must be turned off on the outside of the house. In the morniing I went out to turn it on. The handle was gone, so I had to wait until the staff arrived. "Oh yea," they said. "There's no water in this part of the city. Here we have to buy wash water." I had not planned for that in my very tight budget, and I was not happy to hear it, but what could I do? I sent some staff to buy wash water for me.

Now that water was very precious, so I had to use it carefully. That night, I was able to wash my hair in about a quart of water and catch the runoff, using the same water to bathe, sponge style. I was able to catch most of that, too. I ran into trouble, though, when it came to using that same quart of water for flushing the toilet. A quart just didn't cut it.

Fortunately, after four days, the water began to run in a drizzle from the faucet. I was able to use the tubs I used for suitcases to transport supplies. Got both of them filled and never had to buy wash water again, although I had to always be thinking about keeping my reserves filled.

On my way to reconfirm my return ticket three days before leaving, we went by the offices of the main water company. On their beautifully manicured front lawn there is a huge statue of an African woman pouring an endless stream of fresh water from her bucket. I had to laugh at the symbolism. Endless water for the city? It appears to me that the woman's bucket is the only one in the whole city that has an endless supply of water.

No, Jesus has an endless supply of truly satisfying water for all who believe in Him. After ten days in Kinshasa, I realize more than ever how valuable that is.

A woman's right to choose--what?

On this day when many in my nation mourn the shameful and infamous decision of Roe vs. Wade that legalized a mother's right to end the life of her child at her will, I am always forced to ponder the meaning of the words we use to describe these issues. President Obama reaffirmed again his commitment to "a woman's right to choose." Why do people rarely complete that sentence? The verb "choose" is transitive. It needs a direct object to complete the thought. You can't just "choose". You have to choose something.

Oh, but if we leave the sentence dangling, the last word in our minds sounds so positive. We all like choice. If we completed the thought and the sentence, we'd be faced with the negative reality that the choice the president supports is a woman's choice TO DESTROY THE LIFE OF HER CHILD. We don't want to really think so much about what we are choosing, so we let the sentence dangle on the last positive-sounding word.

It's not positive. There is nothing positive about destroying the life of another human being. If you support a child's right to life, I challenge you to always finish the sentence, and challenge others to finish it, too.

JUDGE FINDS IN FAVOR OF ECM OVER LUBAALE

OK, I have avoided writing on the internet about the David Lubaale case while it was going on. I am now going to break that silence.

A judge in Uganda commercial court has found in favor of ECM in our case against David Lubaale. David was our former National Director who was fired when we discovered he had embezzled funds. David at that point was confronted by our Ugandan Governance Board. He confessed in writing that he had misused funds and forged bank statements to cover his tracks. He agreed to pay back funds misused and we agreed to keep the issue in house.

When he stopped paying back funds after refunding only a small portion of what he owed, our International Board felt we should seek justice through the courts so that Lubaale could not continue to prey on NGO's. Realizing the seriousness of what he had done, we also decided to go back and look at everything he had done, including the purchase of several properties.

We warned other NGO's whom we knew had contact with David. Most of them listened gratefully, but one believed David's story and had ECM made out as the villain out to get David.

Today we received word that ECM won the civil case. (A criminal case is still pending.) What that really means in terms of actually getting anything back remains to be seen, but at least ECM's name has been cleared. It is been a long and grueling experience.

We can only continue to pray that David will yet come to repentance. The man has immense potential if he can develop the character to go along with it.