I have a few links I want to share with you. :)
1. Lovely piano music by Yiruma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so6ExplQlaY ("Kiss the Rain")
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHOf7lqLljU ("Wait There")
3. A missions trip blog to check out: http://namingtheworld.org/ or feed://namingtheworld.org/rss
Written by two photographers and journalists who are traveling the world for 15 months. I first read their story in an HSLDA magazine and was encouraged by it. Here is an excerpt from their website:
Andrew Nicodem and Ryan Gilles, photographers and journalists with International Teams (see ITeams link above).
WHAT WE ARE DOING:
For the next 15 months we will be serving around the globe as workers for International Teams, seeking to see lives and communities transformed by the power of God. As we spend time at each of the many ministries (roughly 10 ministries, around 1-2 months per ministry) our goal is twofold:
1) At each ministry we come alongside, we desire to be the very real hands and feet of Christ. Meaning, the first role we have is that of a Servant. Every place we go is an opportunity for us to offer help where there is a need, encouragement where it is lacking, and a fresh set of hands to serve the ministries and those they are ministering to. We want to be used to bring relief and respite for the weary, to throw ourselves completely into each team we partner with.
2) And out of a life lived in each of those communities, out of the relationships built from working side by side with the ministries, out of a personal knowledge of how God is at work in the lives they are ministering to, we hope to use the talents that God has given us in writing and photography to tell their stories. Meaning, the second role we have is that of an Advocate. Stories of how God is at work in and through the global ministries of International Teams; stories of lives changed by the Gospel; stories of hope in places the world has given up hope on; stories of need in places the world has stopped hearing; these are the stories we hope to write. We want to give a voice to the voiceless.
We’re calling this project “Naming the World” not because we have the audacity to assume that without us these ministries and the lives they are serving fail to have a name or inherent worth, but rather because they do already have beautiful stories and if they can but be told, hearts will be changed. And where heart change begins, so too does action. We want to bridge the gap between not knowing, and therefore not being involved, to having a personal relationship with, and therefore desiring to get involved.
WHY WE ARE DOING IT:
Two years ago, we began to ask the question of how God can use ALL of us, our love of people, our gifts of encouragement and empathy, our desire to serve those who are forgotten, and our talents in writing and photography. This dream began in two very separate hearts, and through God’s ingenuity, became a reality. We hope that the stories we write and the images we capture will be read and seen by people around the world and will bring encouragement to those who need a reminder that God is alive and at work around the world, and a challenge to get involved in that work.
While we’re overseas, we will be blogging our stories and photos, and giving links and updates here. What is required of you? Read the stories. See the lives. Tell others. And find ways to get involved.
With all of our hearts, for Christ and His Kingdom,
Andrew and Ryan
I was reading the Bible one day, and it struck me how my Old Testament reading matched up with what I read in the New Testament later that day. I love it when that happens! Both chapters are talking about bread, but one is the grain offering that Aaron was instructed to offer to the Lord, the other is the Lord Jesus proclaiming that He is the Bread of Life. It just serves as another reminder to me that the Bible has one true Author, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
Leviticus Chapter 6:14-18
‘This is the law of the grain offering: The sons of Aaron shall offer it on the altar before the Lord. He shall take from it his handful of the fine flour of the grain offering, with its oil, and all the frankincense which is on the grain offering, and shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma, as a memorial to the Lord. And the remainder of it Aaron and his sons shall eat; with unleavened bread it shall be eaten in a holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of meeting they shall eat it. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of My offerings made by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the trespass offering.
John Chapter 6:5-14
Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples,“Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
John 6:32-40
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
This is a great help in learning how to be disciplined in daily prayer.
"The Hour that Changes the World" by Dick Eastman
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