Kingdom Come!

I’m on the eighth floor of a hotel in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  As I look out my window over looking the city I’m reminded of the El Greco paining of Toledo.

The clouds hang dark and ominous over the landscape.  The mountains surround Tegucigalpa like the edges of a cereal bowl and the city struggles to climb up and out.

To my left is the American fast-food enclave: Burger King, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, and Church’s.  All there.  Across the way is a huge HSBC bank building an multi-storied Marriott.  But to my right - at street level is a stand of blazing Flame Trees.  Their red flowers look a-fire, hence the name.  The wind blows their limbs and leaves.  The palm fronds sway as cars roar by.

Soon, we’ll leave for a church service.  Singing, preaching, praying to see God’s redemptive message come in all the earth.

I’m thankful for all God is doing by His Spirit in this world.  I’m overjoyed that somehow, I’m included in the process and the plan.   

This is an interesting article in The Economist.  I’m in Honduras and had a very interesting conversation with a Honduran who is just getting a taste of what being a Jesus-follower really means.  This article reminds me of my conversation with Henry about religion and what it means to know Jesus.  “I’ve never been very religious,” he said.  Okay, you probably won’t see the connect, but it helps if you were there… And the article is worth the read.

I began this post over the Atlantic Ocean in the back of a Delta 747.  It was not full so – praise the Lord! – I was in a row all by myself and able to stretch out a little.  Big man, little seats: always a problem.  I’m just returning from a week in Hamminkeln, Germany at the Globe Europe Training Center .

I left the Center for the airport in Dusseldorf about 6:30 AM local time.  (That’s about 12:30 midnight in Atlanta .)   It was chilly and foggy, like it gets in a German autumn. The amazing thing is that I should be home by about 6 PM the same day.  The same day!  That’s one of the amazing things about the 21^st Century: You can begin in one continent and end up in another!  The same day!

Rapid travel makes the world small and the Gospel is big!

At the Globe Europe Center, in an almost 24/7 environment, I taught about the phenomena of 21^st Century Missions and Developing a Harvest Mentality.  As a guy from South Georgia - USA, I was with a group of missionary candidates from Belgium, Germany, America, Bulgaria and Holland .  They will soon be working (some of them already are) in China, India, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Nicaragua, Romania and Peru . I taught in English and it was simultaneously translated into German and the minority who could not understand English, listened through wireless headphones. 

Technology makes the world small and the Gospel is big!

While I was in Germany, I was in communication with Phyllis back in Valdosta by both email and telephone.  On Tuesday morning, I had a doctor’s appointment in Wesel, Germany for an echo-cardiogram.  It’s a non-invasive test to determine the strength of my heart.  I’d not had one since last year in Cyprus , when I got such a bad report about my heart.  Because it cost about 10% of what it would cost in America , I’d gotten the folks at Globe Europe to schedule an appointment to have it done there.  When I got a good report (and it was: 65% function as opposed to 34% last year!  Praise the Lord!), I called Phyllis and woke her up to tell her the news!  Woke her up!  And groggily, she rejoiced with me over a cell phone. 

Instant communication makes the world small and the Gospel is big!

I’m finishing this letter in Lillian, Alabama about fifteen minutes over Perdido Bay from the Globe International office.  We rent a small house here that basically is our “mission home,” our ministry home.  And it’s beginning to feel like autumn here too.  But not so much as Germany .  And the haze of jet-lag and reflection has me up early.  As is my habit, I make coffee and go out on the porch over-looking the woods in the back of our house to sit and rock and meditate.  Up on the roll-up shade, is a small brown sparrow roosting and asleep.  So rather than sit and contemplate with my coffee before the sun rises, I come back inside.  I don’t want to disturb the sleeping sparrow.  My Heavenly Father’s eye is on this sparrow.  This little nameless bird is important to my Heavenly Father.  And so am I.  And so are you.  And so are the wonderful people in Germany who dream of impacting Nations.  And so are those myriad peoples and Nations who wait for the Good News of Jesus Christ to impact their lives and change their world. 

His eye is on the sparrow and that’s what makes the Gospel big!