Philippines Trip - Day 6
"For this reason since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will though all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthen with His power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."
Devotional Thought
What is it that we can pray for that has real depth and meaning. Many times when we pray, we pray for the sick and the hurting. If we are not sick or hurting we usually think we don't need prayer, but Paul had a different approach. His prayer for the believers in Colosse was intentional and very specific. It was focused on what really mattered... their relationship with the Lord. His pray was that God would fill them with all spiritual wisdom and understanding. His motive for praying this was that he desired them to live a life worthy of the Lord and to please Him in every way. He goes on to describe what it means to please God in every way...
1. Bearing fruit in every good work! - Obedience to God and Serving God in dependence upon Jesus (John 15)
2. Growing in the knowledge of God! - We live in a generation who is moving away from the discipline and will to know God through His Word. If we are to grow in the knowledge of God then we must get into the Word of God.
3. Having great endurance and patience with the help of God!
4. Joyfully giving thanks to God!
This is our calling... Let us live a life worthy of it!
Trip Report
Wow, day 6 has much to talk about. I got up at 5am this morning, so I am runni
ng behind schedule. I will do my best to be as detailed as time allows. First of all, Jenny and I had our third day of basketball camp. The students are really enjoying it and we have been blessed! We played a Filipino game today involving coconut shells and ropes. It was fun but hurt your feet. Here is a picture. We presented the Gospel yesterday and at least one young man accepted the Lord. Most of the kids in the camp are from compassion and have heard the Gospel many times and most have already chosen to follow Jesus, but its fun to see the light bulb come on and a student realizes his need for Christ! Praise God for that! At lunch we went to Pizza Hut again because it has Air Con and we ate. Nope, we didn't have pizza, we had rice. They eat rice for almost every meal and were dying for some rice, and yes... Pizza Hut in the Philippines serves rice meals! After basketball camp, Jenny and I went to a fish market with Bing-Bing. It was neat! We bought a few things at a very low cost, and smelled like fish for a while. It was great!
The construction guys (Pastor Mike, George, and Dan) got everything put up in the house except the door and the window. They will finish that to day. Dan continues to connect with the Filipinos in the Looc Barangi (not sure how to spell it). The kids were trying to teach him Cebuano and they were laughing at him. One of the kids was laughing so hard that he had to stick his head out the window because he thought he was going to puke. Wow! I guess I have never laughed that had. hahaha.
I didn't get to talk to Karen, Lois, Dick, Rita, and Paul very much so I am not sure what all they did besides working with the special children. I believe they were giving gifts out but I am not sure.
So today is Pastor Nigel and Christine's wedding! Pastor Jeremie, Pastor Jake, Pastor Nigel, and I had a little guys night out! I guess you could call it a bachelor's party. So you may be asking yourself, "what do four pastor's do for a bachelor's party?" Well, we sat in a circle and read Psalms 119 through 25 times before Nigel's life changes drastically. OK, that's not what we did. We made reservations at Plantation Bay to experience the pools of water (Hot Tub, Mineral Tub, and others) and had a massage. You are treated like royalty at this resort! Honestly the only tub we experienced was the hot tub because we sit in and around it talking and laughing. Sometimes our conversation was serious and sometimes it was us laughing at each other. We are very excited about the wedding! It will not be a traditional Filipino Wedding. Very few Filipinos still have tradional weddings because of the influence of the western culture. I'm not sure I like the influence of the western culture. I think the Filipino culture is fascinating!!!
Well that's it for now!
Colossians 1:9-12
Devotional Thought
What is it that we can pray for that has real depth and meaning. Many times when we pray, we pray for the sick and the hurting. If we are not sick or hurting we usually think we don't need prayer, but Paul had a different approach. His prayer for the believers in Colosse was intentional and very specific. It was focused on what really mattered... their relationship with the Lord. His pray was that God would fill them with all spiritual wisdom and understanding. His motive for praying this was that he desired them to live a life worthy of the Lord and to please Him in every way. He goes on to describe what it means to please God in every way...
1. Bearing fruit in every good work! - Obedience to God and Serving God in dependence upon Jesus (John 15)
2. Growing in the knowledge of God! - We live in a generation who is moving away from the discipline and will to know God through His Word. If we are to grow in the knowledge of God then we must get into the Word of God.
3. Having great endurance and patience with the help of God!
4. Joyfully giving thanks to God!
This is our calling... Let us live a life worthy of it!
Trip Report
Wow, day 6 has much to talk about. I got up at 5am this morning, so I am runni
ng behind schedule. I will do my best to be as detailed as time allows. First of all, Jenny and I had our third day of basketball camp. The students are really enjoying it and we have been blessed! We played a Filipino game today involving coconut shells and ropes. It was fun but hurt your feet. Here is a picture. We presented the Gospel yesterday and at least one young man accepted the Lord. Most of the kids in the camp are from compassion and have heard the Gospel many times and most have already chosen to follow Jesus, but its fun to see the light bulb come on and a student realizes his need for Christ! Praise God for that! At lunch we went to Pizza Hut again because it has Air Con and we ate. Nope, we didn't have pizza, we had rice. They eat rice for almost every meal and were dying for some rice, and yes... Pizza Hut in the Philippines serves rice meals! After basketball camp, Jenny and I went to a fish market with Bing-Bing. It was neat! We bought a few things at a very low cost, and smelled like fish for a while. It was great!The construction guys (Pastor Mike, George, and Dan) got everything put up in the house except the door and the window. They will finish that to day. Dan continues to connect with the Filipinos in the Looc Barangi (not sure how to spell it). The kids were trying to teach him Cebuano and they were laughing at him. One of the kids was laughing so hard that he had to stick his head out the window because he thought he was going to puke. Wow! I guess I have never laughed that had. hahaha.
I didn't get to talk to Karen, Lois, Dick, Rita, and Paul very much so I am not sure what all they did besides working with the special children. I believe they were giving gifts out but I am not sure.
So today is Pastor Nigel and Christine's wedding! Pastor Jeremie, Pastor Jake, Pastor Nigel, and I had a little guys night out! I guess you could call it a bachelor's party. So you may be asking yourself, "what do four pastor's do for a bachelor's party?" Well, we sat in a circle and read Psalms 119 through 25 times before Nigel's life changes drastically. OK, that's not what we did. We made reservations at Plantation Bay to experience the pools of water (Hot Tub, Mineral Tub, and others) and had a massage. You are treated like royalty at this resort! Honestly the only tub we experienced was the hot tub because we sit in and around it talking and laughing. Sometimes our conversation was serious and sometimes it was us laughing at each other. We are very excited about the wedding! It will not be a traditional Filipino Wedding. Very few Filipinos still have tradional weddings because of the influence of the western culture. I'm not sure I like the influence of the western culture. I think the Filipino culture is fascinating!!!
Well that's it for now!
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