PJ's Journal

What does it mean that God is holy? The four living creatures in Revelation 4 continue to say day and night "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Rev. 4:8 He is holy! He is set apart... not like us! And yet we have have a tendency to think we know better than Him. We question His justice and wrath and cannot reason a God that allows bad things to happen to "good" people. If we don't understand something revealed about God in the Scriptures we want to explain it away because it doesn't fit our sense of what God ought to be... thus we "change" God to fit our mold. "Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? Isa. 40:13-14 Do you see how silly it is for a finite being who is limited in understanding to subjec...

Last day for basketball camp... It all began after some bacon and eggs. We left the guest house to travel to the church. The morning time was pretty slow for Bobby and I, but that was a much needed break. During the morning I wandered around the church just observing and making conversation with others. I dropped in on the drama ministry led by George and Marian Pastore, and it was such a blessing. George was so engaged with the 25 plus students who were there, and the performance was beautiful. I can't wait to see it when they are done. I also got to hear and see the vision that Pastor Jek has for youth ministry. We went up to the roof and looked out over the city. It was beautiful! It looked so calm and organized from the fourth floor, but that is not the feeling while in the midst of it. Perspective matters! We visited the work site when we dropped George off. They were building a house that would sit several feet off the ground because of water issues. They had be...

"It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice." Philippians 1:15-18 You know that Christ is the center of your life when you can take yourself completely out of the picture! Here we have the Apostle Paul in prison and apparently there are "preachers" who are jealous of the attention that Paul has gotten and consider him to be a threat to their own sense of importance. I love the way that Paul addresses this issue. His response shows that it is all about Jesus! The gospel is so important to Paul, he can look past motives that are negatively directed tow...

Today was a bit different then the other days in the morning. After breakfast, we left for the church to drop off people and then several of us headed to a place that looked like a glass dump yard. There we saw Filipinos separating glass and crushing it into small pieces to fill up bags. The bags are the size of a burlap sac. A hard days work will produce about 20 bags, and they get 3 pesos per bag. Let me translate this... They work hard all day to make what is equivalent to $1.50 PER DAY (not per bag). They were working in flip flops (sandals if your Filipino) and I could not see any cuts on their feet. I am sure that I would have cuts! After we visited the glass place, we went to visit a Barangay called Paradise where Jenny's sponsored child lives and where Margie (the Rodger's and Monaco's special friend) calls home. It is anything but a paradise, but as you drive into this Baranguy, the children are laughing and playing! It is a joy to watch. We were definite...

First of all, I want to shout, "Praise the Lord!" We had at least 5 young men make a decision to follow Jesus Christ at Basketball camp! I had asked everyone to pray for the coaches who were sharing the Gospel, and God used them in powerful ways. There were some in the first camp who were not sure, but were challenged to think about it. We will follow up with them today. I haven't talked to all the coaches after the second camp, so there may have been more decisions. After the usual breakfast routine, we headed to the church. The morning was freed up for me to spend some time shadowing Tori helping with the Precious Jewels Camp. This is a camp for the mentally challenged students that many of our people at FBC sponsor. It was great watching her interact! I loved watching them play with her hair! They just loved on her! Tori had the opportunity to share her testimony through an interpretor, and did a fantastic job! I am so proud of her... it took courage and sh...

Great day! At breakfast we were able to connect with the Wilkinson family for a short time, and then Bobby, George, Marian, Tori, and I headed off to the church. Tori, George and Marian had to be there at 8am for Drama Camp and Bobby and I had to be there at 9am for a meeting with the Basketball coaches. The rest of the team went on a tour of the BTC with their fearless host... Steve Wilkinson. I am sad that I missed that, though I have seen BTC before. I always enjoy connecting with the Wilkinsons and I know that I will not have much of an opportunity to connect since they are leaving this week to head back to the states. During our coaches meeting, I walked them through the devotional materials since everything is done in small groups, just to make sure everyone was comfortable and felt prepared. After our coaches meeting, Bobby and I connected with Mike and Dan to head over to a construction site with Pastor Hermie and Lito. We thought we were going to tear down an existing ...

Day 2 in the Philippines... What a joy it is to spend time in corporate worship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. We arrived at the church early and walked around connecting with people while Pastor Mike preached in the 2nd Service (Cebuano speaking service). The team passed out the gift bags to the sponsored children during the beginning of the third service (English speaking service). I was in the service the whole time and was blessed by the worship team... a group of fantastic young men and women who are extremely talented and equally committed to serving Christ through their talent! In a room about 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep, I felt like I was at a Hillsong church. They were that good. Tori said to me afterwards, "Dad, that guy leading worship should be on a cd." It was a blessing! We had a potluck dinner after the service and talked to the church members there. After dinner, with the exception of Pastor Mike and myself, the team left to go to Laupo-Lau...