Searching for Something of Value

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Have you ever lost anything valuable? If you have, how long did you look for it? Did you sacrifice a lot of time searching for it? Maybe you didn’t give up until you found it.

Soon after I starting dating Caroline, she gave me a diamond ring that her mother had given to her as a sign of commitment that was both monetarily and sentimentally valuable. Because she gave it to me, I wore it proudly around my neck on a chain every day. One day, while helping our church with a Vacation Bible School, I was playing outside in the grass with some kids who mistook me as a jungle gym. Towards the end of the night, Caroline noticed that the chain holding her valuable ring was now just draped over my shoulder with no ring to be seen. Unbeknownst to me, one of the kids must of pulled the chain and broke it on accident while climbing on me.

I frantically started a search party for it with as many people as possible. Combing the large church yard on our hands and knees, we had a seemingly impossible task of finding this ring. It was starting to get dark so we pulled our cars in the grass and shined the headlights toward areas we hadn’t search yet. Unfortunately, we did not find the ring that night.

After many apologies to Caroline and a restless night ‘s sleep, I got up the next morning and started the search party again in daylight. After hours of searching, I was able to find the tiny diamond ring in the grass!

Would it have been different if it were a plastic ring from a Cracker Jack box? Would I have recruited the help of others and lost sleep if I didn’t find it? Of course it would!

Isn’t that true of us when it comes to seeking after the Lord through our daily devotions? I believe we don’t seek depth in understanding God and what He’s done for us because we don’t see the value in it. Are you having a hard time seeing the value in your relationship with the Lord?

The application for my students in this week’s sermon was to read through a psalm each day and underline characteristics of God they observed in the passage. My hope and prayer is that my students would see  intimacy with God worth searching for and more valuable than any diamond ring. That they would see the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as their Lord, for whose sake they will consider the things of this world garbage, that they may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8)!

Wake up!

Genesis 28:16 “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”"

A few months after Caroline and I got married, I awoke one night to that “somebody’s watching me” feeling. I glanced next to me expecting to see Caroline but only saw an empty pillow. My eyes were then drawn to the end of the bed where Caroline was crouched in a spider-man type of pose, starring at me. Alarmed, I flipped on the light and asked her what was going on. She then jumped backwards over the foot board, landed on the floor, and sprawled her back up against the wall as if she was trying to get away from something. She then proceeded to yell “Spiders!….on the bed!….lots of them!….” I jumped out of bed to inspect the immediate area only to find nothing. At this point, I had come to the conclusion that she was either completely crazy or simply just dreaming. Assuming the later, I proceeded to wake her up to the reality of no spiders. After telling her she was dreaming and to wake up, she then came to and agreed her actions were abnormal because of her dream.

I tell you this story (with permission from Caroline, by the way) because I believe there is one specific reality we need to continually wake up to in our lives- that God is with us. Time and time again in scripture (Genesis 28:15, Joshua 3:7, Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 43:5, Jeremiah 1:8 to name a few) , God reminds his people that He is with them. Why? Because time and time again, we forget!

Here are a few “wake ups” we need to constantly see in our lives:

• Wake up to the reality of our sin and need for a Savior!
• Wake up to see the need for others in our life who will wake us up to blind spots!
• Wake others up to their need for Christ!

What do you need to wake up to?

What’s Your Motivation?

 

As an 8th grader in a local public school, I was challenged by my shop teacher to participate in a fundraiser to benifit our Technology Education Department through selling items from a catalog they gave each of us. I have to admit that I wasn’t motivated to help until he passed out a smaller catalog with the prizes we could get if we sold a certain amount of items. What was the top prize for selling the most? A Talkboy, as made famous by McCauley Culkin in the movie Home Alone! I know it’s a stretch but this would be the equivalent of an IPad in today’s technology world and the thought of owning one sent envy chills up my spine.

The second I arrived home that day, I picked up the phone and called all of my relatives to reach my goal of being top seller. I had it down pat as I explained that “my heart is to help my school and to make this world a better place through education of young individuals such as myself.” This of course was to get them to buy something so I could get my Talkboy! I then expanded my market by dressing in business attire and petitioning local businesses’ employees that were within walking distance of my house. Next, after filling out multiple order forms, I  went door-to-door in my entire town to win more customers. Looking back, I was passionate at making a catalog sale. I was willing to do whatever it took. What was my passion fuel for doing this? The reward!

Just like I needed a passion fuel for selling catalog items, we also need passion fuels for sharing our faith. Here a some of the most prominent passion fuels for sharing the Gospel with others:

• Reward in Heaven- Phil. 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
• Obedience to God- Matt 28:19-20- Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
• Love for God- 2 Corinthians 5:14- For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
• Fear of God- 2 Cor. 5:10-11- For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.
• Reality of Hell- The story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).
• Compassion for the Lost- Matt. 9:35-36-Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

What about you? What from above motivates you to share your faith?

Need for Your Knees Daily

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

As we continued in our series on the topic of prayer this week at The Rock PW,  I was blessed to come across this verse in God’s Word. As I studied this passage, I was drawn to the first call of action in the verse- “humble yourselves and pray.” The more I meditated on this and studied other parallel scripture passages, I realized prayer is extremely humbling to a person. When you think about it, the action of prayer is showing God that you need him. An arrogant or prideful person is typically someone who thinks they know what’s best and can handle it on their own.

As we went over reasons why we often don’t pray enough or as often as we’d like, the underlying reason is that we arrogantly think we don’t need God for daily guidance, direction, and support. There’s no doubt that we don’t forget to eat meals or drink water because we know without hesitation that we NEED these to survive. If we approached prayer with the same mindset, I feel the world around us would benefit greatly from it.

In almost every chapter in Acts, you find a reference to prayer, and the book makes it very clear that something happens when God’s people pray. God did not do a single thing in the New Testament without it first being prompted by prayer. Here are some examples of how God uses prayer:

• Prayer is the way you defeat the devil (Luke 22:23)
• Prayer is the way the lost are saved (Luke 18:13)
• Prayer is the way you acquire wisdom (James 1:5)
• Prayer is the way an unrepentant Christian gets restored (James 5:16-20)
• Prayer is how saints get strengthened (Jude 20, Matt. 26:41)
• Prayer is the way to get laborers out to the mission field (Matt 9:38)
• Prayer is how we can cure the sick (James 5:13-15)
• Prayer is how we accomplish the impossible (Mark 11:23-24)

Basically, you are going to God because you know that you need him. Being convicted at my lack of prayer, I was challenged by this passage because the Lord showed me my arrogance in thinking I don’t need Him. If Jesus, the perfect Example needed God daily in prayer, how prideful am I to think I don’t! I’m glad the students responded well to God’s Word this past week and I covet your prayers for this upcoming weekend as…

1. A lot of the Junior Highers at The Rock will be attending Junior High Summer Camp
2. Nate Keeler, the Frontline PW Campus Pastor, will be continuing the series on prayer (“How to Pray”) this Sunday in my absence.

11.07.09- 12 Hour Journey in Jeepneys? Heck yes!

A lot of things to cover today so I’ll post up pictures with short descriptions of each. Okay here goes…

[Visited a village pre-school with holes in the roof. Teachers said they had to move parts of the classroom around when it rained so the teaching materials wouldn't get wet. The kids performed a number for us and an outgoing girl sang her heart out to us while raising her arm with her palm up to emphasize high points. So cute.]

[Pastor of the village excitedly took us on a tour of his container farm. He was explaining how to breed earthworms to make organic soil for farming various vegetables. Incredibly helpful for the livelihood and morale of the community.]

[We took a 12 hour drive  in "Jeepneys" over mountains, visiting various rural preschools and pastor trainings along the way. Here are some of the highlights of our long journey...]

[Monthly Pastor's THRIVE conference for the Southern Region. When asked who traveled  the furthest, everyone pointed to a mountain pastor that traveled three hours one way to attend.]

[Mountain Pre-school where Mike Reed and I had a dance off for the kids. For some the reason, Filipino children don't appreciate my moves =( ... oh well]

[For lunch, we stopped at McDonald's arch nemesis Jolli Bee. All the Filipinos described Jolli Bee as being "sweeter" than McDonald's. I must admit, their burgers are pretty decent and they do have a sweeter flavor to them.]

[Randomly went to cavern on the side of the road. Dale almost Enough said]

[Scenic view coming down the mountain]

[Sugar Cane fields are white at harvest time. Sugar cane field workers need Jesus. Matt 9:37-38-Then he (Jesus) said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.]

[Pre-school in a fishing village right on the beach. We arrived nearly three hours late (after it was dark) expecting that the kids would have gone home. They waited for us and greeted us with songs and scripture reciting. The kids all counted to one hundred in English and spelled out one through twenty (one-o-n-e, two-t-w-o, etc.) Afterward, we found out that we were the first white people the pre-schoolers had ever seen! This was probably my favorite place we visited.]

[Pakito, ICM's CEO greeted us with a late night dinner with all the local ICM staff. We were so incredibly worn out at this point but we loved talking with the staff. I told Mike read that two of the guys sitting next to me were olympic swimmers (for entertainment purposes, obviously). They didn't speak any English. Pretty good laughs after a long day.]

11.06.09- Red Rope Hope, McDonalds, and the Cutest Little Girl

Today, we went to the ICM headquarters and had a staff devotional followed by meeting ladies from the Red Rope Project. The Red-Rope Project is a hand-sewing livelihood initiative for a group of talented, but poor women in Negros Occidental. The project provides more than livelihood by giving the women a sense of pride in what they do and a future for their family.

[A Red Rope Lady showing off her handcrafted Christmas card. Notice the pride in her work]

[Sewing the silk quilt to auction at the DC banquet. The last one they made sold for $10k US at the Hong Kong banquet!]

After visiting with the Red Rope Ladies, we went to a slum community and I preached to a group of kids using my trusty travel size paint board that I made for the trip. In case you were wondering, Filipino children love magic tricks too (I used some to start off the message). Here are a couple of pics of Caroline and I in action for your observation:

[coloring book magic trick is always a big hit]

[the greatest story message is one of my favorites]

[mid-sentence faces are always so flattering]

Soon after our children’s program, we went to McDonald’s to eat lunch. Totally different than what you’re probably thinking. A couple of differences to give you a glimpse into your every-day Filipino Micky D’s: Fried Chicken and Spaghetti! Yes, you read it right. They even serve rice as the side with fries still available upon request. Imagine this:

“Welcome to McDonald’s. How may I take your order?”

“Yes, I’ll have the McSpaghetti with a side order of McRice and my friend would like a few pieces of McFRIED CHICKEN!”

After our cultural McDonald’s experience, we were able to venture back to the slum where we did the children’s program earlier and were able to play with the kids. This was definitely one of the greatest highlights of the trip for me because the kids were absolutely adorable! I think they thought that I was a giant amusement park ride as they thoroughly enjoyed me lifting them up.

Here are a couple videos of me playing with the kids (did I mention that they were incredibly adorable!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithseymour/4101390086/in/set-72157622658645693/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithseymour/4101378012/in/set-72157622658645693/

While playing with the slum community kids, I met a sweet little girl name “Chit-chat” who sheepishly kept staring at me from afar like I was a towering giant (well, I kind-of was). She was wearing a blue and purple outfit and a smile that could radiate for miles. If there was any one person I continue to think of when I think of the oppressed, it’s her. How she may never see a way out of the poverty she’s in unless people like me help people like her.

[Cutest Filipino girl Chit-chat posing for a quick photo]

[Chit-chat and I posing for a quick pic]

Action packed day. Still have four more left and loving it!

11.05.09- Bronx of Bacolod and Celebrate Jesus

[a quick shot of a little girl outside of the medical clinic]

After visiting CRS, we were able to visit a medical clinic being held in a local slum. Everything ICM does is facilitated by the local pastors that are already serving their communities (another reason I love ICM!). We arrived and were warmly greeted by the pastor of the church who enthusiastically gave a tour of the neighborhood. He explained that this neighborhood was known to be very violent and was the Philippine equivalent to the Bronx of New York. As we walked through the narrow, winding allies in between chanties, we were closely followed by a large group of smiling and curious children. Everyone was remarkably polite in the “Bronx” as we were warmly greeted around every turn with a smile and a “welcome to the Philippines.” Not sure how they knew we weren’t from the neighborhood as we blended right in with our expensive cameras and white skin [sarcasm].

[slum kids that followed us around throughout or tour. notice the happiness and lack of ipods]

In the middle of our tour, I was able to slip into a typical house in the neighborhood with the pastor and a few others from our group. Below is a picture of the kitchen.

I immediately flashed back to our long-term dream of owning a house in Northern Virginia. No maple cabinets or granite countertops here. No luxury of a dishwasher (or even a sink!) to think of in this kitchen. Different perspective, huh?

11.05.09-A New Hope

[seeming trash used for beauty- a picture that accurately represents TB patients]

This morning, we visited a Tuberculosis Clinic called CRS (Care Recovery Shelter). This “in-the-trenches” ministry treats TB patients that often are almost malnourished to the point of death. They are typically the outcasts of slum communities because they are contagious.  Often, husbands will abandon their wives when they find out they have TB because they see them as a lost cause. CRS provides a place to live, feeds them, and gets them the necessary medicine they need. TB is very prevalent in the Philippines but the crazy thing is that it’s completely curable with medicine that people often don’t have the money for.

As we came in, the patients welcomed us and wanted to sing worship songs with us. I completely took on a new perspective as they sang the words “when the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm. Father you are King over the flood, I will be still and know you are God.”

Check out the this video of the CRS TB clinic singing a worship song. http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithseymour/4097268879/in/set-72157622658645693/

[CRS can hold up to 50 patients but currently can only afford 36 due to lack of funds]

During group time later that night, we were faced with the question of “Why weren’t we sitting on the other side amongst them instead of visiting from a wealthy nation?” For some reason, God has chosen us to be able to give help rather than receive help. This visit was extremely eye opening for me in the sense that I can see how our faith in action directly goes to real people with real problems. This awareness was profoundly radiated through one young woman appropriately named “Beauty” who gave her testimony during our visit. She is a college grad who aspired to be a nurse to help others. She explained how she had her ducks in a row until her dream was shattered by a diagnosis of TB. As tears streamed down her cheek, I sensed a genuine brokenness and dependence on God that I’ve seen in few others. After coming to CRS, she sensed God was getting her attention to focus on Him and her relationship with Him. Soon after receiving care and getting well, she found a mast in her breast which she later found out was cancerous. Once again, she felt a sincere brokenness before God but she left me with an overwhelming confidence in God’s sovereignty. I wish I had a faith as genuine as hers and hope the Lord doesn’t need to get my attention through tragedy as in her powerful story.

[beautiful decorations and jewelry are made by patients from their medicine labels and candy wrappers]

11.04.09- Bamboo Raft and a Glimpse of Heaven

We boarded a plane for Manilla, had a long enough layover to drive out to a great local Filipino restaurant called McDonalds (the ICM staff insisted). We made it back just in time for the flight and flew on to Bacolod City. After hopping off the plane (don’t worry it was on the ground), we headed to a remote village not too far from the airport. We pulled our convoy of small miniature vans into a small village where the local teenager hang out  was a concrete slab equipped with a basketball hoop and volleyball net (see picture below).

[after a quick stretch, we begin our journey to our first pre-school]

As we walk through the small village, it’s apparent that we stand out with our nice cameras and clean clothes. The Filipinos are extremely friendly and all the children wave and giggle as we pass. As we reach the other side of the village we are met by sugar cane fields as far as the eye can see along with some children riding a water buffalo.

After crossing through the field the path became more and more narrow.

[notice the water buffalo dung]

As we winded through the narrow path we finally came to our next half hour of entertainment:

[yes, that is a homemade bamboo raft and yes, we have to cross it one by one]

Because of my size, I was sure not to be the first one to cross the rickety raft with half-filled inter-tubes keeping it afloat. When it was finally time for me to cross, I cautiously stepped on and started to pull my self across. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I’m figuring a video is worth at least 10,000.

Click for video: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithseymour/4096005122/in/set-72157622658645693/

The journey was worth it when we arrived at the pre-school as the kids were reciting all of Psalm 23 by memory and had learned english songs to perform. I had to wonder if this is a glimpse of heaven as we will be singing as God’s children to Him as he walks in. A day that I will never forget.

Click for video of pre-schoolers reciting Psalm 23-http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithseymour/4095385449/in/set-72157622658645693/

11.03.09- “Slum Survivor, I Want More of You!”

Crossroads gave us a glimpse into the lives of a billion people around the world.

Crossroads Global Distribution (www.crossroads.org.hk) is an organization that sends much needed resources around the world in 20′ containers. The leader of the organization, DJ, talked to our group about replicating the Slum Survivor for our students at The Rock. A few years ago, they came up with the idea of Slum Survivor to raise awareness of what people all around the world live through. They started off by having a few of their donors come out for an overnight event as they replicated conditions of people living in slums. After the first few donors made it through with a completely new perspective, they requested that they do more of them for their co-workers, friends, and family. They have since had many groups (including ours) go through abbreviated versions that last about two hours. Check out slumsurvivordiary.blogspot.com/ for a blog of a guy that went through the 24 hour version of it.

[DJ (middle) explains how our Slum Survivor session will play out right before Reba (left) demonstrates how we will make our livelihood -making paper bags out of newspaper and a flour/water paste.]

I was extremely impressed by our conversation with DJ. I have tremendous respect for who he is and what he’s doing. He is definitely a character but I loved his genuine and compassionate spirit. I observed a great deal from him as we conversed and interacted with him. Beginning with his cultural African apparel all the way to how he knelt while he described his ministry to us, I could tell that he’s the real deal. As an effective communicator, he used humor, true stories (with excellent accents I might add), statistics, personal experience, and an incredible passion that showed a deep, heart-felt conviction for helping others. One of the many things that struck me was his explanation of the necessary marriage service of others (“The Great Compassion mentioned in Matt. 25) and sharing the Gospel (The Great Commission mentioned in Matt. 28). I often forget that the Scriptures reference the words “needy”, “poor”, “widow”, and “orphan” over 400 times!

[Our Slum Survivor town]

During the simulation, we were broken down into families of five people, given a space to live, and were provided with a few sheets of newspaper. We then had three, ten minute sessions (that represented one week) in which our family had to make as many paper bags to sell to the heartless shop keepers for as much money as we could. Each family was responsible for paying for rent, food, and optional use of a sanitary community toilet. If you couldn’t sell enough bags to make rent, you would lose your home and have to go live “under the bridge.” If you didn’t have enough money for food, one or more of your family members would die. They offered free optional health awareness and vocational training classes at the cost of one of your family members not making bags. If you didn’t go to the health class, we found out the next round that two people in your family developed a disease in which they had to sit out.

The experience of Slum Survivor was incredibly eye-opening to me. It’s hard seeing how over one billion people live every day but that doesn’t get rid of poverty. The Lord is starting to really show me how I need to play my part in marrying the Great Compassion AND the Great Commission. I’m looking forward to helping the students in NOVA experience the same thing.