Dave Ohlerking

DAVE OHLERKING

2010-10-14T09:03:00.004-05:00

Dear Friends,

Dave Ohlerking said many times that if he could choose, he wanted to die in Africa. Wednesday morning at little after 3 a.m. in Johannesburg, South Africa, he went to be with the Lord. All indicators are that it was a heart attack that caused his heart to stop. Mom was at his side as he took his last breath here on Earth and opened his eyes in Heaven.

There is no question that this is a painful thing for those of us he left behind, but we know that he is in the presence of the Savior he loved so deeply and served so passionately during his 70 years. Ben and Susan and their family are with Mom now, and will be bringing her back to the USA along with Dad’s remains. Memorial service arrangements will be announced as soon as we are able to finalize them.

Mom is a rock. Full of faith and hope despite the painfulness of this temporary separation from her husband of 52 years. And as a family, the Ohlerkings are all certainly feeling the loss of our dad and husband, but we are not without hope. Dad said it all the time, “Hope’s name is JESUS.” We have felt the support of those who have prayed for us and ask you to continue to pray for peace and strength. We are so thankful and honored that through Dad, God has given us such a great heritage of hope.

Children’s Cup is strong, too. Our entire staff, leadership team, and board are fully engaged, continuing to carry out the mission God birthed in Dad and Mom’s hearts in 1992 - to go to the hard places of the world, bringing hope in Jesus’ name.

Please keep us in your prayers. We’ll be posting updated information about Memorial Service arrangements on our website at www.childrenscup.org and our facebook page at facebook.com/childrenscup - please be sure to check these sites over the next few days.

Your heart, your love, and your prayers are invaluable to us as together we continue to carry forward the vision of Children’s Cup - delivering HOPE to the children of the world.

Hope’s Name is Jesus.

The Ohlerking Family

"BOB DIED ABOUT A MONTH AGO."

2009-12-22T11:25:00.004-06:00

Bob was not his name. But we’ll call him that for privacy reasons.

Jean and I first met Bob when he served us at one of our favorite restaurants. We noted he was a good waiter but that his speech and actions were effeminate and possibly indicated he lived a sinful and dangerous lifestyle.

In spite of our feelings about such a lifestyle we felt drawn to him and wanted to show him Christ-like love—not rejection.

Over several months a friendship developed. When we planned to go to his restaurant Jean would just call in. When Bob answered Jean would just say, “Hi, Bob, this is Jean.” He’d reply, “I’ll have your order on the table when you arrive.” He knew exactly what we’d order.

Jean and I began calling him “our project.” We wanted to lead him to Christ.

We made sure that every conversation would include a gentle witness for Christ and our assurance that we were praying for him. We’d invite him to check out Healing Place Church. Soon we could tell he was more than willing to talk about our faith, Healing Place Church and our work amongst the AIDS orphans of Africa.

Bob would weep with great empathy as we spoke about the thousands of children whose lives were ravaged by AIDS. Once he even gave us $20 to help a child.

Bob changed jobs and we lost track of him for many months. About six months ago we ran into him at another restaurant. He seemed overjoyed to see us—and to tell us that he had started attending the St. Amant campus of Healing Place Church. The pastor is a former Marine with a bold demeanor—not the type of personality Bob was normally comfortable being around.

We saw Bob two or three times over the next few weeks. Each time he was more and more excited about the church. He was different. It was obvious his life had been changed. As we look back now we realize that although he didn’t use “spiritual-ese” vocabulary he was telling he now served Jesus.

“Things are OK now,” he said. (These are the same words my oldest brother used to tell me just before died that his heart was right with God.) And the anxious intensity Bob used to show was gone. His demeanor was calm and settled.

Last night we went back to the restaurant. We hadn’t been there for a little over a month. When we asked if Bob was there the waitress said, “Bob died about a month ago.”

Our first reaction was great sadness. It was a bit like losing a relative.

As we drove home the sadness was softened by the awareness that God had allowed us to influence Bob to seek Jesus and that Bob was, right at that moment, with his Lord Jesus Christ.

If the Holy Spirit had not urged us to step over the threshold of our rejection of his lifestyle, if we had merely tolerated his service and not spoken to him about Jesus, would he have found his way to the cross?

Our “Bob project” was wonderfully successful.

And right now we have some more “projects” we are working on.

Will you let the Holy Spirit show you some “projects?”

TALK ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING…

2009-10-28T03:10:00.001-05:00

A mother loans her pre-teen daughter to a neighbor—an older man. For payment he will plow her garden so she can grow food for the family.

Or sometimes it’s just for a weekend to get money for a few meals.

Children’s Cup African director Ben Rodgers was ministering to a young African teenaged girl encouraging her to stop selling her body. Her response, “Why shouldn’t I be a prostitute? At least I’m getting paid for what has happened to me all my life.” Fathers of daughters, are you weeping?

Would you call this human trafficking? Mothers hand off their unnamed newborn babies to village men who will raise the children to make money for them as sex slaves. In one community by a city dump one loving lady started feeding and educating 62 of these unnamed and sexually exploited children to end the abuse. With Children’s Cup’s help she expanded her “family” to several hundred children who no longer have to sell their bodies for food or education.

Isn’t it human trafficking when a parent or relative sells a young girl into marriage with a man who will bring AIDS into her body? Even the purest Jesus-loving girl is bound by the culture to comply. African teenaged girls live in terror of the day they will be sold into marriage. This is common practice in much of Africa.

And world bodies like the UN tell us not to disturb or try to change local cultures.

This is not a problem you solve with a sermon or two.

Children’s Cup is actively using our AIDS orphan and vulnerable children CarePoints where we help thousands of children daily as ministry bases to reach the local communities with the Gospel. Winning a significant number of the neighbors to the Lord and establishing churches that become communities of believers out of which Christian spouses can be chosen offers a solution.

If we who call ourselves the Body of Christ look away and offer no help, we give our approval to this insidious evil.

Silence is sanction

BLEST BY THE BLOOD

2009-09-28T19:43:00.001-05:00

The scene is in downtown Brussels, Belgium. The traffic is scary.

The other car shot our from a small alley into the side of my Volkswagen van. The police came and took statements from the other driver and me.

My French was never really great but I could read the report well enough to know that it asked if I had any blesse’, the French word for bloody injuries. Happily, nobody had been hurt.

That word blesse’ really intrigued me. It seemed so close to our English word bless. As I researched the derivations of bless, I got blessed. French and English come from Latin. Much of the time the Latin roots of a word are evident in each of the derivative languages. Just like blesse’ There is a relation between the French bloody injuries and the English blessing. Old English used the term bledsian to mean covered with blood. (Bludgeon comes from the same root.) Later English usage had the blessen mean sanctify.

I knew I had hold of something wonderful when I found this. To be sanctified or made holy or blessed meant to be covered by blood–bloodified, if you will. Blessen comes into our usage as bless.

To be blessed means to be covered by blood. Yes! Hallelujah! Calvary’s blood, the bleeding wounds of Jesus, is the source of all blessing in our lives.

When we say, “God bless you,” we are invoking the blood of Jesus on others’ lives. “Jesus cover them with your blood,” would mean the same thing. Now when I say, “God bless you,” it has a new connotation to me.

TOO INCINDIARY TO PRINT OR TO READ?

2009-09-27T20:30:00.004-05:00

A VETERAN MISSIONARY'S OBSERVATIONS AND QUESTIONS

Global missions strategies have been encountering more sophisticated blocks than ever before. Now, even once-strong missionary churches are saying that the day of sending full-time-on-the-field missionaries is over.
· Ask a missionary how hard it is to book meetings even in churches with multi-million dollar budgets.
· One noted Christian author declared he is through sending long-term missionaries. After a finely crafted and highly motivating message about the USA church mobilizing its resources for missions, he declared his strategy was to send the money to national pastors to evangelize their countries. He believes it will work because he will use some of the money to send ministry teams for a couple weeks to train and motivate national pastors.
· Missionaries on the ground who have dealt with the results of such “ten-day-wonders” often vow they will never again host a short term team.
· A fatal flaw in the strategy is to disregard the fact that foreign cultures define integrity differently and many never embrace Biblical goals for evangelism and missions, let alone accountability in funds handling.
· Both of the above mentioned authors are great men with generous hearts. They have generated massive funds that have had little lasting impact on the field.
· Ask the rock stars for a review of how their famine fundraising monies were handled and what they accomplished. Even the honest ones found it nearly impossible to get the aid all the way to the starving people. I was there. I saw. I know.
· Talk to donor governments about how much of their aid makes it past foreign bureaucrats’ pockets to the people in need.
· The usual disbursement of funds goes first for personnel salaries. Office complexes. Service vehicles. Meetings. Surveys. Planning sessions. Then more meetings and conferences full of hand-wringing over the fact they can’t find enough people at ground-level honest enough to implement projects.
· Executives sitting on massive aid funds recognize that money as the source of their power and prestige. Quickly they realize that every dollar disbursed from the fund diminishes their power.
· One UN official sneered at our faith-based strategies. I asked him which of his UN projects he considered the most successful. I don’t think he even realized that all of his examples used local churches and missionaries to make the project work.

Where is the next wave of missionaries?
· Meet the lovely Norwegian missionary orphanage director in Africa.
For more than 52 years she has poured her life into a community and founded an orphanage that raised hundreds of young lives to become business and government leaders—real society-influencers.
· Stand beside this hero with me and hear—no, make that feel—her sobs as she says, “There is no one coming to take my place. My health is gone and my mission is forcing me to go home.”
· Social movements seldom last more that three generations. The first gets it going and pursues it zealously. In the second generation some are fervent about the movement, yet many have no interest in the movement. Few of the third generation pay any heed to it. World missions is in that third generation.
· Where are the sermons challenging the people with the Great Commission (now sometimes called the “Great Omission”) to go everywhere and tell everybody?
· Where is the altar-call to missions?
· When did the congregation last sing, “I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord…” or “To the regions beyond”?
· Where are the language schools teaching Christian students the languages of places hostile to the Gospel?
· Where are the parents who make sure their children encounter missionaries to drink in the missionary’s spirit?
· When was the last time the church took up an offering for missions?
· Who was the last son or daughter of the church to be sent out as a missionary?
· Have you noticed the Christian book stores no longer have a missions section? Is that because nobody is writing them anymore? Do publishers no longer print them because they won’t sell? Are the missions classics all out of print?
· Have you seen the Jesus-haters’ long queues of young volunteers anxious to be given their bomb-vests so they can kill infidels that have not embraced their religion? No shortage of hope-to-be martyrs.
· Do you dare compare that to Christians’ anemic response to the call for new missionaries?
· What kind of god needs bombs and bullets to gain converts and protect his name?
· What missions executives do you know who are willing to live in remote, unheated Asian mountain cave to lead their followers?
· What does the church expect to see happen in world missions given the limp attention it pays to the untold millions?
· Does the church care?

Sobering truths:
· You will either send your sons and daughters as missionaries or as soldiers.
· You will either give to missions to send them with the Gospel or you will pay taxes to send them to kill and maim.
· We have the capacity to go everywhere and tell everybody yet the church doesn’t do it. But hell does.
· America’s largest export is pornography—movies and music.

BLESSED HOPE:
· Jesus said, “I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
· Jesus is still saving souls and changing lives and building His Church.
He is still calling for workers in the harvest.
· Will you join me in giving King Jesus our all? Right now?
· Will you go if He asks you?

TAKING A LOOK AT OUR MOTIVES

2009-09-19T17:00:00.003-05:00

I say “our” because I don’t think I’m the only one who has ever had this problem.

There is a devious accuser snooping around in the back of our thoughts seeking for ways to undermine our walk with God by accusing our motives.

We know that God wants us to really submit our hearts and minds in Him. We exert full effort to come before Him openly and without guile. As we move into that realm we start to sense His blessing. We’re tempted to think, “I’m doing it right. God is blessing me.”

Then, unbidden and unwelcome, comes the voice saying,” Well, you are making it work, aren’t you? You play-act like God’s obedient child and He is buying it. You and I both know what you’re really like—your weaknesses, your thoughts, your disobedience.

“Go ahead, play the game but remember, I know what you’re really like.”

“You are wrong, enemy of my soul. Yes, I often fail, but He knows I come to Him with a sincere heart and He blesses my life and work—in spite of my failures. He would never reject the thirst and reach of my heart towards Him and my desire to please Him. His love and forgiveness are far greater than your accusing words.”

“…How do we change our personal devotional life to reflect the life of reception, seeking God’s gifts as beggars rather than His applause as performers?” Martin Luther: Grace Upon the Cross

Martin Luther’s words make us see we can never believe our personal piety brings God’s blessing. We can only approach Him as beggars undeservedly receiving God’s favor.

My first motive when reaching toward God is to come honestly and humbly before Him. That first motive is what God judges us by. He then exposes and deals with me about the human imperfections that try to sabotage my motives.

How perfect is His plan and His understanding.

Some have said, “A righteous God is man’s greatest creation.”

Wrong.

No human mind could ever devise such an intricate and thorough plan as God's.

THE ANCIENT COIN AND TAXES

2009-08-25T13:39:00.002-05:00

Is it possible that this coin I am now holding was actually held by the treasurer of the Twelve named Judas? Did it jingle around in the Disciples’ purse?

Extremely unlikely but this bronze prutah coin was in circulation in Jesus’ time. And nobody could say it was impossible that it was once used to buy food for the Master.

Just thinking the question is a bit overwhelming.

And it made me think.

Judas was the purse-bearer, the money handler, for Jesus and the Twelve. It appears that he managed well enough to keep the group financially viable for more than three years. Once, however, he did have to go to the fish’s mouth get the money to pay the taxes.

Taxes were budget busters then, too. It’s clear that the Disciples did not have a tax-exemption that American 501 C 3 organizations have enjoyed for decades.

A couple observations: Judas sold his own soul and the life of the Redeemer who would have forgiven him for thirty coins.

And throughout all history men and governments have traded their own souls money.

Jesus-hating leaders appear to be ready to take away any tax exemption for charitable giving that enables the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Godly financial planners should be telling their clients of the still viable ways to plan their estates in ways that lock in tax benefits now and at the same time promote the Gospel—the only hope for our nation and its economy.

It’s a double win if they do. A double loss if they don’t.

THE SUBTLE AND LETHAL TRAP

2009-08-16T13:16:00.002-05:00

One of God’s life-giving promises is, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

Jean and I marvel every day at the blessings God has allowed us to experience and take part in.

Once you have known a life of blessings as you have truly sought God first you can be confronted with a subtle and lethal trap.

We look back and realize that the blessings started when we took the actions that
God set as conditions to receive the promises. The enemy tempts us to think it was our doing that qualified us.

That’s the trap.

Our obedience is not creative it is only acceptive. God does the creating and just requires us to live as acceptors of His mercy and grace. It’s God’s doing, not ours.

To God be the glory

I STILL LOVE BLOGSPOT

2009-07-23T15:01:00.000-05:00

It is a powerful tool.

HELL'S DEVIL PLANNED IT...

2009-07-23T11:32:00.000-05:00

Hell’s devil planned it and it is working.

There has been a widespread and increasingly emboldened assault on Jesus, the Bible, and believers.

Hollywood.
Educators.
News Media.
Wall Street.
Politicians.
Unregenerate religious leaders.
It is an all-fronts barrage coordinated in hell.

Society has degenerated to the point that the most effective marketing tool is blatant sex (including perversions that used to mean jail).

The ability to cleverly deceive is praised. Lie has become king. Hell has its own unholy anointing on liars. Society’s wisdom is that the first one to accuse wins. Courts award the cleverest liar. America no longer believes its government.

Marketers and legislators will do to you whatever they think they can get by with. They sneer at the word integrity.

The very word SIN used to shiver the soul, now it is used as an advertizing lure.

Result? A sin-immersed society in which anything goes. If it feels good, do it.

But then there’s that irritating voice of God that pricks even the most hardened heart reminding them of their sin.

To try to shut down or drown the Voice men intensify the noisy, strident, screeching anti-Jesus, blaring shrieks from hell. “Everybody’s doing it,” tries to overpower, “Thou shalt not.”

None of this has killed Truth whose name s Jesus. Hell may have a plan but so does Jesus.

He has given us free use of His Name—The Name to which every knee shall bow. The Name that is a strong tower the righteous can run into and be safe.

Every time we declare The Name we build The Tower higher and wider. Let’s invite everybody we can to enter The Tower.

We Christians need to build into our daily lives the profuse use of The Name Jesus. Be deliberate and intentional finding ways to introduce The Name in every conversation.

Roll the cameras and presses, plug in the microphones and flood the internet with our Savior’s awesome Name.

NOTICE

2009-06-07T02:07:00.002-05:00

I am finding Facebook and Twitter to be very effective ways to communicate.

I will keep my blogger account open as an archive but will post more frequently on these other two places.

What wonderful new communication means will we have a year from now?

AMERICAN HERO

2009-05-26T01:10:00.002-05:00

Lt. Col. Paul Kari was tortured in the "Hanoi Hilton" prison for eight years. He went back to Hanoi with Ben and me and we visited the prison. I watched this great man deal with agonizing memories and still forgive his torturers.

Here's a lesson I learned. If you will make your hurting places become forgiving places God will turn them into healing places.

I saw it work for Paul.

GUIDE ME WITH HIS EYE?

2009-05-23T02:47:00.003-05:00

This verse used to puzzle me:

Psalm 32:8I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

How does His eye guide me? It does as long as I stay in His presence.

For example: Let's walk together through Maputo, Mozambique. I'm familiar with the city. The streets can be risky there. Let's make it harder; we'll blindfold you and I'll never touch you nor will I give you a verbal map of the turns we must make. We'll just talk.

If you stay close enough to me to hear my voice I can guide you with my open eyes.

If you sense a distance growing between us you will know you missed a turn. Run back to the sound of my voice.

It is simply profound to me that God does guide us by His eye as we stay in His presence.

PRAYING FOR YOU

2009-05-21T02:44:00.001-05:00

If you are awake and hurting right now, I am praying for you.

ANOTHER REASON NOT TO WORRY

2009-05-16T04:19:00.002-05:00

Isaiah 66:9 Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord; shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb? saith God.

That's King James for, "What I have conceived in you will be born and there will be more births to come."

Children's Cup International Relief was God's idea--in fact it was His order to us. My head may struggle with the issues of the economy, but in my heart is a deep assurance God has not "shut the womb."

I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE AWAKE AT THIS HOUR

2009-05-15T02:57:00.003-05:00

It's still in the house again. Jean--my companion for more than 50 years--is sleeping.

I've heard the phrase "wee hours of the morning." Will you let me play with the words and call them the "We hours"? As in God and me.

This stillness has become a destination--a place of peace and direction.

Right now I realize that I'm not the only one awake at this hour. And for some of you it is not a place of quiet and peace. Maaybe it's a difficult decision, a broken relationship, a great personal failure, or a doctor's words that are raging in your mind.

Would you trust God enough to make the quietness of your home an altar--a healing place?

"Father, as we bow in our quiet place altars we may be miles apart yet we are together at your altar, your healing place. Let your presence cleanse away the turmoil. Let your holy presence be the answer to the problems that seem unsolvable. Give clear signals about the next steps forward out of the messes and into your joy.

"In Jesus' name,

"Amen."

An old song is filling my heart:

Blessed quietness, holy quietness,
Blest assurance in my soul!
On the stormy sea, He speaks peace to me,
And the billows cease to roll.

"FROM WHENCE?"

2009-05-09T02:17:00.002-05:00

I've been doing that very human thing called worrying.

The economy crisis has forced us to cut some programs for our AIDS orphans in Africa. Children's Cup has known the joy of daily feeding thousands of AIDS orphans and vulnerable children.

Telling any child we must stop helping them causes a soul-deep pain--for them and us.

Just now God told me in Mark 8:4 the exact words I needed to hear.

"From whence can a man satisfy these men (children) with bread here in the wilderrness?" The disciples asked Jesus this question when He asked them to feed the 7,000 people in the wilderness.

Jesus' answer was to bless a child's few loaves and fishes and feed the thousands--with food left over.

I believe right now in the stillness of this night that God is telling me He will multiply what we have to feed our hurting little ones in Africa--with food left over to feed even more.

Watch and see.

ABOUT OUR GRANDKIDS

2009-05-06T15:11:00.005-05:00

Five-year-old Rhett patted his heart and said, "Jesus got all the dirt out of my heart."

Five-year-old Trinity asked me, "Pop, if I have ever in my life done anything to hurt you would you forgive me?" Total melt-down for me.

Eight-year-old Levi just told his mom with tears in his eyes, "Mom, I'm telling you and God right now that I will live for Jesus every day of my life--even if it means I must die." Levi is growing up in Africa knowing the dangers faced on the mission field.

Eleven-year-old Kayla said, "I know for sure God has called me to be a missionary to India" another hard place.

Eighteen-year-old Tori leaves in a few days for a short term missions assigment to Swaziland and Mozambique.

Each of our grandkids love Jesus and have unique talents to use for Him as they grow older.

Is it OK if Jean and I are excited about our grandkids? Maybe it's even OK to be proud of them. Hope so because we are.

THE “GOSHEN BLESSING”

2009-05-03T19:40:00.000-05:00

The globe seems awash in plagues—political, financial, disease.
Remember the plagues of Egypt?
The children of Israel living in Goshen?
God kept the plagues away from them.
I’m praying over my family, coworkers, friends and everyone that calls Jesus “Lord” that we all come under a “Goshen Blessing.”
Join the prayer.

ASSOCIATION OF RELATED CHURCHES (ARC)

2009-04-30T09:16:00.002-05:00

The All Access Conference by ARC just closed. Some of America's most successful pastors met for three days with new and recent church planters to share their "DNA."

Lives will be changed, churches will grow because of this meeting.

Several of America's fastest growing churches are part of ARC.

Thanks Greg Surratt, Billy Hornsby, and the ARC leadership team for your vision.

ABOUT PASTOR DINO RIZZO'S NEW BOOK "SERVOLUTION"

2009-04-16T02:24:00.000-05:00

Somebody told me years ago, “It takes 20 years to prepare a sermon and a lifetime to write a book.”

Words can be spoken from pulpits and put on paper and bound in books in a very short time but crafting those words comes one experience at a time. They are forged in the heat and pressure of reality

Dino Rizzo’s new book SERVOLUTION was a quick read for me—because I’ve lived alongside his life and watched it develop. The words are not new to me; they are just on paper now.

When Healing Place Church was about three years old we moved back to Baton Rouge and got involved. I can remember telling my wife Jean, “With that much honesty in the pulpit, this church has to become great.”

It did.

Healing Place Church and hundreds of other churches Dino’s life and ministry have influenced are Exhibit “A” that his God-given, Holy Spirit-anointed, high-voltage revolutionary ideas really work.

This book will change your life.

STRANGE FIRE

2009-04-14T14:19:00.002-05:00

Dare we even ask the question?

Is it possible churches and believers are offering up strange fire unto God?

Fire is metaphoric for the anointing, the presence of the Holy Sprit.

Strange fire is defined as unauthorized fire not sourced in God and offered to God in ways He did not prescribe or approve.

More and more we see troubled ministers try to create a facsimile of anointing of the Holy Spirit with talent and personality, borrowing techniques from the secular and pagan.

Some Bible scholars even make the case that Nadab and Abihu (Aaron’s sons) took the fire from pagan altars into the temple. In their case God sent the real fire and consumed them. He called their fire, “Strange Fire.”

Taking strange fire is telling God, “I don’t have to do it like you said. I can do it better my way.” It’s a bit like they think they can blackmail God into accepting their erroneous act for the sake of not embarrassing the people observing the event.

How many leaders have pleaded with God to not expose their sin because it would do so much damage to the church?

So often it seems men arbitrarily re-interpret God’s Word to endorse their actions, and then try to convince God that’s what God really meant in the first place.

A congregation will not always sense the lifting of God’s anointing right away. Leaders can become very skilled at audience control so that it can even appear anointed. But that façade cannot be sustained. Soon the audience will know something is missing, something is wrong.

Absent the Holy Spirit’s moving upon the hearts of the people, frauds in the pulpit resort to human tactics to impact an audience. Some church leaders will continue to allow musicians to minister because they are so skilled—all the while knowing the musician has a spiritual problem.

I watched over a period of years one famous international radio speaker who had once stunned and moved audiences with anointed preaching of the Word. When he sensed that power leaving, he resorted to bathroom humor to shock the audience and then tried to use wordsmithing skills to put a holy face on the message.

The end result was empty altars.

One friend attended a meeting where an evangelist noted for leading audiences into hilarious laughter began his message with a story about how he had come to the pulpit with his fly unzipped. Of course the audience laughed and the meeting was off in high gear.

I just saw a “gospel” music video on a Christian music network in which a pretty young lady dressed in body-hugging sweater and tight slacks had the spotlight while singing a song of worship to God. Legs apart, knees bent she suggestively thrust her pelvis to the beat of the song. How many viewers received sexual imagery from what was supposed to be Christ-exalting worship?

A young man hosted a Christian network program that featured a teenaged girl doing an interpretive dance to a worship song. At the end of the dance his first words expressed his amazement at how beautiful the girls was—sensuality had stolen the worship away from God..

Strange fire!

Old fashioned? Maybe so, but so are the Ten Commandments and so are Scriptural admonishments to live a holy life.

The altar has become old fashioned.

Why has the altar disappeared in so many churches? One reason is that it is the office of the Holy Spirit to draw the sinner to Christ. Human suasion is never enough.

When a minister, absent the Holy Spirit’s anointing on his ministry, tries to give an altar call and nobody responds, that minister quickly decides not to do that again—it’s too embarrassing.

So he stops giving altar calls and gives ambiguous suggestions. I was in the service when the pastor of one large, influential church closed the service this way:

“Bow your heads and close your eyes.
“Now, if you’d like to feel a little closer to Jesus, lift your head and catch my eyes with yours.
“That will be my signal to pray for you.
“I don’t want to embarrass you.”

What a slap on God’s face to even suggest that repentance before an Almighty God is an embarrassment to be avoided.

This is not a light thing that God will ignore—let alone bless—when ministers whose lives and motives defy God lead a congregation in music or worship or ministering God’s Holy Word.

Right now I’m remembering an old altar chorus, “Oh, Lord, send the fire just now…” a dangerous prayer for anyone playing with strange fire.

Are we willing to pray, “God, please give us the spiritual discernment to recognize strange fire in our own lives?"

Do we have the courage to ask God to expose strange fire no matter where, no matter who?

CHILD JESUS, WHEN DID YOU KNOW?

2009-04-11T09:50:00.001-05:00

Did you know the meaning of what you just saw, Child Jesus? You've seen the Passover celebration many times, and it was always the same.

What did you think when you first saw the spotless little lamb they brought forward? Did the tender child part of you want to wrap the lamb in your arms to protect it?

On the other hand, you are the child who astounded the priests with you knowledge of what the prophets had said. Surely you knew, or did you?

Something in your eyes as you watched the lamb seemed to say that you did know that the loving lamb was but a living metaphor to help us understand your part in the grand plan of salvation. There was a bond between you.

All the ritual you observed would consummate in your own life--were you aware of that?

Did you shiver a little just then when you saw the priest pierce the lamb's body to shed its blood into a cup--blood that would be poured out upon the altar for the remission of sins?

Did your words about that cup echo back from the future Upper Room Supper? You watched so knowingly as the priest performed the ritual of the cup.

Was that glaze of tears in your eyes just a lens that let you see the people of all generations--including me--whose sins your blood would cover?

Those two pomegranate poles lying on the ground like a cross--what are they for? Oh, I see. They took the longer one and pierced it through the length of the lamb's body. The short one was used to spread-eagle the front legs.

Christ Child, did something in you just shudder as you saw the lamb lifted up on the cross to be hung over the searing fire?

When you accepted your portion of the sacrificed lamb to eat, you held it for an extra moment. Your tender expression firmed a little--like you were reconfirming a decision. You would, indeed, follow through and complete the awesome contract to repurchase our souls from hell.

From start to finish, the Passover pageant unfolded the great drama of redemption. The plan was born before time began. Justice and symmetry born in the mind of God had now taken form within the logic of man. Concepts beyond limited human reasonings were given recognizable shape in life.

Before Bethlehem you knew the plan, and at some time after you knew it again. You knew that the only way we could know the Father was to know you as one of us.

The Passover was finished for another year now, and it looked like that knowing sense of purpose stayed with you. Did you know that it wasn't really over until you became that lamb on the cross?

When did you know it would be you who would declare to all generations, "IT IS FINISHED!"

THE MAN WITH THE WHIP

2009-04-10T10:46:00.002-05:00

Today, Good Friday, we commemorate this.

I did it.

I'm the one.

I'm the man with the whip that lashed the back of the Son of God.

Even now, after all this time, when I close my eyes I see the blood, the torn, bleeding flesh of God Incarnate's back.

And I weep.

As a Roman soldier it was not the first lashing I'd ever given, but this one was different.

Come back to the moment and relive it with me.

Pilate just ordered the scourging of the Nazarene. I'm uneasy about this and I fear that my commanding officer will order me to do it.

The officer is nodding toward me. I salute him my obedience.

I must do it.

Normally being the lichter doesn't bother me. I know I am executing the just penalties of law breaking.

But this one is different.

I know this Man's reputation. They say He has done only good things-that He has done miracles. They even say He's the Son of God.

Can it be true?

Am I about to punish God's own Son?

My mind reels. It feels like my soul is fleeing my body and leaving a dank, foul cavern inside me.

But if I disobey the order, I will be the one to receive the lashes…

The whip in my sweaty hand is heavier than it's ever been as I walk toward the Man. He is looking at me and it's taking my breath away.

It's never been like this. Normally they are trembling and their eyes glare with fear and hate toward me.

I want to look away but that would show weakness.

"Stop looking at me!" my mind silently screams at Him.

No fear in His eyes. It's rather like He is feeling sorry for me.

"I can't do this!" "You must!" my mind battles.

"I'll just go easy on Him," I think as I bring the cat-o'-nine-tails down the first time.

"Soldier!" my commanding officer shouts. "Harder! He must be taught the power and justice of Rome."

The Man is looking at me again. His eyes seem to give me permission to continue-like this was something that has to happen.

Fellow soldiers are counting out the number and cadence of the strokes. It's all just a blur of lashes and blood and torn flesh-and His eyes.

He never cries out during the whole beating.

The scourging is over and one last time I look at Him.

The eyes again. He isn't saying anything. But, I'm sure His eyes are saying, "I forgive you."
All I can think of now is to get away. That foul cavern inside me wants to erupt and spew out the bile of this wretched deed.

"Run. Find a place to gain control of yourself."

I throw down the whip and run.

They are taking Him away now. I hear the crowd chanting, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

I see where we are going-out to the garbage dump at Golgatha.

And again it's all a blur of hammer "thunks" and nails and blood and screams-not His but from those two criminals beside Him.

I can't turn away. He's telling one of the men beside Him, "Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

I begin to know Jesus must really be the Son of God-our Savior.

How can I bear the weight of what I have just done?

He's saying something again. He's calling upon His Father.

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

It stuns the crowd.

He's lowering His head and opening His eyes.

And our eyes lock again.

This time I know they are saying, "I forgive you, son."

I know I'll never forget what I have done, but neither will I ever forget the warm balm of His forgiveness.

It's over now. He has surrendered His spirit into the Father's hands.

A sun-darkening storm has come suddenly with torrential rain and violent lightening.

Over by the Temple is a great commotion. Somebody shouts, "The veil is rent! The Holy Place has opened up!"

I'm trying to ask my commanding officer for permission to leave. He doesn't even acknowledge my presence. And then I discover he is experiencing the same awesome moment of forgiveness I did.

"Truly this man was the Son of God." he says

I've just reread these words. When I got to the place where the soldier threw down the whip, a crushing thought came.

Too many times I have picked it up--I've been the man with the whip.

Every time I have sinned my sweaty hands have reached for the whip and punished God.

Authors often assume the identity of their subject to sense more fully the emotions of an event. They call it writing in the “first person.”

I wasn't prepared for the stunning awareness that I was, indeed, that first person.

Too heavy for me, this weight of guilt.

Too heavy, that is, until once again I hear Him say, "Father, Forgive."

Thank you, Awesome God!

DON’T STOP THE MUSIC!

2009-04-09T14:57:00.002-05:00

When I was a baby, a toddler, a young lad, I was swaddled by the sounds, order and words of the music of my family’s faith. As a teen playing in the church orchestra I felt the power of tones and cadence and the guiding theology of the words. We called that special voltage of Christ exalting music the “anointing.” Like the anointing oil in some biblical stories.

It was warm and sweet and gentle and the music penetrated deep into our spirits and our memories.

Later I tried to drown out the faith words and orderly sounds by filling my mind with the rebellious, soul destroying torrent of secular music. Fewer and fewer wholesome songs made it to the world's playlists.

People are less and less able to tolerate silence—it lets them hear the voice of their own soul. Many override it with the jack-hammering anti-Jesus sounds and message of despair, sex and greed.

God is a God of order. Not chaos. Not confusion. There must be a comparison made to the orderly use of rhythm, sounds, tempo, emphasis that have made anthems of the faith be cherished for centuries, and the often frenetic order-breaking music sweeping the church today.

God is not the author of confusion—lack of order. The farther away from order we take our music, the closer we come to disorder and confusion—antithetical to very God we worship. Where would it take us if we explored God’s rejection of “strange fire” in this context?

The Holy Spirit is a life-enhancing gentleman. The unholy spirit is a demanding destroyer.
This is for sure; the music embeds the words deep into our lives and our memories. Those words become an underlying pattern for our thoughts and thus our actions.

Even in my most rebellious days I could always remember the words and power of Gospel music. When I encountered a crisis or a jubilant moment my mind would return to the words.

In the depths of my rebellion I hated the power those old songs had on me. Like the song, “Yes, I know, I surely know Jesus’ blood can make the vilest sinner clean.” I would curse the tears that came when I heard it.

The words were, indeed, a pulsing and action-auditing script for my life.

When we choose the music we will listen to, we are choosing the script that will be written into our hearts.

And that’s the word—script.

We call God’s Word the Scriptures. Perhaps you own heart has just now leaped to the awareness that God wills that the Scriptures become the script of our lives.

A few decades ago some pop-psychologist tried to make the case that nursery rhymes had life-long scripting power in our lives. One tried to make the case that the Little Red Riding Hood became the guiding plot—script—for the lives of the readers. He called it the LRRH script. He made the same case for other childhood fairytales.

Adding music and pulsing rhythm to the words intensifies their power. Tyrants and movement leaders know this well. China's Mao Tse Tung funded artists to teach the population songs of war and triumph. I have stood in primary schools in China and watched the glowing eyes of children as they sang about the glorious revolution.

I felt the power of a young choir in Hanoi as they sang about “Uncle” Ho Chi Minh.

I have known the soul-chilling presence of evil as African witchdoctors danced and intoned their hellish word-scripts.

I lived near the Waterloo battlefield where Napoleon’s army marched to the fifes and drums. The steady demand of the drum beat forced tired feet to keep marching. The lilting arpeggios of the fifes lifted the marchers' spirits above the fear of going into battle.

Our own military marching bands and martial music serve our warriors well.

Sadly, the devil knows how to use that power—often better and much more aggressively than we Christians. His unrelenting throb in the beat and the hell-anointed lyrics compel and control young people to join the driven throng hurtling to destruction—following the hell-written script.

But, the songs of faith are no less powerful.

Come with me to a room full of young people who spurn hell’s script and fill their minds and hearts with God’s scriptures and Christ-exalting music. Join us as they board the plane to fly to the hard places of the world to invest their lives in leading others to Christ. They will face life-threatening and theology-challenging situations. The embedded script will guide them through the dark days.

A caution to the church: bring back the songs—the scripts—about the blood, about repentance, about the call to foreign fields, about the soon return of Jesus Christ. Praise is wonderful and right. We all grow nearer to Him in Praise and Worship, but to leave out these themes denies believers that underlying script for victory.

When should we start the script with our children? Jean sang to our children from the day they were born. Plant—embed—the script early and deep. It will serve your family well.

Don’t stop the music.

THE HEART OF A CHILD

2009-03-30T15:56:00.002-05:00

Five-year-old granddaughter Trinity came to me recently and said, "Pop, if I have ever done anything to hurt you would you forgive me?"

How could I describe what that did to me?

SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY

2009-03-30T15:47:00.001-05:00

The devil knows if you have the spiritual authority to invade his territory.

EMBARRASSED TO WITNESS?

2009-03-24T16:12:00.002-05:00

Should our embarrassment to witness cost the untold one his soul?

MARK BATTERSON'S BOOKS

2009-03-23T18:12:00.000-05:00

Read 'em.
They are good.

“I FELT HIS HEARTBEAT”

2009-03-19T17:05:00.001-05:00

By Dave Ohlerking and his seven-year-old daughter Susan as they thought about how it might have been:

I really wanted to, but I’ve always been bashful. Besides, a great man like that wouldn’t want a seven year old girl like me to go up there and bother him.

I just knew the things he was saying were important—even I could understand. I could feel warm love feelings as he talked.

Some of the other kids were walking toward him. I decided to go, too, but my feet just wouldn’t move.

“The next time he looks at me,” I thought, “I’ll step out and go to him.” But when he turned and looked at me all I could do was just stand there and look back. His eyes seemed so full and knowing.

The feelings inside my heart were getting stronger and stronger.

“Okay,” I decided. “I’ll start counting and when I get to ten I’ll step out and go--I just won’t even think about it. I’m deciding right now to do it then!”

“One, two, three,” my excitement was growing. I knew I’d make it.

“Four, five, six, seven.” I was even beginning to breathe harder. My heart was really pounding. What a wonderful thing it would be to touch the great teacher.”

“Eight.”

“Nine.”

“Ten.”

Just when I reached ten he looked at me again! I Leaned forward to step out, but, again, my feet just wouldn’t move.

“Ten,” I tried again. Still no use—I couldn’t move.

He was still looking at me. I was even feeling a little dizzy.

“Why can’t I do it?” my heart cried out in my mind.

All at once it happened. Daddy must have known my feelings for he leaned over and gently pushed my shoulder as he whispered, “It’s okay, go to him!” he said.
And that’s all I needed! Everything that has been building up inside me just broke loose—and he was still looking at me.

I ran! You can imagine my joy when I saw him holding his hand out toward me. He hadn’t stopped looking into my eyes. His eyes were saying, “Come!”

His strong hand reached out and took mine and pulled me to him. How tiny my hand felt in his strong gentle hand.

His other arm reached around me and lifted me up onto his lap. I wasn’t afraid anymore! It seemed so natural to be in his arms.

He didn’t say anything to me—he didn’t have to. His eyes just kept looking into mine. His gaze filled me with warm peace and love and trust. I knew I’d never stop loving him.

With his right hand he gently pulled my head down onto his shoulder. I didn’t care that it would mess up my curls. I’d never felt safer.

His robe was coarse on my cheek. I knew the feel of that kind of cloth—it was part of my world, too.

I could smell the freshness of the fields on the cloth and the faint smell of olive oil on his beard. It all seemed right and familiar.

When he started to speak to the crowd I could feel the resonance of his voice in his chest. Such power and such love!

“Don’t stop these little ones from coming to me. The kingdom of heaven is made up of hearts of faith—just like the hearts of these children here beside me.”

He squeezed me a little when he said it.

“Unless you are willing to become like these children in your hearts, you won’t see Heaven.”

Everything was quiet for a while as the crowd thought on the words they had heard. I lifted my head and one more time our eyes locked together. I knew I’d never forget the feel of his heartbeat. It was quick and strong.

As I slid off his knee I looked over at Mommy and Daddy. Their faces were beaming. Their tears told me they knew what had happened. Oh, how much I loved them—and Jesus! What a wonderful day it was.

Running toward them I thought about what had just happened. “Being close to Jesus is the most important thing that has ever happened to me. Oh, thank you, Jesus, for letting me come!”

When I got to Daddy I just hugged him as tight as I could. Finally when I could speak I said, “Daddy I love him so much! I felt his heartbeat. I’ll never forget it. I’m going to do the things he says—always!”

“Me, too,” my Daddy answered.

GLIMPSES OF THE GLORY OF GOD

2009-03-15T17:56:00.003-05:00

I was in a hospital bed near death from a gunshot to my head. The doctors told my parents, "If he lives he'll be blubbering idiot." Then I heard Mom say softly in my ear, "Jesus is going to heal you."

I heard the most beatuful girl in the world say, "Yes, I'll marry you."

Then came the news our first child was coming. What a moment! Doctors had told us we'd never have children. Wrong.

I heard each of my children as they were learning to talk say, "Daddy, wuv you."

Recently I looked into the eyes of our grandaughter in her stroller as she reached to me and tried to call me "Pop."

Who can experience these things and doubt there is God?

I heard God ask me to be a missionary. It was quieter than a voice but louder than just a thought. I was four years old but I knew something important had just happened--something eternal.

That same voice has always been there in the hard and dangerous times on the mission field guiding me and giving me peace.

I've stood beside heads of state as a fellow minister layed hands on the leaders and asked God to touch the leaders and their country.

Imagine how it felt to see 25,000 people running across the stadium infield in respose to my friend's altar call.

I felt a bit dizzy as an official of a hostile government held my hands and told me Childrens Cup was welcome to come to his country anytime and anywhere.

These and thousands of other glimpses into the wonders and glory of God envelope my mind and my heart.

These glimpses overwhelm me now.

What will it be like when I stand in His presence and experience the whole vista of God's glory?

A CALL FOR QUORUM

2009-02-28T08:11:00.002-06:00

It takes a quorum of members present for a board to take action. Nobody can do it alone.

I see another place for the concept of quorum to apply--world evangelism.

The wonderful increase in strategic alliances among churches and ministries is putting together a quorum ready to take global action and experience sweeping revival.

I see quorum of people, resources, experience, communication tools, favor, and opportunities developing in the Body of Christ. Like never before we are poised and ready to take action on Jesus' command to go everywhere and tell everybody.

TWO QUESTIONS

2009-02-18T10:28:00.002-06:00

These two questions have challenged my soul today:

What could the devil offer you that you would trade for your soul?
Soul-shackling shekels of shame?
Soul-rotting immorality?
Soul-binding intoxicants?

Is there anything God could ask you for you would not give Him?
Your mind?
Your heart?
Your soul?
Your dollars?
Your life?

JOYCE MEYER AND USA CHURCHES ARE HELPING CHILDREN OF ZIMBABWE

2009-02-16T19:50:00.004-06:00

Rev. Dixon Changara, Children's Cup's Zimbabwe director reports that even in the midst of the worst social and economic collapse of a country in memory, as many as 18,000 hurting children are receiving food everyday provided by Joyce Meyer Ministry.

Children's Cup team members are honored to play even a small part in making it happen.

Celebration Church of Jacksonville, Florida, and Household of Faith in Gonzales, Louisiana have planted churches totaling about 1,000 members in partnership with Children's Cup, as well as setting up and operating Children's Cup Care Points providing food and other care for hundreds more AIDS orphans and vulnerable children.

We salute the courageous and committed church leaders and Children's Cup teams that risk everything to relieve suffering and bring Hope--and Hope's name is Jesus--in one of the world's most dangerous places.

World Missions Director for Joyce Meyer Ministries, David Meyer often closes his letters with, "Together we are better."

It is especially true in Zimbabwe.

GOLDEN 50

2009-02-14T02:27:00.004-06:00

Last night Jean and I celebrated our 50th anniversary with family.

I told Jean that 50 kinda suggests the meaning of "half" as in 50%, so we should think in terms of being half way into our marriage. Not in years but in quality and accomplishments.

In 1983 for our anniversary I called her "My drinkin' buddy," referring to the metaphor that we drink from the same cup of life. We asked God to overflow our cup and let the overflow bless those around us.

God has flooded our lives with blessings and opportunities.

Thanks for 50 years, Drinkin' Buddy.
I love you MTYLTT.

LEE DOMINGUE

2009-02-11T01:59:00.002-06:00

Business leader and personal friend to the Ohlerking family and Children's Cup, Lee Domingue is running for the Senate.

I believe this man has been uniquely prepared by God for government leadership at both the State and National level.

Get to know him.

"THE SPLENDOR OF TRUTH"

2009-02-11T01:10:00.004-06:00

I'm doing the "second shift," middle-of-the-night, jet lag thing.

I just watched a few minutes of Mother Angelica on the EWTN channel. I don't agree with everythig she says, but she does declare many truths I cherish.

The channel uses a wonderful phrase in its promo: "THE SPLENDOR OF TRUTH"

Wow! I love it--wish I had thought of it before. "Splendor " is a great word to describe experiencing Truth--whose name is Jesus.

When I was a rebellious teen-ager I went the theater in small town Jewel, Iowa, to see "Splendor in The Grass," one of the most explicit movies Hollywood had produced up to that time. I prayed the whole time I was there that the roof wouldn't fall in on me.

Even in my sinful state I felt that the subject of the movie prostituted the word "splendor."

One appropriate use of that word is to describe a clear conscience and a clean heart. There is great power in purity. With purity in marriage comes that splendor Hollywood can only fake.

MISSIONARY CANDIDATES

2009-01-26T10:11:00.002-06:00

Last night Jean and I had the heavy privelege of discussing missions with a group of students from Healing Place School of Ministry--many of whom are headed into a missions career.

It was an informal discussion format and they asked thoughtful questions.

We came away thankful for our years of experience but jealous of their youth. It's great to watch their lives develop.

Such meetings are some of our favorite times.

JET LAG

2009-01-21T01:32:00.001-06:00

Maybe I'm old enought to get by with milking the excuse of recovering from "jet lag" for as much as three weeks. Think I'll try it.

WE ARE BACK IN THE USA

2009-01-16T16:07:00.002-06:00

Three months of awesome days watching Children's Cup and our grandchildren in Swaziland, Africa grow ended too soon, yet we are happy to back in the USA and our grandkids here--and to experience Healing Place Church Baton Rouge again this weekend.

We are blessed!

BACK TO USA TOMORROW

2009-01-13T00:15:00.002-06:00

So soon it is over...
This three months in awesome Africa have really sped by. So many wonderful victories and complex challenges.
Never boring...

SIN

2009-01-10T10:06:00.001-06:00

Remember this one?
Sin will take you farther than you want to go.
It will keep you longer than you want to stay.
And it will cost you more than you can pay.

TWO MORE KNIFEPOINT ROBBERIES

2009-01-09T12:16:00.002-06:00

I just learned that two more young ladies from the Healing Place Church Swaziland and Children's Cup teams were robbed at knifepoint the same day as the one I told about earlier.

All were unhurt.
All were very frightened.

I'm remembering an old phrase of the church, "Pleading the Blood of Jesus" over our people.

We are doing just that.

ROBBED AT KNIFEPOINT

2009-01-06T05:16:00.004-06:00

A few days ago the lovely teenaged daughter of some missionary friends here in Swaziland was robbed at knifepoint.

Although she was not hurt physically, the emotional impact is understandibly traumatic.

Please join us in praying for safety for the missionary families.

It really is true that missionaries live on the edge.

2008: AWESOME GROWTH, 2009: GRAND CHALLENGES

2008-12-31T07:30:00.003-06:00

For Children's Cup and for Jean and me, 2008 was filled with challenges and great growth.

We expect 2009 to ratchet up even higher--more hurting children helped, deepened spiritual training for staff.

Thanks to y'all that make this possible.

HAVE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-25T10:39:00.001-06:00

Be merry.
Be blessed.
Be thankful for Jesus.

I WISH FOR BUT WHAT I HAVE

2008-12-23T02:47:00.002-06:00

I just had another of those wonderful moments that are complete joy--nothing else needed to make me happy.

First, I am in Africa.

Five year old granddaughter was sitting on my lap. We were watching the wonderful classic "Heidi."

The warm love in the story, the beautiful, sweet bundle of life named Trinity snuggled in my arms, the echoes in my ears of 10,000 kids giggling and screaming with delight at the Children's Cup CarePoint Christmas parties--what else could a grandfather missionary ask for?

Trinity just hopped off my lap to help her family give a Christmas party to a couple dozen orphans that live nearby. They are going to let the kids decorate cookies--and then eat them all.

I wish for but what I have.

I wish you all moments like this.

THE PARTIES ARE OVER...

2008-12-17T01:38:00.004-06:00

The Children's Cup children's Christmas parties are over.

The giggles and squeals are silent.

The trash is picked up.

And the staff are bone-tired.

But, there are 10,000 AIDS orphans and vulnerable children who will remember (perhaps for the rest of their lives) the games, the gifts, the food, the spoken and demonstrated love of Jesus.
Thanks to all who gave to make it possible.

OUR MIRACLE CHILD

2008-12-10T06:06:00.005-06:00

I've just seen a miracle!

She is a twelve year old Swazi orphan.

She has been near to death several times with a horrible disease. Once we thought she had only minutes to live. Today it was hard to imagine she was ever that sick.

You would know that we all wept as she quoted the 23rd Psalm for us. "The valley of the shadow of death," phrase took our breath away. She locked eyes with me and smiled as she said it. She knew what she was talking about.

"When you grow up I want you to come work for us at Children's Cup. You have a job waiting for you," I told her.

I meant it.

WONDERFUL!

2008-12-07T01:42:00.002-06:00

So amazing! Yesterday the first 4,000 of the 10,000 Children's Cup AIDS orphans and vulnerable children had the experience of their lives--a massive Christmas party.

Today there may be as many as another 1,000 at different location--more in the days to come.

Entire communities are impacted by these events. The kids will never forget it.

They are worth doing.

Thank you, generous partners, for making this happen.

CHRISTMAS PARTY FOR 4000 SWAZI KIDS

2008-12-06T02:36:00.002-06:00

In a few minutes Jean and I will be going to the biggest Christmas party in Swaziland--for Children's AIDS orphans and vulnerable children.

More parties on Swaziland, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe over the next few days. We expect a total of 10,000 kids in all.

There will be gifts, food, games, skits, giggles, laughs, screams of delight. For a few hours the little ones won't hurt as much as they normally do.

Also, check out www.childrensup.org for our version of the Twelve Days of Christmas--twelve daily sets of projects you may want your own family to be part of.

INVADERS?

2008-12-02T02:03:00.004-06:00

Okay, we got past the dog poisoning night before last. Home invaders do that so they can break into your house later during the night.

No invaders came.

Then last night the alarms went off signalling a breach in the security system. We quickly checked the perimeter walls and found nothing so we reset the system. Then it went off again.

Ben discovered the cause--a loose electrical connection. Phew!

There's always something to prickle the edges of your peace on the mission field.

HOME INVADERS THWARTED

2008-12-01T08:16:00.003-06:00

Yesterday while we were at church they tried to poison Cocoa, Ben and Susan's boerbull guard dog--again. That usually means they will try to break in during the night.

I don't know how many lives a dog is supposed to have but this one keeps outliving the poisons.

Cocoa's OK today--and so are we.

Of course, we prayed and stayed alert and no invaders came.

Will you pray for the staff here for God's ongoing soveriegn protection?

THANKSGIVING IN AFRICA

2008-11-27T02:30:00.002-06:00

AFRICA!

It was a privilege to wake up this morning in Africa—a wonderful, awesome, terrible, hurting place.

Africa is a blood-soaked land, Blood-bought by Jesus.

The harvest here is beyond ripe.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be here.

Daveohlerking.blogspot.com
www.childrenscup.org

"I'M GOING TO KILL HER!"

2008-11-25T19:06:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we prayed with him.

A few days ago he had been threatening (weapon in hand) to kill someone he felt had wronged him.

His anger had subsided and he realized how wrong his actions had been.

Our staff in one of the African countries Children's Cup works in saw this man as a redeemable soul, not a throw away sinner.

The stresses of poverty, disease, and political mayhem have most of the population living right at the outer limit of their emotions. There will never be peace where there is no hope.

Hope's name is Jesus and He is the Peace Bringer.

MORE THAN ENOUGH!

2008-11-21T13:23:00.002-06:00

This is a rare event. I don't believe I have ever needed to tell Children's Cup donors to stop sending money for a project.

The Christmas parties for our 10,000 children in 25 CarePoints are paid for--in fact enough more has come in we are upgrading the events and including Swazi teachers and staff.

Other needs keep pressing in but this one is covered!

TENNESSE TITANS 10-0!

2008-11-17T01:58:00.002-06:00

Congratulations Kevin Mawae and team!

Kevin, you are a worthy, God-serving hero for our youth--for all of us.

PASTOR JOHN SIEBELING, LIFE CHURCH, MEMPHIS

2008-11-16T14:56:00.003-06:00

Pastor John, Pastor Dan and Pastor Mundo just spent time with us here in Swaziland. They ministered to the staff last night--a life-changing time for our leaders.

This morning John preached at HPC Swaziland--20 people got saved!

I love the networking between USA churches and Children's Cup CarePoint/Church projects. Multi-level strength.

WHAT DO YOU TELL THEM?

2008-11-12T06:22:00.001-06:00

The Godly young couple has come to you for advice. One of them is HIV positive—the other is not. Both have lived pure lives for years after youthful rebellion. They have fallen deeply in love.

“We’d like to get married. We know the risks, but we still want to.”

What do you tell them?

Another situation.

She heard Pastor Ben’s sermon about living a Godly life. She decided she would. She told her live-in partner (and provider) for 18 years that they must marry or she would have to leave.

“I will not marry you. You decide, stay or go.”

She left and now she and her two children are homeless and jobless. "Since I decided to live a holy life everything has gotten harder."

What do you tell her?

These are just two of the human crises we have faced in recent days.

What would you tell them.

VETERANS' DAY

2008-11-11T07:50:00.000-06:00

I just hung up the phone here in Swaziland, Africa, from calling my friend in Ohio--Lt. Col. Paul Kari--a true American hero. He was out so I left a message of thanks and gratitude for his sacrifice for America--that includes my family and yours.

Paul spent 8 years in the "Hanoi Hilton" Hoa Lo prison. He was tortured continuously and has not known a pain-free day since.

Yet I watched him stand with Ben and me at the prison and forgive his tormentors--even gave dollars for Children's Cup projects to help the children of the people who hurt him.

Paul turned a hurting place into a forgiving place and God made it a healing place.

A lesson for all of us.

Thank you, Paul, and every American who has served our great country for the freedoms you preserved for us.

SENSORY OVERLOAD...

2008-11-10T12:58:00.004-06:00

Here in Africa we face a fast barrage of unrelenting, grindingly emotional needs--a complex, inundating tide of disease, child abuse, immorality, poverty and hopelessness.

At the same time we are seeing massive growth in the number of children we reach (now 10,000+ per day) and the depth of spiritual ministry we have with the children.

Youth ministry teams have been raised up out of the orphans and vulnerable children. They go into schools presenting Jesus and they go into dense slums helping clean up and repair the huts and shacks of needy people--all in Jesus' name.

I could not be more proud of the Cup Team. They keep up this unrelenting pace by always leaning on Jesus to hold back burn-out and compassion fatigue. Only His supernatural touch sustains them.

I have the sense of walking with heroes when I'm with the Team.

Please pray for the missionaries and nationals that live so close to the edge of disaster.

UPDATE ON THE CAREPOINT CHRISTMAS PARTIES
We now have 20 of the 25 CarePoint parties covered.
That leaves only 5 CarePoints to go at $1250 each.

CHRISTMAS PARTIES FOR 10,000 OF AFRICA'S HURTING CHILDREN

2008-10-31T04:45:00.002-05:00

UPDATE:

Children's Cup has now received donations covering 9 of the 25 events, plus pledges for three more.

It costs $1250 for each CarePoint to give each of our 10,000 kids a gift, food (including meat and ice cream), medical attention, games, dramas, and spiritual help.

The kids will never forget the event.

12 of 25 parties are covered.
That leaves 13 @ $1250 to go by December 1st.

www.childrenscup.org

CULTURE SHOCK? NOT ME!

2008-10-31T04:25:00.003-05:00

I thought that after traveling in 109 countries I would be immune to culture shock.

I'm not.

Several months of being in the good old USA with instant high-speed internet have spoiled me.

We've been on a hectic series of road trips to other countries since we got here and seldom could find workable access to the internet.

We are back in Mbabane for a few days where we have internet access--but that doesn't mean much. The access is random and intermittant, slow and will cut you out without warning.

Grrrr.

And now I am rebuked by the memory of our first year overseas. We were in the Philippines and it was almost a year before we even had a telephone conversation with our family in
America.

Now with Skype we can have video calls to America--free!

We really do have awesome communication tools today.

Happy Landings and Connectings

2008-10-20T05:44:00.002-05:00

Years ago my flight instructor told me, “Any landing you walk away from is a happy one.”

Jean and I had a “happy landing” Friday in Dakar, Senegal. Pilot error. He dropped the jumbo down on its left wheels very hard which threw the plane into a careening, waddling, fishtailing, screeching trajectory down the runway.

Although no one was hurt (everyone held their breath for a few moments), this caused damage to some of the electronic sensors in the luggage area that had to be fixed before we could take off again. It took some hours to get that fixed.

That meant late arrival at Johannesburg, South Africa which meant we missed our connection to Swaziland.

But the good news is that it put us on the same plane Saturday with Pastors Matt and Martha Fry and their three children from the great C3 Church (Cleveland Community Church) in Clayton, North Carolina.

I think their attendance at C3 is larger than the total population of its neighboring towns. It has been honored as one of America’s fastest growing churches. The Frys are here in Swaziland to minister to the Children’s Cup staff and the Healing Place Church of Swaziland.

Saturday night at meeting at the Rodgers’ home, Pastor Matt spoke from an anointed heart and an incisive mind as he challenged the HPC leadership team to rise up to new levels in all areas of their lives and ministry.

Sunday he challenged us from Psalm 103 when he spoke at Swaziland HPC.

If you gathered all my favorite people in the world, Matt and Martha would be on the front row.

Thanks, Fry family for all you mean to us.

AFRICA CALLS

2008-10-14T14:48:00.003-05:00

We are in the final stages of packing for our flights back to Swaziland. Thursday we leave. After doing 60 or more round trips you'd think it would get easier and the flights would not seem so long.

Not so.

Minimum of twenty seven hours door-to-door. I start out with great resolution to use the forced quiet time for writng and reading and being productive. But sometimes I spend the last third of the trip just vegging.

Lord, prepare me now to make the very best use of these traveling hours for Your Kingdom. Is there a verse to discover? A thought to write? A person to minister to? Help me not to miss what You have for me in this journey.

REV. RICK BEZET AT HPC

2008-10-12T10:21:00.003-05:00

Pastor Rick brought a poweful message on forgiveness last night at Healing Place Church.

Key point in the message: We are forgiven only to the extent that we forgive others!

I hope he preaches it again when he comes to Swaziland in May, 2009.

I have a sense that unforgiveness is a very pervasive problem--inside the church as well as outside.

WHY IS THIS ALL HAPPENING?

2008-10-11T19:04:00.003-05:00

Think about this:

Most of the business and government leaders so lacking in ethics and moral values--the ones who are destroying our economy and government--went through the American schools after the Bible was thrown out in the 1960's.

And this:

Bad goes too far, good won't go far enough.

AFRICAN AIDS ORPHANS' CHRISTMAS PARTIES

2008-10-10T12:01:00.003-05:00

Today's mail included funds for two more CarePoint Christmas parties at $1250 each.

Children's Cup is giving regional Christmas parties for the 10,000 orphans and vulnerable children we care for in our 25 CarePoints. Fun, food, gifts, games, singing, Gospel--life changing experiences for these beautiful, hurting kids.

Update: To date we have received cash or pledges for nine Christmas parties--16 to go.

JEAN'S BROTHER, REV. TOM BOUGHER

2008-10-10T10:49:00.003-05:00

I've watched this man's life for 50 years. He's genuine.

Tom is Associate Pastor at The Rock Church in Huntsville, Alabama. The Reverend Rusty Nelson is the lead pastor of this awesome church--check it out if you are in that area.

Our love and respect, Brother Tom.

EAGLE GROVE, IOWA: CLASS OF 58

2008-10-08T02:06:00.004-05:00

My Eagle Grove High School classmates held a silent auction at our 50th class reunion and raised funds for Children's Cup--enough to pay for three of our twenty-five CarePoint Christmas parties for our 10,000 African AIDS orphans.

Just now as I was about to post this I got word that two more Christmas parties have been funded. Amazing!

Thanks again, Eagles.

Total to date: 7 parties funded, 18 to go at $1250 each

JOE LATHAM: YET ANOTHER AMERICAN HERO

2008-10-05T19:53:00.003-05:00

Last night at my class reunion I discussed combat flying in Vietnam with Joe. He is modest and you have to pry to learn the extent of his heroism as a fighter jet pilot.

This I know: Joe did not deserve the treatment he and most of our returning Vietnam vets received at the hands of the very people they risked their lives to protect.

America has not yet done enough to honor them.

Another wave of our nation's protectors coming home from the Middle East are getting the same treatment.

I believe the Church should lead the way in giving honor to our heroes--first by praying for them and their families and then by public acts of recognition and gratitude.

Thank you again, Hero Joe!

GENE TVEIT: ANOTHER AMERICAN HERO

2008-10-04T15:27:00.002-05:00

Spent some time with classmate Gene Tveit at our class reunion (50th) last night.

Gene is a retired airline pilot who flew around 175 missions in Vietnam--helicopter dust-offs often into hot landing zones with live ground fire trying to drop the chopper.

"How did you handle the fear of being so vulnerable to live fire?" I asked.

"I prayed." Simple answer with profound meaning.

I could tell his memories and old feelings were filling the space between us. He mentioned the pain of losing so many friends in combat.

Then he locked eyes with me and said, "I never refused an extraction mission--no matter the risk. God always helped me."

And I thanked him for what he did for America.

Thanks again, Hero Gene.

ANOTHER AFRICAN CHRISTMAS PARTY SPONSORED

2008-10-03T08:57:00.002-05:00

A lovely lady who wants no public applause for helping has sponsored the $1250 cost of another of Children's Cup's huge Christmas parties for the AIDS orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

We care for 10,000 OVC in Swaziland, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe in 25 CarePoints. Each Christmas party includes transportation, gifts, food, games, jumping castles, and Gospel dramatizations.

It is a life-changing event they will remember the rest of their lives.

Two Christmas parties sponsored--23 to go.

THIS HAPPENED IN IOWA--NOT AFRICA!

2008-10-01T14:44:00.005-05:00

Last night Jean and I met her.
She's three years old.
And if all goes well she will become our adopted great niece.

Her mother recently punished her by holding her hands in boiling water for 30 seconds. I have to fight down the bile even as I write this. The mother is now in prison, but lovely little Valentina (born on Valentine's Day just like I was) will bear pain and scars the rest of her life.

On other occasions the mother would put her and her three siblings, one at a time, in the clothes dryer and turn it on.

Valentina is now in the Godly home of our niece and nephew. She sings happy songs about Jesus and asks her new family to pray for her mommie.

Would you join us all in praying for Valentina--and her mother? And her siblings?

DES MOINES, IOWA

2008-09-30T16:25:00.003-05:00

We are back where so many things in our lives started.

Children's Cup was born here.

Sunday will be the 50th anniversary of the first time I ever kissed Jean--right here in Des Moines. I think Ill try it again...

Valentines day it will be 50 years of grand adventure together.

Than you, Lord, and thank you Jean.

CALMING THE STORM

2008-09-29T05:11:00.003-05:00

Which is the greater miracle? Calming a storm like Jesus did on Gallilee or calming a heart like will do for all who come to Him?

Example:

Hold a basin of water in your hands, get the water sloshing around. By holding the basin steady you can calm the water.

But hold a frightened bird in your hands and try to calm its terrified heart.

Let your troubled heart hear Him say, "My peace I give unto you..."

REFRESHING WATERS CHURCH KCMO

2008-09-29T04:40:00.003-05:00

What a service yesterday morning!

This predominately African American church in Kansas City is pastored by Rev. Frank King and his wife Robin.

I sensed the same kind of authenticity in the leadership that I do at our home church, Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge.

If you live within drive range check this one out--regardless of your race. We hugged and were hugged in a genuine sense of brotherhood in Christ.

They have an obvious heart for missions and are sponsoring one of our huge Christmas parties for our 25 CarePoints in southern Africa. It costs $1250 to give several hundred kids a party with food (meat and ice cream, too), games, toys, personal gifts, Gospel and personal affirmation.

Later they will be sending a team of workers on a short term missions trip to Swaziland.

One party sponsored, 24 more to go.

I JUST MET ANOTHER HERO

2008-09-27T17:11:00.003-05:00

In the breakfast room of a hotel in Missouri this morning I watched a dignified black gentleman. His demeanor said he was military.

"Did you serve in the Far East?" I asked.

"Yes, I did. Navy."

"Vietnam?"

"Yes."

"Were you there for the Tet Offensive?"

With that question he entered a world of memory alive in his mind. He told of close, personal combat in the battle for Hue.

I noticed the entire room was listening to our conversation.

"Do you think about it every day?"

"Oh, yes. Especially how Americans treated me when I came home. The sneers, the names they called me..."

His voice trailed off.

"I served my country, I obeyed my President, and I'd do it again."

I told him about my friend that spent 8 years in the Hanoi Hilton who came home to a divorce and the taunts of "Baby Killer."

"I know how he felt," my new friend said.

"Please let me apologize and thank you for fighting for my country--for my family."

"Thank you. Somebody else said that to me yesterday, too."

"America has changed. We are running out of people like you."

We parted quietly both having a sense of having been in each other's hearts for a few moments.

I didn't get his name--wish I had.

KNOW THIS, POLITICIAN!

2008-09-25T08:38:00.000-05:00

Before we can trust you, we must be able to believe you.

PARSING THROUGH THE OBFUSCATION

2008-09-25T02:04:00.007-05:00

Beware the long answers.

They usually are carefully crafted with words designed to communicate the lie without actually telling the lie.

Only by precisely parsing the sentences can the real truth be discerned.

Athenian sophists' skill couldn't match today's word manipulators.

An honest man wields great power with short answers like "Yes" or "No." If further definition is required let that be given after the short answer.

PLAYGROUND TACTICS?

2008-09-24T11:18:00.002-05:00

Do the increasingly strident political arguments and attacks remind you of the fights and screaming of your elementary school playgrounds?

It seems that the attackers are only interested in winning the word fights--not the logical and moral substance of an issue.

What has happened to truth?

STICKERS!

2008-09-23T11:34:00.004-05:00

Our African children love stickers. I've even seen a child get out of a food line to get into a sticker line. He was betting we would have more food there tomorrow if the food ran out today, and he knew the stickers would be gone in a few minutes.

"ONCE YOU GO TO AFRICA..."

2008-09-22T01:34:00.003-05:00

I often tell people who talk to me about Africa, "Once you go to Africa, you'll go back in your mind every day the rest of your life."

I think that is mostly true.

I met a man who had served as a missionary in Africa 17 years earlier. I asked him, "Levi, is it true, do you think about Africa every day?"

He didn't say anything for a while. Instead he started weeping. When he could speak he said, "Yes, it's true. In my mind I still live there."

My missions career has taken me to 109 countries and each of them have marked me, but there is something about the African countries that just won't let go of my heart.

Nor would I change that.

AFRICA CHILDREN'S CUP

2008-09-18T14:23:00.007-05:00

This picture is Children's Cup's mission statement.

Great graphics work, Jean.

AFRICA IS CALLING US BACK

2008-09-17T15:33:00.002-05:00

Ben and Susan and our three grandkids. Trinity, Kayla and Levi, are mighty strong reasons to go back to Africa--along with about 10,000 orphans and vulnerable children Children's Cup cares for.

We plan to go back October 16th. Hard to wait.

LEE DOMINGUE, BUSINESS LEADER

2008-09-16T16:56:00.003-05:00

Lee is a friend to Healing Place Church and to Children's Cup.

He spoke today to the HPC men's luncheon--profound and stirring--again.

Sound bytes:
"Patience is a weapon."
"Patience is not passivity."
"When you help others with their dreams, God will give you your dream."
"Significance is more than success."
"Significance is measured by the difference an action makes and how long it lasts.

Thanks, Lee, for your anointed ministry.

We heard you.

HOSANNA ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH

2008-09-14T09:00:00.005-05:00

Last night we took part in the Missions Convention at Hosanna Assembly of God Church in Baton Rouge. There was a poweful sense of "rightness" about the event and its goals.

I salute Pastor Don Williams and his leadership team for their steadfast vision for missions. Fewer and fewer churches have retained an active involvement in sending long-term missionaries. Some refuse to send anyone except for short-term teams believing that the internet can substitute for on-the-ground missionaries.

International businesses know better. They maintain a leadership presence guiding the success of local enterprizes.

Governmental foreign aid relying heavily on local administration does not do well at husbanding massive cash flows that seldom reach the needy people for whom they have designated their dollars.

Deciding which model is right is a "no brainer."

An aging foreign missionary corps is asking, "Where is the next wave of missionaries?" "Who will carry forward the training and equipping the local churches?"

I pray that pastors will bring back the altar services where burning hearts sing, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord..."

DODGING THE BULLET NAMED IKE

2008-09-13T01:15:00.003-05:00

The worst is passed.
Hurricane Ike is leaving our area.
Sweet relief in the middle of the night.

But now I remember, my Texas neighbors are still in the middle of it right now.

I don't even know how to deal with the thought that my peace and safety came about because the hurrican changed direction and is now slamming into the Texas coast.
Thousands are hurting right now--perhaps many are dying.

How does one deal with such feelings?

First, I must acknowledge my debt to God, followed by my irrevocable commitment to spend my life easing the suffering of others.

My debt is bigger than I can pay.
Oh, sweet the thought, that's what Calvary's cross was all about.

So many times I have comforted others and reminded myself that God can take the worst thing that can happen to you and turn it into the best thing for you.

Hard to see when you're in the middle of the disaster...

Lord, I ask you to turn this thing to good for every victim--so much they will thank You for it.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

2008-09-11T08:48:00.000-05:00

Seven years ago today America cried and ran to the altars of faith. God heard, came close and carried America through its darkest days.

Today, much of America has abandoned those same altars. Indeed, some even ridicule them and legislate against them, seeking to deny access to those sacred havens to our children, our institutions, and, yes, even our hallowed halls of government.

What will it take to bring America back to the altars?

JERRY REED HAD MANY TALENTS

2008-09-08T17:33:00.002-05:00

Chet Atkins called Jerry the greatest guitar player in the world.

His music awed us.

His acting in "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Waterboy" had us laughing.

His great sense of humor made it fun to be around him.

And his heart's honest serch for God touched all that knew him.

We will miss him.

JERRY REED: MUSICIAN, ACTOR, IS IN HEAVEN

2008-09-06T20:53:00.007-05:00

My family has just lost another friend--for a little while.

Buzz Cason, one of Children's Cup's board members was instrumental in leading Jerry into a walk with Jesus.

Jerry entered into Bible study with Buzz and some other Nashville musicians. Ben Rodgers and I got to take part in that.

Buzz, Jean and I took Jerry to see "The Passion of the Christ." As we walked out of the theater Jerry was weeping. He stopped us in the foyer and said, "Right here, and right now I am telling you and promising Jesus that I will live every day of the rest of my life for Him."

Now they are together.

We'll see you later, Jerry!

HEALING PLACE CHURCH HURRICANE RELIEF

2008-09-05T12:36:00.005-05:00

This awesome church (our home church) is really reaching out to the community. It's making such an impact the wife of Governor Bobby Jindal just came by to see for herself and to thank Pastor Dino and the church for helping.

By the way, the Jindals are also born-again believers!

HURRICANE GUSTAV “AFTERMATH”

2008-09-05T12:34:00.000-05:00

September 3, 2008

Now I know why they call it “Aftermath.”

It’s because after the storm passes you start to do the math on what its damage will cost you.

We are doing that now.

Since Hurricane Katrina, insurance companies have redefined what they will pay for and have made mandatory deductibles that shift much of the recovery burden onto the property owner.

In the case of Children’s Cup right now, it looks like we could be facing more than $31,000 in uninsured losses due to Gustav.

All of me is praying, part of me wants to panic (we still haven’t covered more than $30,000 in the Swaziland deficit) but underneath it all I have an abiding assurance that God knows where the money is and He will call His willing people to help.

SURPRISE (TO ME, NOT GOD) HELP

Twenty minutes ago I came back from the post office. They are operating without electricity and just sorting what they can.

In our mail today was a letter from Shelly Meyer with a “special offering” check from Joyce Meyer Ministries for $20,000—nearly one-third what we need.

WHAT A DAY THIS HAS BEEN!

THE MORNING AFTER GUSTAV

2008-09-05T12:32:00.001-05:00

September 2, 2008

Downed trees hiding live utility wires, branches blown everywhere choking roads—we had only one circuitous route to get out of our neighborhood.

Initial Children’s Cup Office damage list:

Downed trees (three of them cherished live oak trees)
Roof, soffits, and siding damage

Warehouse overhead door and possible roof damage
Mobile home staff house damage (at least it is still standing)
No injuries or loss of life.

This is neat: Our sons Dan and Josh have both taught their children to enjoy the dramatics of a storm. They saw the storm as an adventure.

Makes us remember typhoon seasons in the Philippines when our kids were little. We usually had more than a dozen typhoons hit our island every year. It may have been that sometimes we got more scared than the kids.

THE “STORM-CALMER” DID IT AGAIN!

2008-09-05T12:28:00.003-05:00

It’s Labor Day 2008 and Hurricane Gustav just spent several hours pounding Baton Rouge.

We were not hurt.

Our house seems to have escaped damage—trees were falling on houses all around us.
Initial reports are that the Children’s Cup office complex did sustain damage but all should be repairable. We’ll check after the total curfew is lifted.

Son Dan’s house and ‘Cup office manager June’s house had serious roof damage—but again, nobody hurt.

They tell us to expect to be without electricity and phones for up to three weeks. My near panic reminds me how dependent we are on technology.

Gotta slow down a bit now whether we want to or not.

Don’t want to think about the four new potential storms brewing in the Atlantic…

HIDDEN VALLEY, PHILIPPINES

2008-08-31T16:35:00.002-05:00

Our young family dwarfed by jungle foliage.

Look at the size of those leaves.

HWANKE, ZIMBABWE

2008-08-31T16:33:00.001-05:00

African sunset--one of my favorite things to see.

SONGS OF PEACE BEFORE THE STORM

2008-08-31T14:09:00.003-05:00

We’ve done all the defensive things within our means to be ready to ride out Hurricane Gustav. It will hit where we are in Louisiana soon.

Son Josh brought by an old hymnal he found containing the songs we grew up with. What a find!

For the last hour our living room has been place of peace and presence of Jesus. Jean has been flipping the pages and singing (in the most honest and lovely alto voice I have ever known)—and reliving altar scenes out of our youth. Old songs that stirred us as we grew up have not lost their power.

They are the songs that called us to repentance, to a daily walk with Jesus, to the mission field and to lofty times of praise to Almighty God.

Tho we’ve not heard some of them for years the words came easily and were wonderfully warming to our hearts.

The questions hit me. “How many sermons do you remember from your youth?”
“How many songs do you remember?”

Of course, the sermons guided our lives, but adding the power of music to the words planted them deeply in our beings.

The abiding refrains of the hymns, in a way, became the script—the scriptures—for our actions. They lay a bed of peace under our uncertain days. They gave us an assured path through hard places. And they enabled grateful hearts to praise and extol and sense the presence of our Savior.

The devil knows how this works and is jack-hammering hell's script into our children's hearts.

A different music stirs our children today. Let’s make sure that the music-script for their lives does not leave out the redeeming power of the Blood, the impending return of Jesus, and the personal commitment to “surrender all.”

Do you remember these lines?

"Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling..."
"I'll go where you want me to go, Dear Lord..."
"On a hill far away..."
"What a friend we have in Jesus..."
"I will praise Him, I will praise Him..."
"Almost persuaded..." (That one plagued me in my rebellious days.)
"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know..."
"Where He leads me I will follow..." (even to the hard places of the world)
"I'll live for Him Who died for me..."
"I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest..."
"When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound..."
"Come ye sinners lost and hopeless, Jesus Blood can make you free..."
"Rescue the perishing, care for the dying..."
"My Jesus I love Thee..."
"Grace, grace. God's grace..."
...and hundreds more.

What old, familiar, and life-scripting phrases have come to your mind?

GUSTAV IS COMING

2008-08-31T09:26:00.002-05:00

More than a million people have left where they live evacuationg to higher ground. They are fleeing the wrath of a storm. Our city is one big traffic jam of fleeing evacuees. Healing Place Church has two locations offering safety and relief.

Everybody is concerned.

You would expect me to take it to the next sentence.

Jesus is coming.

How do we get people to take that fact as seriously as they are taking the evacuation orders?

A LETTER TO DAVE OHLERKING FROM HIS OWN HEART

2008-08-29T11:43:00.003-05:00

No, I don’t mean that muscle that keeps the blood circulating; I mean that part of Dave that is so deep it’s mostly unknowable.

I’m the part of him that hears words from eternity, past and future—that part that has access to direct communication with God through His indwelling Spirit.

Man’s heart has been called “desperately wicked and who can know it?” and it’s also been called the source of the “issues of life.”

Can a heart know itself?

Can I be sure my advice to you is pure?

Dave, I have watched you struggle to know me. I have done my best to guide you. Sometimes you have listened, sometimes you didn’t. Sometimes I had little to offer you.

Your fault or mine?

I know this. The times when my advice is purest are the times when your mind allows me to be totally open to the infilling of the Holy Spirit of God.

To make our cohabitation work I must be totally open to the Spirit. You must surrender to that Spirit in your actions. I cannot act—only you have that capacity.

You have the power to willfully ignore my counsel. That’s when things go wrong.

Sometimes I want to shout at you but at most I am but a whispered voice in your mind. You can look back and quickly see that the times when you are most productive and at peace in your mind are those times when you act within the counsels of the Spirit in me.

As your heart I wonder how it is possible that I can sometimes give you incomplete or even incorrect guidance. The Spirit can only saturate me to the extent you are willing.

I am not your will.

You must choose to let me be continually filled with that Spirit and then you must trust His counsel relayed by my voice in your inner being. I’ve heard the word “symbiosis” used to describe our kind of relationship.

I think there is a key to this. There is a means to override enemy input and human limitations. It is the precious gift of praying in the Spirit.

It must be an uninterrupted connection so usual and patterned that when your conscious mind must focus on other matters, the inner dialogue in the Spirit stays connected—rather like keeping the telephone to your ear when you must turn your attention to another matter.

And there must be an immediate return to that connection when you mind is free to come back. “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” is what I am describing.

In the Spirit we are not limited by human understanding and boundaries—it is our access to the very mind of Christ. So sad that the connection can be severed or garbled so easily.

That connection so deep within and between us can only be enabled by the conscious commitment of your mind to pray and commune with the Holy One within me.

We must open the channel and keep it open.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,

Your Heart