I’ve been thinking over this weekend about a class I did last year with Mike Frost. In that class he brought up the idea of ‘the third place’. The basic concept is that each of us have our first place which is our home, a second place where we do our work and usually a third place. A third place is your social hub; it could be a cafe, restaurant or a pub . Its where you spend your free time and can be spontaneous. Wikipedia suggests these hallmarks for a good third place:

free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars – those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.

Third places are the places where we form our deep relationships and have our deep conversations. Think of “Central Perk” in Friends. Not everyone has just one place (your group might drift between a few locations) but sociologists note them as really important in building friendships and feeling a sense of place in the community. How is this relevant to church planting? Well for many Christians, including probably me, their third place has actually been the church. This is often a really healthy way to experience community and to grow quickly and a whole host of other positive things. On a practical level it is very helpful. But there is a part of me that wonders whether Jesus would be satisfied with that sort of ‘righteous’ community alone? Take a look at this story in Mark 2:13-17:

¹³ He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴ And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

In some respects, as wonderful as Christian community is, it should also be deeply unsatisfying on its own. Yes, a church gathering is a very important thing for our spiritual nourishment, but it cannot be the only place where our needs for relationship are fulfilled. Without pushing the metaphor too far, some churches seem to be made up of a lot of healthy people sitting comfortably on their hospital beds while the ’sick’ remain outside its walls. At some point we have to say to ourselves that as comfortable and nice as this is, maybe God is calling us to use the beds for what they were made for.

What would happen if instead of church being the social hub we empowered Christians to commit to the third places and the people within them that are already in their communities? What if we, like Jesus, shared food and wine with those who would be outcasts in traditional ‘religious’ contexts? What if Christians spent their time building deep relationships and having meaningful conversations with the people that Jesus came for? What existing place or group could you give your free time to in order to be Christ to them? We might actually be able to use these hospital beds we’ve been lying on to have those most needy be healed by the ultimate physician…

Greg Beale’s sermon on this topic (Rev. 1.4-9).

There’s a quiet in my heart.  A stillness.  A complete sense of satisfaction that no howling will properly express.  It’s like watching a pond at night, watching the moon slowly dip into its own reflection and disappear while crickets chirp.

Not knowing when it ends until the sun rises tomorrow.

Until then, it’s a watching the moon and the stars, and smiling like you’re among them.

Good night.

I’ll miss you until tomorrow.

Fin.

I got a chance to go to another library book sale today. Consequently, the Library Mission now has 75 books. (I have no idea how many we are getting from Club Leo yet.) I added them on LibraryThing , so check it out. By the way, I spent a grand total of $4 for these. Not bad at all!

Another report of systemic child abuse in the Catholic Church. This time in Ireland, where for years the official policy of church officials was to cover up allegations in the interest of protecting the reputation of the church.

The Allegations:

• The 750-page report examines complaints of abuse of over 320 children.
• It involved a representative sample of 46 priests in the Dublin Archdiocese between 1975 and 2004.
• It said the archdiocese obsessively covered up widespread sexual abuse of children by priests until the mid-1990s.
• The Church adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude.
• Typically, complainants were not told that other instances of child sexual abuse by their abuser had been proved or admitted.
• One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children.
• Another accepted that he had abused on a fortnightly basis over 25 years.

Source: Church covered up allegations of assaults by priests for decades

The greatest scandal here is not the abuse itself, as horrific as that is. The greatest disgrace is that the leaders of this “church” thought the reputation of their organization was more important than the life, health and dignity of the children placed under its care. A church that can do that does not deserve to be called a church. Shut it down. Close the doors. Auction off the property and give it to the abused. The day that happens and the guilty priests walk through town in sackcloth and ashes I’ll think about changing my assessment. This institution has lost all credibility in a world that hates above all else religious hypocrisy. This same church that stands against divorce, homosexuality, and abortion is also famous for pedophilia. It’s over guys. No one believes you anymore. You are a sad and twisted joke.

Its been a really emotional week for me this last 7 days at the MTC, leaving me with a after taste of loneliness.

All my beloved friends & classmates have left the MTc except for a few. I miss everyone and everywhere I go, I remember things we did, time we spent together, and the worst thing is, I’m stuck in the MTC without them. Homesickness is nto something that really bothers me, as I got used to living on my own at uni, but I never expected parting with my friends will have such a profound effect on me. Everytime i had to sent them off, I shed a few quiet tears, every single time, the short walk back to the my residence gets lonelier and lonelier.

But onto happier things, this week in the US, they have Thanksgiving, a totally alien concept to me, but it was totally awesome as 2 of the 12 Apostles of the Church came and gave devotional talks at the MTC, Dallin H Oaks and Jeffery R Holland. Both talks were just amazing! Seeing them in the flesh is so cool! I’m so grateful for my extended stay, as I would’ve missed both talks if I left on Tuesday morning. For anyone reading this, just go to LDS.org and search Jeffery R. Holland, all his talks are mind blowingly good!

3 weeks at the MTC seems such a long time for me at the moment, and I got another 3 weeks. All the food now taste the same, and I really really want a nice shish kebab or fish & chips, or even just a instant ramen…how I would kill for one right now!

I’ve been joining in to a new class while my situation with what I’m doing in the next 3 weeks is resolved. I have a new companion, Elder Torres from Brazil, but he sounds american, have one football(soccer) crazy roomate, all we talk about is football, and Arsenal… also have two new missionaries from HK, Elder Ip, and Elder Leung, both from Man On Shan Ward, both goin to same mission as me, so they are probably the reason I was delayed intially.

Anyway, this is all I got time to write to everyone this week. Until then, please take care.

note.
Dwayne, please send your mailing address to my sister so she can forward to me, or just give me ur gf’s address, since u practically live there.

“We are not illegitimate children,”  They protested.  “The only Father we have is God himself.”

Jesus said to them,  “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God an now am here.”  John 8:41b, 42.

 Jesus set out to wake them from their stupor and found some pretty grouchy people, unwilling to wake from the dream they had of themselves.  They had witnessed the miracles, the teaching of God’s love and character, yet they wouldn’t submit to the price they needed to pay to continue in the light.  Here they are claiming God as their own Father without any real awareness of what it meant to be His son or daughter.  If being physical descendants of Abraham didn’t make them his children spiritually, then calling themselves the children of God wouldn’t make it so either.  Something was missing.

“Why is my language not clear to you?  Because you are unable to hear what I say.”

They clung to their interpretations of God’s Word so hard nothing could make them hear the truth.  It’s like they had stuck their fingers in their ears and began singing,  “La, la, la, la, I can’t hear you” as loud as they could to shut out His words.  To hear meant they would have to obey.  Jesus reveals the root problem of their spiritual deafness:

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Ouch!  Ever hear of diplomacy, Jesus?  What are you trying to do, drive them to kill you?

Every time I read these passages it seems to me He’s actually pushing them to crucify Him.  His arguments push all their buttons without cushioning the blows.  Yet what other choice does He have?  He spent nearly three years being subtle, careful to demonstrate the power of God and rightly dividing the Scriptures so everyone who heard would see the light, and it got Him nowhere with these people.  They wouldn’t listen when He told them the hard truth of God then, to back off now would be foolish.

By calling the devil their “father” Jesus reveals their motives for not wanting to hear what He has to say.  They preferred their fantasy constructs to real truth.  The story of God held little interest to them, for what they wanted was the story in which they triumphed over every obstacle to gain personal glory and power.  Knowing truth made no difference if they weren’t going to be able to be the heroes of their own stories.  What they rejected from Christ’s teachings was the one little morsal of truth on which the rest of salvation hinged:  it wasn’t their heroic efforts or mighty deeds which impressed God but the humble realization they were powerless to do anything for themselves in this regard without Him.  Total dependence on Jesus is the only way possible for us to find salvation or freedom from death.

“Can any of  you prove me guilty of sin?”

These people who had believed in Him knew His character, work and words were above reproach…it’s why they followed in the first place.  What turned them off is their misunderstanding of the spiritual nature of ingesting the Son of God.  They couldn’t get past Jesus’ demand that they eat His flesh and drink His blood, nor did they grasp the spiritual nature of that command.  Their minds were so focused/consumed by the lies of spiritual grandeur they blinded themselves to their need for reconstruction.  Nothing will wake a person up to their condition if they continue to take the drug of pride.  It washes away the ability to see ourselves as lost to truth without intervention.

Not one of these men could prove Jesus guilty of sin.  Blasphemy was a convenient excuse to shut Him up.

Why were they so quick to pick up stones at the end of His speech to them?  They wanted to silence His voice so badly they would have used any excuse to kill Him.

In our walk with God do we shut out truths we find unpalitable?  Do we shut ourselves off from light because it hurts our eyes to look?  Are we willing to break the mirror of truth because it shows we are not the fairest in the land making a lie out of the fantasy we’ve built up about our own value?

Our value comes from the fact God loves us, sent His Son to save us; it has absolutely nothing to do with how cool we are.  The reality of those who find Christ and those who reject Him couldn’t be more different than total light and total darkness.  When we walk into the light through the power of Jesus, we see ourselves for who we really are without any airbrush tricks to soften the blow.  At this point we have two choices:  hide our eyes by running back to our dank, dark little caves or falling into the arms of the one who brings us out of such misery.  Make no mistake the end of all rejection of Christ results in misery. 

On the other hand taking our eyes off ourselves brings joy unlimited, if our focus is, of course, Jesus.  We can find no contentment with our spiritual eyes turned inward; no peace when we are worried about our own; no joy or love of life unless we turn our eyes to Jesus.  He is our peace.  He is our joy.

You must realize that your fulfillment in life is dependent on your becoming and doing what you were born to be and do. Anything less makes life your enemy and death your friend. It is essential, vital, crucial, and necessary that you understand this fundamental principle of purpose and pursue it with all your heart. For without purpose, life has no heart. Remember, those who don’t know where they are going will probably end up someplace else.

Dr. Myles Munroe

(from The Pursuit of Purpose)

Nigel Titus who is coordinating the 2010 Final Draw Outreach in Cape Town from December 4th – 6th, 2009, is also a graduate of the Ambassadors’ Alliance Academy of August 2008. It was through our first 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Newsletter that was distributed by Michael Rogers of Living Waters Africa that our Lord Jesus connected us.

Here are a few photos of Nigel evangelising in Cape Town.

We look forward to laboring with you brother in our Lord’s harvest field. Nigel can be contacted at ngtitus@chevron.com

Habe vor kurzem Nachricht erhalten, dass zum Jahresende die M.V. Doulos, das Schiff der Missionsgesellschaft Operation Mobilisation, definitiv außer Dienst gehen wird. Der nächste Werftaufenthalt würde, wenn man das Schiff technisch und sicherheitsmäßig in Schuss halten wollte, über 10 Mio. € kosten – was einfach viel zu viel ist. Das ist nicht zu verantworten.

Gut, das leuchtet ein. Und trotzdem kommt da Wehmut bei mir auf. Ich war von Sept. 1995 bis Dez. 1997 auf dem Kahn. Die Zeit war nicht immer einfach. Manchmal war sie sogar sehr herausfordernd. Und trotzdem hat sie mich geprägt, mir die Augen für das Handeln Gottes weiter geöffnet und mich entdecken lassen, dass es uns Christen trotz aller konfessionellen Unterschiedlichkeit möglich ist, zusammen für Gottes Reich zu arbeiten.

Die Doulos ist das älteste noch seefahrende Passagierschiff der Welt (wurde auch schon im Guiness Book of Records erwähnt…), der tragende Bootskörper stammt noch aus dem Jahr 1914 – das ist nur 2 Jahre jünger als die “Titanic”. Über 600 Häfen in 100 Ländern hat das Schiff besucht, und in jedem Hafen, soweit ich es feststellen kann, Spuren hinterlassen – bei den Einheimischen wie auch bei den eigenen Besatzungsmitgliedern. 33 Jahre lang war sie unterwegs und ist sehr vielen Menschen zum Segen geworden! Deshalb: *taschentuchraushol* ein kräftiges “Lebewohl” und “Dankeschön” an Gottes Rosteimer. Danke für die tolle Zeit, die mich, mehr als ich damals gedacht hätte, geprägt hat!

Für die, die’s interessiert: Operation Mobilisation will weiter 2 Schiffe betreiben und ist schon dabei, sich nach Ersatz für die “Doulos” umzusehen…

We, Bill Adams (www.sfoi.org), Michael Rogers (www.livingwatersafrica.co.za) and Gary Crous (www.luke9.23evangelism@wordpress.com) have received responses from four (4) brothers in Christ who have shown a willingness to labour with us at the 2010 event. Keep praying to our Father for more laborers (Matthew 9:37, 38; Luke 10:2).

We have received the following report from Brother Nigel Titus in Cape Town who is graciously coordinating The 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Draw™ Evangelism Outreach from December 4th-6th, 2009 –

On December 4, 2009, Cape Town will welcome FIFA executives, representatives of the 32 qualifying teams, the international media, and FIFA guests to the city to witness the Final Draw for the tournament at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). The Final Draw, which will take place in front of some 3 000 international guests at the Cape Town International Convention Centre will be broadcast live to an estimated audience of 150 million viewers in 200 countries.

The event is expected to have football fans around the world glued to their screens as the match order for the qualifying teams is announced. According to the City of Cape Town’s site, the Final Draw event will be attended by an estimated 8 000 people. Besides the local and TV audiences, a large number of soccer professionals and officials, associated celebrities, and sponsors will be in town for the event – bringing even more attention and visitors to our fantastic “Mother City”.

For Christians and like-minded evangelists, this presents a massive opportunity to spread the gospel and open-air preach to the thousands of fans, party-goers and tourists that will be descending upon the Mother City next week. In addition, we also hope to use this event as a good test run for the 2010 World Cup Evangelism Project which is coming up next year.

According to organizers, the main hot spots for the Final Draw will be the entire Upper Long Street, from Wale Street to Buitensingel which is to be converted into a festival zone for the Final Draw on Friday. The main stage will be situated at the Long Street baths, with several huge television screens further down towards Wale Street. The festivities will start at 12:00 noon with music and cultural performances with a South African and African flavor. Entrance to the festival is free and thousands of Capetonians are expected to congregate at Long Street to share in the world’s excitement of the Final Draw. Please also check out Cape Town Magazine.com Sport & FIFA 2010 for more information.

If you are interested in laboring with us to preach the gospel at this event, please feel free to contact us at the below numbers / email address. A final plan with all the necessary details of how we will operate will only be finalized by next week – we encourage you however to get in touch with us soonest if you wish to be a part of this event. We will also be setting aside next Wednesday and Thursday (2nd and 3rd December 2009) to earnestly seek God’s guidance in prayer and supplication on how we should approach this event. We acknowledge that our endeavors and actions will attract the attention of our spiritual enemy and we need to be sufficiently equipped and prepared before we go out.

For His Glory!

Nigel Titus
083 642 4454
ngtitus@chevron.com

In Christ’s Service until He returns,

Gary Stephen Crous
tel. 033 – 394 9091 (Work)
Cell +27 722211233
e-mail gary@gdlk.co.za

www.chroniclesofafisherofmen.blogspot.com
www.luke923evangelism.wordpress.com
www.NeedGod.com

[Jesus] saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.” – Mark 1:15

My mission is anchored with my dream of seeing a Filipino breaking the 4 minute barrier in the mile (4 laps off the Track Oval or 1,609 meters), and a sub 3.40 minutes for the 1,500 meters.

My ultimate dream is to see a Filipino winning an Olympic medal or a World Championship Medal in any of the following events: 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters steeplechase, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

With these in mind, my mission is to promote the above track events, via  this blog, among the Filipinos, and generate enough interest to hook up the inherently talented runners with track athletics.

2주간의 휴가를 잘 끝내고 다시 몽골로 돌아 왔습니다. 아직도 초등학생들은 학교를 2주간 더 휴교한다고 하네요. 교회도 12월초까지 공식적인 예배를 드리지 못하게 합니다.

새중앙교회의 도움으로 제주에서 1주일간 좋은 시간을 가졌습니다.

그 동안 저희 가족 근황이 궁금할까 가족 사진을 많이 실었습니다.

제주의 풍경과 함께 재미있게 보세요.

목포에서 배를 타고 제주도로 갔습니다. 떠나는 날 파랑주의보랑 비가 내렸습니다.

도착한 첫날 가족들이 산책을 나갔습니다. 해안에는 저희 가족말고 아무도 없었습니다. 추워서이지만 몽골에서 온 저희들은 따뜻하였습니다.

한국에서 진석이가 자기 입에 맞은 음식을 찾았습니다. ‘오뎅’

제주 ‘올레’길을 걷다 아이들이 물놀이를 즐기고 있습니다. 사람들이 없는 겨울 바다만의 여유를 즐겼습니다.

‘삼다’ 제주. 심한 바람으로 눈을 뜰 수 없을 정도이지만 마음은 후련하였습니다. 멀리 성산 일출봉이 보입니다. 시외버스를 타고 정류장에 내려 7km의 길을 걷고 있는 중입니다.

한국 최남단 마라도에 있는 교회입니다. 이곳에서 유명한 자장면도 먹었습니다.

매일 올레길을 7-10km로씩 걸었습니다. 진석이가 도저히 못 걷겠다고 누워버렸습니다.

미국가기전 10년전에 만났던 진토리교회 형제자매님과 좋은 시간을 가졌습니다. 많은 도전을 받았습니다.

그외 도와 주시고 기도해 주신 분들께 감사드립니다. 몽골로 돌아 오니 제일 먼저 반기는 것은 영하의 날씨와 흰 눈이였습니다. 하지만 집만큼 안식을 주는 곳은 없는 것 같습니다.

Paul is unable to make it to the computer class today so Hannah and I are standing in. If it all goes wrong and Talbot Green is plunged into darkness just after lunchtime please be patient.

Our monthly morning of prayer has been moved forward a week and so is set for tomorrow November 28^th. If you can come and pray with us at some point between 8 am and noon, that would be good. There is lots to pray about this month with the Christmas activities on top of everything else.

Graham and Matthew are sharing in the service at Parc Prison tomorrow. This is something that we do fairly regularly, (I’m there myself next week so more to follow) the service is for young men aged between 15 and 17. I’m sure that both Graham and Matthew as well as the Parc’s chaplaincy team would appreciate prayer.

So your headed out for a night on the town with a mission, you are going to get laid! Your details of this mission are a little more complex than that though, not only are you going to get laid, it is going to be with one of the sexiest girls in town. How can you complete the impossible task, its simple follow a few guidelines and you will have a night of down and dirty passion with the girl of your choosing.

Clean up!

While even the hottest girl may be turned on with the grunge look, she is not really looking for grime. Make sure you keep your hygiene up and wear clean, well fitting clothes. While you are at it, be sure your not bathing in your cologne, one little spray will do the trick. A woman wants to be able to breathe when you lean in for a whisper or kiss not gag and have her eyes tear up. Remember first impressions based on appearance may be shallow, but they go a long way.

I want to be a photographer

Drop the Clones!

Heading out to the club with five or six of the guys all on the same mission is not going to cut it buddy. If you want the crème de le crème of women you need to learn how to work your charm on your own or with only one wingman at most. Being bombarded by a clan of overly horny boys trying to one up each other will turn that perfect girl away before you even get a second look.

Learn the Signs!

While women do like to play hard to get at times you need to learn to recognize when they really want to be left alone. Continually pursuing a woman who has no interest is just going to leave you with the reputation of the sleazy stalker freak. Be subtle in your advances and make sure the attraction is mutual.

Get Active!

Engage the sexy woman of your dreams in sexually stimulating activities. Take her out to dinner to feast on food and drinks that know aphrodisiacs, give her a massage, go see or rent a romantic movie that has a lot of sexual tension in it or take her salsa dancing. I think you get the hint here, you need to be proactive in your attempts instead of assuming that your going to walk in the club say “hey baby…wanna do it” and end up doing the nasty with the hottest girl in town minutes later. Unfortunately for you, unless the girl is so plastered that she cannot remember her own name, it is probably not going to happen that way, and if it did you have a whole other set of issues and possibly a record to go along with them.

Nice Underwear

When someone so important to you told you he didn’t believe in something you were crazed about, what would you feel?

To be honest the day he told me he didn’t believe in ‘Forever’, my knees weakened. It felt as if the moment was broken into crazy little pieces and I was in a middle of something so unreal, I was hurt. But I never let it show. I know he meant something about it, something like life can make you feel blissful at times, making you feel that forever is real, but you know at some point, life ends. I know that’s what he meant, that everyone dies for particular reasons, I can’t deny the fact that death is a natural way of life, but I have my theories on forever. It’s not just about breathing, it’s something about more than life. More than breathing, and more than living. It’s about finding the soul of someone you are bound to be with forever, and when I say forever, it’s after life, and your next life, so on. I really thought hard on what positive account I could make of the happening. Then a friend told me: “Make it a mission, make him believe in forever.“, and that is my quest today. Make him believe in forever. Make him believe in destiny and fate. That even if we die just like everyone else, we will find forever. And I would prove that FOREVER is all real. c:

It’s a pretty difficult subject to wrap our minds around and even harder to put into action.

I podcast sermons from a pastor in Texas: Matt Chandler * who one might associate with the resurgence of Reformed Theology and the “new Calvinism.” In a lot of his sermons, including the two or three I’ve listened to while running in the past week, Chandler makes his listeners flip back from wherever he’s preaching to Genesis 3. Why? Because Genesis 3 is where the whole world fell apart. In Eastern Orthodoxy, the fall is viewed as a rupture in relationship between man and God, between man and woman. It’s not so much a fall from grace as it is a broken relationship, like an extreme argument between friends or lovers; one which will take years and hard work to overcome.

The beauty of the Gospel, simply put, is that God wanted to reconcile with his beloved. He reached down and sent his son to be the great sacrifice not only of atonement but of his desire to be reconciled with warped, lost creatures. It’s sort of like the time I took Coy out for milkshakes on my own dollar, even though he’d thrown a fit and been disobedient the whole day long. We got milkshakes and walked around the town center in the blazing afternoon heat simply because I wanted to restore our relationship. I sacrificed a few dollars to the burger joint and my clean shirt to the sweaty walk. But I did it because after nannying for three summers, I loved Coy like a little brother. God loves us quite a lot more than I love Coy and so instead of a few dollars, he sacrificed himself to repair our broken relationship.

But our relationship with God wasn’t the only thing that was damaged in the tragedy of Eden. Adam and Eve suddenly broke apart. Their intimacy was destroyed, and we’re living in the aftermath. We see it every day. My BBC headlines that come daily to my email are always about people ruining one another. Today a French national was abducted by gunmen in Mali and a student opened fire at a university in Hungary. We’re all torn apart, we hide in our broken, flabby skins; we get defensive because we’re so afraid of being open; we lash out at others, criticise them and shout because we are so terrified of our own depravity and the awfully humbling fact that we can do nothing about it.

I want to go to another country. In many ways, I want to go to a place where women cover their heads, the men grow thick, unruly beards and the imam calls for prayer five times a day. I don’t want to go because I feel strongly about women’s rights or education or the “fight” against “terrorism.” I want to go because I think that Jesus offers a better answer. People are always jumping down one another’s throats. But in Jesus we have this great shift in the reality of the world. There’s reconciliation–with God and with each other. I want to take that offer to others and share it with them.

But reconciliation doesn’t happen in one conversation. It doesn’t happen in a day. The US is still dealing with the effects of the Civil War. My Grandad would never have even called it that. If we can’t even decide on a name 150 years later, we clearly still have issues. And have you ever heard of Africa? The entire continent is awash in conflict between clans, tribes, and races. The Muslims themselves are still warring over who should have been the right successor to the Four Righteous Caliphs. Roman Catholics and Protestants maim and kill each other in Ireland. Netanyahu still raves about Palestinians and Jewish settlements… the list goes on.

People are working for peace in these things. But the problem is, they’re missing the most important element. They are missing Jesus. The forgiveness, the freedom, everything that Jesus offers us is essential for reconciliation. Without him there is no lasting reconciliation, there is no peace.

But even with Jesus, we are still humans and reconciliation is hard work.

________________________________________________

* Matt recently suffered a seizure. He is back at home with his family; please keep him, his wife Lauren and their children in your prayers.