Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Commentary, Rants from the Fig Tree

Come out of her…

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,

Revelation 18:4

Cathy and I just returned from celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles with our good friends at New Wine Ministry in Decatur, Arkansas. We were assigned to share one night. Cathy told me she was hearing voices coming out of her my people… I couldn’t get reconciliation out of my mind.

…All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

So I share about God’s original covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. I mentioned the covenant through Issac and the blessing on Ishmael in Genesis 17. I talked about God’s love and continued covenant with Israel, that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable, and that Israel will be saved. Romans 11 Then I read Isaiah 19 which concludes with,

In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

Isaiah 19:24-25

I read all in the context of the current conflicts between Israel and its neighbors. Most of all, I read it in the context of believers who insist on mixing politics and faith. I framed my argument with 2 Corinthians 5, and Revelation 12.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 

2 Corinthians 5:16

We inevitably regard our neighbor according to flesh anytime we attempt to use the gospel to fix the world for the sake of our best life now. Like it or not we are applying a Satanic framework when we sanction or support the killing of other human beings in the name of our definition of righteousness. A foundation of that framework is named in Revelation 12.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God.

Revelation 12:10

Accuse is katēgoréō, the Greek word from which the English word category is derived. The world organizes people into assigned categories and judges them as good or bad. This view is the product of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from the fall in Genesis 3. The Bible says that no one is righteous apart from Christ. Hence there are only two valid categories in the world. 

In Christ and Not in Christ.

We can look at almost any instance of polarization of one people group against another in the world. We are in violation of scripture the moment we choose a side that results in “us versus them”. Mind you I am not talking about disagreement on issues. I am talking about treating others in a way we would not want to be treated if the roles and power were reversed. Roles and power are cyclic. They are repeatedly reversed and reversed again.

…with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Mathew 7:1

Those cheering the decimation of Gaza or immigrants slammed in the streets by ICE will eventually see the same standards applied to Israel and Christians in the USA. We just can’t seem to comprehend that Jesus was speaking to believers not unbelievers when He warned …with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

The pattern of God dealing with His people throughout history is a pattern that Israel has never been able to recognize. Those who persecute Israel are and will indeed be punished. But as we see with Assyria in Isaiah 10, God often uses those who curse Israel to punish Israel for her sins before punishing those who cursed her in the first place.  That’s not because God is double-minded. It’s because God wants to reconcile all of Abraham’s dysfunctional family. He disciplines those He loves. Heb 12  God loves the descendants of both Issac and Ishmael. Satan, the accuser, is the one who wants us to categorize and facilitate our killing each other. Many are cheering the fulfillment of Zephaniah 2 today. Make no mistake. The fulfillment of Zephaniah 3 and Ezekiel 38 will surely follow.  Study these scriptures out and see if what I am saying is true.

A picture of me teaching at Ninawachi in 2018. drawn by Daeme, a Waorani missionary student

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the Waorani and Teromanane in the context of the ministry of reconciliation in which all followers of Jesus share. I have been meditating on the culture of depravity from which He wants us to be separated.

The depravity of man is both the most empirically verifiable statement and also the most intellectually resistant.

-Malcolm Muggeridge-

In October of 2018 we were blessed with the opportunity to travel, all expenses paid, to Ecuador where among other things we got to meet and minister to Waorani (Wow-rani)  people.

The movie “The End of the Spear” is the story of Jim Elliot and his missionary partners who were martyred at the hands of Waorani warriors, a previously untouched people in the Ecuadoran Amazon valley in 1956.

It is also the story of their surviving widows who forgave and ministered to the Waorani people and led many of them to Christ.  It is one of the most powerful contemporary stories of faith, forgiveness, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you’ve seen the movie, then you know that the spearing of Jim Elliot and his friends was provoked by a lie on the part of a Waorani woman trying to avoid accountability for her actions.  In a nutshell, she had an agenda that she advanced by manipulating the emotions of her own people. Were it not for the faithfulness of Elizabeth Elliot and the other wives, most, if not all, of the relatively small number of Waorani might have been killed in a retaliatory action by Western colonists.

Many Waorani became Christian after 1956. A portion rejected Jesus completely in favor of their old traditions and religions. These formed a separate clan known today as the Teromanane. Relations between the two clans have been strained ever since.

The Teromanane remained nomadic hunters and avoided the Waorani villages.  Violence could be avoided provided they avoided each other.

Modernization and a shrinking of territory due to the expansion of oil companies in the region pushed the two closer together. Oil exploration and the lumber trade meant more workers needed to be fed. Game previously hunted for tribal sustenance now went to feed the growing oil company workforce. Overhunting and a resulting food shortage caused the Teromanane to begin migrating closer to Waorani villages in search of food. They began stealing Waorani bananas and Yucca.

Instead of retaliating according to previous tradition, the Waorani sought reconciliation with their Teromanane brothers and sisters.  

One day some Waorani women went out as the Teromanane robbed their orchards. The women told them that they didn’t need to steal, that all they needed to do was ask and they would give them whatever they needed.  This led to more social contact to include a romantic interest between a Waorani man and a Teromanane woman.  In Waorani and Teromanane culture, a man and a woman who are seen alone together three times are expected to get married.

Apparently, the Waorani man changed his mind.  We don’t know what the woman said to her people. We only know that the Teromanane became so enraged that they kidnapped three young Waorani children, took them by the ankles, and beat their heads against a tree until they were dead.  In response, the Waorani formed a raiding party and killed 15 Teromanane men and women while they slept.  Two children remained alive. The Waorani took them back to their village. That was 2013.

Fast forward to 2018. We were with some Waorani and other indigenous people in Ecuador. We even met some of the men involved in the previous raid. We had come to visit Ninawachi school for indigenous missionaries and make a “thank you video” for their donors.

The video opens with a Waorani woman worshiping in her native language.

Ninawachi disciples people from the Shuar, Kitchawa, and Waorani tribes, then sends them home as missionaries to their own tribes.  Three of these, Daeme, a Huaorani native, his wife Diana, a Shuar, and Priscilla Vargas, an Ecuadoran colonial, were about to head into the jungle for their outreach practicum.  Priscilla was one of the teachers and had nearly died from an Amazon-borne illness the last time she was there.

It was at that time that we learned that the Teromanane were starving and were willing to discuss peace with the Waorani again.  The only condition was that the kidnapped children be returned.  Everyone was hopeful, including the Ecuadoran military, who devised a plan to fly a helicopter into Teromanane territory and lower the children down by rope. The only catch was that someone else had to pay for it. That wasn’t going to happen.

The three Ecuadoran missionaries were getting ready to head upriver when we got news that the Teromanane had arrived just outside of the Waorani village where they were going.  The situation was tense.  Once again two or three Waorani women who were on fire for the Lord had gone out to meet them. Everything seemed to go well and a meeting to discuss peace was scheduled. Unfortunately, it was time for us to return to Honduras.  All we could do was pray.  A week after we returned, we learned that the Teromanane leader turned out to be Daeme’s great uncle.

Recently, I heard from our friend Pricilla. She told us that there has been periodic contact between the Waorani and Teromanane. The Teromanane have received a few solar Bibles and solar radios. However, the proverbial ground remains hard. Pricilla asked us to continue to pray.  Here is a link to her blog Pricilla’s blog. She is a genuine example of the ministry of reconciliation in real time. She is currently affiliated with YWAM. Having lived on the mission field for six years, I know any support would be greatly appreciated.

One thing stands out in the conflict between the Waorani and Teromanane. No one outside these tribes is rooting for one side to dominate the other. Perhaps it is because their lifestyles and world views are so foreign to outsiders that no one can place themselves in any of their proverbial shoes. Outsiders are either ignoring the situation entirely or Christians are actively promoting reconciliation between the two tribes.

My question is, why don’t Christians apply the same approach to all people groups and conflicts, e.g. Israel and Palestine? After all, doesn’t God want all people to be reconciled to Himself? Why then, do so-called believers insist on regarding nearly everyone according to the flesh? Why do we continue to categorize everyone as good guys and bad guys? We give lip service to the cross and God’s word to the extent that it benefits us. Then we lay our lives down at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Another example is the so-called illegal immigration problem. Are there illegal immigrants who commit crimes? Yes. Is it a violation of US law to immigrate without permission? Yes. If that is the case, then it is also illegal to solicit, promote, and make money off of illegal immigrants. We were in Honduras and watched the caravans form and proceed north to the US border. We have friends who departed in the hope of making ten dollars per hour instead of ten dollars per day. We watched the promises of freedom and prosperity broadcast on CNN Central America. We know people who paid Cartel Coyotes five to twelve thousand dollars to transport family members across the border. We were dumbfounded by a bureaucratic nightmare resulting in the near impossibility of immigrating legally. Now we are watching them being hunted down and arrested while the people who invited and ushered them in remain unaccountable. The Trump administration claims only criminals are being targeted. Friends from affected cities say ICE has quotas. One thing is certain, a precedent is being set.

Here is another example that hits close to home. One of the two greatest commandments, love your neighbor as yourself is derived in part, from Leviticus 19.

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:33-34

True Christians will obey God.

People generally align with whichever side of an argument or conflict their respective side or team supports. They reinforce their argument with media narratives organized by internet algorithms designed to corral opinions and people. Our queries inform the algorithm of our biases.  “Does Hamas kill Israelis?” will yield atrocities committed by Hamas. “Does the IDF kill Palestinian children?” will yield IDF testimonials of their own atrocities. People argue for and against sides in conflict as if war itself were not an atrocity. We think we are thinking and analyzing right and wrong, good and evil. In truth, we are being divided and corralled into opposing categories in an ongoing spiritual battle by the enemy who seeks to kill, steal, and destroy.

Shockingly few humans can think at all. Most of them are just bio-LLMs (Large Language Models) who regurgitate whatever garbage they ingested through their eyes or ears. They hardly have an original thought cross their minds. Shockingly few humans have a conceptual internal reality that maps anywhere close to the reality outside their heads. They live inside delusional constructs, distorting sensory input to match their internal maps rather than updating their maps to match the terrain in the world around them. As a result, most humans aren’t THINKING at all. They are PROJECTING…

Mike Adams

Apart from Christ, all people and all human conflicts are the same. Apart from being in Christ we are all Teromanane and Waorani. The antidote is to come out of her my people. Come out of the world of artificial categories.

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,

Revelation 18:4

Jim Elliot and his friends gave their lives in the ministry of reconciliation that was carried on by their widows who forgave the Waorani who murdered their husbands.  Why can’t we have the same heart for Israel and the Palestinians? Why can’t we have the same heart for the right and the left, Democrats and Republicans? People thank me for my service as a trained killer in the USMC instead of the missionary I became after I repented. Why are we so hypocritical? Why can’t we honor and obey Jesus’s commandments in Mathew Chapter 5 without reservations? The list goes on ad infinitum. It seems that we just can’t or we refuse. We praise Jesus with songs in church then live according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We idolize that same tree every time we turn on the evening news. Many, if not most, ultimately reject the final sacrifice of Jesus in favor of a scapegoat that we are programmed to despise for self-righteousness’ sake. Otherwise, we’d look in the mirror and recognize Mystery Babylon in our own eyes. Then maybe, just maybe we’d repent and come out of her.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

How for GO

The title is not a typo. It’s Hawaiian pigeon English e.g. “I no more nothing for do!” “Den Go brah!”

Recently our good friend Malia, wife of Kahu (pastor) Jason Kerr of Pukas Ministries on Kauai, asked me to preach on missions.  “Pukas” means “holes” in reference to the holes in Jesus’s wrists and feet on the cross.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Mat 28:18-20

“Nations” is Ethnos – “people groups.” It refers to your own neighborhood, not just other countries.

Here’s how for do dat.

And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”

Hab 2:1-2

First, write your detailed sermon. Writing helps to solidify and clarify what the Lord wants to say to and through you. Now save the scripture. Throw the sermon in the trash. Unless, of course, your sermon is a blog. That said, don’t just memorize scripture. Meditate on scripture. Meditate means “to chew” as a cow chews its cud. Chew and digest scripture. Your ability to remember will be a fruit of your meditation.

Compile your Resume


For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned

Rom 12:3

Your resume is not a list of your giftings and accomplishments. It is not a declaration of “why I am the best.” Your resume is compiled out of your brokenness. Today, I minister to dependent, neglected children, addicts, and inmates because I was all of these things. I am an expert in how to wreck my own life. I can tell you about how God can unwreck the most unsalvagable of people and use them for His glory.

I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Cor 12:9

Even Paul boasted of his weakness, not his education and gifting because,

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God

1 Cor 1:27- 29

The purpose of any message or sermon is the glorification of God, not the speaker.

Identify Obstacles.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve’s entire focus was on God. There was no “Thee and Thou,”  only “Thou.” Self-centeredness was the first fruit of the Fall in Genesis 3. It is our primary obstacle to everything good.

And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Genesis 3:10-11

Fast forward, Jesus gives the solution and first criteria for becoming His disciple.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Mat 16:24


Deny is aparnéomai – utterly disown, abstain, to affirm that one has no acquaintance or connection with someone, to forget one’s self, lose sight of one’s self and one’s own interests.

In my opinion, selfishness, and self-centeredness are the root of almost every mental and emotional malady. Selfishness is more for me at the expense of everyone else. Self-centeredness can be everything about me for the benefit of everyone else. Your “GO” message glorifies God or it is worthless deception.

Take the pressure off.

Paul addresses the issue of comparison in 2 Corinthians 10.

But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

2 Cor 10:12

Those who insist on praising, promoting, and thereby glorifying the messenger instead of the source are contributing to the future fall of the messenger. Hence Paul writes,

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

1 Cor 4:7

One plants, one waters. Those who plant and water are the same. They are nothing.  Only God gives the increase 1 Cor 3:5-9

Prepare for Go.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Rom 12:1-2

I have written and spoken endlessly about the biblical path of transformation the purpose of which is that that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. We are commanded to test everything especially any message that declares “THUS SAITH THE LORD!”

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

We test everything by the Word of God, which is our compass, our lens, and the mirror through which we view ourselves, our lives, and the world in which we so temporarily reside. We cannot hope to do so until we have surrendered our entire lives and beings to the God who created and sustains us. 

The next step is to remain in a constant state of delight in the Lord.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

Giving you the desires of your heart does not simply mean giving you what YOU want. It means He makes His desires YOUR desires. We align our mind, will, and emotions, with His such that His desire becomes your desire. This is the next step in “deny self“.

“Deny self” is condensed and summarized in Proverbs 3.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Prov 3:5-8

Only when you walkout Proverbs 3:5-8 in daily life will you be ready “for Go”.

Identify your lane.

But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.

2 Cor 10:13

Your lane or The area of influence God assigned to you correlates with your resume. I can confidently boast about being a juvenile delinquent, an addict, and a prison inmate. I can boast of my knowledge of how not to live. I can testify of the blessings that come with surrender to Jesus. My gifts, e.g., counseling, writing, and teaching, are not a product of the almighty “I”. I am the guy whose Special Ed reading teacher declared him “the stupidest boy I ever met!”. My gifts were given by God.  Any scripture I recite or expound upon is a product of Holy Spirit bringing it to remembrance because I delighted myself in Him and acknowledged Him in all my ways. Everyone in Christ has a resume and corresponding gift, and can do the same.


For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Rom 12:4-8

1 Corinthians 12:8-10 mentions wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues.

Que Rompe tu Corazon? – What Breaks Your Heart? Psalm 37:4. How often does the church sing, “break my heart for what breaks yours.” If we pay attention, the people group to which God is calling us is probably the one that breaks our hearts. It could be those in a third-world nation. It could be the family next door. It might be your child. One thing is certain. If you follow the aforementioned steps, you will know for certain. He will confirm it with His peace.

JUMP!

As my high-school soccer goalie coach, Fuji, taught me, “Pay attention. When you see your opponent coming down the field with the ball; watch. When his foot goes backward in preparation to kick the ball, then jump. It’s easier to change direction when you are already moving than it is to get moving and then change direction. Now get the ball!” The same formula applies to missions.

Now GO!

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Commentary, Tennessee

Haoles in Appalachia

Low and Slow – Missionary Lessons From Hawaii

Haole (Ha-olay) pronounced How-lee today is a Hawaiian word for foreigner. In more contemporary terms it has become a pejorative for presumptuous white people with no respect for local culture. Suffice it to say, that all white people are called Haole today.

The term Haole means “without breath.” Given that the spirit is regarded by Hawaiians to be in the breath, without breath meant devoid of spirit. As the story goes, Captain Cook was the first white man to land in Hawaii. He was greeted by the chief as he came ashore. As was the custom, the chief put his nose and forehead to Captain Cook’s and breathed out Alo…Ha, “Come into my space.” Cook did nothing. So the chief proclaimed Captain Cooke Haole!

Ironically many of the lessons I needed to learn about being a missionary came as a result of my being a Haole in Hawaii for 21 years. When I first arrived a local called to me from across the parking lot at a 7-Eleven. I put my arms up at forty-five-degree angles at my sides to indicate

“I don’t understand.”

It would have been fine had I still been in New York. In Hawaii it meant 

“I Like scrap!”

When I got to Honduras after 21 years of the Hawaiian Shaka

I found out the same gesture was a proposition for sex in Honduras.

Cathy and I left for the foreign mission field in 2016. We began with Harvest School in Mozambique then moved to Honduras for just short of six years. Now we are in Appalachia where the same lessons apply. We are missionaries wherever we go.

So what’s it like; you know, this missionary thing?

Well, I’m only one guy, and while some might disagree, I’ll give you my somewhat limited view. Here’s what I once wrote from Honduras.

Being a missionary is wanting God more than anything else. It is following the call of the one who is meek and lowly in heart Mat 11:29 It is counting the cost and laying down in faith whatever is, for what God’s word says could and should be. It is the willingness to be baptized by fire in ways you know could happen but maybe don’t believe ever will. It is wrestling with choosing to trust in the words and ideas of man or God alone when the country you’re in appears to be descending into civil war.

It is asking yourself if you have what it takes to give your life for the sake of the gospel if that moment of truth ever arrives.

It is waking up at 4 am to worship God alone in your secret place or hitting the road at 3 to spend fourteen hours in the back of a pickup. It is laughing with Hondurans and making jokes about pain as you are deluged for hours with inches of cold rain. It is confronting the worst poverty you’ve ever seen. It is witnessing the best and worst in others. It is exposing the same in yourself. It is witnessing God doing genuine miracles and the fulfillment of “greater things than these shall you do.” John 14:12-14 It is recoiling at those powered by pride, mesmerizing others with cheap grace and lies.

It is realizing that the “least of these” in Mat 25 might not be the starving child hungry for love as much as it is the charlatan you despise.

Being a missionary means seeing people joyfully come into the kingdom as they see their genuine needs. It means seeing people accept Jesus for the fiftieth time because they’ve learned that raising their hand is the PIN for the two-legged, missionary ATM. It is bringing your deepest, best, and most profound revelations, your testimony, your experience, strength, and hope to people amid the most unbearable suffering you’ve ever seen. It is confronting your inadequacies as you wonder if anything you do even matters. It is walking in the tension of differentiating between my will and. His will. It is discerning the difference between overwhelming emotion and walking in the spirit.  It is speaking, teaching, and praying to bring healing and hope.

It is the humbling recognition that you could never endure what they do and that perhaps God placed them on earth to bring healing and correction to you.

It is accepting that different people have different giftings and theologies and not everyone believes that as much as you. It is learning the meaning of James 1:2-4.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing...

It is watching God come through to weave His message from the words and testimonies of five-year-olds.

It is living without electricity and water and hot water for sure. Sometimes there’s a bucket for a shower — other times just a cup. It is being sick with the same bug over and over again sometimes for weeks at a time until you finally become immune.

Being a missionary means learning over and over again that God is always true to his word which may not be synonymous with our expectations.

It is loving, praying, feeding, blessing, laughing, trusting, weeping, sometimes wanting to scream or do worse in your rage. Being a missionary is the willingness to be broken because brokenness is where the Pearl of Great Price is found.

We have found that most of these lessons continue to apply in the continental United States albeit in different ways. This is especially true in Appalachia.

Appalachia is distinct from Hawaii in some ways and very similar in others. For example, Hawaiians are by nature distrustful of outsiders yet exceedingly polite as they pride themselves on the aloha spirit. Patience, humility, and generosity are nonnegotiables for a haole to be accepted among the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians). We have found the same principles apply here. Hawaiians have little patience for disingenuousness or facades. Once accepted the outsider becomes Ohana.  Ohana means family. Family implies trust. We have found a similar spirit among locals in Greeneville.

“Low and Slow.”

Low and slow like the one who was meek and lowly Mat 11:29 is the driving force in missions. It implies a willingness to learn and respect the culture to which we are called. It begins with a willingness to be taught by the locals even if their aim is to be taught by us. Scripturally that looks like submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph 5:21 This carries with it the assumption that while I might have a mission to fix something, the possibility always exists that I might be the one who needs fixing. It was on the mission field that I learned that sometimes God uses our pride to position us. We think He needs us. In truth, He needs to conform us. Rom 8:29 Our response to the locals will always show the true condition of our hearts. The approach always determines the response. The responsibility for the approach always falls on the outsider.

Low and slow means never seeking a position or platform. We find that obscurity facilitates peace and effectiveness. Luke 6:26  That doesn’t mean notoriety is bad by default. Our Pastor is the songwriter and lead singer for Mountain People Worship. He came to the US as a foreign exchange student from Brazil. When he arrived God told him to clean every bathroom he entered. If someone pooped on the floor, God would tell him “That one is yours.”

That’s low and slow.

All that being said, the reality within the body of Christ is that we are also missionaries to each other. This is particularly true in places like Greeneville where more and more people are arriving from all over the US and sometimes the globe. Everyone shares a similar story in that they are uniquely called by God. Still, there are profound, often unrecognized cultural differences around the US. Those differences include but are not limited to accents, hand gestures, vocal tones, personal space and touch, manners, and choice of words. For example, in Hawaii, it is customary to acknowledge anyone who enters a room even if you are engaged in a conversation. Anything else is rude. Here in Greeneville, people honor others by maintaining a laser-like focus on the one with whom they are engaged.

Sometimes cultural differences can be dangerous. Just the other day we were facilitating a group of women when a woman from the northeast became upset about the circumstances of her life. She was extremely animated in her description of what she was feeling. I was born in the same place so I understood her clearly. Meanwhile, two other women from Tennessee interpreted her behavior as aggressive and poised themselves for self-defense. It was a powerful teaching moment. We discussed cultural differences that became an inspiration for this post.

Another mission-killing error in any mission field is for a group of foreigners to come into a community and mostly fellowship among themselves. This is common on short-term trips where missionaries feel anxious. Familiarity is comfortable. Comfortable is a no-no in missions. Even worse is when a group unwittingly portrays themselves as superior, be it economically, intellectually, culturally, or theologically. The intent might be pure and they may in fact be humble, kind, and loving people. That is irrelevant if our cultural misunderstanding produces more misunderstanding. It is common for the unwitting to perceive a genuine need and jump right in to meet it only to find that their presumption was received as arrogance.

Expecting to be understood before taking the time to ensure we understand can be hazardous.

We did an outreach as part of our Harvest School in Mozambique. They sent us into a village to eat with some single mothers. I felt very uncomfortable being one of two men in the group. Naturally, I started looking for something to fix. I found a piece of rope, an old bicycle tire, and a tree and made a tire swing. The children had a blast. One child fell off the swing while we played. He got bumped on the head but otherwise was fine and immediately got back on the swing. “Boys will be boys.” I thought to myself. I was pretty proud of my newfound missionary prowess. We ate lunch and I was ready to return to the swing. But the mommas sent us on our way.  As we walked out of the yard I noticed the rope and tire on the ground. One of the mommas had cut it down. That’s when it dawned on me. I never asked if they wanted a swing or if they would even permit me to make it. I’d simply assumed that my perceptions and ways were right. In addition, someone later pointed out the fact that had a child been more seriously injured, there were no ambulances or emergency medical care. Even if there were, these single mothers did not have the money to pay for it. It was a huge revelation that shaped the way I perceive new cultures and environments. The same principle of low and slow applies if I move to a new country or change jobs within the same organization.

The biggest takeaway I had from being on the foreign mission field is that the first reason God places me in any position or location is for my transformation. He is God. He is not dependent on me. He is teaching me to be dependent on Him. He doesn’t need me to do things. I get to do things and learn from the experiences. Hence I never ask “Why?”. I ask “What?” “What are you doing Lord- in me, in us, in this situation…?” We would have a lot less misunderstanding and offense in the body of Christ if we would change our approach. At the end of the day, we are called to follow Jesus who is meek and lowly in heart Mat 11:29. Jesus walked with the end in mind – the wedding supper of the lamb Rev 19:6-9 The benchmark we should all be striving for in the meantime is unity in knowledge of Jesus in love.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Eph 4:11-16

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Honduras Continues

Peeling the Onion and Learning to Abide

Still Growing Down in Honduras

The name “Gray Hope Missionaries” has occasionally caused a few eyebrows to rise.  “What does that even mean?” they ask with a familiar reticence in their voice. I’ll admit it does sound a bit self-centered. I originally coined the title with the idea of it being a conversation starter. That’s manipulation code for initiating an evangelistic or “support us” sales pitch.

We all know God’s will requires funding.

Amirite?

Gray is the color between black and white, light and dark. It’s how I imagine hope. It’s also a Scotch Irish name that literally means hope. According to Google, the family crest which may or may not be my family crest, is an anchor.

That we live in the gray is another way of saying we see as in a glass darkly.

We need as much hope as we can get.

If you ask a missionary what life on the mission field is like you will often get an oral or written narrative along the lines of our most recent Hope In Time Newsletter, the ministry with whom we currently serve. Yes, we really do what we say. That’s not the point.  Increasingly, we find ourselves cringing at what inevitably ends up looking like horn-tooting, self-promotion. It’s a Catch 22.  We can’t be accountable to supporters without pictures of us doing what we say we do. But then it’s hard to direct the reader’s attention to God while staring at our mugs amidst a story about some tin we just nailed.  

I’ve come to almost despise the drudgery of self-promotion if only because it’s not biblical. Mat 6:1-4  When I think back to the marketing videos I regularly produced until two years ago I am embarrassed that I cultivated so much narcissism and self-aggrandizement. Yet narcissism and embellishment are just good business these days. They are expected and even praised in our consumer culture. That this is accompanied by a corresponding subconscious distrust of anyone asking for money seems rather ironic. That we associate meekness and humility with failure, and grandiosity with success, may offer some insight into why our culture has so little wisdom and discernment and continues to select psychopaths as leaders.  

But I digress.

In my experience, being a missionary has been more about coming to terms with things that people preoccupied with the first world rat race never have time or perhaps the desire to think about. 

I liken it to peeling an onion.

We began with peeling away our previous assumptions about ourselves, missions work, God, His Word and the world, as well all the ethical dilemmas that result from pride-ridden dreams of being a “world changer”.

This is counterintuitive as we are taught that success is contingent upon one’s ability to portray it.

Next came a season of preaching one thing and doing another. In my case that looked like talking about abiding while franticly striving to live up to prophetic words about my being a “world changer”.

Turns out telling people they are “world changers” is also a marketing strategy.

This recurring motif frequently ends in missionary burnout. Either we learn that,

“His strength is made perfect in weakness. We would rather boast in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon us.  For when we are weak, then we are strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 

or we quit. 

This may seem simplistic to those whose careers and prosperity are the fruit of their dependency on God. But try it after slaying prosperity on the altar. This is where we encounter our inner Judas.

Mary, therefore, took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” John 12:3-6

The temptation to do everything apart from the literal commands of Jesus can be strong. There’s always an excuse. I have learned that given a severe enough tragedy or perceived inequity, and there always is, darn near any worldly strategy can be justified in support of financing God’s will.

Yet Jesus assured us there will be no human solution to the world’s suffering and problems. That includes poverty, climate change, and injustice to name a few. The Christian walk is not about world-changing effort and success let alone how God uses the almighty “us” to do it. It’s about being broken as we learn we can not. Only brokenness teaches us to be utterly dependent upon Jesus. That is the kingdom definition of success.

It begins with accepting the abject silliness of our self-imagined significance. John 15:1-17

“You can do nothing” is not hyperbole. “Nothing” means “nothing”. Hence, I’m thinking a better word for “missionary” might be

“Abidinary” – one who abides in the vine.

In our case, becoming an “abidinary” has meant dwelling both literally and prophetically in the wilderness. This has been especially true since moving into the mountains when the entire world was locked down. Our driver’s licenses expired and we don’t have a car.  Every time we are tempted to think it is coming to an end, another mutation and mutant worldly narrative kicks in. We are stunned and amazed at what the world has become and is becoming. It seems that everything we knew could happen – but probably wouldn’t – is happening. Maybe you can relate. Each time we learn that normal isn’t coming back the Lord brings us back into the Book of Exodus. We shed another onion layer as we look into the type and shadow of our own impatience, impertinence, and ingratitude.  Sometimes we are at the Springs of Marah in Exodus 15 grumbling that the living water is not sweetened to our taste.  Other times we are in Exodus 32 carving a golden calf 2.0.  Our calf isn’t made of gold but steak dinners and dreams of RV living while touring the US.

Meanwhile, God keeps placing us at the proverbial entrance to the Leviticus 8:35 tent.

For the record, I am not claiming to be a Levitical Priest.

Rather there is just so much history and depth in the original Tabernacle and Priesthood. Leviticus 8 is about the consecration and ordination of the priests. Many believers discount the Old Testament, especially Leviticus. “That was the old covenant,” they say. “Only the new one applies today.”  And let’s be honest. Detailed descriptions of donning one hundred pounds of priestly garb before tying a bull to the altar, slaughtering it in the heat, and spreading the blood and guts around can be boring and well…gross. 

Still, everything points directly to Jesus and lends greater depth to our understanding of Him and our relationship with Him. 

The bull was first and foremost symbolic of the priest tying himself to the altar. What took place there was a prophetic depiction of Jesus who would be both the final and perfect sacrifice as well as the high priest who offered it. It was symbolic of the depth of what is required if indeed we offer ourselves as living sacrifices. Rom 12:1-2.

Meanwhile, we sing “Come to the altar” as if it were an invitation to hug Santa Claus.

The altar is an invitation to tie ourselves up, be slain and die.

The tying, which is submission, is up to us. The slaying is a job for the High Priest. That’s Jesus. Anyone who has ever slaughtered a bull knows the sheer brutality, labor and gore involved. That the same sacrifice was immediately repeated with a ram only makes the scene seem more burdensome and intense. We may not slaughter animals as a propitiation for sin today. But shouldn’t our alter calls reflect the same sober intensity? Interestingly, Lev 8:3 lends deeper context to the scene when we consider that the entire congregation was required to be present. 

This was church. 

The Levitical Priests were just getting started.

“And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you. As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.” Lev 8:33-35

There is mind-numbing, soul-shaking, typological, depth to this for those who understand. Suffice it to say that in addition to the wilderness, this is the place where God has repeatedly placed Cathy and me for the better part of two years. It is an uncomfortable place, albeit an often joyful place, a paradoxical place filled with futility and hope and the realization that our best efforts are analogous to a finger painting by a three-year-old presented to his father. Perhaps the desire to please God alone would qualify as an acceptable sacrifice. But then who can honestly say they do that? Hence, the bible says our best efforts are filthy rags. It seems more likely that our worldly displays before man for which people so often praise us has become our reward in full. Peeling the onion has shown us that

The counterfeit of true worship and sacrifice is the worship of one’s own reflection in the eyes of another and as we might imagine it in the eyes of God.

We are the tabernacle today. The tent entrance is symbolic of the place of coming to terms with ourselves as God reveals the deepest parts of ourselves in answer to prayer. Residual parts we don’t like and wish were not there. It is always parts we wish were not there that need to be cut away, discarded or burned. The altar is hard work. But the hardest part is in the submission to waiting.  

The entrance to the tent is a most necessary place.

It is at the entrance to the tent of our tabernacle that we wrestle with drudgery, immobility, and loneliness. We are all strangers in a strange land. But Honduras is a place where no matter how low and slow we go we will never be seen as equal, a part of, or the same. We are gringos. We are opportunity and blessing, consumers and cash. Sometimes we are bipedal ATMs. The deafening silence so devoid of true fellowship at the tabernacle door can produce the temptation to retrieve what was slain and return to comfort in the land of the prospering dead. We are here for seven days, however long or short a time that may actually be, according to His will and “so that (we) do not die.” There may be a different season and assignment on the horizon. In the meantime, this is what it looks like to learn to abide. John 15:5 

We are “Gray Hope Abidinaries”

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Honduras Continues, Uncategorized

Still Growing Down in Honduras

A Gray Hope Missionaries Update

When people ask missionaries about missions the easiest answer is to give details about ministries and what we’d like to think we see God doing through us and around us. There have been times when our own reports sound more like an investment prospectus than a report of what God is doing. Most missionary blogs and newsletters do not begin with a list of failures and brokenness.  And while the secular cults of personality and comparison have invaded the church and made the quest for personal significance and success into idols,

His strength is made perfect in weakness.” We would rather boast in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon us.  For when we are weak, then we are strong. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Brokenness remains the key to missions.

Therefore we are always compelled to first qualify ourselves according to our failures and infirmities before we qualify any ministry we do. Our lives before Christ included things like addiction, divorce, suicidal ideation, and prison to name a few. I struggled with alcoholism for two decades and failed at everything before being instantly delivered from it and the buckshot coming my way amidst a point-blank shotgun blast. I wasn’t looking for Jesus at the time. I was looking to die. I did. Cathy was essentially looking to do the same when Jesus delivered her. John 15:16

The extent to which God uses us today remains a function of our brokenness and the utter dependence upon Jesus that flows from it.

That brokenness is not just historical.   

Like most aspiring missionaries we had dreams of changing the world for Jesus when we began. That’s before we accepted that God may use us but He doesn’t need us to do anything for Him. He places us where ever He does because where He puts us is the best place for Him to conform us to His image. Rom 8:29 As easy it might be to tell tails of adventure and harrowing brushes with death, and how we are saving Honduras in spite of it. The fact is that while the adventure is real it is God and sometimes Hondurans who save us. If that weren’t bad enough, for the record, we have never led a single person to Christ. We have planted and watered a lot of seed. 1 Cor 3:6-8 We have also been present when people made the decision to surrender John 4:36-38. We have never healed anyone. We have seen God heal people when we prayed for them. John 11:4 I once saw a demon-possessed man set free on a short term mission trip as I prayed. But honestly, I only prayed because I was last in line in a fire tunnel and the pastor was yelling at me. I didn’t know what to say so I just started saying “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” over and over until he fell down sobbing at my feet. People said it was amazing. I was more amazed than anyone because I didn’t believe in any of that stuff at the time. When we teach we assume we are there for one person because most people usually don’t care what we say. As it turns out we frequently teach in tongues. Many times we hear, “Wow I really liked what you said.” Only we never said what they heard. My point is that our path was and is one of God accomplishing His will in spite of us rather than because of us. We are not spiritual special forces as some are prone to view missionaries. We are people that God uses to prove that He can use anyone anywhere provided they are a yielded vessel. He is the potter. We are His cracked pots. We just keep putting one foot in front of the other as His will and purpose unfolds before us.

Most times it feels like we are just along for the ride.

I realize this might not be the purposeful and intentional way in which many imagine the great the commission should unfold.

However, it does lend some perspective to Eph 2:8-10

The valley of Megiddo from the Mount of Transfiguration. We received a free round trip to Israel last year.

There is a tendency in the contemporary body of Christ to pursue Mat 17 Mount of Transfiguration type experiences.  Many Christians spend their entire lives chasing prophetic affirmations mostly about themselves and encounters with the manifest presence of God. Yet the mountain top is the place where God reveals Himself as the anchor to which we tether our faith as we venture into the valley below. It is the firey crises of faith in the valleys of life that burn off the dross and purify us.

Becoming a missionary is volunteering for the valley.

COVID was one such valley for us as we found ourselves locked down immediately after moving to a remote mountain village where we didn’t know anyone and many had never even met a gringo before. The State Department kept sending emails advising us to evacuate. When the border closed we knew we were committed and that we were on our own if we get sick. Several months in, depression and anxiety crept up on Cathy. A sense of futility bordering on apathy snuck up on me as I heard that familiar Gen 3 whisper, “Did God really say?…” “Did God really place you here? Or were we imagining things?” There were only two places to go to at this point. One was what AIM alumni know as the “Q” zone (the quit zone) deep in the valley of the “Project Mood Curve”. The other was deeper into the Secret Place.

  Thankfully we were both compelled toward the latter.

Yet even that was a function of His grace more than it was our will and our choice.

That’s when His purpose opened up. God confirmed that we are exactly where He wants us.

Perhaps the biggest difference between full-time missions in the third world and ministry in the first is that missionaries have fewer options from which to choose before God becomes the only one. While the first world rewrites the book of Ecclesiastes, missions offers a short cut to the truth in chapter 12.

Never the less it is a paradoxical process of growth that He brings us through.

“When you are done growing, you’re done.”

-Heidi Baker-

We want less of us and more of Him.  John 3:30-36

So we keep growing down.

All that being said, “becoming” a missionary is simple.  It is hearing and being obedient to God’s call regardless of whether it makes sense.  It is counting the cost and laying down in faith whatever is, for what God’s word says could and should be. 

“Being” a missionary is living in James 1:4 and sometimes enduring the reality of the verses immediately before. 

Lately, it’s been walking through mountain jungles to deliver food because of the lockdown. 

And filling the gap at our house because fear canceled school. 

Of course, the true purpose is neither food nor school but opening doors to eternal Truth. More often it means planting in hope that another may harvest. One thing we have learned;

People don’t care what you know until they know how much you care. 

We Do.

We are into our fifth year on the field and our fourth year in Honduras. 

Right now, we are in a fairly remote mountain location called Cerro Azul Meambar and in Luke 10 forerunning stages of a new ministry among partly Miskito Indian people. That means going low and slow, building relationships and trust, and becoming a part of our new community. We do a lot of children’s ministry. Children are great ambassadors between us and sometimes more skeptical adults.

Our real heart is for discipleship which among other things means involving kids ages 10 -13 in outreach.

The second aspect of forerunning is not as fun. It is finding and binding the Mat 12:22-30 strong man. In missions terms, the strong man is the person, issue, or situation that impedes gospel truth. It can be an individual, political party, or social issues like poverty, domestic violence, or addiction, etc.  After nearly six months we are narrowing it down. Most children here only attend school up to the 6th grade at which point they might grow coffee and net an average $3 for every hundred pounds of beans they grow.  If they harvest for someone else, they might make $2. 

Hondurans are notorious for their stoic, and fateful surrender to hopelessness.

Our prayer is that the fateful become faith-filled.

That said, the strong man appears to be alcoholism here.

It makes perfect sense in the spirit.  In addition to the two of us being former addicts, I was an adolescent substance abuse counselor and a clinical supervisor for a decade before I was a missionary. For fun, Cathy and I ran a faith-based co-ed transitional housing program for prison inmates. We lived with 5-10 inmates and sometimes their children for twelve years. As much as we have tried to get away and do something different, God continues to place this population in our path.  It was our brokenness that led us to Christ.  Apparently, it is still the same brokenness that continues to qualify us in ministry.  Ok, Lord.

Thy will be done.

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Honduras Continues

Que Rompe Tu Corazon?

– What Breaks Your Heart? –

One of the most frequent questions we are asked by visitors is,

“What is it like to be a missionary?”

To be a missionary is to pursue brokenness. It is first and foremost about love. Love in the context of a relationship with God and with each other. Everything we do is rooted in intimacy with Him and each other in Him. The greater the intimacy the greater our recognition of our dependence. Dependence on God is a to key success on the mission field. It is the understanding that apart from relationship, the words “love” and “God” are meaningless.

Sometimes the gospel is more effectively preached with a smile, a hug or a small act of kindness that leaves people with questions rather than answers to questions they never asked.

Being a missionary means understanding that preaching a sermon and cleaning a toilet might be one in the same.

Being a missionary means having set schedules that rarely pan out because like everyone else, missionaries are gifted and dysfunctional. It is understanding that the patience spoken of in James 1:4 is an end and not just a means.

IMG_8556

Some days begin at 3 AM in the back of a pick-up truck on a muddy road in the rain and end at 10pm in the same. Others might start at 10 and end at 3. Sometimes we are hot, hungry thirsty and sick. Sometimes we are cool, relaxed and full of energy. Sometimes we have electricity and water. Sometimes we don’t. The periodic absence of first world comforts begets a greater sense of gratitude for the little comforts we once took for granted.

2

Being a missionary means not punching a time clock

or looking for one to punch.

punching_time_clock11

It means not coveting Friday and a bigger paycheck. It means not working for the next vacation or retirement. It means not being afraid of being late or failing to perform. It means not being distracted by materialism, the latest styles or trends or the busyness of first world life. It means not being consumed by sports, politics and sewer-stream news.

It means keeping the eternal end in mind.

It is freedom from fear of suffering and the death that no one escapes.

Being a missionary means being willing to live in the desert, proverbial and literal rather than paradise.

Being a missionary means more than being a humanitarian.

It means honoring an old man or shaking a hand dripping with slime at the dump knowing that you can wash your hands, but he can’t and may die because of it.

It means traveling for an entire day to hug a suffering child.

Spirit break out.mp4.00_03_18_04.Still015

It means paying attention to the little things, those who don’t matter to the world.

00055.MTS.00_00_35_07.Still001

It means understanding the words of Mother Teresa,

“the most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved.”

That these words apply to eternity.

That eternity apart from God is the quintessence of loneliness.

We can tell people ad infinitum that Jesus loves them, put on our best Jesus smile and our best Jesus act in hopes that they will see Jesus in us and raise their hand at an alter call.

maxresdefault
We can pat ourselves and each other on the back in celebration of decisions for Jesus on a given day.

But at the end of the day it’s about us seeing Jesus in them, “in the least of these” in the ONE in front of us.

Gerson2.mp4.00_00_47_03.Still010

It means staying in touch with what breaks God’s heart.

Gerson2.

There is a reason that it is written twenty-three times in the New Testament that Jesus had compassion. Compassion (literally to suffer with) is the door to God’s heart. Knowing what breaks His heart is the key to intimacy with Him. Intimacy with Him is the path to joy in Him. Being a missionary is about joy. It is the freedom to follow the call of God we received as a fruit of our relationship with Him. It is a freedom that comes with the knowledge and understanding that if we delight ourselves in Him he will give us the desires of our Heart, of His heart. He has.

To be a missionary means to be fully human.

To be human is to be paradoxical.

The blessing is in the brokenness.

Que Rompe Tu Corazon?

Brian and Cathy Gray Africa Bound

      Africa Bound

Well it’s been a long time coming but it should come as no surprise to those who know us well that we are giving all to become full time missionaries.  

Granted we’ve been short term missionaries in Honduras since 2008, however this different. 

We have also run a faith based transitional home and lived with furloughed inmates since 2005 which probably seems crazy enough to most, however we’ve always had financial security, and a place to lay our heads in a paradise that most people only dream of visiting.  In a word we have lived the proverbial American dream.  

Giving everything up now in hopes of serving the poorest of the poor in the most impoverished and worn torn corners of the world might sound like foolishness to some.  However this has been our dream since before we were married.  In fact we have both known since we were children that we were made for this day.

As Christians we are called to live and walk by faith.  There’s really nothing in the bible that even hints that we should play it safe.  In fact Jesus gave us the formula for success.  Those who will lose their lives for His sake will gain true life. And so we are going.  We are going with a goal of loving the lost and unloved in hopes of one day becoming love ourselves.  This is our theory.  This our plan.  To be perfectly honest we don’t really know what that looks like or even means at this point.  We are simply stepping out with child like faith, knowing only that we know nothing especially in terms of what lies ahead.  We are only certain that God has called us to a deeper place, a place of knowing Him more, a place of acquaintance with His sorrows and with those sorrows, an unspeakable joy that we know will be our inheritance if we remain obedient to His call. 

We will be departing Kauai to attend the IRIS Global Harvest School of Missions in Pemba Mozambique on Oct 4th.  This is a turning point and not just an event.  God willing we will eventually be in places like South Sudan, Honduras and wherever the Lord calls us from here on out. 

Follow us here if you’d like periodic updates as we journey deeper into the heart of God and endeavor to love Him by loving His children here on earth.