Panama Mission Trip: Slums of Baghdad

Life has kept me quite busy lately. Between school work, my day job, youth ministry and spending time with the family I’ve struggled to find a few minutes to post this blog. As it so happens, I’ve probably been most eager to share about this experience more than any other. So you can imagine how anxious I’ve been to post this story.

In the last blog I shared about the Rakatakas and how surreal it was to see police officers on every corner holding AK47s in the open. Some officers never took their hands off the holster. The Rakatakas really did make Harlem seem like Disney World yet God did a glorious work there. I also allude to how the slums of Baghdad appear as if reality clashes with our worst nightmare! And that’s no exaggeration. Yet, God again declares his Love like never before in this environment and leaves an unforgettable imprint. So let’s get to it…

April 5th, 2010 – Our team was on the road again, this time heading to the slums of Baghdad. This area is ruled by gangs–a stronghold dictated by violence. I really wasn’t sure what to expect since I could not imagine a more eerie place than the Rakatakas yet Walker Moore noted that Baghdad was one of the worst of the worst places in Panama. (more…)

National Day of Prayer, non-constitutional?

Sorry I have to do this to you but I have to get on my soapbox and vent.

I mean I can hear atheists in chat rooms across the cyber globe celebrating with bubbly on their recent victory to deem the National Day of Prayer non-constitutional. Non-constitutional? Really?

I’m not sure what federal Judge Barbara Crabb was… (hmm, careful Eddie… choice of words, choice of words… I’ll just say… “thinking,”) yeah, thinking when she made the ruling. In fact her reason makes absolutely no sense logically as she writes, “the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.”

I’m far from a political guru, not sure I even qualify as novices, in fact everything I know about politics I’ve learned recently in the past 18 months from hearing Sean Hannity on the radio. Therefore excuse my lackluster attempt to make a political point but when did prayer become a threat to our constitution? I may just be an old fashion conservative dude in my early thirties; I mean who even prays anymore, right? What’s even more amusing is how nationalizing heath care is totally constitutional but having a day dedicated to prayer is not. Someone should tell Judge Barbara that she doesn’t have to pray if she doesn’t want to. I mean we live in the greatest country in the world, land of the free, the choice is ours.  Or do we; is it?

For the record the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment is clear, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

Do I even need to expand on how ridiculous Judge Barbara’s statement is in contrast to what the U.S. Constitution actually articulates; and even more obnoxious her ruling.

What are your thoughts?

For additional info on the National Day of Prayer: www.nationaldayofprayer.org

Was Jesus Spiritual? (3 of 4)

This is the third blog of five on a series about the spiritual disciplines of Jesus.  In the last post we talked about “resisting temptation” and “scriptural study.”   So far we’ve discussed four of the nine spiritual disciplines Dr. Hardin writes about in his book, “The Spirituality of Jesus.  Let’s uncover the next two:

Corporate Worship

I really never noticed how much time Jesus actually spent in the Synagogue. A discipline far beyond my own. Leslie Hardin notes that often His weekly attendance presented “significant ministry opportunities” and helped him “foster the power of the Spirit in His life by connecting with the father” (76). We need to be careful though not to confuse “pure worship” with “misguided traditions” (77). Our worship should be sacred and not tainted with jealousy, showmanship, dishonesty or for the sake of personal gain. Unfortunately we see these very things way too often in modern day worship. Dr. Hardin makes a very somber observation, noting that churches have abandoned scriptural reading from their worship services. He further notes that “Jesus’ experience teaches us that God and his Word are most important and that, while felt needs must be addressed, they must be addressed by the counsel of God, not pop psychology and self-help gimmicks” (79). That’s a mouth full and can come across a bit dogmatic but a very excellent point nonetheless. Leslie Hardin further clarifies that icons, traditions, and styles can be conduits of spirituality but that we should not confuse them with the greater reality they point to and represent. Worship is one of those areas I definitely need to discipline myself in, I find it difficult to become intimate with God in public and private worship. I hope to mode Christ’s disciple in this area to continue growing spiritually. (more…)

Panama Mission Trip: Police escort to the Rakatakas

The Rakatakas? If you thought the streets of Cinco de Mayo in the country of Panama were serious (read my previous blog if you haven’t done so already), the Rakatakas is as intense if not more so but infecting an entire city. God did some amazing things in the Rakatakas and I hope this story encourages you. Some of what I will write about appears on the Awe Star Ministry website as I had the privilege to share my thoughts for an update on their blog.

April 4, 2010 – A bus full of American missionaries pulls over near a police station on a gloomy day. Rain begins to fall. Walker Moore addresses the team as he gets ready to step off the bus, “Pray! Pray that God will grant us grace and that He would move in the hearts of the police officers and allow us to minister in the city of the Rakatakas. Furthermore pray that they provide police escort.” The team pair up in two and begin to pray as Walker goes into the Police station. (more…)

Panama Mission Trip: Cinco De Mayo

Almost two weeks ago I blogged about the opportunity of heading to the jungles of Panama to do missions work with Awe Star Ministries. Well, I am back (got a nice tan too) and eager to tell you what great things God has done (Mark 5:19). I’ll probably do so in several blog posts to really highlight in detail some of the most memorable moments. I hope you are encouraged by these stories as I am.

April 3, 2010 — Before heading to the jungles to present the Good News of love, hope and redemption through Christ to the Kuna people group we hit the city streets of Panama. We started at the entrance of a trade street named Cinco de Mayo. At first glance the road appeared like most trade streets in the city filled with locals and tourists bartering for goods, people chattering, car horns beeping through traffic, vendors competing for our business, tourists hanging out in the air conditioned fast-food restaurants and so on. Oddly though with every step we took forward the mood seem to darken; the landscape did too, as if we were walking into a different world—there was tension in the air. (more…)