The Field is the World (Matt. 13:38)

I would like to think I wouldn't be here if I weren't convinced CCCI was the best ministry out there, but we can talk all day about what best means. So all I can do is to point to some of the unique accomplishments of Campus Crusade for Christ: The Four Spiritual Laws tract. Created by the founder, Bill Bright, in 1956, this simple presentation of the Gospel is the most widely-distributed "religious booklet" in history. It's in 200 languages and about 2.5 billion tracts have been given out in the last 49 years. The JESUS Film : created in 1979, this remains the most accurate film depiction of the entire life of Christ ever created, almost word-for-word the Gospel of Luke. It's been translated into over 850 languges and seen by billions worldwide, the most-translated, most-watched film in history. It has been responsible for over 128 million known decisions for Christ. Campus Crusade for Christ is the world's largest missionary organization, with over 26,0...

We're only discovering the limits of Luke's potential diet. Everything has wheat, or "gluten," or corn, corn syrup or corn starch in it. What doesn't have these items usually has soy in it. This is going to be a real challenge. The nutritionist wasn't much help. "He can have all of the water he wants." We're not sure that was a joke. We've had blood taken for a second round of tests and we're hoping RICE isn't something he's allergic to. We're buying books, reading websites, and experimenting with lots of powdery, papery-tasting foods for starches, fresh fruits and what few vegetables we can get him to eat. In the meantime, his pediatrician diagnosed him with strep-throat and all of us are fighting it off. He's doing well with his anti-biotic, but Cindy's coming down with it and not feeling well at all. I can tell I'm fighting it off, feeling run-down and a scratchiness in my throat, espeically in the mornings. I ...

Yesterday, we received the blood test results on Luke. Poor guy is allergic to just about everything, according to the tests: Grass trees ragweed dust mites eggs milk corn peanuts wheat soy shrimp We're going to need to consult with a nutritionist to figure out what he can eat. Also there will be another test, since not everything was tested and peanut allergies are an indicator of allergies to other legumes (peas, beans, lentils) which are an important source of protien. We're hoping he won't be allergic to broccoli (who isn't? ) because with dairy out of the picture we need alternative sources of calcium. This explains a lot about the awful rashes he's had--but we still need a lot of prayer and wisdom. Thanks for your continued prayers for Luke!

This weekend, we spent time with Cindy's Dad, Dick Eckburg, with his wife Judy, in North Carolina. The four of us joined Cindy's brother's family, (John, April, Tessa and Tyler), as well as Cindy's Mom, Donna, for a visit to Lincolnton. We fished, (caught nothing!) grilled, played outdoor games and visited Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC. It was beautiful and relaxing, despite the thunderstorms. We waded a mountain river below a waterfall. Well, Emily and I did, anyway, with John, Tessa and Tyler. Aside from the hours of driving, it was therapeutic rest for us to spend a couple of days unwound from our calling and meeting schedule. It was appropriate for we three fathers to enjoy just being fathers for a change. That's been a somewhat ironic part of what I've been doing for the past six months, actually. I was a bit spoiled by one of our greatest blessings in Southern California--living eight minutes from work made it easy for me to come home every day ...

The Bible says natural men are like "brute beasts...their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names....They are laid in the grave..[they] shall carry nothing away...they shall never see light...like the beasts that perish" ( Ps. 49 ) What's the use of building an empire, wealth, even having convention centers, stadiums and malls named after yourself? It's all going to burn up ! God loved the world enough to die for it , the best way we can use our time as good servants , is to see what the master deems important and so structure our lives as to maximize the effort we can devote to that cause. We can't save monuments from the fire, but we can be co-laborers with him in saving PEOPLE from the fire , and people saved from the fire will be LIVING, breathing, PRAISING monuments to the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us for ages to come.

As I have shared with many of you, the realities of MPD require that we ask for appointments at a rate about three per actual appointment. Coupled with the fact that we desire to have about 10-15 appointments per week and we have to call roughly three or four times as many people in order to speak to those 30-45, we tend to make 120-150 calls each week. Thus, with other forms of communication and the time of actual appointments and management of schedule, we often spend more than 60 hours per week on MPD. Not everyone is aware of that, I understand--but it's important for those of you who are our partners to understand and pray for us as we're in this process. Not only for spiritual fortitude and insight for the process--but also for sustained vision for the call before us. My point is that, especially expressing it this way, a task-oriented person can get so caught up in the task that they lose sight of the purpose of the task. I once heard an apt illustration once of the di...

The ministry we're currently engaged in keeps us in reflection on the central theme of our April letter: God's sufficiency most revealed in us by our lack of it; the great treasure we possess shown to most striking effect by the fact that we have only "earthen vessels" in which to hold it. Still, we lament with the Apostle Paul and cry out with David. David is such a great example for us... Leader of the Mighty Men, such a heroic and beloved leader, in fact, that his pining out loud for a drink from Bethlehem's well inspired three of his most valiant warriors to break through the Philistine Army's line just to get him a drink ( 2 Sam. 23 , 1 Chr. 11 ) We think of David as the courageous warrior, poetic and philosophical, yet compassionate and emotional in scenes such as 2 Samuel 18. He represents us, then, not only as we wish to be, but as we are, particularly in his mournful Psalms about being downcast, feeling God is far from him, begging God to incline ...

Today, Cindy took Luke to the dermatologist (finally!) at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, just across the Savannah River. He gave her several new ideas, new medicines, and an appointment with an allergist. He's been doing lots better, but Luke's pediatrician communicated with the dermatologist how bad he was last week! (Luke had a great time telling the Doctor about his lightsaber, shown in one of the photographs Cindy brought of his skin's condition last week.) I had two appointments; one with a pastor of a small out-of-town fellowship, one with a couple here in town. When I returned home from the first appointment, I found the answering machine contained a message from the couple cancelling our evening meeting: they have "things to do around the house." This so illustrates the spiritual nature of this process. We need for the Lord to pave the way for us, to make the people we call spiritually ready before we call them. I'ts easy to imagine even highl...

I've been planning to do this for some time! The blog is envisioned to be a more direct way of communicating what God is doing in our ministry. Several people have challenged us to journal what God has done so far, but we've only managed to do that sporadically. Hopefully this will be simple enough to contribute that it will become part of our day. We've been challenged to complete our fundraising by September, and we have about 48% to go, so we are expecting God to do something amazing within the next few months. It would be unworthy of us to fail to give Him credit for it. Hopefully as we reflect on how He moves, we can communicate about it properly. The reason I put it that way is that it frequently takes us a while to understand what He has done. We envision this blog as a vehicle for more detailed praise than can be effectively communicated in the prayer letter, and a channel of blessing to His people who read it with a prayerful spirit. How are we feeling? We feel a l...