Our favorite word around here is, "cultural exchange." Lately we've been visiting local universities to talk with students, and hopefully build redemptive relationships with them. Yesterday, over lunch I was able to share the whole gospel with a muslim about my age. I'm meeting up with him sometime this weekend to further explain. 

Today I was talking to another college student and he said one of the saddest things i've ever heard. I asked him was the most important person in his life is, and he thought for a minute and said, "I wish I could say God, but He's not a person."  People need Jesus around here. 

Monopoly. If your friend somehow manages to snatch up two consecutive sets of property, then you're in trouble. It's unavoidable. Similarly, if you're sitting in a Spanish airport and you happen to be starving, then you're in trouble. it's unavoidable. So, I did what any hungry male would do. I dropped 16 bucks on 2 small pieces of pizza and a coke. (plus some cake) To make things worse, I was so hungry that I didn't exactly pay attention to what covered this heavily invested-in pizza of mine. Turns out they like to eat "fish pizza" in Spain. Old fish. I almost threw up, but It was definitely an interesting experience. 

We rolled into the airport late this morning, and It's been great to reunite with some old friends. Earlier this evening one of my friends, a young national Christian, gave his testimony for our group and some others who are visiting. I'll never get over the stories of God saving those who were once a slave to Islam. This young saint was once a drug addict, born into Islam and living in a remote village with no gospel witness. He received some gospel literature in the mail, and ignored it. After receiving similar mailings for several years, he finally came into contact with a national Christian who then gave him a bible. For 6 months, he compared the books and wrestled to find the truth. Finally, he cried out to God to reveal which book was truly inspired, and the Holy Spirit illuminated this to him. Consequently, he understood the gospel, repented and believed. 

Several years later, the guy absolutely puts me to shame. Let no one say that they love Jesus unless they're prepared to live as this one does; the cross of Christ is literally everything to him. His friends and family sneer at his faith; no Christian girls around means slim chances of marriage; he's constantly mocked for believing that Jesus is God; he quit his job in order to train full time for the ministry and to make disciples throughout the nation, and yet he suffers all things with more joy than most Christians that I know. Pray for him! (We'll call him Mehdi - a common local name) It's not an easy thing to serve Christ in a country like this, but Mehdi can truly say he lives like Paul did in 2:10 - "Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory."

Today has finally come, and we fly out in a few hours. With all the layovers, it will take us about 16 hours to arrive. My plan is to take some Tylenol PM and hopefully crash for as much of the flights as possible, and then to force myself to stay awake until 21:00 local time. Hopefully that alleviates the jet lag; last year I was a zombie for a few days. Anyway, you can pray for our flight. I'm not worried about getting there safely. The problem lies in arriving reasonably close to when you planned on arriving, and doing it with all of your luggage. Thanks in advance for your prayers...I'll catch you on the other side of the world. 

At it again

Well, it turns out that I just couldn't get enough of NorthAfrica last summer. I'm heading back in 2 weeks...and I plan on updating this throughout. Your prayers are much appreciated.

Grace and Peace

It's been 5 good weeks here in our North African city, but today was our last. Tomorrow I'm jumping on a 11 hour train ride with half of the group; we're getting our tour of the eastern part of the nation underway. 

If there's one thing I've learned on this trip, it's the power of prayer. We're completely powerless without the work of the Holy Spirit - and that comes by prayer. 

Today 3 of us rented mopeds and cruised around the city to cap off our experience here. It was pretty crazy; Mom - you would've had a heart attack if you had seen me weavin' through the insane traffic. Don't worry, I didn't even crash once. As I went to start up my bike at the end of the day and take it back to the shop, I realized that the key was still turned in the ignition, and the battery was dead. I was way downhill of my destination and the thing wouldn't start. Great. My first thought was..."No, problem. I'll just ask God to take care of this little detail for me and I'll be on my way." Well God chose not to make it start, and for some reason it bothered me. I was thinking, "God, I know you can do this, why won't you just make it start?! Can't you see I need this?" He didn't, and I pushed the thing up the huge hill, getting madder with every step. I let this small, insignificant thing really bother me and in a way shake my faith in prayer. Why wouldn't God just do it? Finally, some random person came up to me and somehow got it started. After that, I barely found the rental shop in time (a miracle, if you know me you know that my sense of direction is about that of a 4-year old's), so that I didn't have to pay any extra. After I dropped it off, I realized how stupid I had been. Instead of just trusting that God had a reason, I decided to get mad and question the sovereign Creator of the universe. If I can lose it over something like that, I have a really long way to go before I encounter some real trials in life. I guess God can use something as small as a moped rental to teach me, and display how much I need to change.  

P.S. - I'm feeling a little sick these days and we're taking the REALLY long train ride tomorrow - if you could pray for that it would be great. 

Peace 

I threw a new video on facebook...for those of you who are friends with me. Check it out if you want. 

Last sunday we visited an underground church in another city; it was a great experience. You won't find more genuine believers or hear more genuine worship. No one comes because they feel pressured too, or because it's the cultural thing to do, or because their family comes. They come in danger because they love Jesus and want to worship Him, no matter what the cost. Awesome. 

Tonight I was wondering around the city as usual, trying to figure out where in the world I was, when I asked a man for directions. He agreed to walk with me to my destination, and it turned out that he spoke English pretty well. This was definitely an intelligent, well educated man. Our conversation quickly turned from basic stuff like family and work, to deeper things like political and social reform in Morocco. I actually felt kind of dumb - this guy was smarter than me for sure. Despite the intelligence gap he agreed to sit at a sidewalk cafe and talk with me for a bit. Now before I go on, you need to know that there's a reason I haven't updated this blog in a while. I'll be honest, things have slowed down for me quite a bit. It's been a while since I've witnessed to anyone. Now, is that because God stopped working and giving me opportunities? No. It's because I allowed myself to get discouraged and quit looking for them. I walked around for a few days without really meeting anyone that speaks English; people didn't fall right into my lap like they did on the first part of the trip. That doesn't give me an excuse to stop praying and stop trying. I talked in church on wednesday night about not being lulled to sleep spiritually like the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane; I was talking to myself more than anyone else. This morning I read the account in Luke (whether you believe it really happened or not, the concept is very real) of the rich man and Lazarus. Now, in his earthly life the rich man had it all, and Lazarus was miserable. But in hell, when this man looked over at Lazarus and begged for just one drop of water on his tongue, I wonder if he wished that someone had told him about Jesus? He definitely begged that someone be sent to his still living brothers to tell them of the Gospel. How many people are in hell right now, wishing that someone would have told them? Now trust me, I'm not discounting God's sovereignty. He hasn't missed anyone and He never will. But somewhere inside that infinite mystery, Romans 10:14 does say this:

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

The great commission is there for a reason. So to sum all that up, God's really been working on me about telling as many people about Him as possible. Ok, back to the cafe. We went on for a while about the problems in Morocco, and the political condition of the world. I pretended to know what I was talking about. Then we shifted to Islam, and what thats all about. Toward the end of the conversation, I described to him the problem of sin, and the solution of Jesus Christ. When I was done, he looked up at me and said, "Thank you, I've never heard that before and I'm very happy to hear it." He agreed to come to our "bible study" on sunday and hear more about the gospel. Here's the tricky part; He works for some criminal justice branch of the government. So, as you pray, please ask that God would first of all remove the blindness from his eyes and allow him to grasp the gospel and accept Christ, that's what really matters. Also pray that no negative situations occur because of his governmental position. We trust that God is in control. Thanks for praying for me, and for Morocco. For the time being, satan is the god of this world; but Christ Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, forever and ever.