The Phil Files

I got up very early this Saturday morning to fly to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, to spend a week getting acquainted with and working with our church planting mission there. Lazaro is a beautiful place on the southwest coast of Mexico and across the bay from Ixtappa. It is an important seaport full of working class people while Ixtappa is the tourist resort.

It was a short night after an exhausting week filled with anguish and loving concern. God’s redemptive love showed up in the words and actions of brothers and sisters who helped carry another family through a time of unspeakable grief … again — it has been a hard journey for our faith family the last four months.

The first flight went perfectly without a hitch, plus my friend and church shepherd, Steve Ridgell, was on board. After arriving early to DFW, we prayed before going in different directions to answer God’s shared but different calls on our lives.

I found a quiet spot and worked on heartlight.org piece for tomorrow and watched the Korean jetliner land coming in from Seoul, South Korea. I had been on that flight three weeks earlier returning from an incredible follow up visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but I do know that I hope this trip is equally blessed and effective.

After working on the article for a couple of hours, I rushed to the gate to board the plane and found a plane full of folks with no airplane! Ugh, this is going to get interesting and everyone knew it. Those with little children had that deer in the headlights look and we hadn’t even started the “fun” stuff yet. My AA flight alert went off very 30 minutes promising we would take off in 30 more minutes — which, of course, none of us believed because the plane wasn’t even at the gate yet. We boarded 2 hours after we were supposed to be in the air and all the small kids were now at the end of their patience and their parents had that knowing look of the “wonderful” moments to come. They weren’t disappointed … unfortunately.

Now an two hours into the flight, Bose headphones on, all the kids settled down and asleep, and the flight smooth as silk, I am reminded of something precious. One of my favorite Jesus events in the gospels is the healing of the man with leprosy in Mark 1. Jesus touches the may with leprosy before he heals him. So much is said with that one touch.

Jesus shares in the unclean-ness of this isolated and alone man when he blesses him with a moment of connection and heaven’s grace with the touch of a hand. We are alerted to look for Jesus’ touch in so many events that follow in his ministry — taking mud and spit to touch the blind man’s eyes, holding little children in his arms as he blesses them, taking the little dead girl’s hand and raising her from the dead, taking the simple loaves and fishes from the little boy and making a meal for a multitude, touching the dirt with his finger as he writes in the sand while facing down the mob who caught the woman in adultery, and offering Thomas his nail-scarred hands as proof of the resurrection, and as he stretches out his arms in love to offer those hands that shaped creation to be pierced by the very men who he formed in the wombs of their mothers.

The power of skin-on-skin touch is so much a part of our humanity whether it is the soft touch of a lover and lifetime spouse or the simple powdering of a baby’s freshly cleaned bottom or the tickle of a daddy on the ribs of his beloved child or the wrinkled hand of reassurance gripping tightly the hand of a friend who is slowly slipping away to walk with Jesus down better roads. No wonder heaven’s pre-existent and divine Word had to become flesh and walk among us.

I was reminded of this power afresh as a young mom wrestled with her 3 or 4 month old child trying to get her to take her bottle. The mom’s efforts were futile and the little girl was on a mighty crescendo until the mom discreetly lifted part of her blouse and laid her little girl against her skin and let her quietly nurse herself to sleep. As one baby grew quiet, the other little ones settled down, peace descended, and the atmosphere among our long-delayed band of travelers changed — one mother offering herself in such a sweet and simple way changed everything.

I am not sure how long this peace will continue, but long enough to let me finish my ramblings here. The point is very simple. There is great power in the human touch, especially from someone who loves us and genuinely cares about us. So in a week when grief and separation have hung in the air of every breath many of us have breathed, I would urge that you take this as a reminder to touch — hug, hold the hand, stroke the hair, rub the shoulders, or kiss the cheek of someone dear and remind them in both word and touch that they are precious to you.

So till we are reunited, my precious ones, your touch is in my mind and my love for you fills my heart as your faces fill my dreams.

Love you. God bless you. And may Jesus be real to your heart and your touch.

Everyday gifts come my way and I miss them because my eyes are focused on what is limited, shallow, temporary, or frustrating.

Open my eyes, Lord! Forgive me for not being in Your holy moments when they come and for not seeing that they are so frequent. Each moment passes so quickly. Each person you bring into my life is so precious. Each touch of kindness is so rewarding. Open my eyes to Your adventure, Your mystery, and the hidden paths of Your grace. Amen.

Sometimes things turn out great — better than you can hope and bigger than you can imagine. Such is the story of Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks. Everyone has been waiting for bubble to burst, and it may burst, but for at least one week, the NBA, New York, and much of Asia are awash in Jeremy Lin Mania.

I want to share an angle that may be new to most folks. Shortly after Karen, a young Chinese woman I study with over Skype, began to contemplate giving her life to Christ, God sent a volunteer to her school in Thailand. This volunteer was a recent Harvard graduate. She wanted Karen to reassure me that she was a conservative Christian from Harvard — in other words, she believed the Bible and trusted passionately in Jesus. She was just what Karen needed as she confessed Christ and was baptized. These two have worked together in a nearby church where they live in small town in Thailand.

The odds on someone who was a Christian landing in Karen’s life at just the right time are staggering — unless you count on the prayers of those who love Karen and her sister. The interesting twist to this story was that as I was talking with Karen this morning, reminding her that God was at work in her life even when she couldn’t see it, she started talking about Jeremy Lin. She was excited that someone from Asia (his grandparents are from mainland China and Taiwan), was so vocal about speaking about God and his faith in Jesus. That this was opening eyes to folks who would not have ever even given it a second thought. What’s more, the friend that God sent into Karen’s life has a close connection to him.

I don’t know what will come of Jeremy — if his faith holds out in the face of the wilting pressure and temptation of the NBA (I sure hope and will pray that it does shine brightly and it sure seems genuine) — but I know for at least this moment, his hard work, perseverance, faith, and humility have opened doors in places that no one else could. And for that, I’m thankful.

After 26 hours in transit, I am home! I was able to catch an earlier flight from DFW to Abilene so I arrived about 11:10 Saturday morning. The flights went smoothly and my luggage made it. It is good to be home, but there is a touch of sadness at leaving behind people precious to me that I will not see for a long time except through Skype. This sadness is compounded by Donna being with Megan — she went there to be with her for the appointment with the rheumatologist. To combat my weird sense of homesickness at home, I have had my Heartlight.org article, completion of my sermon prep, washing my clothes, and trying to help my body figure out where in the world it is to distract me.

As for the goofy picture, well, because of the flooding in southern Thailand this winter, production of Coke Zero was greatly delayed and unavailable in Chiang Mai. So I got back on the Coke Classic bandwagon — not good. So after some nudging and cajoling, I promised my precious Chinese friends in Thailand that I would lay off the sugared drinks and in my weak moments, drink only Coke Zero — yes, no Dr. Peppers either, but I’m mad at them for what they have done to the Dublin Dr. Pepper plant. So it was sweet delight to get home and taste the familiar taste of Coke Zero. But only one! I also promised not too much caffeine either! 8^)

This afternoon, I have been busy washing clothes and putting away my travel gear. Washing clothes after a trip like this is an interesting job after the experience of the last ten days. Clearly, some of my clothes desperately needed washing — YIKES, they were stinky — but some of them were not stinky, they just carried the aroma of another land with its rich smell of places, people, and spices. Each load evoked memories just from the fragrances of my trip. It is a reminder that I have not only changed time zones and cultures, but there is an undeniable distance of place even though there is no distance in heart.

Part of changing 13 time zones, especially coming from Asia, are some weird things that happen to your body when you fly back against the time zones — not to mention I watched the sun come up twice on my trip home. It just zaps me. Going west seems so much easier than flying back east. Part of my accountability to my friend Don had to do with spiritual feeding time as well as being accountable for what I did, thought, and exposed myself to. Since Donna and many of her friends have been doing James, I have read in James while I was gone and I have escrowed some time tonight to do that. I will also do my next chapter in Names of God workbook I’m doing with my mens group. I have also taken a 2 hour nap to try to help my body get a little sleep without ruining a good nights sleep back on Texas time. So I’ve tried to rest some this afternoon and evening.

I have not been good at resting most of my life, much less resting in the Lord. Yet as I have looked at Jesus and his times of withdrawal and rest, then realized he celebrated sabbath times, I was convicted by the importance of Biblical time (Realizing that in God’s eyes, the day begins with the gift of rest in the evening to allow us to serve God and bless others during the day! This is the pattern of Genesis 1, “And there was evening and morning — the first day” {Genesis 1:5 and repeated in vs. 8, 13, 19, 23, 31}) So before jumping back into my final polishing of sermon preparation, I am taking time to rest in the Lord with another trip through James and some time for thanking God for a great trip with no health or travel problems, for answered prayers, for special moments of knowing the Spirit was at work doing things things I could not do or see, yet got to celebrate as they began to bear fruit.

Tomorrow will be a special day. Preaching with my church family at Southern Hills as we begin a new focus on Jesus in the Gospel of John called, UNPREDICTABLE. We will join Jesus as he repeatedly does the UNPREDICTABLE to demonstrate God’s love and grace to people he came to save. But it will also be hard — not because I’m unprepared, but because my heart is full of so much emotion as well as my body being weary. To see how seeds planted two years ago are bearing fruit is an unspeakable great joy and deeply humbling. To realize that God is stitching lives together to use people to grow the Kingdom who two years ago knew nothing about Jesus is so moving to me. And these are people who are deeply important to my heart — I come back again to Paul’s words to the new followers of Jesus in Thessalonica:

For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?  Indeed, you are our glory and joy (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 NIV).

In fact, all of Paul’s deeply personal and emotional language of 1 Thessalonians 2 is no longer the focus of study, but an existential awareness: these people are my family, and their eternal destiny is my passion. My prayer is that when the time comes for Jesus to bring an end to tears and saying goodbye, that each of these precious ones, along with those precious ones that God has given me as my physical family, will enjoy the grace and relish the moments when distance, culture, and language are dissolved in the grace of unending glory and there are no more partings or sickness or separation.

May God bless you with a great Lord’s Day,

Phil

P.S. Robert and Jan, thank you for more than two decades of friendship and partnership in the work of the Lord and for the journey we have shared that was God’s gift to renew our passion and remind us that the book of Acts isn’t ancient history, but God’s desire waiting to be realized in us today. God bless you and your precious children Ericka and Bransom. You guys are so SPECIAL! And to the interns, Sonya, Constance, MamaZone, and Ven, all I can say is muy sic ‘em: thanks for sharing your time with me and may the Lord bless you in ways you cannot imagine. And to Melody and Karen, just remember that you are precious and incredible.

I am writing this update from chilly Seoul, Korea, airport. I left Chiang Mai and my precious and beloved friends, brothers and sisters, and spiritual daughters to head home shortly before midnight. Things have been hard at home in Abilene with several challenging situations. The most significant has been our daughter, Megan’s appointment with a Rheumatologist. It has been hard to be a “daddio” for several precious ones in Chiang Mai and not be there physically to do that with my daughter. In addition, there have been some other challenges that our church elders have had to handle. They are good men and they have been very busy loving on people with broken hearts, big dreams, and important ministries.

This beautiful, modern, and spacious Inchon airport is great for many reasons, but free Wifi is at the top of my list. I was able to video Skype with Donna and get the latest word on Megan’s appointment. Sitting here with my Mocha Frappacino watching the sun come up over the snowy hills around Seoul, I am thankful for friends and family who loved on Donna on her way out of Abilene yesterday afternoon. She headed to Austin to help Megan with her appointment today. She had so many things on her heart and I wasn’t there to help. Megan had a good first visit to the doc this morning and we will see where all this takes us. Prayers for complete healing would be appreciated!

Inevitably, important visits come to an end. This is hard and everyone begins to feel the urgency of the countdown as hours melt into minutes and minutes escape into hours. Suddenly, you realize that you are down to your final 36 hours. This urgency is good because you are reminded to make each moment count and not leave any stone unturned. I felt this urgency on three fronts:

1. Make each moment count with those precious to me who I get to see so infrequently and who I love so dearly. They felt this, too, and we all tried to make every moment count.
2. Make sure I helped complete things that Robert wanted to have done and get those things in good shape before I left.
3. Visit with people about the most important matters, the faith decisions they are facing, and helping them undersand how important their decision is to them and how precious they are to me.

I had one person I longed to see but never did. He ree-scheduled several appointments and eventually cancelled. This was the ONLY disappointment of the trip. The Lord blessed it in every other way. I’m tired, but filled with joy. I don’t think I could have done much more.

When Robert, the interns, and I arrived back from our trip to Phaoyo on Thursday, I went to meet Melody — someone very precious to me — at the coffee shop. We talked about her life, where she wanted to go with her life, and then came the moment of truth. What was the barrier that kept her from considering faith in Jesus? This special young woman is precious to me. We studied together 2 years ago when I was here. We visit at least once a week on Skype. She introduced me to her sister who also joined us in Chiang Mai for several days. Her sister has become a follower of Jesus, but she has not … yet.

We had great conversation and open sharing of our hearts as she described the barrier holding her back … then she lowered the barrier. There is a journey still to share and there will be strong challenges ahead, but there is also a commitment to journey together. She is part of Daddio and Nonnie’ group of girls from Peru, China, Madagascar, Uganda, and places in between that we would love to tuck into our beds and eat our table and claim as our own, but we probably won’t be able to do that this side of heaven. That’s why leading them to faith is so important to us.

After the conversation, we went to the Zone and visited some more about a few things then had supper and shared in the devo time at cell group meeting. Melody translated to me as the meeting was held in Thai and translated for me when I shared some things on my heart. Cell group is a time of singing, praying, and learning from God’s word. It is led by the church members. It follows a dinner. This provides great community, something so often lacking on the university campus or in the lives of the young business professionals that are a part of the Christian Zone.

Long after cell group was over, Sonya walked with us as I walked Melody back to her dorm. The international dorm is way on the far side of the campus. The three of us talked about what to look for in boys they dated, how did I know Donna was the right one for me, how could they know they were in love, and several other very important questions. Then they asked some very good, very straightforward questions of me. In many ways, these young woman are so innocent about all of this despite having grown up with significant challenges. Learning about dating from a Christian point of view was fascinating and also exciting for them. It was sweetly touch for me that they would share their hearts and concerns so freely and ask such spot on questions about what is important.  I was reminded again of two very important truths that I so often take for granted:

• Often, our best opportunities to teach God’s truth about life’s most important things occur because we are present at the moment they surface. To put it more simply, we don’t get those strategic moments of quality time without a commitment to be present with quantity time.
• How important a father’s love, even a surrogate father’s love, is to young men and young women as they begin to make their life decisions and seek to find their own moral compass.

I told them both that I was honored they would share their concerns so readily! After we dropped Melody at the dorm, Sonya and I walked Chinese pace back to the Zone where we read Scripture together with another intern.

It was a late night already when I got back to my room, but as I checked my international txt messages, there were several things in email and txt that broke my heart — things from back home and people I love and those who are seeking to minister to them.. I prayed. To be honest, I cried as I prayed. Worried about Megan’s visit and Donna’s travel and friends heartbreak and longing to see some of these precious young men and young women fully come to Jesus made for a deeply emotional time of prayer with the Father. This made for a very short night!

My last day began with equipping time and the reminder that just because something is God’s will doesn’t mean it will be easy or bring immediate and favorable results. There are fewer calls of God more clear than Paul’s call to go into Macedonia and share the good news of Jesus. However, Paul’s obedience to this call led to his beating and imprisonment in Philippi before he was asked to leave, being run out of Thessalonica and Jason having to post bond money assuring he wouldn’t return, being run out of the dumpy little town of Berea, being laughed out of town in Athens for preaching the Cross and Resurrection so that when he came to Corinth, he came in weakness and in fear (Read Acts 16-17 and 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 for the story). In other words, three years after Paul’s vision, he had faced beating, imprisonment, rejection, hardship, difficulty, ridicule, and planted the mess of a church we see in 1 Corinthians. Yet it was God’s will, and years later, the importance of this work is immediately clear. The reality, however, is that obeying the call of God can lead to challenging difficulties, hardships, and persecutions. Our job is to be faithful!

We shared some things we have seen this in our own lives. After working through these concepts, Sean Todd — another part of the mission team in Chiang Mai — shared his time and his life with the interns. Sean is animated, friendly, and sharp. (He is also a great translator and had graciously and powerfully translated for me on Sunday morning!) His honest sharing was a blessing to them. He talked about strategy and planning, yet reminded them of the importance of discerning what God was doing and hopping on board God’s work rather than trying to manufacture it ourselves.

After equipping time, Robert took the interns to lunch and I met Melody for a quick lunch. Then at 1:00 we all got back together and worked on the first lesson of Robert’s Friendship Bible Study to make it more suitable. This was the very first thing Robert and I spent time on when I arrived and it would be one of the last things we worked on before I left. These studies are a great follow up to LST or reading the Bible in English with others.

When we finished our study, Robert and I continued to visit and talk through several things and then I ran over to my room, packed my bags and it was time to go. Sonya joined us and we picked up Melody to share our last night together. We went to Sizzler for their vegetable buffet and then on to Robert and Jan’s house. We peaked in at a basketball game, but Melody and Sonya and I went across the street to have our final chat about their goals in life, the kind of men that could help them along the way, and the pressures and challenges of dating for them in their culture.

A quick trip by Robert and Jan’s house allowed me to call Karen and tell her goodbye — she had left Chiang Mai several days ago. I showered, visited with Jan a few minutes, talked about plans for the future with Melody, and then it was off to the airport to say goodbye.

My heart yearns to be home. I want to be a daddy to my own “little girl” who is hurting right now. At the same time, part of my heart will be with these precious ones whom I yearn to be part of our forever family. I am convinced that day is closer for them now than ever before. It has been a great trip filled with many things — preaching, teaching, counseling, conversation, prayer, planning, dreaming, editing, brainstorming, and most importantly, loving. The world is much smaller than we often realize and the differences between us as people are real, but often much smaller than we often imagine. Most importantly, we all have a shared need for Jesus and his love and his family.

Two years ago, God opened the door for five of us to come to Chiang Mai to teach English using the Bible to Thai students with Let’s Start Talking. What began there has turned into something much bigger — circles of influence and relationship are spreading all over Asia and China. There are followers of Jesus where once there were people who had never really known anything about him. God has changed us and caught us up into something much bigger and grander and certainly much deeper emotionally, than any of us could have imagined. Along the way, love has deepened, hearts have changed, the Kingdom has grown, and we’ve even launched Verse of the Day in Chinese (as well as Korean, Russian, German, Portuguese, & Spanish) and soon will have it available in Thai.

To God be the glory!

My continuing prayer is that He continue to use us to make a difference in the lives of people we dearly love so that we can share in his grace with them … forever.

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out …
(Mark 3:13-14 NIV).

In Jesus’ final words that we call “The Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20), the Lord gave one command: make disciples! Three important processes are essential parts for us to faithfully fulfill this plan:

1. go
2. baptize
3. teach to obey

We can sit around debate all we want whether that is what most of our efforts in the Western church do these essential things as our priorities, but then the focus gets into a blame game or theological debate. So rather than getting sucked into that religious black hole, let’s simply begin to focus on what we personally — rather than what “They” corporately — ought to do. Or in this case, the heart and soul purpose of this trip to Thailand.

Much of my week has centered on following up on people precious to me who are in all sorts of places in their longing to follow Jesus.

• Some are new Christians and I have tried to encourage, strengthen, and love them. One of them, Karen, is my new daughter in the faith and is precious to me in very special ways!
• Others are trying to decide whether they are seekers or are simply wanting to be nice people and have international friends — some of tese are so dear to me my heart cannot even bear the thought that they might not ever become a true follower of Jesus and I know that they love me, too.
• Others are committed to not only grow in Christ, but to also grow as leaders and to lead others to Christ — interestingly, one from each of the two previous categories also fit here.

For the last 36 hours, I have devoted my time exclusively to this last group. For the following five weeks, Robert will continue to pour himself into this group so that “they might be with him and that he might send them out.” He is seeking to fulfill “The Great Commission”: teaching them to obey all that the Lord has called them to do. He calls them interns, but he is not interning them to the business of church like so many internships focus on in the states. He is interning them to Jesus — to knowing how to reach and to grow others to Jesus, while keeping themselves spiritually healthy in the process.

Robert tries to use as many locations and situations as possible to expose them to new culture, spiritual disciplines, serving, leading, evangelizing, encouraging, and taking those skills with them wherever they go. Not all can be part of the group the whole time, but each is being exposed and connected to people, resources, and practices that can help them continue their growth and live out Jesus’ mission. In this group are a Chinese seeker, a new Chinese believer, an Indonesia woman in her sixties, a young man from Malaysia, and a young woman from Singapore. We are all in Thailand!

We spent the last 36 hours on a beautiful lake near Chiang Mai. We read scripture, talked informally, prayed, worked on several chapters of material on spiritual discipline, and shared some sweet time in personal worship as the day dawned in wondrous splendor over the mountains and through the clouds and mist.

This was “be with him” time using Jesus example in Mark 3 mentioned above. Humor, relationship, and breaking down cultural barriers happens easily in moments like these. As the sun rose and greeted the new day, one precious young Chinese seeker said, “how beautiful” as she saw God painting the new day. I was able to show her Psalm 19:1-4 and we talked about how no matter our language or culture God reminds us of his love and care by writing us without words with his beautiful gift of a new day.

One of the English phrases that many Chinese pick up from Western media, especially movies and TV shows, is “O my G_d!” A new Chinese believer named Karen had told this young woman — along with her own sister — that this was disrespecting God to “use his name so lightly and without thought.” So when this young woman said, “O my goodness this is so beautiful” (talking about the idea of Psalm 19), I was able to say, “This is the right time to say, ‘O my God, thank you for your beautiful creation and your love for us!” Together we lifted our hands in praise to the only living God of all people. Such moments of teaching and relationship can happen only in “be with him” time.

There will be many opportunities for “send them out” time. They will work with theThai church. They will be with nonbelievers in many situations. So in equipping time yesterday, Robert emphasized how the interns were to be both a magnet to attack people to Jesus and the church and also a bridge to try o connect unbelievers to theThai Christians so there was a connection to God’s people when the inters left. We have focused on the importance of affirming each other and our gifts and strengths just as God affirmed his relationship, love, and pleasure in his Son at Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:21-22).

Tomorrow we will talk about Paul’s call to go into Macedonia and share the goodness of Jesus there — yet the first three years brought mostly hardship and rejection and only after the passage of significant time did Paul see the results of his obedience (Acts 16:6-10 — Paul and Silas were jailed and asked to leave Philippi; they were run out of Thessalonica at significant expense to new believers; Paul was laughed out of Athens; and in “weakness and in fear” they planted the mess of a church in Corinth.).

Well enough for now, I go for a series of heart to heart talks with someone who I call Precious, and the outcome of these talks mean the world to me … and ultimately and eternally, they mean the world for her.

May God bless it all to his glory!

Phil