The Phil Files

As I think about it, I can’t help but laugh. I went to the Texas Rangers Baseball game Monday night with my good friend Tom Allen and his son and a his son’s friend. We had to get some good chicken fried steak at New York Hill Steakhouse in Thurber, then a trip to the Man-Mall (Cabellas) on the way there — even though the Man-Mall is about 30 miles out of the way 8^).

Being the worry-wort dad I can sometimes be, I was also preoccupied with my daughter driving from Houston to San Antonio and with a student traveling from Thailand back home to China.

Somewhere in the middle of this experience was one of the weirdest baseball games I have ever attended. Yes, we had an incredible rendition of the Star Spangled Banner after batting practice. Yes, Cade and Christian got autographs on their hats from Julio Borbon, the speedster center fielder for the Rangers. We had great seats and good ol’ ballpark hot dogs and nachos. But the game was just flat weird — sloppy fielding, two balks, a home run reversed on instant replay, two star batters were called out on third strikes on bad calls by the umpire with the bases loaded, base running mistakes, and other bits of craziness.

Meanwhile, I was running the battery dry on my droid texting back to Donna and trying to keep track of Megan’s trip to San Antonio and answering email before the ball game started. Once all of that was straightened out, then the really goofy stuff began. I called my student’s mom in China trying to see if she had made it home on her long journey by plane and train. I had a nagging feeling the day before that something was wrong and just couldn’t shake it. (Turns out that there had been a significant problem, but another of my students bumped into her at the airport and got her to the train station, but that’s another story of God’s grace for another time!)

I was using Skype from my Droid and called into mainland China. Perfect connection — how is that possible when I had horrible connections back to Abilene with ATT’s “famous” service on Donna’s iPhone? I could say my student’s name in Chinese, but that was the extent of my fluency in Mandarin! What do I say next? On the first call, the mom talked very excitedly trying to help me understand something — she only understood her daughter’s name and nothing else. On the second call, an hour later, she realized it was me again (except she didn’t have a clue who the “me” was calling in English) and she spoke her Chinese v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. I couldn’t help but laugh, because that is what I often do when others who do not know English are talking with me. Then, when I said her daughter’s name, the Rangers made a great defensive play and the stands erupted with raucous cheering. I think her mom giggled a little then, wondering where and the world I was and why all the cheering for her daughter’s name. Meanwhile, the folks around me were looking at me quizzically and wondering what was going on — ironically, the best reception for my phone was actually in my seat in the ballpark, and we all know how much we appreciate people using their cell phones next to us at the ballgame!

As I thought about this scene, I couldn’t help but laugh. What an incredible time in which we live! What an opportunity to share God’s grace across boundaries like distance, culture, language, and space!

I’ve just received an inquiry about our mobile version of Heartlight and learned it’s being used in Africa where the web is mostly accessed by phone. With our new Facebook app we are also reaching a whole new audience. Such an expansive ministry (180 countries, 250000 daily emails, 4 million page views per month) on a shoestring. We have such great opportunities in today’s world, let’s not squander them — and when possible, let’s make personal connections to people who need Jesus whether they are near or far.

The next morning after the game, I called my student’s mom and her daughter answered right away. She had made it safely, only about 4 hours later than expected. So I will continue to stay in touch through email, Skype, and any way possible to help others find their way to Jesus. I bet some of you will do the same!

O Lord, I beg for your Kingdom to come and your will be done and for your grace to help us overcome every barrier as we try to touch seeking hearts with the story of Jesus! And for these special ones that each of have that are on our hearts, whether they live nearby or far away, we ask for grace and time and open doors for them to come to know you. Amen.

The last several weeks have been extraordinarily emotional. I have missed my Thai brothers and sisters in Christ and my Chinese friends made while in Thailand. My heart aches to see them come to know Jesus in a real and enduring way. I’ve been blessed to see our two foster grandsons for a week at our house, but as we put them on the plane with our son and daughter-in-law, I am fully aware that l might never see them again — brought even more crashingly home to reality this very day. There are so many loose ends that I am struggling to let God bring together in His time and to His glory. But I confess, this is tough!

At the same time, God has been so gracious. He has reminded me of two precious young women I was privileged to baptize this Spring. Both of them are doing well and moving on to great things. Hearing their stories brings deep joy in my life and reminds me that God does work to bring loose ends together and makes something incredibly beautiful out of them.

In addition, our church is incredibly blessed to partner with a ministry that is all about being God’s knitting needles as he ties together loose ends and weaves together something beautiful. We will have a team leave to go work with this ministry on Sunday. Two of the key leaders grew up in our church. So it is with great joy that I share this video to you from the Dry Bones ministry to homeless kids in Denver. Jesus talked about the last, the least, and the left out and how they would find themselves first, valued, and included in His Kingdom. Thanks be to God for those who are part of the Dry Bones ministry and their work to help make this happen in the real world.

You can find this video on YouTube here for those who have mobile devices:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTzAfY6ePhQ

Other knitting needles in Jesus’ hands that are being used to knit God’s grace into people’s lives from our church are in, or have recently been in, Germany, Thailand, New Orleans, Haiti, Memphis, Peru, Nigeria, Mexico, Cuba, South Africa, Ghana, Ukraine, and other places in between in addition to being involved in International Rescue Committe work with Congolese and Butanese This has brought an incredible work of blessing that has also included people from Madagascar and Rwanda. So while waiting for God’s final work to be finished in the lives of those I deeply love and miss, I am thankful to be in the knitting basket of God’s grace, being used to knit as part of His plan.

Thought you would appreciate this YouTube video on Coach Wooden!

Well done! Thank you Coach, enjoy your homecoming and your greatest victory.

See also: “Happy Birthday, Coach!”

I’d like to invite you on a journey. It’s a one year journey, begun during the time of year that most of us go into vacation mode and get ready for our summertime trips. But the beauty of this journey is that it doesn’t cost anything and the results can be astounding.

I’d like to challenge you to go on a one year journey through the teaching of Jesus. In particular, I want to invite you to join me in reading through the teaching sections of Matthew (5:1-7:29; 10:5-11:1; 18:1-19:1; 23:1-26:1), doing two things, and documenting it through a downloadable spreadsheet I’ve prepared for us. So what are the two things?

1. Let’s read these teaching blocks. I’m not talking about reading them once, but reading them again and again. Over the next year, let’s read through them at least once per month in two different translations. Let’s commit portions of these blocks of Jesus’ teaching to memory — this was probably the reason Matthew concentrated them into the five blocks of teaching to begin with!
2. Let’s live what we’ve learned. Jesus’ emphasis is on putting into practice, obeying, and faithfully living God’s will (Matthew 7:21-27;Matthew 12:48-50;Matthew 28:20). So let’s remember life application must be the focus of our learning the words of Jesus.

For more on this idea, and the reason behind it, I invite you read my article in heartlight.org.

What you say let’s take a little trip together that can change everything?

We are home. The flights all ran on time. Our connections were solid. We got a little sleep — emphasis on little — but we are home with our families. Reunion was SWEET!

The dust of Thailand is out of my clothes, but the Thai and Chinese friends I’ve made will always be in my heart. What a sweet time of walking in the presence of the Lord’s will.

One final thing I must share. June 1, the day of our coming home, was also my sweet wife’s birthday. Happy Birthday darlin’ and I hope we get to share many more together! Several days before I returned, I received two messages from her. The first: I miss you so much and can’t wait for you to be home. The second: I miss you dearly, but if you need to stay longer, we will find the money and you can continue to do what Lord has called you to do. Now you know why reunion is SWEET! How can you not love someone that loves you and the Lord like that?