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The Drama of the Judges

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:35:58 +0800

We have had some busy times here in Danshui! After finishing up the Pentateuch we jumped right into Joshua, Judges and Ruth. Coming up in the next three weeks we will be completing Samuel, Kings and Chronicles!

We had a special assignment for the book of Judges: our class was assigned groups and a story from the book to turn into a drama. Brian had the final half of the life of Gideon and I had the beginning of Samson. In the middle of the cutting off of thumbs and big toes, tent peg through temple, tearing up lions and gouging out of eyes, it was really nice to have a little fun with the book. Judges was pretty intense so it was good to have the comic relief of the ridiculous skits that all of our classmates came up with. Thanks to the camera skills of our classmate Sugi, we now have all of these skits to share with all of you! I urge you to read through these chapters before watching the videos; it might help to understand our weird Bible sense of humor and hidden jokes throughout the skits (and why I am dressed up like a lion.)

The beginning of the life of Samson is in Judges 13 and 14. My role is the lion and then later a Philistine.

The life of Gideon is in Judges 6 through 8. But the skit that Brian was in only covered chapter 7. Brian played the role of God (he has the biggest beard in class, so naturally, he would play God).

Thank you so much for your prayers! We love and miss everyone at home so much but we also would not exchange this experience for the world. Your support has been such a blessing to our lives!

Do you want more bible SBS Taiwan style? Here are the rest of the skits from our class!

Talking About the Cost

Sun, 8 Aug 2010 16:35:20 +0800

(Brian writes) I know it has been a while since out last post, but the lack of writing is in no way an indication of a lack of happenings. We are learning so so much and being stretched in such a massive way that our entire perspective on life is being shifted.

In all that is happening, we are being blessed with confirmation after confirmation that we are in the right place and moving in the right direction in our ministry. God is showing us again and again that he has our futures in line, and that our obedience and persistence will bring us right to where we need to be.

We have moved out of the New Testament and are well into the Pentateuch. These are books that I have grown up with, and yet have never really grasped the significance and punch that they held for their original readers, the Israelites. God has been really showing us the timeless truths that are found within the pages of these first five books of the bible. We are currently in the book of numbers, but will be well into Deuteronomy by this time next week.

I have felt a very strong message brewing on my heart over the last week, and I thought I would share the question that God has been asking me in a fiercer and fiercer manner since Leviticus. This is a question that really pulls all of the things that we have been learning over the course of this program into one place.

The Question

What is your faith costing you? I don’t mean how much are you tithing, I don’t mean how much are giving to missions; I mean what is it costing you?

We are saved by the blood of a man who lived a life of perfection, the only man ever to do this. But more than that, we were saved by the blood of our God, who left his place as the Ruler and Lord of all the earth to live as one of us, and then gave himself up to have relationship with a people who had been sinning and flouting his gifts and authority from the start.

That is the gospel folks. You were a sinner, one who by nature could not be in relationship with God, but in the midst of that sin he died for you in order that you could know him. He paid the ultimate cost for us, a people who only ever deserved death.

So, what is your faith and decision to follow after Christ actually costing you? Do you see any sort of persecution as result of your faith? Are you looked at differently because of your beliefs?

With this I have been wrestling and struggling all week.

Please understand, I am in no way giving anywhere near what I should be. I am still learning to lay down my selfishness and pride and understand just how much I owe to the cross and to a God who's love defies all logic and understanding.

The way that I see this question is as a challenge, one that should be the motivation to each and every mornings getting out of bed.

The Challenge

How frequently do you actually study the word? How many times a day do you go to God in prayer? How often are you listening to the Spirit for guidance? How often do you share the gospel with other people? Heck, do the people you work with even know that you are a Christian?

I have been so challenged living here on this base about more than just my perceptions about the bible. The core that drives this base is evangelizing the nations, starting with this nation. That means that everybody is without excuse in the matter of reaching out to the community.

'Oh, you are a full time bible student? Well you get to evangelize.'

'Oh, you feel called to two years of leaning the language? Well, guess what: you get to evangelize while doing it.'

To be perfectly honest, this really annoyed me for about the first month we were here. I was here to spend all of my time leaning what the bible had to show me, and then I would have time to spread the word. But now I am seeing that calling myself a Christian means sharing the gospel.

These two things are not able to be separated, nor should they. Ever.

So then, my prayer request for the two for us, and our prayer for each and everyone of you is that we would not forget that there is a cost to our salvation. As Christians we are called to live lives that are all about Jesus, and all about sharing who he is.

Spring Newsletter 2010

Sun, 4 Jul 2010 09:50:52 +0800

Hey Everybody! Here is our very first quarterly newsletter! Here’s to many, many more!

Break: an Overview

Sat, 3 Jul 2010 17:25:18 +0800

(Brian writes) After a week of mind-freeing break, we are back into the throws of school. We just completed the gospel of John (it only took us a week Paster John), and are diving into the letters of John and Revelation this week. But, we thought that we would share some of our experiences from the break with you!

Camping

Our fist night of freedom was spent out on the east coast of Taiwan, camping and hanging out on the beach. We got to spend actual time with some of our classmates, swim in the gorgeous Pacific, and see some huge sand castles. As to the actual camping, it was more like staying in a cloth hotel. There were bathrooms twenty feet away, covered cooking and eating areas, and a convenience store with anything anyone would ever need (including rollerblades).

Taipei Zoo

I think this was THE highlight of the week for Ashley. For less than a dollar, we were able to see animals that we have never seen before, and get up close and personal with the pandas. The most exotic of all the animals we saw however, was the rare and elusive raccoon.

Pinglin Tea Fields

We have become quite the tea enthusiasts over the years; and this was a very neat little outing. We got to do some nice hiking, and see hillsides of tea. This little town is up in the mountains, and has two peaks that rise over it (See main Photo). On each hill is a shine surrounded by tea, and a twenty-foot tall statue. This was a very cool look at the foothills of Taiwan.

These were really our biggest adventures, and the rest our time was spent relaxing at home and hanging out with our friends. On the whole this was exactly the break we had been needing.

As summer is setting in, what are your plans? Are you going to anywhere special with your family?

A New Look

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:06:47 +0800

(brian writes) As you can see, we have made some changes to the look and feel of the site! Our first site was a sort of first attempt at web design for me, and was as result very very basic.

Though this remodel isn’t tremendously more complicated, there are a several new features aimed at improving the site environment. Firstly (1) we have a new header on our pages. This is almost entirely a cosmetic change, and was really just an excuse for me to try out some idea that have been floating around in my head for a while.

Secondly (2) we have taken advantage of a new web-tool by google, Friend Connect. What this does for us is allow people (you) to join our website, and through that gain different levels of interaction within the site. Right now these features are simply a new comment system and a featured content box. BUT, there will be a great deal more to weave into the site in the months to follow.

Using these features is very simple, and will all allow all interaction within the site to be interconnected. To start, click on the ‘Join this site’ button and sign up. If you have a Yahoo, Google, Twitter, AIM, NetLog, or Open ID account, you can use that to sign in. If you don’t have one of these, you can create a google account for free. Once you have joined the site, you will be able to leave comments, have previous posts recommended to you, and will be able to keep up with all the happening and changes in our lives.

Thirdly (3) we revamped the content of just about every page on the site, so take some time to flip though.

Let us know what you think, and if you are having any problems, let me know!