House Church Leader and Family Evicted from Home

China (Voice of the Martyrs Update)
On July 2, Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers evicted prominent house church leader Pastor Hua Huiqi and his family from their home in Beijing, China.

According to China Aid Association (CAA), “Hua and his family were resting in their rental apartment when PSB officials led by Officer Yang Jian used a 10-pound hammer to break down the doors and locks of the apartment. Hua’s brother was beaten by police officers and suffered severe damage to his eye. Hua and his family, including his 90-year-old father, were forced onto the street with their furniture. They are currently in search of a new home and are being hosted by a Christian family in Beijing.”

According to CAA, “The Chinese government has expressed its intentions to either detain Hua until September 30, a date well after the Olympics, or to remove Hua and his family completely out of Beijing during the Games. The Chinese government had branded Hua and other human rights and religious activists as ‘troublemakers’ and is adamant about keeping such people from attending the games in August.”

“We have predicted that things like this would happen ahead of the Beijing Olympics,” said Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for The Voice of the Martyrs. “The Chinese government is determined that there will be no distractions and no embarrassment when the eyes of the world turn to Beijing next month. Our Christian brothers and sisters, like Brother Hua and his family, are not ‘troublemakers,’ as China’s government says. They are simply Christian people who want the freedom to follow Christ according to their conscience.”

This recent incident is the latest in a series of attacks, arrests and imprisonments Pastor Hua and his family have endured from the PSB. In January 2007, Hua and his 76-year-old mother, Shuang Shuying, were attacked and wounded by seven police officers while walking near a 2008 Olympic hotel site in Beijing. CAA reported, “They were kicked to the ground and later taken to the Olympic police station for questioning.” Hua’s mother was sentenced to two years in prison, while Hua served six months. In October, while under house arrest, Hua was repeatedly attacked and beaten by police at his home. CAA reported, “Hua was reading his Bible at his home despite police surrounding his house. He was sent to Beijing Tiantan Hospital because he lost consciousness after repeated beatings from the police.”

Shuang Shuying remains in prison and is very ill. According to CAA she is being held in a medical center because her health has deteriorated. “The doctor said she is too weak to send to a formal prison because of heart problems, diabetes and other medical problems,” CAA reported.VOM contacts say she is being held hostage by police in order to put pressure on Pastor Hua to reveal names and information of believers.

VOM encourages you to pray for believers in China. Pray for Hua’s family who are living under intense persecution. Ask God to watch over his elderly parents who are great examples of faith and courage. Ask the Holy Spirit to convict the persecutors and draw them into the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

 

lessons from the ice cream man

After lunch with Amber and Heather the ice cream man showed up at Amber’s office. His name is Vincent and he is the happiest man I have met in quite a while He was smiling, full of joy and enthusiastically sold me a strawberry popsicle. 

Vincent explained that he is from Guatemala and only works in the States during the summer months. Vincent goes home when it is too cold to sell ice cream and he prefers EVERYTHING in his homeland.

Vincent’s Observations:

1. People here are not as hospitable or friendly.
2. (North) Americans work too much and spend too little time with their families.
3. There aren’t enough lakes, rivers or volcanoes for his taste. 

I don’t think I have ever been as happy at work as Vincent was in his ice cream truck today. 

Lessons learned…

 

amateur lovers (a.k.a. why relationships are so hard)

Amateur Lovers
Switchfoot

“Everyone I know needs love like drugs
Like a common cold we could never shrug

My baby and me we’re missing the same stuff
We’ve all got a disease, deficiency of love
Every day we still try, every night we still cry
Driving home on the 805

(chorus)
We don’t know what we’re doing
We do it again
We’re just amateur lovers
With amateur friends.”

Jesus is the only professional Lover…

 

Where am I?

He Himself is the Answer
I was listening to Michael Card on the radio discussing prayer. He was talking about when we have questions and God gives Himself as the answer. Like with Job…God didn’t give him answers, He gave Himself.

Where Are You?
At a recent conference Card said the audience was asked, “Where are you? Not, where do you pretend to be spiritually or where do you wish you were, but where are you, right now, with God?”  A major, Christian leader stood up in tears saying, “I have never asked myself that question and I am afraid to ask. I am afraid to see into the darkness of my own soul. I am afraid to see what is behind the pretense and the facade.”

I needed to write this down to remind myself to ask. I am afraid too…

 

Set Apart

“The glory of the gospel is that when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first. That is how revival comes. That must also be true of us as individuals.

It should not be our ambition to be as much like everybody else as we can, though we happen to be Christian, but rather to be as different from everybody who is not a Christian as we can possibly be. Our ambition should be to be like Christ, the more like Him the better, and the more like Him we become, the more we shall be unlike everybody who is not a Christian”

-Martyn Lloyd Jones

 

Middle East

This is me after swimming in the Dead Sea. The sun is setting over Jerusalem. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. I will write more later when the jet lag wears off. It was the richest experience of my life.

Me at the Dead Sea

 

missions quotes

“Here am I. Send me” Isaiah 6:8
- The Prophet Isaiah

“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:34, 35). – Jesus Christ

“Why do what others can and will do, when there is so much that needs to be done that others will not do?”
– Dawson Trotman, Founder of Navigators

“Obedience to the call of Christ nearly always costs everything to two people- the one who is called, and the one who loves that one.”
- Oswald Chambers

“I feel now, that Arabia could easily be evangelized within the next thirty years if it were not for the wicked selfishness of Christians.”
- Samuel Zwemer

“The question is not whether you will die; but the question is, “Will the death you die bear much fruit?”.
- John Piper

“His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice.”
- John Stott

“Today Christians spend more money on dog food than missions.”
- Leonard Ravenhill

“With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home.”
- James Hudson Taylor

“Whom God would use greatly He will hurt deeply.”
- A.W. Tozer

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon

“While vast continents are shrouded in darkness… the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field.”- Ion Keith Falconer

“A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story.” - K.P. Yohannon

“The Indian is making an amazing discovery, namely that Christianity and Jesus are not the same that they may have Jesus without the system that has been built up around Him in the West.”- E. Stanley Jones

“In faith, there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.”– Blaise Pascal

“If every Christian is already considered a missionary, then all can stay put where they are, and nobody needs to get up and go anywhere to preach the gospel. But if our only concern is to witness where we are, how will people in unevangelized areas ever hear the gospel? The present uneven distribution of Christians and opportunities to hear the gospel of Christ will continue on unchanged.”- C. Gordon Olson

“Missionaries are like a pile of manure. When you spread them out, they do some good. But if you let them pile up in one place, they begin to stink.”- (unknown)

“Why do we insist on building the largest and most impressive structures in our city when people on the other side of town are hungry, jobless and worshipping in storefronts?”- K.P. Yohannon

“Every step in the progress of missions is directly traceable to prayer.”- A.T. Pierson

“We have a God who delights in impossibilities.”- Andrew Murray

“He is no fool gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” 
-Jim Elliot 

 

quote

“Don’t be afraid that your life will end, 
be afraid that it will never begin.”

Grace Hansen

 

the drought is over

“Strong storms are over the western half of Jefferson County. They show signs of the potential for damaging winds. They also have deadly lightning and torrential rains. Much of the Birmingham Metro up into extreme southern Blount County will be affected. Be in safe shelter as these strong storms approach.” ABC 33/40 Weather Blog

Alabama has been under a drought for at least a year. Recently the Lord brought flooding rains to the South. Bad for some but good for most. Today, as I hear the distant thunder rumble in the distance I am giddy! Did I mention I love thunder, lightning and pretty much all severe weather? (I mean no disrespect to anyone who family has suffered loss by a tornado or hurricane.)

The power of storms wakes me up to the power of God. They stir my soul and snap me out of my complacency. Suddenly, I remember I am an alien here and this is not my home. I think of the the last storm that will come and a coming King. No matter what happens, I am in safe shelter as this strong storm approaches!

Riding His white horse, His eyes are fire, a sharp sword in His mouth and on his robe and on his thigh He has a name written, KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS! The best ending to the best story ever told! At least for believers. Oh God, that unbelievers would hear you and see your storms as merciful warnings!!

I digress.

So a drought in my life it seems is ending as well. I am writing music again and have two songlings that are just peaking their heads through the soil of God’s marvelous love. Ahhhh! That was completely cheesy! I am starting to sound like Beth Moore!!

Anyway, I see some fruit and it gives me joy that the long winter is over. Praise Him!

 

Alibris

This site has really improved since I visited it last! The book prices are way lower than Amazon or Lifeway! They have all kinds of books, movies and music. Their used books are dirt cheap! I know, I know, like I need to buy more books.

I get it, I’m a nerd. Shut up.