I'm not sure why I thought a sabbatical from this blog would be beneficial, but I am going to start writing in it again. It will not, however, be a substitute for my newsletters, but will supplement them. In other words, I intend to write about whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it. I've been writing poetry again lately, let me know what you think of this one:
Deep calls to deep to me
and so I set from shore
Set into the crad'ling sea
too far for boat and oar
Deep calls to deep to me
His voice from myst'ry sent
so I dive to go and see
but far too soon I'm spent
Deep still calls to deep to me
and cradles me to shore
so again I set to seek
but deeper than before
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Holiday Principle
The holiday season is a pretty good time to step back and look at what truly matters. What is the driving, master principle behind what I am doing? What is the belief that pushes me forward? Why am I doing what I am doing?
My driving principle is this: That Jesus Christ has been sent to us after humanity’s failing to remain faithful to God’s law in order to take the blame for our wrongdoings and to give us the ability to do good things He saw that we could not succeed with the Law written on tablets of stone so He took the initiative to write it on out hearts and in our minds. He bought my badness in order to offer His goodness, a goodness that naturally pours out to others when it’s given to me.
So, for me, the thing to remember during this holiday season when everything gets busy (and, more significantly for me, when I am unable to meet with many people to raise support because they are busy) is that in the end all I do I do because of what Christ has done and has made me able to do.
I am thankful to God for all of you (whether you support me or not), and I hope that your holidays are very enjoyable as well as worshipful.
Joshua
Monday, November 10, 2008
Productivity
The past two weeks have been the most productive since I started raising support! The difference has been mostly in the references that I have been making. Because of this I now have a constantly renewable pool of people that I can speak to. What has also helped is that I have been much more diligent in going to the office at Eastside Baptist to work instead of doing it from home. Giving myself set hours in a set place has a definite positive effect on my overall work ethic. My goal is to have five to seven appointments every week (I’m averaging about three right now). If I can do this then I will certainly have all the money I need and more in a very short while.
Also, I will be working with Eastside again with my friend Joel Williams who is sitting next to me at the moment proofreading this blog. I’m not sure exactly how the end result of my job will look, but I think that we will be sort of pre-visitation visitors. We will visit people who have recently moved into town and refer them to their respective Sunday school teachers. Hopefully I will be able to share the Gospel on these visits as well. More than anything else I’m really looking forward to meeting and getting to know all these new people.
Joshua
Friday, October 24, 2008
Charlotte!
As you all probably know I went to Charlotte last week to go through the support training seminar again. I am really glad I went. I think that with the knowledge and momentum that I gained from the trip I will have absolutely no excuse for not having all of my support raised within the next few months, thus putting me on schedule to go to CIT training in February and then leave for Estonia in the late spring or early summer. All I need to do is keep on pluggin’ away!
I also need to note that this trip was good for me because I am so isolated here in Douglas. I hadn’t seen the people I am working with/for for almost exactly a year. So, it was good to feel more like part of the team again.
Thanks for your prayers and support!
Joshua
Friday, October 10, 2008
One Church
Last week was an interesting week for my community. Many of the local churches met together that Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights in what was called the “Send the Rain Revival.” It was very neat to be a part of because it was the first time I have seen the actual Church in a single community (most of it al least) come together as the one thing that it is. In other words I thought it was fantastic that the Church in Douglas GA met together for the first time last week. I hope that it continues to happen.
As for my support raising, I need more contacts! I am working with some pastors and missions committees right now in order to speak to some groups of people. However, if any of you know of anyone who is interested in Missions and would possibly like to support a missionary through prayer and/or finance, please send them my way! I have $550 in monthly pledges left to raise. I know that God will provide for this and I thank you all for your prayers and thoughts on my behalf!
Joshua
Friday, September 26, 2008
A Very Brief History Lesson
I have wanted to write a blog about the history and spiritual attitude of Estonia for a while now. This has been a much bigger project than I had thought it would be and have now spent at least a month in light research with not much to show for it. It has been difficult to find resources that agree with each other. One big thing is that many official statistics give the country a much higher Christian percentage than the arguably more reliable unofficial statistics. I think I have enough info for you guys now to write this blog, so here we go.
Estonia has had a rough time in the past. In 1227 it was conquered by the Danes and Germans. This led to 700 years of foreign occupation spread out between the Danes, Germans, Roman Empire, Swedes, and eventually Russians. Estonia finally gained their independence in 1918, only to lose it again to the Soviets in 1940. They gained independence once again in 1991 and have been a sovereign country ever since. Needless to say so many years of foreign rule followed by the pretty extreme oppression of the Soviets has taken a toll on Estonian culture.
The spiritual side of Estonia has been interesting to research, as I have already mentioned. Estonia has a very strong Lutheran presence due to German influence. Many official resources say that between 30%-40% of the population is Christian. A closer look, however, gives a much lower number. One website puts the percentage of Estonia’s Church goers at 4% of the population (The U.S.A has 44%). So what I will be working with seemed to be an outwardly Christian nation that is inwardly very secular. Some specific implications of this are that divorce, abortion, and materialism is common place here. Here is a great video about this that was put out by Kevin Mason who I will be working under in Estonia.
There is much more to say about this, but for shortness’ sake I will save it for another day. I can say that after learning all that I have about the country in which I minister has made me very excited to get there, and I hope that this blog will make you all the more excited to partner with me when I get there!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Good week, but gas is high
Hello all! I hope that the past week has treated you well. My week has been pretty productive. Since I lost my substituting job I have been working loosely with a business named One Stop Promo Shop. The owners are friends of mine and have actually helped me in the past be printing out my brochures. So, I am financially better than I was a week ago thanks to them.
Now that I know that I will be in Douglas for a while longer I can start planning some new things to help me raise support. One neat idea that my friend Deek came up with is to make a short video about what I will be doing in Estonia. (Deek also has a featured article on youthministry.com, which I thought was pretty neat) It probably won’t take very long if we start making it within the next few days, so I will probably be putting it into my repertoire in the next few weeks.
Gas prices are going up, the economy doesn’t look very good. Many people are distressing over their financial situation. As an end to this blog I just feel compelled to comment on my feelings towards this. I have heard many times that we should be good stewards with our money, and I agree, but I think my definition of “good steward” is different that several of my friends’ who use this phrase.It seems that to be a “good steward” in the conventional way is to save my money wisely so I don’t need to rely on the money of others to survive. It seems to me, however, that being a “good steward” has more to do with the usefulness of the money given to you than in the saving of it. What I mean by this is that the money we have should be used for our own benefit, but if we are to be “good stewards” then it is also to be used just as much for the benefit of others. I say this because the temptation right now is to take money that would normally be spent on someone else (I’m not talking about gifts to friends or loved ones, but of giving to people who need it more than you like the poor) and keeping it for yourself. Fight this temptation. Be good stewards with your money by making sure that those people who are not able to have their needs met are taken care of. What do you guys think about this?
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