Waypoints

An update on Grace

Grace continues to making progress with her walking. She is using a walker, but is more comfortable with it, less dependent on it. It’s hard to measure progress day to day, but she is certainly better today than when we came home on Friday… more balanced, less shaky, eyes moving less. As long as she is improving, we will give the IVIG treatment time to work and not pursue another type treatment.

We haven’t had word yet from some of last week’s tests, which are expected to be “negative,” just checking off “what it’s not.”

We again thank you for your overwhelming prayer support and your encouragement to us and to Grace daily. We are asking God to show up and take all the credit.

Our Family’s Recent Journey

Since Christmas Night, our youngest daughter Grace had not been sleeping well, blurred vision, shaky, off -balance. An appointment with our Pediatrician, January 5, sent us from there to Children’s Hospital for tests. After a huge battery of tests, we left with the diagnosis of “inflammation of the cerebellum”, given steroids for 2 weeks and, aside from a few weeks of missed school, a prognosis of full recovery.

Thursday, January 13, we were readmitted to Children’s because her balance and coordination were worsening. We were there until Friday, January 21. During this weeklong stay, doctors remained “intrigued” with her symptoms and ran her through many, many more test and evaluations trying to find the answer. So far, all test and examinations showed no initial, significant findings. Grace continued through physical therapy and began to manage the use of a walker for support.

Grace also began a three day treatment called “IVIG” which is intravenous immune globulin. Thankfully Grace had no adverse reactions to the this treatment.

We are at home now, giving the IVIG treatment time to work (which could be weeks). Her situation is still “intriguing” to neurologists with still no firm diagnosis. Our neurologists are in touch with others around the country thanks to technology allowing shared tests results, MRI, and video

We have been blessed with an abundance of support, a wonderful hospital and staff, constant prayer for healing from so many, a sweet, positive attitude from Grace (which is typical,) and peace that only God brings. Please continue to pray for wisdom and divine healing!

Sabbath

From time to time I am asked about the importance of the “Sabbath” in our world today. Unfortunately, there are many who feel the ministry of Jesus completely abolished the Old Testament and the teachings and principles that God placed for His people. To a degree this would be correct, but it is also true that Jesus completed or fulfilled what we find in the Old Testament. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17 (NIV) Some would say this verse means Jesus completed the requirements of the law which we could not complete.

Today, we see people who follow Christ who have completely done away with the “need” for rest, worship and fellowship with fellow believers. The thought is that everyday in Christ is a day of rest, so one is not any more important than another. Likewise, coming to church on Sunday is a point of convenience since we find our rest in Christ. We find many who attend church if not out of town, visiting with family, traveling with ball teams, working, decorating tomb stones, visiting parents, seeing the kids, going to cheerleading competitions…even though there is not a team around, gone on business, attending family reunions, going to football games, going on church trips, getting home from football games, gathering with friends, taking a Sunday School class trip…well you see the point. These are not bad things—but if we’re not careful, we may eventually find ourselves not attending church at all. Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages us to be very careful to protect our time together as the body of Christ. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The issue of concern centers on two perspectives on Sabbath keeping: one physical and one spiritual. The physical aspect centers on our bodies being creations of God and the rest requirements of the Sabbath being His operations manual for the refreshing of His created bodies. The specific day and time each week is determine by the individual but the manual says we should do it for our health. That is the physical side of the Sabbath.

The spiritual side of the Sabbath stems from the law of Sabbath observance. The purpose of the law was to reveal the requirements of a holy God and the inadequacy of any man to measure to that standard. The work of Christ was not to erase all biblical requirements for a holy life before God but rather to accomplish those for us. We find our rest in Him because our position before God no longer rests on our ability to carry out the demands of the law but rather on Christ carrying out those demands for us. Both Colossians and Hebrews refer to Sabbath in that spiritual sense.

Jesus said in Mark 2:27-28 that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Simply put…we need the Sabbath. We need the rest, worship and fellowship.

The Old Testament Sabbath was on the last day of the week. After the resurrection of Christ we see believers worshipping together on the first day of the week, Sunday. Why? …because they were gathered together to worship a risen Christ, which occurred on the first day of the week. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. John 20:1 (NIV)

A few examples of this new practice in the early church would be:

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. Acts 20:7 (NIV)

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 1 Corinthians 16:2 (NIV)

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” John 20:19 (NIV)

Even in this day God desires for His church to set aside a day each week to worship and fellowship together. He also desires individual believers to set aside time each week to rest physically and to renew that personal relationship with Him.

Calvinism

One of the hot topics among Southern Baptist is the view of our salvation known as Calvinism. These thoughts are not intended to be a theological dissertation (of which there are many) of Calvinism or an argumentative thesis explaining why I am troubled by this becoming so prevalent in our churches. It is just a few thoughts to consider as your reflect on your views.

Unfortunately, throughout those years the adherents of the differing positions battled rather than working together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Each side holds to the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith: God the Creator is the only true God, His Son Jesus gave His life as payment for the sins of people (no one is saved apart from this Divine payment), Jesus was resurrected from death, God’s Holy Spirit lives in each believer today, believers must obey the instructions of God as taught in the Bible, the Bible is authoritative as the inspired Word from God, each believer is responsible for sharing the good news of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, God will end human history and bring all believers to live with Him eternally. These common beliefs should be enough to pull the sides together for Kingdom work but this is often not the case. When theological debate begins to divide, a red flag should be raised. I have many friends that hold to the “Calvinistic” view of salvation and they, of course, are wonderful people who love and serve the Lord with all their hearts.

As it relates to this subject, I am personally always brought back to my understanding of God’s nature and character. In other words: Do I think that God would create a life and then condemn it to hell for eternity?

With any subject, you can look at different verses of scripture that seem to indicate various things. I will share a few of them before I close that indicate to me salvation is available to everyone and God desires for everyone to have a personal relationship with Christ. “Proof texting” can be used in all subjects and can be debated until this life is over. As I study the existence and torment of hell it is hard for me to believe that our loving Father, who has created all of us for a relationship and provided His only Son as a sacrifice would freely and willingly send someone to hell. He doesn’t! Mankind does when he rejects Jesus as the Savior of the world. Does God have a foreknowledge of who is going to say “yes” to His Son and who will not? Absolutely. He is all-knowing, but it is hard to see Him condemning someone to hell regardless of their desire to walk with Christ.

Here are a few verses to consider:

Romans 1:16 (NIV) I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

1 John 2:2 (NIV) He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

John 3:16 (NIV) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

We could go on for awhile but you get the point. I personally wouldn’t encourage anyone to lose a lot of sleep over something that can be so easily argued from various points. I would ask that you to evaluate your love and concern for the lost! How many people have your led to the Lord in recent days? Do you live your life in light of a lost world that needs to hear the message of Christ? Regardless of your views of how we come to Christ…we must all share Christ with the world!

El Salvador Mission Trip Sunday Update

We had a great day of worship with the people of Vida Nueva. Kevin was able to give a testimony, Johnny helped lead worship and Blake was able to preach. It was so much fun to worship in both English and Spanish and it gave us a little taste of what heaven will be like with people from every nation! Because of the rain we were not able to go sightseeing so we went to an American restaurant for lunch…and boy did that American food taste good! We we able to spend some time with the interpreters and Candace and Vlady. We cannot say enough about how much we love and appreciate this tremendous team (Candace & Vlady)–they are incredible!

We are all looking forward to coming home tomorrow (Monday). Thanks for praying for our team!

El Salvador Mission Trip Saturday Evening Update

Another day in El Salvador which means….another day of rain. It has rained every day since we have been here. But today there was even more rain because Tropical Storm Agatha has hit! The rain didn’t stop us from our task and we had a great day of ministry.

This morning we worked with the youth from Candace’s church. We swam, played soccer, threw the football, played soccer some more, played Uno, played Wii and then played soccer some more. They absolutely love soccer and they put us to shame when we played with them. They stayed until lunch time and as they were leaving the 22 orphans we visited on Wednesday came to us. We were so happy to see them again. Kevin Johnson, one of children’s ministry summer interns, taught the Bible story until free time (and yes, soccer was involved once again). After eating pizza and snow cones we gave them each a new set of clothes donated by our church members We were also able to provide each child with a brand new Bible that was appropriate for their reading level. I wish you could have seen some of their faces when they received their clothes and Bibles. Like we mentioned in the earlier blog, we had the chance to give them some new mattresses and pillows for the kids who did not have either.

Thanks to your giving to FBCT we were able to provide these incredible gifts to the boys. It was hard not to get emotional seeing them load into the back what looked like a U-Haul truck and just hold on for their hour ride up to the orphanage on a dirt road. I have seen animals that have traveled in better conditions than these precious kids. As they left they all asked us, “Please say that we will see you again.” We have all learned so much from this trip, but probably the greatest lesson we have learned is just how blessed we are.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we will go to church where we will participate in the service by preaching and sharing testimonies. Depending on the path of the Tropical Storm we may have the afternoon to go sightseeing before we head back to Birmingham on Monday. Thank you so much for your prayers.

El Salvador Mission Trip Saturday Update

Had a great, rainy day in El Salvador yesterday.

We spoke at a school full of 1st – 6th graders and continued to talk about honesty and then presented the Gospel. We saw many of them come to Christ. Afterwards we went to a mall and found a Christian bookstore and bought the kids at the orphanage Bibles and books. We also bought pillows for all of them since most didn’t have one (or had an old piece of foam). We’ll be presenting all of this tomorrow to them at the church when they come over to hang out.

After shopping, we returned to the same school and spoke to high school students. We discussed the importance of sexual purity and how we should live our lives according to God’s plans, not what culture tells us. We had the opportunity to share the gospel. The teachers and faculty were very appreciative of our visit and told us to come back any time.

We have been able to share the gospel with hundreds of students this week while they are in class….that still blows our minds!

Then it was time to set up for the movie but the bottom fell out of the sky and rained the movie out. But we ended up having great fellowship with the people of Vida Nueva over dinner.

The highlight of the night was at dinner when we taught Kenneth, our 18 year old translator, how to say “waffle fries” and “Chick-fil-a.” Can you guess which adult encouraged this English lesson? After teaching him this he is definitely ready for his visit to the States!

We are excited to see what God has in store for Saturday. We will be meeting and hanging out with some of Candace’s kids from church. Tomorrow afternoon the orphans that we have made friends with will be coming to the church to play games and swim if the weather allows. Later tomorrow night we will be holding a reception for the new believers from this week. Keep praying as we continue to talk and encourage them.

El Salvador Mission Trip Friday Update

Today was another great and safe day in El Salvador. Some highlights are:

Today we had an opportunity to speak to a private school…there is a big difference between a public and private school here (private school is much better)!
The question of the day: How do you say Imodium and Pepto Bismol in Spanish? Yes…the Latin American cuisine has hit!
Cindy and Joy continue to keep us on task.
Chad is the popular man today…he has the meds!
This afternoon I traveled in a 15 passenger bus…with 24 people… to an orphanage in a very rural section of El Salvador. Candace has been caring for 10 of these boys for over 5 years. If you are reading this in America…thank God for His goodness to you!!!
We spent time with 22 orphan boys, gave them a new change of clothes, hung new crimson (yes I had a problem with that) curtains in their rooms and put new bed sheets on their beds. It was a cool afternoon.
Tonight we ate some American food…Pizza Hut in an attempt to calm some digestive systems. Pizza for that? Oh well…maybe it will help.
Taylor and Andrew are having a great week. Andrew is picking up a lot of Spanish.
Macie is speaking Spanish like she knows what she is saying…apparently 6 years of Spanish really does teach you something!
Our translators are incredible people…wish we could bring them to the states so you could meet them!
Today three of us traveled back on the bus…with 21 people from El Salvador…the “greengos” sat in the back of the bus…I laughed to myself. They are great people to hang out with.

More schools tomorrow and Kid’s Clubs in a neighborhood!

El Salvador Mission Trip Thursday Update

Today was another great day in El Salvador. We continue to touch many lives and our team is honoring the Lord in incredible ways! Here are a few thoughts from the day:

It is amazing how receptive the Salvadorians are to the gospel. They are kind to give us their time and attention.
We had another opportunity to share in the public schools about honesty and purity and then share the Gospel with each classroom. It is awesome to see a classroom of children with their heads on their desk praying out loud…asking Jesus to be their Savior.
Today, a few of our guys…Matt and Kevin got involved in a “pick up” basketball game at the school playground.
The funny question of the day was a classroom of girls wanted to know if Johnny was single…Blake asked if they wanted to know if he was single and they said…not really!
Blake tried to buy 9 (nueve) chicken strips and came back with a box of 12 pieces of chicken, 12 rolls, 1 order of French fries and half a liter of pepsi. We laughed…and ate chicken!
Tonight our movie was rained out but was still had a chance to share Christ with moms who brought their kids to the park for our activities and then we walked through the neighborhood sharing the gospel.
Candace and Vlady rock…they are doing an awesome job for Christ!

Keep praying and thank you for being a church that believes in the Great Commission!

El Salvador Mission Trip Wednesday Update

All arrived in El Salvador and in good shape.

Yesterday we spoke to a school and shared Christ in classrooms. Several children prayed to receive Christ! What an awesome sight! Afterwards we went door to door, witnessing and inviting families to a kids club in the park and movie. Had a great turn out there. So amazing to get to share Christ with families as they came to watch the movie.

We’re heading back into schools today to share with other classrooms. Pray for a great explosion of decisions. Tonight we’ll enjoy another movie with families.

On Thursday, we will attend church with Candace and Vlady Vasquez. We’re praying for a great experience of worship as the Body of Christ.

One quick highlight: Johnny Dailey is a rock star over here. He had to sign over 100 autographs because of his guitar playing for a classroom. Rock on Johnny D!

Continue to pray for our team as we serve Him this week.

BUDDY CHAMPION

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