“This my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flame.”

-Desert Song by Hillsong Music

“Jesus came to comfort the afflicted, but He also came to afflict the comfortable.”

I remember one time many years ago when Jesus became very real to me, when He showed me how sinful I was and also how much He loved me. That was also the time when I began to realize one of my main weaknesses. As the above quote explains, Jesus came to expose the sins of those that had become so comfortable with it. I was comfortable in my pride. My pride stuck itself in every little portion of my life. As love helps along the other fruits of the Spirit, pride helps along other sins so easily. But thank God that He doesn’t leave us in this state when we follow after Him and have faith that He has much greater plans than the ones we have.

“I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain

I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here”

I write the rest of this from Taiwan. Chengjou and I arrived at around 6AM and God has been working continually on and off the plane. Thank God that there were no problems getting from the US to Taiwan and meeting up with Becca and the other people from Glory Church.

On the plane, the lady sitting next to me was a grandmother from India. She’s a teacher in one of the Catholic schools there and is herself a devout Christian. She encouraged me so much with her wisdom and company on the plane. She shares our passion for following Jesus unfettered by culture, by denomination, by prejudices. Thank God for this encourager that I met on the plane and the conversation we had.

Arriving here in Taiwan, we find ourselves in the midst of brothers and sisters that have taken care of our every need, but also challenge us with the daunting task of building relationships with the students (2/3 of whom are not believers) and sharing our testimony with them in hope of planting seeds. We’re being challenged with the language barrier that seems to be greater as the day goes on. However, at the Stream of Praise concert that me and Becca were able to go to, I found encouragement seeing that there are so many people here passionate for Christ already. God is building the church here. He builds it in places that don’t seem reachable, in places that don’t seem save-able. I also realized again that Jesus is here in Taiwan; He was here before any of us decided to come and serve Him. Thus, it’s His work we’re being a part of. It lifts the heavy burden of “saving people.” We aren’t called to save people, only Jesus can. We are called to witness to them, to love them, to disciple them.

Prayer:

• Praise for Chengjou and I arriving safely
• Pray for Brendan and Brian’s flights
• Praise for God’s work here and that He’s allowed us to be a part of it.
• Pray for our hearts to be prepared to love and witness to the students here.
• Praise for the 50+ students that will be attending the English camp
• Pray for the students’ hearts that God will bring them to Him.