It appears that the current theme on this site doesn’t have an obvious way to reread our previous posts.

To do this, use the “Monthly Archives” dropdown control on the right, select the month to view, and you’ll get a listing of all the posts we added that month.

If you know keywords, you can use the search feature as well.

Jeff

Friday night we had a neat opportunity to go to a small gathering and hear Bob Sjogren speak. He’s the “Cat and Dog Theology” guy who has a ministry called Unveiling Glory. We watched the “Unveiled” video series as a small group a few years ago, very neat.

Bob was finishing up a teaching time with a fellowship in a nearby country and offered to speak for an evening here on his way out of the region.

He talked about two perspectives of salvation that are most often seen (in the US at least) and are revealed in the answer to “What does being saved mean to you?” Bob notes that sadly, most people answer “I’m saved from Hell, phew! I have my ticket to Heaven.” In a related manner, too often folks in ministry have the mindset that this is the goal, saving people from Hell.

Instead, Bob related, verse after verse in Scripture shows us that we are saved to reveal God’s mercy and give Him glory. He went further and said that God receives the most glory when diversity is unified. When two American believers get together to worship, God gets glory for sure. But think about a new Palestinian believer worshipping with a new Israeli believer, that’s HUGE glory! A Bosnian with a Serb, an estranged husband and wife, you and that hard-to-love person at church. We are in a period of de-Babelization. God spread them out and confused their language, we are all called to learn new languages and reunite people from all walks.

If you are a child of God, don’t settle for escaping Hell, go for the gusto! Love your neighbors and give God glory by bringing diversity together. You can do this because Christ is in you and gives you the ability to do God’s will.

One of the verses Bob read during his talk was Ezekiel 36:27:

“I [God] will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

God will CAUSE you to walk in His statutes! God calls us to reunite diversity but then He goes a step further, He will cause us to do the work in His strength!

Let’s pray that God will cause us to go talk to that person in church when nobody else will…that God will cause us to stop worrying about our safety, money, jobs, reputations….that God will cause us to be willing to do anything and go anywhere to bring Him glory!

Jeff

October 20, 2006       

This last week has been a good week.  Ehsan came over Monday on his day off and spent the afternoon and evening with us.  Over dinner he explained what Ramadan has been like for him in Iran versus in Bahrain.  It was interesting to hear the differences.  My observances of Ramadan in Bahrain are that it is a very festive time, but only if you stay up with the locals until all hours of the night.  If you’re an expat, however, Bahrain feels somewhat abandoned during a good part of the day.   Ehsan misses being around his family during this time of the year, since much of the festivities are family oriented.

I was also able to briefly reconnect with Faeghe when she came over on Wednesday.  She showed me pictures of her at her sister’s wedding, all decked out in heavy makeup and a beautiful dress.  I almost didn’t recognize her since she normally has a policy of no make up, covered hair and a very simple appearance.  She then looked at pictures of our trip to Iran and reminisced with us about the beauty and culture of Iran.  She misses the Iranian people and culture.  I was sad that we didn’t have more time together on Wed. because she had mentioned that she wanted to talk something over with me that she had read in the Bible.  We ran out of time and the conversation never occurred, but I hope to see her again soon.

Tad experienced his first play group at the British club this last week.  I think he loved it.  Since we’re in transition, awaiting a move, we have a few toys here at the apartment, but I think they get old for him pretty quickly.  When I took him to the play group, we walked into a small gymnasium full of toys, children and moms.  I think he was in heaven for a few hours as he hopped from toy to toy. 

God has refreshed me in new ways this week as well.  I’m reading through the book of Esther and am amazed at the respect she had for King Xerses.  I’m desiring to have this kind of reverence for my heavenly Father and so I’m trying to follow her attitude.  The book “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” is also helping me to shift my thinking in how I approach God in prayer.    

Signing off for now as Tad awakes from his nap….

We received word from Iran yesterday that the first step of our application process for the Foreign Investment Visa was approved.  I’m told this is quite significant although I don’t fully understand the whole process, so can’t guage how confident we should feel or be.  In any case, it’s encouraging to say the least and I’m confident that God has a hand in this.

We’ve been back in Bahrain for almost 2 weeks and have settled nicely (at least temporarily) into our apartment.  Tad is now at a stage where he craves more activity and so he’s got me busy trying to think of new places to take him each day, besides the store, to get him out of the apartment and to give him new experiences.  A few days ago we went to the Corniche (pronounced Korneesh, a park along the water) where Tad waded in water and had a few rounds on the swings.  Today we went and visited Rouhieh at her pet store where Tad went around to each tank and said “ish” and then tried to catch a fish in a tank at his level.  Rouhieh was recently in a car accident and was wearing a neck brace. She was clearly in some pain but was thrilled to see Tad.  She wanted so badly to give him a fish, but I declined and told her our stay here was only temporary so we probably shouldn’t be accumulating pets.   

It’s slightly difficult to not be fully settled, but my prayer each day is that I will use that day to God’s glory and take advantage of all the opportunities He sends my way.  And so we wait on….

I updated the software on this site and took the opportunity to change the look.

Enjoy the new colors,

Jeff