Our Iranian business partners were called to a meeting of experts to defend our proposal and after many questions, our investment application was approved!
Visas are next, then we can head to Iran and get the rest of the logistics rolling.
God is good, thank you all for your prayer and support so far. Now the adventure gets kicked up a notch!
Jeff
Today I was reported to the Police. A few weeks ago at church a woman, Vicki, was telling me about a Philipino housemaid near church who is not allowed to leave her employer’s home for any reason and has no time off. Vicki was basically telling me that the housemaid is being held “prisoner” in her employer’s home. This housemaid is a Christian but is not allowed to attend church and does not have access to a Bible in her own language. I was saddened to hear about this and later in the week as I prayed for God to reveal to me what gifts I could give to Him this season, this housemaid came to mind. I called Vicki and asked if she had suggestions for ways to show love to this housemaid, especially for Christmas. Vicki suggested getting her a Bible and stopping by during the week to drop it off. She warned that she has visited this housemaid on several occasions and has had a few tense confrontations with the employer. But we both felt that this housemaid should at least be allowed to have visitors on occasion especially if she’s not allowed to leave the home. I felt convicted that this is what I needed to do. So today was the day to stop by and drop off the Bible. I arrived and rang the doorbell. No answer. I could see the housemaid through the window and motioned that I had a gift for her. She appeared hesitant and motioned that her employer was there. I still felt convicted that I should give this to her today. I rang the doorbell again. A young woman finally came to the door who I believe is the grown daughter of the employer and asked who I was and if I was associated with the “other lady”. I simply told her that I was from Awali church and that I was there to see Christie. She said “one minute” closed the door and the next thing I knew a police officer arrived and was walking up the sidewalk toward me. The employer opened the door upon his arrival and exchanged words in Arabic with the police officer. We had a lengthy discussion over who I was and why I was there. When I said that I wanted to have a chance to see Christie, talk with her and pray with her, the employer said that this was the problem. He said I was not allowed to talk to her until her employment with him was finished. I persisted, said I wanted to give the gifts to her in person and if now was not a good time, I could come back at a better time. The police officer asked if that was all I wanted to do and I said yes. I think it helped that the police officer was there observing because the man finally gave in and let the housemaid come out to see me. I prayed with her and gave her a few Christmas gifts, all while the police officer stood close by. Christie was in tears upon receiving the gifts and apologized for the confrontation with her employer. I apologized to her and told her that I hope this didn’t cause her any trouble. I hugged her and said Merry Christmas. She thanked me and went back inside. The police officer took down my name, number and place of residence and the explanation for why I was there to visit. He seemed surprised at the simplicity of it and asked “so, you are done here?” And I said yes that was all I wanted.
Unfortunately this is not a rare circumstance in Bahrain, so keep Christie and other housemaids like her in your prayers. There is rampant abuse of housemaids here and they are essentially being held as slaves. The employers keep their passports until their contract is up so that they are not able to leave. I will try to go see Christie again in the future, but I haven’t determined how soon. They didn’t tell me not to come again, so until they do, I feel it’s ok to return. I’m not sure what they can say against me at this point and I pray that they see a little bit of God’s love in what happened today. Also pray that Christie will be able to keep the gifts given today, especially the Bible.
A few pictures of Tad from this month mainly.
Jeff
I came across this in a packet of different essays and articles dealing with reclaiming Christmas. It’s from a book by JB Philips called New Testament Chrsitianity. I thought it was neat how it reveals a big-picture view of Christianity.
The site I got this from allows for reposting text as long as I include the URL.
http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/JBPhillips.htm
Jeff
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Once upon a time a very young angel was being shown round the splendours and glories of the universes by a senior and experienced angel. To tell the truth, the little angel was beginning to be tired and a little bored. He had been shown whirling galaxies and blazing suns, infinite distances in the deathly cold of inter-stellar space, and to his mind there seemed to be an awful lot of it all. Finally he was shown the galaxy of which our planetary system is but a small part. As the two of them drew near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning very slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis-ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.
“I want you to watch that one particularly,” said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.
“Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,” said the little angel. “What’s special about that one?”
“That,” replied his senior solemnly, “is the Visited Planet.”
“Visited?” said the little one. “you don’t mean visited by ——–?
“Indeed I do. That ball, which I have no doubt looks to you small and insignificant and not perhaps overclean, has been visited by our young Prince of Glory.” And at these words he bowed his head reverently.
“But how?” queried the younger one. “Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince, with all these wonders and splendours of His Creation, and millions more that I’m sure I haven’t seen yet, went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that?”
“It isn’t for us,” said his senior a little stiffly, “to question His ‘why’s’, except that I must point out to you that He is not impressed by size and numbers, as you seem to be. But that He really went I know, and all of us in Heaven who know anything know that. As to why He became one of them - how else do you suppose could He visit them?”
The little angels face wrinkled in disgust.
“Do you mean to tell me,” he said, “that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?”
“I do, and I don’t think He would like you to call them ‘creeping, crawling creatures’ in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him.”
The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.
“Close your eyes for a moment,” said the senior angel, “and we will go back in what they call Time.”
While the little angels eyes were closed and the two of them moved nearer to the spinning ball, it stopped its spinning, spun backwards quite fast for a while, and then slowly resumed its usual rotation.
“Now look!” And as the little angel did as he was told, there appeared here and there on the dull surface of the globe little flashes of light, some merely momentary and some persisting for quite a time.
“Well, what am I seeing now?” queried the little angel.
“You are watching this little world as it was some thousands of years ago,” returned his companion. “Every flash and glow of light that you see is something of the Father’s knowledge and wisdom breaking into the minds and hearts of people who live upon the earth. Not many people, you see, can hear His Voice or understand what He says, even though He is speaking gently and quietly to them all the time.”
“Why are they so blind and deaf and stupid?” asked the junior angel rather crossly.
“It is not for us to judge them. We who live in the Splendour have no idea what it is like to live in the dark. We hear the music and the Voice like the sound of many waters every day of over lives, but to them - well, there is much darkness and much noise and much distraction upon the earth. Only a few who are quiet and humble and wise hear His Voice. But watch, for in a moment you will see something truly wonderful.”
The Earth went on turning and circling round the sun, and then quite suddenly, in the upper half of the globe, there appeared a light, tiny but so bright in its intensity that both the angels hid their eyes.
“I think I can guess,” said the little angel in a low voice. “That was the Visit, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, that was the Visit. The Light Himself went down there and lived among them; but in a moment, and you will be able to tell that even with your eyes closed, the light will go out.”
“But why? Could He not bear their darkness and stupidity? Did He have to return here?”
“No, it wasn’t that” returned the senior angel. His voice was stern and sad. “They failed to recognise Him for Who He was - or at least only a handful knew Him. For the most part they preferred their darkness to His Light, and in the end they killed Him.”
“The fools, the crazy fools! They don’t deserve —-”
“Neither you nor I, nor any other angel, knows why they were so foolish and so wicked. Nor can we say what they deserve or don’t deserve. But the fact remains, they killed our Prince of Glory while He was Man amongst them.”
“And that I suppose was the end? I see the whole Earth has gone black and dark. All right, I won’t judge them, but surely that is all they could expect?”
“Wait, we are still far from the end of the story of the Visited Planet. Watch now, but be ready to cover your eyes again.”
In utter blackness the earth turned round three times, and then there blazed with unbearable radiance a point of light.
“What now?” asked the little angel, shielding his eyes.
“They killed Him all right, but He conquered death. The thing most of them dread and fear all their lives He broke and conquered. He rose again, and a few of them saw Him and from then on became His utterly devoted slaves.”
“Thank God for that,” said the little angel.
“Amen. Open your eyes now, the dazzling light has gone. The Prince has returned to His Home of Light. But watch the Earth now.”
As they looked, in place of the dazzling light there was a bright glow which throbbed and pulsated. And then as the Earth turned many times little points of light spread out. A few flickered and died; but for the most part the lights burned steadily, and as they continued to watch, in many Parts of the globe there was a glow over many areas.
“You see what is happening?” asked the senior angel. “The bright glow is the company of loyal men and women He left behind, and with His help they spread the glow and now lights begin to shine all over the Earth.”
“Yes, yes,” said the little angel impatiently, “but how does it end? Will the little lights join up with each other? Will it all be light, as it is in Heaven?”
His senior shook his head. “We simply do not know,” he replied. “It is in the Father’s hands. Sometimes it is agony to watch and sometimes it is joy unspeakable. The end is not yet. But now I am sure you can see why this little ball is so important. He has visited it; He is working out His Plan upon it.”
“Yes, I see, though I don’t understand. I shall never forget that this is the Visited Planet.”
Hi all,
Throughout Tad’s short life I have seen and made numerous comparisons between him and our beloved Beagle Poncho. Debra and I got Poncho in Fall 2000 and had him for four years. Until recently, I have been able to do basically the same things with Tad as I did with Poncho.
When Poncho was getting into dresser drawers, I would yell “Poncho, leave it!”. When Tad is about to start pounding on the laptop keyboard, I sternly say “Tad, leave it!”.
When walking Poncho, he would often drift into a yard to follow a good smell. I would call “Poncho, this way!” to get him back on track. When Tad heads for the 15″ drop ledge outside our apartment building instead of the ramp a few feet away, I say “Tad, this way!” to show him the safe route.
Just the other day after playing with Tad I told Debra “Tad is WAY better than Poncho”. I was joking with her but it revealed a change in me in the way I think about Tad.
Tad has grown so much in the last two months or so, physically for certain but also developmentally. We pray with him at mealtimes and now if we forget, he reminds us and then says “amen” at the end. He just started saying “daddy” and can pick me out of pictures. He even says the Farsi word for yogurt (mast) when we get that out for him to eat.
There are many other things I could list about Tad’s development that God is blessing me with. Every day I thank God for giving us Tad. I want to be a good father for him so join me in lifting this up in prayer.
Thanks!
Jeff