We rejoice with the Steele’s as they celebrate Noah’s birth (February 25th, 12:04pm).  What a relief and how wonderfully God has blessed them.  See Cody’s blog for a glimpse.   God’s creation is beautiful!!

 This morning as I spent time with God I realized how very blind I feel right now.  How very blind we are over here as we wait to take the next step.  The timing and even the direction of our next steps are quite uncertain.  As I searched the Bible for passages on blindness I was comforted with this verse.    

Isaiah 42:16

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
       along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
       I will turn the darkness into light before them
       and make the rough places smooth.
       These are the things I will do;
       I will not forsake them.

As Job spoke to God after great suffering, waiting and calamity he says with confidence:

 42:2 “I know that you can do all things;
       no plan of yours can be thwarted.”

We trust in this as we wait on Him. 

February 14, 2007

Happy Valentines Day.  As I was driving home from the dentist just now I was listening to Sarah Kelly and was moved by the lyrics of one of her songs.   I think it’s a fitting love song to God on this Valentines Day, so I’ll share the chorus here:

I gave you a stone

and you gave me a heart

and now I’m yours.

I gave you a tear,

you gave me a song

and now I know what life is.

I asked you for silver

and you gave me gold

and now I know what life is.

Ephesians 3:20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 

May we all really know what life is.

Hello,

We need some help. Tad was doing the thing shown in the video below, he did it at least ten times in a row. We have no idea what he is doing. His words are not ones he uses normally. This is the first time he has done this weird thing.

Check out the video and post a comment if you have any idea what Tad is doing.

Crazy boy

Jeff

February 8, 2007

I went to visit the prison with a group from church this morning to pray with all of the Christian prisoners.  I’ve really found that I’ve received more out of this ministry than I feel like I’ve given (it seems that many people who minister to others say that).  The real difficulty in ministering to these women is the language barrier.  The women that attend our times of prayer and worship are from India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Russia, etc. and most of them have come into
Bahrain as housemaids and speak very little English.  We try to minister to them, pray for them, read passages of scripture and occasionally are blessed with volunteers who speak their language, but overall it’s really a challenge.  The best part of each time with them is the hugs and kisses we exchange when we arrive and depart.  I’ve had some of the women from
India become quite dramatic in their affection to me, embracing me tightly and kissing each cheek repeatedly.  These women are clearly thankful for our visits even if they can’t understand half of what we say.  I pray that the Holy Spirit communicates something to them during our time each week.  As I’ve visited with them the last few months, it’s caused me to think much more about suffering and how to encourage those who are suffering.  The words I speak to them are frequently words I myself need to hear about God’s timing and His provision in our times of need.  I always think it might be helpful to tell them that I too am struggling with waiting, but when I’m sitting with them on the prison floor I am humbled when I realize how easy my time of waiting really is compared to theirs.   This week the prisoners had made origami figures for each volunteer as a gift for our visits to them.  This is yet another example of how I’m receiving when my intent is to give.  What I’ve really enjoyed watching is the Ethiopian woman who has been in prison for 8 years.  She comes in each Thursday with a huge smile on her face and demonstrates care and concern for the other women around her.  She clearly has the joy of the Lord.  What a wonderful blessing she is to me.  I’m really beginning to see why God has such a heart for prisoners, and why He tells His people to care for them.  Hopefully I’ll remember this as we move on. 

Hi all,

As I may have written before, Iranian music is one of the things God has used to increase and maintain the desire in me to live and work in Iran. I was introduced to it by our language teacher Ehsan. He has a fair-sized collection of tapes and CDs but more importantly, he knows the location of the best (and probably only) Iranian music CD shop here in Bahrain.

Our little rental car doesn’t have a CD player so I have not been able to easily listen to the music I love lately. The other day I was doing menial computer work on Debra’s laptop and dug out my MP3 player to help the time go by. It still had my favorite Iranian songs on it from when we flew back here from the US.

It really lifted my spirits and charged me up to be doing what we’re doing over here. I look forward to hearing that music from every car stereo on the road and every boombox in the park.

If you would like to check out a few songs from my collection, I have uploaded them to the B&H server. They are zipped and password-protected so they don’t get downloaded and pirated by the entire world. I own the songs so this is like you borrowing my CD for a few days.

If you are interested, download the file and send me email. I will send you the zip file password. Listen to the songs for a few days and then delete them. If you get hooked, I can direct you to sites where you can buy more.

Go here….

Jeff