Evan Drake’s trip to Haiti – president’s blog 2/16/10

Trip to Haiti – February 20-27, 2010

      BBI president, Evan Drake is going to Haiti at the end of the week.  It has been 5 weeks since the tragic earthquake hit Port-au-Prince.  So much energy has been expended trying to rescue as many people as possible, care for the injured and feed and clothe the victims who have lost almost everything. The time is fast approaching when rebuilding a destroyed city of several million people will be the order of the day.  Haitian president, René Préval, recently said that it would take three years (“1000 trucks working 1000 days”) to clear away the rubble in the city of Port-au-Prince.  It is almost impossible to know how to start. 

     BBI Director of Short-term ministries, Jim Laidlaw, will be leading a team of men to Haiti on Feb. 20 in conjunction with a sister mission, Grace Mission to Haiti.  The team will  undertake several projects during this trip.  Evan has been asked to speak in churches in Williamson on Sunday, Feb. 21, and to a meeting of 100+ pastors in Carrefour on Monday, Feb. 22.  Both are in the area that was hardest hit by the earthquake. Carrefour has been called the epi-center of the earthquake.  Evan and another of the men will be speaking to the pastors about “How to Deal with Grief.”  It is hard to know what to say to people who have lost so much.  The pastors probably know grief in a way that we have never experienced so it will be a challenge finding the right words to say.  Pray that God will guide his thinking in the right way to share important truths that will be helpful.

      Benjamin Drake, our 20 year old son, has decided to sit out of Bible College for this semester and will be going along to Haiti.  He will spend 3 months working at Double Harvest Haiti.  He will be able to take a couple of online classes through Piedmont Baptist College in order to keep his education on schedule. Pray that he will adjust to life in Haiti and learn much from this incredible experience.  Evan and Ben will be going to Double Harvest  on  Tuesday  and  surveying  the  needs  that are there.  Evan will be meeting with a few pastors and Christian leaders from the Croix des Bouquets general area (east Port-au-Prince).  Pray that they will be able to discern clearly and specifically how BBI can respond to the earthquake.  To this date, BBI has received close to $19,000 toward Haiti relief.  We will be able to offer our help to Double Harvest in the amazing work they have undertaken since the beginning of the crisis.  They have been operating a field hospital which has cared for hundreds of critical injuries and a food distribution point for several local towns and villages. They have made clean water available to anyone in the area.  They have also been holding evangelistic meetings in the surrounding villages and have seen remarkable spiritual response to the preaching of the gospel.  It is still a little early to be able to know when it will become possible to get building supplies and bring teams into the country efficiently and safely.  Pray that materials will be available and that we will be able to get teams into the country.  Hundreds of thousands of people have slept outside since the earthquake.  It rains very little in January and February.  The spring rains are beginning to fall which will make it extremely hard on the people who have little or no shelter. Who knows how long it will be before many of the people will have a roof over their heads again.

     Even before the earthquake there was an overwhelming need in Haiti.  It is hard to know how to begin to rebuild a country that was in bad shape before January 12.  If God moves you to give to the Bible Basics Haiti relief project, be assured that all the money you give will go to the rebuilding effort in Haiti.  If you would like to help cover the costs of Evan’s travels or Ben’s stay in Haiti, we would certainly appreciate your help.  We will keep you posted on how things go.  Please pray for us and pray for the country of Haiti.                           Evan and Joy Drake

“Unto the Least of These” – president’s blog 1/19/10

“Unto the Least of These”

by Evan Drake

Back in 1995, I went on the first of three mission trips into Bulgaria, one of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe.  We supported a missionary there and I went to encourage him and give whatever counsel I could as they were beginning a church plant in Northwest Bulgaria.  On Sunday evening, we held a service in the Gypsy community on the outskirts of Berkowitza.  The Gypsies are a rejected and outcast people in Eastern Europe with very few rights.  That service was one of the most memorable I have ever been in with about 250 people crammed into a school classroom for a three hour service.  A youth meeting was planned for the following afternoon.  We met on a hillside outside of the village on that cool, damp March afternoon.  I was asked to give my testimony and challenge the young people.  I really struggled with what I could say.  There was an 80% unemployment rate among the gypsy people.  50% of teenage girls would be pregnant at 15 years of age.  I kept trying to come up with a message that said, “Come to Jesus, and He will change your life into something better; He will get rid of your problems; He will give you what you need.”  I had to rethink the gospel that afternoon.  The gospel doesn’t promise jobs to the unemployed, health to the broken down, comfort to the homeless or money to the poor.  My very simple message that day was, “Come to Jesus because He is all you need.”

           Ten years later, I was asked to do a two week National Leaders Conference in Chad, W. Africa, the poorest country in the world.  After I agreed to do it, they gave me my topic – “the Gospel as it Relates to Poverty.”  I remember thinking, “What does a white western man who has never lacked for anything in his life know about poverty?”  I told them that our gospel did not guarantee to change the economic situation of the believer but that Jesus promised to bring joy and contentment to all who come to Him.  I remember sharing with those wonderful dedicated believers that God would not hold them accountable for what they had done with what they didn’t have, but only with what they did with what they had.  I told them that my world of European and American Christianity would answer to God for the way we possessed so much and did so little with what we had.  I had always been led to believe that American Christianity was way ahead of the rest of the world in fulfilling its mission in the world.  In studying for this conference, I became aware that America ranks 28^th among the industrialized nations in the fight against poverty.  I learned that Evangelical Christians profess to tithe but that only 6.3% of them actually tithe of their income.  I learned that, although American household income had more than tripled since 1968, giving to missions had not increased during the same time period.

       I began making trips into Haiti in 2003.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and 4^th poorest country in the world.  50% of the population lives on $1.00 or less per day.  80% of the people are below the poverty level.  53% of the population is illiterate.  50% of the population is under the age of 18.  Of all the impressions that you get when you visit Haiti, the strongest impression comes from the children and youth.  They are everywhere, playing, running, getting into trouble just like any normal child.  I don’t think I have ever walked by a Haitian child that didn’t say these words, “Hey, you, one dollar, please.” Or, “Hey blanc (white man), gimme dollar.”  It must be the first sentence learned in English 101 for all Haitian children.  Last year, I gave one little girl a piece of gum when she asked me for a dollar.  This year, as I was walking down the path to the meeting, the same little girl walked up to me and said, “Hey blanc, gimme gum.”  I had to rummage through my backpack and find some gum to give to the four year old girl and her little brother.

 For the last week, I keep seeing the faces of those precious Haitian children saying to me, “Hey blanc, gimme dollar.”  As I thought about it, a passage from the gospels kept coming to mind.  I really didn’t want to wrestle with the passage but I had to sit down this afternoon and dig into Matthew to “get it off my mind.”

 Matthew 25:31-46   ³¹ ” When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  ³² “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  ³³ “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  ³⁵ ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  ³⁶ ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’  ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  ³⁸ ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  ³⁹ ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  ⁴⁰ “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’  ⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  ⁴² ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;  ⁴³ ‘I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’  ⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’  ⁴⁵ “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’  ⁴⁶ “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 Jesus draws upon a passage from the book of Isaiah, chapter 58, to remind His hearers that how they live in relation to the downtrodden and poor of this world will reflect on how God will see them when it comes time to reward the righteous and cast off the wicked.  We can be sure from many other passages that neither Jesus nor Isaiah are teaching a salvation by works.  But, faith is not seen in the words we say.  It will always have a demonstration in the reality of life.  In Matthew, this reality is seen among the “least of these,” the ones that everyone else passes by, ignores, or even willfully gives up on.

 William Hendrickson comments on the evidence of our faith as seen in this passage,

 “In your daily life and conduct, in what are often called the ‘little things of life,’ you have furnished proof that you are my true disciples.  Therefore I call you blessed.”[1]

 John MacArthur writes,

 “Doubtlessly anticipating the salvation-by-works interpretations that would be made of verses 35-45, the Lord made clear that believers will not inherit the kingdom based on good deeds they will have or will not have performed on earth. . . Those who enter the kingdom will not do so on the basis of the service they have performed for Christ but on the basis of their being blessed by the Father because of their trust in His Son.  They will in no way earn a place in the kingdom.”[2]  

 MacArthur goes on to say, “It is significant that the marks of lostness Jesus mentions here are not gross sins committed but rather simple acts of kindness not committed.”[3]

 The people in Jesus’ story said, “When did we see you naked, sick or hungry, etc.?  We didn’t even know it was you.”

 Jesus replied, “In that you did it to one of my brothers, even the least of these, you did it to me.” (v. 40)

 Although many adulterers and thieves and liars and other terrible sinners will go to hell, Jesus describes in v. 41-46 a group that will go to hell because they did not show compassion on the hurting, the helpless and the hopeless.

 Centuries ago, Chrysostom spoke of the cold-heartedness of the lost in his commentary, “Are not these sufferings sufficient to overcome even your alienation?  But you did not do these things for a friend, much less a foe.  You could have at once befriended and done good.  Even when you see a dog hungry you feel sympathy.  But when you see the Lord hungry, you ignore it.  You are left without excuse.”[4]

 In the case of both groups, surprise is the attitude that each demonstrates.  The compassionate are just as surprised to know that they did it to Christ.  Their motive wasn’t to attract the attention of the King but to meet the need of the “least of these.”  The “accursed” of v. 42 would probably say, “If we had known it was you, we would have done something.”  Jesus zeroes in on the motives and the heart attitude of the people even more than he does on the acts that they accomplish.  The “blessed” group acts out of humility and compassion, saying, “How could we not reach out to someone less fortunate than us?”  The “accursed” group acts out of selfish interest, saying, “Why would we do anything unless we knew we were going to gain from it?”  This becomes the determining factor in distinguishing the change that the King has brought about in the lives of His followers.

 These same people, who failed to lift a finger in a simple fashion to feed the poor, hungry child, put forward their great and spectacular feats in the name of the Lord in Matthew 7 by pointing to their miracles, casting out demons and other signs of spiritual power and significance.  In either case, Jesus rejects them because they didn’t do what they should and did what they didn’t need to.  They have it all wrong on every level.  If they had truly known the King, they would have known what pleases Him.

 So, what does it mean to care for the littlest of my brothers?

 Jesus talks about “these little ones” as His disciples in Matthew 10:42,

 Matthew 10:42   ⁴² “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

 Jesus talks about the children as “these little ones” in Matthew 18:4-6,

 “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  ⁵ “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.  ⁶ ” But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” 

 Matthew 25 may refer specifically to the caring for destitute followers of Christ during the end times of the Tribulation period when some will refuse to associate with the poor and persecuted followers of Christ for fear of retribution.  It seems dangerous to limit compassion to a specific time in the future and absolve ourselves of the need of compassion today even if that may be the primary intention of the passage in Matthew’s gospel.

 There are other passages in the New Testament that aren’t so ambiguous:

 James 2:15-17   ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

 1 John 3:17-18 ¹⁷ But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?  ¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.  

 No one can see the images of Haiti and hear the cries for help from the children whose already fragile lives have been totally torn apart by the earthquake and turn a deaf ear.  Even if no child ever said to you, “Hey blanc, gimme dollar,” it is wrong to hold back when we have the means to do something to answer their cry for help.  Even if it is just a cup of water, the simplest of all responses to a person’s need, Jesus calls upon us, the “haves,” to give it to the “have nots,” the ones who have no means to get it for themselves.  We can decide later how the Haitians got themselves into this mess.  We must respond now from a heart of compassion or risk the anger of the King.

 William Barclay describes the caring and compassionate giving of the one who is called blessed by Jesus:[5]

 1)       It must be help in simple things, . . . things that anyone can do.

2)      It must be help which is uncalculating.  Those who helped did not think they were helping Christ and therefore piling up eternal merit; they helped because they could not stop themselves.  The attitude of those who failed was, “If we had known it was you we would gladly have helped; but we thought it was only some common man who was not worth helping.”  Such help is not generosity; it is pandering to self-esteem; it is disguised selfishness.  The help which wins the approval of God is that which is given for nothing but the sake of helping.

3)      All such is help is given to Jesus, and all such help withheld is withheld from Him.

 It is time for Christians to give what they can to help those who have lost everything.  Give simply.  Give the things that anyone can do.  You probably can’t give a whole building but everyone can give enough to satisfy the thirst of a Haitian family.  Give without calculating.  Don’t ask if the people really deserve it or if they will squander it like other times before.  Give it to Jesus and let Him work out the details.

       The story is told of Martin of Tours.  He was a Roman soldier and a Christian.  One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked him for alms.  Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering from the cold, and Martin gave what he had.  He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar man.  That night he had a dream.  In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus in the midst of them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak.  One of the angels’ said to him, “Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak?  Who gave it to you?”  And Jesus answered softly, “My servant Martin gave it to me.”

             There are a lot of worthy causes.  There are many reasons to give.  We can’t take away from our other commitments to give to Haiti.  But, we can’t turn away from the “least of these” who are desperate for someone to hear their cry.  One day, we will see Jesus wearing our coat or carrying our water bottle and we will say, “Jesus, when did I see you hungry, naked and thirsty?”  And He will say, “I was covered in black Haitian skin and sleeping under a tarp on a hard, dark, Haitian street” or “I was the poorly clothed and hungry child saying,”Hey blanc, gimme dollar,”  and you gave to the least of these and you did it unto Me.”

[2] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Commentary: Matthew 24-28, p. 122.

[3] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Commentary: Matthew 24-28, p. 126.

[4] John Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 9:2.

[5] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew: Volume 2, p. 325-326.

president’s blog – January 14, 2010 “The Earth Shook and the People Asked Why?”

The Earth Shook and the People Asked Why?

by Evan Drake

 I have gone to Haiti to teach pastors for the past six years.  I have joked a few times because of the dire circumstances that I have witnessed in Haiti, saying, “I’m going down to squirt my gospel water gun on the antichrist’s bonfire.” I told someone in December, “I don’t really believe we can turn this generation around.  I am working on the next one.”  I haven’t had the opportunity to do or see much in Haiti on these trips since I spend about 8 hours a day in teaching sessions and church services for six of the seven days that I am usually in Haiti.  I know Port-au-Prince by the route I take from the airport to the Double Harvest mission project on the east side of the city.  In my mind’s eye I can see very clearly the mountainsides that surround the city.  My wife has seen a little more of the country and has actually been to the area that is being called the epicenter of this earthquake.

 On Tuesday night, I kept saying, “I can’t believe it!”  I left Haiti fewer than 10 days before the earthquake.  This year’s pastors’ conference was held a week earlier than usual.  I came very close to being there for the earthquake.  I thought of the many mission workers who came in to do a pleasant, well planned mission trip and find themselves dealing with death and destruction.  You don’t prepare for something like this.  Accidents and natural disasters don’t usually give much warning.  The news service was debating on Tuesday night whether the world should have been prepared for this disaster in Haiti since some geologist in Cuba in 2007 apparently predicted a 7.2 earthquake in Haiti within 2 years.  Besides being a moot point, I kept wondering, how does an impoverished people prepare for a disaster when they can’t even avoid daily hunger and find a regular supply of fresh water?

 I kept watching the images that got more and more graphic.  I didn’t really get insensitive to them, but seeing dead bodies in the street as people stand wailing over them makes you cry the first 20 times, but after that . . . Even when the TV was off, and I was lying in bed, the images kept playing out before my eyes.  I saw streets that looked familiar, faces that seemed recognizable and heard names that sounded like people I knew.  I wanted to get information about the people I know but no news was coming through.  This is one time where no news is not usually good news. I tried to call my friends and no calls were going through.  I went to the Salvation Army and Red Cross websites to see if they were calling for relief workers who spoke French to go in as first responders.  I had a terrible burden to want to do something and couldn’t find anything to do.  I just sat there and cried.

 After the initial shock and the terrible fear and dread and waves of compassion that flooded over me for my Haitian brothers and sisters, I began to sense an anger creeping over me.  I was angry that Haiti had been for most of its history an exploited people.  From living as slaves to colonizers to being subjects of multiple dictators to hearing the promises of governments and UN officials to buying the rhetoric of their own corrupt political liberators of the past two decades, the people of Haiti had stopped believing that anything can change their gloom into hope.  It seemed to me that the current two year old government had turned a very small corner in planting the very first and very small seeds of hope.  Some people had begun to believe again.  And then October 2008 hits and 4 successive hurricanes pass over the island in the space of 1 month.  Many die, entire towns are destroyed by floods and mudslides.  It took every ounce of courage and fortitude that the people could muster to dig out and try to start over.  Relief groups did what they could.  Someone said, “At least the major population center of Port-au-Prince was spared the worst of the storm.”  And then, January 12, 2010.

 I was angry that it took an hour for the US president to be told that a disaster like this had happened. I was angry that the networks continued to broadcast their regular news of sinkholes and political sniping over what one politician said about another politician while only CNN was saying much of anything about Haiti.  If Bill Gates had died, that would have made the news or if Brad and Angelina had been adopting a baby in Haiti at the time, it would have gotten coverage.  I was angry at the guy I knew who responded to the mention of the Haiti earthquake by saying, “That’s funny, I heard there was an earthquake in California, too.”  I’m sorry that somebody’s dish broke in California, but it’s just not the same.  I had felt the same way when 200,000 people died in the Asian Tsanami a few years ago and we acted like it wasn’t as bad as Hurricane Katrina.  I was angry that CNN could get multiple news crews and camera crews into Haiti over 24 hours before we could get any relief workers or emergency supplies into Haiti.  Thanks for the pictures but it bothered me that Anderson Cooper was there on the streets of Port-au-Prince while the emergency search and rescue team was still in Virginia.  I was angry that the Haitian government was lost in the disaster.  There wasn’t anything they could do and that’s exactly what they were doing.  I don’t know at what point in my rather busy afternoon I realized that, underneath it all, I was angry at God.  I was in denial, but, when I tried to pray, I found myself wanting to say, “God, why did you let this happen? Where were you?  Why didn’t you do something?”  I thought these were the questions of an agnostic, the debatable issues of a college philosophy class, beneath my “advanced” level of theological understanding.  I am not trying to say that the Haitian people are innocent and don’t deserve some kind of judgment for centuries of voodoo practices, but I know many people there.  I love them like family.  In a spiritual sense, I have some Haitian blood in my veins and I needed to know why God didn’t do something to prevent this disaster.  Why didn’t the earthquake hit Las Vegas and knock down a few casinos and brothels instead of crushing poor, helpless, anonymous masses who didn’t have much to start with and lost everything in one fell swoop.  I reached down and looked for answers in my beliefs.  Why does suffering happen?  Why do the innocent fall while the corrupt continue on their merry way?

Here are some thoughts about suffering from the Evan Drake theological gristmill:

1. (Sovereignty) God is in charge.  At 4:00 pm Tuesday, God was still on the throne.  He didn’t get surprised and He doesn’t make mistakes.  There is a distinction that is more than semantic between what God causes, what God permits and what God allows.  It may make us feel better to say that God allowed the earthquake, but that cannot imply that God wasn’t in charge at the moment the ground shook.

1. 2. (Omniscience) Only God knows the reasons for the things that happen in our world.  Don’t make the mistake Job made by trying to teach God.  He knows what He is doing.  In comparison, we don’t know much at all.

3. (the Fall) Evil has affected every part of creation.  The entire universe groans under the weight of the curse.  The earth groaned on Tuesday because everything has not been made right since Adam screwed up our world.  The rain falls and the earth shakes on the just and the unjust.  And sometimes the house falls on the just and misses the unjust.  One day, justice will reign.  But, until the trumpet sounds and the angel shouts, we will continue to have earthquakes and hurricanes and good people will suffer and bad people will get away with murder.

4. (Judgment) Sin has consequences.  Judgment comes in ways that we don’t expect or like.  Haiti has been an island dedicated to the power of the enemy of Christ for centuries.  Sometimes liberation comes out of desolation.  Everyone in Haiti is crying out to someone right now.  Only God can make a difference.  The voodoo gods have no answers and can give no comfort.

5.  (Glory) Suffering is the precursor to glory.  A blind man was born blind (John 9) so that he could become a reflection for God’s glory.  Even tragedy can point people to God.  When asked by His disciples why the man had been born blind, Jesus responded,

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” (John 9:3)

Paul pointed toward God’s glory as the end result of our suffering,

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”  2 Corinthians 4:17

Peter put the purifying effect of trials in the perspective of removing the dross from gold so we can be 100% honoring to God and His glory when it is all said and done,

“that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”   1 Peter 1:7   

6. (Growth) God puts believers through suffering and trials so that they may grow stronger and deeper in their Christian life and in their dependence on God.  James says that the testing of our faith will produce endurance and the ongoing process will develop maturity in us.

7.  (Grace) Paul apparently faced a physical trial that limited him in some way.  He wanted to be rid of the “thorn in the flesh” and God told Paul that he must continue to suffer in order to encourage his dependence upon God. 

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  2 Corinthians 12:9-10   

Without the “thorn/infirmity,” Paul wouldn’t have to lean on God’s grace to get him through.  God said He would prove to Paul that His strength was complete, in other words, all Paul needed.  Paul’s conclusion because of the “thorn/infirmity” was that he would only be strong for the Lord when he was weak in himself.  Those dreaded testing times are the only things that can bring about the kind of deep and lasting growth that God wants to develop in us.

8.  (Gospel) The greatest periods of evangelism in Church History have been at the times when the church went through severe testing and persecution.  Paul and Silas reached the Philippian jailer and his family after being unjustly beaten and put in prison.  Someone said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”  I assume this means that the gospel has gone forward in direct proportion to the suffering of the church and its evangelists.  The church may wish for comfort, security, prosperity and recognition, but God may see to it that the church gets stripped of everything that gets in the way of the power of the gospel.

9.   (Goodness) There are times when we struggle with the goodness of God.  That is what launched this discussion.  “How can a good God. . .?”  Wouldn’t God’s goodness be more visible in the garden with no sin, no death, and no selfishness?  Would it have been possible to understand the love of God without the fall of man?  Would it be possible to comprehend God’s goodness if evil did not exist?  “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”  God doesn’t need to kill 100,000 people in order to prove that He is good.  That sounds a little twisted.  But, it is amazing how much we can sense the goodness of God against the background of the darkness of evil and/or calamity.  I know a lot of Haitian Christians.  I am convinced that many of them will come through this ordeal with the declaration, “God is good all the time, all the time God is good.”

10.  (Jesus) As hard as a trial may seem, a Christian can never say, “Jesus doesn’t know what I am going through.”  Hebrews says, “He was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.” The truth is, I can’t really say that I know what He went through.  Suffering can do that.  He is touched by our trouble because He knows what we are feeling. I can be touched by the feeling of his infirmities when I am walking in the shadow of His cross.  He lived my life with its pain, suffering, rejection and death.  He did it as an atoning sacrifice and my substitute.  But, He also did it as my example.  God wants me to learn to live like Jesus.  That can’t happen if only good things come into our lives.  He taught us how to die, but He showed us how to live, even when your friends forsake you, your family makes fun of you, your enemies revile you, beat you and take your life from you.

 “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” 1 Peter 2:21   

 We aren’t the first to deal with these very troubling questions.  The disciples of Jesus debated often why stuff happens.  One day, they came to Jesus, holding the “local newspaper” and asked about some Galileans who had been slaughtered by Pilate and offered as sacrifices with lambs and goats.  The second article was about a tower that fell with no warning on some bystanders.  The disciples decide that they must have deserved it somehow or else the tower would have fallen on some criminals instead. Their theological viewpoint was that they must have been really bad people for something so despicable or so disastrous to happen to them.

 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  ² And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?  ³ “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.  ⁴ “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  ⁵ “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:1-5

 Jesus dodges the theological debate over why stuff happens to give an invitation.  If you are still standing because a tower didn’t fall on you or some crazy fanatic hasn’t snatched your last breath away, or an earthquake didn’t bring your house down on your head, God is giving you one last chance to repent of your sin, cry out for his mercy and to receive His grace offered through His only Son who died for you.  I can’t answer why a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti this week instead of Las Vegas or Tehran where I would have sent it.  All I know is, God is giving those of us who survive one more day to get right with Him, repent of our own sins, and call as many people to faith in Christ.  When our earthquake hits, it will be too late to change what has been done.  It doesn’t matter if they are voodoo worshippers in Haiti, Islamic radicals in Pakistan, pagan atheists in Russia, or Bible belt professing hypocritical, nominal Christians in the US, we have a more important job than trying to decide if people deserve what happens to them.  Jude says,

“And on some have compassion, making a distinction; ²³ but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”   Jude 1:22-23  

I really hope they can pull thousands of people out of the rubble in Haiti.  I am praying non-stop for that.  My heart is broken to hear of dying people calling out with no one to help as they slip out into a Christless eternity.  However, I hope even more that this tragedy can give the opportunity to snatch a multitude of Haitians and many others out of the fires of eternal condemnation. 

“Seasoned Greetings” -president’s blog 12/21/09

“SEASONED” Greetings

                                                        by Evan Drake

 It seems like the world never stops fighting over whether Christ belongs in Christmas or not.  Recently, the Salvation Army bell-ringer at a local store greeted me with, “Hello, America.”  I don’t hold it against him, but I felt a cold chill when I put a few coins in the pot of the “Hollow, America” assistance for the less fortunate.  Maybe some well meaning people want to debate whether or not the origin of Christmas is pagan or biblical, but I’m really tired of having to defend the idea that Christ belongs in “CHRIST-mas”.  Christmas didn’t begin at the North Pole.  It had its start in Bethlehem, just over 2000 years ago.  And, as jolly as Santa Claus seems to be when you bump into him at the mall, he’s not really equipped to change your life or help you when you have a problem.  I don’t get quite so hung up by the fact that the world wants to ignore Christ at Christmas.  They didn’t get it right that first Christmas when the business people couldn’t make a little room for Jesus in their bustling economy and the political pundits decided that they might as well kill Him and get it over with.  But, what galls me is what they propose to replace Him with.  When you’re all done with Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays, you’ve got a drooping tree, empty dreams of sugar plums and other less than perfect gifts that have already begun to fade before the wrapping paper is half opened, and plenty of bills to remind you that even if it is better to give than to receive, it’s not cheaper.  And, once again, Santa Claus didn’t show up on his appointed rounds and he sure isn’t planning to pay higher home heating bills for you.  So pour another cup of Christmas cheer, pack up the decorations and wait for the next Happy “Hannukwanzaxmas” to roll around and ask yourself, “Isn’t there something more to this season than Commercial-mas or KRIS-mas or whatever else Hollywood, Washington and Madison Avenue can throw together?”  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m all about finding another reason to celebrate, eat a big meal, and have some time off and enjoy family.  Just don’t rewrite History’s calendar and remove the most important event ever to take place.

          Therefore, I would like to propose that, this year, you consider “SEASONED GREETINGS” instead of SEASONS GREETINGS.  Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt.”  As Emeril says, “Let’s kick it up a notch.” BAMM!  A little more of Christ instead of less.  While the world is pulling Christ out of Christmas everywhere they can, let’s put Him back wherever we can.  Let’s not give in to the ACLU, the CIA, the SPCA and the PTA, and substitute something else for the only reason to celebrate Christmas.  The Reason for the Season, the One who puts the SPICE in our Holiday cheer is Jesus Christ.  CHRIST (means the MESSIAH/Anointed One)  – MASS (old European word for “worship service”) must be first and foremost a constant experience of worship of the Son of God who “became flesh and dwelt among us.”  So when you hear, Seasons Greetings, think, “Seasoned” Greetings, and talk about Christ.  When you hear Happy Holidays, think, Happy “Holy-days” and stop and thank God in heartfelt worship for sending Jesus.  When you see the tree, remember that the one who began life in a stable hung on a tree-carved cross at age 33 and died for the sins of the whole world, including yours.  When you see the inordinate pile of gifts under the tree, reflect on the greatest gift that was ever given when LOVE came down at Christmas and make sure that you have received that wonderful (and free) gift into your life and home, and that you are sharing that gift with everyone you meet.  When you ride by the house with 1000 megawatts of power coursing through the strings of lights, try to picture the beautiful (non-plastic and non-electric) star that hung over the Judean wilderness on those winter nights announcing the birth of the Savior and thank God for sending His light to change a darkened world.  When you see the X placed over the name of Christ, remember that the one that “they ignorantly worship” (for X is the first letter of Christ’s name in Greek) is being revealed in the hearts of thousands of men and women in spite of the world’s best efforts to send Him back to church “where He belongs.”  And when you get all of those credit card bills coming due in January, well, sorry to say, the best I can offer for that is to pray that Jesus comes back soon.

         So, let’s kick the Season of Christmas up a notch and center everything we do in our churches, our families and our lives around the CHRIST of Christmas.  He is the only reason for the season.  If there was no Christ, there would be no Christmas.  And so, let me wish you and yours SEASONED GREETINGS, and may the spice of a Christ-filled Christmas put a sparkle in your life this year. BAMM!!

president’s blog: a Missionary Christmas 12/14/09

A Missionary Christmas (12/14/09)

 There are some very special advantages to being a missionary that go along with the sacrifices that come with the challenge of living in a foreign country.  I always found it hard to decide if Christmas fit into the advantage or sacrifice category.  I can’t say that Christmas was depressing to us during the 14 Christmases we spent in the suburbs of Paris, France.  We were able to visit the shopping district in Paris and see the incredible displays that went up in the Galeries Lafayette or in Printemps.  We almost always found a way to drive down the Champs Elysee (called the most beautiful avenue in the world) and marvel at the sparkling white lights that filled the trees and lined the streets.  You have to see the Eiffel Tower lit up in red and green to believe it, too. 

Some traditions (or lack of them) were hard to adjust to.  There were very few popular Christmas songs or carols in French.  After you hear “Petit Papa Noel” (the French song about Santa Claus) 100 times you long for a few choruses of Rudolph or something to get that song out of your head.  Even the church has very few Christmas songs as part of its tradition. They never had carol singing or even felt the need.  Our first year in France, we tried to find a good old tree to put up in our apartment.  There were some rather ugly artificial trees at the store.  Then we saw a real tree that seemed just right for us.  We got it home, prepared it and trimmed it.  It looked so nice.  After a day or two, we noticed a significant number of needles on the floor in the morning.  After a couple of weeks, it looked like a Charlie Brown tree with just a few brown branches and no needles.  The day after Christmas, the tree came down because we couldn’t stand to look at the pitiful thing anymore. We tried to find a turkey to have on Christmas (we also tried unsuccessfully to get one for an American Thanksgiving but were told that they weren’t available until December).  The grocery store would begin selling turkeys, ducks and geese a week before Christmas.  The largest turkey available was usually around 5 lbs.  I went to the butcher shop one year and pleaded with him to find me the biggest turkey he could get.  My father had always made sure to get a huge turkey for our family every year when I was growing up (I remember turkeys in excess of 40 lbs. a few times).  I went back to the butcher to pick up the huge turkey and he proudly handed me the 5 kg. turkey he had found (that’s just over 10 lbs).  He looked at me as if he had caught the incredible bird himself.  I went home and we prepared our glorified chicken for Christmas dinner.  The average French family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve and spends Christmas day sleeping it off.  They eat oysters, mushrooms and goose liver with a Yule log for dessert.  There’s no football, snow or any of the other things we were used to.  I did get a videotape of a bowl game one time and tried to make myself pretend it was New Years Day.  It just wasn’t the same.  Although, I actually appreciated the tapes my sister sent us one year that had all of the Lifetime Christmas movies on it.  That’s how desperate we were for some taste of home.

In reality, we adjusted to the different flavors of Christmas without much problem.  The hardest part of Christmas to us as missionaries was being separated from our families.  We tried very hard to make Christmas special for our kids.  It wasn’t always simple for them to figure out what was going on.  Sometimes we would get packages from churches that arrived in November since they didn’t want to be late.  Some people try too hard and you end up feeling guilty.  One church asked for a list of things we couldn’t get in France.  We filled it out not expecting them to send a box UPS air filled with taco shells, Jiff peanut butter and bubble gum at a cost of over $200 in postage.  Others didn’t seem to mind not beating the Christmas deadline and we would still be getting boat mail packages in February.  Our families tried really hard to include us in their celebrations.  It usually cost more to mail the packages than the package itself was worth. It definitely was the thought that counted.  We would usually get a phone call in the evening (we were six hours ahead) and get filled in on the gifts and food back at home.  It always seemed to fall a little short to hear about the family celebration in a five minute phone call.  I remember thinking to myself (one of those pity party moments that all missionaries go through) at least one time that I wished they would just leave us alone because it just made us miss them more to remind us how much fun they were having without us.  The truth of the matter was that Christmas more than any other time brought us together with our boys.  We grew to love just being our little family of 7 on that day.  We were never invited to someone else’s house for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but we made it a very special day at the Drake house.  We would eat a special breakfast. Joy would make homemade cinnamon rolls or an egg casserole and we would splurge and buy the expensive Tropicana orange juice.  We would open our presents and spend the next 3 hours putting together legos or bikes (remember, we had 5 boys) and playing with them.  The last few years we were in France, we invited an elderly Swiss woman who had been a missionary in Africa and who lived alone to spend Christmas afternoon with us.  She would play the surrogate grandmother and hold the kids in her lap and read stories or just listen to them tell about their new game or toy.  The day would die down with us watching a Christmas movie as a family or playing some new game we had received.

You know, the funny thing is, after 7 Christmases in the US, I really miss those lonely Christmases in France.  There wasn’t as much hype and maybe a little less noise but they were really good times. It wasn’t that nobody cared about us.  But, nobody bothered us too much.  It wasn’t easy to be separated from home.   We were forced to learn that home is where you make it.  Our family has rarely been all together at Christmas.  We won’t be able to be all together this year.  Instead of languishing over what we didn’t have, we made the best of what we had.  I am convinced that it would be a better idea to focus on the people we are with at Christmas instead of the things or the activities that just seem to get in the way.  We were probably happiest at Christmas when there was little to distract us and little to clutter our intimate celebration.

I have reminisced in this way to be able to say that, missionaries tend to feel the distance from home a lot more acutely at Christmas.  I don’t have an answer as to how to include them in your Christmas.  It’s not going to be simple. I just wanted you to understand that Christmas may be a hard time of year for them.  Try to encourage them in some tangible way.  A gift, a call, a visit or a special prayer can help.  Today, with the advanced technology of skype communication and lower cost phone calls, it’s easier than back in the dark ages of the 80’s and 90’s when we were in Europe and it cost $2.00 a minute to phone home.  Don’t forget those wonderful families who have the honor of serving Jesus cross-culturally.  They try hard to adapt to a new culture and country and do an amazing job.  But, sometimes, they are reminded painfully that they are far away from home and very little can bridge that void.  I want to say Thank-you to all of the Bible Basics personnel that serve faithfully far from home and family.  You are not forgotten.  May God bless you greatly and give you a wonderful Christmas season and a fulfilling New Year.

Your servant,

 Evan Drake