I love the interaction between Moses and the Lord in Exodus 33 & 34, but this last week the portion where the Lord passes by Moses has just stuck with me. Exodus 34:6 says "And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed" okay stop right there....God passed by Moses and basically starts bragging on Himself, and this is what He chooses to lead out with, not words of might and power and majesty, oh no, but this: " The Lord, The Lord God, merciful, and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin..." He then goes on to talk about judging the guilty, etc., but since we live on this side of the resurrection I'm just going to stop there for now. The part that has just been ringing in my heart all week is "keeping mercy for thousands", in particular the word keeping, because it implies a purposeful intention on His part. Like a grounds keeper tends a garden or a beek...

It was wonderful to be back in Nigeria! Everyone of our team members had some kind of difficulty getting there. Jennifer, Mark, and I experienced delays in getting visas because the application process has been changed and the new instructions are not clear. Jennifer and I were able to make our scheduled departure time, but Mark was delayed a full week. Glenn didn’t even get a visa. David missed his flight due to very unusual last minute changes by the airline, delaying him by a day. Larry’s son and one daughter were in a serious wreck (thankfully without injury), delaying his departure a full week. All of us arrived in Nigeria at our various times, believing God had something great in mind for our time there. And He did! Why else would all of us have been troubled like this? The Pastors and Ministers Conference was exceptional. Even though the attendance was small (200+ swelling to 300) due to the violence that Jos has experienced the past two years, everyone who spoke t...

Greetings from warm Alaska! There’s an old saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”, that describes perfectly what happened to the plans I had made for my trip to Nigeria. You have already learned of the delay in my departure, and as you might expect, my schedule for ministry got scrambled somewhat. That didn’t stop the blessings of the Lord, though. God has a way of working all things together for good, and this case was no exception. I taught two class sessions at Christian Institute on the subject of Religiosity vs. Relationship, during which many of the students realized for the first time that there are differences between the two. Of the 50 in attendance, a good number of them expressed their gratitude for this teaching, along with a personal determination to pursue a closer relationship with the Lord. In addition, I ministered in four different churches on the subject of Our Relationship with God. During these times I emphasized the spiritual nature of ...