The Duvall/Derbyshire Wedding - A Match Made in Heaven

It was such a wonderful day on May 29th, when two mission families were united in marriage.  Our daughter, Becky Derbyshire, married Josh Duvall, son of Donny and Sharon Duvall. Donny and Sharon spent several years as IMB missionaries in Indonesia.  Donny's father is the son of Dr. Don and Sarah Duvall, retired IMB medical missionaries from Indonesia.  Sharon is the daughter of Dr. Maurice and Shirley Randall retired IMB medical missionaries from Africa. Such a Heritage of faith these two have.  When Josh and Becky got engaged over a year ago, I began writing their song.  With the help of my good friend Wut Wongsunsern we were able to compose the music and make a recording of me singing it to give to Becky and Josh.   We also made a backing track that allowed me to sing it for them at their wedding.  I have made a little slide show for you of pictures from their wedding day set to the recording of their song, "Heritage of Faith".  Enjoy!

Showers of Blessings

 Over 15 years ago, a young family moved into our helpers quarters connected to our house that we lived in at the time.  The mom of the family helped me with household chores and the dad began working for Doug at the hospital, as a grounds keeper.  They had two children Bo and Toto.  Toto was the same age as Jonathan and the two of them became fast friends.  They did everything together.  Jonathan would often convince Toto to go church with him as well.  For years they were best buddies until Toto hit his teen years, his parents moved to the clinic grounds, and we went to the states for our furlough time.  When we came back we rarely saw him.  His Dad (some of you know him as Khun Dang) still works for us at the clinic and is a vibrant Gospel sharer.  The last we  heard was that Toto went away to become a soldier.  A few weeks ago, Toto came into my office at TCT to see if I might have work for him.  He had heard we needed a strong man to help with some of the tougher chores around our center.  I hardly recognized him.  I talked to him about where he was at with God and he said he was on his way back to faith.  I knew he would hear the Word of God everyday in devotions so I hired him on the spot.  Now two months later I was completely blown away when in devotions on Wednesday, he walked to the front of the staff and told the Bible story he had been memorizing with perfection and confidence.  On Friday he played the guitar during our worship time.  (I didn't even know he could play)  He even sings like a dream.  So long ago I thought we'd lost him.  But God found him and brought him back to us.  This was my shower of blessing this week.  Seeing Toto telling a Bible story to a bunch of adults and listening to him sing praise songs and play the guitar.  My cup runneth over. 

1 Peter 1:13-16

I Peter 1:13

     Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

     “Therefore,” the verse begins – since our salvation through the sufferings of Christ has been so long awaited, and now has finally dawned in our day -- since angels and man have longed for the day when Christ would save man through Christ’s death -- and that day has now come -- “Therefore, “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober-minded.”  That is to say: keep your wits about you, think carefully about what this means.  This is no trivial matter!  We must keep our focus on this salvation that has come to us at such a cost and after such a lengthy wait.  We must keep our attentions centered on matters pertaining to this salvation which has come to us with such sacrifice and suffering.  And with our minds fully fixed on this salvation that has come through the sufferings of Christ, let us rest our hope for our future happiness and our present peace on this grace that is ours through Jesus.  His act of grace on the cross has been fully revealed already, and His act of grace toward us on our judgment day will be fully revealed soon enough.  Just as the prophets were compelled to watch carefully for the coming of Christ the Lamb, so here, we are prompted to watch carefully and “hope fully” for the revelation of Christ the Lord.

I Peter 1:14-16

     As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

     The mandate has been handed down clearly to us.  The bar is set high, and though we find the standard extreme, we cannot pretend to misunderstand.  “Be holy.”  Peter has been speaking of the glory of our salvation through Christ, and here he tells us our proper response to being saved – “be holy.”  We have been saved by the grace of God and have thus become His children.  Since, then, we are children of God, Peter calls on us to be “obedient children.”  In ignorance and rebellion some men tolerate lives full of sin; some men tolerate occasional sin, and others tolerate “small sins.”   But we cannot claim ignorance, we are plainly told here what our Father desires from us – He desires for us to tolerate no sin, but to be holy.  Our holiness is to match our Maker’s holiness.  Though we cannot equal Him, we must imitate Him (Matthew Henry).  We cannot excuse away any sin as reasonable, excusable, or permissible.  We have been saved by grace and have become children of God – so be holy!  Just as any good son is naturally inclined to imitate a good father, we are spiritually inclined, and here doubly commanded to take after our Father in matters of holy living.  In Psalm 22:3 David acknowledges God’s perfection and sings out: “You are holy.”  And as God’s child he cries out to his Father for help in Psalm 86:2 saying, “Preserve my life, for I am holy.”  God is holy, and as His children we must be holy too.

The 300 club!

On Sunday morning Doug and had a wonderful time teaching the children in our house church in Plang Yao about Gideon.  In the process of telling the story we made a discovery of our own which gave us an incredible idea for the next time we meet.  Read on and discover what we did.  

This is Doug helping the kids visualize how Gideon's army was chosen.  Here we made little pools of water for the kids to try and drink.  Doug is using his hands to drink the water.

 Here Doug is showing them how some lapped like a dog?

 Then he told them how the Lord kept telling Gideon there is too many men.

 When they got to 300 men,  Gideon showed them their weapons, a horn, a clay pot and a torch.

 Gideon told them to put the pot over the torch.

 "When I give you the word, break your pot, blow your horn and yell," For the Lord and for Gideon"

 That's all it took to scare them all to death.  God's hand and God's plan.

  "Sometimes you kids might find you are all alone in your schools fighting an army of people who don't know Jesus. Most of you are the only Christian in your class.   You are God's 300 club at school.  You can have strength to do whatever God asks you to do.  God is that powerful."
  As we traveled home that day we decided we need to make 300 club bracelets or arm bands next time we meet so the kids will remember that God is with them and he will take care of them like he did Gideon. These kids face a lot of persecution that America kids can't even comprehend.  Every event and ceremony is a Buddhist ceremony. The opening session at school begins with Buddhist chants.  Their teachers often punish them if they do not participate.  Please pray for our kids, Folk, Guy, Pear, Gift, Oom, Bank, Omsin, Pow, A, and Pho.  That God would help them to be brave and live for Jesus.

Evangelism From the Story of the Paralytic

 This morning in our devotional time at Thai Country Trim we are going through a series of Bible stories.  We have split into teams of 2 and each team prepares to tell the story we have assigned and then together we look for the truth's that we find there.  Today's story was the paralytic man of whom four strangers brought to Jesus for healing. 

  As a child I remember this story being told as, the four friends bringing the paralytic to Jesus.   Actually the bible doesn't say they were friends, or that they even knew the man they were bringing to Jesus.  They just new the power of Jesus to heal.  As we discussed this today, we discovered something we had not seen before.  These four men potentially brought this paralyzed man they did not know, to Jesus holding nothing back.  Can't get in the door?  Let's cut a hole in the roof of a house we do not own and lower him over the crowd so Jesus can heal him.  What?  How many of us would be so brave?  If we know the power of Jesus to save, we should bring people to Jesus with no fear.  Lay His plan out before them, with no fear.  Go to places we do not know with no fear.  Below are the thoughts of my national  partners in ministry after thinking through the truth's coming out of this story.

  "It's easy to help family and friends when they are down and out, not so easy when its someone you don't know or someone who doesn't smell so good."

  "The four men taking care of this invalid makes me think of how this should be a model of how we should do evangelism.  Work together to take people to Jesus"

  "They had to know and have a lot of faith that Jesus could heal him or they would have never taken such a risk."

  "They must have been very brave to go up on a strangers roof and cut a hole in it.  Are we confident in our faith that we would take such risks to bring someone to Jesus?"

 

Brand New News Leads to a Brand New Life

Usually on mobile clinic, my job is to see patients and my Thai staff shares the Gospel with everyone when they pick up their meds.  But one mobile clinic day recently, it was about noon and many of my staff were at lunch, so I handed over the doctor role to the capable American docs who were with me and went to help pass out meds and share Christ with the line of people waiting.  While in that role, I talked to a 39 year old man who lived near the Cambodian border.  I asked if he had heard about God before.  He looked at me perplexed and said “no.”  I explained that it was God that had made the world and had given us a conscience so that we would flee sin and try to know Him.  He had a host of questions – he had never heard the story before.  I finished sharing, and asked if he was ready to submit to God as Lord and ask His forgiveness for sins.  Again, the perplexed look came over him – only now he was even more troubled.  He was weighted by the truth that he had just heard…but he looked up at me and said, “I’ve never known God was out there.  I’ve never even considered that there might be a God.”  He said it again, almost to himself, “I’ve never even considered that God could exist.”  “What should I do?”  He asked me and then looked at the ground.  It was a life changing – eternity changing moment.  Just an hour earlier, his biggest problem in life was a recurring headache.  Now he weighed changing his entire belief system and all his life’s priorities on the basis of hearing news from a stranger.  It took him some time to decide, but he could not overcome his need.  I prayed for him and then he bowed his head and prayed out loud, repenting of his sin, confessing his belief in God, and asking to belong to God from then on.  It was his first time hearing the Message, and he took full advantage.  Praise the Lord. 

1 Peter 1:8-9

I Peter 1:8-9

     Whom having not seen you love.  Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls.

     We believe in the unseen God.  Our eyes cannot see Him, that is true, and that turns away many, for they want to see and touch before they will revere.  But though we cannot see Him, yet we certainly can relate to Him, and not just relate from a distance, but we love Him and sense His love for us.  This relationship fills us with “joy inexpressible and full of glory.”  The extent of our joy in experiencing God’s love for us is “inexpressible,” it is hard to find proper wording.  We feel His presence in our souls – we see that He knows us like no one else knows us – He knows our thoughts, our motives, and our intentions.  He never misunderstands us.  He sees our failures and mistakes – and yet we see Him hang on the cross in proof of His love for us.  Oh how can we express our love for Him when we are so overwhelmed by His love for us?  We cannot see Him, yet we believe in Him, and believe all the more because we have experienced His forgiveness, we felt the weight of sin taken off our soul when He forgave us.  We have basked in His presence and felt the glow of His love on our chest.  We have taken Him our sorrows in prayer and felt Him lift our spirits and watched Him resolve our seemingly hopeless troubles.  We have not just believed in God, we have known God and would willingly give up everything else for this joy of knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8).  Surely if we got nothing out of the relationship other than the joy of knowing God, we would find Him enough.  But our belief is not without reward.  The end of our faith is the salvation of our soul.  For reason upon reason we love our Lord, and this reason certainly not the least: He has saved our soul.

May 1, 2014

I was somewhere in the middle of a Friday.  80 patients had signed in and I was seeing number 40 or so.  The previous patient had kindly but troublingly told me that she had been waiting 2 and a half hours to see me.  The thought crossed my mind that dozens more would wait at least that long until they saw me.  I try not to let that bother me more than it should, but I do feel the weight some days more than others.  The very next patient was a 41 year old man from Prachinburi, an area about an hour from here.  He came to see me because he was troubled by a couple minor symptoms and just wanted an annual check up.  Usually, for these folks, I finish their physical check up with a spiritual check up and ask them about the health of their soul and share Christ’s plan for eternal soul cleansing.  But when I walked in the room and introduced myself, my next thought was “I don’t have time to share Christ with this man.  I’ll just see him as quickly as I can and try to move on to help the next person.”  But when it came time to end our time together, I just couldn’t do it – I had to at least give him a chance.  I said, “Physically, different people have different diseases, one guy has high blood pressure, another has diabetes, and some people have back pain.  But spiritually, all of us are afflicted with the same illness – sin.  What are you doing about your sin?” 

He stammered, looked  troubled, and asked, “What can I do about it?”

I almost groaned.  Of all the people to be interested!  Throughout the week I had probably talked to 50 people who flatly refused to talk to me about God, and now, when I had just decided to speed things up, this guy wants to talk.  I began talking to him, but admittedly, I was distracted by the 40 people still waiting to see me. 

    
I asked him, “Have you ever heard about God?” 

    
His answer was shocking.  I went to church with a friend once.”

    
“Really?”  (I don’t hear that line very often here.)  Tell me about that.  

    
There wasn’t much for him to tell.  He went to church, but never followed up ---but what he heard there always stayed with him. 

    
I told him of what Jesus did on Calvary and how His death was able to take away sins – something our merit could not.  Soon we were engaged in a heavy conversation over the fate of his soul, and at the end of it, he bowed his head and raised his voice to God and prayed a prayer of repentance and acceptance of Christ as his Lord.

    
We traded phone numbers and a plan for discipleship.  He went on to get his meds and talk more with my staff.  I went back to the long line of needy people – still troubled by their wait, but humbly grateful that I got to see my Father work in the middle of a hectic day.

The Pit of Despair

One of our groups of home workers for Thai Country Trim is in a little rural town named Tungmahajaren.  In this little town there is a little church with no pastor but a wonderful lay leader that God has used to slowly build this little church.  His father recently died, and at the funeral, he shared this story with the unsaved people who had come to his father’s funeral.

Not many years ago, my life had hit the bottom of the pit.  I was a terrible drunk, I was about to lose my job as a teacher, and my wife wanted a divorce.  I would walk down the street in the evenings and just shout at people and cars.  I was the worst kind of person.  A fellow teacher would tell me, Jesus can help you if you are willing to let him.  I was not willing, until I was at my lowest point in my life.  I went to that fellow teacher and he told me how to follow Christ.  I gave my life to Christ that day and he healed me of my alcoholism, He helped me repair my marriage with my wife, and I became a better teacher.  I had the privilege of leading my whole family to faith in Christ.  My father is in Heaven I know.  For years I have been trying to pass the test to be a school administrator.  Last Saturday, I took the test.  Usually the results are not known for several weeks.  But on Thursday, seeing that my father would be in Heaven soon, I called and asked if they could tell me if I passed.  They told me YES!  I shared that with my father and 20 minutes later, he was gone.  God has been so good to me.  I thank him for giving me that word to tell my father –he went to heaven knowing how God was continuing to provide for me.

  Khru shared this story in a house full of people who were not believers.  People who knew him when….. Pray with us that God will use his testimony to reach them and to grow this church

Far From God

Yupha is one of my Thai Country Trim workers that has been with us for over 15years.  She came to me as a widow with no education, and a small child to raise.  We took her on and helped her feed her family while we fed her God’s word in the process.  She received Christ  after working with us for several months.

Through the years she has been given the task by her family, not only to care for herself and her daughter, but others in the family as well.  Her invalid mother was with them for about 8 years before she passed away.  Then came a VERY sickly sister (her sickness, likely  a result of the life-style she had been leading) she could not walk, feed herself, or bathe herself.  Yupha gently took care of her for a long time, but any time she mentioned God or church, her sister would get very angry and say horrible things. 

When we began studying Bible storying, Yupha would practice her stories at home.  She would leave her Bible open to where she was practicing her stories on the bed next to her sister when she would leave for work.  Soon her sister began asking questions.  She could see a softening in her heart. She began praying over her before bedtime.  Some of her neighbors who are also TCT employees would also share with her and pray over her.  Slowly she began to feel a little better.  She could use her hands, then she could scoot around the room.  She could sit up longer, then use a walker.  They shared with her the story of the paralytic and the 4 who brought him to Jesus.  They shared with her that God has the power to heal. They shared and prayed that God would do a miracle. Now Yupha’s sister can walk and fully take care of herself.  The change is incredible.  Then last Sunday, for the first time ever, she came to church with Yupha – walking into church on her own 2 legs.  We rejoice over God’s power to heal.

Story continued....

In our last newsletter I talked about learning a new Bible storying method that I had only begun implementing as I was writing the article.  Now it has been 4 months and God has been moving in my staff in wonderful ways.  As we have been practicing on each other daily for the past 4 months, these are some of the things my staff has shared as they have learned and began using Bible storying for themselves, each other, family and friends.

Pawana- (She has worked for us since she was saved at our Christmas program in our yard 15 years ago.  She is a simple minded women who talks very little and works VERY hard.)

“I’m a good reader, but I have never memorized a verse before never mind a whole story.  When Cheryl asked us to do this, I thought it was impossible.  I decided to try.  So, I took my story with me wherever I went, I read it before bed, when I got up, when I was on the bus, while working.  When it was my turn to stand up and tell the story.  I did it.”

No one thought this was something Pawana could do.  When she finished her story.  I was crying, people were cheering, and a transformation in Pawana began to happen.  Now I can give Pawana any Bible story and she will take it on.  God is using what she is learning to make her a new person.  He is also changing us as we watch what God can do.

Dang- (has worked full time for almost 20 years, she is a single women in her early 40’s, very smart, very sharp, and a woman of strong faith.)

“Watching Pawana tell her story for the first time was inspiring to me.  Studying the Bible this way has made me want to learn more. “

I have seen revival in Dang’s heart since studying the Bible together with this storying method.  She is so gifted in many things, I look forward to seeing what God will do next with her. 

Phim- (Phim has worked for TCT for many years as well, first as a home worker, and after she gave her life to Christ, she came to work for us full time at the center.  Phim also has little education, and studying anything scares her.)  “Learning to tell and find the treasures in Bible stories has given me confidence to share things about God to my family.  I always felt like I didn’t know enough.  Now things are just pouring out of me.  When we studied the woman with the issue of blood, I knew, that was me.  It reminded me I have a testimony just like that, I need to share it. Phim told us when we were studying that story that before she became a Christian, she suffered with severe asthma since childhood.  Usually her attacks would put her in the hospital several times a year.  When our hospital evangelist would witness to her she would always pray God would heal her.  Since the day she gave her heart to Jesus, she has not had an asthma attack.  She is in her 50’s now.  She had never told anyone this story.  I told her, this is an incredible thing God has done for you, you must share it.  How will Thai people who don’t know God, know how powerful He is, if we don’t tell them what God has done for us?  She took that to heart and also has had revival in her heart and life. 

Teaw- (She has a college degree and seminary training.  She has worked for us since she was in high school.  She is a worship leader for us and our local church.)  “Storying has been such a blessing to me.  Seeing so many people who have very little education tell whole stories by memory has just amazed me.  All of us have been made to read the Bible more than ever before, and I can see how it is changing us.”

Teaw has become very proficient in leading our group to find the treasures God has for us in the stories we tell and study.  I look forward to seeing how God will use her in the future.

Phonpit- ( she has worked for us for almost 30 years.  She is very simple minded and had to quit school in the 4^th grade to take care of her family.)  “Studying like this has made me not just read my Bible but really know it.  Know it so well, I can tell it to someone else, just like I talk to them about anything else.  I feel so smart."

I sometimes call Phonpit our little Cinderella girl.  Before she knew Christ, no one in her life ever showed her love.  I love watching her tell her assigned stories, it blesses my heart right down to my shoes. 

 Aroni-  ( our longest working employee, serving the Lord here for 30+ years.  She has helped develop this ministry from the beginning.  She is in her 60’s now and still a vital part of what we do.)

“This study really gave my faith a jump start.  God used it to show me things I needed to change.  It has helped me to be more bold when I go on visits to our workers’ homes.  It has helped me become a better church leader.  If we believe that what we have in God is good, we need to share it.”

Aroni shared with me that at the church plant she is working in, they asked her to teach youth.  That really scared her, but she didn’t want to say no.  So she prayed and asked God to show her what to do.  Then I began teaching this storying method and she had the answer.  She has been using it ever since and always has wonderful stories to share with me. 

  Studying God’s word using this method has helped us at Thai Country Trim in several ways.  First, it has sent revival in our midst, second it has given us a level of confidence we were sorely lacking,  third we have memorized more scripture than we ever thought possible, and fourth, we are beginning to see fruit from our new found boldness.  (see my next story, “Far from God”)

Belief Leads to Blessing and then to Baptism

We had another baptism at our little house church in Plaang Yaow!  Just writing that makes me smile.  One was a young woman in her 20s who has struggled with the decision to follow Christ for some time, but finally saw her hopelessness without God and decided to follow Him.  The second was a 14 year old girl who has come to meetings for a long time with her aunt, but never wanted to follow Christ.  Finally, in April, she told her aunt, “I believe in God now, and if I get into Benja (a private high school that takes only the best students) I will get baptized.”  The day came, and Benja announced the names of all the students they had accepted.  Bam, our little 14 year-old’s name was not listed.  It was a painful blow to Bam and her family.  College acceptance is greatly related to the quality of the high school one attends, so failing to enter Benja put a cloud over Bam’s future.  A couple weeks later, as the family discussed the matter again (it was hard to talk about anything else), Taew, her aunt, said, “perhaps you should not make deals with God.  You either believe in Him and choose to obey Him or not.  You shouldn’t make conditions for God saying you will only obey Him (and be baptized) if He helps you.”  Wonderfully, Bam agreed.  She called me at almost 10 o’clock that very night (it was a Saturday) and told me of her faith and asked to be baptized in the morning at church.  I talked with her about her faith and made plans to talk with her more in the morning before baptizing her after the worship service on Sunday.  Less than an hour after talking to me, several friends excitedly called her.  “Bam!  Benja is accepting more students!  They just announced it on TV.  Go on their website and see if you got in!”  Bam’s whole family went into an upstairs room together and went to the school’s website together.  And there was Bam’s name.   She had been accepted.  Her fledgling faith had been immediately rewarded – and we baptized her the very next day.     Her uncle, our national leader the Plang Yeow House Church,  was given the honor of Baptizing her.  What a wonderful family event!