"I BELIEVED, AND SO I SPOKE"

Gospel for Asia is a ministry whose primary aim is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who have never before heard His name. Check out this inspiring website: http://www.gfa.org/ Particularly on my mind and heart are the Aug. 08 killings of Christian believers in the India's western state of Orissa.500 were left dead and thousands homeless. Pray for boldness and strength for these Indian believers who continue to trust in God in the face of evil.

A week ago John Piper preached a message at the Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago entitled "Feed the Flame of God's Gift: Unashamed Courage in the Gospel ." http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/3837/Audio/. I listened to it as I ran 8 miles for my marathon training (May 31st San Diego) and was completely rocked by it. This message is worth listening to. In it he preaches about the boldness that we must exercise as we give witness of the reality and beauty of Jesus Christ. Enjoy!

I wrote and read the following before the Easter meal at my parent's home this last Easter Sunday. _________________ Today we celebrate Easter. We celebrate the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ over death by His rising from the dead and His absolute and final defeat of sin and death. We celebrate our adoption as sons and daughters of the One True and Living God through His death and rising. And we celebrate that He alone is the God of Justice & He is Love. But not everyone has seen and believed this most glorious truth of what God has done for each of us. And once knowing we are quick to forget and sure to falter in our deeds and thoughts. The truth is that it’s not easy to accept Jesus words that we are evil at the core of who we are and that we need to be born again and we can’t make it happen. It is not easy to accept that we deserve Hell because of who we aside from all the evil we think and do. Jesus speaks the truth out of love in Matthew 7:9-11: “Which of you, if his...

Suddenly I'm awake at 4:32am. It's twenty-four hours before I run my first Half-Marathon, and I'm roused by a sharp pain in my leg. It's my hamstring and it feels as if I've just been stabbed in the middle of a peaceful nap. I can't fall back asleep, not because of the pain but because of the fear. Anxiety seeps into my mind at the thought of not being able to finish the race that I've trained and sacrificed for over the last 3 months. I'm frustrated and scared. I lower myself down the ladder of my top bunk at 5:15am and descend the stairs into the dark hours of the morning and open my Bible to 1 John 4:18-19: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love..." All the while there is a picture in my mind that I cannot erase. It is the story of the British Olympian Derek Redmond and how love triumphed over fear and failings on a Spanish summer day....

When I was boy of eight or nine years old I played in a local basketball league in my town of Madera, California. At that time in my life my biggest dream was to be John Paxson from the Chicago Bulls getting the ball dished off to him from Michael Jordan in the last few seconds of the NBA Finals to drain the championship winning three pointer. I will never forget that in eager anticipation on certain nights before my game, I would imagine that there in the bleachers the next day would be three invisible spectators overjoyed to cheer me on. I would see the popcorn floating at chest level as it they watched over me. These three spectators were God Almighty, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and it was a reminder that the Lord is always with me. Today when I arrived at the usual spot for morning prayer at 7:05am, there were three sofa chairs in the space beneath the stairs of the student dorms and dining hall, empty. It reminded me of my thoughts as a kid. And it reminded of th...