Well we are in Nepal again and it has been another wonderful trip. We had great flights on Qatar Airlines (definitely recommended if flying in this part of the world) and it was only 26 hours of flight time which was the shortest of the three trips we have made over here. If anyone knows anything about Nepal they know that the government has “challenges” which is an understatement. There is going to be a bandh tomorrow and Monday which is where groups of people that are protesting the current government shut down the city traffic and force all the shops in the city to close down. We have really been working hard to get the majority of our shopping for orphanage supplies done the first couple of days to avoid the shutdowns around the city. So far for me this trip has been about perspective and my life back in the states. Everyone in the US will admit that the past few years we have undergone some pretty serious problems with our economy and just the government fighting and not getting a lot done no matter if you are democrat or republican. Here, it is just absolutely insane. The country has 7 days left to write and ratify a constitution for all the people, and opposing people groups are shutting down entire cities because they don’t like what is going on. The people here live in abject poverty yet these party’s find time to strike and not make income to support their families and the government in general. Things like this would NEVER happen in America and it is something that helps me be thankful for what we do have back home. What we have is not a perfect system but we don’t have the level of disorganization like what is happening over here every day.
It was also refreshing to go to an all Napoli church today and not understand a blessed thing that was said except for “Jesus” occasionally. 
It helped me to gain a perspective of/for people who come to my home church who don’t speak English and how they feel. I can now understand that there would definitely be a greater emphasis on the worship/music because they could recognize the melody and sing the songs in their language.
The passion that people have for God in church is so unreal. I do believe that the US church has people who genuinely love God, but when the church here gets done singing an old 80′s song like “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” and then break into open worship for about 5 solid minutes it is no contest in comparison with America. I have always wondered what the difference is from foreign lands to America and I really feel it has to do with distractions and not quieting ourselves and letting God reveal himself in deeper ways. We get distracted with things we can’t control (work, sickness, family issues, etc) but also with things we can control (tv, music, entertainment, etc) It is so refreshing to get re-calibrated over here as well as spending time with these kids we love so much.
Tonight we get to buy the kids pizza and play some games with them. With all the crap going on with the government the next couple of days we get to spend more time with the kids because they will not be in school so that is one plus. More updates to come!
Nepal May trip update
A great story of provision that’s not just about my iphone 4 :)
I have been wanting an iphone 4 for quite a while and have learned recently that the more I “push” for something that I want the more God provides the resistance I need to keep me in check (which sucks sometimes but is necessary for good ol Bri). The journey to my iphone 4 starts with me talking with my Dad about helping me buy an unlocked iphone for our orphanage manager in Nepal. Our manager had mentioned that he would like one and was willing to give me money to buy one for him but I wanted to be a blessing to him. My dad agreed to help me out and I started to search craigslist for a good deal on a nice 3gs. It was like the more I pushed the crappier the deals on craigslist got. I could not find any phones within the price point I was looking for. I finally just prayed (too bad this ends up being the end and not the beginning sometimes) about finding a phone for Emanuelle (our manager). My friend Scott said he and his brother had 2 3GS phones that I could have for a really cheap price (within my budget) and they are on there way here as I type this blog. For a point of reference, when the Playstation 2 came out many moons ago my friend Scott bought me one and surprised me one Christmas as well as giving me an old skool XBox back in the day and bought me my first Sony PSP. Needless to say, he has been an amazing blessing to me in a way that may seem stupid to some people because these are “things” but to a pastor not making great money through the years, it was a great thing to have these blessings in my life and Scott knows that I appreciated each of them including the iphones this week.
During this time, I had been saving money to put towards an iphone 4 eventually but saw the ridiculous prices on craigslist. During all of this I had a conversation with my friend Eliphaz and I was teasing him about always having what he wanted and he told me something that really changed my perspective on God’s blessing and favor in my life. He said that God had always provided for him and that he was not nervous about God supplying all his needs (including a desire to have cool electronics) I know that seems like such a simple principle, but it was something I needed to hear at the perfect time. I took the same attitude with my iphone 4. An amazing phone, but I wanted it to be God’s timing and not be a mental distraction like “things” can be so often in our lives. Technology is my challenge to keep in check in my life but we each have things that we maybe try and “keep from God and manage for him” which is wrong. When we come to the place of surrendering our desires to God we actually have more provision than we know what to do with. So back to my iphone story. I found a guy on craigslist who would trade me my 3gs (thanks again Christy) for an iphone 4 and some additional money that I had saved. We met today and it was awesome. We ended up sitting for about 45 minutes and I got to talk to him about God, pray over his phone business and invite him to church. He not only gave me a better phone with 8 months left on a warranty but also a case for the phone. Of the 2 phones my friend Scott is sending me (thanks again Phillip and Scott) one is going to be a blessing to our manager in Nepal and the other will be hopefully sold to help Yoli buy her iphone at the end of the year. The motivation for all these stories in this blog is about God’s provision and not the provision I was seeking in my life. In all of this, we were able to have money to pay for new blinds downstairs in our house, a phone for our manager in Nepal, extra money to save (staying within the budget we set for all these things) and I got an iphone 4 with a case and 8 months left on a warranty.
All I have to say is WOW and thank God for his provision and blessing in my life. Again, I know this is a story about “things” but I can see the hand of God so clearly through all of this situation. So remember to always let God have control of ALL areas of your life including desires that YOU think God doesn’t really care about. Things” in life are not wrong when those desires are surrendered to God so he can give the multiplied provision.
The end of the world…or is it?
I was reading 2 Thessalonians 2 for my devotions this am and was thinking about all the “end times” talk that we hear from time to time. There is a billboard on Broadway that has a self proclaimed prophet who says that he knows when the end of the world will be and that the tribulation has already started. This blog is not to talk about whether I think he is wrong or not (although I do believe differently) but more the fascination with trying to predict when Jesus will return. First, I think trying to predict the end of it all is a waste of time. 2 Thessalonians and even other sections of the Bible says that no one will know the exact day but can see the seasons changing. I do agree that there are many things pointing towards a one world government for example. Look at the disaster in Japan and the effect it is having on the global market including Toyota car production even here in the US which says it will have to cut back or suspend some cars for now. Look at the debt we operate in around the globe and our gas prices that are so connected to the oil production of countries experiencing unrest right now.
The bigger question to me is what is the motivation of people who claim to know the end of the world? Some are just plain crazy. That has been proved over time and has had some disastrous consequences. Some people are possibly so dissatisfied with life that they want to know the end of it all just to get it over with. I know when I went through my eye stuff and had thoughts of suicide I really didn’t care about living anymore. Other people use it as spiritual manipulation to get people to convert to Christianity which I think is also wrong. The people who follow God the best and make the best spiritual decisions are the ones who have come to the end of themselves and have no more answers inside and have to look to a loving God who wants to fill that God shaped hole in their heart. Not ones who are motivated or operate in fear and just “don’t want to go to hell.”
I want to live my life everyday to the fullest whether I live to be 100 or I die tomorrow or the world ends in 2012 I want my life to be a reflection of the love of Christ and I want to see people through God lenses. So don’t waste your time on this earth looking to see when it will all end. There are going to be “wars and rumors of wars” like it says in the bible but we need to be focused on Christ and who he can be in our lives. If you don’t have a real relationship with Jesus I encourage you to find a good bible believing church this Easter and listen to the message about how a loving God sent his son to die for your sins. Let the “end” be to the things you used to do to gratify your flesh and start living for a higher purpose. God created you, he loves you and you have the ability to be everything this world needs you to be for the glory of God. Have a great day and God bless.
I got an iPad but I’m keeping my Kindle…and this is why
Well i broke the first “tech commandment” of mine and bought a first generation iPad. I am actually typing this blog on it right now in fact. My wife and I talked about it and we felt like we didn’t need to wait for the next generation iPad coming out in the next few months and had Christmas money that we had a saved. I have had a Kindle for almost a year and really loved it. Now you would think that because i now have the mighty iPad that i would sell my Kindle but you would be mistaken. I am going to keep both my Kindle and iPad and here are the reasons why.
1. Battery life while reading books on the Kindle
Even though the battery life on my iPad is really great it cannot keep up with my Kindle. I can get almost three weeks of battery life out of my Kindle where i get about 10 hours out of my iPad.
2. Reading books on the Kindle is not stressful on the eyes
If I read a lot i can tell when my eyes get stressed on the iPad but on the Kindle i can read for hours. It really is like reading a newspaper with the technology it has. I like having the ability to use my iPad for games and typing things (like this blog) and my Kindle for reading books.
3. My Kindle is much smaller and lighter than the iPad for holding with one hand
After using the iPad i can tell that to hold it a lot with one hand for any length of time
would be just about impossible. I love the portability of the Kindle especially with the long flights that my wife and i take to Nepal at least once a year. The profile is nice and small on the Kindle but the screen is large enough to read and there are many font options as well.
4. I am sharing my iPad with my wife
This may sound funny, but this is the first piece of technology that i am sharing with her. Not saying that is a bad thing, just a change of what i am used to. It is nice to have my Kindle if I want to read a book and my wife can. Use the iPad. I am actually proud of her for how far she has come with not only being able to use technology but really enjoying it as well.
These are just a few reasons why i am keeping my Kindle and everyone knows how awesome the iPad is now and the iPad 2 in a few months is going to be. I really feel like this was a good purchase and that i will not regret breaking the “tech commandment” of not buying a first generation of anything.
Vitamins, Fasting and Your Life
I love Saturdays because I get to read and today was pretty cool because I had a revelation from a small line I read in a book on my Kindle. It was talking about a vitamin called B2+ found in a certain type of food and if it was good for you or not and it had a side remark about what a true Vitamin is; it must be something that is essential to a healthy life. I don’t know why that short statement struck me but it did. I thought about my walk with God and what would I consider “vitamins” in my relationship with Jesus and what are things that are not essential? I also considered all the “things” I have in life, such as regular TV programs DVR’d and ready to watch, a passion for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team, a love for technology (including my iPhone and Apple products), etc. You know…just stuff. I really want the coming fast that I will be starting with my church tomorrow for 21 days to be a time of evaluating what things in my life are “vitamins”, things that are OK for me but not essential, and things that are not good for me and are just time wasters. I truly believe that we need to be mindful of what we physically put in our bodies that are essential for life but also the things that consume our lives and if they have a “vitamin” quality to them or if they are just things that need to be discarded for the good of the whole emotionally and/or physically. I can say that fasting is one of my LEAST favorite disciplines as a Christian but know that it is something that needs to happen in my life and really in the life of every believer. I believe it is a time of evaluating the “vitamins” (or lack of) in your life and if you are as healthy as you think you are. I want to challenge you to really spend time in 2011 taking deliberate pauses to evaluate your life and see just how healthy or unhealthy you really are. To me, regular evaluation of your life is a “vitamin” in itself and critically essential for living the life that you will be proud of this year.
What I learned from my Free Ski Lesson
I had a great day skiing at Copper Mountain yesterday and thought I would write a little blog about what I learned from a free ski lesson I got from a guy I met on the hill.
I would classify myself as a great non-mogul skier. I am not afraid to go down anything but it just may take me a little longer than some. I can ski anything very well as long as it doesn’t include trees or those little white devils known as moguls. I was trying to ski a Black Diamond at Copper (actually, I was more “surviving the run” and not really skiing it) when I came up behind a guy and struck up a conversation about how great the day was the condition of the snow. He noticed I was doing my “survival routine” and asked if I wanted any pointers.
Lesson number one learned: I had the option to be prideful and tell him “no, I’ve got this” when I knew in my mind and the obvious show of my lack of mogul skiing, that I needed all the pointers I could get. I said, “definitely” and he proceeded to help me for about four hours teaching me some of the fundamentals about skiing bumps as well as jump turning and skiing in the trees. Pride is THE #1 obstacle to growth in life. When we think we have it all figured out or don’t want to admit to being insufficient in something, no matter what it is, we have just put a limit on our learning and stunted our growth in life.
The second thing I learned from my ski lesson was that I could hear the instructions being told but if I didn’t apply what was being said to my actions it was pretty much useless information. The same is true with a follower of Christ and the Bible. I can read the Bible, see and even believe what it says but if I don’t apply what it is telling me I am never going to get “better” with my walk with God. Always remember that our walk with God is organic and is either growing or dying. That is an important element of life that we sometimes forget and really is the foundation of a mediocre walk with God. The third thing I learned was that the more comfortable I got with how I was skiing the more adventurous I was willing to be. The same is true with knowing and following Christ. I have heard people say that they think a life following Christ sounds like a bunch of boring rules. Skiing a groomed run and skiing moguls have some “rules” you need to follow but once you learn them the sky is the limit! When I read in the Bible about what the boundaries are for my life and live by those rules set out for me, my relationship with Jesus takes on a whole new level and I can enjoy listening to God and doing what he says. I feel even after a one day lesson that I want to go back up to the hill to practice what I learned so I can get even better and enjoy myself even more on the hill and skiing even more terrain. A life with Christ can be the same thing. A hunger to know God even more so I can go out in the “terrain” of the world and “tear it up” for Christ!
I know my meeting Howard was not a coincidence and I have a new ski buddy and a foundation to hopefully lead him to Christ someday which is super cool and as an added bonus, I feel more confident than ever about my skiing ability and can enjoy my days off when I hit the slopes which is a great feeling as well!
Last Nepal Post! Time to come home
Well, we have had a great time in Nepal and its time to come home! We went around town for a final day of personal shopping finding shoes for the kids for school and buying one more game that is a large board that is played like pool but with small plastic disks. I really feel a connection with the kids here now more than ever. I definitely believe more than ever that us being here consistently will help with making a connection with the kids. We were able to pray over them and then all the guys gave me a big group hug which was awesome. Yolanda tried to hug the girls but they are so painfully shy that only a few wanted to hug her. It feels so good to know that you are making a difference in the lives of children on the other side of the world. I am already exicted to come back in May!! Denver, we will see you in about 31 hours
Nepal Update – Day 4
Well, we are almost done with our trip and it feels like we have been here about 1 day (Yolanda said she feels like its been a month . Today we went to the Botanical Garden for a picnic with the kids about five miles out of town and it was beautiful. We were surprised at how lush and green the forest area was in comparison to the city. We also experienced the “price gouging” of foreigners with the fee to get into the park. For the kids and managers it was 10 rupies and for Yolanda and I it was 100 rupies (this is still like $1.40 but still way more expensive) It was another wonderful time hang out with the kids, playing games with them and just loving on them. We then had a great dinner of chicken curry, rice and lentils for dinner with fruit cocktail for dessert.
I have found since being here that its not necessarily what we DO with the kids as much as BEING with them. Its a lot like our relationship with God. We often get caught up in doings things for God instead of just desiring to spend time with him. When I first came to Kathmandu I didn’t really know the kids and just thought they wanted me to DO things for them. As I spend more time with them, I can see that the things I do for them are ancillary to just being here with them. When we really get to know God we learn that all He wants from us is our time and the rest will be an overflow of that time spent with Him. God wants us to live our lives for him not out of duty or a sense of “have to” but because of the progressive and organic nature of a life surrendered to him and ready to do things based on love.
Today, take a few minutes and just spend time with God. Listen, maybe write down some things God shares or just sit and be silent. It will make all the difference in your relationship with Him. Have a great day and tomorrow will be the final update from Nepal!
Nepal update Day 3
Today was another great day with the kids. Its like I can’t spend enough time with them! Today we went to a field of cows, goats, lots of dirt and hardly any grass which to these kids is a palatial plot of land to play soccer and other field games. I tried to play goalie but was not good at all. My team lost and I owed the winning team 5 bottles of coke which to these kids was like winning the World Cup itself! The more time I spend with them the more comfortable I can sense they are with me. Mina, the little girl I just adore here, held my hand all the way back from playing games. She was repeating everything I said and was laughing and talking with me which was much different than last time. When she smiles my heart just melts. All of them are really good kids and I can see future potential in each one of them. Emmanuel and Hannah, the orphanage managers, do such a great job with them and we can see greatness in their lives.
I was thinking about the greatness that God sees in us if we would give him control of our lives and let him adopt us into his family. When we commit our lives to Jesus we make changes in our lives and choose to live with him and have him take care of us. As we walked back from the field where we were playing games the level of despair and the condition of the city is so apparent and just breaks my heart. I think of each one of our kids and the life they would be leading if they were not in the orphanage. Then I consider the ways my life would be different if I was not under Gods covering and care. Just another reminder here in Kathmandu of what God means to me and what the orphanage and care we can give these kids means to them. God has been so good to the children’s home and we know that the greatest days are yet to come!! See you tomorrow with another Nepal update! Have a great day
Nepal Update day 2
Our second full day in Nepal was all about spending the money we brought on games and food supplies for the picnic we are doing tomorrow. We were so blessed to have people give us supplies as well as money before we left to be able to buy some things for the kids. They are so rough on everything! We bought them a soccer ball in February when we were here and it had all of the leather disks off of it! This is why we are always open to people donating things including money so we can help improve their level of daily living. With them being out of school right now they don’t have bikes or a city park to go play in. They have to stay inside the compound pretty much everyday which can get monotonous.
Also, we apparently had 2 earthquakes last night while we were asleep! Yolanda and I slept right through them but our waiter this am said he felt them last night. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing that we didn’t feel them.
So for today, I wanted to share something I read in my devotional when we first got here and I have been thinking about it ever since. The city just finished a Hindu holy week and I was listening to our orphanage manager tell us about how confusing it is to be Hindu and the rules that are a part of that religion. Then I read in my Watchman Nee book an interesting concept; God gave man the law in the Bible as an order to live by, but did it with the full knowledge that we would break it! If the law was able to be kept in our own power (or now days, that we would be able to follow Christ if we could just “do the right things”) then we wouldn’t need Christ. This just blew my mind! My success as a Christian doesn’t come from just doing the things that make me a Christian. It comes from me totally surrendering my life to Christ and asking Him what to do next. It is simple from the standpoint of surrender to God but difficult in calming my mind to think like Christ and have my actions be an overflow or reflection of the change that has happened in my heart. So today, think of what motivates your actions? I want Christ to be the light in my life and for my life to be the mirror that reflects his love and power to lost, dark and hurt world. See you tomorrow!!
