Thank You

Thank you for your support and prayers

From Israel

Hello from Israel…

Well I am finally here and slowly adjusting to the higher altitude. When I first got here just climbing a flight of stairs made me remember my days as a smoker. That extra 2000 feet of elevation really does make a difference.

One of the other things that I have had to get used to is the security that is everywhere. You have to go through security just to go grocery shopping. It is something we back in the states take for granted. That no one will blow you up while you are shopping for food.

Jericho or Bust Part 6

Hello from Vienna Austria,

Well I am on my way to Jericho, I have made it across the pond as it were and I am sitting in Vienna with little (read none) sleep since 7am on the 14^th. For most of the way over here all I could really think about was one of the last sermons I gave at the CEC.

By the way this is a series on my adventure to Israel if you have not read anything on it may I suggest you start here:

Part 1 of Jericho or Bust

Part 2 of Jericho or Bust

Part 3 of Jericho or Bust

Part 4 of Jericho or Bust

Part 5 of Jericho or Bust

God has been so good to me this past year I sometime think I am living is some kind of fairy tale. He has opened my heart to children, meeting Juanita and her most amazing nephews Ulises and Christian and I cannot forget about my little bro Tyler.  He brought me into the CEC and hook with up the Eibel’s and because of this amazing family which I have come to love so much I am on my way to Israel.

It is all that and so very much more. Jesus even set up this entire ministry trip I am on right now and raised up so much support for it it just boggles the my mind. I am financially and prayerfully covered and it makes me love Jesus so much. Thank you all for your prayers and support…Thank you Jesus!

So all the way over the Atlantic all I pondered on this verse I taught on a few Sunday’s ago in the CEC

Song of Songs 2:4-”He has brought me to his banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.

He must really truly love me and his banner over me is love. I am His beloved and I feel so cherished right now as I sit on the floor in the Vienna airport writing this. How long have I run up my own flags over me, flags like failure, stupid, never get it right, etc… No more after this year, I truly know that I am His beloved and His it is His flag pole and only He has the right to run His flag up it.

I know that I am going to face some tough days in the coming months, but as long as I remember that I am truly loved and that he will never forsake me. I know that I will make it.

Next post from the Holy Land!

Mike

Jericho or Bust part 5

As I am sitting here waiting for the kind folks that I minister with over in the CEC to come and take the last of my belongings. If you all remember I have to either sell or give all my stuff away before I start my mission trip to Israel. Haven’t read about it yet? Then just follow the link below and read about my mission trip to Israel and how it all began…

Part 1 of Jericho or Bust

Part 2 of Jericho or Bust

Part 3 of Jericho or Bust

Part 4 of Jericho or Bust

In the quest to go through and deal with all of my stuff including boxes of records, I accidentally threw away my brand new passport which cost me $100. I look for days for it and was quite worried as I had only a month before I was to leave for Israel.

Jericho or Bust Part 4

This is part 4 of the series Jericho or bust. If you have not read the preceding parts I would highly encourage you to do so now.

Part 1 of Jericho or Bust

Part 2 of Jericho or Bust

Part 3 of Jericho or Bust

Also this will be my last blog entry for a little while as I need to send my laptop in for some work and I will be at Signs and Wonders camp next week. I get to go play with kids and camp out.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I had some stock left over from when I worked for ABB. I was keeping this stock because I wanted to wait until it got a little higher in value so that I would have enough to pay off my college loan. At one point last year it did get high enough, but it was climbing so that I did not want to sell it quite yet. I got busy with other things and did not check it for a week or so. When I did it had fallen quite a bit so I decided to just leave it sit and hope that it would climb back up again.

They Do Get It

Mark 12:41-44 And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

I was teaching at the Children’s Equipping Center (CEC) this past week for the KC Commission kids and was amazed at just how much the kids understand what is being taught to them.

I was teaching on giving and one of the young girls started talking about the above passage. It was one I had not included in the lesson though when I started describing how giving needs to come from the heart, she brought up this passage. I was impressed enough by this, but doing the devotional time where the kids get a half hour to mediate on what they learned.

Jericho or Bust Part 3

If you have not read parts one or two of Jericho or bust, I would highly encourage you to so now.

Part 1 of Jericho or Bust

Part 2 of Jericho or Bust

Well in this part I was going to talk about something else, but something happened this past week that I want to share with you. It really shook me pretty hard, but in the end God knows what He is doing and it just took me seeing that once again.

Last week, I sent an email to the people I am living with to verify that it was okay to leave all my personal stuff in storage in one of the closets in their house. I was going to leave the my furniture in place thinking that it would a) let me have a place to store it and b) other guest who stayed there would have some furniture to use. As for my car I thought I could just leave it on the side of the house or in the garage. That way if I or they ever flew in there would be a car available.

Jericho or Bust Part 2

First let me highly suggest that if you have not read part one yet, please take a moment and do so. You can read it by clicking on the link below. Thank you for being so patient in waiting for part 2. I finally got my papers written and turned in and my sermon ready (yea!)

Jericho or Bust Part 1

Jericho or Bust Part 3

When Katherine told me that vision I have to admit that I did not take it very seriously. I never really saw myself going over to Israel to serve. I did believe that one day I would work in an orphanage overseas somewhere, but I my heart I thought it would be in Mexico.

Don’t Worry

I heard Bob Marley’s song ‘Three Little Birds‘ the other day and it made me think of the passage from Mathew 6 about not worrying. It just reminds me so much that as a follower of Jesus Christ that this is how I should live my life.

Mathew 6:26-34 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jericho or Bust Part 1

As some of you know I am preparing to move to Israel and minister in a Palestinian refugee camp. It all started with a vision that Katherine Eibel had while she was in Israel. For those of you who do not know Katherine she and her husband Scott graciously opened their home to me last year and allowed me to live in the basement apartment for free. They have two boys Bennett and Charlie that I really love. This is how I met the Eibels. It was at the Signs and Wonders Camp but that is another story.

Anyways, here is Katherine’s vision in her own words. This is part one and I will hopefully be able to post the rest soon (as soon as I get my paper done for Church History that is).