You know your tired when you turn out the light on your bed stand, and it takes you 5 min to realize that, that didn’t turn the light out. And only after some confusion and 5 or 6 more clicks of the switch you realize that, no that lamp is not broken, but that the over head light is still on!

AHH crap! now i have to get back out of bed to turn the over head light off. oh wait let me see if the night stand is on... ok good now i go turn over head out. UGHH so annoying!

so i had an interesting conversation with an elderly lady in my church on christmas morning.

i have been filling in for my pastor while he is away on holiday or vacation as we say in america.

and on Xmas morning after preaching or rather attempting to preach. one of the elderly ladies in church came up with a question about the order of events in the christmas story and exactly when they happened.

so my sister and i lade out a time line as to the order of events of the story of the nativity . then she asked as to our education IE did we have bible degrees and when we told her that my sister was a school teacher and i was a journalist, she then very quickly excused her self thanked us for our help and left. my sister and I kind of looked at each other and were like “well that was abrupt! she must doubt what we said because of our lack of education or degrees in the right aria.” then it struck me. this is not the first time I

have seen this happen. people have asked me what kind of educational back ground I have to qualify me to be a missionary or a bible teacher. but as I sat there and pondered what happened with that lady it struck me... what if she had asked... say... Peter, James, or John! I mean on paper they had less of an education then I do. I mean they could read and write but they were fisherman and carpenters or what about Jesus him self I mean he was only a carpenter.

If we use the same thread of logic that this lady and so so manny other people use, as to wether or not what we say is valid! then Paul is the only New Testament writer they can believe what he said is true.

Now in NO way am I trying to put my self in the league with the 12 and with Christ him self. i mean the 12 walked with God Him Self for 3 years and learned form Him and well... Christ needs no explanation as to who he was. I just find some people astounding in the stock they put in a simple pice of paper

ok so i have been told i need to up date my blog. I’m not exactly sure what to up date it with, i mean i haven’t really been attacked by my nabbers cat or been kidnapped by the cops or been involved in any high speed chases.

so i thought i would start buy up dating with what my last assignments were and then move on to what is up next and what’s new.

Last Assignments:

will start this part off with a boat trip up and down the cost of Mozambique for 3 days. it was my first time out at sea for any given amount of time namely longer then a day.

the adventure starts with 2 flights and a long ride in and to one of the deepest ports in Africa.

all i can say is that the Satan didn’t want us to do this story. while we were in layover on our way we find out that the family we were going to see and do as story on, there baby had fallen in there pool and drowned. amazingly after immediate attention and spending the night in the hospital, AND LOST OF PRAYER, the little guy was up and running around as thought nothing had ever happened. I feel it is safe to say that i got the privilege to see Gods Hand at work.

The next day the whole family I and my team mate all set out across the Bay to visit one of the villages thy minister in. The next 3 days we sailed up and

then back down the coast visiting chefs and Kings making first contact and helping a new Missionary from Germany get introduced in to the community, for more abou

t this trip go to africastories.org and read the article first contact and watch the video i did called Ororom

ela. all i can say is that time after time on this trip i got to see God work in amazing and wonderful ways.

the next day after i flew in from my trip to Moz, 3 other Journeymen and i left at 4ish in the morning to drive up to Victoria falls for holiday or vac

ation as we say in the americas.

the falls were truly amazing but at the same time it kind of sad to see how the country is still suffering. I remember one man in particular came up to me one night and asked me to buy his zim dollars he had the whole set. earlier th

at day he had been trying to sell it to me for 30 then 25 and even 15

dollars, but w

hen he finally cam to me for the last time he only wanted the price of a loaf of bred like 2 or 3 bucks.

we weren't there at the peak of the falls but there was still an impressive amount of water that was flowing over. it was amazing to stand on the edge of t

he cliff looking at the falls and to think that this might be one of the very spots where Dr David Livingston had stood the first time he had been there. one of the forefathers of african missions.

the next adventure i embarked on was to work media at the 2010 lausanne congress traditionally the last 2 have kind of decided the corse of missions and the modern church so it was pretty awesome to get to see, meet, and rub shoulders with people like Tim Keller, John Piper, the archbishop of the Anglican church of North America just to name a very small few. it was also an awesome experience. almost the whole time i was there i was seconded to the broad cast team who was there putting together daily news pieces that went out all around the world it was really awesome to get to work with the news director of TBN news and a freelance producer and get to learn from the both of them i feel that that short week being a news camera man stretched me and made me learn more then i have in the past year and a half all together.

well thats what i have done for the past few months

heres what’s to come:

well starting on christmas day i am going to start filling in for the pastor of the church i go to every sunday morning. he will be on holiday for the next 3 weeks so i will be preaching on christmas day and then again on the 2

nd and

then on the 9th as well

so PLEASE PLEASE PLAES BE PRAYING FOR ME. i have never preached before so this is new and uncharted waters all together.

I recently took over teaching the small group that i was attending that has been new experience for me as well.

I will say that preaching and teaching bible studies have really given me a whole new respect for those who are doing so.

well thats whats

all new in my life i hope i didn’t boar you to much with the wordiness of it all .

This past weekend i went to a mens conference here in south Africa called Might Man where half a million men gathered on Shalom Farm to worship God and hear answers from Him. It was one of the most incredible experience i have ever had, I truly felt like i was in the presence of God the whole time i was there.

One of the sessions at the conference the Preacher Angus Buchan preached on, was Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar
on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk
and not be faint. Angus spoke on how we get so busy in our lives and we don't take time to wait on the Lord, and we don't renew our strength.
This message was good, and really spoke to me, but it didn't really take root untill just yesterday when i heard an advert on the radio. This advert was talking bout the wisdom of the the Kalahari Bushman. the advert told about how a bushman will hunt small deer and small game. A bushman will find a small deer and start to chase it but he will never get so close as to completely frighten the deer. He will get close enough so the deer will always be uneasy and never stop moving, or stop to take a drink. All the while the bushman is taking sips from his animal skin flask, never him self getting dehydrated. After a few days of following the deer will finally pass out from dehydration and lack of rest. you see the thing that jumped out at me about this story of the bushman, is that often in our lives the devil is the bushman and we are the small deer. like the bushman the devil makes us uneasy with cares of this world, issues at work, deadlines exct exct. like the small deer we get uneasy and busy. We never stop at the watering hole (the word of God and quiet time) and are always too busy to "do our devotions and pray right now"... and next thing we know, we are spiritually weak and about to pass out. The devil has has so effectively kept us busy and on the move. that we never stopped to renew our strength in the LORD, and we then become easy prey for the devil.

I met a woman to day, and she put me to shame. I was out running some errands today and I stopped one of the local grocers to by a deli sandwich this store has the best deli sandwiches ever. So I I went in the store and picked up my lunch checked out and got in my car. Since I moved in to my new office I have amassed a lot of keys on my key ring, so as I was fiddling with my key ring this elderly lady comes to my car and in very broken english started asking me for something I wasn't sure what she wanted. At first I thought she wanted me to help her unload her groceries but I wasn't about to let her do that there are car guards and cart boys in every lot here so I wasn't about to let her be raciest and as a white boy, but then I realized she was wanting a ride to her house so I agreed, and the lady climbed in my car.
Now i'm sure by now your wondering “how dose this put you to shame?” well here it is .
The lady had no sooner closed the door of my car then these words came out of her mouth.
“Oh ths is wonderful! Thank God you were here. Ho! Thank the Lord Jesus Christ! 'I think the Lord Jesus Christ because I am a born again believer.' I am greek and I was always greek orthodox but I found the lord 26 years ago, my son and I are bore again believers.”
Now this lady had walked what is a bout a 15 min car ride to get her groceries, so for the whole 15 min all this lady could talk about was how she met Christ, I could bearly get a word in edge wise, to tell her im a baptist missionary, and when I did... that set her off even more so from then on she started telling me how God works how she had walked so far and then God sent me to take her home. On and on she went. At first I was a little anoied with her but then it was like God was saying “Ethan your a missionary this is how you should be with my story. Why don't you anoy people with my story like this ?”

so to you reader, WHY arent you anoying some one with the gospel of Jesus Christ?

The case of the invisible intruder!!

Ok so maybe it wasn't so much of a mystery but it was still pretty scary! At least for a moment.
It was raining it was dark, and on top of that I couldn't see any thing in my house! Funny how that happens when its dark. Any way I went to bible study this evening and didn't get back till late well it was 10ish.
To save money on electric I have gotten in the habit of cutting all the house lights off at the main box so there is no way I can leave them on during the day. And today just so happened to be one of those days. I had forgotten to turn them back on when I left for bible study, so when I came home this evening the light switch wouldn't work. I flipped it on then off then on again and thought GIRRR I left the switch off again. Right as as I was flipping the switch again BAM!!! something invisible took my leg out form under me. My heart rate jumped and then there was a small jingling sound. As I stud there re gathering my self trying to figure out what happened I realized I had left my kitchen window open and the nabbers cant had snuck in, im assuming to get away from the rain storm we had, had a bit earlier.
Now im guessing that Osiris had felt a little guilty about stealing shelter or maybe it was that he scared me so bad, or perhaps he just wanted food. Knowing Osiris im guessing food. but at any rate he flet some remorse for what he had done and decided to come back, follow me around the house for the next hour, making a nuisance of him self.
Well there you have it, its that case of the mystery intruder...

a missed opportunity

This past saturday I went down in to sweato with my friend Zach to hand out flyers and to invite people to one of the church plants that they have there. We got in to the township about 9:15 and were out walking up and down the streets handing out gospel news papers by 10.

our goal was to just walk up and down the streets handing out these papers and inviting as many people to come to church as we could and if they asked questions then we could share with them about Jesus Christ. 

 I remember at one house we stopped at, the guy on the front porch was really mixed up about what he believed but the guy at the front porch was not the thing that stroke me the most about that visit. I was standing off to the side while the national believer shared with this really mixed up man. As i was standing there I noticed an elderly gentleman standing in the yard next door. He had been watering his garden when we walked up, and I first saw him. But the next time I looked over he was almost standing at his fiance listing to what was going on, his hands at his side just standing and watching. 

At first I kind of felt a little pearlised its not my natural instinct to be out going and walk up to people, the then my team mate noticed him and motioned me over to him, so I finally mustered the courage and walked over “ Hi, would you like a news paper sir? He looked at me and at the paper, “ what's it about” he asked, its a good news paper telling about he good news of Jesus Christ,” I said. “Do you go to church? He shook his head and said plainly “no” would you like to go? “yes” do you know who Jesus is? “no” you have never heard of him ? “no” . I could feel my self being pearlised by my shy fear again, my mind started going fuzzy and all I could say was would you like some one you visit you and talk to you about Jesus? “yes” so I took his information down for the missionary to come and visit him later. 

We went on and visited many other people that morning and got a lot of good responses from people. 

But I keep thinking about that old man, I can still see him standing there watching us and hearing him  say he wanted to know more but not being able to tell him because my mind went blank 

I cant stop thinking about that scripture in 1 peter 3:15 (But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,)

I cant stop thinking about this verse and how important it is to share with every one no matter when no matter where. It makes my heart ache to think that I missed the chance to share with some one. So my friends and who ever is reading this please, over come your fear and share with every one.