ALL CREATION PRAISES HIM!!!

"All Creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing, "Aleluia, Aleluia!'"

God's Word tells us that all of creation praises Him, that even if we don't praise Him the rocks will cry out their praises to Him! Living in the Philippines I have opportunity to dive in some of the most beautiful reefs around. I have both snorkeled and scuba'd in several different areas here in the Philippines. I can tell you that it has made me appreciate our Creator more and more. What an awesome, wonderous, creative God He is! The amazing corals of almost every color there is; some areas looking like an artist came and spattered different colors as a montage with the myriad corals collecting in one place. The soft corals with one that looks like a large purple leaf swaying in the wind, the hard corals, some that look like green brains, some huge and some small scattered over the ocean floor. The little velvet green snail that has a green tree growing out of his back.

And then, there are the fishes - so many beautiful, beautiful fishes! Again every color of the rainbow and every shape you can imagine! There is the blue fish who has a 2 inch straw-like nose. The iridescent blue/green parrot fish that munches on hard corals like popcorn! I can't even begin to describe to you the so many different kinds and colors of fish - all I know is that they make me praise the Lord for his goodness to us to give us this beauty to wonder at. When I am snorkeling I sing along with the fish, singing His praises! I have given that up while scuba diving as it just uses up too much air, but in my mind I am praising Him. The Lord created an unbelievable word of beauty for us to revel in.

Unfortunately, we as stewards of this, God's creation, have destroyed much of this beauty; I have also dove in those areas that it looks like concrete rubble on the ocean floor, reefs that have been destroyed by dynamiting for fish, poisioned with cyanide and just trashed with our garbage. I recently was in a service where Richard Pratt was preaching and he was calling us to task regarding our stewardship of this earth, this earth that the Lord has given us to rule over and keep until that day when we shall have a new heaven and a new earth! I so look forward to that day - that day when the Lord will reign over all in the new earth - can you imagine what that will be like? That place where the lion will lay down with the lamb, the child shall put her hand in the hole of the cobra and it will not bite, where sin reigns no more in our bodies, but we live in perfect harmony and unity with the animals of the field, each other and the Awesome Creator of the universe!

Alelujah, Alelujah!!

CACAPHANOUS COCKS AND COCONUTS

I had a great time this weekend going with three of my new Filipino friends to the provincial city of Liliw for a short, one night trip. We took off from Manila around 8:00 on Saturday morning. As the trip progressed I became aware of one universal truth – that when woman anywhere get together they like to shop, eat and “chica-chica,” talk and laugh!! It’s true; we did a lot of all three! Liliw is the “slipper” (sandals and flip-flops) manufacturing area in this region and there were lots and lots of shops to buy from. Alas and alack, for this American size 11 shoe, there were not only few choices, there were no choices! But, never fear, I was able to buy a really nice purse. The girls I went with were: Lorna, Beulah and Pap. Lorna is from Lilew and it was almost like being in a small southern city – we could not walk a block without running into another cousin! It became quite a joke. One cousin owns and runs a small Italian restaurant and we had a great lunch. Another cousin owns an older, very natural open house on a beautiful landscaped spot out in the country. They are turning it into a bed and breakfast and I can’t wait to go there and chill for a weekend. Another cousin owns a bakery – needless to say that was one of our eating stops! They make several different types of rolls – one called a “bunneta” which, I think, is Tagalog for bonnet. The ovens are huge brick ovens heated by wood. I counted as they unloaded and it had 23 large trays each holding 12 bunnetas! Which with my brilliant mathematical mind I quickly deduced was 276 rolls! It takes only 5 minutes in these ovens for the rolls to bake. So, even in this old fashioned way of baking, you can see that they can make quite a few bunnetas every day! I must tell you that I almost burnt my fingers trying to eat them as soon as they came out of the oven. They were MASARAP!! The Filipinos make great use of their agricultural land sort of layering their crops. You will see pineapples growing and then you will see banana trees and then towering above you will see coconut trees. There are literally millions of coconut trees in the Philippines, the mountainsides are covered with them – with the smaller mountains all the way up the sides to the top. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera this weekend so you will just have to take my word on all of it. We stayed in the house of Lorna’s parents. It was a very beautiful house, but they were having trouble with the electricity so the air conditioners kept popping off last night as we were getting ready for bed. It had been raining all day, so it was okay with just fans in our bedrooms. The only hardship with that started about 4:30 this morning – The awakening of what sounded like hundreds of roosters!! I thought I was going to have to go out with a stick and just start wacking away at roosters! Cock fighting is very big here and there are many roosters bred and treated very well for this sport. Well, in the provincial areas there are lots and lots of these fighting cocks and they are loud! Needless to say there was much tossing and turning and little sleep after about 4:30. Well, probably more than you wanted to hear about my weekend excursion, but it was a great time for me!! I so enjoyed being with the girls and spoke a lot of Tagalog and ate a lot of Filipino food. God is good and gracious to me to answer my prayers about forging relationships with my Filipino sisters!

THE MOST FUNNEST DAY!!!

As I alluded to in a posting above, I recently went to Malaysia for a week for a retreat with other missionarys. On our "day off" we had opportunity to do several different activities and I, of course, chose to get out and be with animals! And, I also talked my team into going with me! We first went to an elephant reserve and were able to feed elephants, ride elephants and actually get dumped into the river by an elephant, which is what was about to happen in the picture above. We also got to play with two little orphan elephants in the river - it was GREAT! Then we drove about 2 hours and on our way to dinner stopped by this place where there were about 25 Leaf Monkeys hanging out waiting for peanuts! Well, I must have bought 15 packs of peanuts and had monkeys climbing all over me. It was a BLAST!! I praise the Lord for His sense of creativity! I don't know who is funnier looking - me or the monkey - don't answer that!! Actually, our hair styles were very similar! I find great joy in being out in God's nature and with all that He has created - well, maybe not all - I asked if there were many snakes in Malaysia and the driver told me there were thousands of King Cobras! Fortunately, I did not see that part of the Lord's creation on my time there!

HE DOES ALL THINGS WELL?

I was recently at a retreat, with about 300 missionaries, all of the MTW Missionaries from Asia and their families. It was a great time of refreshing for all of us with encouraging times in the Word and heavenly worship in song also. One morning we had a special treat in music from a fellow missionary who is a Taiwanese national. She sings and plays the piano and recently won a grammie type award in Taiwan. Taiwan went through some horrible uprisings and political turmoil as she was growing up. Her father, who was a pastor, was jailed for five years. One night there was an assassin sent to their house and her grandmother, brother and sister were killed right in front of her and she was wounded. The morning of the retreat she sang the song, "All The Way My Savior Leads Me." The last part of the first verse, "For I know whatever befall me, Jesus doeth all things well, for I know whatever befall me Jesus doeth all things well. What a testimony from someone who could think so differently, be so bitter, yet the Lord has done such a GREAT work in her heart and in her life. I had a plaque given to me once by one of my mentors with a saying on it by Corrie Ten Boom. I wish I could remember exactly what it said, but it said basically that EVERYTHING that God puts into your life is the perfect preparation for the life the Lord has prepared for you. Corrie Ten Boom saw most of her family die around her in a Nazi concentration camp because they aided Jews in trying to flee from the horrible persecution. Today I have friends in Myanmar - Christians that we have ministered alongside of for six or seven years now. I am not sure how they are right now, but I know that whatever is happening they are standing firm, knowing that what He has planned for them is for good and not for evil.

I remember my affliction and my wandering,

the bitterness and the gall.

I well remember them, and my soul is

downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord's great love

we are not consumed,

for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness.

I say to myself,

'The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for Him

Lamentations 3:12-24