God doesn't waste any agony.

I've gotta take a break from what is going on now in our country and pull up a miracle from the past.  We could surely use one now.

Had I known that the Lord was going to boot us out of the visible church when we left California after eighteen years of ministry I would have left skid marks all the way to Houston. You see, He deposited us there in December of 1974,  in a new pastorate. ... for three weeks,  then sent us off for weeks  and weeks to Southeast Asia where we moved from Tokyo , Japan to Hong Kong, China,  to Taipei, Taiwan, to Singapore, to Jacarta, Indonesia, back to Singapore, to Manila, Philippines, then to Viet Nam just as the axe fell and the boat people began to flee. Our mission? To encourage the missionaries in each country.  As our planes landed, we were quickly drawn into the human exasperations that plague every full- time Christian worker, whether in America or in the hinterlands. We barely had time to take a quick nap between each mission field before landing smack in the middle of the next muck and mire that our enemy, Satan had created to stop people from being reborn. (Tuck that away when the next bloody fight seems to come out of nowhere in your church or ministry.  No matter who the players are in  the drama the silent director is always Satan whose motivation is to stop the harvest.  His favorite cast: the older believers who should know better.) 

Viet Nam was the granddaddy of all mirey swamps. Literally.  We were working with Overseas Crusades Missions alongside Dr. Ed Murphy and his wife, Loretta, helping two American doctors set up a medical clinic in the highlands (Dalat), a couple of hours north of what was then Saigon.  Bunkers were everywhere; we were never out of hearing range of shooting. A beautiful team had led most of the Su Tong Tribe of about a thousand to Christ. They were without any medical provisions whatsoever. After a week of being in and out of the tribe, a knock came on our host's door informing us that we needed to leave immediately, or we would not be able to escape.

...but God was protecting this little tribe who had no way to escape.  A Vietnamese guerilla was captured by our army men and interrogated as to why this totally vulnerable tribe was never massacred.  His answer: "We couldn't touch them. They were always surrounded by a large white army." Now, let that roll around in your head and heart.

Our taxi raced to get us to the Saigon airport which was soon to close down. We were each handed a terrified  half-Vietnamese half-American baby to hold. Catholic nuns had rescued these babies and were bringing them to America for adoption.

Those experiences did something to both Ted and me. We could not speak of them, even to each other, for the feelings of horror from all we had seen in every country had numbed us. The words that had flowed from Ted's pulpit ministry in California no longer flowed.  I could not find joy in church meetings.  A Macedonian call came to me shortly after I had unpacked our suitcases, and I was off and running.  ...all over Houston. Ted gave that pastorate his best shot but soon I needed him to work with the men whose wives were coming to Christ.

Enter Euphanel and Nick Goad, new in Christ and ready to go!  Together we launched home ministry after home ministry which reached people at the top of the financial chain to the cellars of drug runners. Somewhere in that time frame, Euphie and Nick bought some acreage, a barn, farmhouse and tank ("lake")  a couple of hours  west of Houston and we began to escape the hot, humid city with them on weekends, dragging along college and career people, ...and that was the innocent beginning of Round Top Retreat. I suggest that you pull up the website. Thousands go there now, for thousands of reasons. I remain on the Board, and my dearest Texas buddies, Euphie and Nick, time our yearly Board meeting in October at the same time  First Place4Health holds their national gathering of men and women. That ministry has opened up another unexpected adventure for me. In my home as I write is a FP4H leader who is here for a break before we head into the Retreat at Round Top, Texas, next week. On October 10,  Michele, professional singer-turned totally committed Christian, and I will fly to Austin, where Euphie will pick us up and we will begin a week and two days of high adventure with FirstPlace4Health. Pull that ministry up on your computer too, if you are up for it.   I will return to my mountain on October 20. Try to survive without my blog.

                                   HYMN OF THE WEEK: TRUST AND OBEY

When we walk with the Lord in the Light of His Word; what a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey
TRUST AND OBEY, FOR THERE'S NO OTHER WAY TO BE HAPPY IN JESUS
BUT TO TRUST AND OBEY.

Love, Jo