For months people were telling Greg and I that we needed to read the Shack by William P Young. After months of people asking us if we’d read it, well, we finally did, and can I tell you? You need to read this book! EVERYBODY DOES! It is my new favorite book. It is full of truths that people are often confused about or don’t often think about. It speaks of God’s heart for us, and how He longs to bring us true and deep healing and how He wants to know us intimately. It tells of a man who experiences God in a very tangible way. I personally have experienced God in a similar way, and know that God really does desire intimacy, healing, and restoration for us. I hope that you will pick up a copy of “The Shack” and read it, allow God to use it to speak to you, and pass it on for another, and then, read it again, and see what else God speaks to you about. May you not hesitate to get it and read it, and may you draw closer to God from it. You can pick it up at Wal-Mart for about $10.00
Here is an excerpt:
Jesus chuckled. “Relax Mack; this is not a test, this is a conversation. You are exactly correct, by the way (humans were designed to live in the present). But now tell me, where do you spend most of your time in your mind, in your imagination - in the present, in the past or in the future. Mack thought for a moment before answering. “I suppose I would have to say that I spend very little time in the present. For me, I spend a big piece in the past, but most of the rest of the time, I am trying to figure out the future.”"Not unlike most people. When I dwell with you, I do so in the present - I live in the present. Not the past, although much can be remembered and learned by looking back, but only for a visit, not an extended stay. And for sure, I do not dwell in the future you visualize or imagine. Mack, do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you?”Again Mack stopped and thought. it was true. he spent a lot of time worrying and fretting about the future, and in his imaginations it was usually pretty gloomy and depressing, if not outright horrible. And Jesus was also correct in saying that in Mack’s imaginations about the future, God was always absent.”Why do I do that?” asked Mack.”It is your desperate attempt to get some control over something you can’t. It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn’t even real, nor will it ever be real. You try and play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear,” (pg. 177).
To wrap up, Barry Strickland, at the Managua International, talks about our time and mission in Nicaragua. This will be our last transmission for now on the September 08 mission adventure. Thank you all so much for your love, prayers, support and aid on this trip. We will be going back really soon. If you’d like to give to our work in Nicaragua. Please make checks out to:
New Wilderness Adventures memo: Nicaragua and send to 1050 Sam Lattimore Rd. Shelby, NC 28152. Remember, all gifts are tax-deductible.
On the evening of our last day in Nicaragua, I set down with Luis Lozada (aka Manolo) our friend and translator to have a conversation about Nicaragua. Particularly the condition of the men spiritually, socially and mentally in Nicaragua. Below is that conversation.
I love the Blues. W.C. Handy, BB King, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters and others like Stevie Ray Vaughn or the historic Duke Ellington. The sound and expression, whether vocal or instrumental, is so very distinctive and original.
The Blues and Jazz is so very intricate and bold. It is a very well seasoned creativity and very much a reflection of the soul and heart of the person who is doing the creating. W.C. Handy, who many call the “Father of the Blues,” once said, “life is something like a trumpet. If you don’t put anything in, you won’t get anything out.” God has really been dealing with me, and when I say “dealing,” to clarify, I mean encouraging and convicting, on the beauty and awesomeness of His creation. From His creation of things we don’t see as important or noticeable, like bugs or pond scum, or the things we do see as majestic and awe-inspiring, like the Grand Canyon or the Congo. I mean really, a human being. WOW… What an amazing creation.
The other day, me, Derek (my brother) and Barry Strickland were blessed to go to the Grand Canyon. It was my first time and although I have seen it on TV, in pictures on Google Earth and other places… nothing can prepare you for what you see with your own eyes, what you experience with you heart and soul. The key is, if you let it.
My heart was not prepared. Like the Blues, the Grand Canyon blew me away. It made me excited, happy, emotional and glad. It was fierce, wild and adventurous. It was an amazing sight.
Barry laid it out well while we were there and talking to each other about what we were hearing God say to us. He said, “This creation [the Grand Canyon] is wild, beautiful, intricate, powerful, full of life, adventure, seasoned and fierce but we are just as wild, beautiful, adventurous, filled with life, intricate, powerful, seasoned and fierce. But, we are so much more of all of those things than even the beauty and awesomeness of the Grand Canyon can impress you with!”
I love what Barry said and we received it and I want you to receive it too. Like the Blues, or Jazz or even the Grand Canyon you are an amazing creation. Psalms 139:14 says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Do you believe it though? Do you believe that God’s heart toward you is good? That you are “fearfully and wonderfully made?” Most people don’t and many people have a poor outlook about who they are; about their personality, their looks and their competencies. They, and I was too for so long, not able or without knowledge of what to do about life or what to put into life. I lived a lot of my life following other people’s dreams for me or simply copying other people so I would look good or to survive.
That is all very tiring and I am so thankful that God began to open my eyes to the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ. Christ has given me eyes to see and ears to hear. He has brought amazing mentors into my life and gave me a teachable spirit. He has given me amazing friends and opportunities to serve Him and do His work through NWA. Christ has joined me to the most amazing woman in the world and opened my heart to love and compassion in ways that I cannot explain. But, I have not arrived, I have only seen the tip of the iceberg. THERE IS SO MUCH MORE!
I am challenged to, as W.C. Handy challenged us, put more into life. More lazy days with my son and more intimate conversations with my wife. More time chasing the things of God and less time procrastination or just getting by. I want to, as Andy Stanley once said, “Do what’s right and say what’s right, even when it is hard!” Yes, I want to smell the roses!
See, there is this false idea out there that you have to achieve the “Status Quo!” That being the pseudo American Dream. The big house, the 100k job, the nice cars and vacation home at the beach. That you have to be a nice guy and fall in line with the rest of the corporate collars not being disruptive or fierce.
Now don’t get me wrong. God does not say that if you follow Him, that you have to be poor and lowly or barely making it. That you have to be missionaries like us or even as out spoken as we are. Quite the contrary, following Christ opens you up to the truth, to fullness and joy and helps you make sense of life. Without Him and without putting anything into life… you simply will never be able to play the trumpet. It will always be discord!
Jesus chuckled. “Relax Mack; this is not a test, this is a conversation. You are exactly correct, by the way (humans were designed to live in the present). But now tell me, where do you spend most of your time in your mind, in your imagination - in the present, in the past or in the future. Mack thought for a moment before answering. “I suppose I would have to say that I spend very little time in the present. For me, I spend a big piece in the past, but most of the rest of the time, I am trying to figure out the future.”"Not unlike most people. When I dwell with you, I do so in the present - I live in the present. Not the past, although much can be remembered and learned by looking back, but only for a visit, not an extended stay. And for sure, I do not dwell in the future you visualize or imagine. Mack, do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you?”Again Mack stopped and thought. it was true. he spent a lot of time worrying and fretting about the future, and in his imaginations it was usually pretty gloomy and depressing, if not outright horrible. And Jesus was also correct in saying that in Mack’s imaginations about the future, God was always absent.”Why do I do that?” asked Mack.”It is your desperate attempt to get some control over something you can’t. It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn’t even real, nor will it ever be real. You try and play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear,” (pg. 177).
I mean really, a human being. WOW… What an amazing creation.
Do you believe it though? Do you believe that God’s heart toward you is good? That you are “fearfully and wonderfully made?” Most people don’t and many people have a poor outlook about who they are; about their personality, their looks and their competencies. They, and I was too for so long, not able or without knowledge of what to do about life or what to put into life. I lived a lot of my life following other people’s dreams for me or simply copying other people so I would look good or to survive.
