Pastor AND Wife Punched in Their Faces !!

Pastor AND Wife Punched in Their Faces !!

Today a funeral led to a rather unusual situation. In Maya Center, 2 men died unexpectedly. 1 was a 73 year old who basically drank himself to death. His family found him, but it was too late. This man was the father of our pastor from Maya Center.

The second death was a 20 year old who had recently tried 3 times to stab his own father. The parents are Christians and attend the Nazarene Church. The young man only occasionally attended but obviously had some serious issues. In his string of bad choices, he was riding his motorbike on the wrong side of the road and struck another vehicle. The casket was not opened at the funeral due to the horrible condition of his body from the accident. 2 Timothy 3 talks about this kind of young man, who is ‘”a lover of himself, lover of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited…”

The Bible warns us that in the last days, this kind of activity will only increase. It remains sad to see however, very sad.

Both funerals affected the people in this church. Both funerals were held this morning. Other pastors who helped start this church were there for support. After a common meal at the pastor’s house, he directed one of the visiting pastors and his wife to get into a vehicle so they could take them back to their village.

Suddenly, another woman came to the vehicle and punched the pastor’s wife in the face! Then this irrational woman grabbed the pastor’s wife and dragged her out of the car, dumping her on the ground. She then went around and punched the pastor in his face! He did not retaliate but turned his other cheek to her. (Wow!) She then pulled him from the car.

The pastor asked what he had done to cause her to punch him in the face. Whatever could he have done or said to make her want to do this? She had no response to him. She then began to breathe very heavily and very rapidly and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

The pastor, still confused as to what could have ever brought such a reaction, gathered the other pastors who were there and began to pray over the fallen woman. They prayed for her protection and care and salvation, as she is not a Christian. Her husband is a believer who attends the Nazarene Church, so they left her in his care and found a different ride back to their village.

Becki and I had arrived at their home just minutes before they came back home. Unaware of anything that had happened, Becki was surprised when the pastor’s wife came straight to hug her and began weeping. The pastor then relayed the story to us. By the time he finished, he himself was crying hard, unable to understand why they were attacked.

This pastor and his wife are 2 of the most gentle people we know. They would not hurt anyone, for any reason. Even while sharing this incident with us, the pastor’s concern was that maybe God would use this somehow because this woman is not a Christian. Such faith, such hope.

Through deep, racking sobs he asked for prayer.

Becki and I put our arms around this pastor and his wife and prayed for God to take away their fear, to calm their concerns, to give peace in the midst of this situation, to not allow the enemy to prosper in this in any way and that they would all see God at work in the midst of their suffering.

What a challenge in the midst of a day.

What a blessing to be at the right place at the right time, to be able to pray for a precious family who was in such distress.

Pray for the woman who attacked them to surrender to Christ as a result of this.

Pray for the pastor and his wife to continue to stay strong in the midst on such unknowns in the ministry.

Pray for the church in Maya Center, as they continue to minister in an obviously needy village.

God’s Word is clear. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but would rather that they turn and repent and be saved.

Please pray for those who are still living, that they may all come to know Christ as Savior.

Happy to be a blessing to someone today,

Ray & Becki

Joshua Learns a Lesson...

Recently the Spirit directed me to read Joshua chapter 6.

My initial thought was “Why?!”

I’m so obedient sometimes…

I did read it though and was mildly amused at what I saw as God’s sense of humor in verse 2. The situation in verse 1 is that Jericho is shut up tight. This fortified city with its high walls is completely secured so that no one is coming out and no one can get in. It is then that the Lord says to Joshua, “See, I have given you this city, along with its king and all the fighting men.”

I would probably not actually say this to the Lord but I certainly was thinking this as I read what the Lord said. My thought was, “Are you kidding me?! It looks pretty secure to me, nobody coming in, nobody getting out. How is it that you have “given” this to me??! It looks like they still have pretty good control over it!”

As I kept on reading, I read God’s highly irregular combat plans for Joshua to follow in order to defeat this well fortified city. March around the city once a day, saying absolutely nothing, just have the priests blow the horns. On the 7th day, march around it 7 times, then SHOUT! Then go take the city when the walls fall down.

And even though I know the story, I’m trying to think as Joshua might have been thinking when he first heard these directions. So my thought was, “Um, oh-kaaaay… and “that” will work you say?!”

Of course, the story goes on to tell that Joshua followed all that the Lord told him to do and we do see just how well God’s plan does work.

Something in me was a bit dissatisfied though. It all seemed too easy. Unusual yes, but it seemed that Joshua just gave in to his whole idea rather effortlessly. I mean, come on! This is a bit crazy!

So I decided to look into it a bit more closely. I read the latter part of Chapter 5 and found that “aha!”

Just shortly before chapter 6 started, Joshua sees a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua boldly approaches the man and asks “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

The man replies, “Neither. I am the captain of the Lord’s army and I am here.”

That answer puts a little fear in me, to realize that God’s angel is not choosing sides. I have the thought that if he is nor for us, then he could be against us…and that would be baaaad!

Joshua bows with his face to the ground in reverence. Great move Joshua.

The next words spoken by the captain of the Lord’s army changed everything for me. The angel tells Joshua, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

“Aha!” Now, I see….Joshua is on holy ground before the Lord – in reverential worship. He is awestruck that he is seeing the angel of the Lord face to face.

So, THEN when he hears what the Lord has to say…it is not a struggle to believe it. In fact, ANYTHING that God would have said then would have been very easy to accept because Joshua’s heart was fully yielded to God in worship.

Aha. The connection is now clear for me.

Perhaps the actual title of this piece should be: Ray learns a lesson!