But why, you ask?

Because it’s the 3rd Anniversary of this blog that’s why!

In this time I’ve written over 1,030 posts – and we’ve gotten almost 1000 comments as well. It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been doing this for three years. That makes this blog pretty old as far as blogs go, they tend to come and go in a hurry. So far the Marshian Chronicles is standing the test of time.

I believe that 2008 will be year of change for this blog as it will be for my entire life. I hope to use the blog as a communication tool for my new church, Kingman Christian Church, as well as posting the usual type of articles that I’ve always posted.

So I hope you’ll take a few minutes today and just browse through some of the old posts here on the Chronicles, there’s plenty of them! I’m somewhere in Southeast Asia right now, but will be back soon! Till then enjoy the blog!

It’s 4:12 PM Arizona time, but I’m far away from good old sunny AZ! I’m sitting in gate A6 in Taipei, waiting for our flight to Bangkok and thanks to my new computer checking e-mail and blogging!!  My machine rocks!

The trip started off on a dumb note – me being the dumb one of course! Yesterday morning as I was packing my truck to leave, I accidentally locked the key in the truck! A frantic search failed to find which box I had packed the spare in, so I ended up spending up $45 to have a lock smith I know get me going!

The flight to LAX was fine, and I found an angel at the China Air Desk, who said, “Because you are so tall would you like a seat on an exit isle – much more leg room.” I said sure if you can, and she did! There are draw backs to that spot – but I had plenty of leg room on the 13 1/2 hour flight that brought me here.

My friend Scott, who I met last year on this trip, finally made the plane at the last minute, and we had a good flight. It was strange to take off in the dark at about 12:20 AM AZ time, and land here in Taipei in the dark as well – at around 5:30 AM local time. We spent 13 1/3 hours in the dark, crossing half the world, with the sunrise right behind us all the way.

There’s probably a good analogy there about people running from the light because they love the darkness ala John chapter one, but I’m just too tired right now to make it. I’ll let you handle that!

I have to say it’s good to be back in Asia again – in spite of the lack of signs in the Taipei airport! But it’s all okay with me!

More from Bangkok later Lord willing!

While I’m on my trip I’m presenting some posts, written a head of time. Including this one, written several years ago as part of my 40 Days In The Spirit Spiritual Growth Campaign.

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Cor. 3:3

This verse is fascinating not only because it uses such vivid imagery, but because it recalls an expression used over and over again in the Old Testament – the living God. This phrase is used quite often in the Old Testament to set the true and living God of Israel apart from the dead gods (idols) of the nations surrounding them.

Jesus explained its ongoing meaning when He said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matthew 22:32) God is alive, and so is His Spirit, in fact according to Jesus it is the Spirit Who gives life. The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63)

So what does this mean to me today? Part of the answer lies in the other place in the New Testament where the expression “Spirit gives life” is used. The Apostle Paul used it, shortly after he wrote our verse for today when he said, He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor. 3:6)

Because God is alive, the Spirit is alive, for He is God. Therefore He is busy writing out the story of our lives, but not on stone or paper or even a Word Processor! Instead He’s writing that story on the tablets of our hearts.

This wonderful expression bring us back again to the centrality of the human heart to God’s work in and plan for our lives. It reminds us that the Spirit isn’t given to bring us into bondage again to the Law – neither the Law of Moses or any kind of “New Testament Law” we might try to create. As powerful as the letters of Scripture are – and they are powerful beyond our imagining – it is the Spirit alone Who gives life!

So the Spirit of the Living God alone can bring us into the Life the Father wants us to have. Only He communicates this life to us, and sustains it in us, through His Word, His presence, fellowship, etc. The Spirit uses all those things and more to feed our spiritual life, but they aren’t the source of it – only He is.

Therefore today let us turn again to the Spirit and seek to have open hearts to all He wants to do in us. Are we open to any gift He might give? Or are there some you’d rather not have because it might upset your life or even some part of your theology? We need to honestly ask ourselves if and how much we are holding back from the Spirit, and then ask Him to help us open the closed places of our hearts.

If we are honest, each of us will admit to some doors being long closed. Covered in the dust of neglect and rusty from long abandonment, the Spirit stands by those places waiting our permission to begin the long hard task of opening them to the light of His presence and power. If you find a closed door to the Spirit today, why not spend time in prayer surrendering that to Him, give Him the keys and work with Him to bring Life into the dark places in your heart. It won’t be easy – but in the end you won’t regret it either.

I’ll be flying out of Phoenix early this evening, and leave for Asia from LAX a little after 11 PM.

Pray for me, keep checking the blog for unexpected posts from you know who!

Talk to you when I get back!

If you’ve been reading this blog you know that I’m about to take off for a short term mission trip to Asia in just over a day. I’ll be spending about two weeks in what’s usually called the 3rd world.

Odd title that! Here’s where it came from.

The economist and demographer Alfred Sauvy, in an article published in the French magazine L’Observateur, August 14, 1952, coined the term Third World in referring to countries currently called either “developing” or “under-developed”, especially in Latin America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia, that were unaligned with either the Communist Soviet bloc or the Capitalist NATO bloc during the Cold War (1945–1989).^[1]

Third World was a reference to the Tiers État, the (Third Estate), the commoners of France before and during the French Revolution, opposed to the priests and nobles who composed the First Estate and the Second Estate. Like the third estate, wrote Sauvy, the Third World has nothing, and “wants to be something”, implying that the Third World is exploited (as was the third estate) and that its destiny is revolutionary. Moreover, it conveyed the second concept of political non-alignment with neither the industrialized Capitalist bloc nor the industrialized Communist bloc. [Source]

Today of course this term is not really considered to be Politically Correct, which might be one good reason why I continue to use it! The other reason I use it is that it is about as accurate a way to communicate just how radically different the lives of the people living in Myanmar, Malawi and other 3rd World countries are from ours here in the 1st World.

Here’s just one example. Last year I was teaching and thought that I could use a credit card as an example to help make my point. It works here – but not there. No one in my class knew what a credit card was – because they don’t have them there yet.

For them poverty, want, interment electrical power, little or no medical care (and absolutely no such thing as medical insurance!) government oppression and no real rights at all are just part of everyday life. They are also used to being second class citizens simply because they have chosen to become a Christ Follower, and are looked down upon and discriminated against for their faith.

Being there does feel like you are in a different world, and the transition back and forth can be rather jarring if you aren’t used to it. My first trip knocked me for a loop that took months to get over. One thing I know for sure – America is the greatest country on the planet, and I’m blessed to live here!

Yet, we have more in common than we have differences. We are all human, all sinners, all broken, hurting, lost and cut off from God. And we can all be brothers and sisters regardless of race, color or tribe simply because of Jesus!

I am so looking forward to seeing my “extended family” overseas! They make all the hassles of traveling and sitting in a coach class airplane seat for 13 1/2 hours worth it!

We do live in one world, and it really has only one problem – sin. One Savior died to solve that issue, and people all over the world love and follow Him. That’s what it’s really all about isn’t it?

This will be quite a week, I can promise you that. Wednesday I’m leaving for Myanmar again. As usual I’ll be gone for two weeks, returning late on March 8th and preaching two services on the 9th!

I just love preaching jet-lagged!

I’ll be traveling around the country a lot this year – more than ever before – so pray those planes don’t crash!

While I’m gone new posts will be popping up from time to time due to my new found ability to program WordPress to publish posts when I want them published. So stay tuned! On top of that this blog will celebrate it’s 3rd anniversary while I’m gone too!

Here’s my flight schedule just to let you see what a hectic time it will be:

20 Feb. PHX – LAX – 7:45 PM – 8:15 PM

20 Feb.- 22 Feb - LAX-Taipei – 11:10 PM – 5:40 AM

22 Feb Taipei – Bangkok – 8:50AM-12:50 PM

22 Feb-Bangkok-Yangon – 6:00 PM-6:45 PM

25 FEB YANGON – SITTWAY

28 FEB SITTWAY – YANGON

29 FEB YANGON- PUTAO

04 MAR PUTAO – MYITKYINA

07 MAR MYITKYINA- YANGON

07 Mar Yangon-Bangkok

08 Mar – Bangkok-Tai

08 Mar – Taipei-LAX –

07-08 Mar. LAX-PHX –

Another week is over, and I present some good sites, reading and video for your weekend enjoyment! Next week is a special one, and I’ll explain that later! Enjoy!

Great Blog Posts:

Another Osteen Rant - Oh, this is a good one!

What I Wish Someone Had Told Me, Part 5 - Perry has been saying good things in this series, I just love his comments about passion here – wish I had known that eariler too!

Low State of Evangelicalism - Painful but instructive.

Evangelism In India - a truly amazing story!

10 Things I’m Learning - more great stuff from Chris Elrod!

My Dance Card Is Full - Great thoughts from Chris on all those conferences – I’ve felt this way myself!

Has The Anglican Split Begun? - As much as I hate to say this – I hope so! Read this to stay on top of things!

Motivational Mumbo-Jumbo - some really good thoughts here.

Just In Case You’ve Missed It -

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer!

That’s the question I get a lot. It usually said with a rueful smile and the misinformed belief that they are referring to Scripture if not actually quoting it. The implication is, this is what the Bible says right? So I’ll be okay right?

WRONG!

Getting It Wrong:

This is not what the Bible teaches, and I fail to understand how anyone, who knows anything about being a Christ-follower at all can think it does.

Here’s what the text they are referring to actually says: No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

I think that’s about as clear as crystal. Paul is talking about temptations. He says that God will not let us be overwhelmed by temptation, without providing us a way of escape. There’s always an out when it come to sinning. The truth is that I never have to sin. Which is why when I do sin I’m held guilty before God, because I did what I didn’t have to do!

Thus you can never blame God for you sin – it’s all on me and you.

Missing The Point:

Aside from twisting Scripture in a vague sort of way (I say this because most people who say this couldn’t find the verse in question to save either their lives or their souls!), the real problem with the statement is that it completely misses the point of the Christian Faith!

Of course God is going to give you more than you can handle – that’s part of His work in our lives. He desires to bring us to the end of ourselves, so that we can reach out to Him, trust Him, believe in Him, rely on Him, and follow Him through the power of His Spirit all of our lives.

Note the presence of the word “Him” and the lack of the word “I” in what I wrote above. We talk like this not only because we don’t know our Bibles, but because we are taking our cues from the culture around us and have become self-obsessed. It’s all about me, my self image, being positive, feeling good about myself, etc.

Pardon me while I puke!

Being a follower of Jesus means that I’m trying to make my life all about Jesus – NOT ME!

So yes, God is going to give you more than you can handle, and will do so nearly ever day of your life! Have fun!

He does this not because He’s a grumpy old man, but because He loves us and knows that we must come to rely on Him, to receive His Power to live like He wants us to live.

I cannot do it without Him. The sooner I realize this, and being to live it, the better off I and everyone else will be.

Okay – I admit it. It’s late, I’m tired and have been doing so many things today that I’m tapped out as far as a decent (or even poor) blog post goes. So I’m dipping into a devotional I wrote from Ephesians. I hope the Lord will speak to you through His Word.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, Ephesians 2:19 (NIV)

In this time of war, terrorism and the concern about illegal aliens flooding across our borders, here’s something to think about. We were once illegal with God, alien and outcast. But now because of Christ’s great salvation, all that has changed.

The implications of this are many. First is what this means to our relationship with God. As we’ve seen the last few days we’ve been welcomed into a new relationship with Him through Christ. We are citizens of the heavenly kingdom, and therefore have rights and privileges non-citizens do not have.

We can ask Him to forgive our sins with true repentance and know that He has done so. We can come boldly to the throne of grace with assurance that He will help us (Heb. 4:16). We can rest on His Word that we are going to heaven and are His children.

That’s not just true of our relationship with God however, it’s also true of our relationship with other Christians. We are fellow citizens with God’s people Paul says. That means that however different we may be from one another, as believers we share something in common far greater than any other tie that might bind us.

It is with God’s people that I share my eternal family. My spiritual family should be more important to me than my earthly one, because it’s far greater and will certainly last longer!

That was how Jesus looked that it. He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:48-50 (NIV)

Jesus put his ties to his spiritual family above even his relationship to his Mother and brothers! We aren’t told what they thought about that—but I don’t imagine they were pleased if they heard Him say that!

Yes, in Christ we are God’s People, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, love and support each other, and be witnesses to the world.

I’ve been very busy packing things up over the last two weeks. At both office and home my books are boxed and ready for some unlucky soul to pick them up and move them!

Yesterday I finished up packing up my office books, and spent quite a while cleaning out my desk! I found all sorts of interesting things in there – stuff I don’t think I’ve seen and know I haven’t used in years!

So far I’ve found books I had forgotten I had, all kinds of junk, and most satisfying of all, one old sermon series I was sure I had lost forever. I gave away a lot of old sermons over a year ago, and all my copies of my 40 Days in the Spirit sermon series went with it. I looked through everything, or thought I had anyway, and found nothing. Last week as I was sorting out my old cassette sermons to put out to be given away, I found the master copies of the 40 Days series!

Whooo Hoooo! Sure it’s on cassettes – but at least I’ve got it! So now I’ve started using our old cassette recorder to play these messages into our Hard Drive Recorder, so that I had can have digital copies of them. All of this has made me a happy man.

Yes, I am easily pleased I guess!!

Seriously though, all of this reminds me of what God needs to do in our lives every so often. We are a lot like the homes we live in the offices we work in. The longer we’re comfortable the more junk we collect. Not necessarily bad things mind you, just stuff that’s no longer needed, that’s taking up precious space, and that is holding us back from moving ahead where God is calling us to go.

I believe that every Christian and every church would greatly benefit from taking a regular inventory of where they are at, what they’ve got, what they’ve lost, and where the Lord wants them to go next.

It’s just too easy to get bogged down or complacint with how things are. Almost all of us dislike change, and many of us actively fight against it. But I believe that God is calling us to live lives that are regularly changing. This change needs to be intentional, Christ centered and Bible based.

How many traditions in our churches need to be shaken up and probably shaken off if we are to reach our culture? How many areas in all our lives are dusty, cluttered and acting as ballast that slows us down or stops us from moving forward all together?

I hope you’ll think about it. I will, while I’m boxing up CDs, DVDs, etc.!