yesterday, just one day shy of 11 weeks pregnant, kelly suffered a miscarriage.

it was a difficult day and a difficult thing to grasp that the little person whose heart we watched beat just a week ago was no longer with us.

though we of course have sorrow, we also feel a great peace and hope in our Lord, as well as a sure confidence that as our little one left this world, he or she was being delivered alive into the presence of Jesus, where they await us together.

once home i felt compelled to read psalm 29. partly because i couldn’t think about what Scripture to read (and it was the 29th) and partly because i felt an urge to read that particular psalm. separately, in a few minutes’ difference, a family member sent us the reference to verse 11 of that very psalm, which had already jumped out at us as we read it:

The Lord will give strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.
{ Psalm 29.11 }

it was a wonderful moment of hearing from God and remembering His great love for us. we know that God is good. we know that He loves us and loves our little one more than we ever could.

we’ve been blessed and encouraged by all the kind words and prayer that have been sent on our behalf. so, thank you.

please continue to pray for kelly, as this is not exactly a comfortable process.

///

delirious’ song i’ll see you is about a situation like ours. in the past, we’ve always thought it was very touching, especially after reading the Smith’s recent auto-biographies which include the back story of the song.

but now i don’t suppose i’ll ever hear it again without thinking of our little pensiero, alive and well in the glory of heaven.

we’ll see you when we get there.

I’ll see you when I get there,
Shining like the sun.
I’ll see you when I get there,
Into your arms I’ll run.

I see you when the wind blows,
Running without fear,
Born to rest in your Fathers arms,
Your joy has dried the tears.

I’ll see you when I get there,
When my life’s complete,
Will you take me to Jesus’ feet?
Hand in hand we’ll sing.

We’re gonna sing for you.

Written by Delirious? ©2005 Curious? Music UK

remember positive post tuesday?

do you know about positive post tuesday?

currently, i’m teaching through the epistle to the Philippians on wednesday mornings at our men’s study.

we’re calling the series Full Of It, as we discover not only the fullness that God wants for our lives, but also that we’re all pretty much full of it. ‘it’ being sin, pride, selfishness and inaction.

tomorrow we’ll be looking at Philippians 1.3-7.

i was very encouraged this week by the first 2 verses:

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy.
Philippians 1.3-4

i was (and am) challenged by the fact that my prayers are often the opposite of this verse.

instead of remembering others, i find that i am usually thinking of myself in my prayers.

instead of thanking God, i find myself asking God.

and instead of being full of joy, often i find that my prayers are full of anxiety or discontent.

so, this week my hope is to have a different kind of prayer time. one where i focus on remembering what God has done on my behalf, thanking Him for His goodness and faithfulness, and then trying to pray for obscure people that i don’t usually remember when i’m talking to God.

it is really excited to know that our prayers are powerful, not just in our own lives, but on behalf of others who don’t even know we’re praying for them!

so, this evening (it IS tuesday after all), let’s determine to be more positive, joyful, and thoughtful of others in our prayers.

i’m going to give it a go.

you?

it’s tuesday. be positive.

Missionaries in training with Gospel for Asia have spoken of the “privilege” they felt in suffering for Christ after being attacked on their Bible college campus in Mumbai, India, earlier in the month.

Seven students were seriously injured in the attack by suspected anti-Christian extremists on May 9.

They were preparing the evening meal when attackers armed with wooden sticks, iron rods and fluorescent light tubes stormed onto the campus, beating them and vandalizing the buildings.

The students tried to speak to the assailants and find out why they were attacking them but got no answer.

Hemanti Kashyap was injured when the attackers hit him in the stomach with an iron rod. He said the incident had given him the chance to live out the difficult lessons he had learned in Bible college.

“Through this situation I learned what the Bible means when it says, “Blessed are those who suffer for Christ,” he said. “This opposition was the test of my faith to march forward and to share the Gospel. They hit my stomach with an iron rod and I was injured, but I am grateful to the Lord Jesus who kept me safe to be a witness for Him.”

Sunil Pattanayap recalls the moment the attack began: “For a moment I was shocked about why this was happening to me. Then I understood that the time had come for me to glorify His name,” he said.

“It was my privilege to suffer for Christ and I am happy today because I can testify that God protected me and brought me safe from death to proclaim His Word and stand as a living testimony for Christ with a strong faith.

Three of the injured students are still recovering in hospital. Beedram Sena had to undergo surgery on his broken leg, while Sudershan Yadavan required surgery to repair his broken kneecap. Sunil Reedy needed extensive dental surgery to replace teeth that were knocked out by the attackers.

{Charles Boyd // Christian Today Reporter}

read the article here

SUPPORT GOSPEL FOR ASIA

so, kelly and i were robbed last friday night.

rather, our house was robbed.

thankfully, we weren’t home. we had gone out for an anniversary dinner and then spent some time at my parent’s house.

at what we thought was the end of our evening, we headed home to find things very much not as we left them.

as we pulled up we saw windows & doors open, some stuff spilled onto the ground outside our back door.

immediately we put the car in reverse, called 911 and waited for their response (which was excellent) at a nearby gas station.

the thieves were long gone, so after the police cleared the area i was able to go inside and survey the damage.

as far as burglaries go, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.

what i mean by that is that they broke 1 window, took a bunch of stuff, pulled open some drawers and closets, but otherwise didn’t destroy anything.

unfortunately, by the time we got home our cat Tuna was nowhere to be seen. windows were wide open and she scares pretty easily. we looked around for her awhile, but there was no sign. seemed like she was out there on her own against dogs, other cats, the occasional coyote and cars driving 55mph down our street. when i finally was able to fall asleep for like 20 minutes, i had a dream that our burglars had put Tuna in the freezer so that she didn’t attack them. needless to say, i was pretty stressed the next morning when i went in the house and opened the freezer door…

late friday night (actually, early saturday morning), a couple was pulled over on a routine traffic stop in the next town over. they had been involved in not only our burglary, but at least one other that night. turns out, there had been 6 or 8 robberies like ours in the week leading up to friday. they were arrested and are currently being held on a number of charges.

the stuff that was taken was all pretty typical…computers, cameras, jewelry, that kind of stuff. some was recovered, some wasn’t. but most importantly our peace of mind was taken, and that’s what we’d like back the most. it’s a hard thing to be nervous when you walk into your home after work, or jump every time you hear a sound outside, or not be able to sleep because you’re thinking about scary people breaking in. all things we’re working through this week.

in the mean time, we know a lot of you prayed on friday when i twittered about the incident and a lot of you continued praying for us through the weekend. those prayers were definitely felt, and we can’t tell you how appreciative we are for all of you who let us know that you were interceding for us before the Lord.

we’ve been taking comfort in a couple of psalms that a few of you have shared with us. particularly Psalm 34 and Psalm 91. thanks again for those.

we’re thankful for our life and for all that the Lord is doing for us right now.

like when He didn’t allow Tuna to be in the freezer…or jump out the open window.

turns out she had found a way into an open closet and had been hiding there for countless hours till she finally realized it was me in the house the following morning.

God is good. we know He’s in control. we know that He loves us and is with us through this difficult time.

we would love your continued prayers for peace of mind and trust in the Lord. thanks again to everyone for the condolences and kind words on twitter, text, facebook, voicemail and all the other ways that make it easy for us to support each other. it’s making a difference for us and we’re thankful for that.

blessings and maranatha

Isaiah James May was born a little after 5 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2009, and was scheduled to die this past week – on Wednesday, Jan. 20 – just short of his three-month birthday.

That was the day chosen by Canada’s publicly funded, government health service as the deadline for Isaiah to recover from his traumatic birth or be taken off life-support.

“There is no hope of recovery for Isaiah,” reads a letter from Alberta Health Services delivered to Isaiah’s parents and dated one week before the health care system intended to pull the plug on the baby it has determined irreparably brain damaged.

“Your treating physicians regretfully have come to the conclusion that withdrawal of active treatment is medically reasonable, ethically responsible and appropriate,” the letter states. “We must put the interests of your son foremost, and it is in his best interests to discontinue mechanical ventilation support.”

Parents Isaac and Rebecka May, however, immediately appealed to the courts for more time, encouraged by signs that their boy was growing and moving, pointing to instance after instance where Isaiah had already proven the doctors wrong.

“He is doing everything they said that he would not do. Every day he does something new. So that helps us to fight,” the baby’s 23-year-old mother told CBC News. “His eyes dilate. He opens his eyes. He moves his limbs. He’s growing. He’s gaining weight. He’s living. They told us he would never do any of that.”

Then, the day before the hospital planned to allow Isaiah to die, a judge granted Isaiah a few more days of life.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Michelle Crighton gave Isaiah’s parents one week, until Jan. 27, to find an independent expert – to determine if or when the baby should be taken off life-support.

article by drew zahn

//

please pray for baby Isaiah and his parents, Isaac & Rebecka.

pray right now.

read the whole article here.

support the May’s on their facebook page here.

maranatha.

MISSIONARIES ATTACKED AND ACCUSED OF BRIBERY

India (MNN) ― An anti-Christian extremist group attacked two Gospel for Asia missionaries after the missionaries showed a film about Jesus.

The missionaries, Jayant Mehta and Dayanand Tambe, were attacked late on the night of August 8 as they packed up their film and audio equipment after they showed the “Man of Mercy” movie in Maharashtra, India. The screening, which was held at a believer’s home, was deemed successful by GFA as many of the villagers came to watch the film.

After the film concluded, however, a group of about 45 extremists rushed Mehta and Tambe, beating them and grabbing their film equipment. They then shoved the men in their van and took them to the police station to have them arrested for illegal conversion.

According to GFA, “The merciless beating continued until they reached the police station, where they brought their false complaints against Jayant and Dayanand.”

The group accused the two men of “bribing people to convert to the Christian faith” and made up names of people who would testify against them.

Early the next morning, the two missionaries were finally released from police custody when a GFA leader asked for their discharge.

On August 10, their film gear was returned by the extremist after the groups claims were falsified by police.

Their attackers were not detained.

This attack comes after the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently added India to a “watch list” of countries “which have failed to protect its religious minorities adequately,” according a BBC News story.

India was included on the list along with counties such as Afghanistan, Somalia and Cuba.

{ read the entire article }

there’s a lot going on in the world that we can pray for today, especially the persecuted Church.

maranatha.

The story is told of a group of visitors to Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. They wanted to meet the great English preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and see the sanctuary, his office, and the education rooms. Spurgeon himself guided their tour, but they were surprised when he said, “Let me show you the boiler room.”

They followed him to that lowly space and were even more astonished to find 50 people there, on their knees. The assembly was praying for the church’s ministry, the staff, their community, and the world.

Why choose such an inauspicious place for prayer? As the power-center for heating the entire building, the boiler room symbolized for them the source of power in ministry—prayer! A major component of that church’s impact was the effectual and fervent prayer of humble people meeting in a shabby, out-of-the-way room.

last night we kicked off our first ‘event’ of 2009 @ calvary hanford. we’re calling it Even 1. you can find a fuller description on the website, but here are the basics…

when Jesus went to the garden of gethsemene to pray on the evening before His crucifixion, He asked His disciples to pray for Him, for themselves, for what was going to happen in the future.

we know the story. they fell asleep.

a bunch of times.

Jesus found them and said this to Peter:

could you not watch with Me one hour?
Matthew 26:40

hours before His horrific crucifixion, the Lord showed grace to His disciples, suggesting that just one ‘hour’ of prayer would have been immensely helpful to Him and to Peter.

the Lord put that verse on our heart a few months ago and we started thinking about what it could mean for our church.

then we realized that when you look in the Bible you find that it’s not just about one ‘hour’ of prayer…you find something very precious.

in Nehemiah, one man praying opened the door for God’s people to return from captivity. in fact, just one quick prayer was enough for Nehemiah to lead that venture with boldness and confidence.

in Daniel, one man praying led to the sharing of the Gospel with Darius, the pagan king.

one group of Christians praying led to the release of Peter from prison.

one city praying stayed God’s judgement on Nineveh and began a revival.

the more we thought about prayer the more we wanted to make more time to do it! we have a weekly prayer meeting on saturday nights, but as we start a new year we want to begin with more prayer. lots more.

Even 1 is a week-long set of prayer meetings, just 1 hour at a time. we’ve been collecting hundreds of prayer requests and we’ll be praying for lots of other things.

we want to pray for you. if you have a request, a report, or anything you’d like us to pray for, here’s what you can do:

- email me: gene@genepensiero.com

- leave a comment on this post with your request

- send me an @ message or direct message on twitter (twitter.com/genepensiero)

- call it in: 559-582-5532

it doesn’t matter if we know you or not. we still want to pray for you.

prayer does amazing things. it works. it is necessary. it is wonderful.

last night’s meeting was fantastic and we’re quite excited to go to the Lord again tonight and throughout the week.

confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16

maranatha

–
at our men’s morning group (which meets on wednesdays @ 6:30am for any area fellows who would like some free peets coffee) we have a short section where my dad reads various news items that discuss the current state of the world and, hopefully, spark points of prayer for us.

today there was an interesting and saddening article that i’d like to share.

The Greatest Story Never Told: Modern Christian Martyrdom
- susan brinkmann

here are some highlights

while christians in the secular west languish in spiritual mediocrity, christianity remains a deadly serious matter almost everywhere else.

dying for Christ seems almost surreal to most westerners. we live in a part of the world where Christianity rarely makes the news unless it is to be mocked or defamed.

Even the average church-going christian is not likely to know that 45.5 million of the estimated 70 million christians who have died for Christ did so in the last century.

the true extent of christian persecution during the past 100 years is believed to be of staggering proportions.

in the past 50 years, 300,000 christians in north korea have vanished without a trace.

in bangladesh christians are being denied access to water wells and are frequent targets of physical violence and destruction of property.

the situation in india has become particularly problematic…there have already been more than 200 episodes of anti-christian violence this year…

‘christians are, in fact, the most persecuted religious group in the world today, with the greatest number of victims.’ (ninashea, director of Freedom House’s Puebla Program On Religious Freedom)

read the rest of the article here

lots to pray for.

lots of work set before us by the Lord to accomplish.

God is good and His mercy endures forever.

voice of the martyrs

if i’m honest, i’m just a little heavy-hearted today. it seems that no matter where you go you can’t escape the anger and hostility and hatred against our president that is currently the national pastime.

it’s everywhere. it’s in headlines and on the front of magazines. it’s in movie trailers and commentary. it’s ingrained in our conversation and our thinking. and that is terrible.

not because we’re not allowed to have ‘opinions.’ we can and do. that’s one of the hundreds of reasons america is the greatest country in the world.

but the problem with our ‘opinions’ is that we almost always think more of ourselves than we should and then we start believing that we’re entitled to think and to say anything that we want about other people.

i don’t want to get into a huge, drawn out post. i really don’t.

instead, i’d like anyone reading this to pause and consider this:

can you imagine what it would feel like to be george bush? to be one of his family members?

can you imagine what it would feel like to have people saying the things that are said about him to your wife? or to your husband?

can you imagine what it would be like to have your entire life filmed and photographed and catalogued and then for the entire world to sit in the comfort of their homes and judge whether they think what you’ve done today is acceptable or not?

i think it’s safe to say that most of my readers are Christians. that’s great. we’re moving into an election month and i’ve found myself complaining. and generalizing. and speaking negatively. and though we’re free to do so in america, i don’t think that those attitudes are God’s highest and best for our lives.

today i was reminded of this:

1 Timothy 2:1-2 – Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. giving of thanks be made for all men,

you don’t have to agree with our president.

you don’t even have to ‘like’ him.

you don’t have to support every decision he makes.

but, as Christians, as people who are citizens of God’s Kingdom, we need to pray for our president and our government.

and we need to complain less.

and we need to control our tongues.

let’s pray for our leaders today.

blessings.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff5o8yRmPHc[/youtube]