O the joys of Mondays. Always something going on
that makes up for the good weekend. Had to cancel a trip due to the Beast that
broke again. The starter is not working and getting spare parts here are a real
pain. Need to order original parts from Malaysia. I have much respect for my
mechanic that always try his best to get the Beast going. While it’s down, it’s
time for maintenance work as well. Had to hammer a door open and unbolt it to get
it open, door lock un-repairable broken. Seems to me I need to do like Mr. Bean
with my doors now….. use normal bolts…….
A funeral this morning made for a real difficult
time to teach Gideon. The music is really challenging to listen to and Gideon
cannot do anything. Pray that Toinette and Gideon can have some quiet and
peaceful times to do school work in the mornings.
Pray for my friend Peter Hopkins. Seems it never
rains but pours for this guy. Just had a large chunk of neck removed due to
squamous cell carcinoma.
A while ago I asked some pray for a dear friend,
Julie Passon. Well here it is in her own words: “”Just had to post a quick
shout-out to all of you friends who have been praying for me! I have had an
incredibly rough week....fever, unable to eat, trip to the ED where they found
a tumor in my colon, I was pretty sure I had a one way ticket back to the ED,
but am still home, and after losing 10 lbs and having not appetite, actually
ate a MEAL!!!! Praise God and thank you to all of you who have been keeping me
covered in prayer. I am blessed!!! Counting the hours until my appointment
Monday and trying to stay clear of the hospital!””
Our prayer for Syria this week:
Psalm 36:10 “Continue your love to those who know
you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.”
Thank You Jesus for Syrians who know You as their
Saviour and Friend. Thank You for the upright in heart, those who want Your
will done in their lives, no matter what the consequence.
Minority groups such as Armenians, Orthodox
Christians, Catholics, and Protestants have been persecuted, punished, and
pushed out of Syria. Many have left Syria but some still remain.
Father God, I pray for those who call themselves
Christians. I pray for those who profess You by name. Jesus, I pray that they
will live lives of no compromise, no matter how hard the situation. I pray for
their hearts, that You will minister to them, and help them to release anger
and hatred toward those who have hurt them in the present and in the past.
Jesus, I pray that You would pour out Your grace upon them so that they would
love with the love that only You can give. I pray that they would be such a testimony
to their neighbours, to those who know them and their hardships. Jesus, please
pour out Your grace and Your love upon each one of them wherever they are right
now
A very nice testimony from my friend Gordon Patterson
in Ratanakiri.
Jesus died so that there would be one body. Unity is
important in the body of Christ but the churches in Ratanakiri have been in
discord and broken fellowship for some period of time now. Nobody dared to hope
that it could be a success, but everybody agreed that we should give it a go.
There should be a joint (inter-church, inter-denomenational) celebration of
Yeshua’s resurrection (2016). It exceeded all expectations. An estimated 400
people turned up from over 20 churches in the central and northern districts of
Ratanakiri.
Khmer New Year (KNY) is the time when the Cambodian
churches celebrate the resurrection because everyone else is on holidays and
celebrating – so why not the Christians too? KNY falls around the middle of the
month of “Jaet” – so it correlates closely to the biblical feast of Passover
most years.
We were blessed with light cloud cover shielding us
from the full blast of the April heat (the hottest time of year just before the
rains start). The shady cashew plantation provided a pleasant backdrop and
canopy.
Each church contributed to the cost. The local
church prepared the food for lunch – a variety of tasty traditional Kreung
dishes made from local forest and garden ingredients. It seemed like God
multiplied the food – there was plenty for all (even though the number of
guests exceeded the contingency plan by 100).
There was plenty of variety in the culture and
worship, too. Different churches contributed items, songs and plays in their
own language – a mix of Khmer and tribal culture. The youth enjoyed the boppy
contemporary songs in the Khmer language. But the highlight was when everybody
joined in the dance of celebration with the gongs, traditional instruments and
tribal songs of praise. “He is our Peace, who has broken down every dividing
wall” (Eph 2:14). “Here there is no Jew or Gentile… barbarian, Scythian, slave
or free” (Col 3:11)). There was breakthrough in the spirit realm as the tribal
groups (Kreung, Brao, Kavet, Tampuen, and Jarai) joined with the Khmer and the
Lao to worship the Lord. This was an encouraging start to see the strongholds
of discord and disunity brought down. Even though there may be many things that
we don’t agree on, at least the churches can agree together to celebrate our
one and only risen Lord. One of the organizers said “We haven’t looked each
other in the face for so many years – but everything that we have been through
has been a very important lesson for all of us”. Brokenness and failure brings
us to the place of obedience and willingness to do it His way – He never fails!
May God bless you all in this week to come.
Rossouw-clan
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