Category Archives: Poverty

October 4, 2014 · 12:40 pm

My Sales Career: If Only… (Part 1)

(click on above)

I spent many years selling pharmaceuticals, construction equipment, health and beauty aids, stocks and bonds, cars, real estate, advertising, and whatever. There were great days in my sales career and a few horrendous ones. My sales philosophy agreed with Sophie Tucker who said, “I have been rich and I have been poor − and believe me, rich is better.”

But throughout my whole sales career, one nagging thought bothered me over and over again: “If only I totally believed in my product. If only…”

No doubt, there are wonderful companies selling great products here in America. I do not mean to belittle any of them because my nagging problem was mine and mine alone. It had nothing to do with the business world.

You see, I wanted to sell a hybrid Cadillac-Mercedes-Rolls Royce-DeBeers-Tiffany product with Toyota/Honda backed service for $99 or three easy payments of $33 or even twelve payments of $8.25.

Now you understand my dilemma of unreal expectations in a real world.

Then, I met a man named Jesus who smashed to smithereens all of my business and sales concepts. He taught me to depend on His abilities and not mine. His products and services are much, much better than my expectations ever were in the past.

Okay, you can check on my sales goal of $42,000 to cover the cost of 100 Bridge of Hope unsponsored children here. My business/sales plan is to fast and pray and then follow the Lord’s leading. As far as a backup plan, I have none.

Just so you know: the anonymous $100 came from Carol and me.

Thus, the program begins today for me.

I will post updates from time to time.

(Continued in Part 2)

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July 25, 2014 · 4:26 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (7/25/2014)

There are eleven million children abandoned by their parents and living on the streets of India. Ten million of these children are little girls between the ages of four and eleven years old. What will become of these children?

Some end up as beggars. Some are kidnapped by the sex trade and end up as prostitutes. Some are forced into slave-like positions as laborers. Most are abused.

Life is unfair, right?

Today, I prayed:

Lord, break our American hearts with the things that break Your heart. Give us no rest until You reveal what we can do to relieve Your heartache.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebre ws 13:3.

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July 18, 2014 · 4:01 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (7/18/2014)

I was raised in a farming community in rural Northern Illinois where farmers helped their neighbors. If a farmer became ill, his neighbors helped take care of his livestock, planted or harvested his crops, fixed equipment, or whatever had to be done until the farmer was back on his feet again.

If the husband died, the neighbors helped the widow transition through her grief to her new life. Whatever needed to be done, the farmers helped her out. All of this was a part of being a good neighbor.

This has been a part of my cultural mindset since my childhood.

Let’s look at India:

For over 40 million widows in India, life is a desperate struggle for survival. They’re blamed for their husbands’ deaths, they’re forsaken by their families, shunned by their friends, and despised by their communities.

One in four homes in India is home to a widow.

92 percent of India’s women age 70 and older are widows.

Street begging or prostitution often becomes a way of life.

Many are left caring for their children with little help from relatives.

In order to provide for themselves and their children, many resort to gathering food from the trash. Some gain income only from selling their bodies on the streets. For those who cannot bear the shame, suicide is their only escape. (Gospel For Asia)

The cultural mindset of India is so unlike mine, but do the differences allow me to ignore them?

Today I prayed:

Lord, help us American believers return to a pure and genuine religion in Your sight that cares and helps orphans and widows in India and other nations in the 10/40 Window. (Based on James 1:27)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebre ws 13:3.

(If you are interested in helping the widows in Asia, check out Gospel For Asia.

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May 29, 2014 · 8:53 am

Vacation Bible School? Really?

I grew up on a farm in Northern Illinois and attended a small one-room schoolhouse from first grade through fifth grade. The friends I played baseball with in the summertime attended a much larger grade school in Forreston, seven miles from our farm. These friends invited me to Vacation Bible School because we wanted to spend more time together.

In my case, the one thing I took away from Vacation Bible School was one Bible verse:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Maybe you’re not impressed with my retention of just one verse, right?

Yet, Bill Hamon once said that if an atheist spoke John 3:16 to a stadium filled with thousands of atheists, God would honor His word and someone would get saved. That is the power of John 3:16.

Over the following thirty years, I often saw signs with John 3:16 printed on them. Each worked on my heart like a hammer until finally I gave my life to the Living Word – Jesus Christ.

So, you can understand my passion for Vacation Bible School because it works. I am proof of that.

In 2013, hundreds of thousands of Indian children attended Gospel for Asia’s Vacation Bible Schools throughout India. Each one heard about Jesus. Each memorized verses. Many were saved and their parents also were saved.

If you can afford $5 or $25 to help sponsor children this year, please consider doing so. You can check out a great two minute video, narrated by Natalie Grant, and learn more about the VBS program here.

Vacation Bible School? It really works. Let’s be a part of what’s happening in India today.

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May 26, 2014 · 11:16 am

A Memorial Day Discovery

I have watched the above 2 minute video of K. P. Yohannan nearly ten times over the last few days. It seemed like there was a deeper message in it for me, but I could not grasp it. My frustration level blew past the boiling-over point.

Then, I discovered this morning there was a video of Yohannan’s preaching his whole message on the Call of Christ. I watched it just now.

Yohannan touched on three points in the video that broke my heart:

1. He told the story of a 28 year-old Sri Lankan woman who laid down her medical practice and committed her life to guerrilla warfare and killing people for the possible freedom of her Tamil people. She was captured and faced death. She said, “I am so glad I am in prison. Even through my death, if I can further our cause one step, I am grateful for that.”

If that is the commitment for something that is so hopeless, what kind of commitment do I have? (K. P. Yohannan)

2. If your church is only making you a better Christian, a better family man, a better father, a better mother, I am sorry for you. This is only the beginning. The call of Christ is for you to die, not to live. I can assure you of that. (K. P. Yohannan)

3. At the 19 minute mark in the video, Yohannan told the story of a 60-year old man who asked what he could do. What the man eventually did and to hear Yohannan declare, “What a privilege,” stirred my heart. (K. P. Yohannan)

If you want to see the whole forty minute message, you can see it here.

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May 23, 2014 · 2:43 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (5/23/2014)

The Apostle Paul referred to himself as a “prisoner of the Lord or a prisoner of Christ Jesus” six different times in his letters to the Ephesians, Timothy, and Philemon. Paul wrote these letters when he was an old man by first-century standards. He was approximately fifty-six years old.

Ten years earlier, Paul wrote:

We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us. (1 Thessalonians 2:18 NLT)

Wait a second, right?

In the letters to the Ephesians, Timothy, and Philemon, Paul was in prison or under house arrest in Rome. When he stated that Satan hindered him, Paul was in Corinth planting a church and was a free man.

Was Paul a prisoner of the kingdom of darkness when he wrote the letter to the Thessalonians? No, I don’t believe so.

It is my opinion that Paul’s revelation of Christ grew over the ten years between the writing of Thessalonians and his writing the three letters. He understood that if Satan prevented him from going somewhere or doing something, it was because Christ allowed it. Paul was Christ’s chosen ambassador. Demons could not deter him from running the race set before him.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray for your prisoners of the Lord in America that the Father of glory may give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of their hearts enlightened, that they may know what is the hope to which He has called them, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward those who believe. (Based on Ephesians 1:17-19)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

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April 23, 2014 · 12:46 pm

The Lad Said, “I Made a Difference For That One.”

In some parts of the world, when the tide comes in from the ocean, it brings with it thousands of starfish. Then the tide recedes and leaves thousands of them behind on the shore. Many of these starfish cannot make it back to the safety of the water before the sun comes up and dries them out.

A man was walking along the shore one day and witnessed this sight. He stared at all the starfish, saddened that so many would die.

Then he saw a young boy walking in the other direction. The lad would stop and pick up a starfish and throw it into the ocean. He continued to do this, picking up one after another and throwing them back into the water.

“Why are you doing that?” the man asked. “Don’t you realize there are miles and miles of shore? You’re wasting your time. You’ll never make a difference.”

The boy simply picked up another starfish and hurled it back into the ocean. As it landed, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”

“As we celebrate Mother’s Day and thank God for the influence of our mothers and wives, please remember the millions of children and mothers who have never heard of Jesus, [the One] who will provide for them.” – K.P. Yohannan

If you can, consider honoring your Mom by sponsoring a child in Gospel For Asia’s Bridge of Hope program.

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April 18, 2014 · 3:07 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (4/18/2014)

I have been rereading No Longer a Slumdog by K. P. Yohannan this week:

One of the hardest things to witness is the large number of little boys and girls looking into our Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope Centers wanting to be involved, but unable to join.

…The hardest part is turning down child after child and seeing them suffer without firsthand contact with the love of the Lord. Honestly, there are so many children out there who need our help. One of the biggest requests from our leaders is, “Can we please open up more centers?”

As we have more resources, we proceed with opening more centers. But there are so many times, I have to tell our leaders, “Not yet.” (No Longer a Slumdog, K. P. Yohannan, © 2011 by K. P. Yohannan, GFA Books, pages 145)

Each morning my heart is blessed when I pray for the six children on the bulletin board over the computer that Carol and I sponsor for Bridge of Hope. But then, my heart is broken when I consider the millions we are not able to sponsor. I always pray, “Lord, don’t let them slip through the cracks of eternity without hearing about You.”

Today, I prayed:

Lord, enrich us Americans in every way to be generous in every way so that we produce many thanksgivings to You. (Based on 2 Corinthians 9:11)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

No Longer a Slumdog is now free at Gospel for Asia. You can check it out here.

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April 17, 2014 · 12:43 pm

Jim’s Testimony

My name is Jim.

My beautiful wife and I have been sponsoring children since we first found out about Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope program. We had always wanted to have a large family, perhaps a dozen children, but our hearts were changed as we saw the incredible need of the poor children throughout Asia.

Instead of a dozen, we have had two children. Then, we got four more through GFA Bridge of Hope. They were our little hearts, children whose letters we read over and over again. Their pictures were mounted on our wall, and every day the four of us prayed for them. I considered them to be my children and loved them as my own, although I was sure we would never meet this side of eternity.

But God blew my socks off and sent me to India on a business venture about a year ago. My wife reminded me about Gospel for Asia and said I should give them a call to see if I could visit a GFA Bridge of Hope center while I was there. Amazingly, I could!

My heart was not ready for the sights of India. Still, the images of people, I can only assume they were Dalits, sitting on the roadside without any life in their eyes…everything looked so hopeless! I felt incredibly burdened for these people. It almost brought me to tears to see them and still does to this day.

But when I went to the center, I was simply astonished. The joy! The laughter! The sight of these children, dozens of them, beautiful, laughing, singing! It was so different from everything I saw around them. They were so vibrant and full of life.

This group of over a hundred kids was laughing, studying, and learning about the Lord all at once. It was amazing. But all of this did not prepare me for what was about to happen.

There was one little face in the crowd that I recognized. When I saw him, my little Manu, I just froze. The teacher told him who I was, and he locked eyes with me and he smiled the largest smile I have ever seen. He ran up to me and latched onto me like I was a life raft in the middle of the ocean.

This little 8-year old boy stepped back and looked me straight in the eyes. “Dad,” he said, “thank you for loving me.”

I burst into tears.

After that day, I have never been the same. I left India with a new perspective on life. Anything we could do to help these children, we must do.

Now, my wife and I sponsor two dozen children − twice as many as we ever thought we would have on our own. They are scattered all throughout India and Nepal. I cannot imagine doing anything more worthwhile with my life. This is it. My family and I are dedicated to saving as many people as we can. And Gospel for Asia enables us to do that.

No Longer a Slumdog is now free at Gospel for Asia. You can check it out here.

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April 4, 2014 · 1:41 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (4/4/2014)

The above photo shows the bulletin board above my desk.

As you can see, most of the space is taken up by the pictures of the six children we sponsor in India through Gospel For Asia. The six range in age from six years to twelve years old and live in places like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

The six children are Dalits, who are considered subhuman, impure from birth, and untouchable by those born into higher castes. The population of Dalits in India is almost equal to the total population of America or 300 million people.

Our little effort to sponsor six Dalit children through GFA’s Bridge of Hope program came about because the Lord crushed my heart one day while I was praying. We signed up that same day.

Okay, now let me tell you something: we have never been able to afford the children. That’s right! My wife and I are not wealthy and live paycheck to paycheck. Yet, the Lord always provides for us. Why?

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay Him for his deed. (Proverbs 19:17)

And:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

God’s word works for us.

My prayer for prisoners today:

Lord, I pray that we American believers who are blessed with the world’s goods would open our hearts to help people in need so that we actually love with our deeds and truth, and not just with our words and talk. (Based on 1 John 3:17-18)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

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