This is real love–not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to us to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love one another. 1 John 4:10, 11.
The culture has written off the church as out of date and irrelevant. Many are more familiar with what Christians are against than what they are for. If you asked someone on the street to describe a Christian they would probably say something like, “narrow minded, legalistic and intolerant.” It is likely that they don’t have anyone in their circle of friends that they would describe as a positive influence for the church.
I’ve heard it said, “Failure isn’t final unless you let it be.” I doubt there is a better teacher than failure because those are lessons you never forget. I know that if I’m not failing occasionally I’m not living close enough to the edge. I could pick out a lot of anecdotal stories from my life and ministry to illustrate that accepting and learning from failure is incredibly important in getting to fruitfulness.
My traveling partner was Steve Igarta from Redding, CA. He said it was on his bucket list to bungee jump off the Macau Tower. When I heard that I said I would do it with him.
I’ve been back about ten days and this is the first time I’ve caught my breath enough to write a summary of our trip to China. I continue to be energized and inspired by our partners. Their ability to connect seamlessly with the community, church, government and each other is amazing.
I continue to be impressed by this team. They are the cream of the crop in their fields. They range in age from 25-45 with most being around thirty years old.
I sent the latest blog to www.projectpartner.org Kristen Levitt, the Director of Project Partner is now back in the U.S. She will be posting updates regularly. You can go there and subscribe so you won’t miss a thing.
This morning the team divided up again into groups of three. One group did routine physicals for grade school children. Well, I guess they are only routine if they don’t turn up any problems.
We saw patients today as a team (I’m not a doctor so you don’t want me working on you). I’m so impressed by the professionalism of this team. There are 41 of us including doctors, nurses, lab techs, cardiologists, pediatricians, hospital administrators, dentists, etc.
Today (actually a day old now) we got a chance to catch our breath from our 30 hour trip. We spent the day in Hong Kong. I love this city!