Why?

Because you are watching unforgiveness and pride grow from conception to mass murder. You see how a brawl turns into a war. Both of these families were extremely wealthy and timber competitors (which was a large part of the feud), but by the end of the feud both had lost many of their family members and most of their wealth. Literally pride and unforgiveness grew until it killed many people, stole nearly all their wealth, and destroyed two entire families.

But how did it start?

Small.

Wanting something so bad that you are willing to lie and cheat to get it starts small, but ends in crime. Pride starts with not being able to say you are sorry and grows to divorce or abuse. Unforgiveness promises protection but in the end it is a poison that rots us from the inside out.

What you are becoming you will become.

Whatever direction you are walking is where you are going. It’s time to come to realize that every single one of us have flaws, but if we ignore them they grow up and can harm a lot more than just us.

Forgiveness is not about saying what the person did was right, it is about stopping the ring of destruction. It is about setting yourself free from being pulled into hate and bitterness.

The Hatfield and McCoy’s destroyed each other and assigned their family’s names to infamy. I’m sure today’s generations think the feud was foolish, but they are known for it nonetheless. The feuders are dead and gone, but here I am watching their bad choices on TV. It’s entertaining because it doesn’t seem real, but it was real. And real blood was shed.

The truth is terribly sad.

But what about us?

What is brooding in your heart? Is there some pride or unforgivneess incubating in your soul? What will that small bit of greed grow into if it keeps growing? Will that unforgiveness define you or your families life? Maybe it’s time to deal with a few things before they turn into a feud.

Take a moment and consider forgiveness or an apology. Perhaps you need to go give something away to uproot greed from your heart.

Whatever it is, please do it, pray about it, change it…

Cause I don’t want my great grandkids watching your destruction on the future History channel.

This is what it is like for  a lot of the world’s population.

I know we have problems in the USA, but for today let’s be thankful we don’t have those problems. We don’t have those problems because of the grace and blessing of God, and because men and women joined in the fight for freedom and choice…

It is because someone laid down their lives that…

1. You can get up and go to church without fear of someone storming in the front door and murdering you for being there…
2. You can speak your belief (or lack there of) openly, in the paper, in the movies…
3. You can drive down the street without fear of a roadblock that will leave you at best broke and at worst dead…
4. You can flip on the TV or RADIO at anytime and hear teaching and music from the Word of God…
5. When you are done wrong, at least there is a path to justice though the courts(most of the world has no option when oppressed)…
6. You can travel. This is a right in the USA and a dream for some of the places we’ve seen and heard of…
7. You have the ability to make a lot of money, you have opportunity…

So today, in honor of those who fought and died in the United States Armed forces, from the Revolutionary War, to World War 2, to our troops who fought Al-Qaeda in the caves of Afghanistan… let us be thankful.

Thank God to those brave souls who ran towards the fray instead of shrinking back in fear. Their blood has watered our freedom.

Let’s honor them by remembering and by praying for those around the world who are in chains, physical and metaphorical.

“Greater love has no one than this,
that one lay down his life for his friends.

- John 15:13 -

Meditation may show itself in different forms, but some breed of it lives in every major belief system.

Even Christianity.

You may not know it, but because Christianity finds its roots in Judaism, we too are called to meditate. We, however, are told to meditate on scripture, not in an attempt to open our minds to the spiritual world. That’s what prayer is for. I DO NOT recommend Eastern style meditation at all, as I’ve witnessed a few folks who lost themselves completely to whatever they opened their minds to.

As I told a girl in India. ”No, don’t let just anything in. There are some things you don’t want inside of you. I don’t care what your Guru is telling you.”

Meditating on God’s word is one of the keys to success and prosperity in the Bible. It is the spiritual equivelent to storing up grain for the winter, so when the day of trouble comes we have a reserve of the Word to fall into, instead of wiggin out and running to someone else for help all the time.

Mediation in Scripture

 Psalms 1

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

Joshua 1:8

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

But what does that mean?

Don’t worry, you don’t have to shave your head and wear orange… unless you just want to.

The word meditate in the bible means “to moan, utter, muse, mutter, meditate, devise, plot and speak.” Scriptural meditation is the process of taking the Word of God from the page of the Bible, carrying through the complicated maze of your mind, until it gets deeply planted in your heart.

Listen, this process is simple. It’s not complicated. The hard part and the key is consistency. Below, I’ve come up with three steps to guide you in this process. If you follow these steps you will see a change in your life.

But, as said… the key is consistency.

1) INPUT

Before you can moan, mutter or muse on something you have to get it in your head. This is where you READ YOUR BIBLE. As you read, perhaps a scripture pops out. If so, there you go – that’s your scripture to meditate on.

Maybe you are going through some problems. If so, search Google for scriptures about that. Maybe you want to store up scripture on health, or finances, or business success. Find scriptures on that.

Read the word and pick one or two scriptures (in context) to begin with. Highlight or write them down.

2) PROCESS

Think of this step as chewing (like the cow you are… just kidding) Once you get the word in your head it’s time to break it apart, word by word. Ponder each word separately, asking yourself at each stop, “What does this mean?”

Say the scripture to yourself, over and over and over.

Here’s an example…

“The Lord is my shepherd…”

The… Who? THE Lord. There is only one.

The Lord…. The only ruler over everything. Lord – master.

The Lord is…. Not was. IS. He is alive and present today, in my life.

The Lord is my… This is for me! Not just ancient special people with sheep.

The Lord is my shepherd… What does a shepherd do? He leads me to provision. He protects me from harm. He cares for my wounds. He knows me by name.

“The one and only Lord and master over the entire world is my personal shepherd who leads me to provision and protects me from harm and cares for my wounds. He knows me by name.”

As you think on each word, muttering the scripture with your mouth over and over again, that word will begin to go from your eyes, to your mind, then into your heart.

Another helpful tool is to listen to scripture being read. That helps too.

3) REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT

Return to step one and repeat, again and again and again and again…

Read the scripture, process it by muttering the word, breaking it down in your mind, speaking it out loud to yourself, until you get a new understanding.

Do this daily, throughout each day. Once you’ve meditated on a scripture for a while move on to a different one.

That’s it! 

Really. That’s all there is to it. Keep the scripture bouncing from mind to mouth all day long. Before long you will KNOW it by heart, and when you KNOW it by heart then, as Ephesians 3:20 says, God can do exceedingly abundantly, above all you ask or think, but it is according to the power at work within you.

God’s word is God’s power. So get it in you! Meditate on the Word of God!

Honestly, when I first read that line I had to stop and think. Is it really? I wan’t sure. Then came the thought, why don’t you think it is?

Well Rabbi Daniel addresses this throughly. In chapter one he talks about how business has been demonized in the media, how in past-Germany part of the decreasing economy was linked to people thinking business men were all crooks, and how this thinking can be the start of economic downfall. By the end of chapter one I came to realize that when we demonize business men we create a self-fulfilling prophesy. As good people start to think business is not honorable, then honorable people naturally run from business, thus the only people left are the brave-hearts or the crooks.

That’s what is happening in our country.

Almost every movie and tv show now makes the business man the crook. The result is that good people feel ashamed of business. Even active business men think they are somehow selfish for being in business. How many times have I heard from men and women who employee others, who provide good services to men and woman, who fund the work the Gospel… “How I wish I could be doing the work of God!”

I want to slap them and scream, “YOU ARE!”

Doing God’s work is not just being a preacher! In fact us preachers have the job to prepare you to do your work, to fulfill your purpose!

Business is indeed a noble thing if your goal is to provide a good service. Now if you are just trying to screw everyone over, you have a problem with you. That type of person is needed no where but in jail. But, if you are working to do good in whatever industry you are in, from Entertainment to Baked Goods, you should have a sense of pure pride about it.

Rabbi Daniel also brings out how it is impossible to prosper in your business if you deep down doubt that what you are doing is noble. If you think you are a crook and that only the missionary is doing something worthy, you are setting yourself up for future failure. You must believe in your mission or your business for it to succeed.

Adam and Bread

Thou Shall Prosper opens up with Adam from the Bible. What did Adam have to go through to get bread? He had to find the ground, till the ground, find the seed, plant the seed, grown the wheat, harvest, thresh, and whatever else goes into making the Honey Oat loaf at Subway (I have no idea). Do you know why I have no idea? Because someone else has provided each of those services and I just have to go get the bread from the store!

Providing a service to mankind and being rewarded for it is one of the most honorable things a man or woman can do. It is giving, instead of taking.

Besides that, how would my wife and I go and preach the Gospel if none of our partners made money? How would they make money if they were not in business or at least employed by a business man? Answer: we would be stuck with a calling and no money to travel.

Always remember this, and this is hard for some missionaries to admit: Giving a man an occupation is ten times better than giving charity. Truth.

Thank God for business men and women!

It’s time we change our thinking and search for the honor in our jobs. If you can find none, ask someone else, and if they can find none, change your occupation to one you feel good about. It’s vital to your prosperity, your happiness, and the future of our nation. More than ever we need honorable men and women making their way to the top of their industries to bring about a change of business culture.

One last thing. In the Bible, God’s first men (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) were not preachers or missionaries; they were businessmen.

Not bad tracks to follow.

So say it with me… “_____ (fill in the blank) is my business, and business is GOOD!”

Now don’t get me wrong; there are stacks of books I’ve learned from, but there are a few that have given me specific understanding that has resulted in a massive change of my life.

I thought I would share them with you. And no, I did’t write any of these. I wish.

Five Books that Helped Me Grow in my Faith

1. Jesus Freaks by The Voice of the Martyrs and DC Talk
   For me, this collection of stories of people who laid down their lives (many even unto death) for the sake of the love of Christ was beyond inspirational. As an American, far from such extreme persecution, it was good for me to realize that the Christian faith was and ismade up of brave hearts who love God more than self. This challenged me to ask myself some hard questions.I’m so glad I did.
2. The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
   Why do good things happen to bad people? This is the question Lewis tackles, and this book has some of the BEST answers to that simple question. I say simple because once I understood how God made the world and what had to be in order for freewill to be possible, this question never again troubled me. A bit of a warning though… Lewis’s intellect is in full operation here. When I was 23 I had to read the Fall of Man chapter four times to understand it, oh but when I did it changed my whole understanding of scripture.
3. Lords of the Earth by Don Richardson
   This is an amazing story, but not for the faint of heart. The opening chapters describe old customs from Irian Jaya, Indonesia that are hard to read. However, once I finished this book and set it down I looked at myself in the mirror and felt that although I have a long way to go, God has indeed made me and my personality for a specific job and specific purpose. Stan Dale’s story shook me, thrilled me, and set me free from wondering if God knows what He is doing when making people… even very different people.
4. How You Can Be Led by the Spirit of God by Kenneth Hagin
   Until I read this short book I only thought I knew what it meant to be led by The Holy Spirit. In fact, I can now say honestly that it was pure grace and never my ability to be led that carried me until I understood what Br. Hagin was saying in these pages. This is a book I try to read every year, one that reminds me again and again of a six sense each Christian has, even if they don’t know it.
5. Bruchko by Bruce Olson
   As a mission hearted person this book was extremely important to my development, but I don’t think it is only for the missionary. Bruchko is the story of Bruce Olson, a young man who goes to South America as a missionary around the age of nineteen. After reading Bruce’s story I realized that to accomplish anything for God I had to have a heart of sacrifice. This book removed the false glamour of missions and replaced it with a much more pure motive to love and serve God and people, no matter the cost.

I have many more I could recommend to you, but five is a good number and I’ll save the rest for another day. Pick them up if you get the chance. You won’t regret reading them.

How about you? Are there any books that have helped you in your walk with Christ? How?

In those travels I’ve come to realize that there are two types of people whom I consider the wisest, and I’d like to share them with you.

I’ve given them titles to help us classify.

1. The Farmer
   To me, The Farmer is the unambitious soul who is content with their family, their home, and their life. I call them the farmer because we always describe these people as folks who watch things grow. They watch their plants grow. They watch their family grow. They watch themselves grow. And growing takes time, so they are in no hurry.Life is not a game to be won, but a day to be lived. I admire that.These people usually have land, live off of what comes from their fields, and has few bills as possible. This is what life would be like for most all of us if it weren’t for the fall of man. We would be able to sit back, relax, enjoy our work, and have not a care in the world.Sounds great doesn’t it.Yes, I want this to be a part of my life, to not be so busy that we ignore family, friends, and strangers. There is much wisdom in finding your spot on God’s Earth and caring for it.
2. The Explorer
   The second group I admire I name the explorer. This is the person who has a hard time ignoring the outside world. Deep down they know they are needed beyond the garden walls, and that knowing pulls at them day and night.”There is a world out there, and I want it,” they muttur in their sleep.These are those who lead the way into new lands. They are those who plant churches, and build big businesses, who when they are young pack a bag and return two years later with dread-locks and trinkets. At first they are restless, wanting more than they see, making statements about getting out of this town.These people are called wanderers, but most are looking for their place on the earth. They feel they are needed somewhere else, like Abraham, like Joshua, like Jesus – so one day they go. In the journey they see and experience things the Farmer has never dreamt of. They discover, mostly themselves, and when they return they are forever changed, mostly thicker, richer, and wiser.There is much wisdom here, a kind that I have and want more of in my life. To know what is, to toss ignorance into oblivion, knowing that it might be painful to know, and that knowing can never be undone. It’s courage, to see and feel and accept and hurt, but keep ging anyway.

So ready for the good part? You don’t have to choose.

No, you don’t.

It is my goal in life to be both. To travel and know and serve and explore, but have a home to return to with children and a family and a garden. The two groups are not contrary to one another, and the happiest people I know are those who follow the call of the explorer, but in the end have grandchildren to tell their stories to on their front porch. They are those who accept the call of Adam and Jesus, to live and tend and multiply and be fruitful; and to GO into all the world and preach the Good news of Salvation, to make disciples, to build orphanages, to change the world.

To me, both of those done correctly IS The Revolutionary Life. It takes wisdom and discipline to maintain both, but it is possible. For certain, we can’t build our businesses and ministries where they depend on us forever, or our growing things will wither back home, but if we do build our lives with the wisdom of proverbs, taking our time, building smart rather than fast we can become both the farmer and the explorer.

As for me, my desire is to preach the Gospel world-wide, plant churches, building in such a way as things go on even when we are absent. Then, when each mission is done, to return for a while to a house and a garden, and I will write books about other worlds, watering my future children until they are strong.

How about you? Are you living one or the otherlife? Who is the wisest person you’ve ever met? How about the most content and happy?

But we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for two of our friends.

My friend Jason and his wife Katie have been around for years. Jason and I were roommates in our early twenties and have ministered to everyone from troubled teens to homeless vets. He is really like a brother. When Darlene and I first heard of our friends earthly diagnosis we were not able to come. We wanted to, but the clutch in our only vehicle burnt out the other day. The hospital is over two hours away, so we were stranded.

But then, when Jason and Katie heard about our mutual friend, I got a two word email from Jason: Call me…

And so I did. When Jason answered he and his family were already in the town, which by the way is two hours from his home.

“Hey bro, you hear about Todd (our friend)?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m here now. Staying focused so I can be an encouragement to him,” answered Jason.

“We want to come too, but the clutch is out in the truck. It sucks.”

“Yeah? Well, let me call you back.”

“Okay.”

Jason hung up and a few minutes later he called back.

“We’re coming to get you. And don’t worry, we’ve got a big enough hotel room so we can all stay together.” And so we here we are.

Now get this: Jason has a full time job, he is an associate pastor at a church, he is married, and has a two year old daughter. He packed all that up, took off from work, rescheduled and delegated his church responsibilities, drove two hours, got a hotel, came and got us another two hours away, and all from his own wallet (which he, like most normal folks, is limited in).

All of this got me thinking about a statement I’ve heard a lot in church. It goes like this: “God is not looking for the most talented, he is looking for those who are available!” or “God is not looking for the strongest, but the person who is available!”

Have you ever heard the above two lines preached? I know I have, like a bajillion times. They are two very popular preacher sound bytes and they go good in conference promos and video clips for television programs. We hear them over and over again. Do you know why?

Because they are true.

God is NOT looking for the most talented or strongest (by human standards). He isn’t looking to pick out the King that towers over most others, like Saul, but rather the one with a heart like His own, like David. He can train up the untalented. He can be the strength for the weak. If a person is pliable and available God can make them into the person He needs for the job.

It’s kinda His business, making people. He is God!

So, according to these preacher quotes one of the qualification for being used of God is being available.

But what does that mean? How exactly does one be available for God to use them? What do we preachers mean by that vague statement? If I were to tell you to become available to be used by God, what would you do? Would you close your eyes and strain real hard, flip some spiritual switch deep inside, then come back with, ‘I’m ready!’

No. Being available is a VERY practical thing. If you can strip all the religious cliches off the statement and hear it for what it is, being available is just that: being available.

It’s like a telephone call. Ever had one of those phone calls you didn’t want to answer? A bill collector maybe? Or maybe a friend moving who needs help. They call, you answer, they ask for you, so you, the Holy Christian say… “Let me see if they’re here…” as if you aren’t. You lie to get out of the situation. You make an excuse so you don’t have to deal with it. We’ve all done it. Well, that’s called making yourself UNAVAILABLE. It’s like not answering the phone. You hear the phone ringing, you know someone is calling, but you walk away.

Or perhaps they call and you really ARE too busy to answer the call. Your neck-deep in dishes or family or television or Facebook or work. That’s called BEING unavailable.

Being available is putting down whatever you are doing and grabbing the phone, and being available to be used by God is as simple as that. It’s responding in obedience when the Lord puts something on your heart. It is raising your hand as a volunteer at church for that job no one wants. It’s dropping your schedule to help a friend, or brother, or stranger in need. Being available requires flexibility and humility. It requires not demanding your own way. It requires breaking routine. It requires obedience over comfort. It is love in action, no matter the circumstance.

Listen, not all of God’s callings involve a burning bush. Most come in the form of a phone call from someone that needs help. It comes as a volunteer card at church. It comes from doing good when it is in your power to do so. It is not being so busy and consumed with your own personal life that you can make no time for others. It is NOT waiting to see if someone else will do it. It is being the first to raise your hand. It is dropping your important plans sometimes for the sake of others.

It is practical. It is following Jesus 101. Drop your nets, follow me.

So, let me ask you, are you available? Really? Does your schedule keep you from being available? Are you willing to answer the phone when your brother calls you in need?

Darlene (my wife) and I had been making our way north overland, pushing towards one of the non-boldened dots on the map. In prayer, we had felt a strong sense in our hearts to press on, despite numerous obstacles and against advice that the dot we were shooting for could not be reached because the rainy season had wiped out the road. At first we thought they just assumed a couple of foreigners couldn’t hang, but we soon realized that they were telling the unexaggerated truth.

There was no road.

But hey, we were traveling around the world with two backpacks. If we stayed on the paved road, the safe place, what stories would we tell our children one day. And that’s how we got to this river.

After days of pushing and inquiring we had finally been invited to join a mountainous jungle canoe ride to the village we were trying to reach. The small boat was propelled by what looked like a V8 motor, and was packed full of everything from rice to bicycles. The drivers were two pretty friendly military guys with machine guns.

And that’s when it happened, one of the many defining moments that changed my life forever. Standing there, with the dirty river water splashing at my feet, I stepped into the boat and changed my life forever .

How? I named myself.

A different way to say it is: I defined myself. The moment did not define me, the circumstance did not. I, with the help of God, named me.

I chose at that moment to see myself as a missionary adventurer, a world traveler, Indiana Jones’s cool cousin, although I didn’t completely feel like it. This type of adventure was made for the brave, the daring, and although I felt like an amateur, and in most peoples eyes was a novice, I made a choice that today I was brave, I was daring, and I could (with the help of God) do this.

I named myself adventurer. I named myself missionary. I named myself brave.

In the Bible Eve was called the WOMAN for three chapters. From the start God had commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, but there the woman was with no kids to mention and no name. It was not until chapter three verse twenty that Adam named the woman Eve, because she would be the mother of all living. Only four verses later we are told that she has two children. It wasn’t until Eve was named mother that she became mother. It was her purpose from the moment she was made, but it was not until she was defined that she became who she was made to be.

But this is not only for naked people in a garden.

Recently I read Jeff Goin’s blog post, The Shocking Truth About Launching a Writing Career. In this post Jeff tells the story of when he went from being an aspiring, wannabe writer to being a boa-fide for real writer. The surprising part was that the change didn’t come with a book on the best sellers list, but rather in Jeff’s mind and mouth. When he started calling himself a writer he began to act like one. This realization was so life changing that he’s even writing an ebook about it, titled You Are a Writer. Jeff believes this is one of the primary differences between the amateur and the professional.

And so do I.

That hopped-up canoe carried Darlene and I upriver to one of the greatest adventures of our life thus far. In the end our mission and journey was such a success that it is still the most watched episode of our TV show. The stories we tell from that trip still drops jaws, but the biggest impact was inside of us. From that moment on we no longer called ourselves rookies. We no longer said we were green. That choice changed the way we see us, and that has changed everything. This same principle has carried us into producing television, writing my first book, and planting churches. We have learned to name ourselves and act like the name we’ve accepted, and fruit will follow. Not the other way around.

Whatever it is that you are reaching for, whatever you feel you were made to be, accept the title; start calling yourself that. Define you. Change your business card and twitter bio. Look at yourself in the mirror every morning and say,

I am a writer. I am a traveler. I am brave. I am a missionary. I am a giver. I am a _____ (fill in the blank). This is step one: Accepting that IN Christ you can do and be who and whatever God has called you to be.

SO be brave. Get in the boat. Start your journey. If Christ is in the water with you, you have nothing to fear. Get in.

You never know where it might take you.

Here are seven tips on how you can travel in South/Southeast Asia with very little money…

1. Stay in cheap guesthouses. These range anywhere from $2 bucks a night in South/Southeast Asia to ridiculous, but in these areas the average is around $13-$15 a night (as of last time we traveled). The key is often to not book ahead, even though it’s annoying, and search out on the ground when you arrive. Remember, places that charge $8 a night normally can not afford ads online or English translators for a website. A great option for the traveler with no really expensive valuables is the Hostel, a room with multiple beds. These are usually the cheapest option and a good way to meet other travelers. We’re married, so we don’t take this option, but a ton of our friends do and enjoy.
2. Travel with a trusted friend. This way the Guesthouse cost will be split and you will be safe. In South/Southeast Asia it’s by the room (when not a hostel type place), not by the person. Therefore a small room, if you are willing to share, can be half as expensive when there are two of you. Most times you can even get two beds!
3. Learn to eat local food. Listen, almost everyone I know says they won’t eat western local food when on the road, but everyone I know does at some point. It is a part of your culture, so plan for that in the budget, but when possible eat at the yummy cart down the street. The food is usually pretty good, and it’s cheap!
4. Research out the cheapest transportation. At first we all want to jump on a tuk-tuk/rickshaw because it’s fun, but later we discover that we’re getting three times normal price. In Thailand, learn to drive a motorcycle. In India get a nice Indian friend to get the rickshaw for you, or learn the local bargaining process yourself and haggle away. In Bangkok/Kuala Lumpur/Singapore get on the MRT/LRT trains. And here’s the best option, WALK when you can. It’s free, healthy, and you will see more of life. Just know where you are going. Get a map. Read online. Dodge the dodgy areas. When traveling from city to city find the local bus or the train, rather than flying. One option, although it is not relaxing, is to travel overnight by bus when moving to a new city. It doubles as a guesthouse and a ride. Yeah!
5. Take it slow, and stay out of the big cities for too long. You will discover that travel costs the most, and getting around any large city is pricey. Search out those jewels surrounded by rivers and trees and kick back in nature. Find a local and stay with them, blessing them with the money you would be paying to a guesthouse. The most relaxing place we found during our first missionary journey was a dot on the map called Don Det in Laos. $5 bucks a night, $2 meals, and a river. It was perfect. We rested there before heading deep into the mountains. We had to because Phnom Penh, Cambodia had eaten our monthly budget.
6. Get off the beaten track. The reason things are more expensive in cities is demand. Since there are SO MANY tourist prices naturally raise. However, once you leave the Lonely Planet suggested routes you will see prices drop. The Lonely Planet is helpful, but if you follow it on every step you will miss a ton of adventure and it will cost you more than you want to pay. Take a few days and look over the map, research at a local internet cafe, pray, and see where you feel the best about going. Then, GO.
7. Don’t buy a bunch of fancy travel clothes. This is one most everyone falls for. It’s fun. You go to REi and see all these amazing goodies. By the time you leave you’ve spent $500. Listen, I’ve done this a bit and regret it. Truth is, a good pair of jeans last longer and looks better than those cool zip-off pants. I like the convenience too, and for some people it’s perfect, but now I want something that will last, and I’ve come to realize it is an industry designed to make money. Prepare, please, but don’t go overboard with stuff you won’t use. You can get new clothes on the road as well.

So there you go. That’s seven tips to save money when traveling in South/Southeast Asia. I would like to stress one last thing. Prepare. Save. Find a good budget and don’t lower it just to hurry the trip. You don’t want to turn into one of those hippies who steal toilet paper because you are broke. It is not rare to see such people. In fact, quite a few of my friends have been victim to unprepared people stealing money on buses and such. Save more than enough and go, just don’t undercut on the already shoestring budget.

What are you ideas for cheap travel? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

by D.E. Stanley

Part 1 | Part 2  | Part 3

This is a continuation of How I Learned to Trust God #2

“…why were they looking for me?” I asked.

“Well, they were looking to arrest you…”

“What?”

“Yeah, they came, acting like normal folks. When they found out you left the village they pressed us, but all is well. Just stay away for a little while.”

“No problem.”

Indonesia coastline,

So we did. Ironically those were our plans already. We were to go to a different part of the city to help a few villages in their attempt at rebuilding their lives. In a way, I was walking around in a fog of awe, if there is such a thing. I felt like I was floating, absolutely amazed at God’s love and protection. Seriously, three different times the corrupt leaders had come looking for me, and three times I was somewhere else. It felt like the bible, when they attempted to arrest Jesus but he walked right through the midst of them to freedom. My heavenly father made sure I was far from their grasp. What love! I had never experienced such, and although I was being more cautious, I felt braver than I had ever felt before.

Looking back, that defining moment, when I chose to chance death rather than disobey God, has directed my life even until this day. I discovered then that I was stronger (in Christ) than I thought. I WAS brave, even though I doubted it before. That in Christ I am enough and have inside me the courage it takes. I cannot tell you in words the difference that reality makes. It’s as if you doubted you were real this whole time, wondering like Pinocchio, am I just a shell of man, a fake; will I be discovered for who I truly am and shamed? But then, in an instant, in the power of God and Love, you charge instead of retreat, you stand instead of kneel, you take the reigns, paint yourself blue, and run into the battle. Afterwards, you are never the same.

That’s how I felt. That’s how I feel. One act truly can change you, thus changing your future. Even now, as I signed the first copies of my first book, The Winter Letter, I find myself writing, Be Brave. Always to the young boys.

Afterwards, we moved to the new mission base and began prepping for a major food delivery. The disaster could still be smelled in the air, and some of the fishing villages were so terrified of the ocean that they would not even fish. Thus, food deliveries were still needed. Our plan was to deliver a dump-truck full of food. Yes, literally, a dump truck, then we would spend some time talking with the people.

“Hey Dustan,” said Mr. Leader with the money.

“Yes sir?”

“Go with these guys, fill the back of this dump-truck up with this list of food. Buy from the locals as much as you can. Meet us back here afterwards and we’ll head out. Think you can handle that?”

This was the first time I was put in charge of anything. I had no idea what I was doing, but for some reason this guys asked me. So naturally…

“Yeah I got this! No Problem!”

And, to my surprise I did, and I did with new confidence. Surely if God could use someone like me to share the Gospel in such a place as this he could use me to buy a bunch of food to fill a dump-truck. We bought bags and bags of rice, veggies, some meats, spices, water, you name it, then we headed to the village.

We took an additional car, and I rode in that, and as we went I caught a  glimpse of what the tsunami had done to the central part of the city. One place we stopped was nicknamed Death City. Here, in this small little area, somewhere near 17,000 people had died. Every house that stood still was gutted in the bottom two floors, tiny little shoes lay without their owners, and once again the smell of death lingered. As we explored we came across a massive ship blocking the road. Mind you, I said ship, not BOAT. It was some sort of generator vessel, and had been literally tossed a few kilometers inland. Insane. This is what the ocean can do when it breaks the this far and no farther rule.

A village nicknamed Death City after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

After, we weaved our way an hour or so south of the city, driving on new makeshift roads, as the old ones were mostly destroyed by the earthquake. When we pulled up to the village my heart dropped. The place was desolate; nothing remained but a few UNICEF tents on concrete foundations. Behind the village was the mountain, showing fresh dirt where the wave had slammed against it. If I remember right, this one particular village had nearly 4,000 people in it before the tsunami, but only around 50-100 were still alive after. Remnants of buildings accented white tents built on crates. Less than a hundred yards behind rumbled the Indian Ocean with its white caps spitting fear.

We unloaded while our good Indonesian brothers and sisters shared with the villagers what we had come to do. They were thrilled. As said, because the fear of the ocean remained, the main source of food was limited, coupled that with not being able to buy rice and the residents felt stuck. Thank God for the givers who had given Mr. Leader the money. Without knowing it they were about to feed hundreds.

A ship tossed ashore by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

So we started unloading. Bag after bag, crate after crate and with every new armful new thanks and tears were returned. The wonderful Indonesian thank you, terimah kasih, literally means I have received (terimah – same root word as terminal) your pure and holy love (kasih). And that’s what we came to give, and that’s what they received, love. As we finished unloading the ladies insisted we stay the night. They needed time and they wanted to feast us, to share in a community meal of thanks. There was no way we were passing that up, so we started setting up our tents maybe fifty yards are so from the ocean while the ladies starting prepping.

“What a day,” I said to my good Indonesian friend (let’s call him Ned).

“I know. It is wonderful to be a part of this,” said Ned.

“Do you think that—”

HONK HONK! yelled a horn.

We turned to see two military jeeps slide to a stop. Four or five military guys, all with machine guns in hand stepped from the vehicle.

Our Indonesian friends approached the soldiers, smiling. “Is there a problem sir?” they asked.

The lead military man rattled back some very fast Indonesian, then turned to the villagers. “These people are not here just to love you. They just want your money!” he half screamed.

Our brave Indonesian comrades stepped forward, urging that this was wrong, but the officer turn back towards them and gave them a hard glare, followed by a stream of Indonesian so fast and brutal that I had no clue. After the tongue lashing was over our Indonesian friends turned back to us.

“They say we have to go with them… now.”

To Be Continued

I love to travel. I do. I believe travel, especially abroad, brings perspective that cannot be found any other way. It is the rubbing of shoulders that matters, the listening, the mirror that a third person point of view offers. And to me, some of the greatest tragedies are those poor souls who have traversed the world, only to return more selfish and foolish than before. I don’t understand it, but the seeds of good and evil are limitless. Never underestimate the foolishness we, as mankind, can conjure.

Yet, in all my travels, coming home is always sweet. Yes, there is reverse culture shock in the beginning, but once you realize that the world does not revolve around you, then you start to chill and appreciate. Coming home IS sweet. You see faces and hear voices you have dreamed of while on the road. The taste of the foods you’ve missed for months has the same effect as wine. Coming home is rest. It is good. It is needed. Every journey must end or you are lost. It is reconnecting with who God made you to be in the place he set you into. It is understanding the facial expressions without trying and cracking jokes with your eyes. It is wonderful.

Yet, I know missionaries who feel guilty about wanting to come visit their families. It comes from years of BAD teaching and STUPID expectations stemming from a time when returning home involved a 4 month boat ride. Those times are no more. Now we can reach the other side of the world in less than a day. It is expensive, and requires money, buy it is a vital part of the travel experience. Just as it is important to be gone long enough to disconnect, it is important to reconnect. Once through the 3 week, 3 month, 6 month, one year fog, where you can see more clearly, it is important to come home as there is another fog waiting to be pushed through. I’ve learned that on the other side of the home fog is yet another perspective you can only get from going and returning. There are things you will never understand until you review from home. Trust me, I know.

Coming home is sweet. Home is something God thought of, as is travel. Often people think that we only think the traveler wise. No. The traveler who never finds home is lost. The two groups of people I admire are those who travel and learn, and those who find land and watch their children and flowers grow without a care of the outside. I want to be both. The homestead without experience lacks understanding, the perpetual traveler lacks stability. We must be both. A home that is and a journey that returns.

by D.E. Stanley

Part 1 | Part 2  | Part 3

This is a continuation of How I Learned to Trust God #1

“…please Dustan, tell me more.”

This moment was a defining moment in my life. I remember it SO vividly. A million thoughts shot through my mind, yet it was such a clear choice. If I told Z more about Christ it was very possible that someone would be coming to see me in the next few hours. Possible to arrest me, deport me, shoot me, who knows. If I remained silent I would have to live with myself and my cowardliness. For the rest of my days I’d have to wonder if Z and his friends ever heard the Gospel. Was I their one and only chance? Six months before, while I had been prepping for this trip a seasoned missionary had told me, “When you get out there the devil will draw a line in the sand and dare you to cross it.”

Then he leaned in close and said, “Cross it.”

Me in my tent.

Here was my line, so I stepped over.

Z has a right to know this message, so I told him more, start to finish, beginning to end, creation to Christ, alpha to omega. I went on and on, now with better language, about how man turned their back on God and obeyed Satan, and how Jesus came as the second Adam to recover man’s rule on the Earth, and how God elevated Christ back into Adam’s position, and how if we believe in Christ as our willing and pure Korban (sacrifice) we can be readopted into God’s family and welcomed into Eternity. I explained how Christ was not a victim. He gave his life. Before long the crowd grew to around ten to fifteen young men. Some scoffed, most listened, some beamed. Toward the end my language failed, so I turned it over to another young man, a national, who explained much better than I. Afterwards the guys thanked me and headed back home for dinner.

I crawled into my tent, onto my cot, and lay there with eyes wide open.

That was the most intense night of my entire mission experience, even to this day. I crawled into that green canvas tent and lay with my wrist hanging out of the tent flap (to cool myself enough to sleep – cool trick). There was no door to the tent, just a flap, and as I lay there I could not sleep. Honestly, I was terrified. I just kept seeing a few men paying me a visit, grabbing my arm, me disappearing in the middle of the night. I lay there, breathing heavy, mind running three hundred miles a second. I didn’t know what to do. I was planning my escape route: out the tent, behind the building, through the fish ponds, to the beach, out a hundred yards, down into the water, make my way east to the port, and catch a ride to the airport. I could leave everything. I took my passport in hand and lay there with crazy imaginations.

But then, from deep inside, came a Psalm I had memorized. Psalm 27. I had learned it for protection and peace, and just when I needed it most the words came back to me. I started saying them to myself, just loud enough for me to hear.

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”
Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.
Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!
Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

(Psalm 27 ESV)

As I said these golden words, again and again, something amazing happened. Fear left. She got up and walked her ugly butt right out of my tent, making room for the peace of God. I relaxed, my muscles loosened, and without knowing I fell asleep. The next morning I woke peacefully to my friend telling me it was time to go and that there was some people here to see me.

Gulp.

I stepped from my tent and saw Z and his friends with big’ol Indonesian smiles.

“Hello Dustan,” Z said. His English had gotten better. “We are here to say goodbye my friend. I will miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too Z,” I said with blurry eyes. “Thank you for being so kind to me here.”

“You are always welcome Dustan. And Dustan?”

“Yes”

“Thank you for sharing with me. Thank you so much. Terimah Kasih, Kawanku”

We hugged, I packed, and me and the guys left. We caught a plane that day to a nearby city to pick up a team who would be serving in a different part of the city. A few days later we returned and were greeted by the christian team leader from the village at the airport.

“Dustan! Hello! How are you?” they said.

“Baik, Baik (good!),” I answered.

“Where are you going?” I told them that we were headed to a different village to aid in some village reconstruction. “Great!” they said, then there was a long line of Indonesian that I could not understand. Finally I asked my partner what they were saying.

“They are saying that it is best that you not return the the village for a while.”

“Why?”

“Because, just after we left the other day the village chief sent two secret police. They were in plain clothes and joking around, asking where’s that Dustan guy. We heard he was fun.”

“Yeah? What happened?”

“All is well. After they told them you had left the city the secret police were peaceable.”

“Why were they looking for me?” I asked.

“Well, they were looking to arrest you…”

Continued on How I Learned to Trust God #3

by D.E. Stanley

Part 1 | Part 2  | Part 3

Everyone must become who they will be, and we all have became who we are. Men and women are forged by the experiences, built by the trials, the relationships, words, and choices they make and are a part of. I (Dustan) can trace myself back to the trees I grew up in as a kid, to the music and books I have consumed, to the friendships I have. I know I come from these, that’s why these choices are so important. If we just do, say, read, love, and yoke up with anyone and anything we are playing dangerous games with our future. These are things to be taken seriously, knowing that you are a sum of the tiny building blocks you choose.

One of the most important things that make up Dustan as a person can be traced back to a string of events that happened almost seven years ago in Indonesia. This was back when I first stepped into this world of the mission. Through other choices (books, sermons, courage!) I wound up in Indonesia, sleeping in a green canvas military tent set in the middle of a radical Islamic area where the Gospel had been forcibly withheld from the locals by groups of extremist (I love Muslim people – not all are extremist. Remember that).

Broken palm trees, snapped in half by the 2004 Tsunami - Indonesia

This was just after the tsunami, in a city where 200,000+ people had just lost their lives, but still, in the midst of such misery, one political group was fighting another, one of which was abusing the normal Muslim people of the area, and it seemed both were militant in their attempts to keep these people from hearing anything about Jesus. This was my first extended missions experience.

Welcome to the Mission Field.

Anyway, the lord opened a clear door for me to share about my love and faith in Christ. It happened like this…

“Excuse me, sir.”

I turned away from my lunch of dried sardines, chilies, and rice. A young man, about my age, with cropped short black hair sat at the end of the makeshift picnic table, smiling.

“Hey Z” (not his real name), I said. I had been getting to know these guys. They saw me praying one day so they took a liking to me (and my soccer ball). “How are you?” I asked, in VERY simple English. The one line I had heard a thousand times since I met Z was, Excuse me, sir. Can I practice my English with you? I loved it.

“I am fine. Can I ask question today?”

“Sure man, what’s up— I mean Yes.” Slang doesn’t work here, just so you know.

“What does it mean when you Christians say, Child of God? What does it mean to call yourself child of God?”

Okay, so how do you answer that question without the Gospel. So I shared how we can be adopted as children of God, born into God’s family through Christ, our mediator and ultimate sacrifice. Of course it was not in those exact words, and it took about three hours to communicate with two broken languages.

Z’s face lit. “If that were true, all our problems are solved…” he said, thinking.

That began a few weeks of talking, and one more time of sharing about Jesus. I was thrilled. During each day we were taking rice to people, at night hanging with new friends, and now twice I was able to share Jesus with this guy and his friends. One night after taking rice to a persecuted area a bit south from where we were I returned to find everyone acting funny.

“What’s going on?” I asked. The guys seemed reluctant to answer, but finally the leader pulled me gently to the side.

“Dustan,” he said. “after the first time you shared about Jesus a nearby village chief came looking for you, very angry. The guys are going back to their Imam and asking questions, and here they are not allowed to do this. After you shared the second time he went and got some military men and they asked for you by name. Each time they’ve came for you you’ve been gone with the team delivering food to the victims.”

I stood, stupefied, lost for words. “I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We did not want to interfere with what the Lord was doing. It is amazing the questions they are asking you. I tell you now just so you will know. I am not saying not to share, be led by the Holy Spirit, but be careful. Okay?”

“Yes, sir…” The leader patted me on my back and walked away.

So for the next three weeks I didn’t speak, so there was no issue. It was burning inside of me, but I was considering the team, the long term work, the lives of those who would stay behind. Many times visitors to the mission field make a mess to be cleaned up later by the resident missionaries or nationals. I didn’t want to be that guy.  Anyway, to make a long story short the guys kept asking, and I kept dodging. Finally, after a day of feeling the Gospel pressing itself against my pursed lips, I laid down and prayed.

“Lord,” I can’t stand this. I really understand Jeremiah now. This is like a fire shut up in my bones (Jeremiah 20:9). God, I can’t stand the thought of looking myself in the mirror in fifty years and remembering me not speaking because of fear or something, but there’s the team to think about. Still, you are pressing me to speak. So Lord, I will, if I know it is of you and not just my zeal. Make it evident.”

I laid down and slept, listening to the soothing waves of the Indian ocean lap against the shore. This same ocean had just swallowed 200,000 souls, and before I had jumped every time the waves got a little loud, but on this night it was to me a lullaby. The next morning I woke, rolled over, and sitting at the edge of my cot was Z. He had his Quran held in his hand.

“Please Dustan, tell me more.”

Continued on How I Learned to Trust God #2

Here are the Romans scriptures I’ve highlighted in my new Bible. (I needed a new one as all of my others (with their soft leather covers) get quite worn as we travel. Backpacks are not good for Bibles, but that’s what they are made for.) Anyway, I encourage you to read all of these!

Romans 1:1
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Romans 2:29
…but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

 Romans 5:6-8
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Romans 6:15-16
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:6
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:37-39
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 10:9-10
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:14-15
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Romans 10:17
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 11:20
Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

Romans 11:29
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:9
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

Romans 12:14-16
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 13:7-8
Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. ⁸ Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:10
Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:14
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Romans 14:1
Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.

Romans 14:4
Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Romans 15:1
We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:20-21
And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation, ²¹ but as it is written: “To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand.”

Romans 16:17-19
Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. ¹⁸ For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. ¹⁹ For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.

So there ya go. Those are my highlights. What’s yours?

How? Our cell phone.

As we travel we use an old iPhone that is both jailbroken and unlocked, but this can also be done on Android smart-phones. The process is called tethering, and it is the act of using your phones internet connection to connect to the internet through your laptop or iPad. In the USA companies like to charge for this service, but out here you can do it for free (and at home too… shhh). The way it works is you share your phones internet connection with your laptop or tablet via wifi.

I intend to write more on getting a cell phone in foreign countries, but will be brief for now because it’s quite simple. You can buy a mobile phone in every nation at one of the million cellphone shops spread about everywhere, but there are a few things you need to be sure of if you intend to use your phone for internet.

1. Make sure the phone is either an iPhone or an Android Smartphone.
2. The phone must have 3g or EDGE internet capability.
3. The phone must have wiFi functionality.
4. If you are traveling to many parts of the world be sure to get a quad-band phone as many cell phones are made only for Asia, Europe, or the USA. A quad band phone will work in any nation – including Japan.
5. The phone must not be locked to a certain wireless carrier. If it is an iPhone make sure it is not only unlocked but jailbroken. They can do this for you overseas for cheap. This unlocks the phone to install apps NOT in the Apple app store. This is your phone, you can do so, but if you have problems return it the normal software before trying to redeem your warranty with Apple.
6. Make a note what band your phone is, GSM or CDMA. The most used is GSM, like the iPhone made for AT&T (not Verizon), and you can find a prepaid company in almost every nation outside the USA.

If your phone matches these six requirements you’re set.

First, find an area of town (like a mall) where there are a bunch of shops selling cellphones. Ask for a SIM card. Usually in the same area there are one of two booths where you can buy a sim card to match your phone (iPhone 4+ users be sure to get a mico-sim,  not a regular Sim!) Alsom be sure to explain what band you need and request 3g internet. 3g is not available everywhere, but it is the fastest for tethering. Let the shop owner install the sim card, pay him, and make sure it works for phone calls immediately. Be sure to remember the shop, as it may take some time for the carrier to activate internet and if it does not work you will need to return for help. Be aware that in many nations (like India) they will ask for a copy of your passport. The reason is so the government can track cell usage. Here in India I use Vodaphone. In Thailand we use Truemove (although there are better services).

Once your phone and internet are working and the above things are done, then you can start prepping to tether your iPhone or Android phone with your iPad or laptop. Don’t worry, its pretty dang simple. There are two apps that can be used – PdaNet and MyWi. I use Pdanet and love it. Keep in mind that these apps cost a little for full usage. The trial for Pdanet doesn’t allow ssl use, which is a pain. Try the trial and if you like it, buy it. On the iPhone these apps are installed using Cydia. Cydia is installed when you Jailbreak your phone. This is the icon.

Steps:

1. Open Cydia,
   
2. tap search on the bottom right cornet,
   
3. type Pdanet. 
4. Cydia will find it. Click Pdanet, then at the right top corner clickINSTALL. Confirm. 

   

After this a ton of white technical words on a black background will appear. Let Cydia do its thing. If it ask for reboot or restart, do so. After restart PDAnet is installed. Hooray!

Android users watch this video for install instructions…

The first screen you should see is something like this. Follow these directions to activate Pdanet…

1. Turn WiFi Hotspot on.
   
   
2. On the next page insert a short unique name in the SSID settings. We entered des. This will be your network name. For security you can insert a password if you like or you can weaken the signal or limit the channels to keep people out.
3. Click Activate. This will turn your iPhone into a P2P Wireless Access point (kinda like a router).

Once the the WiFi Hotspot is activated it’s time to go to your computer. We use Mac, but we have tested with PC and it is just as easy. Under the WiFi bar will be the list of Wi-Fi networks available. Towards the bottom you will see your network listed under Devices. Click the network to connect, wait a minute, and….

Boom.

Internet is now available wherever you have good cell-data service. I’m using this now as i write you. 3g is pretty fast here in South India. You can also connect to your new network on your iPad or tablet just by choosing it as your network in your WiFi settings. Everything should set up automatically. The only device we haven’t been able to connect with it is my Kindle I was given a year ago. Peer to Peer networks are currently not supported on that version of the Kindle firmware.

A Few Warnings:

1. Keep in mind that you are using data, which in most cases is LIMITED. Don’t watch a ton of videos or download huge amounts of data or you will have to buy more bandwidth from your cell company.
2. This process is battery intensive. It will suck your battery dry, so stay plugged in if possible to keep your phone charging.
3. Remember, this will only work where the cell network has a strong data connection. Some places have talk coverage but no internet coverage.

 So there you have it. This way you can use internet for simple things without having to book it to a wi-fi spot. We’ve used this method in the car needing directions in a city, in rooms with no electricity, and will use it on buses and trains this week.

This is a living document, so please leave comments and questions below and I’ll update as needed.

India is the most unique place I’ve ever been. The colors are vibrant, like the leaves of the tress in Baru, the foods require great finger dexterity, and the traffic is just this side of being considered a war-zone. We are often invited into homes as we travel around, preaching the Gospel. Well, perhaps invited is too weak of word. We are demanded. “Come to my house!” our friends say. We once, in our immaturity, let their forceful hospitality bother us, but now that we’ve grown up a bit we understand the honor in such an invitation. Now we accept, go, smile, eat, and learn. Yesterday in fact we were invited into a local hindu shop owners house. We really weren’t up for it, but we went anyway, denying our flesh its selfish demands. We arrived, were served Goat Liver (again, liver and durian are my bane – really) and wound up having a great time. Near the end of the meal the mother of the house asked us to pray for her family and her husband, who has diabetes. We did, and it was a highlight of the day. I am believing for total healing. The woman is a believer in Christ, the husband is not and refuses to let her attend church. If he believes it will change everything in that little home of four.

Afterwards we went to a village. This place is both sad and uplifting at the same time. There are idols everywhere, some as big as Nebakanezer’s golden image, and there is no church for miles and miles. The caste system is in full effect in this tiny place; some even speak different languages than the other sub-caste. Anyway, throughout this village are people who came to us and told us of being harassed by demons at night. Now listen, the west struggles with this, but out here the existence of the spiritual world is not in question. We passed one lady on the side of the road, half dressed, half undressed, rolling in the dirt, eyes almost silver, staring at us with a disgusted look. Darlene saw it and told me afterwards. How I wish we had seen and stopped. Perhaps the poor soul could be set free. After talking with a few of the people we learned that suicide is quite present in this little place. This place needs a church of praying people to push the darkness back into its box. We are working to raise the funds to plant a mission base that will help plant hundreds of other churches in the many of the villages here JUST LIKE THIS ONE. Pray we succeed. There is so much good to be done in this impoverished, tormented, lost place. God loves them so much.

After we went to the inner part of the village. Kids appeared like muchkins to Dorothy. This is the uplifting part. The boys LOVE the camera, the girls run from it, but all laugh and shout and love to see a foreigner in their little village. The future of the children is important to God and to us (and should be to you). Afterwards we headed back to the city where we are staying. All the way back we talked and joked about how crazy they drive. Our Indian friends LOVED it.

Later that night Darlene and I went alone to eat. In the middle of the meal she broke down, not from hopelessness, but rather compassion. “No person should have to live like that. With no hope here or for after they die,” she said. “And they shouldn’t have to as long as there is a Christian walking these streets.” And she is right. No one should. No one has to. We’ve just got to overcome selfishness — in giving, in going, in living, in praying. It only takes money, time, and a little sacrifice to see these lives change. And that’s why we are here, ya know? To let our light shine, display the good works of the love of Christ, and to let those works been seen by men so they are glorify our Father in heaven. We have the answer, in our hearts, in our wallets, in our mouths. We are the representatives of a Kingdom where no one is oppresses or hungry or damned. And we serve a King that cares about the unknown distant faces, he knows there name, he knows how many hairs on on their head. His name is Jesus.

This is a continuation of the Abide blog series by Dustan Stanley.
To start from the beginning go here: Abide #1 – “The Dream”

“Lord, what is this sadness?” I asked. And he replied…

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.

Psalms 42:1-5

I sat back and read again, and again. The scriptures seem to both jump out and pull me in at the same time. I couldn’t move to a different Psalm. This was the word the Lord had for me. But what did it mean? Like always, the meaning eluded me on my first read through, but as I meditated, reading slowly, saying the words aloud so I could hear them, letting them refresh my heart slowly, drinking deeply, the most simple yet life altering truth stepped from behind the veil.

I was thirsty.

“As the deer pants for the water,” I said aloud and to myself. “so my soul pants for you, O God.” That was it! That was the feeling! Thirst — elusive, yet ever present and effecting every parts of my being! Like verse two said, I was thirsty for the living God, the only water that truly satisfies. My spirit was longing to come and appear before the Lord, screaming at me for the longest time, “Go! Go find a place and meet with God!” But, alas, I was too busy to listen to his cries for help. The inner me, my heart, my spirit, was panting for the Living Water, but no matter how hard he tried to steer me into the consistent presence of the Lord he was not strong enough, drained of his strength from his lack of nourishment. My mind was in total control, demanding the wheel and driving recklessly through the dark streets with no headlights!

In all of my work I had stopped meeting regularly with God. I was visiting the Lord rather than abiding in His presence. I’d wake and work and sleep and wake. At night I’d want a break from thinking so I’d veg out with a book or movie. The next day would be a repeat. Sure here and there I bowed my knee for a few minutes of prayer or skim a chapter of the bible, but the seeking was dead. It was fake. It flowed from a guilty conscience rather than a heart to be with God. It was dead religion creeping its way back into my heart, obligation not love, and a weak attempt even at that. It was a sad reach at discipline. My only goal had been to quiet my conscience. In the end it proved totally ineffective at quenching my thirst. Soda is no substitute for water in a parch land!

“Yes, Master. I see,” I said. “My soul misses you. I miss your presence.”

Read more, I heard in my heart.

“My tears have been my food day and night,” I read, “while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’”

I suddenly remembered the tears I had woke up tasting, salt from my own body. From this the Lord showed me something that I’d never seen before. When we get to this place, with our spirit thirsting inside, the only nourishment we have is what we can provide from our own natural self, and that nourishment will make your thirst more rather than less. It is like drinking saltwater. As you work to fill the void that comes from a lack of God’s presence you make your soul even more thirsty. We think it will quench our thirst, so we guzzle the sea water from our own eyes, both draining our strength and making the thirst worst at the same time! We eat our own arms! Those who do not know God’s presence because they don’t know Christ try to fill their thirsty hearts with all the glittering, staggering things of this world, but in the end (I’ve seen it time and again) they are more thirsty than before. They are carrying these jars back and forth from poison wells. They are dehydrated spiritually, dying, but all they know is to drink of their own tears! We must show them the living water! We must share the Love of Christ with these poor souls! Just as Christ went to the woman at the well and sat down where she drew water, we must do the same, we must go! How can we call ourselves Christ-Like but ignore the dying one drowning in his unknown sorrow?! Let’s go to him and repeat our Lord…

 

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:13-14

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. – Isaiah 55:1

Praise God we have access to the living water! Our eternal thirst is quenched, but even we must drink of the water. We need God continually!

I read on, aloud so I could hear the words for myself. “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.”

I paused and reflected on the last few months. Since I had begun to neglect my walk with the Lord I could see a real change in my life and my ministry. There was a time, as Darlene and I traversed the world preaching the Gospel, when my preaching was both fiery hot and deeply penetrating. I’d lay my hands on peoples shoulders and know things about them that I should not know, things that could help them steer clear of rocks waiting to shipwreck their faith and life! I remembered, just like this Psalmist, leading people into the presence of the Lord with joy. I remembered standing before witch doctors, Muslims, Atheist, Buddhist, and Hindus, declaring the Gospel with a smile. I remembered deaf ears opening at my fingertips, curved backs straitening, sleeping souls awakening! I remembered prayers being answered overnight, God providing thousands of dollars in an instant, being led by the Spirit of God out of the path of evil men and car wrecks! I remembered following the leading of the Lord to a dot on a map in a foreign nation, and seeing God preform miracles on the front steps of village homes. I remembered! How I remembered! And how it hurt! Now, I was living in a place of struggle. I was trying from day to day to find strength to go on. Everything was harder than ever. My joy was fading and with it my strength! My prayers were hindered. It seemed I was working days for one minutes wort of fruit. I was striving, something I hate. Christs’ burden is light and east, but my knees were buckling under the weight of someone else’s yoke! I stopped reading and dropped, pressed down by the weight of my laziness and foolishness.

“I’m sorry, Lord,” I prayed. “I’m sorry. How pathetic I am to ignore you, who saved me and gave me the most fulfilled adventurous life! You’ve blessed me more than I know. Please forgive me. I’ve traded the real for the fake. I’m so sorry.”

In my heart I knew what I said was sure. This feeling, the more it was exposed, terrified me. It was as if I had lost something so valuable. It was as if I’d taken ten steps backwards in my Christian walk, stopping to take a nap while the turtle kept going. It was like I was back in high school, where I once made a blatant choice to backslide, in full light of what I was risking.

“Please Lord, restore me. I know you want to. You always do.”

Yes I do, read on.

 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation
(Psalm 42:5 ESV)

And there it was, the promise. As always with the Lord, when you come to Him humbly, he receives you. When you confess your sins he forgives you and cleanses you completely. It is my complete and deepest belief that he is the restorer of what is lost. The destroyer of the work of the enemy!

Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil? Put your Hope back in God! You WILL again praise Him. He IS your salvation! It was as if God was speaking directly to me. “Dustan,” I imagined Him saying. “Put your hope in me. You will recover from this, and you will be stronger than ever in the end. I forgive you. Now, come to me, drink. Let me teach you a few things…”

And it was then I knew that there was a way back, that God was about to show me how to regain all that I had lost. Suddenly the words of the Lord Jesus popped into my head…

    “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

So I turned to John 15.

“You have no time to play. You have no time to rest,” they would say. And I would listen.

Darlene and I were working morning till after bedtime everyday: waking, working, sleeping, waking, working, sleeping. Repeat. My To-do list stretched a mile long and hung from my shoulders, its train filling every corner of my life and claiming every calorie of energy. I was overwhelmed, but there was something else going on, something different and beyond the physical and mental drain of hard work. It was deeper, spiritual, and no amount of accomplishment was filling this void I felt in my heart.

In the natural everything was going great. We had been accepted for international broadcast; I was doing what I am made to do – living a world-wide mission adventure with the love of my life; fulfilling my calling,; traveling and seeing the beauties that poets have written volume about. I was even about to reach a few personal goals with the releasing of my first book. But still, something was wrong; I felt unfulfilled and empty. I fell asleep that night, praying.

“Lord, help me. I don’t know what’s going on inside, but I feel miserable. It almost hurts. Help me.” And if fell asleep.

The next moment I found myself in a massive church building, or perhaps it was a stadium, I am unsure. The place was filled to the brim with worshipers crying out to their God. It was some kind of conference. I joined in the worship, crying out to my awesome God and the Lord Jesus Christ, lifting His name, calling from the deepest of me, pleading for relief from the dryness I felt in my soul. I needed Him. I was desperate.

At this point in my dream I saw that the leaders of the conference we beginning to lay hands on and pray for every person there. They had teams of ministers and intercessors going from person to person. As the team assigned to my area got nearer I recognized the woman coming my way. Her name is Susie, she is a prayer partner and giver of our ministry and a good friend for many years. She and her husband have been a source of encouragement for a long time and I was thrilled to see that it would be her praying for me (I am particular who I allow to lay hands on me and pray).

Susie approached, smiled, and started to pray for me. As soon as she laid her hands on my shoulder the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me and I felt my knees buckle. Throughout my years of being a follower of Christ I have only fell under the power a few times – it is not a normal occurrence – but this time I not only fell, but crumbled. Before I realized what had happened I was on the ground, wailing. Tears burst from my eyes without my consent and groans that can not be uttered began to come painfully from my lips. I lay there and prayed in tongues, and as I did a strange feeling came over me. It was as if sorrow, a deep, deep sadness, began to flow out of me as I prayed in the spirit. With every heavenly syllable another ounce of sorrow was released from my heart, and it kept coming, and kept coming, and kept coming…

I woke with a start. Tears were still moving on my cheek and my mouth was still praying in tongues, uttering those magical and mysterious words that can not be spelled. My heart wasn’t racing; it was calm, but the sorrow that was flowing in a steady stream from belly to lips was thick, overwhelming, and constantly being expelled through these spiritual syllables. This continued for a while, I don’t know how long, until I was able to calm down and go back to sleep.

The next morning I told Darlene about my dream.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “I mean I do and I don’t. I know that the Lord was trying to heal me from something, but from what? I feel the problem, but I don’t know what exactly it is and where it is coming from. Is there a deep sadness in me that until now I felt but didn’t know I felt?”

So I took it to the Lord in prayer. A few days later, in between editing sessions, I cracked open the Bible to Psalms…

To be continued…

I’ve now traveled (on the move) out of the USA on mission for over two years. Darlene and I always pack one bag, with an additional one as a daypack, and hop on a plane, only to spend the rest of our journeys on and off of camels, horses, tuk-tuks, boats, buses, trains, prop-planes, bicycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, and feet. We prefer ground travel for the adventure and price (flight or train for comfort).

Dustan and Darlene Stanley from The Revolutionary Life's tech tools - Laptop, Quad-band Smartphone, Amazon Kindle, and a Sony point and Shoot camera.

Over the past four years we’ve learned a thing or two about moving about lightweight. One of which is that technology can make your life MUCH easier, if used in moderation and correctly. It is a gift from God, but can be used by the enemy if it consumes you. That being said, there are five tools that I suggest every traveler have, and especially the traversing missionary. For those of you who are prepping for your own Revolutionary Journey, read these and heed.

1. A VISA or Mastercard Debit Card and a Backup.
   We learned this one in Laos. We thought we had pulled enough money out, but soon realized (after going through a pretty bad rip-off) we had not. We had a Mastercard, but as we searched the little town we found two ATMS, and neither one of them worked. The next few days was spent in a $2 a night Guesthouse (don’t even ask) as we worked to contact home and get some money Western Unioned to us. The transaction cost $29 and was SUCH a hassle.Always have a VISA or Mastercard debit with you, preferably VISA as it is used in more places around the world. Lately it seems Mastercard is catching up, but VISA is accepted almost everywhere. It’s best to have one from a large bank, but most are part of larger networks that will work just fine. Also, bring a backup from a different bank – maybe a credit card (beware the foreign transaction fees!). Sometimes networks have trouble and a backup is your failsafe. Keep it in a safe, different place in case of theft. Also, if no ATMs are working or if you are going to take a large amount out, go inside a reputable bank and do a cash advance on your debit card instead of using the ATM. Often we get better exchange rates and no fees (unlike Thailand’s CRAZY $5 per withdrawal fee).
2. A laptop.
   If you have saved your own money and just want to disappear for a while, this one doesn’t count for you. There are thousands of internet cafes that you can stop at whenever you wish to come up for air, but if you are supported and on mission, communication is a must, and communication is easiest with a laptop. That’s why we carry a Macbook Air with us. We can do anything from video editing to email and banking on our on secure computer. We create our own newsletters and even buy music from iTunes and ebooks from Amazon (more on this later). Besides if you are doing mission work, you NEED TO BLOG for the good of those back home. We choose the Macbook Air because it is light, fast, and MAC. You choose whatever you like, just keep in mind, I warped a 17inch laptop in my backpack on our first journey. It still works, but kinda rocks back and forth now and the battery exploded in a way. lol Point? Get a small light one that can fit in a daypack easily. You don’t want to destroy it OR leave it in a guesthouse to be stolen.
3. A Quad-Band Smart phone.
   You can buy one of these on the road, but if you are going to travel the world you need a QUAD-BAND smartphone not locked to any specific carrier. The quad-band means it will work everywhere, and the smart means you can listen to music, worship, and sermons while on those LONG bus rides. We use an unlocked iPhone 3g, but there are just as good of options that are not Apple. If you have an Android phone and a Mac computer, awesome. You can still sync most things with it using Winamp for Mac syncing with iTunes.GSM is the band we use and is available almost anywhere around the world. You go buy a sim card at a local phone shop, have them install it and activate it, and top up. It’s easy and the best part? No contract. You get to keep your first-born.
4. A Pocket Camera
   If you are a videographer or a photographer I’m sure you will have a DSLR, as we do, but if not, a good high pixel pocket point and shoot camera is just fine and best. You are going to see things you need to remember and share. That’s what the camera is for. Memories fade, so journal and snap, and share it with others on your BLOG. Yes, that was another hint to a blog.
5. An e-reader.
   My last essential is an e-reader. If you are a traveler that will read one book a month, you don’t need this, but if you are a missionary you MUST feed yourself on the Word of God and good teaching. I cannot tell you how many times we’ve searched entire cities for good fiction and Christian books, only to be disappointed with sore feet at the end of the day. Lifeway has not yet expended into the Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu world. Just saying. We MUST feed ourselves Faith filled biblical teaching because no one will feed you spiritually in the unreached world but you. If you don’t feed yourself through sermons and books you will starve and quit and go home to never return.An ereader makes my life SO MUCH easier. Once, in London I counted the books I was carrying. It was somewhere around seven or eight. I had more books that clothes, because I always buy when I find them as there is no guarantee they will be available in the next nation. Now, I use the Amazon Kindle. I saved a TON of space and weight, and I can almost find any book in ebook Format on Amazon.com. It is purchased and downloads instantly over Wifi. No more searching for Dustan and Darlene. Praise the heavens for my Kindle! Now, my bag is lighter, and I save money by not frequenting those overpriced second-hand book shops in Southeast Asia.Also, I bought the OCTOVO light for the top. I LOVE this thing. I had three Kindle lights die within weeks of purchase. This one is a beast!