WHOA Day- W*rship Him On Any Day… And Anywhere

Sunday! The L*rd’s day! The day for a buzz in the churchianity community (U.S.) nationwide… Yet not a ch*rch bell rang in our small town of Pan Dohn. You see, Lynne and I are two of the only four believers in this community. One of the believers has been in the faith family for thirty years and the other is a thirteen year old girl who is new to the faith. So we (Lynne and I) thought we would have some ch*rch for ourselves. Now, location was a bit of a problem for us. We could have ch*rch wherever we wanted. I mean the people are really accepting and even if they weren’t, they wouldn’t understand the English coming out of our mouths. However, we wanted to get away to w*rship without worrying of watching eyes. Unfortunately, there are neither cathedrals nor modern warehouses. So we went to our backyard- our rice field backyard.

It took a little bit of time to find the right row to settle down in. We sat on a tiny stool and a clay pot. Once we got settled in, we noticed the sun roasting our skin like a pig on a rotisserie over a fire. Sooo… maybe that’s not the best place since we always get made fun of for being red-skinned (or red-eyed ha!). So we gathered up our things and moved under the palm trees on the edge of the rice field. Rough life.

This picture is embarrassing... It was super sunny outside.

With G*d’s Sp*rit within us and His word in front of us, we began church time. Luckily for us, our homestay parents allow some believers from the city to come out once a week to have B*ble study/ English lessons for some children of our village. Therefore, we have the B*ble study songbooks resting on a shelf next to our giant four-speaker stereo. We sang “Shine, J*sus, Shine” (great lyrics for this place), “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, “Shout to the L*rd” and a few more. Then Lynne pulled out her phone so we could enjoy a little message from our good friends at Freshwater Ch*rch. Let me just say, it was a message I needed to hear, and not just because of what P*stor Josh said.

Does anyone ever doubt what Scr*pture says, yet they believe it is G*d’s word (please don’t get too theological with all the theories of scr*ptural inspiration)? What about thinking that maybe that word is true for everyone else but not yourself? Or maybe you think it’s taken out of context so much and put into flowery notebooks that it has lost its real meaning and doesn’t even apply to you? Well if you have had any of those thoughts, you’re a lot like me. P*stor Josh at Freshwater shared a message on Zephaniah 3. This prophecy was written during the reign of King Josiah, a very righteous king, who led Israel back to the w*rship of G*d instead of idols. The first two and part of the third chapters of Zephaniah deal greatly with the Day of Judgment and justice that will come upon Israel. But then comes the words I’m sure nearly every Israelite wanted to hear after hearing the first two chapters. “Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! The L*RD has taken away your punishment; He has turned back your enemy. The L*RD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.” Wow. What??? Wasn’t this pre-J*sus-payment-for-sin? Please take time to continue to read the rest of chapter three (or the whole book if you feel up to the challenge!). G*d, who is the same today as He was then, is compassionate and merciful at His core. If I were to be really honest with you, I literally struggle with myself on who G*d is. For some odd reason, I put imperfect human characteristics on a perfect Creator. For example, I subconsciously view Him as spiteful, waiting for me to thank Him for something so that He can take it away. Why do I do this? I don’t know. Unfortunate. 

Anyway, back to Josh’s message. In this Scr*pture G*d is shooting down all thoughts of Him being a big man in the sky with His arms folded and His long beard swaying back and forth as He shakes His head with disappointment. Further, I realized that, yes, maybe these words were not written directly to me or the American culture; and perhaps people do overuse them to create a feel-good moment. BUT G*d is the same today as He was when He gave Zephaniah that prophecy. G*d also saw the future of those words and how they would impact far beyond what Zephaniah could have imagined. Reading His word and believing Him allows us to know more about who He is and how He relates to us. So while we must be careful to not take Scripture out of context, I would dare to say that we also shouldn’t be so skeptical that we don’t give Him credit or recognize His attributes.

“The L*RD your G*d is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” (verse 17)

Believe Him.

Let's gooooo! Ch*rch in a rice field. Yes, it's really THAT green!