Guatemala Diary, Day #2

Our planning meeting at Hamburguesa del Rey. Following the "U" from left to right -- Dr. Gladys de Chávez, Pastor Jorge Cerritos, Pastor Jorge Perez, Superintendente y Pastor Atilio Chávez

I got to bed at 22:30 local time (half past midnight home time) last night, and were I still in the habit of praying my childhood prayer of “Now I lay me down to sleep,” etc., I would have gotten as far as “Now I lay m….” At 4 AM it seemed like the whole neighborhood, maybe the whole city, erupted in fireworks. I woke up for an instant, processed the noise as a celebration of “el día de la madre” (Mother’s Day is today, whereas in los estados unidos, it doesn’t occur until Sunday), then I passed out for another two hours or so.

Gladys fixed un desayuno (a breakfast) of homemade granola, huevos con queso (eggs with cheese), refried beans, and sliced plantains boiled with cinnamon sticks. Then we were off to our morning appointment at Hamburguesa Del Rey [continue reading…]

Guatemala Diary, Day #1

Coat of Arms of Guatemala

I’m writing this day after, because I was too wrung out to do it last night. Al Strickland, bless him, picked me up at “o’dark thirty” (04:40 to be precise), and I was being checked in at the Delta Airlines counter by 05:10. Both flights went well – on time, aisle seat, empty seat next to me, onboard WiFi working (until somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico). It was a productive time. I caught up on my New Testament reading in my pocket Bible, did my Old Testament reading on my Kindle (a weight-saving packing alternative) and fired off various e-mails and a few Facebook messages.

Upon arrival, the lines were short for inmigracion, but long for customs. Yet once it was my turn to be processed [continue reading…]

Guatemala or Bust!

Flag of Guatemala

There’s not much time to write this.  In 29 hours, Al Strickland is going to be loading me and my suitcases into his SUV, so that I can get to Norfolk International Airport by 5 AM.  About an hour after that, the sun will rise here on the East Coast, and by 7 AM my Delta flight should be “wheels up” and nosing toward Atlanta.  Assuming that flight arrives on time, I’ll have just 75 minutes to catch the flight to Guatemala City, which leaves at 10:10 EDT.

Our prayer requests for trip, along with a bit of other info, is contained in this month’s newsletter.  If you received a copy in your e-mail inbox, then great; you need not  [continue reading…]

Guatemala Trip Log, Entry #1: 20 Days ‘Til Departure

Map of Guatemala

In the grandest sense, my upcoming Bible-teaching missions trip to Guatemala became “real” when the round-trip ticket was purchased a few weeks back. But today it became real in a more personal sense – at the end of a hypodermic needle!

“I’m allergic to hypodermic needles.” At least, that’s what I tell all medical personnel within proximity of any sharp, pointy, flesh-piercing objects, even if I’m not the patient being scrutinized and diagnosed. (No sense taking chances!) So little sympathy do these folks have that they either laugh or roll their eyes; but my condition never gets me any mercy. You would think in this age of [continue reading…]

April Newsletter: The Treasure in Guatemala

Guatemalan pastors Fermin and Lilian Chávez baptizing a special candidate

Our latest newsletter was sent out on Easter Eve.  It’s all here–Jim’s upcoming missions trip to Guatemala, quadrupling podcasts, and “a face that’s made for radio.”  If you didn’t receive a copy, but would like to read it without being on the newsletter mailing list, then follow the “Read the Newsletter” link. Read the Newsletter.

The website logo for Anointed Christian Links

“A blessing from God’s Pockett”?  Yes, Pockett is spelled correctly.  For sixteen years (an eon on the Internet!) Australian Graham Pockett has been running and editing his website, Anointed Christian Links (ACL).  ACL is an alphabetical listing of “well over 2,500 non-commercial [Christian] sites,” many of which, in Pockett’s opinion, “could give you weeks, or even months, of browsing.”

All these sites are submitted by their respective owners and representatives, but Bro. Graham personally visits [continue reading…]

Daily Bread – Reading Through the Word of God in a Year
by Robert M. McCheyne (1813-1843)

(Message #33 from the book Memoirs of Mccheyne, Including His Letters and Messages)

Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it.
Psalm 119:140

Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843)

HE APPROACH OF ANOTHER YEAR stirs up within me new desires for your salvation, and for the growth of those of you who are saved.  “God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ” [Philippians 1:8].  What the coming year is to bring forth, who can tell?  There is plainly a weight lying on the spirits of all good men, and a looking for some strange work of judgment coming upon this land.  There is need now to ask that solemn question: “If in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” [Jeremiah 12:5]

Those believers will stand firmest who have no dependence upon self or upon creatures, but upon Jehovah our Righteousness. We must be driven more to our Bibles, and to the mercy seat, if we are to stand in the evil day. Then we shall be able to say, like David, “The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from thy law” [Psalm 119:51]. “Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of thy word” [Psalm 119:161].

It has long been in my mind to prepare a scheme of [continue reading…]

Painting of Martin Luther (not to be confused with Glen Steinson)

Sometimes we think “out loud,” and I guess it happens sometimes when we write, too.  I sent an e-mail to my friend Glen Steinson about a free software add-on from the American Bible Society that allows webmasters to have an entire Bible passage pop up over their page.  (You can try it by clicking on this link — 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.)  My friend and fellow ECA member Jerry Johnson of Christian Concourse Ministries had sent the information to me, and I found it so helpful that I wanted to share it with another Christian webmaster and podcaster; hence my e-mail to Glen.

But while writing the note to Glen (who interviewed me on his podcast a while back), another thought spilled out.  Glen’s podcast, [continue reading…]

Sunday morning, 9 October 2011

Flowers Along the Occoquan. (Part of worship is stopping to enjoy and give thanks for God's handiwork.)

Volunteering, as I have been, on the NationalPrayerChapel.com website over the weekend, has an unexpected perquisite—waking up each morning in Pastor Ray Greenley’s guest bedroom with a clear view of the thin golden hair of pre-dawn light silhouetting the horizon across the Occoquan River. After I’ve dressed in the dark and finished my hour of Scripture reading, I can steal off for a prayer walk along the Occoquan.

Two songs have been “singing me” me this morning.  (Those of you who have read my blog post, A Song Singing Me, will understand.)  The first song arose within my heart from the moment my eyelids popped open, and second one was triggered in my spirit by the sight of [continue reading…]

Percy Gutteridge

One of my two fathers in the Lord, Pastor P.H.P. (“Percy”) Gutteridge, was born this day, September 26th, in 1909.  I was speaking with my friend Brian Fettes from Calgary, Alberta, today, and we both marveled that Percy has been in the presence of Jesus for thirteen years already.

Some of my readers knew Percy well; others, not at all (except perhaps through his writings found on FinestOfTheWheat.org and his audios both there and on this site in the Grains from Gutteridge podcast).  An overview of his life is told by his son and daughter-in-law, John and Ann Gutteridge, in their Brief Timeline of the Life of P.H.P. Gutteridge.  Another son, Peter, relates some humorous and poignant anecdotes in [continue reading…]

Click on the map for the meeting location and time.

Pastor Ray Greenley called this evening and has asked me to speak at The National Prayer Chapel in Woodbridge, Virginia again this Wednesday evening, September 28, at 7:30 PM. I hope to see many of you NPC members at this mid-week meeting.  For others of you who will be visiting, see this map link for location details.

I always enjoy meeting with the saints at NPC, but this visit will be special.  Lord willing, this week Pastor Ray and I will be laboring together Tuesday through Thursday to launch “Rev. 2.0” of the National Prayer Chapel website, complete with videocasts, podcasts, and regular blogs.  We’ll probably burn a lot of midnight oil, but the end result will be a quantum leap beyond the current site.

Hymns seem to be the most natural expression of my heart in worship before God, so making three hymn-related discoveries in one week (and on nearly the same day) made last week memorable.

Open Hymnal Project Logo

1. Discovery #1: It would take too long to describe how I made the first discovery, which was the existence of a website called the Open Hymnal Project.  (Suffice it to say it had something to do with my Xiphos Bible study software.  If you need a good, free, open-source Bible program, explore the possibilities that Xiphos provides at http://xiphos.org.)  The Open Hymnal Project is a labor of love by Brian J. Dumont, providing not only the lyrics of hymns (like we do in the Powerful Poetry section over at FinestOfTheWheat.org), but free, copyright-free [continue reading…]

A Song Singing Me

Way back in the mid-1970s, my friend and co-pastor at Bethesda Fellowship, Terry Haugh, would often testify, “I woke up this morning with a song singing me.”  This was his apt description of a phenomenon I’ve often experienced.  Happy are the mornings when, as I awaken, even before I’m fully conscious and alert, I realize that the words of a particular hymn are being raised to God in my spirit.  It’s often a way that the Holy Spirit [continue reading…]