Touched by The End of the Spear

It was the most beautiful Valentine's Day Gift I could have imagined...it was better than diamond rings and chocolate...it was a night with my Beloved and he took me to see The End of the Spear.

I tell you, there is a missionary pent up inside me somewhere! This movie so touched a place in my heart that I literally wept in the theatre. Okay, okay, granted, this is not your average "chic flick"...but the tears were real and the emotion the film evoked was overwhelming...POWERFUL!

I was reading a friend's blog that pointed out that a leader in the Christian community had serious issues with this film and said that it did not present the gospel...so after seeing the movie myself I was stunned and wondered how this leader missed the obvious? So I read the commentary for myself this morning and was just stunned. I somehow got the impression that we saw two different movies...but no, it was one and the same movie.

Why do you suppose there is so much controversy over anything that is Christian in the public square--and suprisingly it is NOT the non-believers doing the complaining! The believers have taken on a new canabalistic tradition of eating their own...much more gruesome than the original state of the Waodoni tribe in the real life version of The End of the Spear if you ask me!

Christian canabals? Don't believe me? Just do a google search of "christian controversy" and add "Passion of the Christ" or "Chronicles of Narnia", or to be true to the idea of canabalism, try RICK WARREN...one Christian human being that is devoured by his own! For more proof of Christian canabals, try a search on the KJV only debate...OH MY!! ....but I digress....

Last week I was making some visitor packets for our church administrator. As I was putting the info packs together I read through one of the flyers on "How We Worship". It went through a small bible study on the 7 Hebrew words used to describe worship in Scripture. There were many outward expressions of worship discussed in Word. And as I sat there in the theater with tears running down my face as the movie closed, the thought of shouting AMEN just did not seem appropriate...but I immediately was drawn back to that study on 7 ways to worship...and with tears streaming down my cheeks I simply began to clap my hands. The first 3-5 seconds was awkward because I was the only one clapping...but it was like permission was granted to everyone simply by my expressing what was in my heart at that moment, and the whole theater joined me in my expression of WORSHIP to God for what I had just seen on the big screen...the amazing story of Christ's love and redemption.

One of the criticisms of this movie that I read about was a claim that the Gospel was not presented. I am not sure how they missed it, but it was clearly there! The Waodoni tribe did not know the name "Jesus" or "God" but they had a clear understanding within them about what they called "Waengongi [the Creator]".

Earlier in the movie a young girl named Dyaume was sent out of her village and she sought refugee with the Missionaries. She lived with them and became a Christian. Later in the film Dyaume took the wives of the slain missionaries with her as she went to try and make contact with her people, now as an adult. When her family realized she was not dead they were glad to see her. She explained to the people that the reason the "foreigners" had come to them was to tell them that Waengongi [the Creator] had a son. The son was also speared, but he did not fight back. He died so that they all could live. That is the gospel in a nut shell.

It bothers me sometimes that we lose sight of communicating to people in terms they understand because we are so blinded by our western mindset. This movie was filmed from the perspective of the Waodoni tribesmen. Would it not make sense to use terms that could help them comprehend the message? They may not have understood the term "GOD", but they did understand Waengongi [the Creator] ...and from that understanding the foundation of truth was laid. Is it really that important that our western terminology was not used, but rather one that they understood? How is this any different that the Apostle Paul standing on Mars Hill in Athens using the statue to "The Unknown God" to preach Jesus? It is the age old wisdom of using what is known as a bridge to teaching the unknown. I vaguely remember another man who used this same technique as well...anyone else remember a story about a pearl of great price, or the sheep and the goats, a lost coin?? Oh...but He was not just a man, He was God in the flesh...so maybe we could learn something from His teaching techniques. And God forbid, in Jesus name, that we get labled as heretical people who are watering down the gospel to try and be "culturally relevant" to the lost around us because we seek to communicate to them in ways, or terminology they understand. This whole controversy thing really suprised me. Do you suppose the Christian Cannibals have a bit of the "Jonah problem" in them and they would really like to see the lost burn in their sin and be frustrated if they truly repented?

For what it is worth, we are going to see it again and take our children with us. There are only two things in this world I have ever told my children that is worth sacrificing your life for. One is for your faith in Christ and the other is the soverignty and freedom of our nation.

Our kids have grown up in a post 9-11 world...so they see on a daily basis the cost of freedom and the cost of helping others get free- from a militaristic point of view. And though we have read great missionary stories and personally know missionaries in the field, there is something about showing these 21st century kids something visual, in a medium that will stick in their minds, just why it is worth the willingness to lose your life, if necessary, for the cause of Christ.

The most moving part of the story to me was when the young son of a missionary ran to him before he boarded his plane to try and make contact with the Waodoni people and asked him (when he saw the gun in the plane), "Dad, if they attack you will you defend yourself?" The dad knelt down to his son's eye level and caressed his cheek and said, "Son, they are not ready for Heaven, but we are...I will only fire my gun in the sky, if I have to..."

So...all that to say, I was DEEPLY touched by the End of the Spear!

Love, Dawn

Professional Regurgitators VS Christians Who Think

"Dawn! You've got to see what Pastor David sent me in this video clip!"
With the excitememnt in his voice, I thought it must be something special...how wrong could I have been!!??!!My beloved pulled me up a chair right next to him to watch a video clip called The Professional Regurgitator. Now whatever went through his mind that thought I might be interested in this still escapes me, but anything for my beloved!It was really gross. Or did the "professional regurgitator" title give that away?So side by side Brad and I watched (he was amused, I was disgusted) as this man swallowed the most awful things (balloons, a billiard ball, a nail, a gold fish!) and then regurgitated them back up. Did I mention that it was really gross?But somewhere in the middle of it all, as is typical of me, I started looking for a life lesson in this. It was just a matter of time before I told Brad, "That will preach!" Suddenly his look of amusement turned to a look of concern...it was in that brief moment he looked as if he really considered the possibility that I may have found some spiritually significant thought from watching the professional regurgitator...and the truth was, I HAD!

In the midst of our recent health battles we have really heard some hum-dingers of twisted theology...from the surreal to the sublime...to the just plain stupid. All from well meaning people, who in my opinion, had somewhere along the way swallowed whole some bad theology, bad teaching, bad doctrine. Apparantly Christians with health issues are prime pickings for these well meaning people to regurgitate their bad theology. For instance, we have been told by fellow believers that the reason we are sick is that we have secret sin in our lives. Still another person said that if I was praying for a miracle that I was merely seeking after a sign and wonder and not finding contentment with what I have.

Now don't get me wrong, I am content in the midst of this trial that God's grace is sufficient for me. I am firmly convinced the Word of God is true so I fully believe in the prayer of faith spoken of in the book of James. I do not see that trusting in the Word is the same as chasing after a sign and a wonder...as far as signs and wonders go I don't really need them to belive! I believe already! I know that God can heal so I ask for healing. I dont really see that as "chasing" after a sign and wonder. I am His child. I have an inheritance in Christ that is freely given. I dont have to chase and fenagle God to throw me a bone...He is my provider, my healer, my Abba. He is sufficient. His timing is perfect...and may it all be to the glory of God!

So as I looked upon this grotesque clip of the professional regurgitator it was a sad reminder that so often good Christian people will just swallow whole the teaching before them without ever measuring the message against the whole counsel of God's word. So when the pressure is on they simply regurgitate the message they previously heard, never having the roots or the foundation to be grounded in the Word of God...and just like watching the regurgitator, what they bring to the table is really gross, undigestable, and was never intended to be ingested...a message like that was always meant to be....ummm, REJECTED!

Now in stark contrast to the professional regurgitator, today I saw a biography on the life of Thurgood Marshall. I found this one particular part of his life story to be especially fascinating! As a young black child in a segregated school in the early 1900's the odds were stacked against him. When he got in trouble at school his teacher punished him by sending him to the basement of the school with a copy of the Constitution of the United States. He was made to memorize parts of the constitution every time he got in trouble. He was not allowed back into the classroom until he could recite by memory the part of the constitution that he had been assigned. In order to memorize, one must meditate and internalize the words. They must understand and dissect the words in order to commit them to memory. This is a process of THINKING and making APPLICATION.

Thurgood Marshall did not just repeat what his teacher had told him. She made him "own" the knowledge for himself and be prepared to defend the fact that he had studied and shown himself approved to have passed the test of reciting it by memory.

Is it any suprise that Thurgood Marshall went on in life to become one of the greatest Constitutional lawyers concerning civil rights in our country? He is probably most well known for the case he brought before the Supreme Court called Brown Vs The Board of Education. This brought about the desegregation of the public schools in America. Not only did he practice constitutional law, he went on to be assigned as a Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. As an inter-racially married woman, I just want to say thank you to an unnamed public school teacher in the life of Thurgood Marshall who took the opportunity to discipline a young boy in mischief. Your form of "discipline" was more true to the definition of the word "discipline" that any random punishment could have been. You actually discipled him, by making him memorize and internalize the very document that the set the course for the rest of his life.

As Christians we can learn a lot from that brief look into the life of Thurgood Marshall. How much more pleasing it would be if we took the Word, meditated on it's truth, and let the Word of God transform us, rather than just regurgitate the opinion of some teacher somewhere without ever meditating, dissecting and internalizing the Word for ourselves.

A brilliant singer and songwriter, Rich Mullins once said of the Word of God, "I did not make it, no...it is making me. It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man."

It is my prayer that I will forever be a work "under construction" by the Word of God.
I have no desire to be a professional regurgitator!

Blessings,
Dawn

Ministry Highs & Lows, but Bloopers...Priceless!!

I was recently telling a close friend that being married to someone in the ministry has its ups and downs. She asked what were some of the high points and low points.

HIGH POINT: Brad was singing at a friend's wedding and Laura was just 2 years old. Laura kept tugging on my shirt asking if it was time for the kiss. I told her no and tried to hush her. A few seconds later she asked again. Again I told her no...she had all she could take and took matters into her own hands. She hopped off her pew and ran to the front where her dad was singing before a large congregation (all before I could pass my newborn off to the person next to me so I could go get her) and she tugged on his tux coat and Brad knelt down and she KISSED him. She could not wait for the KISS any longer!

LOW POINT: One year on our anniversary a disgruntled worship team member called my husband to complain about a decision that was made. The phone rang right as we were about to start our movie. He tried to set a time to speak with her later about the matter but she would not let him off the phone. The next three hours turned into a shouting tirade and Brad could hardly get a word in edgewise...something about a woman scorned. I would never have been so polite...I know how to hang up the phone.

HIGH POINT: Watching someone you met as a child, in the beginning of the ministry, grow into adulthood and begin planning their wedding with someone whom you also saw grow up in the church.

LOW POINT: burying a child.

But there is nothing so PRICELESS as watching your youngest son get baptized and as the pastor puts him under the water Josh's feet slip out from under him causing a "cannon ball" like splash and wave of water in the baptistry!

So yes, ministry has its highs and lows...but it is those priceless moments that make it all worth while!