$35.  When I come back from Myanmar it takes awhile before I stop thinking in multiples of $35.  That’s the price to sponsor a child in one of our orphanages in Myanmar.  $35 a month to feed, clothe and educate a child.  A tank of gas — two months.  Lunch at Waffleshop with the family after church — one month. A year’s worth of DirecTV — that’s about 18 months.  Family Vacation — that’s at least 48 months.  A month of coffee = a month for a child.  And on and on it goes, you get the idea.

I know I can’t take care of every orphan child in Myanmar. I do.  Sometimes Jesus walked right past people he could have healed.  I don’t believe that lunch at the Waffleshop is a sin.  I don’t think God is asking all of us to give up DirecTV, coffee or family vacations.  I don’t.  I know that sooner or later, I will stop seeing everything in multiples of $35.  But I’m not sure I want to stop.

I’m not sure I want to stop because when I think in multiples of $35, I’m thinking about Moses, and Susannah, and Rhonda, and Jacob, and Joshua, and Jonathan, and Malachi, and Abraham, and Ni Ni, and Joseph, and about 18 new children at Wonderful Calvary home.

Jesus once said that when I give a thirsty person a drink, when I give a hungry person some food, when I give a naked person some clothes, when I give a lonely person some love, I do it to him.  If that’s the case whenever I see someone who is thirsty, hungry or in need, I see Jesus.  If that’s true, then everywhere I go in Myanmar I see Jesus.  If I drink water every day instead of coffee… If I give up DirecTv… If I go easy on vacations and the Waffleshop, I not only see Jesus, I serve Jesus.

The first full day back from Myanmar included pancakes at the Waffleshop.  After a week of rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, pancakes at the Waffleshop were simply sublime.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like rice.  I like Rice Krispees…especially when they are covered with chocolate and coated together with peanut-butter — Lynn’s recipe.  I like Rice Mush, it’s a Norwegian dessert, add a lot of cream and sugar, whip it up and then cover with strawberries.  I like fried rice with chicken at Cozy Thai.

But try steamed white rice — I think they call it sticky rice — for breakfast, lunch and supper for a week.  Perhaps once a day add a curry of vegetables to the rice, perhaps once or twice a week add a curry of meat to the rice.  The other 17 meals are just sticky rice.  If you do it for a week, congratulations, now try it for a year.

In one of my messages at the Bible Conference in Myanmar I made the comment, “I know you all love rice but…” My comment received an immediate chorus of “NOOOOO.”  I hadn’t thought much about it.  I guess in my American mind I thought, “If they eat it so much they must like it.”

We were having a conversation at lunch one day with one of the orphanage leaders, Ruth.  Ruth is a well spoken, intelligent, thoughtful young woman.  She was talking about the differences between America — she had been here for the first time last year — and Myanmar.  The word she used that stuck in my mind was “OPTIONS.”  The difference is that in America you have options.  You have options for school, for entertainment, for leisure, for work, for friends, for where you live, and for food.  We don’t have many options.

But they still have choices.  The people we work with — for the most part — nobodies perfect — have chosen to respond to their options with a joyful heart, faith in God, and the believe that like Paul they can say, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

You know what?  I don’t think the desire for options is a bad thing.  I don’t think the desire to move into the house of your dreams after retirement is a bad thing.  I don’t think the desire to eat fine food is a bad thing.  But what if at least some of our desires for good things, that bring pleasure were meant to be satisfied — or gained — after we die?  In heaven.  What if trying to satisfy all those desires now, made it difficult to live for Christ — which might mean that we gain less when we die?

If that were true, would we be willing to eat rice now?

I’m not really a hugger.  Everyone knows that.  Except my wife and children, they believe that I’m a hugger.  I actually enjoy hugging Lynn, Sarah, Katy, Jake and Josh.  Some people like to use my hugger-less-ness against me — in fun of course — for example Harold and Kevin won’t let me leave their presence without a hug.  Both Harold McKenzie (a local pastor) and Kevin Lewis (from Calvary) are taller than me, so a hug with them is extra uncomfortable as my check rests against their stomachs.  It’s not like I can’t hug, I do a fairly decent one armed hug, and occasionally if the occasion warrants I can do a bear hug, but the statement, “I’m not really a hugger.” has some merit when spoken by me.

So why does hugging and Dan find themselves slightly uncomfortable around each other?  I don’t know.  Maybe it’s because I grew up on a farm and most people seemed to carry a little manure somewhere on their bodies.  Maybe it’s my Norwegian/German heritage, neither one of those countries have forged a “hugs forever” heritage.  Maybe it’s a personal space thing, or maybe it seems like a hug costs more than it’s worth.

All I know is that when I go to the other side of the world and hang out with a bunch of fatherless kids — I become a bit more of a hugger.  No let’s be honest I become a hugger.  Not so much with the adults, but about the only time I’m not hugging is when I’m not with the kids.  I’m not completely sure why, but something in the kids of the Burmese orphanages just draws me in and opens me up.  It’s like my arms go on auto-drive.

So when Lynn, Sarah, and Katy made me promise to give Rhonda, Susanna, and Elizabeth, a hug from them — or else — I acted like it was a big deal.  But I was actually looking forward to it, and I did it.  Big hugs.  Bear hugs with a squeeze.  It was like they were part of my family, and it’s easier for me to hug family.  When I read in the book of James that God is a father to the fatherless, I get this picture of God the Father, coming up and giving his kids a great big hug.

That’s what a good father does.  He hugs.  But just so you know, Harold and Kevin.  I ain’t your dad!

Living for Christ might lead to dying for a cause.  While we were on our way home from our MM mission trip, I heard the news that Shahbaz Bhatti had been killed. Mr. Bhatti was the Minister for Minority Affairs in Pakistan, and a Christian. He was killed in Islamabad on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.  The reason for his assassination? He opposed the Pakistani blasphemy laws that appoint the death sentence for one who speaks words against the truth of Mohammed. In a video, posted online by the European group First Step Forum, Mr Bhatti said: “I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us. . . . I’m ready to die for a cause. I’m living for my community and suffering people, and I will die to defend their rights.”

He did, and died a hero, but it’s not so much the dying for a cause that is heroic, it’s living for a cause regardless of the consequences.  Mr. Bhatti did not choose death.  He chose Christ.  No matter what.   True heroes are not formed in death.  They may finally be recognized in their deaths, but they are shaped as they live for a cause, shaped as they live for people, regardless of the cost.

I think this is one of the reasons we are honored to partner with our fellow Christians in MM.  They are willing to live for the cause of Christ, regardless of the cost.  Last week I talked to one man who gave up a good paying job — a rarity in MM, where the average daily wage is about a dollar and a half — to follow Christ.  I spoke to Bible School students who have given up their families to follow Christ.  (As in, “If you go to a Christian school you will no longer be my son.”)  We prayed with a man who sobbed as he asked us to pray for his daughter.  She had become a Jesus-follower and wanted to be baptized, but there are people in her village who have told her, “If you get baptized we will kill you.”  His main request was not for his daughter’s safety, but for his daughter’s courage.  I ate dinner in the home of the lady who started the orphanage, no long after it was started, both her husband and her infant son died from malaria.  She didn’t quit, willing to live for Christ, regardless of the cost.

Paul once said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  Unfortunately too many of us believe, “For me to live is gain and to die is Christ.”

Why do I go to Myanmar? Well I could give you a number of reasons, but for the moment, let me just share two videos. They are videos of some of the girls that captured Lynn, Sarah and Katy’s hearts while they were there a year ago. My girls (Lynn Sarah and Katy) made me promise that I would give a hug to their girls (Rhonda, Susannah and Elizabeth) so I got proof and then grabbed a few more of the wonderful Agape kids to sing a song.

Needless to say, one of the primary reasons I go to Myanmar is because of the children. God loves the fatherless, and he calls us to be involved in the process of making disciples of all the nations. I think it makes much of God when we go.

So watch these two videos and pray for the kids of Myanmar.  Here is the song…

Here are the hugs…

So here I am in Bangkok, on the way home with a 18 hour layover. I’ve seen most of the Buddha’s in Bangkok — sounds like a movie or a song — the sleeping Buddha, the Emerald Buddha, the Reclining Buddha…and a handful of others. Chris isn’t in a Buddha kinda mood and Dan B was interested in some foreign cultural events. So we grabbed a bit of Thai food — it’s actually pretty good in Thailand, though not as good as Cozy Thai — and then a dip in the pool, and now we are headed to Lumpini Stadium. It is the #1 Home of the World’s Best Thai KickBoxing, — or maybe that’s MuiThai — at least that’s what one person said online.

Don’t worry Lynn, I won’t volunteer to get in the ring.

God is moving in Buddhist hearts. The Buddhist religion shapes a significantly different worldview than the Christian faith. From a Buddhist worldview the goal is to empty yourself. Jesus came to fill us; fill us until we overflow with the rivers of living water, overflow with joy, overflow with His Spirit. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is nothingness, whereas Christ is preparing a whole new heaven and earth.

But certainly more difficult to overcome than even the worldview is what must feel to be the unstoppable momentum of conformity to a religion that is practiced by about 95% of the people you know. 95% of the people with whom you work. 95% of your neighbors. 95% of the people with whom you go to school. 95% of your children’s friends.

Imagine the courage and conviction it requires to move out of the 95% majority into the 5% minority.

Friday was the last day of the Bible Conference in Myanmar. God put it on the leader’s hearts to invite more Buddhists this year, more than usual. In each of the previous Bible Conferences in which I have participated there have always been a handful of Buddhists in attendance. This year there were more.

Joseph had picked “Jesus is Eternal Life” as the theme. At the beginning of the conference Joseph told me that he was hopeful, that God would work and maybe by the end of the conference three or four Buddhists would become followers of Jesus and be baptized. In the end God worked a bit more than we were hoping. Twelve Buddhists become followers of Jesus and were baptized.

Then reality set in – a good hard reality – as a husband came to ask prayer for his wife and daughter. They attended the conference. He became a Jesus-follower. They did not. They were confused. We prayed for the three of them, that God would open their eyes. Then another father came and ask us for prayer. Three years ago, a strong Buddhist, he accepted Jesus at one of our Bible Conferences. He went home and shared Jesus with his family and his daughter accepted Jesus as her Lord. Now she wants to be baptized but the leaders of her village have told her that if she gets baptized in the name of Jesus, they will kill her.

Pray for the Buddhists who decided to follow Jesus. Pray for their families. Pray for God to continue to give them the courage and the conviction they require to follow Jesus. It isn’t always easy to leave the 95% to follow Jesus.

The Burmese Buddhists are one of the world’s largest unreached people groups, but God – as always – has placed his people in strategic places to share the gospel with them. The people of the Chin State – those we are working with are Chin – are some of those strategic people. Pray for them as God leads them on his mission.

It’s about 5:30a.m. here. Got up around 4:30a.m. That’s the good(?) part of being in a time zone exactly halfway around the world, I get a chance to experience what it’s like to get up early! :) Working on my talks for day two of the pastor’s conference today. So far we have spent a half day at Kid’s Life Orphanage and a full day at Agape Orphanage.

It’s fun seeing the work here in MM through the eyes of two people who are here for the first time — Chris Heinz and Dan Berringer — or Pastor Christopher and Dan2 (I tried to get them to call Dan, Big Dan and me Little Dan, but it didn’t work) as they are called here. I have repeatedly heard Dan say, that MM is a beautiful country. To be honest I’ve never considered the beauty of the country, I think when I come all I can see is the poverty of the country, but he’s right it is a beautiful country — especially when you see it through the hearts of the people who live here.

They love their country. When they pray for their country, the pray like prayer is essential, but I think they do it less from a sense of the desperation of hopelessness and more from a sense of the urgency of love.

Yesterday was a long day. I preached three times, “Is Jesus the One?” “Do I Believe that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Live?” and “Is Jesus My First Love?” At least a part of my focus was on about 15-20 Buddhists who have been invited to the pastor’s conference. The pastors who are there wanted me to preach Jesus to the Buddhists — we think some of those Buddhists made a decision yesterday to be baptized. Way cool!

Chris taught on finding your prayer fit, focusing especially on prophetic prayer and intercession. He did a great job and the people so love to pray, so the teaching was received with great interest. It’s been great to have someone to share the speaking load — though I have to say, I liked it even a bit more last year when it was Lynn speaking with me — Sorry Chris! :)

Then throughout the day — Dan B carried the load for the most important part of our trip. He spent the day playing and loving on the kids. Soccer in the heat. Holding hands with about 23 kids at the same time. Frisbee, football, more soccer, candy give-aways, and rubber band games. I say this with all sincerity — not sure if it was the hardest job, but the most important job. Even if Buddhists are saved, certainly at Agape they will be saved so that they can play with and love on the kids.

You know the day will come when teaching and evangelism will be no more, but the loving work of play is an act of worship that will continue on into eternity. If your day is so filled with work that there is no time for play — you are not preparing your heart for heaven.

So today — take a snow day. Go play. Unless you’re on staff at Calvary and you have to prepare for the weekend, in that case take a snow day on Monday. :)

This won’t be a long post, hopefully the internet access in country will be decent enough that I can post a few times in this next week.

But we have made it to Bangkok. Got to a hotel about 12:30am for a few hours rest and a shower. Now in about an hour we’ll be back at the airport for the last leg of our journey to MM.

Dan and Chris, my traveling partners have done well as well. Lynn wouldn’t let me go by myself again, and I’m glad that both of them were willing and able. Looking forward to hanging out with both of them.

Not sure what all is in store for us this week, but certainly appreciate your prayers for a good journey through customs, for our hearts to be expanded for the kids, and for God to give us the resources to serve.

I’ve been studying the life of Adoniram Judson this last week, one of the first missionaries to MM. Wow. Amazing guy. Amazing heart for the MM people. Amazing sacrifices. In his lifetime he started a handful of churches, he led less than a thousand personally to the Lord — but if you ask a Christian in MM, almost everyone traces his or her spiritual heritage back to Judson. Amazing fruit. John Piper in talking about Judson once said, “We will all die, the question is, will we die with that kind of fruit?!”

A couple of years ago John Maxwell took his family to the Washington Monument. There was a two hour wait to get on the elevator to go to the top. In his impatience, he walked up to the guy by the elevator and asked, “Is there any way we can make it up any faster? He looked at John and said, “You can go up now, if you’re willing to take the stairs.” I wonder how often we want monumental answers, while only interested in elevator prayers? Ever find yourself looking for the best available gift with the least possible effort.

God calls us to persevere in prayer — last week at Calvary, we called it, P.U.S.H. “pray until something happens!” But perseverance is NOT just God’s way of gathering prayer energy — he wants us to persevere because he wants us to BE with him.

Imagine this — It’s Sunday. You see a silver haired man walking along a deserted beach on the Isle of Patmos. He’s looking for a place to kneel and pray. Like every Lord’s day for decades, he comes to God in prayer. He’s been sent to the Isle of Patmos by Rome as punishment. John’s ministry has been so successful that Rome has rewarded him with solitary confinement on an isolated island. But while Rome intended retribution, God intended reward. Rome thot they had put John where no one would listen…what they didn’t realize was that Heaven is always listening.

As John knelt to pray…the door to heaven was opened. Though he was isolated from people, he prayed his way into the very presence of God. What he saw was stunning. What he heard was even greater still — voices that sounded like trumpets, angels speaking, thunder booming, the living creatures singing a new song, thousands upon thousands and ten’s of thousands worshiping around the throne. The sound of the earth quaking and stars falling…an uncountable multitude from every nation and people group of the world crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.”

I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to have heard what John heard. But what moves me even more is what John didn’t hear. For seven chapters we have non-stop activity and non-stop noise until chapter eight. “There is silence in heaven for and a half an hour. Why? Why did all of heaven stop and listen? READ Revelation 8:1-4.

Why did all of heaven hush to listen? Because someone was praying. We live in a loud world. Over the years I have lived in a loud home. When four kids are competing for attention…their voices often rise to the occassion. And it’s not always easy getting someone’s attention. To find someone who’s willing to turn down the radio, turn off the t.v., get off facebook, set the paper aside, turn the cell phone off and listen can be rare.

I pray because as inconsistent as my prayer life can be at times, I believe God listens. I pray because even though when it comes to preaching on prayer, I at times feel like a tour guide describing a country he has never visited, I believe God loves to listen. What an amazing grace — He loves to listen. That’s why iPray.