Beauty and Hardship in Morogoro, Tanzania

Our DML Global Summit ended on Saturday, and it was an incredible week.  It was a very full time and I am still processing some of the things that we heard together as a team in our prayer and reflection times.  So I will write more on this later, but we are so thankful that everyone arrived and departed safely, and for the precious unified fun, worshipful, strategic, and blessed time that we had together!

Morogoro, Tanzania is a very beautiful place, as you can see in the pictures.

Yesterday (Sunday), I went to visit one of the churches with whom DML is partnering (through the Full Victory Gospel Ministries).  It was about ninety minutes of driving straight into the bush...except there was no bush as everything was dry from the current drought.  Rains were supposed to start in October but as of November 6, there had been no rains yet.  Everything was very, very dry.

The place we visited is far off the main road and just two years ago, there was no road.  The road is mostly a sandy dirt path, and the cows that travel this road look very skinny.  The population has been growing and most people are doing some sort of agriculture.  The pastor of this church had the soil tested and is helping to show people to move away from growing maize and toward millet, sesame, and sunflowers, which grow better in the soil that they find there.  The borehole that was dug (going down 120 meters) is producing a good amount of water but it is salty and therefore cannot be used on the plants.  

Rain is needed.  Please pray with us for rain to fall so that the farmers don't miss one of two short planting seasons.

Today (Monday) we start a DML foundational workshop for 400 pastors and church leaders from various evangelical churches in the Morogoro area.  We thank God for this opportunity!

The church in the distance.

This water place is fed by the church's borehole and has brought peace to pastoralists in the area as they can have access to water.  It has also been used for baptisms!

To the right of the church, you can see where a new foundation is being laid for a bigger church as they are outgrowing this current church building.

Testimonies were heard of those who have given their lives to Christ since this church started three years ago.  Men who had multiple lives and were addicted to alcohol and drugs are now productive farmers, providing for their families.

Most people are living in mud homes.

I just can't get over how big baobab trees are!  They are humongous!  The oldest baobab tree was recorded to be 2500 years old!  Unfortunately many are dying now due to climate change.

Live life as a mango, not an orange.

As I flew on a very long flight from Chicago to Addis Ababa on Friday, I was unable to sleep and therefore got a lot of reading and writing done.  One quote that I read jumped out at me:  Christians tend to live their lives as oranges, not peaches.  Since there are more mangos in Africa than peaches, I switched it:  As a Christian, I need to live life as a mango, not an orange.

The quote makes sense.  Oranges are segmented.  They are self-contained.  They have a rather strong "flesh" that protects the juice from inside each segment.  Like oranges, we too compartmentalize our lives into segments.  We create layers between them, often unintentionally, that keeps things neatly separate.  From the outside, it looks like one cohesive unit.  It's only upon peeling the orange, that you see the divisions.

Eating an orange is easy.  The peel and rind come off relatively neatly with just your fingers.  The segments keep your hands from getting sticky orange juice on them.

Mangos, on the other hand, are different.  You need a knife to take off the peel.  The inside pulp of a mango has no divisions.  In fact, the pulp and pit are so connected that it is difficult to separate them. We had five mango trees in our yard in Liberia, and I don't remember anyone eating a mango neatly.  Mango juice dripped all over faces, hands and clothes.  

Christians (and all humanity in normal everyday life) segment our lives. These segments keep things neat and clean in their isolated boxes. Some of the segments that we have created in our lives are those that we believe are important to God.  Some segments we do not believe are important to God.  

The segments we believe are important include church services and activities, social action activities, evangelistic activities.  The segments we do not believe are important are work, rest, leisure, sport and the arts.  

We believe that the segments are real and even Biblical.  But they are not.

Colossians 1:16 reminds us that "all things were created through him and for him."  Colossians 1:20 reminds us that God expects us to bring restoration or reconciliation or shalom of all things to Him.  This includes both material and immaterial things.  And everything in life is connected - it's how it was made to be!  You cannot do just one thing.  There are ripples and impacts everywhere.  And yes, that can get messy - but in good ways!

And so, we continue to discover new ways to explain the sacred/secular divide.

This week we are in Morogoro, Tanzania - thirty-seven of us from twelve different countries.  We will learn how to be mangos.  We will discuss new ways of how God is revealing to us His message about eradicating the sacred/secular divide.  Our desire is to listen and engage together, sharing what we are learning about what works and what doesn't work.  Our desire is that every person can hear this message in a way that will resonate with their own heart and mind in order to bring about whole-life discipleship, without segments.

Please pray for us during this time!  Here are a few pictures of the arriving teams - there is great excitement to be together again after three long years!

Uganda team

Nigeria team

Burkina Faso AEAD team

Burundi team

Ethiopia team

Reclaim!

One of my favorite lines in our work in Discipling Marketplace Leaders is to "reclaim the redeemed marketplace."  I love the line because it reminds us that Jesus has redeemed all things - we are not in the business of redeeming the marketplace.  But we do have to reclaim it. Jesus is in the marketplace, beckoning for us to reclaim it for Him.

This line seems to have resonated with our partners in Southeast Asia who just started a business called "Reclaim"!

Since going through the DML training, one of the partners has launched a "Discipling Marketplace Leaders Institute, where they have been training leaders in understanding the God of Business.  But they have also launched a business called "Reclaim" and so far have two products under it:  laundry detergent and baked goods.  These two products are being made by very poor women who are often called "ragpickers" as they live right next to a massive landfill, and they typically spend each day going through newly dumped trash for anything salvageable.  When we visited them, we learned that the men often feel so hopeless that they "pick" enough to buy alcohol and leave the rest for the women and children to "pick" for survival.

This partner is helping to change that narrative by providing businesses and trainings for these women.  In addition, they provide a school for the children and a church for the families.  

But the products in this business are called, "Reclaim."  There are many things that they are reclaiming:  The marketplace for Jesus.  The dignity of the women.  The fruitfulness of the work of our hands.  The ability to contribute to the flourishing of society by providing soap for clean clothes and bread for healthy eating.

This week, I leave for Tanzania, where I will be joined by 35 members of the DML team for our DML Global Summit.  This is a rich time where we gather as the DML family to laugh, learn, share, pray, and celebrate what God is doing in His church and how we get to participate in that work.  Every partner will share their best practices that have been learned thus far, and it is a time of iron sharpening iron.  

We have not been able to meet in person since 2019, so we are very excited to get together!  It is no small feat to gather people from thirteen countries and so we ask for your prayers for flights to arrive on time and for no problems with immigration.  

It is also a meeting that comes with a high financial cost, and we are so thankful for two amazing business sponsors who help to make it possible:  Alsum Farms and Produce and Belstra Milling.  We thank God for you!

We still do need additional funds for this meeting, so if you would like to contribute, please click here.  

Children: Some of the Hardest Workers We Know

A few weeks ago, I was blessed to share a message at my home church in Grand Rapids.  In preparation for the message, the pastor asked for all members to send in pictures of themselves at work.  I took those pictures and put it into a slide show for a worship song.

[Side note:  Too many of our worship songs that we sing when we are gathered have pictures of nature as the backdrop.  This gives the subtle message that worship can only happen when we are in beautiful scenery.  Having worship songs pictures in the workplace reminds us that work can be an act of worship and the workplace can be a spiritual place as well.  More ideas below!]

I chuckled when I saw some of the pictures of children, especially when I saw one of a toddler on a potty.  But then I had to remind myself that potty training is serious work and critically important for functioning in this world!  

The realization and growing understanding is that everyone has a frontline - a workplace - and as I think about it, children have some seriously hard work to do! (I've posted a couple of pictures of my children doing the hard work of learning under the age of three.)

Think about it - in the first three months of life, a baby has to learn significant motor skills, including controlling his/her head and limbs. A baby learns to see and hear during this time and refines that to be able to identify parents from others.  A baby begins to communicate without being able to talk, identifying their own needs, smiling, and the list goes on.  

We all have a workplace.  Some of those workplaces are paid.  Some are not.  Some of those workplaces are recognized.  Many are not.

All of us are called into fulltime ministry.  But our specific assignments are unique and different!

As I was pondering this last week, a friend shared a Ted Talk that was done by a seven-year-old(!) on how the game of peek-a-boo could change the world.  I was intrigued that a Ted Talk was done by someone that young and enjoyed listening to her.

And it reinforced the importance of the work of children and the incredible work of parents!  If you are inclined, you can watch it here:

Molly Wright: How every child can thrive by five | TED Talk

In the meantime, my home church continues to move toward "whole life discipleship" as can be seen in the pictures below.  There are maps where people can identify the parish where they serve (reinforcing that a church has as many parishes as members - even more when we count home, work, and other places of influence!).  And a mirror, which says "Missionaries We Support."  This acknowledges that every member is on mission.  I love this!  They have been doing commissioning services on different Sundays for different industries.  This coming Sunday (October 23), I am privileged to bring a message at Madison Square Church at 10 am on this topic of whole-life discipleship.  Please join in person if you are in the area, otherwise you can tune in on YouTube!

Pins of where members live and work, both locally and beyond!  Madison Square Church in Grand Rapids, MI has many parishes!

"Missionaries that Madison Church Supports"

Reality, Grief, and Hope

Reality. Grief.  Hope.  These are the three tasks of a prophet, according to Walter Brueggemann.  

Naming reality and exposing myths that we use to disguise reality is the first task.  It is often a thankless task, rejected by those who hear it.  Usually faced with denial, the prophet needs to look for new and creative ways to break through our perception of reality to see truth.

Grief is next, in which we grieve losing our romanticized version of reality in order to grasp the reality that we actually have.  Grief is the antidote to denial. Grief slows us down and reminds us to respond to the "who" before we respond to the "why."  It challenges our impulse to hurry up and "fix things" by being realistic about our humanity, disappointment and loss.

But then comes hope.  An alternative consciousness is presented with new forms of faithfulness and vitality. The prophetic task, Brueggemann reminds us, is to "declare and enact hope for a buoyant future that is securely in the purview of God" (Brueggemann, Reality, Grief, Hope, p. 101).

Last week, I was privileged to attend the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication conference, in which 100+ church-planting organizations from around the world gathered to look at the state of the church and where it is going.  

There is a need for a reality check.  The Global Church continues to undergo difficult times in a changing world.  There must be a paradigm shift in the way we see the church - moving from the building to the people.  Moving from the church having one parish (where the building is) to having many parishes (where the people of God are).  Moving from a professional pastorate to the priesthood of all believers.  

There is a need for grief.  There is a need for lament.  There is a need to slow down.  To remember the who and not just focus on the why.  There are hidden people groups in our cities and towns, in our workplaces, who need to see Christians live out their faith through fulfilling the Great Commitment (Genesis 1:28 and 2:15), the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission.  We need to grieve the missed opportunities in those places over the years.  We need to grieve our lack of focus on the restoration through Jesus of our broken relationship with work and creation.  

And then there is hope.  Hope that the church continues to be the bride of Christ.  Hope that God is in control, and that there are many good people doing many good things in many good places.  There are new opportunities for faithfulness.  There is vitality coming in shapes and forms that show new creativity and innovation.  

Discipling Marketplace Leaders takes a tiny role in offering a piece of reality, grief and hope for the global church.  It's not a word that is always welcome or well-received.  It's not a word that offers a quick fix or move to action.  It is a word that needs to pause with some grief and refocus.  

But we are seeing and hearing more organizations saying "Yes" and "Amen" and for that we give thanks to God.  

And for those of you who continue to support and encourage this work, we thank you as well!

Prayer for Burkina Faso

A week ago, I was flying out of Burkina Faso to Liberia.

Just five days later, on Friday, September 30, Burkina Faso experienced their second coup this year by the military.   In January of 2022, the elected president was overthrown by the military who claimed that there was not enough being done to protect the country from Islamist extremists.  A temporary government was set up for 18 months and elections were set to be held next July.  While I was in Burkina Faso, I had the opportunity to meet one of the candidates who is running for president.  He is a Christian and has established a Christian party.

While I was there, I was told by a number of people that there had not been much improvement in addressing terrorism and instability in the country.  BBC reports that Burkina Faso only controls about 60% of their territory and that Islamist violence is worsening.  Since 2020, more than one million people have been displaced because of the violence.  The Islamic insurgency started in 2015, and in that time more than 2 million people have been displaced.

On Monday of last week, September 26, eleven soldiers were killed while escorting a convey of civilian vehicles in the north. Fifty civilians are missing.  This follows another attack on September 5, in which another convoy was attacked, killing 35 civilians and wounding another 37.  Protest broke out in the capital, Ouagadougou, last week concerning this.

On Friday the 30th, I started receiving messages of concern from one of our partners, Pastor Theo, who lives quite near the capital.  He reported that there had been shooting, explosions, and he could see soldiers about 250 meters from his house.  At the time he didn't know what it was, but later he confirmed there had been a coup.  Announcements were made publicly, borders were closed, and the airport was shut down.  On Saturday, a counterattack was made by the ousted military leader.  Main roads are shut down and businesses are closed.  

On Sunday, the ousted leader (who had ousted the President in January) agreed to step down.

I know this is not a new story.  Sadly, this is not a unique story.  But it sure feels different when you were just there and people that you call colleagues are in the middle.  And so I ask you to pray for Burkina Faso.  Pray for safety for the citizens.  Pray that this country may find a strong leader who knows how to lead a nation to flourishing.  Pray for those who have been displaced.  Pray for those who have recently lost loved ones.  Pray for healing.

I have left Liberia, despite delays and problems with my flights, and am trying to make my way to Minnesota for a conference.  I thank God for what He is doing in Liberia and continue to ask Him to strengthen the mind and heart of Liberians as they still have much recovery to do from their own civil war.

Brief Update from the Road

Greetings from Liberia, dear brothers and sisters in Christ!  

I want to thank you for your prayers thus far on this trip, as they have been answered in multiple ways!  The time in Burkina Faso was very full, with the highlight being the women's conference with the Assemblies of God Church.  What a delight to be with so many women, one third of whom were widows, and to take some deep dives into understanding our purpose for creation from Genesis 1 & 2 (beyond having babies!), to learning about Mary the mother of Jesus as a widow, Jesus as first-born son, and many women business leaders and church planters in the Bible.  It was a rich time which enjoyed so much.  If I had better connectivity, I would upload their singing, dancing, and praying which was amazing with so large a group!  But there are pictures below, including the pictures where they prayed in small groups that each person would be healthy in their various gardens (marriage, children, workplace, church, community, etc) and apply the quadruple goals (economic, environmental, social and missional).

I also met with the Christian Missionary Alliance leaders in Ouagadougou learned of how this is working in and through the denomination and did some further strategizing with them for dissemination.  The workshop we held was interesting as it was a mix of trainers, pastors who are doing DML, and those who are new.  And what I loved was when a question was asked by someone new, the answers were often given by those in the crowd who have internalized this message and are now teaching it as their own.

After another 14 hours of travel yesterday to get from Burkina Faso to Liberia (!), I am thankful to be here.  There was an air traffic controllers strike that started in many African countries on Friday evening and flights were cancelled for about 24 hours before they reached an agreement to call off the strike and continue negotiations for ten more days.  Praise the Lord!  There were long lines, delays, and angry people as I worked my way from Burkina Faso to Lomé to Accra to Monrovia but thank God I was able to arrive in time!  

This week I will have two training of trainers with the Harvest Intercontinental Ministries Unlimited denomination - one in Harbel and one in Ganta.  Please continue to pray that a healthy theology of work and a moving away from the prosperity gospel may settle into hearts and minds, and work may be done as an act of worship!

Praise and Prayers

 It's been a busy couple of weeks with my daughter, Hannah, getting married!  It was a beautiful day and I feel so blessed to have both of my children married to amazing spouses!  And both got married in the last four months, which makes this momma's heart so happy (and a little tired!).  I have included some pictures below although we don't have the photographer's photos yet.

Today I leave for West Africa, planning to first be in Burkina Faso and then going to Liberia.  In Burkina Faso, I have the great privilege to be the speaker for 3000 women from the Assemblies of God Church on both Thursday and Friday.  On Saturday, I will spend the day with leaders from the Christian Missionary Alliance (also a partner with DML), and then will fly to Liberia.  In Liberia, I will continue to work with Harvest Intercontinental Ministries Unlimited (HIM-U), as they roll out DML throughout their denomination.

From Liberia, I will fly to Minneapolis Minnesota, to join the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication annual forum, where we will be participating with Marketplace Engagement workshops.

The next few weeks will be busy, so I am asking for your prayers!  We continue to see movement as more and more people and organizations are catching a vision for how the church can be involved in the BAM (Business as Mission) movement.  God is moving among His people, and we are excited to be involved in that process.  

Please pray that we may aid that message and not get in the way of it.  

Please pray that our strategic planning with our partner denominations may grow deep so that every local church is engaged.

Please pray that the women of Burkina Faso, who have had a difficult year politically and economically, may be encouraged, equipped, and empowered to participate in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth in their various spheres of influence.

Labor Day: A Time for Appreciation

For much of my life, Labor Day meant a three-day weekend and a signal for season change.  It didn't usually go much deeper than that.

However, when I read the history of Labor Day, it's purpose is to "reflect our willingness to toil to improve our country through hard work."  Its goal is to honor and recognize the work and contributions of laborers to "the developments and achievements of the United States."  

To be honest, I haven't done much of that in the past during this long weekend.  But several years ago, as Discipling Marketplace Leaders grew in wisdom and knowledge about work as worship, that began to change.  And I realized that in many of our partner countries across Africa, who often celebrate Labor Day in May, they do take time to celebrate work.  It's not just a day off, but a time when people gather to learn, discuss, and pray for jobs.  

So today is an important day for DML because it is a day when we recognize all the work that people do across the globe to make our world function and flourish.  So much of that is unnoticed by us.  Yet each person and business contribute in some way, shape or form.  

One of my favorite videos to illustrate this is the video, I Pencil, which we show in most of our workshops.  It shows how many people are involved in making something that looks so simple.  Yet it takes an amazing number of people around the world to make that pencil.  If that it takes just for a pencil, think about items that contain more than four or five ingredients.  The web of how the economy works global is amazing, and while this video talks about an invisible hand guiding it, we know the owner of this Owner and Creator of that Hand.  

And so we thank God today.  In whatever you are doing this day, whatever you put your hand on or whatever activity you do, pause and reflect on those who created it who are made in His Image, using His good resources, for our flourishing.  When you eat, thank God for those who were involved from the field all the way to our plates.  And whatever you do for work, whether at home, in the workplace, or otherwise, thank God for the ability to join in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth by doing good work.  

Good goods.  Good work.  God wealth.  Below is a great summary of six practical principles for business.  Taken from the "Vocation of the Business Leader:  A Reflection" (Discatery for Promoting Integral Human Development).

Africa's Climate Paradox: Least responsible but paying the highest price globally.

We are so blessed to continue to have very rich prayer times with our Global DML team every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  And while those times are rich and community building, they are also challenging as we hear of droughts, floods, and tensions which often arise from economic challenges.  This week I heard of 137 farmers in one area who committed suicide in just the last month and a half because of crop failures caused by excessive rainfall.  Heartbreaking.

We teach about the importance of creation care, and we see many businesses increasing their understanding and purposefulness of being good stewards of creation.  But we can't control the overall climate, so the businesses and farms that we work with across Africa suffer, and all we can do is watch and pray.

According to a recent report put out by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Africa is suffering the most.  Consider these statistics:

• Between 1960 and 2020, Africa only accounted for 3.3% of global emissions.  Asia, Europe, and North America have each emitted over eight times the carbon of Africa
• In Africa, temperatures are increasing faster than the global average, and they are projected to continue doing so during the rest of the 21st century.
• Africa is most affected of all world regions by droughts and second most affected by floods, with at least 215.3 million people affected over 2010-2022.
• Climate change is forecasted to push an additional 78 million people into chronic hunger by 2050, over half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
• 
  In eight of the ten most climate vulnerable countries in Africa at least 60% of the working population are employed in the highly climate sensitive agricultural sector.
• 39.7 million additional people in sub-Saharan Africa could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 due to climate change, more than in any other world region.
• Since 2010, the number of protests and riots in Africa over water resources have multiplied by 40.
• In 2020, 4.3 million persons in Africa were newly displaced by natural disaster events, accounting for almost 40% of all new internal displacement on the continent in that year.
• While almost three-quarters of African countries have achieved SDG13 on climate action, no EU or North American countries is on track for achieving the same.

That last one is striking, isn't it?  75% of African countries HAVE ACHIEVED the sustainable development goals on climate action, while NO EU or North American country is even on track to achieve it.  

When the impact is imminent and the resources are not available to mitigate the challenges, changes are made.  But for those who don't feel the challenge as close to home, we don't.  Why have we not banned plastic bags in the US?  Why have we not banned Styrofoam?  We certainly have the ability to find alternatives, just as many countries in Africa have.  

This past weekend, I read a report that says that there is no longer any safe drinking water in the world due to "forever chemicals" or PFAS.  PFAS are used to make products resistant to oil, heat, stain or water, and can be found in food wrappers, non-stick pans, cosmetics, and more. One study said that 97% of Americans have PFAS in our blood, coming through drinking water.  The guideline values for PFAS have been declining for twenty years.  Rainwater is not only essential for drinking but also for agriculture.

For whatever the reason, we don't have the resolve to boldly make changes (and I have a feeling one of the major reason is the worshiping of "my rights" in the US over against loving my neighbor, or the good of the community).  And those with the least will suffer the most.  

May God help us learn how to love our neighbor as ourselves.

And as we continue to work with those doing business, from field to fork, please continue to pray for our partners and Marketplace ministers!

The Nounouma in Burkina Faso: When God Uses DML to Address Profound Cultural Issues

This week's blog comes to you from Pastor Theo, who leads the Discipling Marketplace Leaders (DML) team with the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination in Burkina Faso.  He writes:

In this quarter, despise security challenges, God opened doors for us to move forward with DML in a particular tribal group called Nounouma, about 200 km from the capital city of Ouagadougou, where several pastors and church leaders took part in the DML foundational workshop and Basic Business Training.

Within that tribal group, there is a strange practice that even Christians are involved in. Within a family, the wife would have her farmland and the man would have his own. Girls followed the mother and boys their father, and each kept their harvest of crops separate. During the farming season, the family ate the crops of the man and during the dry season, that of the women. There is strong division in the family and most pastors don’t question this established practice.

When we began our training, the matter came to light. This is not Christian - the two become one in all ways! A wise man from that village explained that it wasn’t always so. The tradition was a result of men getting other wives; from each of them would come a bountiful harvest and the women reacted to that by refusing to contribute to an increase that would help their husbands bring in a rival. 

Unfortunately, even after conversion, this inherited concept and practice continued among believers who do not practice polygamy.

By the grace of God, we addressed this divided “Great Commitment” (Genesis 1 and 2) practice which is neither healthy nor biblical. Praise God, even though others are still resistant to the truth, some of the couples in our meeting decided to consolidate their farmlands and work together.  

It is always thrilling to see how God can use common Christian workers in their workplaces to save others for eternal life.

This year again, we have seen a chain of people being saved. 

It all began with a lady selling water and juice in the market. After going through DML, she spoke to a young man selling soap in the market and he gave his life to Christ. More women were touched in the marketplaces as they meet this woman doing her business as mission. This woman got more converted than many established churches with programs. 

Now there is a gathering place for these converted men and women in the courtyard of the lady who began the process. The “Go and Make Disciples” is really effective as Christian workers do their business as mission. 

Pastor Theo illustrates the power of being disciples in every space and every place, as well as the power of equipping the priesthood of believers every day of the week.  We thank God for how God is using him to equip the saints and for the saints accepting the call to be ministers in the marketplace!  

As Burkina Faso continues to experience unrest, please pray for peace in that country!

1.8 times around the world and climbing!

I am writing today from Harlingen, Texas, just a few miles from the border of Mexico.  

We were invited to come by an organization called Nation to Nation Christian University to film our classes in their studio.  Nation to Nation will be able to use the DML courses in their schools across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and we will be able to get these videos out to a wider audience as well.  Each filmed session is thirty minutes, followed by thirty minutes of discussion with a facilitator, as well as class work in application of the information.  

This has been a mutual answer to prayer.  Nation to Nation has been praying for courses related to the Marketplace, as most of their courses focus on the Bible and on community development.  At the same time, we knew that our two-hour videos were way too long for most people to sit through, but it was going to cost too much money to hire a studio and camera people for this work.  Voice over translation will also be done into key languages.  We will be doing three DML courses while we are here, for a total of about forty sessions.  

My face is getting a lot of makeup and my hair is getting quite the workout.  The Director, John, has taken the scissors to my hair a couple of times (not to mention my clothing for any stray threads) and has managed to keep things in place.  

This past week I received an email from Google Maps Timeline which informed me that so far this year I have traveled 1.8 times around the world.  It tells me that I travelled about 44,268 miles, to 25 countries/regions, 375 cities, and 1,645 places.  While it's a bit creepy that it knows that (!), it also is interesting to see those numbers.  It makes me a bit tired because I know that I still have two more international trips this year as well as some domestic ones, but more than anything it makes me incredibly grateful.

• I am grateful to God for the amazing things I see in His world, in both creation (nature) and in His unique, dynamic people.  
• 
  I am grateful to God for the opportunities to join Him in the work that He is doing in His church around the world, as He continues to bring people together to reclaim the redeemed Marketplace.  
• I am grateful to God for the people who have created airlines, cars, microphones, projectors, computers, internet, and more that allow this work to spread.  
• I am grateful to God for the DML team and our implementing partners in so many countries who have a similar calling and carry out their work with integrity and passion.  
• I am grateful to God for each person who prayers for our ministry and supports it financially, participating in helping people to grow their businesses and alleviate poverty, create jobs, and help work become an act of worship.

Lord, you are good and your mercies endure forever!

Jubilant Fields: Helping Creation Worship

Have you seen a jubilant field?  

We don't often recognize fields as jubilant but I'm guessing we can all imagine what a jubilant field might look like.  I imagine that it is growing healthy, strong, tall, with lots of fruit.  I imagine it stretching to heaven, a vibrant green, and waving in a healthy breeze. 

What about forests, singing for joy?  

We often quote "the trees of the field will clap their hands."  We can imagine trees waving together in unison in a forest, even while individual leaves are clapping their hands.   

In Psalm 96: 11-13, we see this imagery and it reminds us that creation understands worship.  And just as importantly, we get to help creation worship.

11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.
       He will judge the world in righteousness
            and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Isaiah 35:1-2 gives us even more imagery:

    1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

Wow!  The desert and parched land will be glad!  The wilderness will rejoice and blossom!  The crocus will burst into bloom and will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. 

As creation exuberantly and worshipfully responds to its Maker, we see God's exuberance as well:  an overabundance of seeds that are produced that will never germinate, leaves on trees that turn brilliant colors whether or not anyone sees them, species of fish hidden from sight deep in the ocean, flowers bursting in every field and place where no person is tending.  All of it is there to be enjoyed.  And it is part of a flourishing creation that worships God.  

Humans are called to help articulate creation's praise.  That's what we get to do through our daily work. We do it as we shape a tree into a chair or bed or violin.  We do it as we work in a field to produce food.  We do it as we take iron from rocks or copper from the hills and shape it into meaningful things to help people flourish (Deut. 8).  

But we remember Genesis 2:15 which says we WORK and CARE for creation.  We both serve and protect.  As you do both in this week, I pray that it will be an act of worship for you and that you in turn will see creation worshipping as well!