Since arriving home for furlough on August 26th I have experienced the joy of seeing my family and friends and the pleasure of making new ones, but coming home has also been one of the most trying times financially for us. I found myself having to trust the Lord at a whole new level that I have never experienced before.  In my devotion time I was directed to the scripture -

"And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness— secret riches.
I will do this so you may know the I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, the one that calls you by name."
Isaiah 45:3

In the previous verse (Isaiah 45:2) the Lord reminded Cyrus that He would go before him and level the mountains. Believe me there are a few mountains that I would like levelled. Through these dark periods in our lives we are reminded that they are to be treasures from God. They are actually riches stored in secret places. God is ruler over light and darkness, over good times and bad. Our lives are sprinkled with both types of experiences, and both are needed for us to grow spiritually. We don't always see those times in this light because they are often accompanied with pain and fear that prevents us from accepting these times as treasures.

I am learning that through each difficult situation God is showing his mercy, that I can experience breakthroughs in my life,  so God can demonstrate His faithfulness and receive all the glory and honor. I know that I can trust God to meet the deepest needs in my life. He wants us to know that we are " called by name." Every hair of our head is numbered. Every activity we are involved in He knows and His love for you and me has knows no bounds, he will take every opportunity to demonstrate this to you and me.

If you feel you are in a place of darkness, trust the Lord today and allow Him to reveal the hidden treasures that can be found. Let Him call you by name.

Shannon

Something the Lord has put on my heart this past month is the desire to live with an expectant heart. I was reminded of my earlier days in Christ when it was so easy to trust the Lord and His word, I had this childlike faith, eagerly anticipating God to move in my life and the lives of others. Each time God showed up and moved in our lives was like a gift sent to us to show his extravagant love for us. ( Oh how i had missed those days)
 
I was reminded of the sermon that Pastor Peter Wee spoke on several weeks back titled, " There is a miracle knocking on your door." I was blessed by his statement, " There is power in the level of your expectations. In all honesty I felt that I had misplaced or lost the faith to believe for the miraculous in my life and the lives of those I love. As Pastor Peter mentioned, " why are we so afraid to ask for a miracle before we see one? We must have faith for the miraculous in our family, ministry, business, and church lives.
 
Opening a door requires action, you must take steps of faith, but sometimes we are afraid of what is waiting on the other side. Only to find out that God has been waiting for us with open and loving arms and to show us that with God all things are possible.
 
Jesus looked hard at them and said, "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it." Matthew 19:26 Message Bible.
 
So many times we try and work things out in our lives, our families and our ministries that we forget that God can do it, we try to work things out alone, not realizing that He is waiting and is our help in time of need.
God is not only taking care of the immediate but He is taking care of the future.  

We are now at a door that requires a new level of faith and expectancy as we embark on the need of expansion of the ministry here in Mindanao.  We have out grown our leased property and are asking God for provision to purchase land where we can establish our permanent ministry center where we can continue to equip tribal pastors and train our ever increasing addition of horses to be assigned to pastors for the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the mountains.
At times it feels overwhelming and each day is a new day to trust God and walk in faith knowing that, " He who has begun a good work, will complete it."
 
To begin these steps of faith we will be returning back to Canada Aug 26th for a brief time of visiting churches and ministries, businesses and such. Over the past 16 months we have done our best to advance the ministry with less than $700 monthly support and few one-time offerings - of which we are very grateful!  Although Darrell & I are tentmakers, our business has great difficulties in meeting all the short-falls.  We need to increase our monthly supporter base and the continuance of sponsors for horses, bio-water filters, training, etc.  This can be difficult when you live half way around the world. So we will be taking this time when we are home to develop an awareness of this unique ministry in any opportunity given to us while back on furlow.

We have our calendar open and are ready to start making our schedule for SEPT/OCT/NOV.  If you think your pastor; home group; horse club; corporate/business owners or any opportunity for us to share how God is working through our ministry. Please contact us and we'd be delighted to see if we can co-ordinate it with our schedule.

Email:  info@crosscultureministries.com

We look forward to seeing everyone when we get home!

Blessings!

Shannon & Darrell 

"The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.  The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble."
Proverbs 4:18-19

Several weeks ago Darrell and I took a trip to the Bukidnon to attend the Kaamulin festival and to facilitate one of our Tribal Pastors Horsemanship training weeks. Before we left we had some major work done on the jeep. It has been a trial to find mechanics here that you can trust, and if you don't oversee the work you could be taken advantage of. With the jeep full to capacity and wanting to sing our favourite Salty Singing songbook song, we were confident that we could now embark on our journey to the bukidnon, ( So we thought ).

About 3/4 of the way, the radiator hose bursts on the jeep, all because the first mechanic did not replace the hose as we had asked him too a year ago. So here we are in the middle of the bukid with a broken down jeep, ( oh the life of a missionary). Darrell text Pastor Blas, and about 3 1/2 hours later our third honorary Rescue 911 Pastor shows up with the multi cab to tow us to Valencia. Towing a vehicle is not a problem and it is amazing what one can do in the Philippines that we wouldn't be able to do back home. When all you have is rope, you work with what you have and Nonoy our horseman proceeded to tie the rope to the Jeep and we continued on our travels. Night comes quickly in the bukid and when you are trying to tow a vehicle in the dark and up steep inclines it can become challenging enough, but my biggest fear at this point was ther large semi trucks and buses that we could encounter, and a majority of these drivers probably have not had any sleep for the past 24 hours and living on drugs to keep them awake. (You get the picture right?)

We were successfully making progress until we arrived at a very steep hill, the poor little multi cab was definitely showing us what it was made out of, (at this point i thought of the story of the little engine that could) About half way up the hill the multi cab stops. Darrell is in the jeep and Nonoy jumps off the back of the multi cab to find a rock to place behind the wheels so it won't start sliding backwards.

Darrell then decided to switch vehicles with Blas, and he was now at the lead. I decided to get out of the multi cab and walk alongside of the jeep, as it was going slow enough for me to walk. As I am walking beside the jeep it begins to start moving faster, then faster and at this point Pastor Blas in now telling me to jump into the jeep, now if you have ever seen pictures of our jeep, it is like trying to run alongside of a moving medium size monster truck. I  realized then that i would never make it in a major marathon as i was running along side the jeep and trying to jump in, laughing and  panicking because if felt like an actor in the Left Behind series.
Both of the vehicles were gaining momentum and darrell could not stop. As you guessed, i was left behind, in the dark, in the bukid with no light to guide my way. I could hardly see a foot in front of me and who knows what i may stumble over, example; cobras. With no flashlight or cell phone, I began my hike up the steep dark unlit hill, and in the far off distance I could see a tiny glimpse of light, ( was it an angel? )  apparently Nonoy our horse man had told Darrell that Mom Shannon was left behind, and Darrell sent him off to fetch me. I don't think I will ever forget this experience.
And the progress on the jeep?, well that is another blog.

In John 12:35 we read "Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth". (This was definitely me for a brief moment)
The metaphor is so appropriate. We all know how difficult it can be to walk in the dark and how pleasant it is to walk in the light. If we follow Jesus' example and teaching, then we will walk in the light and what a pleasant and wonderful experience it will be! However, if we fail to follow Jesus' example and teaching, then we will grope in the darkness and what a miserable and awful experience that will be! In the light we have confidence, joy, direction, faith and progress. In the dark we have timidity, fear, confusion, doubt.
Jesus said in John 8:12 "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." I have seen how dangerous it is to walk in darkness. I've also seen how invigorating it is to walk in the light. In what path will you walk today? Darkness? Or Light? As for me, I'm choosing to walk in the light.

Today,  follow after the light, let God direct your way and don't be left in the dark!

For the last month or so, our water pump on the property was not working adequately, what would happen is that the water pump would never shut off, so every time we used it we would have to turn it on and off manually so it would not overheat.
 We eventually found a plumber who came and took the whole pump apart only to find out that a very tiny pebble was stuck right inside a very important place in the pressure valve.  I was amazed at how something so small could stop the flow of water that helps us with our daily needs on the property and with the horses.
 I was also reminded of how that small pebble resembles different sins in our lives, and how they can stop the moving of the Holy Spirit in and through us.

So I was thinking ,"Lord what pebble's are there in our lives that stop the flowing of your Holy Spirit"? What sins have we allowed to lodge in the pressure valves of our hearts?
Is it unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, envy, jealousy, pride?...." Lord you know what it is", and I know by your Holy Spirit and the Master Engineer, you will expose those hidden sins.

"For I know of nothing against myself, all my hidden sins - yet - I am not innocent
For the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and expose the motives of my heart …"
1 Cor. 4:4-5

Hidden Sins - stop us from attaining our Destiny
Hidden Sins - stop us from walking in Glory

Just like we couldn't see what was stopping the pump from working, we knew
that there was something hidden inside that we just couldn't see.
We had asked for help but it took a qualified plumber to fix the problem.
So many times we go to the wrong people for advice or help only to find out that they
could not help or fix what only God can expose and restore.

Today let the Master who knows you better then you know yourself come and fill you to overflowing, let Him expose the pebbles in your life that have caused your heart to seize up and yes even overheat sometimes.
( Believe me this is something God is working on me as I learn to adjust to a new culture here in the Philippines and in Mindanao )


Pebble by pebble – as we are willing - the Lord brings His bright light and Master tools of His word and reveals  - ALL - the deep hidden places that are in our hearts.

Lord today,
Come and shine Your bright light upon us that we can recognize and give You all our hidden sins.  Search us dear Holy Spirit - come to all the dark corners hidden within us - cleanse us and wash us, so we can be as white as snow.  Go to all the places that we keep hidden and won’t allow You or anyone else, to come anywhere near to.   All the pain that’s inside our hearts - mind - and soul, and all the offenses and touchiness, the things that bring You sorrow and pain, these are the areas that separates us from You.  Do anything and everything that You need to do Lord, to clean the inside of this heart of ours, then we will stop leaking You’re Grace, when we make wrong choices – and have wrong reactions.   We will begin to overflow with Your Presence, and Your Light will shine brightly – through us – to others.

As we approach 2010 I think about all the things that have happened in our lives, some good and some devastating. Leaving some people questioning God.
I have learn't that God is not sleeping, He hasn't folded up his hands, and said "I am out of here!".
Although sometimes I wouldn't blame Him the way His children act and treat Him.

Hebrews 13:5-6 says

"Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things that you have, for he has said, 'I will never  leave you, nor forsake you,' so that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.'"

God does not abandon us. Never !!

Abandonment is something we see here all the time in Davao. Children abandon to the streets, women abandoned by their husbands, the list goes on. I think of a blog that was recently posted by our dear missionary friend Steve Hyde in Cambodia, titled " Mommy where are you?".  Steve mentions a conversation that he had with three kids who where standing by his car. He asked them "why they were up so late at night?", of which one of the older boys replied "we are waiting for mommy". As it was these children were waiting for there mom who had crossed the Thailand border to try and find work. If they get a job they maybe gone for days, weeks and even years. For some of these children their parents may never come home. They are left to beg, and as Steve writes on his blog, their mother had given them a bottle and told them to beg for milk for their baby brother.
 Read more »

 Read more »

Darrell and I were watching the CNN Hero's Awards the other night, what a inspiration it was to see everyday people changing their world. The different categories of people who were nominated were: