There is great blessing when we as Christians follow the Lord. We don’t always see it as a blessing when we are in the midst of a trial, but there is great blessing in all the Lord puts us through. I have been on the side of blessing that seems more like a curse since the last time I was in the Philippines. Losing your son can do that to you, but knowing that God works out all things to His glory, there is hope that there is much goodness to be had. Through the death of my son, God had given me a deeper desire to proclaim the death of His Son. The desire to serve the One that made me, and the desire to see the lost drawn back to the God that is pursuing them, is truly a blessing that has come from the “curse” of losing Renner.
Today, four members of the team preached God’s word in Filipino churches, David Vecchitto, Carlo Filipelli, Arron Cl
ine, and myself. It can be challenging to stand up in a room full of people you don’t know, and speak, let alone teach them from God’s word. The three of us that are not pastors all had a sense of a great weight to handle God’s word with care, and to preach the Word of God faithfully. This being my second time preaching, it was easier to stand up front and speak, but the weight of teaching God's Word was still there. For me, I know that the process of putting a sermon together was a great place to grow in deeper relationship with Jesus, and it was a great joy to serve the Church and share the Word of God.After church, most of us meet up at God Cares Church for their 26th anniversary celebration lunch. It was a time of great food and fellowship. We did have a little down-tim
e in the afternoon, so we relaxed, shared a few laughs with each other, and made a trip to ShopWise (Wal-Mart) for water and other yummy goodies that we can share with the children that live around the PTC center. For dinner, we went to Paul’s house for some tilapia that we got from one of the fisheries yesterday, and, wow was it good. After dinner we worshiped God with some music, and even "Skyped" with Brain Kumkowski.Tomorrow is the national election in the Philippines, so we are not sure what to expect. We will be going to the PTC to work, but there may be some delays in getting there, due to election traffic, but we are trusting that God will be at work and that much work will be done.
Thank You Crossway. Without your support as a Church body, and individually, we would not be able to be here. Thank you for prayers. Thank you for your desire to want to see God glorified, not only in Kenosha, but everywhere in the world.
Be praying for our day tomorrow that we would be quick to hear what God is telling us, that we would be slow to anger when our patience is thin and the heat of the day is upon us, that we would bring God's Word to bear in our lives, and that we would be fruitful in growing God’s kingdom.
Donnie Lehmann
