Thoughts of a Servant

I received a letter from my sponsored child today.  I am always amazed to hear the wonders of their world.  They have such simple lives, and I envy them dearly for it.  Today, I went to work and tried to come up with a few algorithms to do some calculations for a program I am creating– That was my ENTIRE day, now this is what my child had to say about her day:

We are harvesting these days.  During hte weekend I will be herding the cattle with my brother chasing away baboons from the field.  Baboons use to come in our field stealing maize and pumpkins and ground nuts so for us to see them from afar we built a tower with poles if we see them we blow a whistle and people start to chase them with dogs.  I love chasing baboons.

- Pride

How awesome is that?!?!?  “I love chasing baboons”  I wanna chase a baboon…

So here’s the scenario…  There is a tribal leader in the mountains of South America– He has grown up a kind man, following the path set forth by his ancestors.  He has encouraged great growth of his children, and protected his village from outsiders and dangers of the forest.  However, this gentle man has never heard of Jesus.  He has never had a chance to have a relationship with Jesus.  Now when he dies, where does he go?  Does he go to Heaven because he couldn’t have known better?  Does he go to hell because he didn’t know Christ? What happens???

This is something that I struggled with until now.  Probably because I didn’t want to accept the truth.  I believe that this man, although good works throughout his life, although he remained a kind and gentle soul, will go to Hell.  It is very clearly stated that:

I [Jesus] am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 4:16

Scary isn’t it?  But it is true . We (YES, all of us) were born sinners.  Although this man may have been good to our standards… In God’s eyes, he is still a sinner–  My heart goes out to Men and Women and children like this.  I can’t imagine sitting at home doing nothing while my Brothers in Christ have never heard the word of God and won’t have a chance to have a relationship with such a wonderful God.

Bowed Heads Bring Better Sight
by Julius Mashini

The road ahead is deep and wide
The gate to follow is lost in the tide
What gives hope is arms that hold
And grace that grows

With heads bowed to follow the line
A quick side glance to view
A long side look to lose teh way
A Prayer and a bow adjusts the Course

What way am I that leads
How can this be that I can see
Why do I deserve this hand
That leads me straight to you

I have never seen America this way.  This is partly because I grew up here.  But it certainly has its truths in how we perceive our nation.  A gentleman came here for bible college from India, which was where he spent his entire life.  He had a steadfast passion for Lord, and had encountered many things that we cannot even imagine, like casting out devils, witchcraft, stonings, etc.  He is also the author of this book that I am reading, Revolution in World Ministries.

He mentioned that when he came to America he was surprised at how blind we were in not seeing how much of a Religious battle we are in.  He saw the yoga channels, the gambling, herbal supplements, etc.  Growing up where he did, these were common practices of other religious beliefs– dangerous beliefs.  For example, Yoga is a practice of Yogi, which is a religion of the East.  But things like yoga attract us into thinking it is an exercise rather than a religious practice…  So in a sense, the devil is disguising these beliefs in activities that would subtly ease our way into our mind.  Eastern religions are also in a sense marketing themselves in the American culture because we are an easy target as we believe many things and accept many things.  Tricky little turd.

Its game time.

Whole Day
by Julius Mashini

The Sun came up
My heavy eyes lifted
To begin a New
Under God’s graceful eye

Noise slowly returned to Bridges
What darkness subdued
Morning gvae hope
Hearts devoted to God

Singing through to God
Sunshine outside
Lovely Day
Peaceful Day

The birds fly through to the sky
Summer breeze lifts them to great heights
Soaring over God’s creation
His faithful servants below.

The Woven Path
by Julius Mashini

What morning is this,
That leads me away–
Away from a time of hard work,
grace and fun.

Whta place will it be
That calls me next
Will it be the Calm
Normality that dulls the mind

The quiet preparation
for another storm
Another chance to grow
and nurture a deeper Connection.

A time and place at the
end of time and place
Where we all gather to
Celebrate the Woven Path
of all things.

Image by * hiro008 via Flickr

Today was quite an enlightening day.  We went to a Hillsong Worship service at Newport church in Anaheim…  It was pretty darn cool.  I love mixing it up with different churches, etc.  It keeps my heart focused on the worship rather than the church.  But a few things realllly stood out to me today:

1.  I read in my book and did a little research and found that there are ~392 (cite) languages that have a Bible translation.  Thats awesome!  But while thats awesome, there are ~6,913 languages in the world (cite & cite).  That means, that a mere 5% of the world’s languages can actually read the Bible.  Its so scary to think that 95% of the world will have never heard or read the Word of Jesus Christ!

Me personally, I have been gifted in nerdy stuff– I am seriously considering starting an organization of opensource translation into the many languages that are not yet translated and then finding a way to publish it and send these out to the locations.

2. We all look forward to our Birthdays–  We count the days as we approach our birthdays with great joy.  We start planning, “oh where shall we go, what shall we do, when shall we do it, who can come, what will we eat, etc…”  Then fifteen days comes, then ten– The anticipation builds up inside of us.   We begin to wonder what it will be like, how fun it will be, etc.  Then five, four… three.. TWO…

Now what if those three to four weeks was the remainder of your life?  There was a woman in our congregation that now has to face this fact because she has been given four weeks to live due to a terminal cancerous tumor.  We can most certainly dread that day, or we can welcome the day that we get to meet our Savior face to face.  But moreso, what would you do in those four weeks to change the World for God?  What relationships would you mend? What grudges would you forgive– What would you do that would leave a positive, Godly, impact on someone’s life?

Now, what would that look like if we did that in our daily life as though we were given only a short period to live?  This is EXACTLY what we are supposed to do.  Our life is precious.  Our love is endless.  Our passion is in Christ.

I am… Love
by Julius Mashini

The desire to love,
Desperation to be loved,
“Where will I go”
This love is killing me.

The absence of you is in the most time I need you,
“Where will I go”
This love is killing me,
This love is breaking me,
Knowing that you love someone else
This love is killing me.

Knowing that you play me a fool,
Telling me lies,
Where will I go?
This love gives me joy.

My heart glows on your appearances,
But  how do you feel on my appearance?
Who do you really love?
This love is killing me.

How do I tell her?
by Julius Mashini

Round conspicuous eyes… Pretty face..
With exciting smile… I love to envy…
Mouth just shines… With lipstick paint…
She’s in the time… o one could take…

How do I express myself?
How do I tell her how I feel?

I love her so badly… eyes indeed…
My mind is so steady… from my head to my knees…
Beginning to feel empty… like a Mother who lost Twins…
With I told her so early… things could have been fine it seems…
How do I tell her how I feel?

She looks like a rough diamond…
Something so precious…
Just like a water with high foam… More like a brain of a genius…
I feel trapped in last seconds of time bomb…
Like the coming of Jesus…
How do I explode these feelings like striked bomb…
Damn I’m so nervous.

How do I express my me?
How do I tell her how I feel?

We don’t choose to fall in love…
It just happens…
We don’t just write about love…
Unless we fallen…

I think I have fallen in love.. with that woman.
How do I express my love… to that Woman…
How do I express myself?
How do I tell her how I feel?

Fraternity
by Julius Mashini and Jonathan Reyes

Two friends,

on this pleasant Earth,
distant at Birth.

Seperate in culture,
Seperate in time,
Seperate in strength,
Seperate in rhyme–

Me and my friend –
are two nations.

No.

We are One Nation.
We cry together.
We are burdened.
We are one flesh.

A divine fraternity,
based on trust–
providing safety
is a must.

One movement
One body
One shield
One army.

We are the Army of God
We fight the Battle together.

Julius & Jon
Jesus & I