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Shaking Without Power

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Samson, the Departed Spirit, and the Illusion of Strength

There is a moment in Scripture that is as tragic as it is terrifying:

“He awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.” — Judges 16:20

Samson did not stop believing he was strong. He did not stop moving. He did not stop acting like God was still with him. He shook himself—just like always. But the power was gone.

This is one of the most sobering lines in the Bible because it reveals something many people never consider:

It is possible to continue the motions of faith after the presence of God has quietly withdrawn.

For years, Samson had known what it felt like when the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him. Strength surged. Enemies fell. Victories came. But compromise crept in:

  • Small steps away from obedience.
  • Small indulgences of sin.
  • Small dismissals of holiness.

None of them seemed to matter—until suddenly they did.

And when the final line was crossed, Samson still stood up expecting God to move.

But heaven was silent.

This did not happen only to Samson. The Same Thing Happened to the Temple centuries later. In Ezekiel’s vision, the prophet watches something heartbreaking unfold: The glory of the LORD—His manifest presence—departs from the temple (Ezekiel 10–11). The presence of the Lord was gone.

Yet the priests kept offering sacrifices.

  • The singers kept singing.
  • The incense kept burning.
  • The rituals continued.
  • The machinery of worship kept running.

But the presence was gone.

God had left His house, and most of the people never noticed. They believed Jerusalem couldn’t fall because it was home to the Temple—to the Ark of the covenant. 

But God had issued His people certificate of divorce.

In Jeremiah 3:8, the Lord says,

“I saw, when, for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah didn’t fear, but went and played the prostitute also.” — Jeremiah 3:8

There is a terrifying parallel here. And this is what makes Samson’s story so dangerous. It is also what makes Jesus’ judgment of the temple so severe. Both reveal a truth we desperately need to hear:

God’s presence is not guaranteed by tradition.

You can have:

  • Scripture
  • Sermons
  • Songs
  • Services
  • Structures
  • Strategies

And still miss the Spirit.

Just as Samson shook himself, many churches are shaking themselves today.

  • The lights come on.
  • The music starts.
  • The message is delivered.
  • The schedule runs.
  • The livestream streams.

But power is not present.

Why We Don’t Notice When He Leaves

Samson didn’t realize the LORD had departed because nothing outwardly changed at first. That’s the danger. When God’s presence fades, the systems remain.

When power departs, programs continue. When holiness is lost, activity stays. And so people assume God is still there.

  • But fruit disappears.
  • Lives stop being transformed.
  • Sin becomes comfortable.
  • Prayer becomes thin.
  • Repentance becomes rare.
  • The fear of the LORD fades.
  • The church still shakes.

But nothing moves.

“Not by Might, Nor by Power…”

God once spoke through the prophet Zechariah: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD.”

  • Samson believed it was by might.
  • The temple believed it was by ritual.
  • Many churches believe it is by strategy.

But fruitfulness never comes from human strength.

It comes from God’s presence.

  • No amount of gifted preaching can replace the Spirit.
  • No level of excellence can substitute for holiness.
  • No amount of innovation can generate life.

Only God gives fruit.

The Quiet Warning to Us

Samson was not defeated by his enemies first. He was defeated by the absence of God.

The temple was not destroyed because of its enemies. It was destroyed because God had already left it.

And churches do not become fruitless because of culture. They become fruitless because they have lost dependence.

They shake themselves.

But there is no power.

The Way Back

The answer is not to shake harder.

It is not to work more.

It is not to do better.

It is to return.

  • To the truth.
  • To confession.
  • To repentance.
  • To humility.
  • To prayer.
  • To surrender.
  • To abiding.

Because when the Spirit of God is present, fruit grows.

And when He is not, no amount of motion can make up for it.

So the question we must ask is not: “Are we busy for the Lord?”

It is: “Is the Spirit of the LORD still with us?”

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Productive but Unfruitful

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There is a subtle danger facing many believers and churches today—not laziness, not apathy, but something far more deceptive: productivity without fruitfulness.

Church calendars are full. Programs are running. Social media posts are scheduled. Sermons are preached. Volunteers are busy. Metrics are tracked. From the outside, everything looks alive.

And yet, beneath the motion, something essential may be missing.

When Activity Replaces Abiding

Scripture never measures faithfulness merely by activity. Jesus never said, “By this My Father is glorified, that you stay busy.” Instead, He said the Father is glorified when we bear much fruit.

Fruit, in biblical terms, is not synonymous with output. Fruit is the result of life—life flowing from connection to Christ. Productivity, however, can exist without life. Machines are productive. Assembly lines are productive. Even religious programs can be productive.

But fruit requires abiding.

When abiding in Christ is replaced by striving for results, the church may still grow outwardly while slowly hollowing inwardly. We begin doing things for God that He never asked us to do apart from Him.

The Illusion of Faithfulness

One of the most dangerous assumptions a believer or church can make is this:

“Because we are doing many things, we must be doing the right things.”

But Scripture repeatedly warns that outward success can coexist with inward barrenness.

A church can:

  • Host events yet fail to make disciples
  • Preach sermons but not embrace the Word
  • Sing worship songs without adoring the Lord
  • Serve communities without loving people
  • Teach Scripture without repentance from sin

The fig tree Jesus cursed was not dead. It was full of leaves. It looked healthy. But it bore no fruit. And Jesus’ judgment was not against inactivity—but against appearance without substance.

Why We Drift Toward Productivity

Productivity is measurable. Fruitfulness is not always immediately visible.

We can count attendance, offerings, downloads, views, volunteers, and programs. But fruit—repentance, holiness, humility, love, endurance, faith—often grows quietly and slowly.

In a results-driven culture, churches can feel pressure to prove effectiveness. Over time, this pressure subtly reshapes priorities. Prayer becomes preparation instead of dependence. Scripture becomes content instead of authority. Ministry becomes about performance instead of people.

Eventually, we may find ourselves maintaining momentum rather than pursuing maturity.

Fruit Always Costs Something

Biblical fruitfulness is costly.

Fruit requires:

  • Pruning
  • Waiting
  • Submission
  • Repentance
  • Dying to self

Productivity, by contrast, often rewards speed, visibility, and control.

This is why fruitfulness can feel inefficient. It slows us down. It exposes us. It forces us to ask uncomfortable questions—not just “Is this working?” but “Is this faithful?”

A church can avoid those questions for a long time by staying busy. But eventually, the absence of fruit becomes evident—especially in moments of trial, suffering, or cultural pressure.

The Quiet Signs of Fruitlessness

Fruitlessness rarely announces itself loudly. It shows up quietly:

  • Shallow conversions
  • Minimal biblical literacy
  • Little hunger for prayer
  • A lack of passion for souls to be saved
  • Resistance to correction
  • Fear of truth
  • Division beneath unity language
  • Comfort replacing conviction

The danger is not that churches are doing nothing. The danger is that they are doing everything except what produces lasting fruit.

Returning to the Source

The solution is not fewer activities—it is deeper roots.

Fruit does not come from better strategies but from renewed dependence. It flows from lives and churches that are willing to slow down, listen, repent, and realign.

Fruitfulness begins when we ask:

  • Are we abiding or merely operating?
  • Are we forming disciples or managing programs?
  • Are we hearing God’s Word or just teaching it?
  • Are we willing to be pruned, even if it costs growth?

When a church returns to abiding, some activities may fall away. Some numbers may dip. Some expectations may change. But over time, what grows back will be alive.

The Goal Was Never Productivity

Jesus did not commission His followers to build impressive buildings or programs. He called them to follow Him, to be transformed, and to bear fruit that remains.

The church does not exist to stay busy.

Believers do not exist to stay occupied.

We were created to be alive in Christ—and living things bear fruit.

So here’s the question:

Are you fruitful? Or just productive?

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Give Thanks

Family Devotions - Thanksgiving, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thanksgiving Day – Family Devotion

This is a great story to share with family around the dinner table. It is also a great way to create an opportunity to share the Gospel with people in your family who may not know Christ.

READ

Ravensbrook, Germany 1944

(During World War II Corrie and Betsie Ten Boom were arrested by the Germans for helping people the Nazis were hurting. Both sisters were strong Christians. )

Corrie and Betsie Ten Boom, prisoners 66729 and 66730, were led into Barracks 28, past rows of worktables and into a large dormitory room filled with great square tiers stacked three high. Here they would sleep, squeezed among hundreds of other inmates at the concentration camp.

Fighting claustrophobia, Corrie and Betsie squirmed into an upper deck and found their assigned places on the reeking straw. Suddenly Corrie jerked up, striking her head on a cross- slat. Something had pinched her leg. The two sisters scrambled off the tier and dropped down in a narrow aisle. Moving to a patch of light they saw them—fleas! “The place is swarming with them!” Corrie groaned. “Betsie, how can we live in such a place?”

The insects were the last straw for Corrie. She and her sister had been starved and humiliated. They’d endured filth, cold and back-breaking labor. They’d witnessed unforgettable cruelties. And now to be infested with fleas…Corrie wondered how she could go on.

Betsie had an answer. She’d read it in the Bible that morning—in First Thessalonians, where Paul urged believers to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God…”

Betsie suggested they thank God for every single thing about their new barracks. Corrie stared around at the dark, foul-smelling room and couldn’t generate much gratitude. Betsie thought of two things to thank God for. They’d been assigned to this place together and they’d managed to hang on to their Bible. Corrie murmured assent.

Clutching the Bible, Betsie prayed, “Thank You for all the women, here in this room, who will meet You in these pages. Thank You for the very crowding here. Since we’re packed so close, thank You that many more will hear!” Corrie grudgingly murmured assent.

Betsie continued serenely: “Thank You for the fleas and for…”

This was too much for Corrie. “Betsie,” she interrupted, “there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.”

But Betsie insisted, “’Give thanks in all circumstances.’ It doesn’t say, ‘In pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.”

There in the narrow aisle Corrie bit her lip and thanked God for the fleas.

Corrie and Betsie did find many women in Barrack 28 eager to hear from those pages. Each evening after receiving a cup of turnip soup they’d make their way to the rear of the dormitory where a bare light bulb cast a yellow circle on the wall, and they would read from the Bible. Soon a large group of women were gathering to listen.

The Ten Booms always read from the Scriptures. They translated their Dutch verses into German, and then eager listeners packed together on the tiers would pass the precious words back in French, Polish, Russian, Czech. To some it seemed a small preview to Heaven.

Night after night the meetings grew larger and yet no guard ever came near. So many wanted to join that the sisters started a second service after roll call. Guards patrolled everywhere at the camp; half-a-dozen always paced about in the center room of the barracks, yet for some reason none ever entered this dormitory. The women couldn’t understand it.

One day Betsie discovered exactly why they could enjoy their island of religious freedom. There was a mixup about sock sizes in her knitting group. They’d asked the supervisor to come and settle it. But she refused to step through the door into the room. None of the guards would either. They said, “That place is crawling with fleas!”*

Giving Thanks
God wants us to have thankful hearts and to give thanks in everything, not just when things turn out good or when they go the way we want. Because of who God is and what God can do, we can give thanks in every situation, no matter what.

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Participate – Go around your family and have everyone say something for which they are thankful.

SAY – Of all the thing for which we can give thanks, the greatest of all is that God loves each of us so much that he sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. The Bible says, “But God shows His love for us in this, that while we were yet sinner, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Depending on the situation, you might:

(1) Ask if anyone would like to share the story of how they gave their life to Christ.

(2) Share your story of how Jesus saved you and because of that how you know for sure that you’re going to Heaven.

(3) Simply conclude with a prayer of thanks.

CONCLUDING NOTE: Betsie Ten Boom continued living for Jesus in some of the harshest conditions imaginable until she died of illness in the Nazi concentration camp. She is said to have died with an angelic smile on her face. Corrie, her sister, was released because of a clerical error one week before all the women prisoners were executed as the war was coming to an end. Concerning her miraculous release she said, “God does not have problems. Only plans.” She became a very powerful Christian influence and speaker concerning the grace of God and her experiences during World War II. She continued to serve the Lord until her death in 1983 at the age of 91. To learn more about Corrie and her faith, visit www.tenboom.org.

*Steven R. Mosley, God a Biography, (Phoenix: Questar Publishers, Inc., 1988), p. 189-191.

Find more family devotions in:

72 Family Devotions for Spiritually Training Your Kids
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Featuring 72 action-packed, easy-to-lead family devotions. Set aside a night or two each week for a “special time” where you and your kids can have family fun together and learn valuable lessons from God’s Word. No advanced planning is needed. Anyone can do this. The ebook contains devotions concerning a variety of topics including salvation, fear, trust, sin, forgiveness and much more.

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“Am I Not Good Enough for You?”

Changed Lives

I was going door-to-door looking for opportunities to minister and pray for people. It was a low income neighborhood. The houses were small and packed in next to each other. As I finished one side of the street, I noticed that on the other side some children had come out to play in the front yard.

Next door to them was a man sitting alone on his porch, drinking from a can. I moved towards the house with the children. Usually when children are there, you can gently approach the house, ask from a distance if you can talk to mom or dad, introduce yourself, and ask if you can make the kids some balloon animals. Usually at that point, you have the parents and the kids gathered around while you make balloons and are able to tell them about the Gospel.

I didn’t intend to leave out the man on his porch—I had planned to go to the house with the children first and let him watch and listen, which I thought might peak his curiosity and open the door for a conversation there as well. I’m saying this to explain my intention because as soon as I headed toward the children’s house, he called out to me, “What! Am I not good enough for you to talk to?!”

My heart sank. I hadn’t intended for him to feel invisible or like I didn’t care but I could easily see how he might have perceived my actions this way.

I stopped and turned to him.

“Not at all,” I called back. “I have balloons and just thought they might want some balloon animals but I’d love to talk with you for a bit.”

I expected rejection. He had a mad glare in his eyes. I had obviously offended him. He sat kind of hunched over and was drinking from a beer can.

He paused.

“What are you selling?” he said with a tone.

“I’m not selling anything,” I replied, walking towards him on the porch.

“Jesus Christ changed my life and I was just wandering if I could share my story with you.”

“If you want,” he said, although he didn’t seem very interested.

I sat down on the porch next to him and began to tell him how Jesus saved me and gave me real life, how before I came to Christ, I didn’t really know what peace and joy were, and that God has a gift of eternal life for anyone willing to receive him.

I asked if he’d like to know more.

He said yes.

I shared with him the plan of salvation of how Jesus saves and right there on the steps of that porch in front of that small house next to the yard where the children were still playing, he bowed his head and prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior. Afterwards he looked at the beer can that was still in his hand and then, to my surprise, he flung it into the front yard.

“I don’t need that now,” he said.

I don’t think I’ll ever forgot how that beer can spun through the air, spraying a stream of liquid across the ground.

Jesus changed lives in the Bible and He still changes lives today.

The Bible says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:13-15).

Thank you to those who have partnered with us to send us out with the Good News. And thank you to those of who are our co-laborers, sharing the truths of God’s Word in the various ministries that the Lord has given you.

Partner with Us

You can partner with us in sharing by donating HERE. Or you can send a check to 330ministries, PO Box 9303, Tyler, TX 75711<-

Your gifts help touch lives around the world.

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Over 10,000 people heard the Gospel

Mission Reports

In India we shared 36 times with over 10,000 people. Tons of lost people heard the Gospel. Many of these were in the schools. Of course, in the schools we weren’t allowed to give an invitation but we explained very clearly how to receive Christ. I don’t know how many decisions we had as the result of this trip but we were faithful to boldly share the Good News and I don’t think we’ll truly ever know the outcome until we stand before the Lord in eternity. People were saved. Christians were challenged and encouraged. Leaders were trained. A pastor even told me after one of our open air meetings that there were several people who had come with sicknesses but that had God healed them during the meeting or as we prayed for them after.

Our success is not found in numbers but in faithfulness and obedience.

We also now understand the importance of our family going. God used each of us in different ways to share His love. Each of us played an important part and the Lord blessed and protected us.

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Continuing to Minister in India

Mission Reports

YouTube Video Outreach & More

Before we left for India we designed a card that we could distribute in all the schools where kids are taught English. We printed 10,000 of these cards because we wanted to use them as a way where English-speaking students could continue to hear the Gospel beyond  just one school program. The card contained a link to the Bible in the different languages where we would be sharing so they could read Scripture in their heart language as well as a link to our YouTube channel. We had heard that YouTube is big in India. Our goal was to drive people to watch more stunts and illusions on our channel as a way of getting them to hear more about the Gospel.

Since we arrived in India on February 1, we have already had over 58 hours of videos being watched from India. We don’t know how many people these 58 hours represent but we also picked up 149 new subscribers, many of whom have Indian sounding names. These people will be notified when we post a new video and with such a spike in viewing time, we trust that the Lord is continuing to move in people hearts as they watch these videos.

We are also talking with some leaders about using websites and video as a way of sharing the Gospel and we’ll continue to provide resources for the children’s leaders we met as well. We also now have several opportunities for ministry that are open doors in India. One is a foundation outside of Hyderabad that has started a school with over 700 students, a church and a community hall. They feed the children, since it is in a very poor slum area not far from the Hyderabad trash dump. We have a church in Guntur that has asked us to come back and spend more time with them and another is the last church where we shared in the slum village that has asked us to come back and spend several days with them. We’re praying about all the opportunities and will continue to seek God’s will concerning  the future.

Nathan sharing his salvation testimony.

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Sleeping on the Train | Heading Home

Mission Reports

Mary Beth and Ezri in our train compartment.

We left Chennai by train around 7pm. Our compartment had four beds because we wouldn’t arrive back in Hyderabad until 6:30am the next morning. It was a great experience and a much more comfortable ride than I had expected. The only issue was that the beds were plastic leather and as you slept your skin would stick to it so that when you sat up it was like pulling duct tape off your skin.

 

Our sleeping compartment on the overnight train.

 

Goodbyes through the train window. Ezri is blowing a kiss.

The next morning we checked back into a hotel, mainly to rest for a while and to leave our luggage while we visited the market. In the photo below Mary Beth is buying a few decorative handkerchiefs from the boys. We asked Sunil if these boys should be in school and he told us that because of their family situation, they were needed to work, selling items on the street to help support their family and because of this they would not get an education. Pray for these young men and other like them who are doing their best to survive from day to day.

Finally, we loaded our luggage and headed to the airport at around 6pm. We’ll fly to London and arrive at 6:30am, check into a hotel there for one day and one night and fly out the following day to finally go home.

 

On the train.

Nathan’s bed on the train.
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Praying for Needs

Mission Reports

Often after services people will surround you wanting you to pray for them. I think this is a part of the culture of Christianity here and I believe it springs from a Hindu custom. In Hinduism people want a “holy man” to bless them. On the Christian side I believe this shifts to wanting a minister to pray for them. At one of the open air meetings, people surrounded me as soon as the service was over. It’s hard to describe but it reminded me of when the women with the issue of blood touched Jesus and when Jesus asked who touched Him the disciple referred to how the crowd was pressing in on Him. That idea of a crowd pressing in on you is exactly what this instance was like. I literally couldn’t move any direction and from every direction people were reaching out and saying things like “Pray, pray,” or were pointing to the places on their bodies that they were hurting and saying “Headache,” “hand”, “foot”, etc. And even while you were praying for someone, you could feel other reaching out to you and bumping into you.

On the last night of our mission trip, the pastor asked if we could visit the hut of a couple who has been trying to have a baby for 10 years on our way to our last meeting. We agreed and Titus and I went. This couple lives in a very small, thatched hut that the husband made himself. There are only two small rooms, both about 7 feet by 7 feet. They were poor but they welcomed us with gifts. This was unnecessary, of course, but giving gifts in their culture seems to be a source of great joy. The wife had cooked a very special “snack.” It had four sweet items that are hard to describe. We ate these off banana leaves. The photo can’t do justice to the taste of these treat. All four of these items were amazingly good.

We talked and ate and then we knelt in the middle of their hut and prayed that God would bless them, as He did Hannah in the Bible, with a child and that their child would grow up to be a godly follower of Christ. I’m asking you to join me as I continue to pray for the Lord to give them a baby.

 

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My Heart was Burning Inside Me

Mission Reports

One of the greatest compliments that I had during our trip was a young man in his twenties who told me, “My heart was burning inside me while you spoke.”

Above is a picture from our last meeting. It was in a small church building in a slum village but what you can’t see is that there are about 100 or more people sitting in chairs outside. They even set up speakers on the porch so everyone could hear.

Part way through the service a pastor leaned over to me and said, “This is more people than we expected. A great majority of them are Hindu.”

I preached about the cross and God’s love for them. I could feel the spiritual tension in the room so much that as I spoke I prayed the Lord would rebuke any evil spirits. As I came to the invitation time, I said, “Tonight if you would be willing to received Christ,” and as soon as the words came out of my mouth, a balloon next to me popped. For years in evangelism training I have taught to expect distractions at the moment you invite someone to receive Christ.

I don’t know what all decisions were make that night but I saw several Hindu women crying as I explained the sacrifice that Jesus had made for them. I’ll never forget one of the ladies using her head scarf to wipe a tear from her eye.

Another school.

Titus sharing his paper-tearing cross trick along with his testimony.
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At the University: I was crying when he preached about our Jesus Christ

Mission Reports

We shared at a university while in Chennai, India. Although the president of the school is Hindu, she gave us permission to share our belief in Christ.

The students and faculty listened intently as I shared. Afterwards I was told that all of the professors had attended and more students than they had expected. I was also told that they had never listened to any speaker that well before. Usually the students would be going in and out of the room and the man who invited us told me that he was even afraid that they might heckle me. This Lord removed these obstacles, not because of me, but because the Holy Spirit was moving.

After the meeting one of the Christian students sent the text in the picture above to one of the professors: “I was crying when he preached about our Jesus Christ…I was totally shattered before entering the auditorium. After his preaching I was filled up with joy and happiness in Christ.”

Please pray for the University in Chennai. Pray for the president of the school—She is very kind and intelligent. Pray that God will touch her heart and open her eyes to the truth of the Gospel. Pray for the Hindu professors and the students here who heard the Gospel. Pray also for this Christian professor who is a light in darkness.
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Pastor Ebenezer & Family

Mission Reports

Pastor Ebenezer (seen in the far left of the above picture) was our translator in Chennai. His family is involved in multiple ministries in the area. His dad leads worship at his church. His sister and her husband minister through several of the schools and in another church. His other sister married the pastor of a church her father-in-law started 30 years ago. It was with this church that we held our last open air meeting. Pray for this family. They are making a difference in India. Pray for protection and pray that God will continue to use and bless them.

In the photo above, you can see Ebenezer’s grandmother, Poti (which means “old women”) and Ezri.  She had been a witch when she was younger. She was saved after her husband died and she was the first in her family to convert to Christianity.  We have asked them to video her testimony so that we can share it with you in the future.

Mary Beth in her saree.

More of Ebenezer’s family.

Pastor Ebenezer’s church on Sunday morning. This was the first church where there were more men in attendance than women.
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The One True God

Mission Reports

In the schools the Lord helped us to carefully walk a very fine line as we shared Jesus in front of thousands of students. Many of these students are Hindu or Muslim. We shared God’s plan to save us from our sin and how Jesus is the only way to have life and to be forgiven. God gave us boldness but there is one situation which stands in my mind above the rest.

 

The younger children at this school had prepared a special program for us.

We were sharing at a school and after I shared with the students, they asked Mary Beth and the boys questions. What do you believe about end times? What do you believe about the coronavirus? What do you believe about this and that. Then they asked Mary Beth, “If you could say anything to India, what would it be?”

She replied that God loved them and sent Jesus to make a way to save them. It was the Gospel in a nutshell. It was very similar to what I had shared earlier and although this was supposed to be the last question, one of the men who had been in charge of the questions, took the microphone and asked one more. It was basically just the same question, just rephrased. Both her and I could tell that he was digging deeper.

Without hesitation, she responded, “There are not many gods. There is only one true God who sent His Son, Jesus Christ…” Suddenly all the Christians in the room began to applaud. She had crossed a line. In India it is one thing to share Jesus, for which you can experience opposition, but it is something entirely different to look at Hinduism and basically say, “You’re wrong.” It was a line that God wanted us to cross that day.

Afterwards several of the pastors told us how blessed and encouraged they were that she said this without hesitation and without any regard to our safety or to any consequences that might have come on us for directly challenging Hinduism.

The girls did a traditional dance as part of the program the school planned to welcome our family.

Nathan answering questions.

Titus sharing.
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Ezri the Celebrity

Mission Reports

“She looks like a doll,” was the response we were given when we asked why so many people took such an interest in Ezri. They wanted pictures with her and when she acknowledged them their faces would light up as if something great had just happened.

The picture above is a family what was walking on the beach and wanted their daughter to meet her and to have a photo, or as they would say, “a quick snap”, with her.

Another tradition in India is to reach to a child’s mouth as if you’re pulling a kiss away from their lips and bring to your own lips to kiss your fingers. This happened over and over to Ezri and a few times to Titus too.Follow Us: Facebooktwitteryoutube
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An Encounter with a Poisonous Creature

Mission Reports

God many times protects us in spite of our own ignorance. While we were walking on the beach at the Bay of Bengal, we found shells. Some of these were small clams but some were small cone shells. Most of these were empty but we found a few that still had a creature inside.

Titus said, “I think I saw these on a documentary about deadliest animals.”

We didn’t think so but put these shells away after holding several. It turns out that these creatures are called Bengal Cones and carry a variety of toxins which can be deadly. There is also no antidote for them. We have a picture of one in Mary Beth’s hand and you can see a tube-like thing that is extended. When this creature senses a prey, it will shoot a stinger out of this tube that is so small that sometimes people don’t feel anything but it injects them with poison which can affect them a few minutes later or up to three days later.

The Lord shielded us from our own ignorance.

We also had an experience where I was reaching back into a car to get my backpack and the driver didn’t realize that the door wasn’t closed. He began to drive forward. Ezri and my toes were only inches from the tire when this happened.

These are just a couple of scenarios that could have been bad had the Lord not intervened. And I’m sure that there were dozens of other situations that the Lord protected us from about which we were completely unaware.

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.” Psalm 28:7

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A Day of Rest

Mission Reports

In Guntur City churches loaded kids into vans like this to come hear us share.

After Guntur City, we left at 6am on Monday for a 7 hour train ride to Chennai. You can’t buy a seat for children age  5 and under, so Ezri sat on our lap the entire time. It was tight in the train. We didn’t have a translator once we left the station and we were exhausted. In fact, the last thing they told us before getting on the train was, “Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t trust anyone. The people are waiting to meet you at Chennai.” This was a little disconcerting but we weren’t concerned. We were just tired. 

While in Guntur City, Titus began to feel sick. Ezri and I both started coughing from all the pollution and dust and Mary Beth began having a small allergic reaction as well. 

Once we arrived at Chennai we rested and took a day to relax at the beach. It reminded me why God puts such a priority on respecting the Sabbath. The rest was good and by Wednesday morning we were ready to begin the ministry here in Chennai. Follow Us: Facebooktwitteryoutube
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