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Hey everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know, if you're looking for more, I'm using my personal site now. So, feel free to check there for the latest updates on missions, sermons, poetry, photos, videos, and everything else I love.
Middleton Productions
See you there,
The Middleton(s)
Greetings friends,
At the end of next month I will be traveling to Zimbabwe as part of a team of missionaries. We will be helping with evangelism, training, children's programs, community service, and medical work in urban and rural areas. Personally, I will be video recording all aspects of the trip and producing a short film of the events that transpire. This trip will be life-changing for our team, for those we meet, and for those who have the opportunity to see the film when it is completed.
Each of us is required to raise funds to cover our airplane tickets. Each ticket costed over $2500. I appeal to you to make a donation to help defray our cost of travel.
Donate a dollar, or five, or ten, or twenty. Anything helps and Everything makes a difference. You may donate by clicking the link below, or contacting me directly.
Thank you in advance, and God bless you.
Sincerely,
Benjamin
"Slave who?" I read from the side of the old familiar trailer. It has been a full year since the graffiti had been the signal to me that I had arrived "home." My job was now elsewhere. My "home" was now elsewhere. My heart, however, remained steadfastly transfixed to this place. Miracle Meadows School. So much toil. So much sweat. So many tears. As my car approached the main building on campus, I felt a strange sickness overtake me. A sinking nausea settled over my spirit, as if a dark force had been offended by my arrival. With a deep breath, I whipsered a prayers and began to look about at the place I had once known as home.
Soon, I departed to make my way to the place I would be staying for the duration of the week of prayer. Knowing that the sun would be rising sooner than I desired it to, I gazed upon my notes for the following morning's presentation and then found my way to my knees beside the bed, praying earnestly that God would bring about a miracle.
Monday Morning
"There is apparently a profound inability in humans to stick to a straight line when blindfolded, or when there is no fixed point--no sun, no moon, no mountain top to guide them." The narrator declared. It was Monday morning, and to start off the week of prayer I used an illustration from a number of scientific studies cited in an NPR video clip called "Why Can't We Walk Straight?" (http://www.vimeo.com/17083789). The point was very simple, yet profound. Humans literally wander around in circles when they have no fixed point of reference, or are entirely unable to see. As in the physical world, so in the spiritual world. Without a fixed point of spiritual reference, we wander about, never reaching our destination.
Consistently throughout the presentation, I cited the words of Jesus: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." In the spiritual world, the truth is that fixed point by which we may discover our spiritual location/condition and may be made free from the bondage to sin--our apparently natural instinct to wander about in circles.
In John 18:38, Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" Just a chapter earlier, Jesus had already revealed the answer to His disciples in a most profound pray. "Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth."
"What is the truth?" I asked, looking into the eyes of all these children who seemed they would have rather been elsewhere. "The Word is truth. What does the Word say is truth? What is the truth? The truth is that God is love. The truth is that God love you. The truth is that God created this world just for us. The truth is that Adam thought he should find out what evil was. The truth is that we have been gaining a full knowledge of evil on this planet ever since. The truth is that mankind sinned and the penalty for that sin is death. The truth is that God had to separate Himself from His children in order to preserve their lives. The truth is that God wanted to bring them back. The truth is that Jesus promised to come, to be born, to live, and to die for you. The truth is that He was tempted in every way that we are. The truth is that He never sinned. The truth is that He lived, He toiled, He worked, He laughed, He loved, He prayed, He cried, He surrendered, He died. The truth is that He said, "It is finished," but that's only the beginning. The truth is that He died your death to give you His life. The truth is that took your sin in which He had no share so that you can take His righteousness in which you had no share. The truth is that it was better to come up from a grave than to come down from a cross. The truth is that He ascended into the heavens to make intercession for you and I. The truth is that His blood covers you. The truth is that as many as received Him, to them He gives the power to become the children of God. The truth is that He is coming with clouds, and every eye shall see Him. The truth is that He's coming for you. This is the truth. And this truth will make you free."
The chapel was silent. No one moved. No one spoke.
(To be continued...)