Well...just when I had settled back into life in the OC...a round of golf with Kyle...a trip to Disneyland with Connie and our grandson, Luke, hanging out with Caroline and her BIOLA buds, and celebrating the birth of Erin and Jake's newest baby girl, Harper Lane Rutenbar...up comes this crisis...here's what we know:
*feared dead in Cyclone Nargis...100,000
*feared homeless...1 million and growing
*utter crop devastation
*virtually no clean water
*severely delayed response to attempts by the international relief community to help The Myanmar (formerly Burma) government is extremmely hostile to ANYTHING that looks American or Christian ...including relief supplies.
*feared dead in Cyclone Nargis...100,000
*feared homeless...1 million and growing
*utter crop devastation
*virtually no clean water
*severely delayed response to attempts by the international relief community to help The Myanmar (formerly Burma) government is extremmely hostile to ANYTHING that looks American or Christian ...including relief supplies.
Here please read this appeal for prayer from a Myanmar pastor we are meeting with tonight in Thailand. We do not use his name because it would endanger his work and the life of his family.
Our team of Don Thompson, Don Herr, Chris Sharon, and me is in Taipei, headed for Tailand and praying that tomorrow we will be able to get into Myanmar...not as relief workers or missionaries, but as 'eco-tourists'..I've been called alot of things, but never 'eco'-anything.
Our team of Don Thompson, Don Herr, Chris Sharon, and me is in Taipei, headed for Tailand and praying that tomorrow we will be able to get into Myanmar...not as relief workers or missionaries, but as 'eco-tourists'..I've been called alot of things, but never 'eco'-anything.
Dear brothers and sisters,
A week has already passed. Tens of thousands are still helpless in a hopeless situation. Time is running out. People are dying of diseases and starvation. It seems our prayers are unanswered. Those who pray and those who help are frustrated. But as I watch the news, read the news and listen to the news I thank God for the answers He has given although everything does not happen according to our wish and our timing. Let us praise the Lord who is sovereign, who has all the power to do everything he wants to do, who is merciful and compassionate,….
Let us confess our own sins and the sin of our authorities and our people as our own(Dan 9:4-19)
Let us thank God the Lord that
* Our authorities accept the international aid although it seems very slow.
* Burmese people all over the world are considering coming back to Myanmar to assist the relief work which no foreign aid workers are allowed to come into to do. Some are already back with the resources, skills and headed to the affected area.(I feel like many Nehemiahs coming back)
* Myanmar Christians and churches are doing the relief work with the limited resources they have. I am sure the believers of other faith are doing the same.
* The NGOs and UN organizations are doing their very best to help the victims.
Let us keep on praying to the God of mercy on this Global day of Prayer on Pentecostal Sunday when hundreds of millions of Christians lift up their prayers to
* break the power of Satan on Myanmar and the authorities who are very superstitious and make every single decision for the affair of our country from the advice of astrologers and fortune tellers. Let us resist the power of Satan, break the strongholds he has been taking in the lives of the authorities and the people. Let us deliver them from all evil in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
* to soften the hearts of authorities to fasten the relief, inviting and allowing the citizens to assist the overwhelming task and allow the international aid workers to involve in the relief work, to help and open the ways for those who provide resources and aid from outside Myanmar
*to comfort those who lost everything may be reached by the aid He has already provided.
* to strengthen and protect those who are helping the victims. The relief work may not be hindered by any resistance of the authorities and the weather (UN Weather Agency forecasts heavy rain in Burma next week)
*to send back thousands of Myanmar people who have heart and skills to join in the relief work when international workers are prohibited to enter into the country.
* to empower and give wisdom to the Christian leaders in Myanmar in one accord to cooperate strongly and humbly as they come together to give servant leadership to assist the needy.
*help us to pray according to His will that His Kingdom may come and His Will be Done through this tragedy.
A week has already passed. Tens of thousands are still helpless in a hopeless situation. Time is running out. People are dying of diseases and starvation. It seems our prayers are unanswered. Those who pray and those who help are frustrated. But as I watch the news, read the news and listen to the news I thank God for the answers He has given although everything does not happen according to our wish and our timing. Let us praise the Lord who is sovereign, who has all the power to do everything he wants to do, who is merciful and compassionate,….
Let us confess our own sins and the sin of our authorities and our people as our own(Dan 9:4-19)
Let us thank God the Lord that
* Our authorities accept the international aid although it seems very slow.
* Burmese people all over the world are considering coming back to Myanmar to assist the relief work which no foreign aid workers are allowed to come into to do. Some are already back with the resources, skills and headed to the affected area.(I feel like many Nehemiahs coming back)
* Myanmar Christians and churches are doing the relief work with the limited resources they have. I am sure the believers of other faith are doing the same.
* The NGOs and UN organizations are doing their very best to help the victims.
Let us keep on praying to the God of mercy on this Global day of Prayer on Pentecostal Sunday when hundreds of millions of Christians lift up their prayers to
* break the power of Satan on Myanmar and the authorities who are very superstitious and make every single decision for the affair of our country from the advice of astrologers and fortune tellers. Let us resist the power of Satan, break the strongholds he has been taking in the lives of the authorities and the people. Let us deliver them from all evil in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
* to soften the hearts of authorities to fasten the relief, inviting and allowing the citizens to assist the overwhelming task and allow the international aid workers to involve in the relief work, to help and open the ways for those who provide resources and aid from outside Myanmar
*to comfort those who lost everything may be reached by the aid He has already provided.
* to strengthen and protect those who are helping the victims. The relief work may not be hindered by any resistance of the authorities and the weather (UN Weather Agency forecasts heavy rain in Burma next week)
*to send back thousands of Myanmar people who have heart and skills to join in the relief work when international workers are prohibited to enter into the country.
* to empower and give wisdom to the Christian leaders in Myanmar in one accord to cooperate strongly and humbly as they come together to give servant leadership to assist the needy.
*help us to pray according to His will that His Kingdom may come and His Will be Done through this tragedy.
When we work we work,when we pray God works(Hudson Taylor)
Pastor Steve,
ReplyDeleteRest assured we are praying for you and the rest of your "eco-tourists" as well as all the people there. Thank you for saying yes to God's call for you to go and help these people!
God bless, Cindy Affleck
Heartbreaking.... Thank God for guys like you all who just get on the plane and go.
ReplyDeleteYour Ukraine teams are praying along with you and for you.
Carolyn