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Young Whippersnappers, Part II

I just got back from Salt Lake City, Utah, where I was working last weekend at the Youth Unlimited Convention. About 850 high school students from the US and Canada were there, worshipping God, learning about the Christian life, and having fun.

CRWM was there to challenge and encourage these young whippersnappers to think and pray about missions. We did everything from hand out Japanese 5 yen coins as “missions mezuzahs” to make balloon animals to lead seminars on the history of God’s love as seen in missions. We talked with leaders about CRWM resources for their youth groups, and we connected with kids who had questions about short-term missions opportunities.

Talk about energizing! These teenagers had energy like you would not believe, and there was never a dull moment. Many agreed to read a free book that we offered (The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn), and many agreed to pray for missionaries. They asked good questions about missions, and they were willing to get to know us a little. What a blast!

Were you at Convention?

Leave a comment and let us know what you thought about it. Hope to hear from you soon!

PS - Did I mention the toilet paper gun? Or the name-the-flying-monkey contest?

Meet the SMP 2007 participants!

Get to know the seven young people who will be spending their summers in Eastern Europe, Mali, and Mexico!

Would Jesus eat a Tarantula?

What do you think? Would Jesus eat a tarantula?

Our partner teacher in Cambodia, Jim Triezenberg, recently wrote that two of his students brought him a Cambodian delicacy to try - fried tarantula. One of the goals of those who work cross-culturally is to build relationships of trust with the people he or she is living with so they can eventually share the gospel with them. A good way to build relationships is to share food together. But this was a big, hairy, eight-legged arachnid! Being the experienced cross-cultural worker that he is, Jim reluctantly took a bite of one of the legs. It was crunchy and tasted a little like crab meat. So he ate the whole spider.

When I lived in Nigeria, I ate a few things most North Americans might consider somewhat unappetizing. One time I stayed for a week in the village of one of my high school students. The whole village was very poor and there wasn't even a corner grocery, let alone a Wal-Mart Superstore or Applebee’s, to be found. The people ate whatever they could hunt or grow themselves. Needless to say, that week in the village I ate a number of things I had never even thought of eating before. I sampled monkey, gecko, and bat. The bat they fried whole. It wasn't bad. You pick it up by one wing and tear some meat off the breast. Tastes like chicken - no kidding! I've also had monitor lizard, snake, and fish eyeball soup.

Maybe you've been on a missions trip and eaten some pretty strange things. Maybe your mom cooks some strange things sometimes. Would you eat a big, hairy tarantula if it meant you’d someday be able to share the gospel with your friends? What would you do for Jesus? What wouldn't you do?

Here's a recipe from one of our missionaries in Haiti that many of us in North America might like. You can pour it over your tarantula if you'd like!

Creole Sauce
(Sòs Kreyòl) Haiti
STEVE AND KIM HOLTROP
Serves 4-5
2 tablespoons oil
1 tomato, diced
4 tablespoons tomato paste
3 green onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon thyme
3 1/2 cups water
Salt to taste
Put oil, tomato, tomato paste, green onions, garlic,
and water into a pan and cook for 2 minutes,
stirring constantly. Add the bouillon cubes, cloves,
pepper, parsley, Tabasco, and thyme. Cook for
2 more minutes then add the water and salt,
cooking uncovered for 20 minutes. Once sauce
has cooked you may add Little Meatballs (Ti Boul
Vyan). Slice 2-3 onions in rings and add them just
before serving. Serve over plain rice.

You can find more recipes like this in our new cookbook, International Cuisine ... from the Ends of the Earth. To find out how to order your copy go to our website, www.crwm.org and click on Resources (http://www.crcna.org/pages/crwm_cookbook.cfm).

--Bill Thornburg

offerings . . .

This past Thursday, at our weekly building prayer, we heard a poem that got me to thinking . . . in the poem were two (seemingly unrelated) images, and yet those images jumped out at me, and were immediately juxtaposed in my mind . . . the first was the widow, fully abandoned to her love of God, gladly, even joyfully, giving up her last pennies to the work of God. The second was the image of Judas, who we know as the traitor, the "bad guy", the antagonist of the Easter story. Judas, with his thirty pieces of silver. He sold out the Son of God for an amount that, from eternity's perspective, was ultimately far less significant than the widow's meager offering. So grievous was Judas' error that as soon as he realized what he had done, he went and hanged himself, overtaken by despair.

At the prayer meeting, one of my colleagues requested prayer for this weekend's offering, one of many that supports the ministry that we do both in this building and around the world.

And I started thinking . . . wondering about myself, living in the wealthiest nation in the world, and whether I am more similar to that widow, gladly offering up every last bit of myself to the work of God, or if I am more like Judas, selling out the most significant Person in my life for a temporary mess of pottage that will be worth absolutely nothing to me once I realize the significance of what I've done . . . the former attitude leads to life; the latter to death. but I'm afraid that, far too often, I am more like Judas than like that widow.

I heard a line in a Michael Card song years ago that was both chilling and convicting . . . "(that) we rob our brothers by all that we own" . . . just who am I robbing when I spend money on trinkets like more cd's, a newer car, chocolate for the kids' easter baskets that isn't good for them anyway? And why does it seem to take so long sometimes for me to realize that there's nothing in this world that won't leave a bad taste in my mouth, or leave me desperate to shed the "silver" it has gained me once I realize that I've given up the One Thing that really matters?

God gave us His greatest Offering. He gave us the Son He so loved, literally breaking off a piece of Himself to save rebellious, rotten, tight-fisted people like me.

Jim Elliott once said that "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot earn." Conversely, I am too often a fool, trying desperately to hold on to what I cannot keep, blind to the treasure I stand to gain if I will only open my tightened fists and release the silver and gold and everything else that will be burned up like dross in the light of eternity.

This Resurrection Sunday, what is God asking you to offer up to Him? It may not be about money (though I doubt that there are many people reading this who could not part with more money than they are letting go of right now), but after all, if we believe that our world, and every aspect of our lives, belongs to God, then we are called, I am certain, to offer "something".

God help us to not be so distracted by the jeers of the bystanders mocking what seems to be a meager gift, or the clanging of silver coins on the Temple floor, that we miss hearing His call to offer our hearts, our lives, and every part of us to His plans and His purpose.

are you a teacher? or do you just play one on TV?

We have tons of teaching opportunities for this summer, and for the 2007-2008 school year.

Hurry!

Quick! Apply now for SMP! This is your last chance - applications are due on Friday. Wouldn't you rather spend your summer in Beijing than in Burlington? Or how about Guadalajara instead of Grand Rapids? Come on...