Agricultural/Environmental Techincal Advisor in Southeast Asia
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Richard's Blog - My Updates from Southeast Asia
Let Salvation and Righteousness Bear Fruit
Recently I was reading and reflecting on Isaiah 45:8, which reads, “Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness; let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit and righteousness spring up with it. I, the Lord, have created it.” (NASB). As I meditated on this passage the following image came to mind: The Throne of the Heavens sits atop the clouds, with a river of living water running past it. The river runs off the clouds as a waterfall and crashes to the earth, creating a pool. From that pool flows a peaceful river, and along the banks of the river grows... Read more
God grows the faith of the discipler: The case of Paul and the Thessalonians
Our team recently did an in depth, inductive study of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. At the end of that 3+ month study, we were asked to create something "pass on-able" from our notes. The following is from that assignment. _________________________________________________________________ Discipleship is an indispensable tool for the expansion of the Kingdom of God. It was Jesus’ personal method for preparing His Kingdom to expand across the globe, and what He equipped His closest friends to do (Matthew 4:19, John 6:1-13); it was the imperative command of the Great Commission (make disciples... Read more
Another Blog about COVID-19
I am sure that anyone reading this has likely already read a blog post or two about people’s perception, reaction, or meditations on the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, I’m sure there are a number of other posts on this site on this topic. But, I thought it might be worth it to write my own anyway, in case it might serve as an encouragement to someone, as I might be drawn to focus things I see the Lord doing that are different than what others might have focused on. Over the last month, I have spend a decent amount of time thinking about how Phillipians 2:1-8 and 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5 apply to... Read more
A Goer Learning the Local Language
In December I wrote a list of my top takeaways from our first year in the field, and the first two had to do with learning the language. So, I thought it might be appropriate to spend a bit more time on the subject here. Before beginning the process of moving overseas, I had never put in any effort to learn a second language. I took a few semesters of Spanish in High School, sure… but I never took that seriously. I signed up for those classes because my friends did, and I had heard it was an easy A. It wasn’t until I met my wife (she is an ESL teacher and a lifelong student of culture)... Read more