Category: stories

Last week, a friend we visited in Brazil sent an encouraging word. I asked if I could pass on most of her message. I included her ‘smiley faces’ and ‘words’ that might have some Portuguese meaning… or these could be generational differences I’ve not yet grasped… as Renata is 23 years old. ‘Vida’ means ‘life’ – a great word for us all.

Susan and I are to leave for Europe tomorrow so I won’t write for a couple of weeks. Karlyn left this morning for Haiti. Taylor flies to Kansas City next week to represent UGA’s club volleyball team in the annual national tournament. Kinsey is doing well at Harding. Thanks for your prayers!

As I was walking, suddenly, I turned and came across this bright white sand hill that stood out from the top of the semi-evergreen rain forest from the park, and its beauty just made me stop, stand in awe, and hate myself for not having at LEAST my cell phone with me then, to take a snapshot! The sun was setting and its light focused right on top of this, apparently, dry bush. No leaves whatsoever; just short, skinny, dried, brown branches. However, what made me stop and stand in awe was what I saw there living in all its potential form. Fully being, with all its glamorous curves!!! 🙂 This ridiculously, gorgeous flower!! And it spoke to me…. aaahhh 😀

Because it was there, by itself, in what apparently looked like a desert for her; it stood there reigning in life, living the fullness of what it was created to be! 🙂 Now, I saw other dry bushes, with more than one beautiful flower on them, but none of them caught my attention as the one that was by itself. You see, we all know it is so hard to stand when we feel we are in a desert; it is so hard to persevere in the Love of God that is perfected in us through Grace when we feel alone and dry. Although, He looks at us and that is exactly what He sees when we do choose to stand for Him, when we do choose to abide in Him. O what a joy it is to be found in Him! 🙂 So as I stood there in front of that breathtaking scene, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind a verse found in Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. hahaha, uohouu! 🙂 This brings so much Joy to my heart! This is pretty awesome! To reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Wow! aahaha! So, these two were brought to my heart Romans 5 and 2nd Corinthians 3, because of this little flower! hahaha 🙂 I love the Spirit of Jesus!

“To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.” A.W.Tozer

Read Romans 5 on your own. Below is II Cor. 3:2-18 … which gives a little more revelation about Moses and Jesus.

Blessings to all,
Dana

“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

A famous person (I can’t remember who) once said, “The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated.” Several have asked about my health lately. The bad numbers have been steadily increasing for about 8 months and seemed to take a bigger-than-usual jump lately. So, my world has involved testing, waiting, meeting with doctors, waiting, more testing, waiting… Perhaps patience is being produced!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (II Cor 1:3-7)

We have received much comfort and love through your prayer, kindness, and encouragement. Somehow the difficulties we endure can carry the benefit of helping one another. And if God can use all these things to mold us into the image of his Son, we can truly praise him.

It looks like we are going to add one more drug to the two I have been taking. Your prayers have more effect than any drugs, so Susan and I appreciate your intercession on our behalf. The doctor at Emory is investigating the possibility of another stem cell transplant, but none of us are sure that is the best route. We trust God will give his peace in decision-making. Meanwhile, we are not to worry but live the life God had given us. We decided before Thanksgiving to use all our Sky Miles to purchase airline tickets to some places we’ve never been, so April 3rd, Lord willing, Susan and I will travel to Europe for a week. We will hang out with our school soccer team in London, visit Paris one day, then fly to Geneva for a couple of days before returning home. Karlyn is going with a school mission team to Haiti the same week. She will be serving a needy community and sharing the love of God with children. We appreciate your prayers.

On a lighter note, I got kicked out of a state tournament basketball game last Thursday night. Our #2 ranked boys were playing the #1 ranked Dublin team in Macon and a controversy arose over a silly rule stating that fans had to stay seated most of the game. Our students have been very enthusiastic all basketball season and this ‘new rule’ was unsettling. I really think our kids tried their best to keep seated, but how do you sit while you’re excited? As the rule was being enforced in a close contest, I tried to reason with several policemen… and most agreed with my logic. One officer, however, declared there would be ‘no negotiations’ and I knew he was intent on kicking several of our kids out of the gym. So Gary Schofield, our strength and conditioning coach (a strong dude), and I (not a very strong dude) stood behind our student section hoping the game would end before trouble arrived. With about four minutes to go and our team down ten points, several policemen emerged at our cheering section. Gary and I tried to talk with them but then I saw the ‘non-negotiator’ calling several of our boys out of their seats. I hustled down to ask that he allow the game to conclude without dismissing our fans. He did not like my appeal and grabbed my arm and escorted me up the steps and out of the gym. Gary came to my defense and two officers grabbed his arms and led him out. Soon the hard-fought game was over and things settled down… except for the rumors. I’ve heard all these things (that didn’t take place): I punched an officer; an officer punched me; we were handcuffed; I was tazed; a gun was pulled on me; I was beaten to a ‘bloody pulp.’ I was not mistreated at all… I simply found myself in the midst of another story. I hope you’re not too disappointed…

“If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.” I Peter 4:15

I asked my bother, Brian, if I could forward a recent story he shared about missionary life in Zambia. Here it is:

A couple of weeks ago, a fellow missionary asked me, “So do you have a daily routine?” As I have pondered that question, yesterday seemed to stick out as a good example of my routine:

After sitting down at my desk in the morning to prepare some Bible lessons to be taught in April, my gardener burst into my office all out of breath. He said his mother was giving birth at the local clinic but had run into difficulties. Now they urgently needed transport to the hospital in Solwezi town, 60 kilometers away. I grabbed the keys to my truck and off we sped.

After loading his mother into the back of the pick-up, we departed for Solwezi at full speed. Half way to Solwezi, we ran into a torrential downpour; I slipped the Three Tenors into the CD player to steel my nerves. Upon arrival at the hospital, I backed the truck up to the front door of the main building only to find out as we opened the tailgate that the baby was tired of waiting and on its way. The doctor and nurses just jumped into the back of my truck, and moments later, a little baby was born to the moving tones of Pavarotti singing ‘Nessun Dorma.’

“…I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.” Genesis 3:16

Being in labor for 45 minutes at 120 kilometers per hour in the back of a Toyota 4×4 brings new meaning to this verse for me. I asked my gardener what they were going to name the child. He replied, “Toyota Rain”.

My wife, Susan, was totally unsatisfied with this story. She wrote to Africa: “What was the baby?” (That question never entered my mind…) Sondra, Brian’s wife, responded that she asked Brian the exact same question when he returned. His answer: “Oh… I don’t know.” Sondra chased down the gardener and found that the baby was a boy and would be called “Toy” for short.

So, wives and sweethearts, please be patient with us men… especially on days like Valentine’s Day. We just don’t think sometimes…

“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone…’” Genesis 2:18

We landed in Natal mid-afternoon on Christmas day. Our friend Anna and many of her family and friends picked us up and took us to a wonderful house where we stayed the week. After an incredible meal provided by Anna’s dad, we joined the church to take food, drink, and clothes to the homeless on Christmas night. Thirteen Americans and about twenty Brazilians hit the streets of Natal in the Name of Jesus.

Natal is the largest city in its state with close to one million people. Almost two hundred thousand inhabitants are foreigners, most from Europe who moved to enjoy the climate and beauty of the northeastern coast. As in our cities, there are many poor and needy people. The pastor of the church we worked with became a hero of mine from day one. He knew where to find the hurting and as we stopped at different locations, Orlando went into the streets and alleys announcing food and fellowship for all.

The first place we visited was near a bridge in a rough part of the city. As a small group of homeless men and women gathered, Orlando asked us to share a message of God’s goodness and sing a couple of songs in our language. Anna’s nieces, Renata and Fernanda, were our excellent translators. After we sang a couple of Christmas songs, our new friends sang worship songs in Portuguese.

Soon after we stopped, I noticed a man immediately walk to the car containing the food and clothes. He did not seem to want to wait until after the devotional time to receive the blessings. Being the ex-assistant principal I am, I wished I could have told this young man named Perecles to be patient. I’m sure Orlando said this to him, but he did not seem to listen. Eventually Perecles attached himself to our tallest team member who was wise to get Fernanda to translate. Perecles pointed to his bare feet and told of a time that a bus ran over him and practically destroyed both feet. “But I cried out to the Lord and Jesus healed me completely. But now, as you see, I really need some shoes.” This particular team member wears size sixteen shoes, quite a bit bigger than the feet of the homeless man, so he shared that God has a way of providing for our needs at just the right time and that he would pray God would provide for Perecles. Another team member walked up as this prayer was being offered and noticed that his feet were about the same size as the homeless man’s. At the end of the prayer, the American took off his shoes and gave them to Perecles, who put them on and hugged both foreigners and kissed them on the cheeks, which is the custom of the land. Soon after this beautiful moment, we hopped back into cars to go to another location.

I guess we had driven a little less than a mile when the pastor parked his car on the side of the road and started calling for all to come to the feast. We repeated what we had done at the first stop with different individuals sharing. A larger crowd gathered at this place and as I watched things unfold, I noticed something familiar out of the corner of my eye. It was Perecles! “How did he get here?” I thought to myself, “He is just coming to get more handouts.” My disciplinarian mind was kicking into high gear, but never had I been so wrong. Perecles motioned for Fernanda and the American in sock feet to come to him. He rattled off some Portuguese and Fernanda translated. “When you drove off, tears came to my eyes and I cried and cried. I had taken the shoes of a guest of our city. This is not right.” Then Perecles took off his new shoes, got down on his knees, and put them on the confused American. After tying them, he rose and hugged his new friend. The American tried to explain that he did not need the shoes and that he wanted to give them away, but Fernanda wisely shook her head. She saw what was happening. A man who had nothing was experiencing the joy of giving. “I am used to going without shoes,” Perecles said. “I can’t let a guest go barefoot!” Many tears were shed that night as a tiny section of the Body of Christ from Atlanta joined a tiny part of the Body of Christ from Natal to proclaim the love of our King.

Every night we were in Brazil, we met with different groups of Christians and seekers. On a couple of occasions, our Brazilian friends shared the story of the Christmas shoes, the title of this writing. At the end of the story, the teller would often ask a question. All of us knew the answer. “So tell me, who gave the greater gift?”

“As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’” Luke 21:1-4

Please pray for Anna Leitao and her family in Brazil. This week her uncle died suddenly of a heart attack and everyone is heartbroken. The funeral was yesterday and the family would appreciate all prayers from the Body of Christ in this difficult time.

We first met Anna several months before the 1996 Olympics when she was twenty-eight years old and in charge of organizing young people coming from all over the world to witness for Christ on the streets of Atlanta. She brought missionary friends from several nations into our home and we were all quite mesmerized by the different languages… Portuguese, Korean, German, Hindi, Chinese, Afrikaans… This was the first time I really got a taste of the expanse, the diversity, and the unfathomable beauty of the Body of Christ. Anna became a Christian in Brazil at age nineteen and has shared about her Savior on every continent (except Antarctica) for over twenty-one years. Peter wrote about believers that chose “not to live the rest of earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” I see this as a description of our Brazilian sister and anytime she is in Atlanta she seems to always share exactly what the Lord wants us to hear.

Anna has an incredible heart for young people and Taylor, Kinsey, and Karlyn love her. She’s given them rides on her motorcycle in Hawaii, defeated them in ping pong in our basement, and prayed for them as a friend. What I’ve loved to witness over these years is the humility of a gifted leader. I’ve learned from Anna that our natural talents don’t bless the Kingdom too much unless we offer ourselves fully to the Lord and depend on him for direction. This, of course, is not as easy as it sounds… especially for us Americans who struggle with patience. Anna might argue that Brazilians have less patience than Americans, but her example of dependence and submission to our Father in Heaven has blessed me tremendously.

For years we’ve talked about accepting Anna’s invitation to join her on an outreach in Brazil. So this Christmas, Lord willing, between her work in Cape Town, South Africa and the Indonesian island, Bali, our family and twelve others from church will visit her home town, Natal… which just happens to mean “Christmas.” We hope we can bless and encourage Anna’s family, the church, the homeless in the city, children, and our dear friend. Of course, I predict we’ll receive far more blessing than we give. (I’ve found that’s the way God often worksJ.)

So, I won’t be writing for a couple of weeks. We would appreciate your prayers as we fly south Christmas Eve. And I wish you all: Feliz Natal! (Merry Christmas!)

Tchau (bye), Just practicing my new language… (Not quite fluent yetJ)

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’” Luke 2:25-32