Category Archives: My Past

16 tons, what do you get?

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When I was a kid, there was a pop song whose words mystified me. My dad explained that it was about an American coal miner trapped in debt slavery to the mining company he worked for. The company owned the grocery store where he bought food, and his wages were set so low that he could never earn enough to escape his debt.

The refrain went like this:

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don’t you call me, ’cause I can’t go—
I owe my soul to the company store.

My dad’s explanation was a real eye-opener for an eight-year-old. It was an inflection point in my growing awareness of basic economics and the harsh realities of this world. The singer laments that Saint Peter shouldn’t call him home to heaven because he still owes not only his bill but, in a sense, his very soul to the company store.

Bonded labor in that form no longer exists here in the United States, as far as I know. But severe poverty, often driven by heartless mercantilism, has been a reality for people throughout history. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, written in 1939, was a blistering critique of the conditions farm workers faced in California at the time—working for 25 cents a day, barely staying ahead of starvation.

In recent months, I’ve learned about a man in his late forties who has essentially been enslaved for the last 27 years. He works in a brick-making company, often putting in 14-hour days. He earns just $3 a day, in a country where that amount buys very little.

Like the song above, he owes his soul to the company store. Legally bound to his employer until his debt is paid—a debt he can never repay at such wages—he lives in a hopeless cycle. He has a wife and three children, is illiterate, and his health is failing. He is also a Christian living in a non-Christian country.

And here I sit—my air conditioner is humming, my stomach is full from a nice lunch, and I just finished my afternoon coffee. Yet my heart is troubled, because the gulf between my comparative wealth and this man’s crushing poverty feels like an unspeakable unfairness. We often say, “We live in a fallen world,” and sometimes we catch a glimpse of the depravity and injustice that are all too common.

So, what can I do? What do I plan to do? First, I can write this and share it with you, my friends. I can ask for your prayers—not only for me, but especially for this exploited man and his young family. You don’t need to know his name or his country to lift him in prayer.

And for me personally: please pray as I research and take steps toward finding ways and organizations that can help this man pay off his debt and free him from the hopeless bondage he has endured for so long. It can be done. There are ways. True, it won’t change life for the hundreds of thousands of similar Christian families trapped in the same system of “bonded labor”.

But I can still help this man and his family. I’m sure not rich but I do have enough to try at least to buy this man out of utter literal slavery and into some form of labor that will lift them up to a more endurable daily existence.

The Bible says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,’ when you have it with you” (Proverbs 3:27–28). And of course, there are countless more verses that carry this same truth.

I personally believe in both a social gospel and a personal gospel. Jesus “went about everywhere doing good” (Acts 10:38). At times, I feel overwhelmed and crushed by the injustice and falsehood that seem increasingly pervasive. Yet the Lord continues to show me things I can do personally—things that matter and make a difference.

Maybe I can’t right all the wrongs that glare at us daily.. But I can still do what I can. As the Lord said of one woman: “She has done what she could” (Mark 14:8).

 

You live and are dead

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It was dead. The summer heat of Texas had killed the tree I’d planted in my yard. All the leaves were brown after not being watered while I was away for a few weeks. I was both mad and sad—not only because of what it had cost me to have it planted, but also because I’m “a tree person,” the way some people are cat or dog people.

I kept watering the other new trees after I returned. But the dead one I simply forgot about. Then, after a few rains, to my surprise I saw green shoots poking out of its trunk, below where the main branches had been. Evidently there had still been life in the roots underground, even though everything above ground was completely dead. That really surprised me.

And I couldn’t help but see a spiritual parallel. Jesus of Nazareth said to some people in the book of Revelation, “You have a name; you live and are dead” (Revelation 3:1). Can you be both? How does that work?

I believe this sadly describes the condition of many people. They appear to be utterly dead spiritually—no leaves, no fruit, seemingly lifeless to the things of the Lord, even if they were once alive in Him to some degree.

I know a lot of people like this but I won’t name names. They give every impression of being estranged and indifferent to anything about God or Jesus. Often, they’ll even make sarcastic remarks if the subject comes up.

For believers, this can be discouraging—especially if they remember what that person used to be like. There’s just something heavy about death, even when it’s in “the living dead,” as Jesus described in Revelation 3.

But I’m convinced there’s often more going on than what we see. King David wrote to God, “Where shall I go from Your Spirit, or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell—behold, You are there” (Psalm 139:7–8).

I think some of these “dead trees” believe they’re utterly separated from the Lord. But God is  bigger than us—older, wiser, kinder, and far more powerful. An obscure verse in the Old Testament says that God devises ways “so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him” (2 Samuel 14:14).

It’s tempting to give up hope on people like this, just as I gave up on my tree. Even Jesus told the parable of the barren fig tree: after three years without fruit, the order was given to cut it down. But the gardener pleaded, “Leave it alone for one more year; I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, then cut it down” (Luke 13:7–9).

That tree in my yard has been a lesson to me about the goodness and greatness of God. “If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things” (1 John 3:20). Our own hearts condemn us because of sin, but God is greater than our sinful nature. Even though my tree looked dead, unseen life was still in the roots. And by God’s hand, it sprang back.

I believe He can do the same with people. Scripture is full of stories of those who were spiritually—and sometimes even physically—dead, yet returned to life through God’s mercy. The prodigal son was, for all intents and purposes, dead to the life he once had. But when “he came to himself,” he returned to his father, who welcomed him with open arms (Luke 15:11–32).

The lesson for me is simple: Have faith in God. If that dead tree in my yard could still have life hidden in its roots, then those who are “alive yet dead” can also be restored by the undeserved, overwhelming, omnipotent power of God. “With God, nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

Thoughts on Present Europe

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I’ve just returned from Europe and my heart is deeply stirred for that continent and its people. My children and grandchildren live there. I myself lived in Europe for 25 years of my adult life, across more than 20 countries. From what I can see, there is a growing awareness that Europe now faces challenges unlike anything since the Second World War. Decades of prosperity and peace have left the continent emasculated and unprepared. And now, almost suddenly, it finds itself confronted with a ruthless, unyielding adversary in the leader of Russia.

Oh, that Europe had at least one leader like Winston Churchill today—whose iron will was perhaps the single greatest factor in saving Europe from Hitler, and who later did what he could to limit Soviet Russia’s exploitation of Germany’s defeat. I earnestly hope that today’s European leaders will rise to the occasion and discover within themselves the courage and resolve to unite against their common foe, Putin.

But will they? That is the question. Because it will take more than strong national leadership. Generations of peace seldom prepare a people to quickly stand in defense of their nations when an enemy is at the gate. I almost shudder to imagine what it would mean if today’s fighting-age men of Europe were suddenly called upon to stand alongside Ukrainians against the relentless “meat grinder” waves of Russian soldiers that Putin sends to their deaths in pursuit of what he calls Russia’s glory.

And yet, I see glimmers of hope. To be frank, I am not “woke.” That ideology has plagued Europe for years, and in fact Putin has at times gained ground by portraying Russia as a defender of Christianity against what he calls the moral decline of Brussels and the spread of gender ideology. Across Europe, however, there are growing movements often labeled “far right” or “nativist.” In truth, many of these movements reflect ordinary people who are simply fed up with the godless, secular “progressive” wave that has steadily undermined traditional—and often Christian—values in nearly every European country.

Britain is a vivid example. In some places, local councils have gone so far as to order police to stop people from flying the Union Jack, Britain’s flag, on their own property! Meanwhile, others are arrested merely for standing silently across the street from abortion clinics. Such measures show just how far things have gone astray.

But the backlash is growing—the “natives are restless,” as the saying goes. It reminds me of the story of the boiling frog: slowly turn up the heat, and the frog won’t notice until it’s too late. But across Europe, many frogs are noticing—and they’re deciding to act. I find that encouraging.

Still, the reality remains: the enemy is at the gate—at several gates, in fact. Will there be a deliverer? From the top to the bottom, across the continent Europe needs… well, it needs God perhaps like never before. Will Europe’s leaders and people return to the values and convictions that sustained them through centuries of hardship? Or will this be one of those times when dark forces prevail and civilization retreats?

One way or the other, I believe a remnant of the people of faith will remain in Europe, as they have in one form or the other since Roman times. I find consolation in that. But for me, it is a sad, ominous, foreboding time and I do hope and pray for a better outcome in these things than what seems to be unfolding before us.

 

 

Texas Flood

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I’m ok. But I had a close call. I live in the Hill Country, just northwest of Austin, and we’ve experienced an extreme weather event over the last few days. You’ve probably read about it. And I’ve been in the middle of it, not on the edge.

A house 200 yards from me, down my driveway, was washed away. Saturday, EMS personnel with grappling hooks knocked on my door to tell me they were going to be going down the creek in my back yard, looking for bodies.

I’ve always been a bit of a weather freak and usually keep up with local weather wherever I’ve been. And my experience with this here is that there really wasn’t any warning. Friday night late I didn’t unplug my internet to protect equipment as there was nothing in the forecasts to warn of what was coming. Then about 1 AM I got a phone message from the county about an emergency, plus I could hear a lot of thunder. So I got up, unplugged things and went back to bed.

When I woke at 7 AM, actually the worst had already happened. What’s being called “an inland hurricane” suddenly formed west of me in the Hill Country and many rivers and creeks, normally nearly dry, rose 30 feel in a few hours.

I got around 8 to 10 inches of rain in 30 hours, about 25 centimeters. My house is relatively on high ground, above a small creek that runs through my property, which is totally dry for most of the time year round. But when I looked Saturday morning, it was the highest I’ve ever seen it. The rushing water in the night had totally rearranged a rock wall of very large stones I had along the creek, scattering them everywhere. Still, the house was holding through the rain and we weren’t in danger of flooding, as far as I could see. But there was more to come.

Saturday afternoon a second set of emergency workers came to my door, sent from Travis County. They were polite but very sober and told me they were going house-to-house in my area, recommending people to evacuate immediately.

They were talking about what I’d already seen on-line:  another very large storm was due to come through in the next few hours. There had already been so much rain that the ground everywhere was soaked so all the rain just ran off into the creeks and small rivers which were already ragingly full. It was this danger of another big wave of storms that increased the danger that my creek could really rise dramatically. That’s why they were telling people to evacuate.

Knowing the topography around my house, I wasn’t utterly convinced that a storm like that would cause my creek to rise that much that it would flood my house. But the EMS guy reminded me that a few hours earlier the river in Kerrville had risen 25 feet in 45 minutes, killing dozens.

So it was a real time of looking to the Lord for me. I decided to immediately pack down my most essential things and pulled the car around to where I could load them up and be ready to go. I also phoned a relative to ask if I could stay over with them if things got really worse.

But then, this is where prayer and the Lord’s intervention really came through. I was keeping up with the weather reports and there was a huge orange mass on the weather radar that was rushing towards us from the west. It looked to hit in about 2 hours and bring another surge of water on top of what was already here.

And then… Thank the Lord, really surprisingly the storm surge just mainly dissipated over the next hour and the forecast changed to where there were only showers predicted in the late evening. I dialed back my plans to evacuate and was just mighty glad that circumstances had changed so rapidly.

Of course there is so much more I could tell you. A bridge on the road I take into town was destroyed and I will have to take a detour for some time. Many bridges in the area are washed away and the loss of life is high. At the same time, there’s been a real wave of volunteers rising up everywhere to respond to all this, something that is part of the culture here. And both the political left and right have begun framing the event through their own narratives, trying to sway people to their viewpoints.

A while back I wrote “The whirlwind and the storm” about a time here in Austin when a tornado went over the house I was in and then touched down about a kilometer away. I’m again grateful and humbled by His protection over my life. And also touched to know that so many of those who died in this tragedy were Christians who’ve gone on to a life in heaven.

And, one last thought, thanks to the many of you who have prayed for me over the years. That storm that was approaching just seemed to dissolve rather suddenly. Truly, thank God.

 

Thinking about El Salvador

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I’ve been thinking about El Salvador. Anybody else? The huge prison there and the hundreds of those recently deported from the USA to prisons there, with possibly more to come. Jesus said that He was “…in prison and you visited me.” So folks said, “When were You in prison and we didn’t visit You?” And Jesus answered, “In as much as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

But some would say, “Mark, those are criminals! Gang members!” And others might respond, “They are someone’s son, brother, or dad.” There’s just something about the love of God and the truths of Jesus. They strongly call us to something higher than the present putrid stench of politics that too often drags us down to the worst in humanity, no matter our race, nationality, or status.

So I’m wondering, does anyone know of anyone in El Salvador who has any ministry in the prisons there? It could be local folks or foreign workers. There’s no doubt that those deported to that prison are really suffering there. Has anyone tried to visit? To bring whatever aid and cheer they are allowed to?

I’ve worked in prisons and refugee camps in Eastern Europe and did programs there for the prisoners. They are rough places and the degradation is often unspeakable. But “the greater the darkness, the greater the light.”

I’m reminded of someone I’ve worked closely with in recent years, who has been vital to my video ministry, who was in prison in their country some years back. Then they were visited by some local Christian workers while in prison. They had a miraculous transformation through the grace of God and they’ve gone on to a very beneficial Christian ministry in their non-Christian country.

Right now, the world feels so overwhelming that many of us are tempted to freeze in fear and consternation. But of course the Lord Himself doesn’t freeze up. Instead, He continues to guide and prod us along towards worthy actions that we can take to be like the woman Jesus referred to, “She has done what she could”. (Mark 14:6)

And certainly at this moment, with all the thousands of people being extradited abruptly out of America, often to prisons abroad, it just seems like there should be some of us making an effort to visit those folks, to render Christian love and aid at a time when those poor souls must be bewildered beyond belief.

So, I just wanted to share what has been on my heart. But, honestly, does anyone out there know of any prison ministry going on in El Salvador currently? If there was ever a time when the love of God should elevate us above the Godless, Christless rancor of the political present to where we could try to be the only hands and the only feet that Jesus has in this world, to get in touch with those poor young men and to show them the Love of God, well this seems to be that time. God help us, “the best ability is availability”.

Me and USAID

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I woke up before dawn today, reflecting on my experiences with USAID. I was at the western tip of Indonesia twenty years ago today, in the aftermath of “the Christmas Tsunami”, which claimed the lives of 155,000 people in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province.

At the time, I was an aid worker at a large, makeshift refugee camp north of the city, alongside three friends. We were doing what we could as translators for a group of Korean doctors who had just arrived to assist in the chaotic aftermath of the 9.2 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the Acehnese coast.

I had brought a video camera with me and was capturing footage while I helped at the camp that morning. I later compiled a video of the events, which you can view on YouTube here. I recommend jumping to 15:02 in the video. The next 2 minutes there shows what I experienced with the United States aid agency USAID that day.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of excitement as people pointed to the sky. A large helicopter, with no markings, began circling low over the camp. It then landed about 100 yards away and began unloading boxes. In the video, you can see dozens of Acehnese people, along with a tall Texan friend of mine, rushing toward the helicopter to investigate.

I’ll never forget the overwhelming sense of pride I felt when I realized it was a US Navy helicopter, stationed on an aircraft carrier off the coast, unloading boxes of supplies from USAID. Young men from the camp began collecting the boxes that had been dropped from the helicopter and bringing them back to the main tent. Camp elders later distributed the aid to families of the thousands of survivors who had gathered there in their time of need.

The helicopter had no markings because Aceh province had been embroiled in a violent civil war for years. I assume the US forces wanted to avoid being identified or misunderstood in their motives. However, the aid boxes were clearly marked with “USAID,” making it evident that the US military and government were working to alleviate the suffering of the people.

Later, I learned that US helicopters were continuously ferrying doctors up and down the coast, as nearly every bridge had been destroyed by the tsunami’s three 90-foot waves.

This morning, as I thought about the current controversy surrounding USAID in the United States, those memories came flooding back. There’s a massive shake-up underway in Washington. And while I believe much of it is necessary, I also find it personally relevant, given my own experiences abroad as a Christian aid worker, often in refugee camps and orphanages.

I vividly remember the pride I felt when I saw my country’s military providing crucial aid in the wake of one of the worst natural disasters in the last century. It was a moment that reminded me of what I hope my country stands for: genuine, selfless altruism and “loving our neighbors.”

The Bible is full of calls to this kind of action. And I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing my country represented in such a profound way, both on the ground and in the air, at the moment when help was needed most.

My belief is that the activities of USAID should not be eliminated in the ongoing government reorganization. Whether on an individual level or a national one, caring for the poor and those affected by disasters should be a fundamental part of our lives. You don’t have to be a Christian to believe in this.

In the Bible, God told Jeremiah to “root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down.” But He also told him to “build and plant.” My hope is that in this new wave sweeping our country—and even the world—we won’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. In our zeal to eliminate the bad, we mustn’t stop loving our neighbors, even sacrificially. Jesus said that the greatest among us are those who serve others.

Make America great again? I’m all for it. As Jesus said, “Whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant.”

(An added afterthought from a few days later)

Perhaps a major factor is that my experiences in Indonesia with the USAID happened 20 years ago during the time George W. Bush was President. In recent times Progressive wokism has evidently permeated the organization and skewered it into something totally different from what it was.

 

Christmas thoughts

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Whew! I’m glad it’s Christmas time. Just to have that whiff of fresh air that comes with the sounds, sights and thoughts of Christmas. I’ve had a somewhat traumatic year. It’s not only been the two major surgeries and numerous teeth removed, it’s been the constant depressing news from both abroad and here in my country.

But that’s why I’m embracing Christmas more this year than at other times. I need to get my mind out of the dismal turmoil of the present and on the verities of the enumerable miracles that occurred at the birth of Jesus, which still resonate and impact our present, so many centuries later.

They say, “the greater the darkness, the greater the light” and that’s how Christmas is to me right now. Medically for me this year, there was lower back surgery in February, several months of dental work and then “full reverse shoulder replacement” in August. And I am so very thankful and amazed to be able to say that those all worked out extremely well, with utterly competent doctors and dentists so that I’m now feeling better than I have in years. I really do have a lot to be thankful for.

But also this year, my heart has been grieved and heavy for the plight of the Ukrainians and those suffering in Gaza. I lived 2½ years in eastern Ukraine and Moscow so I feel I know that part of the world pretty well. It has so upset me to hear of the plight of those dear folks and the utter unjustness of Putin’s aggression there.

And although I’ve never been to Gaza or the West Bank, I have friends who’ve lived for extended periods in those places, in Christian service to try to alleviate the suffering there. And in both the news from Ukraine and from the Middle East, the frustration and heart ache builds up in me to an unbearable degree.

Of course, all the while, we are to “cast all our cares on Him for He cares for us”. (I Peter 5:7)  And I do that. Also I am thankful that the Lord has made a way so that I’ve been able to have material produced in both Russian and Arabic which I air weekly throughout the Russian and Arabic speaking world.

Back, before the fall of Communism, Radio Free Europe would broadcast into the countries “behind the Iron Curtain” to provide an alternative view of realty that contradicted what totalitarian Communism propagated to its captive peoples. And still today, though Communism fell over 40 years ago, there’s still an incredible need to broadcast the truth of God to so many parts of the world that are mostly cut off from hearing the gospel of God.

Bethlehem-at-ChristmasSo, thank God for Christmas. Thank God for a “holiday season”, as it is called now, in which nations hearken back to the birth in Bethlehem 2000 years ago of the most unique Man in history, prophesied to come, born of a virgin, despised by His own people, willingly crucified and raised by God the Father on the third day. CNN will probably not be running a special on this and in some places in the West it’s nearly become illegal to even mention it or openly celebrate it.

Nevertheless, the celestial elixirs of God yearly blow upon us like refreshing heavenly monsoons each Christmas, to refocus our minds on the eternal truths that pull us out of the chaotic present and back in to the saving power of God, to deliver us yet again from ourselves and this present evil world.

And I might add, I’m so thankful for my many friends in many lands who I have known through the years, “companions in tribulation” or Facebook friends who I’ve never met physically, who keep in touch and with whom I can have a kindred spirit and to know that there is a link that unites us through faith in Him.

I hope you have had a good year, even if you’ve had to smile through your tears or even your clinched teeth. Somehow we’ve made it through the year, we’ve kept the faith (at least more or less, ha!) and we’ve been strengthened through our trials and experiences. I hope you are continuing to let your light shine before men, that you are “falling on the Rock” and letting Him sustain you and that you are at peace with Him and those around you.

Your friend in Him, Mark

 

 

Surviving Surgery, and other things

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Here I am on the other side! Twelve days ago I had major surgery on my lower spine; and it was utterly needed to delivery me from months of strong pain in my hamstring muscles, tendons and buttocks. It’s such a relief to be able to walk around and not have that pain that would so take over my leg muscles each morning.

The operation is call called a “laminotomy” and “lumbar fusion”. It took 90 minutes, I was totally unconscious and they had to get down to the real nitty gritty in my lower spinal column. But it worked. Or more actually, the Lord did it and used the expertise of these doctors to “roto rooter” my lower vertebra, relieving the constricting that had heavily pinched my spinal column there. As soon as I was conscious after the operation, I could feel that the leg pain was now gone that had been there since last summer.

And now, since the surgery I’ve been managing the new pain that’s come up after they cut through my back muscles so they could get to where the “severe spinal stenosis” has been. Hats off to my sister who really came through in the hour of trouble, taking care of me at the hospital and then at her house before I got back here at the beginning of the week.

I was aware of a lot of people praying for me at all times. So many things didn’t happen that could have gone wrong. And I’m so thankful that I’ve had peace in my heart and mind through all this. I’ve realized again that “me” is not primarily my physical body. My body really went through the wringer in the biggest way. It seemed like I’d been shot in the back or that a mortar shell had hit me.

But it’s like I wrote about “You you”, 7 years ago. The real ultimate “me” didn’t get a knife stuck through it and become all sliced up, like my physical body did. It helped so very much to have a Christian perspective on it all and that “me”, me physically as well as my heart and soul were experiencing this. But through it all, the actual real me inside was doing pretty good and something really positive was happening. The cramped, pinched spinal column was being fixed by real experts. That was very good, even if it was a traumatic experience to go though physically, with an operation like that.

Shortly after I was back in my hospital room after the operation, I was aware that I was “on the other side”. There was discomfort but I could already feel then that the leg, tendon and buttocks pain was gone. What a relief and joy!

They had me on strong pain medication and the main one was Oxycodone, a narcotic. It did work; along with adding some Tylenol, the pain level overall was bearable. But it wasn’t long before I was experiencing some stuff that was messing with my thoughts and emotions. As the pain drew down over a few days, I decided to just stop the Oxycodne and also to really dial it back on the other pain killer meds.

After 4 or 5 days at my sisters’, she took me back to my place and that’s where things are now. I wear a back brace about 12 hours a day to keep my back aligned as the new situation in my spine stabilizes. There’s still pain in my back but it’s to a much lesser degree than what I experienced for the months with the leg cramps, before the operation.

I think perhaps the thing that helped me the most through this time was a God-given sense of humor. It kind of surprised me at times that, in very pinnacle situations, I found something to laugh about and to not be overwrought by the events of the moment. Perhaps this was an answer to the many people who were praying for me. I was able to laugh or at least be cheerful and light-hearted through all this and I do feel it was something supernaturally, God-given from the Lord.

And I thought to just give you a little back ground to all this, as my last year has been one of the most unusual I’ve ever had. Last February Facebook suddenly “paused” my ability to use Facebook advertising. I still could communicate with everybody but my weekly ads on Facebook were stopped. For years, I’ve been doing Facebook advertising of the videos I’ve done in many languages. So this “pause” from Facebook stopped my ministry to millions of folks.

Facebook said there was some anomaly with my payment method and they were pausing my account. They told me a few things to do, which I did, and I waited for it all to work out. Days passed and I wrote again. They wrote back, asking me to be patient. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months.

I got increasingly desperate as well as rather hopeless. Facebook has billions of customers and you don’t just call up a representative. But here’s how God answered the prayers of many for my situation. I lived in Brazil in the late 90’s and out of the blue a friend I knew there wrote to say that her daughter, who I knew when she was 12, now lived about 5 kilometers from me and would like to meet me after all this time.

We did that and guess what? Turns out that she had worked for some time in the Meta company, which owns Facebook. I told her my plight and she said she might know someone on the inside. Things moved fast after that and in 10 days my account was restored. To me this was just an astounding miracle when I saw no way I was going to be able to contact anyone in Facebook to get my account back on.

Then, 5 days after Facebook was restored, there was a sudden lightning strike around 40 yards from my desk here. There was sort of a storm going on right then but there’d been no lightning nearby. My laptop was destroyed, my router, modem, the printer, the aircon system in the house and wiring under the house, all were knocked out. Replacing the laptop, which is what I do the video editing and website work on, was a big deal. Thankfully none of us were hurt and the house and cars were not hit. But getting back to where I could work on videos and do editing on a new computer took many weeks.

Two months after the lightning, I was holding on to a tree stump in my backyard that I’d held on to many times before. Suddenly it snapped and I was diving through the air towards the bottom of the garden. I guess I went close to 4 meters forward and 3 meters downward. The full force of the dive/fall was taken by my left hand which transferred up to my left shoulder. The result was that I had a major tear in my left shoulder, so much so that a rotor cuff surgery was not possible. I’m awaiting an operation to replace my left shoulder joint at some point when it can be worked out.

One month after my fall down the hill, in July, I left for my yearly visit to see my kids in Scandinavia. I was already feeling a little funny but not too bad. But when I got over there, I was diagnosed with Shingles. Thankfully it was a relatively mild case but it continued through my visit to Scandinavia.

In August, before returning to Texas, I was briefly visiting friends at a fellowship in Romania. That’s when the leg and tendon problem really took center stage. I’d been having pain in that area for months but it had been manageable. In Romania though, the pain got so bad that I was walking awkwardly and not really able to be a part of the activities. So when I got back to the States in late August, I knew that finding out what the matter was with my legs was top priority

Back in the States, I began in earnest to try to find the root cause of my leg pain which continue to worsen. But no one really knew what it was. The first doctor prescribed pain killers and “muscle relaxants” which were some of the worst things I’ve ever taken. I stopped that immediately. The next doctor said I had “Polymyalgia rheumatica” and sent me to a rheumatologist. At that appointment that doctor said that it didn’t really seem like rheumatism to him and I didn’t think so either.

Of course all this took time, months in fact. I was well into the fall and still kind of flaying around in trying to find out what was causing all this. But the Lord was certainly working behind the scenes. I had a regular appointment with my cardiologist and I was explaining to her how there hadn’t been anyone really knowing what was the problem with my leg pain. She then told me she thought it was my back. I sort of corrected her and told her my back was just fine, never had any pain there.

But she went on to explain that the nerves that affected my hamstrings, tendons and buttocks all run down through and out of my spinal column. So she ordered a MRI as soon as possible. And that was the breakthrough that was needed.

By then it was the first week of January, 3½ months after I got back from Romania. But at least the problem had been found: “severe spinal stenosis” in my lower spine. As one doctor explained, my spinal column should be 15 millimeters wide at that place but it was only 4 millimeters wide. Quite a pinch. In mid February I had the surgery on my back, what I already wrote about at the beginning of this article.

You thought that was all, right? Nope, I didn’t tell you the other traumas of September through December. I had two loose teeth and hadn’t been to the dentist in long time. Although I didn’t have any pain, I thought it would be good to get the loose teeth checked out. And dear God in His great Providence led me to some exceptionally competent, compassionate South American dentists not far from me.

On my first visit the lady gave me a thorough exam and then rather somberly told me I had 11 teeth that were infected and that the infection was most likely spreading to every part of my body. She said I needed those extracted, plus two crowns replaced, a root canal and various other cavities taken care of. Also there will be bridges top and bottom to replace the pulled teeth.

Actually, by this time, I’d been under such an onslaught from one side or the other for months that this didn’t really faze me very much. So through October into December I had the 11 teeth pulled and almost all the other things she mentioned were taken care of. But it all was made so much easier by these two amazing Christian sisters and their touch of expertise, as well as they gentle ways. And of course the mighty grace and mercy of the Lord.

Well, I hope it’s been ok to tell you about all this. Many of you keep up with me on Facebook and I have been posting prayer requests about these things. I don’t think I’ve ever had a time like this that’s happened to me over this last year. And so it looks like I have come through and out of this intense period and now I’m in a rehab after the operation. They said this would take 4 to 6 weeks and it hasn’t been 2 yet.

Possibly some of my friends are going through similar things currently: shake ups in their health, severe and long term challenges across multiple fronts, personality changes as we enter new periods of our lives. I’m so thankful that I have been able to remain rooted to the Christian foundations I’ve had since I was 21 and to be able to stand in Him, through it all.

And I’m so thankful for the many of you who’ve stood with me in prayer during this time. I’m utterly sure if I had not had the Lord and His continuing strengthening in my soul, I certainly could not have survived all this. I could write much more but this is already long. I hope this is a blessing for you. Many are going through medical experiences in these times and perhaps this is a help to some to know how the Lord took care of me through it all.

God bless you, thanks so much!

Mark

II Tim 3:11  “…but out of them all the Lord delivered me.”

II Tim 4:18   “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and shall preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom.”

 

“It’s all by your grace Lord, cause somebody prayed.”

 

 

 

Talking to angels

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What’s it like talking to angels? On the street? The first thing you notice is that they can read your thoughts. So you begin to realize that something is really up. Something strange is going on and you grasp more and more that this person in front of you is very unusual. But you’re also aware that this person is not malignant, they are benign. And it just grows on you: as soon as you think something, they know what you thought.

So you’ve been talking to this person and when you say something, their immediate response is so complete, so all encompassing and so precise that it nearly takes your breath away. Then again immediately it’s happened to me that, before I voice a thought and respond to the “person” in front of me, that they respond.

Sometimes it is verbally, as humans do. But also it can be a thought, a response that appears in your mind, that this person answers you back, “at the speed of thought”, without going through the normal human channel of verbal communication.

This can be really surprising and …shocking, as I search for a word to match that experience. In fact, this is where things quickly go. Because you are sucked up into an upper level experience that is basically beyond any normal human experience.

There may be words exchanged. But you are utterly aware that there is a channel opened, a thought exchange unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. As you think a thought, the “being’ in front of you, who looks human, is communicating back to you in your mind. This is in real time, physically, person to person.

And the answers are not gibberish and confusion. But they’re incredibly “spot on”, to the point, uplifting, enlightening and of a caliber and richness that you didn’t think humans could convey. It’s just hard to describe. It’s like they are talking to you from some kind of place of light, a place of sanity, clarity and even overwhelming common sense that puts all else you’ve experienced into a lower realm of clouds and haze.

How long does it last? For me it didn’t last really long. I wrote about one experience I had in San Francisco when I was nearly 23 which was the longest I’ve ever been in that kind of atmosphere. Needless to say, my experiences like that, if I try to count them right now, come to around 5 to 7 times, from in my 20’s til now. But to be in that realm, where the supposed human in front of you can read your thoughts and respond before you’ve hardly thought you thoughts, is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

These were not demons. I’ve had encounters with demons too. You become aware that the person in front of you is not speaking of themselves but is being spoken through. Often this is with extremely vile, vulgar, aggressive, sickening language. But you are just aware that “something” is speaking through the person in front of you, who seems to know your weaknesses, fears and inner thoughts but who is your violent enemy, out to destroy you through confusion, astonishment and other such things.

When you meet an angel on the street, their communication has a “oneness”, a composite clarity, order, height, depth, richness and utter edification. When you meet a person who is demon possessed who talks to you, you are aware at some point that the person in front of you is not speaking of themselves, that another entity has been able to take over the human in front of you and to speak through them.

An evil spirit has been able to posses or take them over and use that body to speak to you. But an angel speaks of themselves, an agent of the God of the higher realm, who has been assigned or allowed to communicate with you.

guardian-angelsAdmittedly, this happens rarely in my life and probably most people seldom ever experience these things. Or if they do, many of us are dull to what is happening at the moment and don’t really catch what is going on. They/we experience these things but recognize how strange it is and that they/we can’t tell our friends or family because they won’t believe us. So they/we keep it to themselves, sometimes the rest of their/our lives.

Have you ever had an experience with an angel? Or demon? They both exist, now and in our present world. Sometimes the Lord wants to expand our horizons by letting us experience these things, to deepen us, to open our eyes to the mostly unseen real world we actually live in, and to make us stronger for him. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.” (Hebrews 13:2)

Angels in Austin

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I’m happy to announce that I’ve started making audio recordings of my blog articles. It’s a new thing for me to produce this kind of material but I thought it would be good since so many people nowadays listen to pod casts and recordings.

This first recording is about supernatural experiences I’ve had in Austin, one around 13 years ago and the other two when I was going to university here. These are articles that on my site, markmcmillion.com. My hope and plan is that this will be the first of more audio shows like this, where I narrate the articles that, Lord willing, will be interesting and be a blessing to you.

All the best to you,

Mark

Here’s the link on YouTube