Addicted to hate

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Mark McMillion

Years ago in Denmark my former wife and I were ministering to a recovered morphine addict. We read the Bible with him and tried to help him in his recovery. But a thing that both of us noticed was that, although he no longer used morphine, he was drinking up to 20 cups of coffee a day. In some sense, he’d traded one addiction for another.

It seems that’s how it is for multitudes of people when it comes to hatred. Vast numbers of people think of themselves as good citizens, faithful to their wife or husband and keeping the law. But, boy, they love to hate.

Around a year ago my dad passed away and I wrote a post about him, Bonner McMillion. One of the main things I mentioned there was how my parents taught me not to hate African-Americans at a time when virtually every white person I knew in our city was filled with racial hatred to one degree or another.

But today, hatred of blacks by whites is much less than it was when I was growing up. It’s not in vogue anymore, it’s less accepted. But it’s surely still ok to hate, perhaps more than in the past. Pew Research recently made a study and found that the USA is more divided as a nation than any time in the last 150 years. I wonder how much of that has to do with a thriving cultural acceptance of hatred.

The most popular hatred here in the States seems to be hatred of Islamic people. “They” are here. “They” will destroy us. But some people feel that way about Catholics. Years ago it was popular to hate Jews. That was normal and accepted. We just seem to stop one addiction but move on to another.

You could say a lot of things in support of hatred, at least if you are not a Christian. Shouldn’t we hate “them”? Here’s what the Bible says, even the Old Testament. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart.” (Leviticus 19:17) It’s one of the greatest truisms of Christianity that it teaches love. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you.” (Matthew 5:44)

If you’re a Christian, and your life and words are full of hatred, then you’re living in sin, just as much as if you were an adulterer or whore monger. You’re just as defeated by your addiction to hatred as that man was that I ministered to years ago who was addicted to morphine first and then switched to coffee.

But, in a sense, you have my sympathies because “everybody else is doing it.” You’re mostly right on that; they are. But that surely doesn’t make it right if you’re trying to follow the light and path of the God of the Bible.

But Mark! Surely all hatred is not wrong!

Right again. Let’s look to God’s Word about that. Psalm 97:10 says, “You who love the Lord, hate evil.” Does it say to hate Muslims there? Or Catholics? Blacks? Jews? “Dagoes”? “Spics”? “Wops”? “Krauts”? “Chinks”? “Ragheads”? Obama? Or whatever your favorite hatred is? No. It says to hate evil, not people. God even “sends His rain on the just and the unjust”. (Matthew 5:45)

Does God hate? Yes, He does. Here’s what God’s Word says He hates. “These six things does the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:16-19) We are to hate sin, as God does. But not people. We are to love people, in our hearts.

But Mark! I really hate them! All my friends hate them! TV commentators hate them! They are evil, Mark!

My friend, this is a modern, virulent, satanic mindset that’s blinding and will snuff out God’s blessing and presence in your life, if it hasn’t already. You need to be “renewed in the spirit of your mind.” (Ephesians 4:23) You might need to turn off the TV, make new friends and move away from the old ones, just as if they were drug dealers or criminals.

If you love to hate, if you cultivate and nurture hatred, if you propagate hatred and start conversations with words about your hatred, then please don’t call yourself a Christian. If you’re doing this, you’re a reproach to the cause of Christ; you’re a mockery of what it is to be a Christian, no matter how outwardly righteous you appear to be. The evil you should hate is the hatred that has gripped your heart. Call out to the Lord Who can break every chain and cleanse ever stain. Flee hatred as you would drugs and ask the Lord to replace it with His love in your heart for all men, as He had.

Foolhardy Faith

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Mark McMillion

Some of the things I’ve done as a missionary would be seen by some as virtually foolish. I wrote about “It’s a gun, isn’t it?” and how the Lord protected me and my friend from 5 drunken east European miners in our train car on a Saturday night. But we were traveling on a mission for the Lord, trying to go forward for Him.

I can tell you of another time, perhaps more miraculous, while also probably more of a testimony of my youthful zeal but without wisdom, which the Lord forgave and seemingly blessed anyway.

I’d been married a little over a year and my Norwegian wife and I were desperate to leave Stockholm, Sweden, where our first son had been born, and to somehow get ourselves to Vienna, Austria, where we both strongly felt that God was leading us.

We felt called to the then-Communist lands of eastern Europe. And to get ahead of the story a little, we did ultimately get to Vienna and had nearly 6 wonderful years there as we aimed with other young missionaries back then to reach the be-darkened people “behind the Iron Curtain”, as it was called then.

But before we ever got there, I’ll tell you of a story of God’s infinite mercy and provision, in spite of our zealous inexperience and almost foolhardy attempts to obey Him and go forward.

It was barely spring in Stockholm, Sweden. My wife and I were desperate to move on from there, towards what we hoped would be an “open door” (I Corinthians 16:9) to Vienna, Austria, almost 1800 kilometers (1100 miles) to the south.

Our first move was to get ourselves back over to Norway, my wife’s home country. We believed in “living by faith”, that is trusting God to “supply all our needs according to His riches in glory” (Philippians 4:19) if we were “seeking first His Kingdom” (Matthew 6:33). A solidly Biblical belief but certainly not one you’ll hear taught in most churches.

Here comes the hard part. You’re gonna think this is really “out there”. We were desperate and believed the Lord wanted us to go forward in our faith and obedience to Him. We had very little money at that time so we decided to “hitchhike” from Stockholm to Oslo, Norway in early spring.

This was somewhat more normal back then, not as dangerous as it is nowadays and somewhat more acceptable. Still, we had our 2 month old son with us so it was still pretty close to foolhardy. And it’s not like there’s some 500 kilometer (300 mile) super highway between Stockholm and Oslo.

The first evening my former wife and I were at a highway rest stop, not actually too far from Stockholm. We’d made very little progress in hitchhiking, had virtually no money and we were eating a plate of French fries, praying together, reading our Bibles together and were pretty desperate.

To make a long story short, we saw a man looking at us from across the restaurant who seemed to be a truck driver. As he left to go out to his truck, my wife went out to talk to him and ask if he was driving to Norway to see if we could get a ride. (I didn’t speak the language there at that time.)

The man was already in his truck by the time my wife got there. He said that, no, he wasn’t driving to Oslo. But then he said, “Are you guys Christians?” Perhaps that was slightly more normal back then in that part of the world than it is now. But still, it was a very unusual question to have a stranger ask in Sweden. He’d seen us praying and reading our Bibles in the restaurant.

So my wife said that we were and he asked, “Well, do you need help?” She explained our situation and he then helped with a generous donation. This made it possible for us to have a normal meal there as well as to pay for a room to stay at an adjoining motel over night.

The next day, we were able to hitchhike, in fits and starts, across Sweden to Norway and Oslo, to friends and loved ones where we grew in the Lord in those early years of our faith.But, it took another 3 years of travails in Scandinavia before we finally made it to Vienna.

They say, “It takes an impossible situation for God to do a miracle.” For us, that was one of the most outstanding and appreciated miracles we ever experienced. Perhaps it was foolhardy for us to “step out on the water” (see Matthew 14:28) like that with a young baby. But the Lord somehow forgave and overlooked our naivety and lack of wisdom and saw instead our desire to go forward for Him.

Are you young in the Lord? Are you desperate to follow your faith and what you believe God is calling you to do? I would certainly say, try to have wisdom in what you do. “Wisdom is the principle thing” (Proverbs 4:7).

But also, if God is giving you the faith to follow Him and trust that He will provide and supply, I can tell you that He did that for me, in spite of my indiscretions and being pretty much “a fool for Christ” (I Corinthians 4:10).

Your best bet is to truly follow Him, no matter how “crazy” it may seem. If it’s truly of Him, He’ll reach out His hand and get you across to the other side, no matter what outlandish way He has to do it. Like He did for me, my wife and little boy so many years ago. God bless you.

With Muslims in Tragedy

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Ten years ago this week was the beginning of perhaps the most heart-wrenching experience I’ve ever had in ministering to others. You may have read that around this time is the 10th anniversary of the Asian Tsunami disaster of late 2004. I’d been living in Jakarta, Indonesia for over a year and when the disaster happened, we quickly found that the worst hit area was Aceh Provence at the northwest tip of Indonesian.
Those of us who were working in Jakarta at the time knew almost immediately that some of us had to go the disaster area to do what we could. After much prayer, a team of four of us left for the capital of the province, Banda Aceh. The city had suffered the death of 155,000 people. Below I’ll add parts of a newsletter I sent to friends from Banda Aceh a few days after we arrived, 10 years ago this week.

From that time in Banda Aceh, I made a 30 minute video of my experiences there that week in those camps and in other parts of the city. One thought I came away with from that time was what the famous lines from the Bible say: “Love never fails.” In spite of ethnic, geographic and even religious differences, love, the Love of God in this instance, made it so that people could work together to help each other in such a devastating tragedy. It changed my life to be a part of that and to see the Love of God in such a miraculous way. Below is the video of that time.

Christmas, 2014

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Mark McMillion

It’s that time of year again, Christmas. Last year around this time I wrote an article “Well, it’s Christmas” which told a lot about my thoughts and feelings about Christmas, which isn’t perhaps a totally mainstream, traditional approach. I also included in that article a song that has always been the one I associate with Christmas, more than any other, “Oh Holy Night”.

I’ve had a pretty good year and I hope you have too. I’ve seen my kids twice this year, once here in Texas when my dad, Bonner McMillion, passed away in February and then again when I was “Visiting Europe” in October. I think the thing I might be the most thankful for this year is that the Lord made it so that I was able to cross a finish line on the video series on the prophecies of Daniel. I feel I’ve gone far enough with the work on those in English and now the challenge is to get them into a number of foreign languages. The whole thing reminds me of the verse that says, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think…” (Ephesians 3:20) All my Christian life the book of Daniel and the truth there has been so precious and meaningful to me. That the Lord has made a way so that the classes I’ve taught on it for years are now made into a video series is just astounding and I’m so thankful for that.

My dad, with my mom, on his 92nd birthday, November, 2013

I’ve been blessed with good hearth this year, my mother turned 93 earlier this month and she is doing very well for her age. And for me personally there are some very inspiring and challenging things which are growing clearer on my near term horizon, including what I hope will be a trip soon to southeastern Europe and the Middle East. Please pray for that, it’s not certain yet but I believe it is God’s will for me.

Last year I added a song that means a lot to me and I included a version done by Celine Dion. Here’s another one from her, also about Christmas, with the text. I wish the very best for you, for us all and for those who are suffering and in fear, tread, darkness and in terror in our world. May we all do our best for Him and His Father to bring their Light and Love to this world.

Your friend in Him, Mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8db3Vz95I

“Shaken, Not Stirred”

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Mark McMillion

When I was 16, I read “James Bond” books. You may laugh but the books were pretty different from the later movies. Well, I won’t go off on James Bond here. But if you know much about the character, one of his most famous lines was always how he’d describe how he wanted his martini, “Shaken, not stirred”.

Hmm. That phrase came to me this morning in a deeper way. In the last 5 weeks, my life has twice been rather strongly “shaken”. And this has been to a degree that I’ve also been “stirred”. So for me, it’s recently been a case of “shaken and stirred”, rather than not stirred.

But for Christians, this is something than can happen somewhat often. And it can (and should be) good. First, shakings happen. Paul said to the Corinthians, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (II Corinthians 4: 8 & 9). Like the old song said, “a whole lot a’ shaking going on.”

Can we do anything about it? Should we? Well, admittedly, most of us don’t look forward to shakings. I don’t. These recent things haven’t looked like good news to me. But we certainly don’t have control over all aspects of our lives or the lives of our friends and loved ones. Things just happen that sometimes can really bring a shaking and a shakeup in our lives.

But, “All things work together for good to them who love the Lord, to them who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) And one of the good things in shakings is that, if we’re Christians and know the foundations of our faith, we get stirred. And we should. That may be one major reason the Lord brought the shaking: so we’d get stirred.

There have been some days in the last few weeks where virtually the only thing I could do was go out and pray. My life was being shaken up and some foundations seemed to have slipped like a tectonic plate.

In Isaiah it says, “No man stirs himself to call upon Me.”(Isiah 64:7) It’s just so easy for us to get lethargic and settled in our routines or the blessings He has given us. He has ” cast our lines in pleasant places.” (Psalms 16:6) So sometimes He “dries up the brook and stops the ravens”, like he did with Elijah. (I Kings 17) He shakes us up by withdrawing His blessings and sometimes even protection. One of the worst traffic accidents I was ever in was in southern Norway back in the 70’s when I was riding with some folks I didn’t know and our car went off an icy road at night, into the air and down a snowy embankment.

Miraculously we landed some 30 feet (ten meters) down the cliff, unhurt, and were able to climb back up to the road. This was one of the Lord’s major shakeups for me because my former wife and I were called to the mission field of central Europe and we’d been delayed and waylaid in our obedience to His call. That wreck really shook me up. I saw it as a form of the Lord withdrawing His protection as we weren’t really in the center of His will anymore. So we got very “stirred” and desperate. And less than 6 months later we were finally on our way towards our new mission field and base in Vienna, Austria.

For a Christian, when you get shaken, it’s time to be stirred. But some seem to never get stirred. They harden their hearts. Paul got stirred. It says that “his spirit was stirred within him” (Acts 17:16) when he saw the whole of Athens given over to idolatry.

Daniel, pouring out his heart to God. (Daniel chapter 9)

And what’s the good thing about being stirred? When we pour out our heart to the Lord, He always comes through. We have to do our part, to sometimes vehemently seek His face and “pour out our hearts before Him” (Psalm 62:8). He told Jeremiah, “And you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) That verse was probably one that stirred the prophet Daniel in his famous ninth chapter and the prayer he prayed which brought one of the most significant answers to prayer that was ever given, the prophecy of the 70 weeks.

So, shaken, not stirred. But in our case, shaken and stirred. Like Jesus said, “Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Matthew 21:44) If you “fall on the Rock” in the time of trouble, if the shaking of your life brings the stirring of your soul and the pouring out of your heart to Him, then all things will have worked together for good. On the other hand, if you are shaken but unstirred, the Lord there said that ultimately the Stone you should have fallen on in prayer will ultimately fall on you. If you’re being shaken, get stirred.

“It’s a gun, isn’t it?”

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Mark McMillion

I was on an overnight train from Budapest, Hungary to another eastern European capital in the 1990’s. With me was a young French sister in the Lord who was on her way to her new mission field. It was like a time of high summer in the spiritual sowing and reaping of that part of the world, after the fall of Communism made it possible for those people to reach out to the Lord in a way impossible in the past. All was well until late in the evening, after we’d crossed the border.

There had only been the two of us in our train compartment until 5 young guys in their 20’s came almost stumbling into our part of the train. It was Saturday evening, they were drunk and to them we looked like some fun.

Immediately they began to take a liking to my French companion. Meanwhile, sort of the ringleader sat down very close to me and rather intently but somewhat lightheartedly asked me some questions. All the while they were all knocking back vodka or brandy, a common thing people do there to help them sleep on trains overnight.

I should mention that I was actually carrying a somewhat large amount of money on me. This had been given to me as a gift to pass on to a missionary family in the country I was on the way to. I had this in a money pouch under my sports coat. We were all sitting close together and I guess this ring-leader guy noticed it. He suddenly put his hand right on my jacket where the money pouch was and said, “What’s that?!”

It actually was rather a tense moment for me. I was outnumbered 5 to 1, these guys were younger than me, I was in their country, I had a woman with me that they liked, they were drunk and it wasn’t like I could phone 9-1-1 or get any help. The train conductor couldn’t care less and basically it was quickly developing in a dangerous situation. It would not have been too terribly unusual if they’d decided to rob me and throw me off the train while they had their way with my friend.

So when he asked me, “What’s that?!”, I said, “Oh, some papers.” (Hey, telling the truth, right?) He looked at me hard and long and said, “It’s a gun, isn’t it?” I paused, looked back steadily at him and said, “No, it’s not a gun.” He kept looking at me silently.

Next he went out of the train cabin, out into the hallway with some of his buddies. I could see them talking together and then looking back at me from time to time. I continued to keep looking at them but also was staying relaxed. It certainly seemed like they were sizing up the situation and deciding whether to attack me and my friend or not. One thing working in our favor, in the physical at least, was that it was getting later and later and they were progressively getting drunker and drunker.

I guess you could say the end of the story was that they didn’t attack us. The ringleader was convinced I was carrying a gun under my coat and that I was just being coy about it. So gradually they all dozed off to sleep and after a long while my friend and I did the same.

“Mark, that’s not a miracle; you were just lucky!”

Say what you want, it sure felt like a major miracle. The Lord somehow tricked that guy into thinking I had a gun when actually his hand was on a large amount of cash in my money pouch underneath my jacket.

It could also certainly be said that we didn’t quiet really heed the Lord’s admonition to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). We were doing the harmless thing OK but we sure weren’t being wise as serpents. And I never made a border crossing like that again if I was ever carrying anything valuable.

Another major thing was that we weren’t just tourists, traveling around seeing the sights. We were on a mission for the Lord and were under His protection as we went forward for Him. So it was like that verse, “The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:14) Or the verse, “You shall not need to fight in this battle. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord with you.” (II Cron. 20:17) And sometimes, even when we’re doing something that turns out to not really be the truly wisest and safest way to do something, if we’re doing it sincerely in obedience to Him, He can get us out of what could be really serious trouble, like He did for us that night.

It reminds me of some verses that I claimed way back before I’d ever even left the States for the first time to go abroad for Him many years ago, “When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it, when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, ‘Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.’” (Psalm 105:12-15)

Sweet Potatoes with Butter

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Mark McMillion

I heard a story one time, I don’t know if it’s true. Seems it was after the Civil War in America, down in the South where the slaves were now free but still living tough, segregated lives.

So a white woman had an African American woman working for her as her “maid”. And somehow the African American women had her 2 kids there. There was something to do with sweet potatoes, very popular in the southern states. And as the story goes, the white woman was serving some sweet potatoes to the African American woman and her 2 kids. So the maid was all thankful and humbly respectful that she was being served sweet potatoes for herself and her kids.

Then the white woman passed on some butter that the maid and her two kids could put on their sweet potatoes. But the black maid respectfully declined that offer of butter for their sweet potatoes. The white woman was surprised and puzzled.

“Liza” she said, “why don’t you let those children have butter on their sweet potatoes?”

“No ma’am”, Liza said, “I don’t want my ‘chillens ever know what sweet potatoes with butter tastes like.”

End of story. What in the world could that mean? As I understand it, it’s like this. Liza and her children lived in grinding poverty. They were accustomed to doing without. But here was this rare, strange situation where they were eating sweet potatoes and maybe even getting butter on it!

But Liza knew that it was like so rare a situation, so special, that it wasn’t something that was likely to happen again. As it was already, her kids had never even known what the delicious taste of sweet potatoes with butter was like. But if they did, it would only be for that time. And afterwards they would always remember it and long to have it again. But Liza would never be able to supply something like that for her kids; it was just beyond her.

So that’s why Liza didn’t want her kids to even taste what it was like to have butter on their sweet potatoes. She felt it was better for them to never have even tasted such heavenly things than to have tasted and then to almost certainly never be able to have that again.

Kind of deep, when you think of it. There are times in life, or for some lives, when the Lord in His wisdom seems to withhold something that is prayed for and desired. We don’t know why and we long for an answer. But it doesn’t come.

And yet sometimes for one reason or the other, we have a brief taste of those “sweet potatoes with butter”, like Liza was offered to her kids. And then for reasons we usually don’t know, those heavenly tastes and experiences are not sustained and we go back to our lives we live.

Was Liza right to refuse to let her kids to even taste the sweet potatoes with butter? I personally don’t know. We are told, “With food and clothing let us be content” (I Timothy 6:8). Usually we aren’t content with only food and clothing. Most of us want more than that. And in our times, almost everyone has quite a lot more than food and clothing.

But for the Lord’s disciples, especially for those who’ve become His seasoned soldiers, He sometimes spoils us. But at other times He can keep us on a rather short leash and even lean rations, if He sees fit. We don’t always understand why. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Recently I had some “sweet potatoes with butter”. It was wonderful. But it was only for a short while. Was it good that it happened? Maybe I should have just looked at it like Liza did, just not even have let that happen since it seems it was something that could only be for a very short time. But it was really good while it lasted.

“I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content” (Philipians 4:11). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:23 & 24). “And everyone that hath forsaken house or brethren or sister, or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My sake shall receive a hundred fold in this lifetime, and in the world to come, eternal life”. (Mark 10: 29 & 30)

Have you got sweet potatoes with butter in your life that you’ve tasted but then it’s gone? It’s tough. It’s like that for me right now. Thanks for your prayers about this. God bless you.

Bite Now, Chew Later

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Life is full of decisions. And it actually happens that those decisions, sometimes very major ones, can come down to a brief moment when some opportunity presents itself and you have to make that decision, right then, not later. It can be in a romance, it can be in your career, it can be in sports or business. You don’t always have time to weigh up every factor and slowly consider all the options. You just have that moment, that second, and you have to decide. And it may affect the rest of your life.

Jesus said one time, “What man, with an army of 10,000, going against an army of 20,000, doesn’t sit down first and count the cost whether he has sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:31) Absolutely true, the Lord said it.

But also sometimes you’re already in battle, things are moving and fluid and it’s not a situation where you can really pause, draw back to think it all over and pull in your councilors. Sometimes the battle’s on, the chips are down, your whole life and all you’ve fought and lived for is at stake.

This type of thing almost certainly happens to every individual. Certainly not every day but there are moments when you have to go totally by your “gut”, your instincts, and if you’re a Christian, by the “still small voice” (I Kings 19:21) and the leading of the Lord.

Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. I have a tendency to do that. The Good Samaritan, did he bite off more than he could chew?

Probably he was busy like the other guys. Maybe those other ones just felt they had so much on their plate, maybe that fellow on the side of the road wasn’t even hurt anyway. He was faking it. Or there were accomplices hiding in the rocks that would jump anyone who stopped to help. It just wasn’t really wise to stop. Why should they? It was probably his fault. He got himself into that mess in the first place, right?

But the Good Samaritan, he stopped. Did it take him 15 minutes to decide? Did he phone 9-1-1 or take some photos first? Nope; he just decided on the spot that someone needed help and he was going to do it. He was going to take whatever time and resources were needed to help that guy.

Was that rational? Was that really economical? Was it even foolhardy? But he made that split second decision. Probably in history somewhere there was actually someone who was the Good Samaritan. Jesus wasn’t just making up fairly tales.

For me, sometimes I just have to make a decision to go ahead and “bite”, and worry about “chewing” later. If I know it’s something the Lord wants me to do, I need to just do it. I shouldn’t spend much time wondering if I’ll be able to follow through on what I’m committing to, if I’ll be able to consolidate what I’m undertaking.

So sometimes I do things that are approaching irrationality. But I’ve found that the Lord has most of the time made it so that I’ve been able to follow through with what I’ve taken on as a commitment, sometimes on the spur of the moment.

The other side of that is that I’ve had times where I was just over committed. Many years ago I was staring at an apple tree in a yard in Kolbotn, Norway. The tree was very fruitful. In fact it had maybe 5,000 apples on it, just loaded. The only probably was, all the apples were really small. If it was a farmer’s tree, it would nearly be worthless. It would have been better to have 500 big apples than 5,000 small ones.

And the Lord was just practically yelling that in my ear as a parable right then. That’s how my life had been: way too many projects and commitments that ended up being a huge crop of “little apples”, rather than a smaller crop of fully grown ones. I’m still learning on that lesson.

But it’s tough. We’re just supposed to say “yes” to the Lord. We’re also supposed to say “yes” to people. “You’re not your own, you are bought with a price.” (I Corinthians 6:19 and 7:23) “We ought to lay down our lives for our brethren” (I John 3:16). Most of the time, I figure it’s better to bite first and chew later. Usually the Lord will help me to follow through on my commitments if I make myself available to Him and even to others. “He that has begun a good work in you will perform it” (Philippians 1:6). “Faithful is He that calls you, who also will do it.” (I Thessalonians 5:24)

God spoke to Isaiah, “Who shall go for us and whom shall I send?” (Isaiah 6:8) Did Isaiah say, “Um…, I’ll look around, Lord, and try to find someone”? Nope. He said, “Here am I Lord, send me!” (Isaiah 6:8) Jesus asked His disciples, “Are you able to drink of the cup I drink of and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38) They answered zealously, but perhaps unwisely, “Lord, we are able.” (Mark 10:39) So did the Lord rebuke them for presumption and pride? No, He said, “You shall indeed be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with” (Mark 10:39). He knew even then that they would eventually face martyrdom.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit will just prompt you to go for it, not pause, think and consider. But that means you really need to be in touch with Him and be getting your instructions and even impulses from Him, from heaven. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the son of God.” (Romans 8:14)

Visiting Europe

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Mark McMillion

This won’t be a normal blog post, just a short update. I’ve been on the other side of the Atlantic from where I am normally. Right now I’m in Gothenburg, Sweden, visiting two of my sons and their families. I landed in Oslo, Norway around 10 days ago and visited with my daughter and son and his family who all live there. And I’m planning to visit friends in Hungary before flying back to Texas.

I’d better explain about that picture there. It is actually a car, made by the French car maker Renault, called a “Twizy”. My youngest son drives it to work; it’s electric and really a novelty. I rode in the “backseat” all the way into town from the suburbs with him and it was fun. Actually, it’s closer to being like an advanced electric go-cart than a car but it’s in the classification of a motorcycle and parks in motorcycle places. People stare at you and come to talk when you get out of the car.

I’m having fun. The visit with my kids has gone really well and we’ve had a continual good level of interaction. I guess we just grow up and want to have a better time when we are together than at times in the past. Also the opportunity to get to know my little grandsons has been really nice; they are at a very sweet age in their lives and it’s been fun to be able to have time with them.

One interesting thing that happened today was that I went with my youngest son and his wife and little boy to the kindergarten that my grandson goes to. They have recently been taking him to one run by a local church affiliated with the state church of Sweden. I was actually rather surprised as I have perhaps been a little negative or hopeless about what I have known of Christianity in this part of the world.

If you read what I wrote in “A flock of whooping cranes” last year, I mentioned in there how that for what I knew, Christianity was on its knees or beyond that in this part of the world. Well, this morning I saw that it’s not quiet that bad. I ended up having a short chat with a local Swedish priest in his 30’s who is a very dedicated and committed guy who said he was called by the Lord to his place of service, almost reluctantly.

The kindergarten was full of young couples with very small children as there was a short service of children’s songs in the small church connected to the kindergarten. It was encouraging and surprising to see faith in God to be more prevalent in Scandinavia than I had thought it was.

If all goes well, I’ll be back in Austin soon and then will have more time to give to blog posts and communications. I hope you are all dong well, thanks so much for your prayers. Your friend, Mark

The Government?

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Mark McMillion

I don’t usually like to write about secular and especially political things. But the other side of the coin is that many, if not most people, are largely concerned with secular and political “affairs of this life”. (II Timothy 2:4) So I’m going to share something here that’s mainly going to go against the grain of modern American Christian thinking. Because so very much talk by Christians now here in America is about how very bad our government is and how very bad our society is.

From one perspective, it’s refreshing in some ways because for generations Christians here were some of the most “Pollyanna” pro-American society folks you could find. But now so many Christians can hardly start a conversation without cursing the President and our government, saying they think this is about as bad as it can get.

You think America right now is really bad? Let me tell you about my experiences abroad for 36 years. I have utterly no regrets concerning my calling as a Christian missionary. But I can tell you, as much as I love the countries I’ve lived in and the people I’ve ministered to, the things I’ve seen and experienced can make me really appreciate the things that are in the USA right now.

Let’s say your house catches on fire. I lived 5 years in a wonderful country where, if your house is on fire, you will negotiate in your front yard with the fire department for how much you’ll pay to save your house while it burns down behind you. This was just business as usual and how it was done.

They’re doing good: pencils and paper! So many don’t have that. And it’s 60 students, sitting on the floor.

I’ve lived in at least 3 countries, large, famous “third world” countries where, if you’re an adult with children and you had any money at all, the first thing you did was put your children into private schools. The government schools in those countries, I won’t name them, were so utterly failing that it was virtually a curse to your children if you let them go to government school.

You make $3 a day to support your family.

You as the bread winner make $3 a day. You, your wife and kids live in a two room house. You, your wife and kids ride on your 125 cc motor scooter, all 5 of you, as you wind through traffic in the capital of 20 million, but you actually are definitely middle class. And your goal is to get your kids into private school so they can get some kind of education.

Lower middle class in America

How does that compare to us living here in the US? Makes you feel you have it pretty good? Many, if not most folks here, live in a house with 3 bedrooms, two baths, a front yard and a back yard, and probably you’ve got two cars. That would be in the upper 1% of so many countries worldwide. But it’s virtually lower middle class here. And yet we often complain about our society and government and think we’re really suffering.

A sin often mentioned as grieving God in the Bible was murmuring. “Neither murmur, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” (I Corinthians 10:10) Griping, belly aching; we’re all prone to it. But it seems to be rife today among Christians, especially towards our government. Many seem to think that the democratically elected officials of this county are all that’s standing in the way of this nation’s greatness. As if changing the political party in power is what’s needed for God’s blessings to be poured out on the nation.

Working in Denmark, I drew minimum wage and still paid 50% income tax.

On the other hand, I’ve lived in “Post Christian” quasi-socialist societies in Northern and Western Europe where I had a job for a while and drew minimum wages at that job. Nevertheless I paid 50% taxes on that income as that was the minimum tax rate in that country. And yet virtually no one in that country complains about the tax rate or hardly even the government. They feel they have it pretty good and the society at large has agreed to that level of taxes. Almost all Americans pay way below 50% taxes. But it’s probably the single most harped on issue that’s the source of unhappiness for so many Americans. We here virtually have a heart attack about the taxes we pay and make that the center of our conversations and focus in life.

The point is, for my American Christians friends, we have it really pretty good. Many now look forward to what they expect to see soon: a complete breakdown of law and order in the USA and a police state imposed after the collapse of American society and government. Maybe that will happen; I wouldn’t be real surprised.

But you may come to wish that you had the days we have right now, with a government that’s trying to maintain law and order, schools that children can go to, a President that is flawed but sincere and trying, institutions that were set up over 200 years ago which have been the envy of the world since that time.

There’s a lot that is wrong here. But on the other hand, there’s really a lot that’s not as bad as others have it. And yet so many Christians bad mouth, complain and go on and on with how bad we think it is and how bad our leaders are.

Maybe some of them are. The gridlock in our government has been really disturbing and concerning. But constantly complaining and leading the charge of negativity and hatefulness should not be the place of godly Christians. “Let no corrupt communication proceed forth out of your mouth, but that which is good, to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29)

We’ve got a lot to be thankful for. The day may soon come when we look back to these times as absolute days of heaven which will never be able to return. I suggest we count our blessings, including our government, and stay busy trying to bring souls to Him, rather than being constantly heard to be a fountain of negativity about our lot and our society.

“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

It could be worse. It is in so many places around the world. It may very well be that way here before long. May we all count our blessings while we have them and not be heard to gripe and complain.

Mark McMillion

Creeds and Deeds, Facts and Acts

Category Archives: My Past