Rev. Martin Luther King- My Brother, Our Brother!

"We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools'- MLK

Today our nation marks the holiday that honors and highlights the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King. Slavery and segregation mark low points of US history. Not very long ago and in my childhood I saw the horrible signs that marked division of races over bathrooms, theaters, hotels and restaurants.

The Civil Rights movement to end racial discrimination was a struggle that marks one of the high moments of US history.

Christ is the greatest liberator of all, His mission, His passion was to restore man to God and to teach man that all of us are created in the image of God, all of us are equal and all of us are treasured.

Brother King and many others marched and preached and taught about these principals- and many paid a horrible price for what should be a standard right. And some like Rev. King paid the ultimate price.

God bless America. God bless freedom for all of us. We stand together as brothers or this nation will fall. Thank you for your dedication and your commitment to the principals of your faith and for belief in the goodness of this nation.

A KERN-al Full of Service!

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace...in order that in everything God may be gloried through Jesus Christ" 1Peter 4:10 and 11

In Bakersfield, California there resides a loyal band of VRM servants that serve in the Kern County Chapter. They have a very unique program that has developed under VRM Chapter Director Chaplain Steve Truitt and Dr. H Norman Wright. They serve in the Emergency Room at Kern County Medical Center (KMC) and deal with trauma victims, many as a result of crime.

You can imagine the emotional pain and suffering, agony and anguish that arise in the waiting room and ER areas as the victim and arriving family members and friend greet the VRM Chaplains and Responders as they serve in this dynamic and fluid situation.

I have visited the KMC several times with Chaplain Steve Truitt and the respect from the KMC staff is there for the work that VRM provides. In addition to the training they receive from VRM they also under go a tough background check and additional training from KMC. They commit to serve on shifts and give of their personal time to minister to those in trauma.

This will be the first Christmas that VRM will serve in KMC. It has already been hectic and demanding. On top of that VRM serves provides "backup" chaplain services for Kern County Fire Department. Included in their vision is to one day serve in support of law enforcement to reach crime victims.

For now, please keep the VRM Kern County Chapter and servants lifted up in your prayers as they tirelessly serve trauma victims and families in the Emergency Room and out with the Kern County Fire Department- as well as in the Kern County VOAD chapter.

We are so grateful to all who serve in places like Emergency Rooms, Fire Departments, along side law enforcement agencies, serving in outreaches to crime victims, feeding people during Thanksgiving and Christmas and being prayed up and mission to deploy to disasters!

Blessings and Merry CHRISTmas and thank you all for Glorifying God through servant hood in Jesus Christ!

Pearl Harbor Remembered- From Enemies to Brothers

"Consquently, you are NO LONGER FOREIGNERS AND ALIENS, but FELLOW CITIZENS with God's people and members of God's household. Ephesians 2:19 (NIV)

Today marks the 70th Anniversary of the Dec 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the day that launched the US into WWII and as President Roosevelt proclaimed- "A Day that would live in Infamy".

The violence of that day cannot be over emphasized. In addition to the US Pacific Fleet being shattered and hundreds of planes destroyed the US military lost thousands of sailors, marines, army troops as well as civilians.

Hatred arose between the US and Japan on scale of modern warfare technology and bombing campaigns that saw millions of Japanese lives lost in the military and as civilians. Entire cities were destroyed by fire bombing air campaigns, every port and bay found US subs lurking, food was scarce and it all culminated by the two atomic bobms that vaporized the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It finally led to the end of the war with Japan in August of 1945.

All this history and animosity is well known. There was a real hatred between the people of Japan and America. So it is amazing to know that what arose from Pearl Harbor was how Christ transformed the lives of two men, on Japanese the other American. And both were fanatical enemies of each others countries.

Few people know of this story. I have shared it at VRM trainings as we close and pray over the graduating new VRM volunteers. I shared it in detail at the 10th Anniversary of VRM and some in the Christian Community know of the history of Captain Fuchida who led the air attack on Pearl Harbor and Jacob DeShazer who was part of the Doolittle raid that bombed Japan in retaliation.

Briefly as the story is incredible- DeShazer was captured in China (where the Doolittle Raiders were trying to reach after the attack) and spent the rest of the war in horrible prison camp conditions complete with near starvation, torture and beatings- reaching a point where he wanted to kill at least one guard before they killed him. Instead he studied and memorized the Bible and came to ask the Lord into his heart and to forgive him of his hatred. So great was the transformation in his life through Christ he returned to Japan to launch mission work and plant churches in the land of his former enemies.

Captain Fuchida survived the war and plane crashes and bomb attacks and just missed the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Stripped of rank and pensions he was substained life on a small farm plot. In miraculous steps directed by God Fuchida came across a pamphlet written by DeShazer and began to study the bible.

One day he went to meet DeShazer and shared all that was in his heart about Christ and Grace and Forgiveness. And then they knelt together in prayer and the one who bombed Pearl Harbor and the one who bombed Japan called each other Brothers in Christ, united as citizens in the United Kingdom of Heaven!

DeShazer went on to work as a missionary in Japan for over 30 years and as one of the last surviving Doolittle Raiders he passed away in 2008. Fuchida went on to work as an evangelist in Japan and then the US and then across the world. Together these former enemies help lead hundreds of thousands of people to the Lord that had personally liberated them from sin and put them in reconcilation first with men and then with God! (Fuchida died in 1976)

At this time of remembering that day of infamy 70 years ago, let us also remember that Christmas marks the birth of Christ. The present of Grace and Forgiveness presented personaly by God through the His son Christ- the salvation plan that when accepted makes us no longer Strangers or Foreigners or even enemies- but Citizens in God's House with His people!

Thanksgiving- Admist Defeat, Retreat and Despair

"The reason they endured--the reason they believed in God's deliverance--was simple: they could believe, because their General DID believe!"- from the book "Light and Glory" by Peter Marshall and David Manuel

The first thanksgiving held in the new country of the United States of America occured on a cold winter day on a open field covered in snow in November of 1777 as General Washington led the Continental Army to its winter quarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

It was a army of 12,000 men that had seen many defeats against the armies of the British Empire. Their uniforms were tattered, threadbear and worn to pieces, 1/3 had no shoes, they were starving, they had little food and Washington himself was fearful that the army would soon dissolve away with the snow come spring.

So in the darkest period of our nation and in the lives of our revolutionary soldiers they turned to give THANKSGIVING to Almighty God. General Washington went privately to the woods and as he knelt in the snow he poured his heart and soul out to God- crying out from the wilderness. He prayed for his men and his new nation and God soon blessed our General and our Continental Armies with stunning victories though the road ahead was long and still gloomy.

In the depths of despair, remember to give Thanks to God and thank Him for all He has done for you and will do for you even if you don't see it. Like the exhausted men of the Continental Army- keep Hope alive and trust in God. Winter is just a season and the cold gives way to the warmth and rebirth of Spring!

Blessings over you during the Thanksgiving and CHRISTmas season.

Screwtape Letters- Nephews or Sons?

I recently posted on Facebook that Adella and I would be attending the theater version of C.S. Lewis novel- "The Screw Tape Letters" at the Majestic Theater in Dallas. It was a phenomenal performance and one that clearly presents the reality of spiritual warfare and that you are in combat whether you believe in it or not. (And beware to those who don't believe that Heaven or Hell exists- let alone God or satan)

For those of you familiar with the book, Screw Tape is a Chief Demon, and his name is fitting after that of a worm, a parasite that lives off others. And it is written from the view point of Evil and how they perceive the "Enemy" to be followers of the Light, those who believe in Christ. And it follows the course of letters between Screw Tape and his demonic follower and charge who lives and works "up above on earth" to keep the "patients" as they call humans- from finding the truth that God is Love and wants all to go to Heaven through His grace and mercy.

Screw Tape would always sign his demonic letter with "Your loving Uncle- Screw Tape". Being a deceiver he never means love in the sense you might and he waits for his nephew to stumble as he also is on alert his nephew is also trying to get his Uncle's position in hell.

There are many points I could make from the novel and the play (and probably will bring up in the future again) but it struck me that those who follow the "Father of lies, the Great Deceiver" can strive to be called no higher than "a nephew".

The contrast is that Christ calls those who accept and follow Him as- "Sons and Daughters of God!" What an incredible difference between light and dark, love and hate, evil and good. Despite our sins, our vices, our horrible actions and shortcomings we can be called "Sons and Daughters of God!" Thank you Lord for you mercy and grace and unending love!

Galatians 3:26- "For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ"

"Occupy Heart" Movement- First!

There has been a lot of protests and political rallies and movements across this country that we have seen demonstrated by masses of people in attending Tea Parties or camping out in the "Occupy Wall Street" movement that has seen several US city squares filled with people calling themselves the "99%".

Victim Relief Ministries maintained a low key mission presence on request of the Dallas Police and worked in support of the Dallas Crisis Intervention Department.
We walked the tent areas in the "Occupy Dallas" and talked to people. Many shared a passion on several ideas, many expressed frustration and anger over "the system", many want to affect change for the people, fight for social injustice and many other reasons articulated good, bad or vague- but they wanted to "Occupy the Streets to make a statement".

I thought about all I experienced personally and all that I read about the "Occupy Movement" and all that I watched or heard on the media, and I reflected on in it in Spiritual ways.

I want to call attention to the founding parable of Victim Relief, and the statement Christ said in regards to the Great Commandment- "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind- and you shall love your neighbor as yourself."

As a follower of Christ I think the best place for me to fight for change is to surrender my heart to God, let God and His Spirit and His Love "Occupy" my heart.

In doing so I will follow the commandments of the parable, and as I have seen demonstrated by VRM volunteers and other Christians- I will love my neighbor, I will feed my neighbor, I will protect and serve my neigbor I will do the things that God wants me to do in reflecting His love.

Lets start by letting "God Occupy" us first and then "Occupy" our homes and families and then our schools and churches and work and then we will "Occupy" main street and then our neighborhoods, cities our capital and then the world! Peace and love!

Japan- Half A Year Later! Continue to Pray

Gene Grounds and I recently returned from what is the third trip into Japan. As the photo attests to, the debries and shattered remains of cars and boats and foundations of homes and buildings have been scrapped up, collected and put in organized piles and categories.
The people for the most part have been placed in small but comfortable housing units stacked side by side.
Highways are open, people are traveling to and from. Life looks "normal" on the outside, but there is a "new normal" on the inside.
Nuclear Radiation continues to show up in water tables and in agricultural fields, there are few fishing boats in the devastated ports as nearly 97% of the fleets were destroyed or sunk, the area relies on fishing and tourism, and very few tourists are coming in to areas without hotels- the outlook for the economy is rather bleak.
VRM continues to work in partnership through the local churches and pastors in the northen prefecture of Iwate and with Somebody Cares Japan and other ministries, bringing in donated funds and focusing on teaching on grief and trauma and encouraging the local church community.
But as I wrote on the 6th month anniversary of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake- Giants are roaming all over Japan bringing a sense of hopelessness, despair and bleakness. Suicides are a cultural norm and the rate is on the increase. So as debries are cleared, and people are housed- please continue to remember the people of Japan through your prayers on their behalf and as Doug Stringer of Somebody Cares often says- "That the Land of the Rising Sun will know the Risen Son!"