001 TAM – Why Am I Doing The Accidental Missionary Podcast

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In this, the first episode of The Accidental Missionary Podcast, I share about what I hope to achieve with this new podcast. I also talk a bit about how I got to where I am now serving as a full time volunteer missionary with the YWAM International Communications Team.

With this podcast my desire is to encourage others to find and pursue the plan that God has for their life. Whether it is on the missions field or somewhere else I know that God has a plan for everyone who listens to this podcast. Hopefully through this podcast people will be encouraged to find God’s plan for their and to pursue it…

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Title music for this week’s episode is the opening credits for one of the best science fiction televisions shows ever created, Firefly.

I Don’t Want to Work The 4-Hour Work Week

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The Book - The 4 Hour Workweek by Timothy FerrissTimothy Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Workweek was on the best seller list for years. The premise of the book is to “Escape the 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich“.

That has a certain appeal, but not for me…

I recently listened to a book by Laura Vauderkam called 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. The idea behind this book is to “show that it really is possible to sleep eight hours a night, exercise five days a week, take piano lessons, and write a novel without giving up quality time for work, family, and other things that really matter.“.

One of the big points that Laura has already talked about is figuring out your core competencies and then find a job or position where you can operate in your core competencies. God has led me to the place in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) where I can do just that and I know that I am extremely privileged to be here.

To be in Youth With A Mission working as a full-time volunteer missionary requires the trust and support of our home church here in Calgary and many individual supporters and sponsors. Despite working full-time in YWAM I don’t get paid but rather we live off the generous donations of our supporters. As I said before, I feel extremely privilaged to be doing this, so “thank you” to all our supporters.

Thank you!!!

Is China Reversing its’ One-Child Policy?

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The BBC had an interesting report last week talking about the struggle that China is now encountering with their aging population. They are struggling with welfare for the aged population, experiencing large labour shortages and jobs are leaving China for countries where there is a larger labour pool. By 2050 it is estimated that over a third of Chinese people will be over 60.

Below are some audio clips from the BBC report about the problem, and how China appears to be relaxing its’ one-child policy:

[audio:http://dropbox.curry.com/ShowNotesArchive/2012/05/NA-411-2012-05-24/Assets/JCD%20Clips/untold%20story%20about%20china.mp3]

To give you an idea about that China’s one-child policy is, here is an excerpt from the wikipedia article.

The one-child policy is the one-child limitation in the population control policy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Chinese government refers to it under the official translation of family planning policy. It officially restricts married, urban couples to having only one child, while allowing exemptions for several cases, including rural couples, ethnic minorities, and parents without any siblings themselves.

Here is a good visualisation of the aging population…

Image source: Wikipedia

Time for a New Personal Podcasting Project?

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I have previously written about how I’ve felt burnt out and “in a funk” about my podcasting endevours over at the YWAM Podcast. As part of overcoming this feeling of burnout I’m actually considering launching a personal podcast and changing the direction and focus a bit on the YWAM Podcast.

As a bit of a teaser while I work on getting this going here is what I am thinking of using as the cover art for the upcoming podcast …

Pressing on Through the Tears

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This morning I felt like I had my butt kicked in church by our Brazilian pastor, Pastor Jaime Cisterna. He shared about Psalm 126 and the process involved for restoration.

In case you are not familiar with Psalm 126, here it is:

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes, Lord,
like streams in the Negev.
Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.

The process that was talked about this morning regarding restoration was:

  1. A divine process
  2. A maturing process
  3. A faith process
  4. A love process

The part of this mornings sermon that stood out to me was the maturing process portion of what Pastor Jamie shared. In Psalm 126 it refers to verses 5 – 6:

Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.

It talks about how even through “tears” and in hard times we must still continue to sow. No matter how we feel, we must continue on with what God has for us. Even when it feels like we can’t do it, we need to do what God calls us to do, and He will do the rest.

Another quote that came up this morning was from John Piper:

So here’s the lesson: When there are simple, straightforward jobs to be done, and you are full of sadness, and tears are flowing easily, go ahead and do the jobs with tears. Be realistic. Say to your tears: ‘Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life. But there is a field to be sown (dishes to be washed, car to be fixed, sermon to be written). I know you will wet my face several times today, but I have work to do and you will just have to go with me. I intend to take the bag of seeds and sow. If you come along then you will just have to wet the rows.”

Then say, on the basis of God’s word, ‘Tears, I know that you will not stay forever. The very fact that I just do my work (tears and all) will in the end bring a harvest of blessing. So go ahead and flow if you must. But I believe (I do not yet see it or feel it fully)—I believe that the simple work of my sowing will bring sheaves of harvest. And your tears will be turned to joy.”

The sermon should be available soon for download on the South Calgary Community Church sermon page.

As is often the case for me this life lesson reminded me of a song …

Some days the desire to stay in bed and give up can be almost overpowering, but God promises the harvest to those that sow. So how do you get through the times of “tears” and press on with sowing the field that God has laid before you?