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Milk Goats

Imagine if you will a man who cared for goats in order to sell their milk in the market. Everyone in the market loved his milk and even felt that it gave them a little extra boost of energy for the day when they would drink it.

This man had two sons. A wise son and a lazy son. Each morning the man would call his two sons and they would divide the milk so that each one would have a portion to take to market.

The wise son would carefully strain the milk, and place it in clean clear bottles so that the milk would be as delicious and healthful as it could be when the people came to buy it.

But the lazy son was not interested in working hard, he would dump the milk into any container he could find, add water to his milk to make it go further, and then he would put just a touch of sugar in the milk to make it taste a little bit sweeter.

For a time the people would come and buy milk from both sons, but as time went on they realized that the lazy son was watering the milk down and adding sugar. They realized that they never felt quite as good after drinking the lazy son's milk, as when they would drink the wise son's milk. In fact the people that drank the lazy son's milk were often given to bouts of sickness.

In that same way we are doing eisogesis if we treat stories as a hermeneutical discipline rather than a homiletical discipline.

Dani's Baptism - Declaration of Faith

Dani, a good friend of ours from Ita Angu'a decided to be baptized.

Animoto.com

Homes near Ita Angu'a http://picasaweb.google.com/parplen/HomesNearItaAnguA

Maxine

Somewhere in Missouri, on our way to Texas, we received a cell phone call from a friend of ours.  As I answered the phone he said, "Hey, you guys must be near Sikeston, Missouri by now.  Why don't you stop in at a restaurant named Lambert's Cafe and check it out?  You guys will love it."   How were we to know that this call would lead to a divine appointment of encouragement and support.

We arrived late in the afternoon and so there wasn't the usual crowd an Lambert's.  This created a more relaxed atmosphere among the staff and waitresses.  As the dinner rolls were flying, and unlimited amounts of fried okra were served by a roving waiter from a large stainless steel bowl, Maxine, our waitress came to take our order.

Maxine is a black lady, and looked to be in her 40's, she had a penetrating smile and an enthusiasm that went beyond what her job description called for.  On her Lambert's uniform she had about a hundred pins and buttons with different sayings and pictures on them, and as she stepped away from our table after taking our order, James said, "Did you see that one of her buttons said 'Smile if you love Jesus'."  James said we should ask her about that when she comes back.

When Maxine returned, I said, "Hey, we're smiling".  She knew immediately what I meant, and she said, "I just knew you were."  Maxine explained that she had been a Christian for a long time, and I explained that we were missionaries to Paraguay.  We talked for a bit about the joys of knowing our Savior and then she had to get back to work.

As we were leaving Maxine approached us with a bag full of the biggest cinnamon rolls that you can image.  These were followed by hugs for each of us and a promise to pray and support us.

From Sikeston, to the small town of Limon in Colorado, the Lord has given us a string of divinely encouraging appointments that have made our traveling a little easier.

 

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An International Send Off

As we said good bye to Paraguay, the Cho family, from Taiwan and the Im family, from Korea were at the airport along with the Dreiling family.

 

Technorati Tags: Paraguay,Stout,Tom Stout,Kelly Stout

Simple Men

Mighty rivers receive their songs,
and great men are remembered by many
Forest springs are known to few,
and simple men live quiet, unknown, important lives.

Rivers crash to the sea and demand that we come watch them,
and books of famous sit window displayed
Springs wait for those who know where to find them,
and simple men live quiet, unassuming, important lives.

Rivers carry many on their backs,
and there are men with many followers
Springs refresh a few deeply and they are content,
and simple men live quiet, small, important lives.

I do not know great rivers, Nile, Gangies, the Amazon.
They are names on a page, places I will never go.
But I know a spring.
He will have no song, He made no demands, He did not lead many.
He lived an unknown, unassuming, small and important life.
An important life to me.

-Tom Stout (Remembering Dad)


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