Captain’s Blog

Captain’s Log #16

May 1, 2001 on 3:44 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

SO LONG SOSE
Thank you for praying that Cyclone ‘Sose’ would go away, so that we could get away… it did and we did!

108 FEET DEEP
As I write this I am in the ‘Galilean’, anchored in 108 feet of water between the small island of Waya and the northern shores of Korolevu Bay.With the team tonight is the D.S., two other pastors and three team members for children’s ministries and counseling, etc. whom we’ve brought for the evangelistic thrust to this island.God has been at work… really at work!! The 6 villages we’ve targeted on this trip allhaveone common factor - there is only one way to reach them! There are no vehicles. There are no roads.The accessis from the sea and from thesea alone, and for that you need a boat - Praise God, He has provided us with one - these people must beimportant to Him!

VILLAGE 1…  A LIFE CHANGED 
This villageis whereone of our Nazarene pastorsgrew up. He left this place 25 years ago. He left as an evil, miserable man, one who’s life was really messed up… everyone here knew about him and was glad to see him go. As they predicted, he ended up a cruel, hateful man working as a vicious bouncer in very high demand by the nightclubs and bars of Suva. He spenta fair amount of his time in and out ofprison until one day his life collided with the living God of the universe and he would never be the same… his life changed! The kind of change that has no explanation apart fromJesus Christ. The kind of change that if you knew him and now you seethis - you must ask… “what’s going on here??”. In the lifetimes of the people back here in his home village they have never seen such a thing.

A CHANGED LIFE USED
As the chief and the people of this village have been watching our pastor, trying to figure out what happened to him, the chief decided to allow us to come in and show the JESUS Film. Over250 people watched the film and about 30 responded to the bold invitation, stood to their feet, came forward and publicly accepted Christ. These last few days since then have been amazing! The chief told us that he would like to see the Church of the Nazarene established in his village. Quickly, our pastor made arrangements through his family here for a small piece of land that could be used by the church. (land is a very, very precious thing, held by families forever - never sold - it is all they have). The chief has refused this suggestion! He says we are being invited by him, he will provide the land… we are now waiting to see what this means.[two days later]
30 ACRES
This chief has just presented us with a letter giving the Church of the Nazarene… ‘THIRTY ACRES OFHISLAND!!’ - that is 30 acres!! - it is difficult to know how to express what it feels like to stand here in the middle and watch God do these kinds of things as He builds His Kingdom… TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!…You have been praying! Dare any of us steal an ounce of the Glory that belongs to the Lord for what HE is doing! A person could be convinced that there must be a whole army of people praying. In actual fact I was just told that in one of the meetings yesterday with the chief, he wastold that very many people across the distant land of America andaround the world are in partnership with us, they are on their knees praying right now for him and what we are about in his village. Prayer moves the hands of God! Prayer changes things! It is a powerful thing - I am seeing this. Pray now for what must follow here as theChurch of the Nazarene is built in this place.

VILLAGE 2… STAY OUT!!
The last missionaries that tried tocome into this village (not that long ago) were stoned and beaten up severely. Bleeding and broken they were thrown into the fishing boat that they came in and set adrift to die!Though something like this would be worth reporting if a person lived to tellit, still we are really hoping NOT to have such a storyourselves this trip.Although missionariesreached this place about one hundred and fifty years ago,these people for very many generations have been in VERY deep trouble. Trapped by a paranoia of superstitions and fear and darkness and defeat and heartache in the midst of intense spiritual war, Satan has had them bound. No one here can remember any time in their lifetimes that any outsider hasever been allowed to come into the village and openly proclaim the message of the Gospel.

VILLAGE 3… FIRST NIGHT OFF THE BOAT SINCE DEC. 10TH LAST YEAR
Cultural protocol along with countless other delays leave us with a terrible decision - stop the JESUS Film in the middle and leave now in order to get out safely beyond the reef and back to the GALILEAN… or keep on going and get trapped here tonight by the outgoing tide!… Hey, life is short… keepthe film rolling! Now it will take 2 more hours for the tide to reach low and then 3 or 4 more hours to gain enough depth to get out. Dawn finds Cindy, the kids and I inthe GALILEAN’S tender, tired and inchingour way out into the wind and spray through the light green channels of deeper water between the walls of brilliant, but deadly coral. A millioncolors of tropical fish flash outward from us and scurry into the safety of rock and reef. Finally wemove into VHF radio range where at last there is an answer returned from my continuous call; “GALILEAN!, GALILEAN!, GALILEAN! this is ‘GALILEAN MOBILE WHISKEY CHARLEY ZULU 8884, do you copy?”…

“Yours is one good voice to hear this morning, Harmon!” comes crackling through the handheld radio that I am holding wrapped in a plastic bag against the spray. It has been about thirteen hours that Jim hasbeen listening to the wind and the radio, watchingthe blowing whitebreakerswith the binoculars, since welost contact. He figured out what must have happened, but he hadn’t known for sure. He had prayed and prayed for us but also handed us over to the Lord with the full awareness bornfrom a couple decades in this part of the world knowing that all plans are always cast inJELL-O in these islands!. Later Jim would share with me, how over the years it has been during nights like this, trapped for whatever reason in some distant remote village of the South Pacific around thedieing embers of a fire, with all the fancy plans going out the window, where he has seen God go about His work in His way. Thank the Lord for faithful people like the Johnson’s andothers who have poured out their livesdown through the years for His Kingdom. Their stories mostly unsung… eternity willtell.I have got to close this report now and time has failed me to tell of villages 4,5 and 6
of the JESUS Film showing by invitation with seven villages together - a miracle!
of the 3AM prayersfor a man completely deaf in both ears and also paralyzed on his right side - heis healed!,
of the warfare, the near disasters, the disasters, the sabotage of equipment and damage done, the physical pain and sickness and failed attempts at countless things and the attempts thathave not failed!,
of the all night services, and counseling and prayer meetings till dawn!,
of marriages healed and reconciled!,
of the successful JESUS Film showingin the exact same village that tried to kill the last missionaries who came!,
of the wooden fishing boat helping us with many of our own men aboard that grounded in heavy seas on the outer reef in the midnight hours and almost went down!,
of 24 JESUS Film showings in30 days!,
of what it took, the costof finally getting to a village that had only 7 people, twofamilies, and through tears what that meant to them to see the life of JESUS as if they where a multitude!,
of thefeasts of giant clams and fish on the beach and celebrations with pastors andteams and tears and laughter!,
of the team effort required for a pastor,the D.S., another pastor and all theJESUS Film team members to bring in a 44 pound Tuna fish off of the back of the GALILEAN and the presenting of it by the church tothe family in the village that was in deepest need, they had no food!,
of the long passage in heavy seas with most of the fifteen aboardsea-sickhour after eternal, unending hour!,
of what happened as we left with the villagepeople lining the shores at 4 A.M. as if in mourning, as if someone had died, with many of them crying andwailing and pleading with us,who call ourselves theChurch of the Nazarene, not to leave… “What if younever comeback??” was heard to be asked… - What should we have told them? What would you have said??
This is our reply… “WE WILL BE BACK!!” Because we do not stand alone - we have an army of God’s people, behind us! We will be back to keep building Christ’s church! To stand by the Message that will standFOREVER! The Message that has changed our own lives! The Message of Hope and Life Everlasting!NO…you listencarefully to me across these distant shores… “WE WILL BE BACK!” We are the people of the Church of the Nazarene andwe have a passion to do whatever is required to get to you and to tell you and to show youthe answer that we have found! HIS NAME IS JESUS!! -HE IS THELAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD and He died to setyou free and me and so we are compelled, nothing else matters, you hold on… WE WILL BE BACK!!You who read this make that possible!
Harmon