After serving as the pastor of Grace Harbor for 8 years, that role is now in the hands and heart of Pastor Marc Rickabaugh. He’s a great brother in the LORD. Being co-laborers with God to bring a church into being was a deep experience of growth, joy and sacrifice for myself, Eileen and the whole congregation. We are very thankful to the body of Christ at Grace Harbor.
My first Sunday as an evangelist was quite possibly, my busiest Sunday ever! It was a ‘good busy’ though. I preached at The Bridge www.cometothebridge.org which is a church plant in downtown Portsmouth in the morning. In the afternoon, I spoke to the youth at Virginia Korean UMC in Suffolk on the subject of “The Purest Mind in the Universe Thought Up Sex”. I am grateful for the leadership of Pastor Chul Ki and Pastor Ho Hyun who know that the church must teach on this topic. I then met with the New Creation Youth leaders working on plans for “Youth Week”, which runs from July 18 -25. I am the speaker for the week, which is filled with teaching, small group sessions, mission work and fun!
I'm just finishing up an amazing book: "Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret." Taylor was born in Yorkshire, England in 1832 and went on to his reward from Hunan, China in 1905. The book was written in 1932. "Taylor was a pioneer missionary who spent the last half of the nineteenth century serving in China. More than a century before Richard Nixon reopened Communist China to the Western world, this young British missionary traveled to China. He left for China at age 20 with no university degree and sent by no government. He arrived unexpected and unannounced. But, by the time he died, 50 years later, he had founded the China Inland Mission which consisted of 205 mission stations with over 800 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christian converts."
Quote from: http://www.pettengillmissionaries.org/archive/title/book_review%3a_hudson_taylor%27s_spiritual_secret
I am transfixed by Taylor’s description of his deeper experience with Christ, from which the title: “Spiritual Secret” comes. The experience is described in a chapter called "The Exchanged Life." Here is a quote from an Episcopal priest who hosted Hudson Taylor in Melbourne, Australia:
"He was an object lesson in quietness. He drew from the bank of heaven every farthing of his daily income – “My peace I give unto you.” Whatever did not agitate the Savior or ruffle his spirit, was not to agitate him. The serenity of the Lord Jesus concerning any matter, and at its most critical moment, was his ideal and practical possession. He knew nothing of rush or hurry, or quivering nerves or vexation of spirit. He knew that there is a peace passing all understanding, and that he could not do without it . . .
“I am in the study, you are in the big spareroom,’ I said to Mr. Taylor at length. ‘You are occupied with millions, I with tens. Your letters are pressingly important, min of comapritely little moment. Yet I am worried and distressed, while you are always calm. Do tell me what makes the difference.’
‘My dear Macartney,’ Taylor replied, ‘the peace you speak of is, in my case, more than a delightful privilege, it is a necessity. I could not possibly get through the work I have to do without the peace of God ‘which passeth all understanding’ keeping my heart and mind.”
That was my chief experience of Mr. Taylor. . . Dwelling in Christ, he drew upon His very being and resources, in the midst of and concerning the matters in question. And this he did by an attitude of faith as simple as it was continuous.” pages 226-7
Taylor's story draws me because I am convinced so many of us (me included) settle for far too little of what Christ offers; or lives to the standard Christ sets. The old saints called it ‘full salvation’ and ‘the deeper life’ among other descriptions. I believe this settling for less come mainly from two sources: 1) ignorance – that is we just don’t know. Do you remember these word from Jesus to the Saducees?
I'll leave you with a question that raised from the book. I urge you and I to answer it honestly while asking the Holy Spirit to search our hearts:
Are the promises of God less true for us today than they were to the faithful who have gone on before us?
Thank you for your prayers for us and for your partnership in the Gospel.
Greg West, Evangelist~Chaplain
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