Amazing Conception to Birth Video

We should all praise God for the miracle of life!

Ministry in the Congo

Congo is a big country!  By vehicle, motorcycle, airplane, and ferry boat, we have recently traveled from end to end of the Baptist areas of Congo, visiting hospitals in the mission network.  One trip we took to the hospital at Sala, one of the most difficult to reach because you have to cross the Kwilu river by one of several ferries, and it’s sometimes a gamble to know which ferry is working!

We’d heard that lightning struck the solar light system at the hospital in Sala, we decided to make fixing that our project.  Sala is the eastern most hospital in the Baptist area of Congo, a distance similar to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh only via challenging paved and sandy roads, no gas stations, and 17 rivers to cross; a long “explore” at best, into remote Congo.

Once our trip plans became known, others pitched-in to help out.  Dr. Bill Clemmer (then still in Congo) had funds to purchase two replacement solar system batteries.  Dr. Friedhelm, at Vanga, offered two solar controllers, one 15 amp, the other 30 amp to replace the failed 45 amp unit until a replacement from the US could be found, along with 10 new “LED” fluorescent-type lights he had on hand.

Preparations took a week.  We organized buying batteries, cables, and kerosene (for refrigeration), and packed tools, water and other necessities for the trip.  Tuesday, here in Kinshasa, the staff at our mission purchasing service loaded every free inch of space in the Landcruiser with freight for the work at Sala, the Vanga hospital, and the missionaries there because you get to Sala by way of Vanga.  Wednesday we made the 350 mile trek to Vanga in 11 hours, the last 90 miles on dirt roads.

The next morning we headed 30 miles down the Kwilu river to Mikwi, where we hoped to find the ferry working.  Sala should have only been another 3 hour drive from there, but we were delayed by a sand pit that even our 4 wheel drive could not manage.

Wayne and John, our driver, tried every tactic they knew, but the Landcruiser just dug deeper into the sand.  We began to wonder if we would spend the night there.  Out of what looked like nowhere, another jeep suddenly appeared, coming towards us.  It turned out to be Mrs. Lala, former president of the Congo Baptist women, visiting churches in her native area around Sala.  She was as surprised to see us as we were to see her.  Her traveling companions wasted no time pitching in to help.  In a few short minutes, using copper ground wire as an improvised rope, they pull us out .  God works in awesome ways when you are doing God’s work.  We do everything we know to prepare adequately, yet in the end, trust God’s providence and rejoice when God provides.  That remote stretch of road probably has a vehicle pass once a week.

We received a royal welcome when we finally arrived.  A huge crowd appeared singing and dancing to the music of a bamboo flute and elephant tusk horn band, traditional instruments in that area.  Later that evening, while enjoying delicious food and the gracious hospitality of Dr. Miche’s and his wife Jeanty, we learned that the Sala hospital had received the gift of a new generator, but it leaked oil and would not run.  That perked John’s curiosity.  He does mechanics at Vanga, and only one month before received special training in Kinshasa for maintenance of this type of generator.

The next day, with different members of the hospital staff, we divided into work teams.  Katherine did “medical supervision” (discussing problems, looking at records, giving encouragement), Wayne worked on the solar system and John eagerly put his knowledge and skills to work on the diesel generator.   By noon Wayne had the solar system repaired with lights shining, John had the generator running, and Katherine had a good visit with the hospital team.  Complete success!

The Mikwi ferry does not run after dark, giving us a 2 pm departure deadline.  After a hearty but hasty meal and a final debriefing with community leaders, we headed back to Vanga, recognizing how much had been accomplished because God provided.  But the story doesn’t end there.  Three weeks later, a visiting pastor (Raymond Bunn) brought a new 45 amp controller.  So Wayne and John made a follow up visit, this time by motorcycle, crossing the river at Vanga in canoes.  The 6 hour trip by vehicle takes just two by motorcycle because you follow more direct foot paths.  Upon arrival, while Wayne installed the replacement controller, John, pleased to see they’d kept the generator running, gave the staff a second lesson in generator maintenance,.  By three pm, and another successful trip, they started back to Vanga.  Canoes also stop crossing the river at dark.

Without prayers and support, we could not be in Congo to travel, encourage, come beside, and problem solve for the sake of the God’s Kingdom.  You could be a partner for the next trip!

Written by Katherine Niles, American Baptist Missionary in the D.R. Congo

Pray for Our Neighbors After Fire

*** Update on the fire. Two apartments have been severely damaged and the families have lost everything. One other apartment was also damaged. One firefighter was injured. My daughter Charlotte knows one of the families. Here is a link to the story.

Rahway Fire

Friends, a brick apartment house across from the church was on fire last night. Betsy and I saw the flames shooting above the building. We don't know how bad it is, or if anyone was hurt. I'll know more later in the day.

Please pray for our neighbors. This is not a happy Thanksgiving for them.

Peace, Pastor Bill

Occupy Tears Down, Jesus Builds Up

It turns out that the leaders of the Occupy Wall Street movement are anarchists. I recommend this article from The New Yorker if you wish to find out who they are and what they are all about. The anarchist movement does not have a good history in this country. An anarchist killed President McKinley. Anarchists want to tear down the institutions of our nation. They have a vague picture of the people running the country, but I’ve not been able to figure out how they plan to do this without any organizational structure. Anarchists also want to get rid of capitalism. Good luck on that one. The Communists tried the same thing, and now they are the greediest capitalists on the planet. Oh well, it turns out that I am not one of the ’99 percent’. I wish to build up our world, not tear it down.

Jesus preached revolution. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). But Jesus’ revolution was very different to the message preached by today’s revolutionaries. First, he did not support the tearing down of government institutions; “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). He was not interested in reorganizing society. Jesus was interested in reorganizing people’s hearts. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Jesus wants to create a loving and supportive relationship with God in the hearts of everyone. Jesus wants to build us up with God at the center of our lives. And this process of building up does not happen in the world around us, it happens within us; “Nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). And so Jesus came to change the world by changing us. The change starts inside of us and then spreads outward. Tearing down the structures of the world will not save the world. Building up the hearts of everyone with God’s love will.

The last few years I have felt a lot of anger towards our country’s institutions. And so the Occupy movement appeared very attractive at first. But now I’ve seen the bankruptcy of it. Only God’s love can save the world. Only God’s grace can repair the brokenness. Only God can build up all of the things that we have foolishly torn down.

God bless you,

Pastor Bill

God is Not Limited by Time

My hobby is astronomy. I love to be outside feeling the wind on my face, listening to the night sounds and looking at God’s creation overhead. Of course, the looking at God’s creation part is difficult because of NJ light pollution. The light dome from the metropolitan area prevents me from seeing fainter objects like galaxies. So I have become a variable star astronomer. Because stars are focused points of light, rather than larger and more diffuse areas of light like galaxies, faint stars cut through the light pollution. I look at these faint little dots and guess their magnitude. Since they are variable stars, the magnitude changes all of the time, and I submit my guesswork to an organization that collects the data. Magnitude estimates from amateur astronomers worldwide are used to create light curves, which are studied by professional astronomers who look for patterns in the data. It’s all very mundane work, but it gets me outside and looking at the night sky. It also has me studying the evolution of stars and how these magnificent creations glorify God.

T Tauri stars are called eruptive variable stars. If our Sun is considered middle aged, these sun-like stars are pre-teens. They have not developed the convection currents that the Sun has to regulate heat throughout the gas envelope. They are also surrounded by clouds of gas and dust called accretion disks that help the stars gain in size. All of these conditions create extreme volatility in T Tauri stars. The heat builds up inside the star without a proper way of regulating it and they explode. The explosions are not big enough to destroy the star, but they are big enough to affect the surrounding accretion disk. If there is a planet in orbit with the beginnings of life on it, those creatures would be destroyed. The environment surrounding a T Tauri star is extremely hostile and so living things would have to wait until the star starts up the convection currents, gobbles up most of the accretion disk and settles down into a more mature phase, called the Main Sequence. Our Sun went through a T Tauri phase, and now we live in a nice quiet place in the universe where we can happily look through our telescopes and watch the fireworks happen in other parts of the cosmos.

Most scientists believe that it has taken 5 billion years to reach this nice quiet point in our Sun’s lifetime. Many Bible scholars can’t reconcile that timeline with the one found in the Old Testament. I say that we are too concerned about time. We are limited to living within a timeline, but God is not. “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever” (Psalm 29:10). God is eternal and God has no limits, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit” (Psalm 147:5). Since God is not limited by anything, God is not limited by time.

Because time is so important to us, we become blinded by it and cannot see the big picture. The famous passage from Ecclesiastes chapter 3:1 says; “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” The universe is created and shaped in God’s time. If God decrees that the Sun lives for 10 billion years, then that is the right amount of time for the Sun to exist. God sees and understands the big picture; we struggle to comprehend tiny pieces of it. Therefore, God knows what is best. It is often difficult for us to understand that.

The stars I measure, some of which are T Tauri stars, change over long periods of time. Variable star observation requires a lot of patience. But every once in a while, one of these stars erupt without any warning. Suddenly a star that can be barely seen in a telescope is bright enough to see without one. That is what makes the T Tauri stars magical. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1) and they do this in God’s good time.

Peace,

Pastor Bill