I would like to ask our friends to please pray for my upcoming trip to Sudan. Though I have traveled there over twenty five times, I still take it very seriously. I will be leaving on December 1st and returning December 14th. I would greatly appreciate it if you would please keep our team in Sudan, my family, and me covered during these dates. The challenges and the need for God's favor will be great.

Tom

The Ichthus

For the past several weeks, I have been thinking a lot about this simple, yet historic Christian symbol. In the days that we live in, it seems more and more difficult to determine if someone is one in spirit with us. In fact, it is possible that in your own local church, that those sitting next to you don't see Christianity the same way you do. I'm not talking about all the negotiable fringe topics, I'm talking about the very basics of the faith. As a result, there is a great lack of "oneness" in the body. It has become difficult to find a "kindred spirit" even within the four walls of our local congregations. I long for this in my own life and I'm sure many you do as well. In light of that, this little symbol may be more meaningful than we might think.

Here are some tidbits concerning this ancient symbol:

When threatened by Romans in the first centuries after Christ, Christians used the fish mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes. According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company.

Greeks, Romans, and many other pagans used the fish symbol before Christians. Hence the fish, unlike, say, the cross, attracted little suspicion, making it a perfect secret symbol for persecuted believers. So the early Christians made practical use of this symbol for practical convenience. It is somewhat similar to the use in our days of bumper-sticker and business-card practice to be recognised by strangers, although we are not yet under persecution.

As early as the first century, Christians made an acrostic from this word: Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter, (ICTYS) i.e. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, using the Greek word for fish "ichthys." The Greek word Ichthus (Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma), pronounced ich-thoos, upper case: and lower case: , is the word used throughout the New Testament for the English word fish.

The fish has plenty of other theological overtones as well, for Christ fed the 5,000 with 2 fishes and 5 loaves (a meal recapitulated in Christian love-feasts) and called his disciples "fishers of men." So that was an easy association: "fishers of men" and the acronym for the word fish in Greek, and thus the symbol resembling a fish. (http://www.albatrus.org)

Here's my thought... who do we have in our lives that can draw the second half of the Ichthus? Who do we have in our lives that really understands us and knows where we are coming from. Who do we have in our lives that really shares our faith and convictions? Who knows our thoughts so well, that they can finish our sentence for us? If we have someone like this in our lives, praise God, and let's be sure to let them know, because they are one of the greatest gifts God has ever given us. They are an Ichthus friend.

So the next time you see one of these symbols stuck to somebodies car bumper, say a prayer for your friend and if you have yet to find a friend like this, pray that the Lord will send one your way. Just a thought.

“It is only before the throne of grace that we become endued with holy fire; but he who waits there long and believingly will imbibe that fire, and come forth from his communion with God, bearing the tokens of where he has been. For the individual believer, and above all, for the laborer in the Lord’s vineyard, the only way to gain spiritual power is by secret waiting at the throne of God for the baptism.” (Wm. Arthur)

Oh, that God would baptize each one of us with a fresh baptism of His Spirit. A fresh baptism of love - a fresh baptism of holy fire. It is not enough to labor at the desk of human skill, we must claw our way up the mountain of the Lord and tarry there until we touch Him and He touches us.

Pound For Pound - I’m A BIG Loser! (Week 3)

Yeah, yeah. I know that some of you are agreeing a bit too quickly with the title of this note, but I’m not talking about ‘that’ but the fact that I’ve lost the most weight of any period so far. I am down to 236.6 pounds. That is 4.4 pounds in one week! Yeah me! That is a total of 9.6 pounds since October 1^st. Not too bad.

This past week, I exercised on both Saturday and Sunday. As I had hoped, it did help in the effort. Now if I could just push myself a bit further and get beyond 20 minutes of exercise a day. This good result may be just the motivation I needed to push me to the next level.

Still looking for a lot more donors. If you haven’t yet signed on (or don’t even know what I’m referring to), then go to Global Response Network and check out the story about Pound For Pound. At the end of the article, you’ll have a chance to sign-on as one of our partners in this great adventure. Don’t forget that all donations are fully tax deductible.

For the kids in Sudan,

A.C. Donahue

When my son, John, was just a little cowpoke, he had a desire to ride a bull. At the time, bull riding was our family’s favorite sport to watch and it had inspired John to want to give it a go. One summer, our county rodeo had offered bull riding for youngsters of all ages. Needless to say, John begged us to ride. We agreed, though Mom was a bit reluctant.

When it was John's turn to ride, the older cowboys helped him get settled on the back of the bull (calf). John gave them the traditional shake of the head and the gate flew open. The bull ran and bucked and John came flying off. The clock read 2.8 seconds (the goal is to ride for 8 seconds). When he hit the dirt, the bull kept bucking and stepped on his leg. He quickly got up and hobbled over to the fence where I was standing. With big eyes, dirty jeans, and a gritty look on his face he said, "I want to do that again!"

This story reminds me a lot about life. It is filled with ups and downs. At times it can feel like the whole world is trying to throw you off its back.  There are even times when you feel kicked when you’re down. It is the devil’s desire for you to fall face down in the dirt, kick you while you are there, and get you to quit, but that’s not God’s plan for you.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “A righteous man may fall seven times in a day, but he gets back up…” So, not matter where you are at today, pick yourself up (this may require a friend’s help), dust off your britches, and put a gritty look on your face and get up and Ride.