AsgerP's Blog

Okay, I admit I dont have a high qualification in taking decisions, specially the big ones - I guess it is some fear of making mistakes, even I know that I will make them and, at least on the teoretically plan that it is better to make mistakes, than making nothing :-) Small decisions in life is not so complicated.......like should I shower now or no ? Okay, just a example........ but decisions like what to don in the future, having children or no, what to invest in and what not to invest in, which house to live in......wow, man...... I guess it does not make it more easy when being a Christian, anyone can relate to that ?
Of course it is easy to say, "leave it up to God", "ask Him for wisdom" and all that we normally reply - and it is good advices, it is - the thing is, that I am still so much in doubt on when am I supposed to take the decision and when does it please God and when not ? How do I know that the decision I am going to take, match with Gods plan ? I dont have the answers for that one...............
Anyway, what is going on here ? I will try to update a lilttle, since I feel it is some time ago I have been writing in here........ this passing week have been Myanmar/Burma in my mind - actually making me pretty angry on how selfish and "don´t care"-thinking the military-regime have turned out to be, meanwhile the main population is just left dying. Oh...dont let me get distracted on that.......................
The passing week here at the school we had the blessing visit of Garth Gustafson, he is american, living in Cambodia and running a Christian disciple-school there. Even he is very young, he really know God and how to challenge us......the theme was "the cost of Discipleship" and it like marked out the difference between having Jesus as Saviour OR having Him as Saviour AND Lord........... about sacrificing our rights, how we respond to The King (the God-Son) and "burning the ships" or to say it in a Poker-way, "going all ´in" :-)
It was extremely inspiring, challenging and a lot of Spiritual Heart-surgery, which we probably have to deal with the rest of our lives.........if we want to grow as Christians.
Beyond that, I heard from the Danish Embassy, on the phone, they have received my passport, the new one, and sent, friday, the new one back together with the old one - which still have one valid visa inside.....until 22 th of May 2008.
So, if everything sticks to the plan, I hope to have a new passport in the beginning of next week..........and if nothing else changes, something exciting comes up, then I am going to Vientienne, Laos on monday the 19th of May. Looooooonnnnnggg travel though, but NO choice......... please still pray with me over that issue, as I am not knowing if I can return to Thailand or no and if in that case, how long time then..........
This is how it is at the moment...............still confused about the future......next month the students go for the BIG outreach travel, about 1 1/2 month and then only about 2 weeks left in July - so it is very very soon finish here, but still have no answers for what the future might bring, either I am impatience, not listening God or bad at taking decisions - or a combination of these things hehe........
Feel free to write me, thanks, as I love to hear from other Christian brothers and sisters out there - Be Blessed in the name of the God-Son !¨

I am sure most of you have heard about all those terrible things going on in Burma, the cycloon that hit for about 1 week ago and more than 22.000 people have died already and have left a MUCH higher number of peple homeless and injured. What do say, how to react? I dont have a clue, all I can say is ASK GOD - that requires humility and willingness to listen and obey, that part is up to us!
For those who prefer to stay home and pray - or do both - take a visit at www.prayforburma.org . Please dont misunderstand me, I am not saying that prayer is not important...........my point is just that most of our lives, even our spiritual journey with God is UP TO US how much we get out of it or no! I think that is a effect of this weeks teaching and it has been clear for me, how having Jesus as saviour and having Jesus as Lord, is NOT the same - but of course it would be wishful if the one thing did follow the other, but the thing is our flesh is not exactly much happy to be crucified/sacrifried and without giving up things (reaching to the end of ourselves.....) how then can we grow in God? John the discipel realized that when he said "He must increase and I must decrease" (john. 3,30). But it was Burma we came from................
We see a lot of faces of the uglyness of the human nature (it is scarry to think about that it is what is living inside you and me......) when we think about what is happened there. Let me give a few examples :
1) The police, the guards was hurry to help the so called "important persons", politicians, rich people and go to their homes, which meant that there was so many busy doing that, that the majority of the people, the poor parts, did not get help. Or to put it this way, they was not prioritied enough, apparantely not important enough....... it is very tempting to think about the scriptures of James, where he talks about not favoritizing anyone (the rich and the poor in the congretations....)
2) In Bangkok, Thailand, the authorities did find it important for the american relief-workers to have a VISA (uhhh...I know that a little too close to me....) so even when in a emergency situation like this, they had to wait for 4 days before they could have visa to get into Burma and help! There was no exception for a special situation like this...oh my, papers is certainly important huh............
3) Today I read the news and discover how UN have flights ready, already been ready for 2 days, which included having food on-board, ready to take off to distribute in Burma as relief and emergency packages, BUT....problem, once again, papers.....the Burma government would not give a landing permission for the flights.........papers, papers, papers........
It is incredible how this millitary-government is thinking up there......as this is when there should be an democratic election for first time in history, actually on the 10th of may, but then came the cycloon and now that is post-poned as well !
There seems to be some obvious human perspectives that asks the questions; How much is the valuable of a person ? as well as the question; is a rich person more valuable than a poor ? Is a communist more valuable ? Where are they going........ it is time for Burma TO CHANGE......... maybe even a cycloon can be a Divine instrument for that......maybe God is trying to SHOUT to the military-government, and everybody else, that something has gone completely wrong !!!

I donât know what you associate this word with â I am not even sure that I now the full meaning of it. When the God-Son entered this Earth, He called 12 persons to become His disciples â here is the word â He set out an example. It does not mean that Jesus, the Man-Son, only wanted 12 disciples in His Kingdom, He wanted them to join Him, He called them to do so. If you take a close reading, you will soon find that they LEFT what they had, what they was doing and went with Him â away. It was like a turning from one thing to another, shifting gear, crossing the borderline. They was willing to learn, humble enough to do so. Here is a point; to be a disciple means willing to listen, willing to learn, willing to CHANGE (here comes the presidential campaign favourite word againâ¦.) and to ADMIT that âI do not know everythingâ. To become a disciple of Jesus means laying down pride â and it is NOT a one-time experience, it is rather a lifetime-experience!! To admit and surrender my plans, to face that His plans IS better and walk out of the comfort-zones, which we so easily find ourselves in.
This is requirements for growth; this is the things where a God-relationship turns from theory to pracsis, where it becomes real and relevant. It is certainly not enjoyable, it is not pure fun â but it is a mistaken Gospel to believe that the Kingdom of God is only about pleasures and fun. It is pretty serious, so serious that it took blood, sweat and tears for Jesus â now how much is it going to take for us, how much is it âfairâ to cost?
My flesh is ready with a answer, telling me, âif it does not feel comfortable, it is not from Godâ â WRONG! The Enemy loves when we believe deceptions like thatâ¦â¦â¦
It seems to be a common perception that the cost of faith is zero â that is a misunderstanding! To come to Christ is price 0 â correct, to get saved, to get your name written in the book of Life is no-price (because it did cost the God-Son everything, He paid already), this is NOT what I share about here. To get saved â or rather to accept it (because it already happened, no matter if you accept it or not, it does not change the facts of salvation for the Whole World) is not the same as being a discipel of Jesus. So can you get saved without being discipled â yes, you can, although it seems a little strange. To be discipled is to obey, to listen, to learn, to lay down my own plans and rights to follow Him. Jesus said âTake up your crossâ¦.. DENY yourselvesâ¦â¦.follow Himâ. The thing is that our flesh wants to walk the other way, our own plans, our own ways and I am sure you remember God saying âmy plans is not your plansâ etc.
We ALL get discipled by something â or someone â the question is just what, or who?
How much must it cost, how much are we willing to give up? It costs us zero to get saved â it costs us our lives to get discipled. To give up our pride, our wills, our agendas, our wishes, desires, plans, power, strength and be a frog (Fully Rely On God). For Josef Fritzl he was discipled by a mum who beat him every day until he was blue and yellow all over his body, that discipled lead to a misunderstanding thinking and acceptance of violence as expression in life. Later on, it lead to the terrible hostage-taking of his daughter, rape and capturing in a stinky cellar for 24 years in Austria, Amstetten. That was a result of a discipling where the source was not good. Same comes to many school-shootings in America, where the disciplined has been violent action computer-games, violent movies and violent behaviour. When life treats you badly, it can never be violent as a solution; it can only be to find God and everything in Him. It is these wrong-situations that just must draw us more near to Him, not more far from Him.

It might be an awkward headline, but I thought it matches it best. What makes us start on a movie? Well, of course there can be many reasons for that, escapism, the need of relax or âto get a little away from it allâ could be some ideas, but if we look beyond that, I think it is a drive inside us, where curiosity and thrill comes from. Because it is not the same experience to see a movie 1st time as second time, even that many movies are so good that the almost demands a second time!
The thrill or the most astonishing moments come when we experience it the 1st time, because we do not know what will happen â and we certainly donât want to know before, that ruins the excitement. This ongoing-time is not difference from what we might experience in other âentertainment-materialsâ, such as Sudoko. It hit me yesterday, I like the excitement â which it is for me â to experience something that might at first like impossible and I think âthis is a hard oneâ, but then to experience it bit by bit coming to a fulfilled mission. Life is not different than that, there is certainly times where we are more than tempted to give up and throw it all overboard, I admit I am at times, but then when we shorten down the perspective, divide it into pieces, it becomes more âeatableâ and obtainable. Instead of expecting yourself on âhow I am going to make it through this 5 yearsâ of whatever you are in, maybe God is calling you to shorten it down to âhow am I going to make it through this weekâ, then you will realize as you slowly climbing up the steps, one by one, you finally reach to the top!
Things are often more fun, more exciting when we experience it, than when it is finish â or maybe not fun, but then learn full, challenging and exciting.
As today we went to the town, most of the students, some staff and then us, to play a sort of activity game. I have never tried that before so I had to try it. It was in short terms, a game where we was divided into 2 teams and each team was provided with a list of about 20 activities to do, some more challenging than others + everything had to be pictured or video recorded as proof of a real event. It was like eat a fried bug, make a tattoo (pen) on a stranger, hug a stranger, get a autograph from a policeman, find a gold fish and name it, learn a new sentence in a language you donât know and tings like thatâ¦..I appreciate the creativity of those 2 people who made the game. It was funny and pretty realistic, because life certainly does make a lot of challenges to us and we end up in various situations, where we are times have no clue what so ever on how we got there and in the middle of it, maybe even donât know how to get out of it as well. That is also why we need God, life is not meant to be easy, and we are not expected to be âsupermenâ who do everything on our own. Life only works as life when we see it all in the big relationship picture.

Hi there..... :-)
Okay, I admit, I stole this headline from Tom Cruise (you know the Scientology-brainwashed guy......), from this movie I think I still pretty awsome! Anyway.....is it that different than our lives as Christians ? I dont think so.........
What is my mission? I ask that and many other Christians ask that all the time.....in deep lines, we do KNOW our mission, to PROMOTE God (like He promoted US to belong to Him......) + to PROMOTE others (which means, let them know that they already do belong to God........"one died for many, then many is dead......." - "in Him"). This dualistic mission is pretty clear.......
The battle rages when we look for HOW to do that and how to LIVE...........
We need money to live, fair enough, God knows that......... will He provide ? Well, He promises that He will and God declares that it IS mission possible............
The HOW, WHEN and WHERE seems to be more or less up to us in some God-directed lives of His leadings and inspirations....... and that is exactly where I am at.......
Forgive me, because I know that this above subject is SUPER-BIG and has been written many books about, reasonable enough or no (imagine if all that time as the Christian writes had spent on thinking, praying and writing those books, have been instead used on being out there where people IS, the "not confessed Christians".....just a thought, I DONT blame Christian authors at all..................).
Anyway, the thing is the battle between God says IT IS POSSIBLE - but the reality is that most of us, in our comfortness, afraidness and unsecureness, seems to believe it for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.
I reminded on how Jesus, when He calls His first (because you are me are just another of His disciples right.........) disciples, that the God-son says; "I WILL MAKE YOU fishers of men...." - which means in a free translation; "If you have no clue what so ever on how to do, that does NOT matter, God will teach you and make you one....".
Or to use a common quote : "GOD DOES NOT CALLED THE EQUIPPED - HE EQUIPPS THE CALLED" - that is it, so short and precise is it!!
And back to me ? Well, I have still no idea what so ever on WHERE - WHEN and HOW....... since this school ends in july and no idea on what my "mission is", in more specific details :-) Maybe God will not let me know before I am "exactly there" hehe.... :-) Afterall God is a God of surprises as well....................