Gap Creek Baptist Church

I have to tell you... the Lord works in strange and mysterious ways. I won't lie, one of the first things I wanted to do when I got back into the States was hang my hammock up in the mountains. There is a spot at Lake Jocassee that is just incredibly beautiful. I was bound for those two trees in the mountains. An owl woke me up after falling asleep about 7:30pm. I guess when your alone you tend to go to sleep a lot earlier. When I opened my eyes I could not believe the sight. Millions upon millions of fireflies are dancing all around me in a light show only the Great I Am could create. The sight was just phenomenal. Well after sleeping about 3 hours I was no longer tired. I pulled out my phone to see if I had any reception... apparently I hadn't hiked enough earlier in the day, because I was at full bars. I called my buddy Paul to see what he was up to. Just hanging out.... some how in the conversation though he was on his way to come and get me. I hiked back to Hwy. 178, waited a few minutes and saw one of my best friends ever for the first time in 5 months. I just kicked back the next day and waited for Paul to get off of work. By the time he got home Liz and I were on our way with him to church.

It is always an incredible thing when God has a plan for you that He decides to surprise you with. We had the honor of eating with Pastor Harry and his wife for Wednesday Night supper. He asked what we did and had a pretty cool story to tell :) To my surprise, Pastor Harry looked over at me and told me that he hoped I was ready to preach the Wednesday Night Service at the church. Being that I have the most incredible wife ever, I was well prepared - hiking shoes and all! Now, I am not saying that God doesn't go to all churches, because I am sure He does. But I have heard that the mountains of South Carolina are God's Country, and I have to admit I believe it a little more now. You could tell by the spirit in the church that God wipes his feet off on the welcome mat quite frequently. The church just recently - in the past few years - built an incredibly beautiful sanctuary and place of worship. As a matter of fact the church still had another 325,000 dollars left to go on the building. God paid it off in one check! Yep, all of it - I imagine God needed to thin out His cattle population in the hills.....

Gap Creek Baptist Church.... my prayers go out to your ministry. May God continue to bless you so that His Glory, Purpose and Will can be displayed through your obedience and sacrifice to Him. I have no doubt that God has great things planned for the body of believers in your congregation. Afterall, "¹⁴ “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."
-Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT) 

By the way, if you are ever up in the mountains of SC and need a good church to go to, check out Gap Creek Baptist Church! www.gapcreekbaptist.com

Doing....

You know it is really interesting to me. I have people all of the time coming up to me, asking if I have read this new book or that. Rarely, my answer is yes. Radical by David Platt, before that was A Call To Die by David Nasser, prior to that A Purpose Driven Life came out by Rick Warren, and way before that was  The Word of God. People can get and read books easier and easier every year: Kindle, Nook, iPad, Internet. Shoot, you can get a book read to you for that matter on: mP3 formats, CD's, and podCasts. People write these books with, hopefully, an inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Certainly that was the case for the Bible. They write these books to point out things that are honestly missing from our day to day lives. The question popped into my head.... when are we going to quit anticipating the release of the new, next book and start DOING? When are the words on the pages of these books going to become reality? Radical talks about 5 topics we should base our lives on. A Call to Die challenges us to die to self and live for Christ. The Bible is our "trail guide" for life - and true life at that. When will begin to live our lives in a way that is evident of our sacrifices, that is evident of our time, that is evident of our heart, life, and treasure? When will we DO? When will we GO? When will we LIVE?

Got a little good news and a little bad news.......

Do you remember the "Pray" post? Well, we weren't 100 percent sure what all was going to happen so we just need some prayer to get us through the situation.

Liz and I went to the Federal Police the other day to get the extension on her visa. When we arrived the man behind the counter said, "No." Honestly, it through us off a good bit.... no one ever expected that she would not get an extension. After all, I got mine with no problem at all. It was crazy! Our translator, Doug, spent some time with the guy to get some information. After it was all said and done the man basically told Liz that she had three options. We went with option three since it meant we would be able to continue our ministry in Brazil with less hindrance in the future. Option three also meant that we had 8 days to get out of the country. So with little delay, we bought a ticket to Fort Lauderdale and landed early morning Tuesday.

The trip to the States was insane to say the least. Let's just go ahead and say we will never fly Suriname Air again. Before we left Belem the people at the counter for Suriname tried to tell us we had to get a Visa for their country. Once they figured out we wouldn't fall for that one, they tried to charge us for our luggage. 600 dollars, US, to be exact. As soon as I asked for the luggage back they changed their minds and decided to only charge us 200 bucks, which also included a "tax" we had to pay. Personally, I believe they pocketed the money.... We left Belem and arrived in Suriname where they decided to "beef up" their scare tactics. They called Liz and I over the intercom on the plane and told us to identify ourselves. We did, and were escorted to the jet hanger at the back of the airport. There, they told us that we were illegal in their country and would have to pay and fine and get a visa. I told them that I didn't want to be in their country and that they could just kick me out.... as a matter of fact, I had a ticket to fly out in about an hour. The lady left and came back a few minutes later. When she returned she told us that we didn't pay for our luggage to get to America and that we would have to pay if we wanted our luggage. I told her that was fine because the airline regulations required them to hold insurance on my luggage and that if it didn't get scanned in at Fort Lauderdale their Airline would be responsible. She let us pass.... We left Suriname and flew into Trinidad. There, we were met with a really nice Taxi driver and he showed us around the island while we were waiting on our 7 hour layover. After our event in Suriname we needed a little "vacation!" We finally arrived in Florida and drove 9 hours back to the Carolinas!

We are not sure why God has us back for this time. We know that Satan is working hard to "interrupt" the ministry God is doing through us in Brazil. But we also know God is in Control! We will be here until our permanent visas come through in Atlanta. Our lawyer in Brasilia told us that it could be as soon as next week before they are done processing the visa and we would be flying back to our new home in Brazil. But it could also be as late as the end of July as well. No matter how long it takes, we will be serving the Lord wherever he has us! Liz and I are filling up the calendar with Churches to share all of the awesome things the Lord has been doing and is still doing in Brazil. If your church is interested, we are willing to come and share anytime we are available. Let us know and we look forward to seeing you soon! You can contact us at amazonimpact@gmail.com or 843-696-2386 (Logan's Cell). God Bless!

English...

I am not too sure why I want to share these two things with you... because the story to follow is so extremely awesome.... but here it goes anyway. Two things... One, I have never in my life wanted a Q-Tip so bad and there was NO WAY to get one. Two, every word I type on this computer has a red squiggily line under it. So, if I spell something wrong, blame it on the fact that this computer does not speak English.

Liz and I went to the Hippie Fair this morning and walked around. We don`t have the opportunity to venture out together much just to hang out, so we take the opportunity every chance we get. It was honestly a beautiful day. That is, until we were reminded of the fact that we are still in rainy season. It poured, actually, harder than usual. Our street was flooded to the brim, almost waist deep at its highest point. The English Service starts at 4 p.m., at 4 p.m. you would have had to have a canoe, kayak, or maybe even a cruise liner to get on campus. I honestly didn`t believe anyone was going to show up- even to the point of contemplating canceling the service altogether. By 4:30, the house was packed. I thought it was pretty amazing actually. I mean people literally had to "wade in." I am not sure what God is doing lately, but I do know one thing, He is working mightily. 

The service started out with praise and worship, but something was different today. Maybe in all of this learning how to be patient, how to be still, how to bow humbly before the cross, Christ has been teaching me lately; I am able to see things in a new light. God just kinda moved me aside and took over. We were in James 4 talking about the battles that rage within us. James gives us a 6 step process on how to win the battle, and how we better start fighting it now because none of us are promised tomorrow. I opened by sharing the story of what happened at Lider yesterday. I shared the story of Travis dying that night after getting hit by a train. How we knew he wasn't ready to "go" because he left his Playstation on pause at his house. And how only a week before he had accepted Christ. After the service we break up into different groups. This time, there was an extra group.

I had never given an invitation before at the English service. Afterall, the group leaders do that in their groups when everyone can understand what is going on a little better. Today God moved. Today I saw God do some incredibly amazing things through people's lives. When I was going over the groups I said, "if you really want to accept Christ and you mean it truly, there will be a special group over in the corner". 4 men showed up. I didn't know two of them very well, mainly in passing and friendly greetings at the English Service. Two of these guys I knew pretty well, from hanging out with them. They shared their testimonies. It was pretty cool actually, I had never seen it quite done that way. Hopefully, I will be able to post their testimonies on the site soon. But either way, English (one of my friend's nicknames) looked at me and said I have been coming here for years, I have thought about it, I have weighed it, I have sought out alternate routes, I don't completely understand, I never will, all I know is that I must surender to Him! Wow! It is incredible when you spend so long praying that God would show Himself to someone and lead them to Himself.... and when it happens, unfathomable....

To the 4 guys who took THE step of faith today... I pray God pours out a love, a grace, and a favor over you that blows your mind. I pray that He shows you things, helps you to understand, shares wisdom and guidance, and blesses you beyond all human understanding. I pray God uses you to do great and mighty things for His Kingdom, I know your country could use a few good men like you. I know both of our countries could. I pray you find it absolutely essential to seek after Him every day of your life. I pray you learn to walk by His side, to follow His guidance, and grow and become sharpened as you learn to die to self. I pray you learn faith that is absolutely unstoppable, impenetrable, and completely nonunderstandable to man. I lift you up in the name of Christ alone to be annointed for His Glory and Kingdom Growth. I pray for you. Welcome to the family... you will never be alone again.

I challenge the body of believers to stand behind these men and to lift them up in prayer. To be available to them in their time of need, and to reassure them in their faith constantly.

Thank God alone for His amazing Grace and favor that even a wretch like me, like us, can be saved and used by Him for an awesome purpose. To Christ be the Glory!

Jesus was at Lider Supermarket....

It is pretty cool when we have an opportunity to live out our religion as Christians. James 1:27 hit me tonight like an onibus flying down the road at 100 km/h, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

I walked to the Lider Supermarket tonight to go get some suco (juice) for my buddy Paul. He is definitely a connoisseur of 100% juice. So I figured I would pick up some 100% exotic, 100% Amazonian, 100% fruit and 100% juice for him to try out. As I was leaving, I walked by this feeble little lady and her, maybe, 2 year old son. They were sitting on the side of the road. I walked by without thinking much of it. Afterall, there are so many poor people you walk by everyday that you almost become numb to it after a while. It was as if Christ was also walking by... "You just walked by a widow who needs Me." I stopped short and turned around to this little lady rubbing her stomach and her little son standing by her side. All I could do was reach down and say "vamos" (let's go).

She didn't understand. She couldn't comprehend. Nao falo Portuguese, Nao falo Inglis. Language didn't matter at this point. A man you could not have missed if you tried was standing near us. I asked him if he spoke English. Sim! I asked him to tell the lady to get some groceries. He didn't understand, but spoke English well. I soon realized this was not a normal occurrence - that it was strange some white boy was interested in helping out "the least of these." It dawned on him as if the "light in the attic" clicked on, "This man is going to buy the groceries you need." The lady smiled a little bit, and the entire supermarket stopped, turned around, and tried to piece together what was going on. They didn't see Logan though.

The first thing she grabbed was a toothbrush for her son and some toothpaste. She reached down on the bottom shelf and grabbed one for herself. I wouldn't have cleaned the floor I walk on with the one she grabbed. I easily took it out of her hand and handed her a Colgate toothbrush. Afterall, I would have used that one. Throughout the entire "shopping spree" I knew Christ was walking next to her. Not only could I feel His presence, but everyone in that place knew, whether they understood or not, something was different, something was strange. As if, for a moment, the World had been stopped for this lady. As if, Christ wanted everyone there to see Him, to see His Glory. Me, I just stood there, putting one extra bag of this or box of that in the buggy, because she wouldn't dare take more than one. After only a couple bags of rice and beans she said "ta".

"Logan, a couple of bags of beans and rice could hardly be considered 'looking after'." The lady was humble, she didn't greed herself to whatever she pleased. Christ projected out all He has given me right in front of my face. She deserved the best of everything she needed. Deserved is a big word. I guess none of us deserve anything. Christ was walking with her tonight- she deserved the best of everything she needed, but only because of Him.

We get to the lady who just rang me up for some fruit juices. I slammed my backpack full of juice and now I was standing there with enough food to feed 2 for a month. I can only imagine her thinking how this crazy American guy was going to fit all that in one backpack. I don't think she understood what was going on either. Two and two clicked, and the clerk just stared at me with a smile, running things over the scanner. By this time, a large crowd had begun forming at the front of the store. All of the managers stood around the register, I imagine, trying to figure out what was going on.

I put my hand on this lady's shoulder. I told her in Portuguese, "Jesus Christ loves you." It was all I knew how to say in the moment. She looked up in the air, with her hands raised and said, "Obrigada Deus (Thank You God)!" I walked away not knowing what else I could say or do. I barely made it to the parking lot before I realized this lady has a TON of groceries and no way to get them home. I usually keep 50 Reais on me in case I get robbed. Here, you can pay your robbers off with about 50 bucks. I walked back up to the lady, who was talking with the people in the store about how she was going to get all of the groceries back to her village. Taxi! We walked outside and right in front of the store, stood a man with a taxi. She told him where her village was, and he laughed. Muito longe! Very far away! You could tell in his eyes something changed his heart. He looked at me and said 50 bucks. I handed it to him and saw them off.

Christ was walking by Lider Supermarket tonight and saw a widow with her son in need. He bought her some groceries and some "Ben 10" shampoo, and got them back to their village safely. Your prayers, your money, your sacrifice allows us to be a light that shines the name of Christ. Thank you for being willing to serve Him. Thank you for supporting us in this ministry here in Belem. Thank you for standing behind us in prayer. Thank you for standing behind us in the good and bad as we strive to serve Christ for His Glory here in Brazil.

Matthew 25:40, "The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.’"