Quicken Me

     As I was reading Psalm 119 this morning, one particular word kept jumping off the page at me. It was the word "quicken". After a word search, I found that "quicken" appeared 9 times within these 176 verses. The word itself means to "revive" or to "make alive". So what does the Psalmist request be quickened?

Quicken thou me according to thy word
(Psalm 119:25, 107, and 154)
Sometimes we can read the words of the Bible almost mechanically without giving thought to what we are reading. May our Bible reading be preceded with a prayer to quicken our hearts to receive the Word of God.
I am reading a book called "I Dared to Call Him Father" by a former Muslim who accepted Christ as her Saviour, Bilquis Sheikh. She made his statement about her Bible reading: "Something happened to me as I went through the book; instead of reading the Bible, I found myself living it. It was as if I stepped through its pages into that ancient world of Palestine when Jesus Christ walked the stony roads of Galilee. I watched as He preached and taught, as He lived out His message in everyday situations, as He displayed the power of the Spirit and finally s He went to the cross and passed victoriously through the experience of death." May our hearts be quickened according to His Word!

Quicken thou me in thy way
(Psalm 119:37)
He also quickens us to stay on a godly path. When we are sensitive to His leading, the Holy Spirit can remind us before a lie is about to pass our lips or from doing something that is not pleasing to Him so that we can continue in fellowship with Him, unimpeded by sin. May we be quickened in His way.

Quicken me in thy righteousness
(Psalm 119:40)
Verse 40 says I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness. A precepts is basically an authoritative rule for action. May He quicken us to follow His righteous law.

Quicken me after thy lovingkindness
(Psalm 119:88 and 159)
The Lord also quickens us with His tender mercy. Verse 88 says this is so as to keep the testimony of thy mouth. We just can't help but speak of what the Lord has done for us! May we be quickened to His lovingkindness.

Quicken me according to the judgment
(Psalm 119:149 and 156)
This seems to go hand in hand with lovingkindness, such as is seen in verse 149. The Psalmist begins with "Hear my voice". The Lord in His love listens to His children. May our hearts be quickened to receive His answer.

Wings as Eagles

The Turul Statue can be found in Tatabánya, HU

Isa 40:30 — Isa 40:31

Even the youths shall faint and be weary,

and the young men shall utterly fall: 

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint.

English Camp

 The family had the privilege to again be a part of the English Camp at Bible Baptist Church in Szolnok, Hungary. The kids made a lot of new friends this week and I ended up having some good conversations with some of the children as they patiently strove to teach me some Hungarian. A few of the children had not been to the church or camps before, so I pray they continue to attend. I heard a few were expressing an interest in coming to church regularly, but the parents are too busy on Sundays. I pray these families will see their need of a personal relationship with Christ and come to a saving knowledge of Him. They received a clear gospel presentation, but as of yet, and I pray they would not let it stop at their ears, but reach their heart.

Below are a few pictures of us from the week.

Market in Szombathely

In the town my family has just moved to, Szombathely, there is a market that has stands of fresh breads, meats, eggs, fruits and vegetables as well stands where vendors can bring their flowers, kitchen appliances and clothes and other items.

Here are some of the pictures I took of our visit to the market. The two last pictures are of Jason buying some flowers at the flower stand to plant in our garden at home. 

A Chapter Closes and a New One Begins

This past week was quite the busy one as it was the last week of classes at BBTI followed by graduation on Saturday. Below are pictures from the week. The first two are of the Wednesday night service at Calvary Baptist Church in Bowie, TX where we have been attending. The girls were in the Wise Guys program and got trophies for memorizing 26 verses!

 The next pictures are from Saturday graduation which was held at Bible Baptist Church n Bowie. This is the sponsoring church of BBTI.

The last pictures are again at Calvary as we said goodbye to our church friends we made during the year. We will certainly miss all our friends! 

Resurrection Sunday

Mar 16:5 — Mar 16:6

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

We serve a risen Saviour! 

Praise the Lord! 

Easter Sunday this year, my family was invited the Mclendon home, members at Calvary Baptist Church in Bowie, TX, the town where we have been taking the advanced missionary training classes at. Mrs Maridan Mclendon bought the children new outfits for Easter (picture shown above) and invited us to lunch after morning service. This is wonderful to get an invitation on a holiday for a missionary family who has no family in the area to spend the holidays with. People like the Mclendon's are rare, but when I do come across these kind of people, they leave a lasting impression on me, as well as on anyone they meet, for that matter. You never ever forget them, because of the impact they had on your life while with them, no matter how temporarily. 

Thank you, Lord  for bring special people like the Mclendon's into our lives! 

You may be a missionary on deputation if:

While on deputation, I had the opportunity to share this list with a group of ladies during a missions conference. I thought I would share it here. Without further ado, here is my list,

You may be a missionary on deputation if:

1. When asked “Where are you from?” your children stumble over how to answer. “Well, I was born in Massachusetts, but my home church is in Ohio, but we live in Texas now and then we will go live in Hungary in this summer…”
2. You have not only homeschooled your children, but have also van schooled, hotel schooled, coffee shop schooled, and library schooled them.
3. You consider a city 200 miles away to be “very close”.
4. You consider a 3-hour car ride to church to be “not too far”.
5. You speak with authority on the subject of airline travel.
6. You have friends in 20 different countries;  you sort your friends by continent.
7. You tell a story about your travels and use the phrase “and then we went to” at least five times during the story.
8. You go to a church and find your family picture on the bulletin board.
9. You go on Saturday morning visitation and, in the middle of talking with someone, forget what church you are on visitation with. (Could I please see that tract I just handed you?)
10. You carry a coffee maker in the van. (and sometimes even a grill!)
11. You can’t remember what state you got your last oil change in.
12. (for the men) Your son could get up and finish your message because he has heard it so often.
13. You don’t worry too much about packing enough clothes for travel: Goodwill has become like a closet for you.
14. You have slept in five different beds during the course of a week.
15. Your Sunday afternoon nap has been in the car, on the couch at the home of a pastor, or even by the Ohio River under a bridge.
16. On any given day, your three meals may have been in a hotel in one state, a fast food place in another, and at a church dinner in another state.
17. You go to put a tract on the table at a restaurant in OH and realize the tract is from a church you visited in Texas last week.
18. You reach for your prayer card in your Bible to hand to someone and pull out 10 different cards from 10 different missionaries you recently have met. None of the cards are your own.
19. You have no special musical abilities but have sung in countless churches all across America.
20. You get very…. Very tired of talking about yourself. 

And there you have it. Maybe now someone here will be inspired to go on deputation…. Either that or run away from it. One or the other.

Want to see more from our deputation adventures? Check out these Vimeo links:

First year:

https://vimeo.com/132620287

Second year:

https://vimeo.com/169579241