TopekaStew

What if a natural disaster occurred tonight and washed away everything you own? What would you do? How would you feel? Would you be angry with God? The picture above, upper left, shows a roofless house directly in front of the London canal levee in New Orleans. If you look closely you can see our boys climbing on it. The house in front of them has been gutted and the roof removed. The houses next door to that one, however, are completely gone. Perhaps they were washed away. In the upper right photo you see the pile of debris, furniture, and sheetrock from one of the houses we helped to gut. And the last picture shows the living room of that same house. I was surprised to find that the closet in the bedroom was completely full. It was untouched from the day the floodwaters rose. Seeing these things made us wonder, "Where am I laying up treasures? What would I do if all my earthly treasures were suddenly and irrevocably taken from me?"

What is prayer? Will I ever master it? Last night our "Book of Every Other Month Club" met at Barnes & Noble to discuss The PAPA Prayer , by Larry Crabb. Not everyone in the group appreciated the book. I did. One of the things I liked about Crabb's teaching is that the PAPA prayer moves me. It starts with an honest look at where I am and takes me deeper into me than I want to go. PAPA then teaches me to look up to God and moves me out of the muddy pit of my flesh and sets my feet on the Rock. I agree with Matthew Hoffman who said, "I spend far too much time contemplating myself (my desires, my opinions, my thoughts, etc.) and never enough time contemplating my Savior's work and grace. I am so very thankful for men like Mr. Jerry Bridges, C.J. Mahaney and of course Mr. Spurgeon himself who call us to 'preach the gospel to ourselves every day!'" If prayer leaves me stuck on me and my desires then I am lost in a deep, empty pit. If, however, I can ...

One of the best things about a summer mission trip is the time together in the van: long conversations about deep subjects; plenty of opportunity to get to know one another; the sharing of new sights and experiences. It's also one of the worst things about the trip too: seemingly endless hours on the road; travel grunge all over the van; stinky teenaged boys; irritating personal habits that begin to grate one's nerves. Last year we traveled to Miami. Talk about a long drive! This year we only traveled 1,000 miles to New Orleans.

Traveling to a mission point and experiencing firsthand the work of missions opens the mind and the heart to what God is doing in the world. The Southwest church, therefore, has committed to sending out a group of short-term missionaries every summer. Our prayer is that God will ignite the fire of a missionary vision in the heart of our congregation. Last week we sent a group of seven men to New Orleans to work with Operation Nehemiah. Over the next several days we'll post photos and stories from the trip. I invite you to use the stories and pictures to inspire you to prayerfully consider how God might want all of us to be on mission right here in Topeka.

Anthony is a friend and mentor. He works in Little Rock. Here's one of his "Mission Messages." 6/12/07 It was a nice shirt, Lord. Just a t-shirt, but a gray one with "Hilti" on it, and I like gray t-shirts. I don't know what "Hilti" means, but Will noticed me admiring the shirt still in the package. The shirt he was wearing was dirty, and he smelled. "You want it?" he asked. I shook my head thinking, "Of course not, what, take a new shirt from a man who sleeps on the street at night? No way." Then, it started to hit me what was happening. 'You don't need it?" I asked. He smiled with a seriousness, "But, do you want it?" "Yes, I do," realizing he was trying to give me a gift. "You see, God's still workin' on me, to serve others, that's what He's teaching me right now, how to serve others. I'll see if I can go get another one tomorrow,...