Carew Connection-missionaries in southern Chad

Rom 15:5   Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus                 Oh, the woes of waiting and wanting! We are an "instant" wanting society. We, at least in America, have 'fast' food, 'insta'-grams, drive up windows for numerous things, and 'speedy' print services. For our vehicles, there are 'Jiffy' Lube oil changes and Fast-Fix tire repair kits. There are 'fast' check-out lanes in stores and ATM's to get 'fast' money. Here in Chad, I normally get up and have my morning devotions while sipping on a cup of 'instant' coffee. Sometimes after devotions, Carol and I will have 'instant' oatmeal (although the name is deceiving here). The other day, following my devotions and breakfast, I got on the computer and was dismayed at how long Windows  took to start up. Once it was up and running I wanted to check my email and, yes, even Faceboo

Prov 11:9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.             I enjoy perusing Facebook. I must admit it. It is a connective media that allows me access to things pertaining to family, to friends, to the churches that support us, to recent news from areas of interest, and the list could continue. I am one that fought the social media draw for quite awhile, thinking it had no real value and could possibly harm as much as help anyone. I did succumb, but I'm not sure my position about it has changed all that much. There is much that is good. I am happy that most of the contacts I have through Facebook are with those that are Christians. There are others though, and they will know who they are, that I have 'friended' particularly because I'm quite sure they are not Christians. To simplify what I'm speaking about, let me define what I mean by a Christian. A Christian is someone who has realized t

 THE STUFF LEGENDS ARE MADE OF 2 Peter 2:19 KJV While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.                 The other day, we found ourselves making another trip to Koumra to do some things in the mission homes there, and while moving things around I found a copy of the book by Warren Wiersbe, Preaching and Teaching with Imagination (Thanks, Mark Seymour, for leaving it behind). It was a good read the first time I perused through it, so I grabbed it to have some additional reading material here in Sarh. On page twenty-five I read, Imagination, It is the bridge that links the world around you with the world within you. It's great to have imagination. Imagination is what drives many to success. Ideas are formulated in the mind and imagination takes those ideas and expands them and helps us take them to fruition. Those of elder years (I am not admitting to be in that

Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. Prov 24:27             I always considered myself a 'night owl'.  Quite a number of years ago, I worked at a golf course watering the fairways and greens. The work was at night and there were no automatic sprinklers. I had eleven large sprinklers and they had to be set and reset every 45 minutes or so. At any rate, it was an all night job and I just got used to being up all night all the time. Maybe I still am a night owl, but the Chad conditions and culture change has really adjusted what a 'night owl' means to me. It is dark here at 6:00 p.m. all the time. The house we're currently in has only two rooms where the main light works. There are some lamps that cast out a bit of light in some of the other rooms, but they are not really very bright. That is not all bad, though. Light attracts insects, and other creatures like the scorpion horse. The scorpion horse

FROM N'DJAMENA, CHAD      My wife and I arrived in N'djamena a few days ago, the 23rd I guess it was. Being born and raised in Michigan has really spoiled me as far as weather conditions are concerned. As far as that goes, I guess I've been spoiled as far as what the countryside should look like too. We lived in North Carolina for a little more than the past year. North Carolina was nice as well. The winter was even nicer than Michigan's, especially this past winter! My impression of Chad is very much different than that of the formerly mentioned states. Stepping from the air-conditioned plane to the steps that would take us down to the paved tarmac was quite a shock--a very hot shock. As we approached the airport I also noted that the countryside was quite barren...and brown. It didn't look like a place where there was, or should be, much life. This morning, we went and visited the biggest Baptist church in N'djamena. I was given a new impression of this pla