Stories

Travel is interesting

April 26, 2010 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

Things that happened on our recent trip in Southeast Asia:

“Kay, wake up. There are ants in our bed.” At 4 am. I felt crawling and itching. I thought I must be developing a rash. No rash, just ants!

Grammy Kay bumped Abby off a baggage cart when they hit a bump exiting a moving walkway. Abby was unhurt and jumped up laughing. (Grammy says I must use bumped not dumped for her escapade!)

Grandad Keith dumped Abby and two of her friends off a baggage cart when it became unbalanced and turned over. All were unhurt and laughing. (Do you think Abby wonders about grandparents now? What do Daniel and Michelle’s new team friends think about their parents?)

8 bags of household possessions for Daniel and Michelle were heavily packed. Thai Airways only charged them $90 for 500 pounds rather than the expected $1500. Amazing answer to prayers.

Daniel and Michelle received their visa to Thailand just a few days before moving there, after weeks of trying. Amazing answer.

Life continues to be an amazing adventure walking with the Lord every day.

Rwanda internet

March 11, 2009 by Keith Seabourn 1 Comment

Got this today from a friend visiting Rwanda. She had not expected to have any kind of internet connection so she did not plan on participating in a conference call today. Life is changing, around the world!

This place in Rwanda has wireless internet!!! I have no idea how widely they have it at the hotel, for example, I don’t know if it reaches my room. I’m in the meeting room at the moment. This is amazing. The “shower” in my room is one where you have to stand in a bucket. That is, adding a shower to the room was an afterthought. It does have an instant hot water heater in the showerhead, but it didn’t work this morning. So, a bucket shower with a water heater that doesn’t work but with newly installed wireless access point!

Eastern Europe. There are no wrong numbers…

January 24, 2008 by Keith Seabourn 6 Comments

The phone rings. “Hello. Who’s there? Who is this? I hear you, why won’t you answer me? If you don’t speak, I’ll hang up the phone.”

No one will speak when our staff member answers. He hears breathing. But since the other person will not say anything, he hangs up the phone.

Later, the phone rings again. “Hello. Who is this? Are you calling me or ringing a wrong number?” No answer. So he hangs up again.

The third time, someone finally speaks. In a timid voice, the caller says, “This is Helena. I’m 17 years old. I’ve been asking God to help me. I want to know more about God. I decided to call the number that was in my mind and see if God will answer me and help me.”

What is the likelihood that a seeker could dial a random number and be connected to one of our staff who is attending a training to learn how to share his faith with others? When the God who created the universe (and who created telephone systems) is sovereign, it is a certainty that he will connect someone seeking him with someone who knows how to lead the seeker to him.

So, the staff did what he had been trained to do. He said, “Have you heard of the Four Spiritual Laws? Law One says that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life…”

And Helena invites Christ into her life.

The next day, the phone rings again. “Hello. This is Alex. I’m a friend of Helena’s. Can you tell me what you told her?” After hearing “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life…”, Alex says “This is something I must think about and we will talk more.”

Days later, the phone rings again. “Hello. This is Andrey. I’m a friend of Alex’s. Can you tell me what you told Alex?”

A few weeks later, the phone rings again. “Hello. I am the father of Helena. Please tell me what you told her. Can you tell me some churches in my city?” After hearing the Four Spiritual Laws, Helena’s father received Christ into his life.

Remember the story I wrote recently about our expatriate staff having to leave a country? Well, this story is happening in the same country! Amazing to see what our God can do.

This story reminds me of Chris Tomlin’s How Great is Our God:

How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all who sing
How great, How great
Is our God.

Sam and Kochumol

November 2, 2007 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

Sam Varghese, of Bangalore, India, was our host. One of the amazing things about being part of a global mission organization is getting to know co-workers around the world.

A special treat was to meet Sam’s family, wife Kochumol, and children Toby and Tony.

Sam and Kochumol are Indian and we are American. We are separated by culture and upbringing, but we share a common “culture” of bringing glory to God by introducing people to Jesus Christ. We understand and teach the basics of knowing Jesus and growing as His followers. Although we have little in common from a world perspective, we have much in common from a Kingdom perspective.

Kochumol and Sam ride their motorbikes to campus for ministry. When they speak out of their passions to see others know Christ, Kay and I resonate with them. We all serve in leadership roles, but our greatest passion is that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus.