International Prayer Day First Monday each month 10 am

Joel Griffith 5/5/21 Joel Griffith 5/5/21

The neighbor's house.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10

When was the last time that you were being persecuted and you happened to remember this passage from Matthew and smiled, because you realized you are blessed and await the kingdom of Heaven? If you are like me, it probably has not been recently…persecution brings complaints and the cry of “why me?” shouted skywards.

Persecution can come in many different forms. For those of us who are living here in North America, persecution can simply come from friends; some cause happiness ‘wherever’ they go and others ‘whenever’ they go. Another sample of persecution might be attached to the word ‘hospitality’; making your guests feel like they’re at their own home, even if you really wish they were at their own home; soon.

Persecution, how can we be glad when we are persecuted, spoken about badly, taken advantage of and have evil lies told about us when we are just trying to do good? Those are generally the forms of persecution we face; hopefully in our lives we will not have to face the persecution others face around this world and have to fear for our very lives.

The small house in the attached photo doesn’t appear to be very formidable. It’s a vodou temple about two miles east of St Marc and just after I took this photo, a vodou priestess, seemingly much older than me (how could that possibly be), came running out towards my truck, screeching words that I didn’t understand and swinging a Haitian broom at me. She was angry at me because she believed my camera lifted evil power from her temple. I don’t know how many evil spirits she cast on me that day or how long they stay with a person but two years later, I had a bus load of people on a mission team from the Kansas City area stop at this same temple and asked that they all took a photo in hopes that her power would be gone forever.

The children attending Christian schools in Haiti are waging a war with vodou, in Haiti, in their neighborhoods and some in their own families. They need your daily prayers as they face their persecution and also need your support so their bodies will be nourished with food for strength as they daily do battle with satan. If these children face persecution each day for doing right, shouldn't we think we will as well? Those who suffer to bring a blessing to others have a witness that cannot be silenced.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 5/4/21 Joel Griffith 5/4/21

A peace filled time.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

Peace; will you and I ever see a time when there is really true peace in this fallen world we live in? Peace in leaders of our Government? Peace within our State? Peace within our Synod? Peace at our place of work? Peace in our family? There will never be any peace on earth until we humans have made peace with our Triune God.

Sad to say, but our sin filled world will never, ever be a dwelling place of peace until peace finds a place in the heart of every sinful man, woman and child on this side of Heaven. How many countries are now experiencing war within their borders? How many countries have our troops within their borders to help establish peace amid strife? There is a saying “war does not determine who is right, only who is left.”

While living in Haiti twenty years ago, a convoy of United Nations MINUSTAH military vehicles made me feel ‘at peace‘ and safe as their presence brought a sense of order to a country where there was none at that time. Haitian friends told me that they wanted the UN to leave Haiti…but it seemed like there was a lot less trouble with them within the Haitian borders.

Peace in our country and peace among other nations will never come as long as sinful human beings continue to seek peace on ‘our’ own terms; as long as we continue to cling to the things within us that make wars and unrest so inevitable.

We live in a troubled time. The man in the attached photo is walking next to a tent village near the Port-au-Prince airport that had been there for over a year following the earthquake in 2012. It was over 90 degrees on a late morning when I took that photo; very hot in those tents, no electricity, perhaps a meal each day, no running water, open sewer…a life style that would not set well with North America. Peace in that tent city was very strained as heated tempers of the inhabitants flared as nothing seemed to be improving…the world was once again turning to slowly to help Haiti.

Children attending Christian schools are taught about peace from our Heavenly Father. Peace is God’s gift and there is no way that we can manufacture it, copy it, throw enough money at it, teach others about it or force it upon another person. It’s God’s gift. Thank you for bringing peace to the life of one child in Haiti who thinks about you at meal time, and offers thanks to God for you and your gift.

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 5/3/21 Joel Griffith 5/3/21

God is love.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8

Those three words, “God is love”, should mean so much to this fallen world that we live in, but the people who shove newsy information into our daily lives never remind us of that statement amid their gloom and doom; perhaps because they don’t recognize them. Those three words could bring so much comfort to a bad headline.

A devotion last week from Charles Swindoll told of folded letter that was written by a veteran missionary and found years later. With her husband, she was on her way to another tour of duty in Khartoum, Sudan. No one seems to know who authored it, but whoever it was, she captured the essence of the greatest essay on love ever written. Here are her words.

“If I have the language ever so perfectly and speak like a pundit, and have not the love that grips the heart, I am nothing. If I have decorations and diplomas and am proficient in up-to-date methods and have not the touch of understanding love, I am nothing. If I am able to worst my opponents in argument so as to make fools of them, and have not the wooing note, I am nothing. If I have all faith and great ideals and magnificent plans and wonderful visions, and have not the love that sweats and bleeds and weeps and prays and pleads, I am nothing. If I surrender all prospects, and leaving home and friends and comforts, give myself to the showy sacrifice of a missionary career, and turn sour and selfish amid the daily annoyances and personal slights of a missionary life, and though I give my body to be consumed in the heat and sweat and mildew of India, and have not the love that yields its rights, its coveted leisure, its pet plans, I am nothing, nothing. Virtue has ceased to go out of me. If I can heal all manner of sickness and disease, but wound hearts and hurt feelings for want of love that is kind, I am nothing. If I write books and publish articles that set the world agape and fail to transcribe the word of the cross in the language of love, I am nothing. Worse, I may be competent, busy, fussy, punctilious, and well-equipped, but like the church at Laodicea; nauseating to Christ.”

Please read this twice today and then pray about her words. How about you and me committing ourselves to a life like this, a life that really amounts to something, rather than nothing. God is love. That should be the headline tomorrow in our fallen world; wherever we may happen to be. Each new day God brings our way is a fresh opportunity to start sharing the Truth.

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 5/1/21 Joel Griffith 5/1/21

Need to know.

“Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back; whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.” Mark 13:35-36

It seems that there are two questions that continue to be at the very top of our ‘need to know’ list. First, what will Heaven be like and second, when will the second coming of Christ take place; in our lifetime? With each new day it seems that the news of worldly unrest is drawing us closer to the ending point in time as more and more of what should be ‘right’ is turning ‘wrong’. Back in the day, there was a program on the History channel, that presented an overview of when many ‘learned’ men had determined the world would end and the most recent was the Mayan calendar that has set the ending of time on December 21, 2012; as you know, that has come and gone.

Whenever the REAL end comes is moot, we still need to reach out to the lost souls in Haiti through the witness of a young child attending a Lutheran school with a Trinity HOPE feeding program. As we read in the thirteenth chapter of Mark, we learn from our Savior that we should not be concerned when the alarm clock will signal the end of time but rather stay focused on what we will be doing when Jesus arrives. Aim high!

I read a devotion from Pastor Ken Klaus with the Lutheran Hour a while back and he shared a snippet of American history about a Colonel Davenport who was from Connecticut. The event took place in Hartford in 1789 within the State legislature. “During the daytime, without warning the sky blackened and their room grew unnaturally and increasingly dark. Glancing out the windows, some members of the House of Representatives concluded the Day of Judgment had come upon them. With fears increasing, a motion was made for immediate adjournment. Just before the vote on that motion was to be taken, Colonel Davenport took the floor. This is what he said: "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to have the Lord find me doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought." A great story; stay in the Word and don’t worry about the ending time; stay in the Word.

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 4/30/21 Joel Griffith 4/30/21

Pure in heart.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8

We are sinful humans, repentant sinful humans who truly desire to do our Father’s will in all that we do and say here on this side of Heaven. It seems that the past century has been filled with quite a large share of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods and a seemingly never ending pandemic; calamities that we cannot control but just sit back, put on a mask, social distance, endure and then pick up the pieces, bury the dead and comfort the hurting. Some say that the end is near.

A news reporter commented recently at the devastation ‘mother nature’ had unleashed through a powerful tornado. God created the heavens and earth and this glorious planet does have bumps and rattles from time to time. Often when we lose hope and think this must surely be the end, our Heavenly Father smiles from above and says, "Relax, it's just a bend, not the end!”

The attached photo is of what is left from the National Catholic Church in Port-au-Prince following the January 12 earthquake in 2010; you have probably seen it before as many magazines have displayed it from different angles. It is a vivid reminder that through all the twists and turns in our lives one thing will always be there; our risen Savior. We are forgiven because of Him. We continue to exclaim to our Triune God the words of David in Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

The theme of this verse is woven through Scriptures; whether spoken by the prophets, the psalmists, the wisdom teachers, the apostles or Jesus. Much of our human lives is marked by deception and lies of this world. Children living in Haiti are still being told by those who place their trust in the vodou priest that Christ died on Calvary and was buried and is still in the tomb.

For the children attending Christian schools in Haiti and for us who strive to be pure in heart, going to be with God is not a far journey, for we’ve sought to live with him every day. Thank you for praying daily for these children, bringing them peace in uncertain times. Thank you for supporting them with a daily meal when there is nothing else to eat.

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 4/29/21 Joel Griffith 4/29/21

Mourning.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

As more and more years pass by with incredible and unforgiving speed, it seems that obituaries of people that I once knew, has now become a regular occurrence in my weekly routine. Before this pandemic, I knew people who had attended several funerals each week and sometimes two a day. Sad to say, but mourning is taking on a different feeling during this pandemic. I rejoice as the memorial services are more of a celebration as another soul is meeting their Savior.

The attached photo is of a Hospital in Port-au-Prince and this compound near Croix-de-Bouquet has seen its share of suffering and mourning since the earthquake in January 2010 and now with COVID-19. Lives that came in through the gate were crushed and broken and were never the same. When I look at this photo, one hymn sung during lent comes to mind.

Stricken, smitten and afflicted brought to mind the condition of so many in Haiti who survived the quake and this pandemic, so many of us who are reaching an age where our final day seems to be drawing closer and also and more importantly the passion that our Savior endured for us. This hymn was first written around 1850 by Geistliche Volkslieder and was sung to the German tune “O Mein Jesu, Ich Muss Sterben.”

“Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, see him dying on the tree! This is Christ, by man rejected; here, my soul, your Savior see. He’s the long expected prophet, David’s son, yet David’s Lord. Proofs I see sufficient of it: He’s the true and faithful Word. Tell me, all who hear him groaning, was there ever grief like this? Friends through fear his cause disowning, foes insulting his distress; many hands were raised to wound him, none would intervene to save; but the deepest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice gave. “You who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed; see who bears the awful load; it’s the Word, the Lord’s Anointed, Son of Man and son of God. Here we have a firm foundation; here the refuge of the lost; Christ, the rock of our salvation, His the name of which we boast. Lamb of God, for sinners wounded, sacrifice to cancel guilt! None shall ever be confounded who on him their hope have built.”

Our lives go on, until that moment when we all will draw our last breath and are in the arms of our Savior. Thank you for sharing your time and talents with the children in Haiti who are bringing Jesus Christ to the lost still living in Haiti; still awaiting the news of Savior, the Lord’s anointed.

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 4/28/21 Joel Griffith 4/28/21

Easter memories.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

Easter was four weeks ago, but there are still memories and signs that are everywhere that are constantly reminding me. Coming full circle through the passion story of Jesus Christ brings the immenseness of the victory that was won for us on the Cross of Calvary and the joy of an empty tomb on Easter morning.

Last Sunday, I watched the online service from my previous congregation in Lincoln, NE and saw the heavy wood cross that they place next to the altar during lent; rough and worn. I still recall going into that sanctuary, early in the morning and sitting in a pew in the calm, still, quiet and solitude spending time with my God, examining myself, giving thanks for what He has done for me, confessing my sins, giving thanks for the bounty that is daily poured into my life and seeking His direction.

There were moments when I felt poor in spirit, recalling times when my path was not His, when my words were not His, when my thoughts were not His and then what He gave for me, in spite of my sinfulness. There is nothing I can do, no amount of work, money or time to right the wrongs that have come from my life; they are only rectified by what He did for me on the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ sealed the deal for me, for you, for the world.

And now, let me explain how this photo reminded me of that. The women in the attached photo are doing their laundry in one of many tent cities in Port-au-Prince following the earthquake. You would have to talk with them to better understand what is going through their lives. Without the tent they are homeless, but they have a Savior. Their children are in a Christian school with a Trinity HOPE feeding program and their lineage will continue to realize what their Savior did for them on Calvary. They like us will receive the Kingdom of Heaven, and prayerfully their words and actions will bring many more from Haiti away from vodou and into the arms of a loving Savior, Jesus Christ.

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 4/27/21 Joel Griffith 4/27/21

In the life of a child.

“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8

Last week Denise called and had a problem with her computer and asked if I had a document about a teacher that I wrote ‘several years ago’ and today, well today my memory only stretches back to last week…on a good day. Thankfully, she found the article before I could, but I came across this excellent article that was written by John Hall and it provides a glimpse into the life of a child attending a Lutheran school in Thomassique; and it was a really good read. This young child was one of the children bringing sticks to school and praying for a feeding program at their school.

“Envision with me this plausible account by a boy named Kevin who shared this story through an interpreter. It was a hot March morning and a neighborhood rooster and hunger pangs woke me. My older sister and I started getting ready for school. My little brothers were crying because they were hungry. I didn’t ask if I could have any breakfast because I knew the two slices of bread and small serving of beans my family had divided the night before was all the food we had. The walk to school was one of about four kilometers. The road was rutted and dusty and today there were a lot of people on it hurrying to the market with things they could sell or exchange for things they needed. Men led cows, women walked with huge loads on their heads, trucks loaded with people and their goods bumped by in clouds of dust. When we reached the center of town, people were already setting up their spots. There were lots of things; goats, chickens, corn, tomatoes, onions, dirt cakes, shoes, clothes and tools and all of these things could all be bought by those who had a little money or something to barter. I paused briefly beside a lady selling beans and rice and said a silent prayer to God for my Papa to find enough work today to buy some food so Mama would be cooking it when we got home. But today was a special day as well. We had been told that a Trinity HOPE mission team might be at our school (L’Univers Lutheran) School in Thomassique, to talk about our getting one of its feeding programs. When we arrived a big, dusty vehicle was parked in front of the school and the mission team was in our school yard taking pictures of some of the children who were bringing wood so the food could be prepared if we truly got such a blessing. I wished I had found some wood this morning.”

This was an actual account of this small boy named Kevin and one year later God had provided and the children were getting a meal at school each day. When that year’s mission team visited the school to see how the program was working, a young boy rose and asked if he could read a letter he had written for his entire class. It was Kevin and the letter said in part: “Thank God for providing and Trinity HOPE for feeding us. The food is so good. We love to eat it. Please do not stop feeding us.” Aim high!!!

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 4/26/21 Joel Griffith 4/26/21

Aim high.

“My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.” Isaiah 26:9

I can’t stop thinking about Keith Logan and his trip to the Island of Gonave in Haiti recently and his ‘goals’ that were what we now know, were much too low by God’s abilities. And while thinking about that, I came across this photo of a bunch of kids from Thomassique who were holding up sticks cause they knew that God would bless them with a Trinity HOPE feeding program; one day.

This group of school children had been praying and bringing wood to use to cook food at their school for many, many months and they knew that God was going to answer their prayers. Your blessings came through God and today they see smoke from their cook fire and they shout “Beni soit L’Eternal!” as they smell smoke and lunch; prayers answered.

Sometimes, our prayer requests are way too small. I recently read this that seems to be very wise; “The person who succeeds is not the one who holds back, fearing failure, nor the one who never fails…but rather the one who moves on in spite of failure.” Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. The faith of those kids holding up their sticks brought them food in HIS time.

A quote by President Teddy Roosevelt says, “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Keith Logan followed God’s nudge and traveled to the Island of Gonave with hope to find 8 schools to start a feeding program and God gave him 84 and now Trinity HOPE is seeking donors to support these schools.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, great accomplishments are often attempted but only occasionally reached. What is interesting and really very encouraging, is that those who reach them are usually those who missed many times before. Failures, you see, are only temporary tests to prepare us for permanent triumphs. Always, aim high. God is able!

May God be with you…Jay

Joel Griffith 4/24/21 Joel Griffith 4/24/21

Walking with Jesus.

“Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” John 11:16

I recently watch a small group of third grade children sing at the beginning of a worship service in Oklahoma and the memories of children singing songs in Haiti about Jesus came back into my life. The children were singing the familiar song “Let us ever walk with Jesus” and that is just one of those hymns that always puts a lump in my throat as that is what we all desire to do daily.

As Thomas suggested to the twelve in the eleventh Chapter of John, “let’s go and walk with Jesus and be prepared to die with him”; so the children in the attached photo who are attending Sunday worship in the Lutheran church in Torbeck which is about six miles west of Les Cayes; they too are walking with Jesus.

The hymn was originally written by Sigismund von Birken in 1653, composed by Georg G. Boltze in 1788 and translated by J. Adam Rimbach in 1900. For my daughter Deidre and anyone else that can read German or is interested in trivia, the original title was "Lasset uns mit Jesu ziehen".

“Let us ever walk with Jesus, follow His example pure. Flee the world, which would deceive us and to sin our souls allure. Ever in His footsteps treading, body here, yet soul above, full of faith and hope and love. Let us do the Father's bidding. Faithful Lord, abide with me; Savior, lead, I follow Thee. Let us suffer here with Jesus, to His image, e'er conform; Heaven's glory soon will please us, sunshine follow on the storm. Though we sow in tears of sorrow, we shall reap with heavenly joy; and the fears that now annoy shall be laughter on the morrow. Christ, I suffer here with Thee; there, oh, share Thy joy with me! Let us also die with Jesus. His death from the second death, from our soul's destruction, frees us, quickens us with life's glad breath. Let us mortify, while living, flesh and blood and die to sin; and the grave that shuts us in shall but prove the gate to heaven. Jesus, here I die to Thee there to live eternally. Let us gladly live with Jesus; since He's risen from the dead, death and grave must soon release us. Jesus, Thou art now our Head, we are truly Thine own members; where Thou livest, there live we. Take and own us constantly, faithful Friend, as Thy dear brethren. Jesus, here I live to Thee, also there eternally.”

Thank you for your continued support of Christian education throughout this world, as His children go about fulfilling His Good and Perfect purpose and walk with their Savior.

May God be with you…Jay