Psalm 19:14

Posted: 3rd September 2012 by Trinity Dutton in Introduction, Life
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Where are your thoughts?  What ideas/things/thoughts occupy your mind?

My name is Trinity Dutton.  This is not the name I was given, but the name I have chosen.

Since graduating 8 months ago, God has been on my mind.  From that beginning my desire was to grow closer to Him, and glorify Him (Psalm 19:14).

But, I didn’t know Him.

I yearned to know Him and make Him known.  I yearned for a sincere and intimate relationship with Him.  I wanted to serve Him and His people.   I shared with God these desires, and let my future be open to wherever and whatever He willed.  I had no idea what He had planned for me and for His people.

God is faithful. He has taught me more about His love and shown me more about His character in this past year than it is possible for me to express.  With each new moment I feel like a different person; ever growing within Him, limitlessly.  He has led me to be a Christian Photojournalist in Pakistan, a student of Christian Apologetics in Washington D.C., an English teacher in Ukraine, and now an Asia-Pacific intern for Wycliffe Global Alliance Monsoon video and media teams.

Presently, I seek Him.  I fail all the time, but His love does not reflect my failures; His love reflects Himself.  His greatness is proliferated by means of His love.

What are you doing?  Have you given yourself over to Him?  Have you only given part of yourself?  Who are you dependent on?

Who do you worship?  What do you worship?  Have you let yourself experience His love?

Please, imagine something with me.  Picture yourself in whatever way, seeing the spiritual world coating this physical world.

What is the atmosphere?

Do you picture the spiritual battle that’s surrounding us?

Who is in danger?  Is your family protected?  Your friends?  Your 3rd grade teacher?

Are You?

 

Don’t let Satan deceive your senses; he lusts for our destruction.

Speak with our Heavenly Father; He desires to give us His love.

Thank you for letting me share what God has place on my heart.  Please, will you share with me what He has placed on yours?

 

In Christ’s Love,

Trinity Dutton
Psalm 143:8

www.trinitydutton.wordpress.com

 

Struggles before get set

Posted: 13th August 2012 by Luke Lam in Life
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I’ve heard and saw that many people will face challenges from their families before their Short-term mission trip or even the internship programmes, I’m one of those, and that’s why I would like to share my testimony here with you, hoping that it would be an encouragement to you too!

It’s not easy to make the decision to keep on coming for the internship when we heard that our family members suffered from serious illness, such as cancer, before we get set, I totally understand it because I’ve gone through the same struggles before I came to Manila.

May our Lord grants you faith, courage and comfort even more than He did to me!

Just share one point with you here, God helps me to overcome the struggles by granting me the faith and trust in Him that even if the worse thing happen, His comfort will still be greater than my fear and sorrow, He can grant me sufficient energy to face that all — my Dad has been sufferred from the final stage lung cancer since last Jan., and he’s getting weak and lost 25 pounds before I got set, I was really worry about him and worry that he may die when I was away for 2 months’ overseas internship. After I arrived, within 3 weeks, although my family told me that Dad was sent to the hospital 3 times due to the problem of urine system, and the size of the cancer became double of last year, I still have calm and peace at heart, it’s all by God’s grace and power! Because I would have been very upset, desperate and worry, even can’t sleep in the past when I heard this kind of news of my Dad, but this time, I still a bit upset but calm at heart and with faith, even can go to sleep! This is why I said “May our Lord grants you faith, courage and comfort even more than He did to me!

Takeoff and Landing

Posted: 9th January 2012 by Colin in Uncategorized
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Ecclesiastes is one of the most depressing books of the Bible. Lamentations is pretty sad, but Ecclesiastes despairs at the meaning of life.

The Questor, the Preacher, the Teacher… all names translators have given to the man who wrote this exquisitely heartbreaking piece of poetry. He tries everything to satisfy his thirsty soul.

He even tries God.

But still, he cannot find the purpose of his life. After a life of searching, the Questor-Preacher-Teacher writes this:


“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.”

The purpose of life is to live.

But what does it mean to live?
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A Song for America

Posted: 28th November 2011 by Colin in Uncategorized
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My Christian walk has been a rebellion against pledging my allegiance to anything but Christ. One of the reasons I became a missionary was so that I could travel the whole world without ties to any certain nation.

I hate the word “patriotic”
I refuse to say the pledge of allegiance.
I don’t put my hand over my heart when the national anthem is sung.
When people call America a Christian nation, I have to stifle snide comments about pop culture, consumerism, oil-wars, and political scandal.

Imagine my surprise when last Saturday, I realized that…

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What Garbage has to do with Christmas

Posted: 1st November 2011 by Colin in Uncategorized
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Today I experienced true poverty for the first time since arriving in Southeast Asia.  Up until now, I’ve seen different standards of living that, before I experienced life overseas, I would have thought were poor but have come to accept as simply different. Today for a split second, I saw a naked man digging through piles of garbage, waist deep in stagnant water, while we were driving in Jakarta. It was less than a second, but my mind held the image for a long time. It’s still with me.

Yesterday, I would have said that other parts of the world are mostly just misunderstood by Americans. I would have said that we label countries third-world that simply value different things… like air conditioning, indoor plumbing, or non-dirt floors. Those things are not necessities. Those are just things that we take for granted.

But I wonder about that man.

Does he have a family? Will he catch a disease from that water? If he does, will he die? Why does no one help him?

Christmas music is playing as I write this entry. It surrounds me as the musician joyfully sings, “He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love.” How come all I see is this man when all I can hear is “Joy to the World?”

I think God is reminding me that He came here. The most glorious being EVER became incarnate on earth… the same earth where this man digs through rubbish… the same earth where I try to ignore that man.
No matter how broken this world may seem, we can still shout, “Joy to the World” because He is here. He did not leave us to die hopeless. We might be digging in the trash right now, but there will come a day when the incarnate one returns to heal and restore.

We celebrate Christmas because he came here in flesh. We have hope because he is coming back to finish what he started.

-Rachel

Tarshish

Posted: 30th October 2011 by Colin in Life, Uncategorized
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I’ve been reading a LOT lately. Between our 90 day Bible reading plan, “Under the Unpredictable Plant” (the book assigned by my PRIME mentor), and novels for entertainment, most of my free time is spent reading. I feel like I’m back in school, but this time, there are no grades or teachers to set deadlines. It takes significant will power to continue to read 10-16 chapters of the Bible a day when the Hobbit seems like it takes so much less effort. No matter how great “Under the Unpredictable Plant” is, it is still heavy theology and requires thinking.

Apparently, I don’t like to think.

Feel free to click “read more” to read about that? haha.

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Prosperity Gospel (Part 3: Reason)

Posted: 19th October 2011 by Colin in Uncategorized
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I’ve always been more heart than head, but that doesn’t mean I neglect logical thought. One of the reasons that I study theology is because when done correctly, it should inform ministry practice. The more we learn about God, the better we understand how our lives should practically reflect truth.

Everything we do has a message. The pastor from the case study probably doesn’t realize what the prosperity gospel communicates on a deeper theological level.

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, God is “the supreme or ultimate reality: as the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe.” To further elaborate, “supreme” is defined as “1) highest in rank or authority 2) highest in degree or quality, and 3) ultimate, final.”

Logically speaking, if God is the loftiest being ever, and Jesus is God, no one deserves more than him. In fact, if someone was entitled to more than him, that person would be the loftiest being. They would be God. What the prosperity gospel is actually saying is that Jesus and the Father are vending machines to serve us. It is a reversal of status in which God becomes lower than his so-called followers.

If Jesus was a homeless nomad who was mocked as he was murdered. Why would his followers prove their faithfulness by respect and wealth?

If we choose to accept the prosperity gospel, we must abandon all doctrines associated with God’s supremacy and the Atonement. If the logic behind Christ’s atoning sacrifice is that he is perfect and the incarnation of God on earth, then the prosperity gospel stands as an affront to his perfection. If, as the prosperity gospel states, blessing is wealth and honor, then the cross was the opposite of Kingdom come.

This pastor must re-evaluate the logic of his teaching.

So do we.

Every time we allow ourselves to feel entitled, we risk idolatry. The worship of ourself is so tempting.

-Rachel Whitehurst

Prosperity Gospel (Part 2: Historical Traditions)

Posted: 18th October 2011 by Colin in Life, Uncategorized
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rice christianity

For those of you who are following this case study analysis, this is probably one of the most academic, no-fluff posts on this blog (unless you read my senior project research project… which if you did, I’m impressed). I don’t expect many to read this, but I thought that the history and traditions surrounding the case study give important insight. Through reflection upon historical missiology and theology, the benefits and limitations of this approach become apparent.

Click read more if you dare ;)
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Prosperity Gospel Case Study Analysis

Posted: 15th October 2011 by Colin in Uncategorized
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Okay everybody, get ready for a slew of theological posts. I haven’t written anything too academic lately, but I’ve always been passionate about seeking to better understand our God. My professor Dr. Kent Eilers says that theology is simply faith seeking performative understanding. In other words: it has real effect on the way we live daily life. This case study analysis is an example of something I have been dealing with not only in South East Asia, but my own cultural context as well. I want to clarify that this is only one instance and does not depict our full (and many wonderful) church experiences overseas.

So without further adieu, click read more and get the full story.

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Wind, Rain, and the Nomadic Life

Posted: 14th October 2011 by Colin in Uncategorized
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3 months, 17 beds, 12 flights and counting.
Colin and I are sitting at the Brunei international airport Coffee Bean waiting for our connecting flight back to Manila. The shop is packed with Kiwis (New Zealanders), Australians, and various other white people. It’s like we’ve all subconsciously congregated to be under the comfort of the trendy lights and drink our expensive lattés.
I suppose that’s unfair.
I’m drinking a frozen Mocha…and really, everything is expensive at the airport.
I digress.
It’s at moments like this, when we are in the in between, that I feel most like a wanderer. I imagine it being like the calm in the eye of a storm where the wind ferociously rotates around a tranquil center. If I could feel the wind, I would simply be dealing with my environment instinctually. But right now, I am in expectation. I have experienced the rain and this moment of “peace” is anything but… because I know what is coming. Or, to be more correct, I imagine what is coming.
Click “read more” for further explanation.

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