Letters From Grandpa #59

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 59

Dearest Grandchild,

As you know, I have been out of the country for a couple of weeks, but every day you were on my mind and in my prayers. Let’s begin today’s letter with a quote from the late Buel B. Buzzard. Yes! That really was his name. He was a blind preacher who was a legend in our area a generation ago. He was born in 1914 and died in 2002. Buel learned to plow with a mule by keeping one foot in the furrow and the other on top of the ground that was to be plowed. He hitch- hiked all over this area to preach the Gospel and seemed to always have a smile on his face. I interviewed him a number of times on the radio and even did a video interview with him at Good News Productions, Intl. He could recognize more voices than you can imagine and his standard greeting would be to call the speaker by name and say: “Good to ‘see’ you”. He learned, of course, to read Braille and loved adventure books. Then, one day, he said: “It dawned upon me that I could live as great an adventure as I could read about”. That’s the quote I want you to think about!

Perhaps, some day, you will be a famous adventurer and someone will be writing books about you. It is important, of course, to make sure that your adventure is to honor God. Abraham went on an adventure because he loved God, and Balaam went on an adventure because he loved money. Don’t let the devil lure you into that kind of a trap. Always put God first! You cannot improve without change, but you can change without improvement. Unless God is with you your adventure may lead you to jump from a frying pan into the fire.

Grandpa’s little adventure to Thailand is insignificant to most, but indulge me just the same. Perhaps my baby steps may be an encouragement to you. I was in Korea and Thailand in 2012, and at that time Ron Morse invited me to return in 2013 to teach some Lisu preachers. When health issues prevented me from coming he repeated the invitation for 2014. Again I declined. This year, after much prayer, and after checking with Granny’s doctor, I felt free to accept the invitation. As you dream of your adventure, you too must bathe that dream in prayer.

While in once sense I was traveling alone, there is another sense in which the child of God is never alone. Jesus has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5). Remarkably, it seems that every time I go on an adventure with God He does more than I expect Him to do. This trip was no exception. On the 15 hour flight from DFW to Seoul I was blessed to sit by a young soldier from Ecuador. Between his broken English and my broken Spanish we communicated quite well. He, and his team members, were on their way to Mungyeong, S. Korea to participate in the CISM athletic competition for soldiers from all over the world. Some 5,000 service members from 80 nations participated and their goal was “Friendship Through Sport”. There were 16 different athletic events. I not only shared with him the Gospel but gave him, and all his team members, the CD of books and articles that I have written. I pray that this teaching will grow like good seeds.

The first Sunday In Thailand I was asked to speak at the Borneo Church. There were only

a couple of hundred people present, but I found out that they videoed the message and planned to put in on YouTube so it could be seen and heard by Lisu speaking people all over the world.

Another added bonus was the unexpected privilege I had to speak to students from Bethany Bible College just before they went out on a couple of months break before the next semester.

On Monday our formal classes began and I was privileged to teach these preachers for 6 hours every day. On the last day I only taught for 3 hours due to their graduation ceremony. This, however, still enabled me to teach 27 hours in the class room, and all of these classes were video taped too. There are a million Lisu people throughout the world and many are eager to search You Tube for lessons in their own language. If I die today, it gives me comfort that these lessons will still live on. Before leaving Chiang Mai I also left behind a hundred or so CDs to be given away.

The long trip home began at about 9:30 p.m. when I arrived at the Chiang Mai airport to go through security for our ll:59 p.m. departure. Just before leaving God enabled me to connect with a 60 year old man who was a converted Buddhist. After our all night flight to Seoul God enabled us to reconnect. Since we both had a 12 hour lay over in Seoul I was able to have 4 - 5 hours of quality teaching time with this eager student of the Scriptures. While he was eating a hamburger I went over to visit with some soldiers from Brazil who also came to Korea to participate in the CISM games. I also gave to each of them a complimentary CD.

The trip to DFW was uneventful but going through customs God reminded me again of His presence. This modern airport now enables U.S. citizens to avoid paper work by scanning your passport and filing out questions on a computer. Perhaps because I was half asleep, or perhaps because I am just incompetent, I left the print out of my information hanging out of the computer. As I moved away surrounded by other passengers, a dear woman grabbed the paper and tracked me down, and gave it to me. Without that paper I would not be admitted to the U.S. I told her that God was using her to help a senile old man. Isn’t it cool that “The Lord preserveth the simple” (Ps 116:6 KJV)

Thank you for your prayers! Everything went smoothly, I didn’t get sick, didn’t lose my voice, didn’t miss an appointment, and God did more for me on this trip that I dreamed He would do.

Now, what about you? Many of you are already leading the way in pushing the envelope to accomplish great things for God. As you face your challenges, permit me to share an illustration I used with the Lisu preachers. The first day of our time together I acknowledged that every day of their lives they were facing challenges. These challenges are in their villages, their families, their jobs, and their churches. So I presented them a challenge to begin our classes.

The challenge was this. I showed them 6 sticks of equal length, and challenged them to arrange those 6 sticks in such a way that they formed 4 triangles of equal size. After several frustrating minutes they came up with a rather crude attempt to meet the challenge. I then explained

that the challenge is impossible to solve correctly in 2 dimensions. It is simple to solve when you think upward. Then I arranged the first 3 pieces in a triangle so they could see. Next I put the other 3 sticks upward from the corners of the triangle to form a pyramid. How simple! How easy! How profound!

So, as you faces your challenges, remember to think upward and include God. When He is included your greatest challenges will be seen in a different light. May you and God have a great adventure together.

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce