Church in the South Pacific

A church on a hillside overlooking the waters of the Pacific Ocean - Solomon Islands.

“Xmas,” as an abbreviation for Christmas, offensive?

Here’s a holiday surprise that only the dictionary can provide. Do you find the word “Xmas,” as an abbreviation for Christmas, offensive? Many people do.

You won’t find Xmas in church songbooks or even on many greeting cards. Xmas is popularly associated with a trend towards materialism, and sometimes the target of people who decry the emergence of general “holiday” observance instead of particular cultural and religious ritual.

But the history of the word “Xmas” is actually more respectable — and fascinating — than you might suspect. First of all, the abbreviation predates by centuries its use in gaudy advertisements. It was first used in the mid 1500s. X is the Greek letter “chi,” the initial letter in the word Χριστός. And here’s the kicker: Χριστός means “Christ.” X has been an acceptable representation of the word “Christ” for hundreds of years. This device is known as a Christogram. The mas in Xmas is the Old English word for “mass.” (The thought-provoking etymology of “mass” can be found here.) In the same vein, the dignified terms Xpian and Xtian have been used in place of the word “Christian.”

Source: Dictionary Blog

Solomon Islands

Check out the Pacific series in the episodes tab.

Live your Life

Live your life to the fullest for Him!

The Company We Keep

The Company We Keep

Lets talk about the company a person keeps and how that company ultimately influences the person they become. In Proverbs it says,

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” — Proverbs 27:17

We are the sum of all the intimate friends we interact with in life. Our thought process, our actions, and our lifestyle all derive from the circle of friends we choose. The source of your beliefs and thoughts are greatly influenced by those around you, for the good and for the bad.

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”—Proverbs 13:20

Your dreams and desires are nourished and starved by the influence of your friends. Moreover, your influence on others will also determine the course of their lives. Think about it for a moment. Do you have a friend who encourages you when you are feeling low? Have they said words to you that sustained you when you've needed it? Have they acted in faith or boldness in life, and because of that, influenced you to act similarly? Or to the contrary, do you have a friend who is depressing and critical and constantly taking from you, but never giving? Do you have someone close to you who discourages your thoughts and dreams? Either way, good influence or bad influence, you will become what you associate with.

It is virtually impossible to achieve great things in life while being fed negative input. This is an important fact to recognize if you want to fulfill your calling. This doesn't mean you need to abandon a friend if he or she is negative or has some other flaw, because we all have flaws, but it does mean you need to judge what it is that your circle of friends believes and encourages. True friends want to see the best for the other (Colossians 3:12-14), but immature friends will secretly or openly try to hold you back from great things. Immature friends do this because they are threatened by the idea of change and fear their own failures. The best advice is to find like-minded friends who are on a similar path, and encourage each other in sincerity and kindness. If your circle of friends does not believe or act in the same fashion your spirit says is right, then you are either destined to conform or will one day take a different path.

Friendships are key to sustaining a good life and realizing your dreams and callings. We cannot go it alone.

“For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” —Ecclesiastes 4:10

In the path of life, God gives us many great friendships and these should not be neglected. If someone is a stalwart of encouragement to you, let them know. If someone has helped you up when you have fallen, tell them thanks. Value those who are a blessing to you and as you give your love to them, you will receive it back many fold.

At Travel the Road, we count each of you as friends. Though many of you we have never met face-to-face, we have received your kind testimonies and beautiful words. Your prayers and financial support that are given faithfully each month are such a blessing and touch our hearts. You encourage us everyday with your love of missions and you are like-minded friends that care about accomplishing the Great Commission. We are thankful for you. Peace be with you!

In Him,

Tim and Will

Are You Wealthy?

Are You Wealthy?

Are you wealthy? When someone hears this question, they immediately start to count their assets in order to judge, if indeed, they are wealthy. But is monetary wealth the only wealth that matters? According to the actions of a large majority — the answer is yes. Even in the modern day church, entire doctrines are formulated around monetary blessings. So why is money so important to people? Well, it provides security, independence and the hope of happiness. In our society, and all other societies around the world, people crave for monetary wealth, so much so, they will forsake all else to get it. The sad thing is, many times, once a person achieves the “wealth” status, they are often too old to enjoy the benefits or end up not knowing how to spend it. It is astounding to see what a person will sacrifice to achieve the dream of monetary wealth. People sacrifice their health, time with their loved ones, their youth, their sanity and everything else a person can give in the pursuit of wealth. However, the irony is, that the very thing wealth is suppose to create: independence, freedom and the hope of happiness, instead robs people of those things. It is an evil cycle and no wonder it says in 1 Timothy 6:10

“For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Extremes: In reading the paragraph above, most people will then ask, “What should we do? Live in the woods and forsake anything that has to do with money?” The answer is no! Do not take things to the extreme. You only need to be mindful, in this life, what it is that you are exchanging your time for. The facts are undeniable that the pursuit of money alone will leave you empty and sad in the end. We all came into the world the same way, and we will all exit this world the same way — We leave with nothing. So ask yourself: If I could do anything in this life and money wasn't a blockade, what would it be? The common response among most people will be something like this, “Ummmm, I am not sure. Maybe travel or help out the less fortunate.” When you ask yourself this question, you'll be surprised how limited and neglected your dreams are because you never thought they were possible. We do this because our culture and society sets the tone for the pursuit of wealth as the end all. We must change our thinking.

Making Dreams Possible: If you want to make your dreams and calling possible, stop thinking about money for a moment. When you place your dreams, passions and callings as the priority, you'll only look at money as a tool, not the end goal. Another important fact is that when we place too much emphasis on wealth creation, with no goal, you will end up seeing it flee from you. Proverbs 23:4-5

“Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.”

Wealth is not wrong, it is only wrong when it is our focus to gain it for no end. Cease from your consideration of it.

Missionary Hinderance: Many times, we hear people who are interested in missions say statements like this, “I am waiting for God to open the doors of finance and then I will commit to going on a mission trip.” Or they will make a similar comment that suggests that they will not take actions in missions until, like manna from heaven, money appears to make it possible. The tragedy is that this type of thinking is not mature. It is the same old trap of putting wealth thinking before the passion of being a missionary. Obviously, money matters to make missions possible, because it is the way to buy plane tickets, live overseas, take expeditions and finance your missionary endeavours. But if your focus is constantly on the failure to achieve the finances, then you will never get there because you are not acting upon it in faith.

People everywhere are driven to get what they want. What you value in life tends to manifest itself into reality. One focus of potential missionaries should be an approach on how to explain your passion, vision and goals to others. Share your heart and tell your needs for that purpose, and then you will quickly see the finances come from heaven.

The Intention: It is very easy to sit back and ridicule individuals for misplaced life goals or seeking after wealth, but that is not our intention. We understand and see the environment the world has created. It is very normal and expected to seek after wealth, especially when our society structure is set up on this foundation. We are drawn to this life system like a moth to the flame because our environment dictates it to us. So, knowing this, we don't need to shun society and rebuke our involvement in it, but we only need to be mindful that there are forces in life that will compete for our love and time. We must recognize that we need a higher goal in life other than creating wealth. God has bigger plans for you than only this.

Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing —James 1:4

Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink. Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.

We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work . . . .” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.

Jesus did not commit Himself to them . . . , for He knew what was in man —John 2:24-25

Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly. Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.

Behold, He is coming with clouds . . . —Revelation 1:7

In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. “The clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness. It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child— a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while. Is our relationship with God becoming more simple than it has ever been?

There is a connection between the strange providential circumstances allowed by God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. Until we can come face to face with the deepest, darkest fact of life without damaging our view of God’s character, we do not yet know Him.

“. . . they were fearful as they entered the cloud” (Luke 9:34). Is there anyone except Jesus in your cloud? If so, it will only get darker until you get to the place where there is “no one anymore, but only Jesus . . .” (Mark 9:8 ; also see Mark 2-7).

He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side . . . —Mark 6:45

We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself. What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see “Him walking on the sea” with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see “Him walking on the sea” (Mark 6:49). It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God.

God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.

God’s purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious.

If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine . . . —John 7:17

The golden rule to follow to obtain spiritual understanding is not one of intellectual pursuit, but one of obedience. If a person wants scientific knowledge, then intellectual curiosity must be his guide. But if he desires knowledge and insight into the teachings of Jesus Christ, he can only obtain it through obedience. If spiritual things seem dark and hidden to me, then I can be sure that there is a point of disobedience somewhere in my life. Intellectual darkness is the result of ignorance, but spiritual darkness is the result of something that I do not intend to obey. No one ever receives a word from God without instantly being put to the test regarding it. We disobey and then wonder why we are not growing spiritually. Jesus said, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). He is saying, in essence, “Don’t say another word to me; first be obedient by making things right.” The teachings of Jesus hit us where we live. We cannot stand as impostors before Him for even one second. He instructs us down to the very last detail. The Spirit of God uncovers our spirit of self-vindication and makes us sensitive to things that we have never even thought of before.

When Jesus drives something home to you through His Word, don’t try to evade it. If you do, you will become a religious impostor. Examine the things you tend simply to shrug your shoulders about, and where you have refused to be obedient, and you will know why you are not growing spiritually. As Jesus said, “First . . . go . . ..” Even at the risk of being thought of as fanatical, you must obey what God tells you.

Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart . . . . For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man . . . —Matthew 15:18-20

Initially we trust in our ignorance, calling it innocence, and next we trust our innocence, calling it purity. Then when we hear these strong statements from our Lord, we shrink back, saying, “But I never felt any of those awful things in my heart.” We resent what He reveals. Either Jesus Christ is the supreme authority on the human heart, or He is not worth paying any attention to. Am I prepared to trust the penetration of His Word into my heart, or would I prefer to trust my own “innocent ignorance”? If I will take an honest look at myself, becoming fully aware of my so-called innocence and putting it to the test, I am very likely to have a rude awakening that what Jesus Christ said is true, and I will be appalled at the possibilities of the evil and the wrong within me. But as long as I remain under the false security of my own “innocence,” I am living in a fool’s paradise. If I have never been an openly rude and abusive person, the only reason is my own cowardice coupled with the sense of protection I receive from living a civilized life. But when I am open and completely exposed before God, I find that Jesus Christ is right in His diagnosis of me. The only thing that truly provides protection is the redemption of Jesus Christ. If I will simply hand myself over to Him, I will never have to experience the terrible possibilities that lie within my heart. Purity is something far too deep for me to arrive at naturally. But when the Holy Spirit comes into me, He brings into the center of my personal life the very Spirit that was exhibited in the life of Jesus Christ, namely, the Holy Spirit, which is absolute unblemished purity.

Blessed are . . . —Matthew 5:3-11

When we first read the statements of Jesus, they seem wonderfully simple and unstartling, and they sink unnoticed into our subconscious minds. For instance, the Beatitudes initially seem to be merely soothing and beautiful precepts for overly spiritual and seemingly useless people, but of very little practical use in the rigid, fast-paced workdays of the world in which we live. We soon find, however, that the Beatitudes contain the “dynamite” of the Holy Spirit. And they “explode” when the circumstances of our lives cause them to do so. When the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance one of the Beatitudes, we say, “What a startling statement that is!” Then we must decide whether or not we will accept the tremendous spiritual upheaval that will be produced in our circumstances if we obey His words. That is the way the Spirit of God works. We do not need to be born again to apply the Sermon on the Mount literally. The literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is as easy as child’s play. But the interpretation by the Spirit of God as He applies our Lord’s statements to our circumstances is the strict and difficult work of a saint. The teachings of Jesus are all out of proportion when compared to our natural way of looking at things, and they come to us initially with astonishing discomfort. We gradually have to conform our walk and conversation to the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations— it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us.