In Germany

Brandy, Harper, and I are currently on furlough in Germany. We are very encouraged because in the past month we have seen God's hand so clearly on our lives.

When we came here October 1st we had big goals for this trip but were not sure how we could accomplish these goals.

Our goals were for Brandy to learn German, for us to introduce our work to different churches to strengthen old and build new relationships, and for us to increase our monthly support by $1,000 to start a travel budget for our annual outreaches and to start a retirement fund which we have been advised to do many times.

When we got here we were not sure if Brandy was going to be able to do the German classes at all as they had already started three weeks before our arrival. We did not have any places to present our work at. We did not have a car to get around and we did not have a confirmed place to live. Needless to say I felt very stressed about everything. :-)

But God took care of everything. Brandy was able to join the German course and to catch up quickly. We have already preached in three churches and done two mission presentations in cell groups. Next weekend we'll preach in Berlin and there are opportunities to do two or three more presentations. We are living in a wonderful little apartment and were lent a car by a good friend for the time we are here. We have also found one new supporter (with another one praying about supporting us) and had two friends pledge to raise their support besides two one time gifts from the Jesus Freaks Frankfurt and the Baptist church in Sterup which were a HUGE blessing. Though we still got ways to go to reach the $1000 goal/month we are so encouraged by how God has met our every need and how He is touching people's hearts to partner with us.

When we were with the Jesus Freaks in Frankfurt which was the first church we visited someone had a picture for us of an umbilical chord together with the word that God will strengthen our roots in Germany and give us a new line of support (money, prayer, relationships). We have seen that happen so clearly and are thankful.

Another goal I did not mention in the beginning was for us to connect with YWAM in Europe. That also has happened beyond my wildest expectations. I was able to teach in the School of Biblical Studies (SBS) in YWAM King's Lodge. It was a wonderful time and a very special connection for me as I have never had any interaction with the SBS before. The SBS is considered the official Bible School in YWAM and it was so encouraging to have them bless the work we do with Bible School for the Nations.

Besides that we were able to attend a conference in Hamburg to end human trafficking, extreme poverty, and child pornography. At the conference we were able to see what people are already doing to end these humongous issues and how we can join them in their efforts. I also was able to connect with the Training Director of YWAM Herrnhut. She invited me to come and hold a seminar for their Discipleship Training School (DTS) which has 120 students this year. So I will hold a seminar on "the necessity of having a Biblical worldview when fighting injustice". This is another answer to prayer as I always wanted to visit this base and connect with them.

So this trip has been an encouragement and blessing and I am looking forward to the next four weeks to see how God will continue to work.

New Sermon preached at Metro Believers Church in Madison, WI 9/19/2010

I preached this sermon inspired by a message I gave in Japan. It's about God and how he is not afraid to show us how he feels as this is what may win us over!

http://www.twomilessolutions.com/mbc/mp3/gods_heart_manuel.mp3

You love God? HOW?

Even though I had met this group twice before I felt rather nervous about teaching English that night. It was going to be a conversational English class with the top CEO of Tokyo's biggest Heating and Cooling company as well as his future successor. I was glad to have Alice and Rynn with me who are part of our outreach here in Japan.

When we arrived they offered me the seat of honor at the end of the table and we soon began breaking into sushi sets, Japanese snacks, and Kirins.

As the evening went along we talked about the company, the economic crisis, the seeming unwillingness of young Japanese to work, religion in Japan, etc. I love these times because I learn so much about Japanese culture and how this society works. We learned about the CEOs habits of worship and what nations are hardest to do business with and why.

As the conversation went along the CEO looks at me and says: "You are a missionary!" "Yes" I replied. He: "WHY?" I had to think for a second. I knew why I was a missionary but how could I explain this to a Shinto/Buddhist top CEO and have it make sense even ever so slightly.

So I told him how I have found hope and a changed life in God and how I have come to understand that if he can give me hope and a changed life he can do it for anyone. I told him how I came to realize that God is longing to be in a relationship with all people alive and that most of the pain in the world stems from us refusing to so. I told him how people have forgotten how precious they are and started treating themselves and other poorly. And I told him that I believed that as a missionary I could share with them how God wants them and gave his life to win those back that will embrace that truth. I concluded my little soapbox moment with: "And the main reason why I am a missionary is because I love God."

He looked at me puzzled saying: "You love God? HOW?" Again, an excellent question. Here is a guy who has everything. He has anything he wants and yet there seemed to be a genuine interest in how one can love God - not just a "you are wasting your life with this nonsense, young man" sort of an attitude. I thought for a moment and started explaining what I understand love to be. It's not just a feeling that directs my life but it is a choice to choose the highest good for God, others around me, and myself. I love God by coming to Japan because he asked me to do that. I love him in my everyday life by honoring the value he has bestowed on me and others and I hope to get better at it everyday I live. I love God by caring about the things He cares about and using the life he has given me to be an agent of healing and restoration.

He then turned to Alice and Rynn and asked them the same question. It was a really lovely evening where we learned a lot about Japan and were able to share our hearts with these men who we would never get a chance to talk to if it wasn't for this English class. These are the kind of guys that take their helicopters to work so common people like us never get to see them.

Thankful for this opportunity we went home praying that God would somehow touch them and show them who he is.

Encouraging the Rejected

"You are so precious" John said. It was obvious that the girl to whom this sentence was directed had difficulty believing what he said yet it seemed like she wanted to with all her heart. As I was listening to him talking about how Japanese people have so much to give and how the world needed them to stand up and stop playing the victim role I was imagining what was going to happen in these peoples lives as a result of this time. Here we were in a government sponsored English class for the unemployed - a place of societal failures, rejected with broken dreams. Many people in Japan commit suicide when they lose their job because they bring shame to their family.

Just a few minutes ago we had talked about three questions every person has to ask. If you can answer these questions satisfactorily you have peace:

1. Where did I come from?

2. Why am I here?

3. Where am I going?

My group was made up of four people - some atheists, some buddhists, and some shinto. I wanted to hear what they were thinking as much as they wanted to hear what I was thinking. Most of them had an incredibly difficult time answering these questions. Japanese culture does not allow people to ask questions and does not encourage them to think for themselves.

When I shared I said that I believe that God made me with a good design and purpose. I told them I believe that God made people with the design for relationship with him and others and that this was the reason why we are here. I told them that every person was uniquely made and had infinite value. When we walked away from God and stopped following the purpose we were made for we forgot that we have infinite value and started treating each other and ourselves like we are not valuable.

At this point I was interrupted by a lady saying that this was the main issue in Japan - that people had forgotten their value. She said that there are so many pressures forcing you to live a certain way in Japan that is not in line with the value of people. I agreed with her, saying that if we saw people as valuable we would not have issues of human trafficking, exploitation, and pornography.

I kept on telling them how God saw that we had forgotten our value and so He Himself came to earth in Jesus Christ to give his life for ours to remind us that we were made for love relationship with him and to show us how valuable we really are - to him.

In the end we were able to encourage them to think about what they are passionate about and what they want to do with their lives. This is something they must have never heard before because Japanese culture does not encourage being yourself or thinking outside of the box. This is an example of how a cultural norm can keep people from fulfilling their potential and I pray that this evening has somehow been a turning point in the lives of these precious Japanese!

Changing the world by running a Bible School

After almost four month of lecture phase we have finished the lecture phase of the Bible School for the Nations. It always amazes me how our students experience deep personal transformation and learn to love deeper - whether it is their love for God or for others while they study the whole Bible.

The biggest deal for them is usually understanding that all people have infinite value simply because God made them with a wonderful design and purpose. If this simple truth would be embraced around the world it would end human trafficking, gendercide, and many other problems we face today.

Another huge revelation usually is that people are not the problem (see overpopulation) but that people carry in them the ability to create something out of nothing and turn a whole nation`s economics around - like George Washington Carver, the man who invented peanut butter.

As I am writing this I am sitting in a friend`s living room in Japan - the nation with the largest child pornography industry and highest suicide rate in the world. The Japanese are an amazing people. Their loyalty to their friends goes so deep that they would take a bullet at any time for their friends. They operate in accordance to the Bushido code which I still don`t nearly understand enough about but have committed to study. If the Japanese committed not to a religion but to the person of Jesus Christ their nation would look very different. Injustices against women and children would be part of the past and an army determined to bring life and healing to people would arise.

All this is connected to what we are doing in Madison when we raise up people that love God with all their heart and love others with the same undying love. This is why I do what I do and will continue to invest my life in people knowing the Bible and the God of the Bible.

Passing an Indian Driver's test and other questions of value

Are people valuable? If so, what gives them value?

As I’ve traveled, I’ve encountered many worldviews that try to answer these questions. Sometimes, the answers show up in the strangest of places. Like a driving test.

In various cities in India, you’ll find a question on their driving test that reads something like this: “You are driving your car and come to a place in the road where there is a cow and a person. You cannot stop and have to hit one of them. Who do you hit?”

Did you answer cow? If so, you just failed the test.

A worldview is your set of beliefs that govern the way you live. In fact, the word “believe” comes from an old English word which means “by life.” In other words, you’ll know what I believe by looking at how I live. So what does the Hindu worldview say about the value of people? Of cows?

If that driver’s test was given in my home country, Germany, the failing answer would be the opposite. Western worldview would say that the person is more valuable than the cow, so by all means, spare the life of the person. It would say that our value is defined by what we do and contribute to society. If asked why we are more valuable than animals, western philosophy will generally answer that we are more valuable because we are at the top of the evolutionary chain, or that we can do more than animals.

One of the ways that people define value is by making a comparison. “A man is more valuable than a woman.”

To many of us, that statement seems absurd. Even insulting. You might wonder whether people still have those beliefs. I can assure you, they do. Just look around.

In March 2010, the Economist featured an article called Gendercide. It opens with a story of a woman who visits a peasant Chinese family and witnesses the birth of their child. As soon as the baby is born, the midwife drops it into the slop bucket, head first. “‘It’s a girl baby,’ [explained the midwife.] ‘We can’t keep it. Around these parts, you can’t get by without a son. Girl babies don’t count.’”

Think about modern day slavery – human trafficking. Millions of women are sold into sex slavery every year. Children work in sweatshops for an unliveable wage. How is that possible unless people don’t think the women are worth more than the money they can get for them? Or that their profits are more important than the lives of their workers?

There must be a way to stop these things from happening. Those changes must come from within, from a change in beliefs. I believe that only a Biblical worldview will bring true freedom to a dying world as we are being restored to what God originally created us for. Let’s take a closer look at what God says about our personal value and why we were created.

Purpose

The Bible tells us that God made us in His image because He wanted to shower us with his love. He made us so that we can live in relationship with him and with others. In Genesis 1 and 2 we see God evaluate his creation and he says: “it’s good, it’s good, it’s good, it’s good.”

Then God makes man in Genesis 2 and he says “it’s not good…. It’s not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him.” If you do a study on the word “helper” this is not talking about somebody who is made to serve, do laundry, clean, etc. The word helper is used almost exclusively for God throughout the rest of the Bible. It’s usually used to describe a hero who comes and rescues someone from deepest trouble!

It is after the creation of woman that God evaluates everything again and pronounces his creation very good. This shows so clearly that God made man for relationship and that it is not good to live without relationship.

Value

If I tried to auction off my guitar to help the earthquake victims in Haiti, how much money could I raise? Not much. What if I auctioned a guitar owned and played by Carlos Santana? A lot. Value is given to an object depending upon who it belongs to.

What if I auctioned off a handwritten book about my experiences in Bhutan? I would probably not get a whole lot for that. But what if I auctioned off a handwritten manuscript of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”? This would raise thousands of dollars. Value is directly affected by the creator (or author) of the object created.

Another thing that gives something value is rarity or uniqueness. When I collected stamps, I wanted the rare misprints because they were worth so much more. Humans are unique in the sense that even though there are six billion of us we can be identified by our fingerprints. You can think your own thoughts, thoughts I may never think. We are wonderfully and uniquely made to fulfill our design – to live in relationship with God and others.

Because God made us and made all of us unique with the purpose to live in a wonderful relationship with him and others, every single person whether male or female, black or white, healthy or handicapped, straight or gay is of infinite value.

If we started living like this is true and treat people for the infinitely valuable treasure they are, this world would look very different. This simple truth of the infinite value of people will end human trafficking and infanticide.

As we learn how God created this world and decide to live according to how he made the world, our lives will change.

How do we do that? Well, that will be discussed in another blog!

This blog was written by Manuel Ramminger for YWAM's Bible School blogs and initially appeared there. Thanks to Monika Allen for editing this. http://ywambibleschools.wordpress.com/

Spreading God's love

This past week we had a conference for all YWAMers in the Central District of the United States. Our special guest speaker was Kel Steiner, a man who has seen God do incredible things all over the world including the instant healing of many that were deadly sick. He reminded us of how much God loves people and how he wants us to introduce him to them and be a light to them that brings healing inside and out.

One afternoon we spent time praying for all who wanted to walk in the gifts of the spirit in greater measure. I asked for prayer in the area of evangelism (introducing others to our wonderful God) as well as prophecy. At the end of the prayer Kel encouraged us that we should expect God to put us into situations where we can walk out the things we prayed for.

That afternoon I went to a small coffee shop in Lake Geneva and as soon as I entered I knew that God wanted me to do something here. At first I was not too excited about this. As I sat down to sip my cappuccino I heard God say to me: "go and pray for the barrista". At this I got up to go to the counter and struck up a conversation about how good the espresso was - it was really good indeed. Finally I took heart and said to her: "Listen, this may be weird but I think God really wants me to pray for you. Would that be alright? Is there anything I can pray for you for?" She replied saying that would be wonderful, especially as her mother had just passed away a week ago.

She walked around the counter and tried to hold both my hands. It was a bit of an awkward situation but we then just held our hands up to heaven and I prayed for her. As I was praying God was showing me areas of guilt she was experiencing in relation to her dead mother. I prayed into that and other things and when I was done she looked at me and said: "that was so wonderful. Thank you so much. It was like you knew exactly what was going on in my mind. I am so encouraged." We talked a bit more and I encouraged her to tell God that she wants to know him and have a relationship with him. I told her that He would come and meet her just as he had met me 13 years ago.

Though I was nervous at first this was so much fun and reminded me of the crazy things I used to do with Jesus. It reminded me of the time when God supernaturally gave me the ability to speak Dutch as well as other times where I was able to share His love. It's so exciting to live with Him.

A quick video of Harper

This is Harper's first attempt at using her Christmas gift from her grandparents.

Love your neighbor - even if he acts like you

There has been a car parked on the side of the street in front of my house for a couple of months now. As the snowstorms have come through Madison with a total of 24 inches in December the snow plow has completely buried that car under loads of snow. Of course this has made it impossible for me to park my car there which is quite annoying.

A few days ago parking enforcement finally came through and informed me that on that day the tow truck would come to take the car away. "Good" I thought. Soon I will be able to park there again. How inconsiderate for someone to put their car there and not move it. It's just right that it gets towed now.

Just an hour later for the first time in months somebody was actually at the car trying to get it out. Of course it was an impossible endeavor as there were piles of snow as high as the car itself surrounding it. As I saw this guy with his friends I was able to look beyond the car that had annoyed me for weeks and I saw a person that needed my help.

I grabbed my jacket, went outside and asked how I could help.

A few minutes later I had gotten pickax, spade, snow shovel, ice hacker, etc out of my garage and we were trying to get rid of the iced up mountains of snow.

This took a good hour and we got into an intriguing conversation. He told me about his life story, how his mom had him when she was 15, how he grew up in the ghetto in Chicago and tried to get away from the violence for his daughters who are 5 and 1 years old. He told me about how he lost his job as an electrician and works at a gas station a few blocks down. He told me how he has to walk to work now because his car (the one we were trying to dig out) did not run anymore and how he noticed police standing along the side of the road several times when he walked home at night. He said that his boss told him that people had been concerned because there was a black man walking through the neighborhood at night. He laughed and said that he couldn't believe it because that black man was him.

I did not mention that he lives in apartments across the street from me. These apartments are generally occupied by people that get their rent paid for by the city. It's generally single moms, blacks and Latinos. There is quite a bit of drug use going on as well as domestic abuse as the police frequents these apartments.

He told me how his family moved to Madison to sublet an apartment from his brother-in-law only to find out that he had not been paying his rent and they got evicted. They then moved into a house with a friend who did not pay his rent which ended up with them getting sued for that money. That's how they finally ended up in these apartments.

We continued our conversation and when he asked me why I was helping him I told him that I was a follower of Jesus Christ and that I tried to live like him. He was extremely blessed by that even though I of course felt a bit funny about my attitude before I saw a person connected to the car that had been parked so stupidly.

Anyways, to make a long story short we needed more help to tow the car out of the piles of snow after we had dug it out. So I went up to my neighbor's house to ask him for a tow rope. This man had been extremely helpful in the past even though he is a bit rough around the edges as Vietnam Vet and a retired Oscar Meyer truck driver. When I saw him the first thing he said accusingly was "why are you helping THAT guy?" He went on to lecture me how people in those apartments don't care about the neighborhood and how the apartments bring down property value. He complained about the car having been parked there through the storms and why this guy wanted to move it now that it was going to get towed. When I told him that I was helping him because he looked like he needed help he just said: "When you will have spent some more time in the USA you will understand". He went on talking about the d*** Mexicans who pull mattresses off the curb and get their children infested with bug bites. In the end he sent me away empty handed.

This was such a strong contrast. Here was a guy who had the odds against him because of the color of his skin but tried to live an honest life picking up trash around his apartment complex and helping out where he could. And then on the other hand you had the neighbor who I know is not a bad man but has so many prejudices because he never took the time to get to know those he is suspicious of.

And in all this I was trying to find myself - being very similar to my Vietnam Vet neighbor in my attitude toward the parked car but then realizing that behind everything that may annoy me is another side to the story and that love requires taking the time to listen to it.

Preaching at Metro Believers Church

I want to share a sermon with you that I was able to preach at Metro Believers Church in Madison last September. It's about daily spiritual warfare - how to protect your mind, heart, mouth, and relationships, the main areas the powers of darkness attempt to attack every person in to influence them toward destruction. Just click on the title of this post to go to the website. Enjoy.