Halfhearted...........Lukwarm

Let me share with you what I have felt God saying to me one night while Daysi and I were in prayer. As we prayed this is what I sensed, that God asked me "Why are people halfhearted? Was I half hearted going to the Cross? When I heard this I began to weep from the depths of my stomach. It was an intense weeping something I've never experienced before. What was my answer to God? Well, I didn't want to disappoint Him so I gave the best answer I could think of, and it was this..........."I don't know." Let's first look at what Jesus really had to endure pertaining to the Cross. According to Matthew and Mark, Jesus was taken by the soldiers into the common hall, the praetorium, which was thronged with Roman soldiers. There, they stripped Him and mocked Him by putting on Him a purple robe and a crown of thorns. The indignities included being spit upon and being repeatedly beaten on the head. Few incidents in history more clearly illustrate the brutality in the desperately wicked heart of man than that which was inflicted on Jesus the Son of God. Today if Jesus was walking around this earth, He would still be sought after to be killed. The mockery of the crown of thorns, painful as well as humiliating, His being stripped naked in front of the large crowd; the mockery of the purple robe, intended to represent a kingly garment; His being spit upon and beaten over the head repeatedly as well as the mocking worship testified to the unbelief and sordidness of the actors in this situation. It was only after enduring all of this in complete silence, except for the conversation between Christ and Pilate recorded in John 19:8-11, that Jesus was finally led away to the crucifixion. Jesus was submissive to this entire procedure is the measure of His total submission to the will of God. Here, the Lord of glory, capable of destroying anyone who put a hand upon Him, allowed Himself to be abused in this painful and humiliating way. Why would God allow His only begotten son to go through this? Was God a cruel father? Did Jesus deserve this for some gross sin He committed? Or was it LOVE? Love for us that is. The bible tells us in John 3:16-21..... "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." That's the reason folks, do you remember that, that was the reason. Do we need to go back to the basics and meditate on what Jesus did for us. There is one verse I left out up until now and it's found in The book of Isaiah. Isaiah anticipated this when he stated in Isaiah 52:14, “His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” Jesus was beaten about the head and the body until He was almost unrecognizable. What did Jesus endure regarding the Cross, I believe was the initial question. So if Jesus went to the Cross voluntarily and endured so much hatred and so much disgrace as well as experiencing so much pain. Is it possible that, we who profess to be His followers, disciples, ambassadors, CHILREN, we can stop being lukewarm so He doesn't spit us out of His mouth. Can we give to Him the worship not only that is due to Him but what He desrves from us. Let's stop talking the talk and let's start walking the talk. If God asks you why are My people so halfhearted what answer will you give Him?

Our Class At The High School Where We Taught English

Watching Daysi Serve

It was truly awesome to watch Daysi serve these people. You could see the love she has for them. Her face lit up like the sun as she went about helping, not only in finding the right glasses for the people, but interpreting for the optometrists Paul and Ken. We were both so happy to serve the people of the different villages. We pray that God will touch their hearts. The Pastor that was with us has had a difficult time in reaching some of the villages with the Gospel. They didn't want him in their villages. However, because of these eye clinic outreaches this Pastor received many invites into homes for dinner. Thank you Lord for openning doors for your word. We give all glory and praise to God our Father.

The Bull Challenge I Didn't Want

Just finished a really good dinner with Daysi. So since we ate too much we decide to go for a walk. We usually walk around our colonia, which we did tonight. After we had been walking for a bit we see this, what looks like a cow ahead. We think nothing of it and continue our walk. I keep my eyes on this, what I thought was a cow. Then I notice that this "cow" was starting to move towards us and coming quicker. So I pull Daysi to the side and I start to climb up this hill (not a very big hill let me add). Daysi looks and sees the BULL coming at us, we stop dead and so does the bull. We wait, so does the BULL. Then we, very carefully and slowly start to walk back the opposite way with the BULL following. We stop and talk to this family that are out with their sheep and notice they are laughing. Yes, at us!! They tell us that that was certainly a BULL and they were also waiting for it to leave so they too can get back to their home.If this BULL wanted a challenge from a gringo, he didn't get it. If I wanted a challenge from a BULL there are a lot of mechanical ones I could find. This was a challenge I didn't want. (This picture is not the same bull we encountered)

They Walk The Talk, the Great Commission

Ken and Paul, these are the guys that came down from Minnesota to bless people with eye exams and glasses if they needed them. They came with 3000 pairs packed in their luggages. You could see the love they have for people. Both Daysi and I were blessed to have had the chance to work along side of them. They walk and talk, the Great Commission. Thanks Guys.

Eye Exam Outreach. It was an Honour For Us To Serve

To You, Our Supporters, Your Hands, Feet,Voice Are Here. Thank You

We are told that these 2 guys are coming down from the States to perform eye exams for some of the local people in the area villages. Giving their time and resources. The day has come, we hear they arrive safely in Oaxaca and Dan (staff member) is there to pick them up for the 3.5 hour drive back here in Tlaxiaco. Well, that didn’t exactly happen as planned. They were able to get the eye exam machine through customs but the 3,000 pair of glasses didn’t make it through. Custom officials held the glasses until we came back with a letter describing exactly what the glasses were going to be used for. They thought that the glasses were going to be sold for profit. We came back with the letter, however this still was not good enough. Their conclusion was you should have done it the right way in the first time. There was one option they gave us and that was to go back to the USA and try to re-enter Mexico with all the proper paper work. That’s great but that option just won’t work for us. After many prayers and Dan’s persistence they finally let the glasses through. We are only 3 days behind. Day 1, first outreach, after lunch they let us know that the outreach team needs 3 volunteers Daysi and I quickly respond along with 2 other girls. Let me just tell you this, this was an incredible time. I stood there looking out at the landscape and thought, “I can’t believe we are in Mexico on an eye exam outreach, helping people see better and hopefully not just physically but spiritually” Both Daysi and I were so grateful to be a part of this. The most emotional part on the outreach was when we went to our 2nd village. There came in an older lady, she took the eye exam and her eyes were pretty bad. From her results we were able to find her a pair of glasses that were perfect for her. Her countenance on her face changed as she put these glasses on. She sat around looking so proud, she was so grateful for her new (used) glasses. Everyone that came through to have their eyes checked was so grateful for the glasses they received. I also had the opportunity to give people drops in their eyes, might not sound like a big deal but for myself it really was. Seeing how grateful these people were just because I gave them a few drops in their eyes made me want to sit there and cry. These people have taught me, not I teaching them. God has done something in my heart that I’ve been praying for a long time. God, give me a heart and give me compassion for people. Well, I believe He has answered me. My heart was changed, God is always faithful when we ask Him from a sincere heart. Daysi was also so excited to do this. We later discussed our experiences with each other and agreed that this is what God has called us to do. We want to bring the Good News to people that haven’t had the opportunity to respond. We want to get our hands dirty (sit in the smoking section of life) if that’s what it takes to reach the unreached for Christ. There are many people groups that have not heard of Christ or have not had the opportunity to respond. We want to change that. Our desire is to be the hands, feet, voice, be ambassador of Christ. The bible says in Matthew 24:14 and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. There’s a lot of work to be done. So many have yet to hear. Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support. It allows Daysi and I to be effective in what God has called us to do.

Thank You To Our Supporters

We would like to share with you how grateful we are for this opportunity we have had so far down here in Tlaxiaco, Mexico. If it wasn’t for the people that give to us this would not be possible. Both Daysi and I thank you not only for your giving, which is so helpful to us, but for your prayers. We pray that God will bless you in ways you never thought. We have had many opportunities to speak into peoples lives. A young girl that Daysi has been ministering to, wants to get baptized. We thank God for this. It’s not what we do but what God continues to do through us. We remain open to His direction..

Again, we thank you, you are also the hands, feet, voice down here in Tlaxiaco just as much as we are.
IN HIS LOVE
MIKE & DAYSI MADY

On Our Way To Teach English To A Family

!st Pic-To the Right is the House Where we Teach

Our First Week Here In Tlaxiaco

Wow, it's been one week already. I'm really not sure where to start. So I'll just answer questions that some of you may have for us. The weather here is wet, no I really mean wet. It rains everyday. Temperature wise, it been nice during the day 70-80's. however at night I think the temp has been in the low 50's. I could be wrong but it feels that way when we are heading next door, 6:20am for our 'Pray for the Nations" group meetings. Both Daysi and I are doing fine. The days are full & busy. We have been into town a few times. Tlaxiaco is a cool place, I'm trying out my Spanish on the people and well, lets just say this, I get a lot of laughs. Daysi has been with me but she prefers to say nothing and allows me to make a fool of myself. We are really concentrating on building relationships with the people, our goal is to become "one of them" this way we can build trust with them. This approach is necessary so we can at some point tell them about Jesus and the love He has for them. The people of Tlaxiaco see themselves as 3rd class citizen, this is mainly due to the government's treatment of them. So when white gringos come into their town, their perception is, we are hear for their gold, oil, recipe for their tortillas,etc.. Though this may sound so far fetched but to them, that's their thinking. This town is a poor area of Mexico (State of Oaxaca)they need Jesus in a big way!! Most of the time it's a slow process to reach these people for Christ. They have all their saints that they pray to and are very dedicated to their religion. If some one does change their religion and gets baptized. They are usually told to get out of their community. This is done by force most of the time and from what I understand, they are forced out by whatever means seen fit, if you get what I mean. As Christians we want to walk into a place and start telling the people about Jesus and that's a good thing. But in most places that are so much in their own religion and so untrusting to any foreigners you need to find a different approach. God loves these people as much as He loves us. Please pray for the people of Tlaxiaco and pray for the people that are down here with us. Pray God moves in a powerful way and that we get to be witnesses to what God is going to do. Thank you again for all your prayers and support for Daysi and I.

WE ARE HERE

Well, we made it here safe. We flew from London Ont to Toronto to Mexico City to Oaxaca then the 3 hour trek into Tlaxiaco. I was amazed at the view from the plane going over Mexico City. It was like ten Toronto's put together, quite amazing. So things are good, the food it pretty good and our lodging is nice also. As you can see on the website I've posted some pics from the drive at Oaxaca to Tlaxiaco. It is very beautiful scenery. We went into town on Saturday Sept 06 to buy a couple of chairs, it was me and Ryan who is down here with his family, and they are from Canada also. He needed to buy some chairs also. So we went into Tlaxiaco market square. There were a couple of vendors selling these chairs so we picked a vendor and began explaining to him what we wanted. Now both of our Spanish is not that great, for me that's a shame considering Daysi is fluent, so as we were trying unsuccessfully to communicate the price of the chairs, we wanted a total of seven, it was decided we would try to find a pencil and paper. Well no one could find one, now what? I started to look around and on this table this gentleman made were a bag of nails, so I thought take a nail out of the bag and write in the ground. Well, as I was getting the nail out the gentleman took the nail and started to write on his arm. Seven chairs would be $475 pesos, one chair was $75 pesos so we were getting a deal. Not realizing we were I took the nail from him and wrote on HIS ARM $400, but before I did that, I took my two fingers and made a erasing motion on HIS ARM, as to say no how about this price. He thought for a moment and then wrote again on HIS ARM the price $420 pesos. Deal, It was just amazing to me that we negotiated the price of these seven chairs all on HIS ARM. Welcome to Mexico.

WORSHIP

MADY MISSIONS VIDEO

HE DIED FOR YOU SO THAT YOU WILL LIVE

Please give me input on this question

WHAT IS IT IN LIFE THAT GETS YOU UP EVERY MORNING AND KEEPS YOU GOING?

DEVOTION #3

GUILT AND PAIN--I CAN"T TAKE IT

ENCOURAGEMENT----- Let me encourage you with this today. We all have made mistakes in life in which we wish we could go back and correct. Things we’ve done, things we’ve said or didn’t say. The reality is, we can’t, but we don’t need to live with the pain and guilt any longer. Accept God’s forgiveness. He wants you to see yourself as He sees’ you. He’s not up there with a baseball bat just ready to hit you over the head. God is not what most people think He is. A lot of people’s concept of God is based on one of many things. For instant, to some they feel God isn’t interested in them, because their father or mother paid no attention to them, maybe even abandoned them... So their concept of God is distorted. For others, God is a task master; these people feel they need to perform in order to gain love and acceptance from God, again a distorted view. This view comes from a life growing up where they are told that they’ll never amount to anything. But the God of the bible, the one that spoke this universe into existence, He is all about forgiveness, He’s all about love (a word that scares a lot of people) God wants us to accept His free gift of salvation, He won’t force it on us, but He offers it. Why not give God a try? You have tried everything else and yet you feel that same, empty, alone, wanting something but not sure what it is, feeling. You have this empty feeling inside that won’t go away. That hole that you feel inside of you needs to be filled only by God Himself. What can you do? How do you ask God to fill that empty spot? You simply ask Him; let me lead you in a short prayer. Here it is: God I know that I have sinned and you know how my life has been lately. I need you in my life, please, I invite you into my life. This day forward I want to try and live my life the way you want me to. Amen….That’s it, believe me when I tell you, God heard you and the angels in heaven are rejoicing. This is the biggest decision you will ever make in your life, trust me, buying a house or getting married will not be the biggest decision you make, this is.
I would encourage you to find a bible believing church, which preaches Jesus is the way to eternal life. Also, read the gospels. They are found at the beginning of the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. If you have made this commitment to God send me an e mail so we can pray for you.

GOD SPEED

eter.co

Devotion #2

ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THESE ONES???


If you were to go back about 2000 years and had the opportunity to pick the 12 disciples what would that entourage of Jesus’ look like? What types of personalities would exist? What class of society would they come from? Who would you pick to follow the Messiah?
Thank God we were not the ones in charge of that task! Maybe we would’ve picked a doctor after all he could "heal people". Maybe we would’ve picked a Judas Iscariot after all he was one who was really trusted, he was the treasurer, he left the last supper for supplies or something, well that’s what the other disciples thought. But would we have gone down to our shorelines and choose smelly fishermen, and here’s the kicker. Would we have really picked a tax collector, a tax collector?!!! COME ON!!! I think that would’ve been our last choice and only if that tax collector was the last person on earth. Well let me just say this, I’m glad that Jesus was the one doing the picking. He definitely knew what He was doing, from His own perspective anyway. From mine and of coarse the Pharisee’s and the Sadducee’s, this group of misfits were the outcasts of society, most of them anyway. That is exactly what I believe Jesus would have enjoyed hearing. Yes, it is as you say. The people I hang with are the outcasts of society. I enjoy surrounding myself with strange characters, I’m in you aren’t I!!!! Why would Jesus hang with such a mixed band of misfits? Surely He could have made a better choice>. Yet there is a method to His madness. Jesus would need a band of unconventional peoples to proclaim His unconventional message. His message of repentance, forgiveness and Gods open- arm policy on those who turned their lives around needed peoples who had experienced the grace and favour of that loving father. The lost had worth and value to God and they were not simply created to fuel the fires of hell as some religious leaders believed. They had worth and value in God’s sight and we must never forget that. The truth is this that God uses some of the most unlikely people to get His greatest work done. David the shepherd boy."Any more son’s Jesse”? Nope! Oh, wait I have a boy in the fields tending sheep, but he, I mean,he's..”Jesse bring him here”………"Yup that’s the one, he’s the next king."
He used a thief like Jacob; He even used a tax collector.God some how finds great pleasure in using the most broken of vessels to accomplish His work. Sometimes I wonder if that's His prerequisite for our employment in His service: WANTED, PERSONS WITH BROKEN LIVES TO SERVE THE LORD.MUST BE WILLING TO WORK WITH ANYONE. Last but not least,would we be a good candidate to become one of the 12? What do you think Jesus is looking for in potential disciples to spread the work of His kingdom? If we were to go back 2000 years would He choose us?

DEVOTION #1

CALLING MYSELF

Ps 26:1-3

VINDICATE ME, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity; I have [expectantly] trusted in, leaned on, and relied on the Lord without wavering and I shall not slide.
2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; test my heart and my mind.
3 For Your loving-kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth [faithfully].
As I was moving my laptop, cell phone, and assorted books and papers from one room to another, the "regular" phone rang. I hurriedly set down my stuff and rushed to answer the call before the answering machine kicked in. "Hello," I said. No reply. I said hello again when I heard rustling, but still no response. So I hung up and went back to my stuff on the floor. When I picked up my cell phone I realized that I had accidentally speed-dialed my home phone number!
I laughed at myself, but then wondered: How often are my prayers more like calling myself than calling on God?
For example, when I am falsely accused, I plead with God for vindication. I want my name cleared and the guilty person held accountable for the harm done to my reputation. But then I get impatient with God and try to vindicate myself. I may as well be praying to myself.
Vindication does not come from self-defensive arguments; it stems from integrity (Ps. 26:1). It requires that I allow God to examine my mind and heart (v.2) and that I walk in His truth (v.3). This, of course, requires patient waiting (25:21).
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for and expect You.
When we call on God, He will help us--but in His perfect time and in His perfect way.
The purpose of prayer is not to get what we want, but to become what God wants.