Captain's Log #21
October, 2001

A BLACK NIGHT!
"Tala tala!!...   Tala tala!!"...  Somewhere out of too few hours sleep, mixed with dreams and fatigue, I could vaguely hear the voice in the darkness. It took a moment to register that the call was real and coming from land, it was 3:50AM and a pitch black night. This night would get blacker before the light of dawn. Realizing that something must be very wrong for the guard to wake me at this hour, I quickly pulled on my clothes and went outside to the back of the boat. It was Jim, one of the guards from the hotel that I have prayed and laughed and cried with; his face was serious. "Something very bad is happening where you come from pastor Harmon...   something very bad!...   they are saying that airplanes have crashed into the two tall buildings in New York City, everything is on fire, one of the buildings has just fallen, thousands are dieing!"
 
And so...  along with the rest of the world, we turned our eyes to watch the tragedies unfold...  time alone will tell where it ends.

PRAYER
Though some would not be able to make it now, the leadership conference for the South Pacific was not called off, and in a few short days the scene was a conference room. We had pulled the tables and chairs back. Cindy had printed out all 736 names of the 'GALILEAN PLANK HOLDERS'. Those whom God has raised up, to covenant with us to pray and cry out and continuously hold us before God's throne in prayer in this work. It formed an impressive, long roll of names as we laid it out on the floor in the center of the room. Originally she had printed the list of names to bring encouragement for the leaders and workers here in the South Pacific, but now the purpose had changed. Everyone there knelt down and with name after name after name before us, we started to pray for a nation and a people and the individuals who have been praying and backing and supporting us. The attention and the prayers of the Nazarenes of Fiji and Samoa and Tonga turned earnestly toward you, our family around the world and specifically those of you in the United States.
 
So where will all this end? What happens tomorrow? I remember as a teenager in Africa asking myself the same questions back then as I walked through piles of bodies.

HOPE
The answers, obviously I did not have then and I do not have now. But one thing I know. I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. I cannot imagine how people face things like this without the perspective and hope that can only come from Christ. In Him in the midst of the 'region and the shadow of death - a light has dawned'. In Him we find hope, where without Him there simply is no hope. In Him we find purpose and meaning and perspective and foundation that is solid, it simply cannot be shaken. Even a secure foundation in the midst of unanswered questions. Like never before we cannot falter or retreat or stop or look back. We will keep moving forward with His message of hope. To the ends of the earth, to the end of time. We know only one thing...   we know the answer to the question that matters - His name is JESUS!

GOD'S WORK
He is working in the hearts of people. He is going before us and making a way. He is expecting us to follow Him. Recently one chief that we have been working with had agreed to allow us to establish the Church of the Nazarene in his village. Many of the elders of the village and powerful men were very upset and they met with the chief multiple times telling him not to do this, telling him to retract what he had done. The chief held his ground. The men did not give up, meeting with him over and over. Finally about two weeks ago in one of these meetings, the chief held up his hands for them to be silent. "Listen carefully" he said; "If I have made a mistake in giving permission to the Church of the Nazarene to permanently come to our village, than I personally accept the consequences for that mistake. If this truly is wrong then I am prepared for God to destroy me and even kill me and He can destroy my family and my sons and all my descendants and the heirs to this chieftainship, but I am not changing my mind, I will not send the Church of the Nazarene away!"

INTO ALL THE WORLD
So with a renewed urgency we keep going forward. This week we moved over 6 tons of cement and material across many miles of open ocean, to work with the new Nazarene church being established in the outer island of Kadavu. It is a direct result of the combined efforts of the JESUS Film and FIJIBoat Project. Pray for the team of committed, excited people that are coming from Puyallup, WA. in the next few days to get their hands dirty and sink up to their knees in the mud of the building of the Kingdom of God. They and you and us will keep working hard, to keep moving forward until the One who died for us says...  "well done"!
 
From Fiji - South Pacific,
Harmon
 
We have attached the names of the registered members of the GALILEAN PLANK HOLDERS.  If God has called you to join this prayer covenant, and if your name is not listed, please let us know by emailing us a statement of your commitment.

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A Big Thank-you to those of you who support Nazarene Maritime Ministries regularly! To be a part of this ongoing ministry you can send support to:
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