Recently my children and I witnessed something incredible. We saw a black wasp dragging a cane spider across the ground. Cane spiders are about as big as your hand. Very fast and very scary. What kind of wasp could challenge one of those guys and win? But here he was dragging his victim along. We thought it was dead, until one of us got too close and scared the wasp away, and the spider was moving really slowly, like it was semi-paralyzed. Then the wasp came back and kept dragging it, in a straight line, across the parking lot, and into some bushes.
Turns out, it’s called a Spider Wasp. It stings its prey, paralyzing but not killing it. Then it drags it back to its nest, where it implants its eggs into the paralyzed spider. The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the victim, eating it from the inside out. What a horrible death! 

Hi Friends!

This is a bit long, so if you get exhausted and want to stop reading, at least scroll down to the end where there are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Another month has passed and there is much to report. First of all, the kids have finished the school year, so they are all home for the summer. We are seriously considering keeping them home next year because Hawaii is implementing the new bathroom policies by the start of the new school year. I don’t really want my kids being indoctrinated by this ideology. Angel has started her first job at McDonalds, and it looks like they may be hiring Elijah as well. Angel wants to save every dollar so she can do her own DTS next year. She set up a bank account without getting a debit card or checks so she won’t be tempted to spend anything. We support her 100%!

Beth and I are still staffing the current DTS. (Discipleship Training School) There are only 7 students for the summer school. Last week, I was the speaker and the subject was, of course, evangelism. There are two weeks left of lectures before the team heads off for Greece.

Also, last Sunday was the second session of the Evangelism class at Calvary Chapel Honolulu. There are 23 people in the class, so I’m excited to se how many of these people become active about sharing the gospel by the end of our 8 weeks together.

Today I’m jumping on a plane and heading to Finland to teach in DTS for the week of June 20-24. The door is wide open for us to continue to help train on the subject of evangelism there. They had invited us to come in August to the national staff meeting and do some teaching, but it was going to be way too expensive and we would not have anyone to stay in Hawaii with the kids, so we have decided to pass on that opportunity. But, I’m still very excited about going there for this upcoming week to speak at one of the bases.

I have written before about the invitation to go to Nigeria in September to teach in a DTS and also to a bunch of churches there. The leader is a personal friend so I know its a safe place to go. But they are a poor base, and even though they have a lot of students, they don’t have the resources to pay for travel costs for speakers, so if I go I will be paying for all of those costs. Its looking like this also will be too expensive so I’m leaning towards turning down that offer.

One upcoming meeting that we are very excited about is whats called the Presence Gathering, which will be happening in early November in Chico, CA. 17 base leaders and their staff members will be meeting for a week to seek God and receive training. There is one main speaker for the week, followed by optional breakout sessions over the weekend. I was initially invited to be one of three workshops on evangelism for the weekend. They had asked me to teach on ‘power evangelism’ (words of knowledge, healing, miracles), but I responded that I was going to teach on the simple gospel message.  The leader immediately called me to ask what I was talking about, and within a few minutes of talking about the importance of sharing the biblical gospel with people, (the cross, repentance, forgiveness, resurrection, salvation) he became so excited and inspired, he shifted my teaching time from one of three workshops to being one of the main teaching times during the week. So I have the opportunity to influence 17 base leaders and the staff members they bring, by stressing the importance of sharing the biblical, simple message of the gospel in the midst of our humanitarian mission work. Please be praying for that. I need to do this in such a way that it is well received. These are people who will be selecting speakers and subject matter for multiple schools, and literally hundreds of students each year. A well-spoken delivery has the potential to influence so many missionaries. Pray that God uses that teaching to restore and reignite a passion for people getting saved.

We have been heavily advertising the upcoming School of Missions and Evangelism, which starts in September. We’ve made a couple of promotional videos and have been actively contacting everyone we know who has been involved in YWAM to join us as students. So far there are 7 students that we know are planning to come, but I think our minimum number is 8, so please be praying that more people are stirred to apply.

Aside from our responsibilities at YWAM, we are still going out and preaching the gospel locally, usually twice a week. The fruit we have been experiencing is so amazing. People are getting saved all the time out here. Last week, seven high school kids gave their lives to Christ in one encounter. I have been posting photos on the family Facebook page of different outreaches, so if you are following that you can see some of those. But I’m going to post a bunch of photos here so you can see some of the fruit that has come from you support.

How do I get these pictures? Well, when I lead someone to the Lord, I offer my phone number to them so that they can call me any time to ask questions, or get together to talk more and do some discipleship. Sometimes, I’ll get a photo and send it to their phone so they have some kind of remembrance of the day they made the best decision of their life. Plus I’m also looking forward to updating and encouraging you on whats happening on the mission field. It doesn’t always happen, but occasionally we will get a photo together.

In the book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas “sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.” (Acts 14:26,27) 

Then again in Acts 15:3,4 “ Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.”

For those of you have been praying for us, and also for those who have been supporting us financially, we want to, like Paul and Barnabas, report what God has been doing, and like the early church, we trust it brings great joy to you. We would not be here without your support, so I want you to see some of the fruit of your labor and donations. Here are a few photos of some of the people who have given their lives to Christ.

Thank you and may God bless you continually,

Billy, Beth and Family

Last month we were playing soccer with a group of friends. Before the game started, a bunch of guys were on the field stretching. I advised them that stretching cold muscles isn’t as good as people think, and walked off.
Less than five minutes later, take a wild guess who pulled a muscle in his leg and was sidelined for the rest of the night? My leg was in bad shape for two weeks!

My silly theory may have sounded plausible to someone who doesn’t know anything about muscle or stretching, but it quickly became very apparent that I was the one who didn’t know what I was talking about. What a dufus! 

A couple days ago, on a very busy morning on base, Beth called me and said she had a big problem. On the way home from dropping the kids at school, she got a flat tire. Apparently, as she was making a turn, an oncoming car caused her to take the turn too tightly, and she hit the curb.
We didnt have time to deal with this. I have to confess that the first thing that came to my mind was to ask her how she could have been so careless. But of course I didnt say that, especially since it was only two months ago when I hit a curb and flattened a tire myself!
Instead, I asked where she was stranded and drove over to pick her up. Guess what, she had hit the exact same curb that I did, and popped the exact same tire! She had pulled down to the exact same intersection. I too was driving back from dropping the kids at school when it happened, and the same circumstance had caused me to take the corner too tight.
Now I was feeling pretty rotten for how I responded in my mind when she first called. I was relieved that I hadn’t said anything critical to her, but convicted that the thought was there.
Have you ever gotten angry with or criticized someone else over something that you are guilty of yourself? Its called hypocrisy, and no one likes a hypocrite! Jesus often rebuked the religious leaders of his day for their hypocrisy with scathing words. He would say things like, “Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matt 23:27,28
The book of Romans also addresses hypocrisy in chapter 2 when it says, “you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Romans 2:21-24
There is nothing more disgusting than a hypocrite. And God will deal with those who practice it. Romans 2:1-5 shows us his disdain for it. “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”
Wasnt it the kindness of God that led YOU to repentance? Because of his kindness, he bestowed great long-suffering and patience with you until you repented, and now you cast judgment on someone else? Yikes, Thats a bad heart condition to have.
So todays lesson is simple. Don’t be a quick to cast judgment on others, especially if you are guilty of the same things. Don’t be a hypocrite!

Not too many years ago, I was the foreman of a concrete construction crew. I had hired an employee that just didn’t work out so good. He was a big guy so I thought he would be a valuable asset, but he didn’t make the most out of his size or strength.
During his first week, I had left him to strip some forms from a recent pour. Soon afterwards, my boss called me in an angry tone wondering who was the fairy out stripping the foundation. He had seen a guy out there standing by the form trailer with his shirt off, and when he drove over to investigate, he found him with a bottle of suntan lotion. He introduced himself as the new concrete guy and promptly asked the big boss of the company if he would help him out by rubbing suntan lotion on his back!
My boss wanted me to fire him immediately, but I wanted to give him a chance to toughen up.
Within a few days, this guy showed up one morning trying to get out of work with a doctor’s note. You won’t believe what his excuse was. The note was for a hangnail!
“A hangnail?” I asked! “This isn’t high school! You don’t show up with doctors notes to a construction crew! Get to work or get out of here!” And that was the end of him.
He was a big disappointment. 

A couple of months ago my son came to me asking to buy a small skateboard. He had found one online that he thought was so cool-looking that he just had to have it. But the problem is, there is nowhere to ride a skateboard where we live. I tried to talk him out of it, but it was his own money and he insisted that he needed it. He hounded me incessantly for days until I caved in and bought the thing.
Three days later it showed up in the mail. I’m not exaggerating when I say it wasn’t even five minutes after it was out of the package when he asked, “Hey dad, how much do you think I could sell it for on eBay?”
“What?” I asked incredulously. “Why?”
Now that the penny board was in his hands, it wasn’t as cool as he thought, and the realization that there was nowhere to ride it had finally set in.
“Didn’t we just go over this three days ago?”
It seems he was so blinded by his desire to own that board, that he ignored all sense of reason to get his hands on it.

I couldn’t really pick on him over it.  Adults do the same thing.We even have a name for it. It’s called “buyer’s remorse.” I have a friend who recently bought a brand new car which he had wanted for some time. It’s actually a neat little car, with all kinds of cool accessories. But after owning it for not very long, he admitted that it was a huge mistake. It’s really tiny compared to his SUV, he’s spending more on payments than he is saving on gas mileage, the ride is hard and bumpy, and it doesn’t feel safe riding in such a small car. He regretted buying it.

There’s the story of Amnon in the Old Testament, a guy who desired a woman he was forbidden to have. Day after day he thought of her and ached for her, to the point where he was even losing weight in his distress, until one day he schemed up a way to have her, and he ended up forcing himself on her. As soon as he had had her, however, his lust turned to hatred and he hated her even more than he had loved her before, and he thrust her out. You can read about it in 2 Samuel 13.

Whether it’s some new gadget, a new toy, a new car, a house, a person, a certain amount of wealth, or whatever else men can desire, we have all fallen into the trap of covetousness. In all three examples above, and perhaps one or more in your own life, giving way to covetousness sets a course in the mind that elevates the object of our affection on some lovely and attractive pedestal, while blinding us to the negative consequences of its fulfillment. Only after our hunger has been satisfied does reason set in, and that thing is seen for what it is. Unsatisfying and unfulfilling.
How many times have you longed for someone or something for so long, but when you finally did all that was necessary to have it, it wasn’t as great as you thought? Have you ever strived for something only to regret it?

Jesus taught to, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15
I don’t know about you, but I have never found any lasting satisfaction or fulfillment in pleasure or material things. It’s always been the lie of Satan that you will find happiness or contentment in anything or anyone other than the Lord.

Don’t be fooled by the allure and false promises of riches or possessions. The ultimate source of meaning, purpose, identity, fulfillment, and joy is found in knowing and having peace with God.
Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

A couple of days ago I got a flat tire on the way home from dropping the kids off at school. “Great,” I thought, “here I was in such a good mood, and feeling ambitious to get a lot done today. Satan is trying to rob my joy!” Irritated, I began digging through the back of the car for the jack and the tire iron, and as I did so, the jack fell off of the bumper onto my foot, causing me to shout in pain. I was off to a good start! When I dropped the spare tire, I discovered that it was flat, adding fuel to my frustration. My anger was brought to a full boil when I tried to loosen the lug nuts on the wheel and found that the stock tire iron does not fit my custom rims. I would need a special ratchet.
So there I was on the side of the road, mad as a hornet that the devil was thwarting me and ruining my life, looking through the Internet for a mobile tire service. Guess what? No tire shops in Honolulu have a mobile tire service truck. They all suggested I get a tow into their shop. Yeah right! That’s another two hours of wasted time, not to mention at least $200 for the ride.

I had to laugh at myself. Within 10 minutes, I went from singing praise music to the Lord over the stereo, looking forward to the rest of my day, to fuming hot mad because of some unexpected circumstance, and I was lashing out in anger blaming the devil, the stupid people who built my ford, the idiots who designed the curb I had hit, the inept tire shops of Hawaii for not having mobile tire service, and the dummies who made custom wheels that can’t be removed.
I think all too often, we give satan more credit than he deserves. Much of the time, our circumstances aren’t his doing at all. We are just big babies who want everything perfect all the time. And instead of placing blame where it belongs, it’s much easier to blameshift and accuse someone else.
Who’s fault was my situation, really? Let’s think. I was the one who wasn’t paying attention and took too tight of a turn, resulting in my tire smashing the curb. I was the one who placed a clumsy tire jack in a precarious place before it fell onto my foot. The spare tire was flat because it’s a 13 year old vehicle and I have never taken the time to properly maintain it. The tire iron didn’t fit the lug nuts because I prefer custom wheels and never bothered to buy the right ratchets in case of a flat. The truth is, if there was anyone to be angry at, it’s me!

Christians love to blame the devil, and nonChrisitans love to blame God. Sometimes even Christians shake their fist at the heavens, wondering why? A wise king gave us the truth of it in Proverbs 19:3, “A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the LORD.”
Before accusing God or blaming the devil as the source of your problems, maybe sometimes you should look in the mirror.
It’s a lot easier to deal with life with a bit of honest humility than it is if we are always angry with our circumstances. Your attitude towards many of your struggles will change dramatically when you realize they are your own doing!
I know I certainly gave myself a lot more grace than I was giving to everyone I was accusing in my mind the other day. I laughed at myself, while moments earlier I was raging at everyone else. It’s a lot easier to pray for grace, for forgiveness, and for strength than it is to act as though we are being treated unfairly, unjustly, or demanding that our problems evaporate.
What situations in your life are you frustrated with, that in actuality can be traced back to decisions that you made?