StaddonFamily.com

posted by Robert on 04/19/09

Living the Journey is hosting a second challenge! This one goes beyond memorization and involves actually sharing the plan of salvation with someone during the week of May 5-9.

Jonathan has already successfully completed memorizing the required verses, quite a while before the April 23rd deadline! Go Jonathan!

Pray for each person who is diligently learning how to effectively share the Good News. And it’s not too late to join in yourself and receive a free Soulwinner’s Resource Kit!

5 Comments » | posted in Tidbits

posted by Donald on 04/15/09

There is a lot that goes into fruit production in Taiwan and one Saturday this April I was invited to join the banana harvest.

Chen Po Hau’s father is a professional banana farmer. Together they told me a lot about how the fruits come to maturity, starting as a large bud at the top of the plant and ripening to massive clusters, filling out till no “ribs” stand out, then being harvested just before they turn yellow. Each tree bore a single crop after a short eight month season; now it was harvest time.

To harvest the bananas, his father cut an X in the tough outer “bark” allowing it to bend over. Starting at the end of the cluster he then cut off one bunch at a time. From the smallest bananas at the end, the bananas gradually increased in size as well as number–up to 25 bananas in one bunch.

They gave me the chance to try as well. So here in the picture you can see my first bunch coming off the stalk. The stalk was as fibrous as sugarcane and hard to cut at first … but eventually I got the hang of it.

Afterward we visited another garden where lemons, mangos and mulberries were growing. And one more surprise was in store for that morning: there in the undergrowth I was afforded, for the first time, excellent views of the common but hard-to-see Barred Buttonquail.
So as you can see in southern Taiwan weekends as well as weekdays can be tremendously educational, enjoyable and, well, fruitful and productive!

6 Comments » | posted in Possessing the Land

posted by Daniel on 04/14/09

Thus was my reaction when I heard that this was the breathtaking reward offered for the winner of the Shelby Kennedy Foundation’s world-class National Bible Bee Competition. What would you do with $100,000? I was unprepared for the overwhelming avariciousness which began to envelop me as I pondered this question and the materiality of the prospect began to sink in. With it came an irresistible, but strangely unfamiliar, craving to attain the prize. Suddenly I was willing to sacrifice my time, effort, and plans to do whatever it would take to prepare for the contest and get that $100,000!

Then God’s Spirit convicted me. “Wisdom is better than rubies.” How quickly had my priorities shifted out of balance! If I truly value wisdom more than money, I will have an even greater driving passion for digging into the Scriptures than I have for winning any monetary award.

We still did not hesitate to enroll, but it was with a whole new understanding of Proverbs 8:11 and 16:16. In fact, it does not greatly concern me whether I win or not. There is no way to lose! Studying God’s Word and getting to know Him on a deeper personal level will yield a lifetime of rewards and benefits far more valuable and precious than any amount of money!

There are only a couple more weeks to sign up. Click here to learn more and join the competition now!

11 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by Donald on 04/9/09

Instead of reporting on a past event, maybe it will add a fresh dimension to our posts to give you an advance notice on some of the most important prayer requests for the months ahead.

Though we don’t have specific dates yet, there are at least two chalk-talks coming up. The days leading up to a chalk-talk make it what it is; pray that the messages I’m to give would be clear to me and become a part of my life now so that sharing would become second-nature.

On April 18, a meeting in Tainan will be held in order to provide communication opportunities between Junior High School students in different countries. One of our teachers had an unexpected illness and I may need to take their place if they haven’t recovered by that time. Pray for clear communication.

On April 24-26 our team will be enjoying the annual TESOL Retreat in the beautiful city of Kaohsiung. Pray for us to know how we might best exhort one another to love and good works as we follow Christ together. I’m looking forward to the testimonies and teaching tips.

In May my church asked if I would share some of the differences between dating and the spirit of courtship, a new concept for many. Pray for God to draw the hearts of parents and children together on an issue which often brings division and bitterness.

Last but not least, I hope that throughout this spring season the Lord would remind you to pray for the 9th-grade students here at Nan Jung Junior High School. In preparation for graduation, they undergo some of their most intense testing as well as “life purpose evaluation”. Pray for wise decisions.

Thank you. I really look forward to reporting how the Lord works.

5 Comments » | posted in Ministry Reports

posted by David on 04/9/09

As a surprise for Robert and James, We made delicious, homemade, healthy, perfect waffles! While eating them, we remembered a funny story  we had read in one of Mom’s old cookbooks of how waffles may have originated. Here’s how it goes.

“The first waffle is said to have been made in the 13th century England. A crusader wearing his armor accidentally sat in some freshly baked oat cakes. The cakes were flattened and bore deep imprints of the steel links. However, he spread butter on the cakes and ate them. His wife, delighted with the way the butter stayed in the imprints from the armor, made him put it on once a week and sit on fresh oat cakes. They were called “warfres,” meaning flat honeycomb-like cakes. Dutch colonists brought their cherished “waffre” irons to America. They were long handled and very heavy to hold over an open fire.”

7 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side