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Dear
Friends and Partners,
 Change.
Changes. Changing times. Every time we turn around
in our world today something is changing. Morality,
ethics, laws, family, schedules, and Christianity
which once were somewhat non-changeable are given
new definitions, now defined by judges instead
of lawmakers. Authors rewrite classics and history
books to make them diversity acceptable. Some
leaders believe they can live above the law.
Some churches make their teaching and music look
so close to the world's that it is often hard
to tell where you are.
Last
month when I was in Ethiopia, a young African lady
approached one of our male team members saying, "Come
with me. My name is Monica." She was willing
to change her name to get something she wanted.
Everyone knew what she wanted (as redefined by
one of our country's former elected leaders).
I
was recently talking to a close friend who has
seven children--his, hers and theirs, which is
now known as the "blended family." Changes
in the definition of family have redefined challenges
which at one point were not an issue. In fact,
the whole definition of marriage is now at stake.
How will modern man define "marriage" for
future generations?
 Our
schedule has changed equally. I was convicted during
a recent Sunday sermon about keeping the Sabbath
holy. Many people look all year long towards their
vacation as a rest period. With the exception of
the Japanese, we Americans average less vacation
time than any other nation. However, if we would
truly observe keeping the Sabbath holy, as a day
of rest, then we would have 52 additional vacation
days per year. Besides, most of us do not rest
on our vacations anyway. We play hard and need
to rest up after vacation. I am not saying I have
arrived yet. But I am saying that I was convicted
of the need to have one day off per week as a day
of rest, per God's orders!
Normandy
Graveyard |
Even
our wars have changed. This month we celebrated
the 60th anniversary of an incredible day in which
thousands of American men sacrificed their lives—D-Day,
June 6, 1944. Our President presided over an emotional
ceremony in France. Those men know who they were
fighting and why they were fighting. Today, we
find ourselves living in a world dominated with
thoughts of terrorism. We question daily who our
enemy is—is it the guy next door or even the person
with whom we work?
And
there are changes in the list of the living
and the dead. As we remember President Reagan
this month, who spoke on the 40th anniversary
of the landing amidst the windswept cliffs
of Normandy, his words hold great relevance
for us today:
Forty
summers have passed since the battle
that you fought here. You were young
the day you took these cliffs; some
of you were hardly more than boys,
with the deepest joys of life before
you. Yet, you risked everything here.
Why? Why did you do it? What impelled
you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation
and risk your lives to take these cliffs?
What inspired all the men of the armies
that met here? We look at you, and
somehow we know the answer. It was
faith and belief. It was loyalty and
love.
The
men of Normandy had faith that what
they were doing was right, faith that
they fought for all humanity, faith
that a just God would grant them mercy
on this beachhead, or on the next.
It was a deep knowledge—and pray God
we have not lost it—that there is a
profound moral difference between the
use of force for liberation and the
use of force for conquest. You were
here to liberate, not to conquer, and
so you and those others did not doubt
your cause. And you were right not
to doubt.
 Something
else helped the men of D-day; their
rock-hard belief that Providence would
have a great hand in the events that
would unfold here; that God was an
ally in this great cause. And so, the
night before the invasion, when Colonel
Wolverton asked his parachute troops
to kneel with him in prayer, he told
them: “Do not bow your heads, but look
up so you can see God and ask His blessing
in what we're about to do.” Also, that
night, General Matthew Ridgeway [lay]
on his cot, listening in the darkness
for the promise God made to Joshua: “I
will not fail thee nor forsake thee.”
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 In
the midst of a changing world, one thing that
doesn't change is Jesus. He's
still making the blind see. Jesus is the same
yesterday, today and will be the same tomorrow.
The JESUS Film will always be up-to-date. Even
though it was produced years ago, the story will
never change -- unlike other films that have
been made down through the ages. It's based on
the life of Jesus and who He is. And that will
never change!
But
there is one change that we continue to experience
daily with the JESUS Film--seeing lives changed
one-by-one around the world. The radiant faces
of new Ethiopian believers following a JESUS
Film showing last month remains etched in my
memory. Thank you for your prayers and donations
as we continue to fulfill the great Commission
together.
Blessings,
Chuck
Watson
817-864-9003
chuckwatsonusa@yahoo.com
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