What you see is what you get

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Last week, while my wife, Jana, and I enjoyed breakfast under the shade of a tree on an unusually cool Honduran morning she commented on how pretty a nearby flower looked. I turned and there was a beautiful orchid growing on a nearby tree. It was lovely.

As we finished our tortillas, black beans and fried platanos, I thought back to a few weeks earlier when we were in an exclusive area of Dallas attending the funeral of a longtime friend and ministry partner. If we had seen the same scene there, we likely would have viewed it differently.

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Yes, we have missionaries in Ukraine

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Prayers for UkraineAs you likely know I founded agencies that send missionaries and help national workers around the world.

Commission To Every Nation USA and
Commission To Every Nation Canada send US and Canadian missionaries.
Commission Ministers Network primarily helps national workers (people serving their own people in their own country.)

With the developments in Ukraine, I’ve been regularly asked if we have people serving there and, if so, how are they doing. Yes, we do have ministers still in Ukraine and the surrounding nations that are involved in providing relief and sharing the compassion of Jesus with people in deepest need.

Because of the level of interest, I have created a special page where I will post periodic updates from our folks there. You can check it out at: www.rickmalm.com/ukraine
Feel free to share this link with others and check back regularly for updates as we get them.
You’ll also find a giving link there if you would like to contribute to help the relief efforts.

Thanks for your concern, prayers and partnership.
Rick
___________
Galatians 6:2
Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
Investing in compassion in Ukraine

How to find peace in chaos

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How to find peace in chaosThe wind was roaring. The rain was pounding. It looked like our home would flood. My family lived on the Texas coast and a hurricane was raging around us. Then, suddenly, things went deathly silent. We were in the eye of the storm.

The media warned us to stay inside but there was no way I was going to miss this. It was absolutely amazing. There were downed limbs, power lines and debris everywhere but the air was perfectly still. An eerie enveloping silence replaced the angry roar of wind and rain. Continue reading →

How to not be naive.

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How to not be naiveI met a fellow who told me he wanted to help troubled marriages. That’s noble. When I found out he was not married I asked what he thought he had to offer couples who were going through marital problems.

“Oh,” he said, “I understand pretty much everything there is to know about marriage problems. I’ve been divorced five times.”

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They are only beautiful because they are dead!

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Nature explodes this time of year into awe-inspiring colors and hues. It’s like God is showing off his color palette. But it occurred to me that those colors are only possible because the leaves are dying. Their splendor is a product of their death.

All Summer the leaves were thriving, collecting sunlight and rain, doing their part to keep the tree alive and healthy. But now, at the end of their season, they have no more to give. Yet, when their energy is expended, when they are no longer able to be productive, they become their most attractive and glorious.

We’ve been fooled
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Two Reasons You May Not Be Hearing From God

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If you turn, you will hearTwo of my kids have been going through the arduous process of selling a house that needs some major repairs and buying a new one. There were several disappointments and dead-ends but today it looks like it is all going to turn out better than they ever expected.

In discussing – via text – the journey of trusting God through the process, Charis wrote, “I trusted him. I just didn’t trust my own decisions because He didn’t say ANYTHING!”

As I shared with her why that probably was, I thought, “I’ll bet there are others who could benefit from this, too” as I’m sure many of you, like me, have faced God’s silence in the midst of times when you desperately wanted direction.

Isaiah 30:21 says, “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” Continue reading →

Should we wear masks after the pandemic?

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He is a renowned expert in the medical field but he is viewing the world like I used to as a kid. With two empty toilet paper rolls I had a pair of binoculars. And, they really did make things look bigger! At least I thought so.

Maybe they didn’t work but by blocking out everything else it sure made whatever I was looking at seem bigger. When we narrow our focus and only see one thing it looks like that is the whole world, the complete picture. And that’s what our medical friend was doing when he said that after this COVID pandemic masks should become like seatbelts – we all wear them whenever we are in public and even shame inconsiderate people who don’t. He is an expert so he must be right. Or is he? Here is the crazy part about his suggestion. Continue reading →

A Secret to Happiness (Even in Quarantine)

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Even if you are NOT a reader I have a book that I guarantee will lighten your heart and bring a smile to your face. No, I’m not selling a book. In fact, I only have one copy and there is no way you are getting mine.

If you want to be happier every day, even in the midst of a pandemic, you must get this little inexpensive book. I guarantee it will change your life in just 30 days – or less. Oh, and, it is NOT the Bible, though I highly recommend that one for a changed life, too.

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COVID-19 Response: 3 Things We Can Do NOW.

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Let's love the fear out of peopleI send you out as lambs among wolves.*

Lambs among wolves? Really Jesus? That’s crazy! We’re gonna get creamed! The kingdom of God is upside-down (at least from the world’s point of view.)

It’s “crazy” to think:

  • If you have a need, give … and it shall be given unto you.
  • If you want to save your life … lose it.
  • If you exalt yourself you’ll be humbled. Humble yourself to be exalted.
  • If you want to be great .. be a servant of all.
    Not just a servant to the influential but a servant even to other servants.

In this time of world chaos it’s easy to respond like the world: anxiety, insecurity, complaining and hoarding because we don’t know what’s coming. That’s a natural response but …

God has called us to live supernaturally (above the natural). That means more than “I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls that do.”

It’s easy to condemn the bad ACTIONS of the world
while we have the same bad ATTITUDES of the world.

If our attitudes and actions are just like the world we can expect to reap the same harvest the world reaps – anxiety, worry and hopelessness. But how can we live counter-culturally, counter-intuitively, upside-down from the world’s perspective? Continue reading →