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Jazzing it up in Cuba

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I've been on plenty of mission trips going all the way back to jr high days, and I reached a point where I felt that sending my dollars to people already on the ground was more impactful than jumping on a plane.  This opportunity was different, though. Global Missions Project uses musical performances as a means to bring the Gospel to foreign people groups. I went with a 20-piece big band to a communist country that is typically closed to Christianity.  However, a Havana pastor named Alioth Gonzales (pictured with me below, left) has some key contacts within the Cuban government and he was able to get our group into the country on a cultural exchange visa rather than the typical religious visa. This gave us access to all venues including musical student conservatories and public performance theaters. Alioth also happens to have developed a close relationship with a Cuban concert pianist named Frank Fernandez who is known and loved throughout Cuba AND Russia. He turned 80 at th...
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  Excerpt from YONAH by Neel Woods Chapter 34 Oppressed Nineveh was a city unlike anything I’d ever observed in Israel. From the near side of the Tigris River, I saw it was encircled by a wall that looked to be 100 feet high and half again as thick. Embedded within the massive wall were hundreds upon hundreds of guard towers twice as high as the wall itself. A dozen Jerusalems would not have matched the size of this metropolis. The adjacent Tigris River was a wonder in itself at nearly a quarter-mile’s breadth from bank to bank. Israel’s Jordan River, at its widest point, spanned just 100 feet—not even a tenth of the mighty Tigris. A multilane bridge connected the east and west bank providing thoroughfare for foot traffic as well as chariots and wagons.  With every step across the bridge, I sensed the growing presence of evil, which was personified in the hateful stares I received from those I passed. I didn’t know which was more offensive to them—my foreign appearance or my ...
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I Wish I'd Said That! (Quotes)

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I Wish I'd Said That! Many years ago, I began collecting a list of quotes that I would come across either in my reading, sitting in church, listening to the radio, etc. I often go back and reread these to see if any of them hit me differently since I first heard them.  In hopes that one of them will strike you like they did me, I plan to post one every week or so. Let me know if any of them strike a nerve. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The difference between wishing and hoping: A wish is a want thrown into the wind, but a hope is a desire rooted firmly in the promises of God. So this Christmas I do not wish upon shooting stars , but rather I hope in the Maker of the stars . I do not cast my lucky pennies in a wishing well , but I come and drink from His eternal well . I do not cross my fingers and wish for the best . Instead, I put my hope in the One who bore the cross with my sins on his chest ....
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Yonah- More than a fish tale

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  At last!!  I've been writing a novel for the past three years and finally completed it in January. As I seek a publisher, I plan to post excerpts here. If you take the time to read it, I am grateful. If you tell a friend, I am real grateful!
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Does God Still Whisper? I've begun following the channel of a conservative evangelical called PoliteLeader . His stated purpose is to "critique many contemporary movements and leaders in Christendom [and] to point Christians to solid Bible teachers they can learn sound theology from." He is well-researched and respectful, but he pulls no punches. I find myself in agreement with him on most of his articles but recently, he has challenged the idea that God still speaks to His people today in that still, small voice spoken of in scripture (see  Beth Moore | I Hear Voices In My Head ). Below is my rebuttal to his post. Let me begin, Alan, by saying how much I appreciate your 'polite' treatment of these controversial topics. It's a welcome change from the normal cadence of social media. Your well-delivered posts warrant a thoughtful response. My father used to tell a very corny joke, but I think it's relevant. He spoke of a man who claimed unequivocally that ...
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Post-election musings (non-political) by Neel Woods

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2020 is a year that we will tell our grandkids about just like earlier generations would recall the Kennedy assassination or 9/11. Twenty years from now, how will you remember 2020?  With the presidential outcome still in limbo and everyone experiencing emotional fatigue from COVID and the election, not to mention more tangible burdens like critical family illnesses, job losses, racial injustice, and even toilet paper shortages, I'm trying to think a little outside the box.  John  Piper preached a memorable sermon in Feb, '09 called What is the Recession For? that reflected on the financial meltdown of '08. In it, he cited five different ways that God was using this hardship to His purposes.  One of those ways I can't forget is that God was using the crisis to expose sin, whether personal, national, societal, or otherwise. It seems that in this election season more than ever before, we are apt to vilify those who are supporting the other candidate. Lying, soc...
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Location: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
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Response to John Piper's article on faith & politics by Neel Woods

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J ohn  Piper  recently published an article entitled  Policies, Persons, and Paths to Ruin PONDERING THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE 2020 ELECTION .  It's very thought-provoking, especially for Christians who are seeking to vote with Godly integrity. I am obliged to respond but I must preface by saying that I have long held Dr.  Piper  in the highest regard, and I certainly still do.    What I understand  Piper  to be challenging in his article is the tendency of many Christians to make a false delineation between "blatant, unrepentant sins of character (e.g. sexual immorality, boastfulness, vulgarity, factiousness)" and "policies that endorse baby-killing, sex-switching, freedom-limiting, and socialistic overreach." While he respectfully declines to call out candidates or parties, the implications are apparent.    Piper  is baffled that some people find  character  sins to be "only toxic for our nation" while...
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