Pray for Mo.

You wanna hear a cool story?
Mo, my watchman told me this morning that yesterday his 8-year-old niece went missing and the family searched all night and couldn't find her.  So, he came to me to ask if he could go look for her instead of working for me today.  "Uhhh... YEAH!"  So i told him to go quickly and find her.  As he was leaving my yard i told him to come back and pray with me first. (To give you some back-story, Mo has been quite opposed to discussing Jesus with me or reading the Bible, despite that his holy book tells him to do both.  Go figure.)  So, i prayed in the name of Jesus that God, Who finds lost people, would find this lost girl and bring her home safely and quickly.  Mo left and came back in about 5 minutes.  He told me that the family had just found the girl who had been taken in last night by a good Samaritan from a different rival tribe known for being lazy worthless people according to Mo's astute and hardworking tribe (The parallels to the story of the Good Samaritan are vast here.).  I told Mo, "Prayer works."  He shrugged his shoulders and walked away.  Please pray this would soften his heart to the message of Christ Who saves that which is lost.

A Migration

So, you might be thinking to yourself, "Hey, this doesn't look like your old blog."  Bingo.
I just wanted to write a quick note as to why we left the SMOi Blog as our primary blog and created a new one (or two).
The Snowbird Missions Outreach International (SMOi) ministry has evolved quite a bit in the last couple of years.  That's a good thing, but when we started participating in the SMOi Blog, we were part of a community of missionaries that posted communally on smoiblog.blogspot.com.  With perhaps a few exceptions, we felt like we had become, by default, part of a dying breed of posters to that blog.  That being said, Racheal and i wanted to create blogs that were more personal to us in design and following.  We may still post on the SMOi Blog from time to time, but not as our primary blog.
Why "Wild Oaks?"  Though we like oak trees a lot, we weren't pursuing any "go green" fads when we came up with the blog name.  That being said, one of our family's favorite passages in Scripture is Isaiah 61 which reads:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins;

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

Oaks of Righteousness seems a bit conceded to call oneself, but since we know that the righteousness is not our own, but instilled (or as the above verse states, "planted") in us by the Living God, we like the term.  Even so, if you know any thing about the Pendergrass clan, you know that are a bit unconventional, rowdy, raw, unpredicatble, uncouth, reckless, and (hence the blog name) wild.  This is a multi-generational attribute of my paternal blood line, and thankfully, i don't see any chance of it ending in my own progeny.  God loves wild people.  It's a characteristic that He possesses Himself.
That being said, we celebrate being oaks that are wild and have thus named our blog.
Thanks for reading,
'til the whole world hears,
corey

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Things Missed

Last night i was singing to the King with a rockin' praise band aboard the Mercy Ship.  It occurred to me that i don't get to do that sort of thing very often...practically never.  This thought plunged me into considering a gamut of things that i miss about life in the States.  For the sake of balancing things out, i began to consider things that i miss about Susu Land when i visit the States.  Therefore, i figured i'd include my ponderings here in a blog post.

Things i miss about the States when i'm in Susu Land:

• Once or twice a year going to a concert with about 15,000 of your brothers and sisters in Christ and singing anthems to the Author of the Universe at the top of your lungs
• The tendency that most people have to carry on a conversation with strangers and not consider their ethnicity, their economic status, or what one can get out of the other
• Government employees and law enforcement who benefit the common good of the people they govern
• Justice
• Lexington BBQ, Taco Bell, movie theaters, miniature golf, Costco, hunting, bowling alleys, and delicatessens
• Sandy beaches that are not covered with syringes and plastic bags
• Bluegrass conventions
• Gun shows
• Smooth trash-free roads
• Religious tolerance (the kind where they let you live if you follow Jesus)...I don't miss the kind where people say everyone's going to heaven cause it sounds nicer.
• Sane traffic
• The "FDA approved" labels, construction and building codes (that ensure structures are safe to enter), and annual vehicle safety and emissions inspections (that heighten the probability that the vehicle you're riding is is roadworthy)
• The ability to leave my car without locking it
• When Christians not only recognize they have freedom, but also live out, despite the cultural norms

Things i miss about Susu Land when i'm in the States:

• The hospitality of most people to openly invite strangers to a meal, a bed, and a warm conversation
• Rampant hitchhiking
• Untamed natural beauty
• The spontaneity and unpredictability of every. single. day.
• The ability to take it slow
• How pretty much every Christian knows it's their responsibility to take the Good News to their neighbors
• Spicy meat sauce on rice
• Being invited to converse with village chiefs and elders in the meeting hut
• The phenomenon that causes thankfulness from the smallest blessings
• The unity of the Christian community, particularly when under persecution
• The hunger of millions to hear the Gospel