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Time to stop and smell the…

June 20, 2016 by Joel Potter

Passion Fruit Flower??

Passion Fruit fruit flower, Image CC - Anders Sandberg

Our close friends who are in the early stages of discipling a young church in the Asia Pacific region, amongst the Kora people group, recently told me what’s become my favorite story from “the field.” In our culture, we have many words to describe the world around us and the intricate beauty God created in the natural world…but it’s not like that everywhere. Read my friend, Craig’s words to find out what happens when an adult see’s this beauty for the first time in his life, because of new life in Christ:

“So to start with a little background, the Kora people have been separated from God for a really long time. When we came in here 6 years ago, we realized that the Kora did not really see or appreciate the beauty that was all around them. We live in a beautiful mountainous area with waterfalls springing out of the mountains all around us and they just didn’t see it. In fact the Kora don’t have words in their language like gorgeous, pretty, beautiful, lovely, stunning or anything like that. When they see something they like, they just say it is good. They also don’t have names for a lot of the colors. They have names for blue, red, green, and such, but not much else. I still remember many times when we would go on a walk and would see flowers and pick them and take them home. The Kora people would ask if we were going to eat the flower, or sell it or something. When we told them no, they would say, “Well why in the world are you taking it home?” We would then say that we thought it was good. (Remember they don’t have a word to say it is pretty) They would laugh at us and make fun of us since they could not understand what we were talking about. How could it be good if you can’t eat it or sell it!

Well the other day, something happened that I don’t believe has ever happened before. I was studying with P and T when T had to go outside for a bit. He came back in and he was holding onto a flower of a passion fruit plant. He was looking at it with amazement and saying, “Guys, look at this. Look at how amazing this is! (They do have a word for that!) Look at it! I have never seen how amazing this is! Yahweh made this so good! Yahweh is amazing at his creating! Look, it’s petals are green on the outside, but white on the inside! Then from there it has these little finger like things that are kind of reddish! Then down in the middle it is white and that little ball in there has a sprout on it that bursts out into these other 5 petals that are yellow (Had to use the national language to say yellow!) Then on top of that there is another little green ball that has a little white propeller like an airplane on it! This is amazing! Yahweh created this! He is amazing!” Man guys, I know this may not sound like much to you, but my heart was just praising God as this man who had never seen or appreciated beauty before, was describing the intricate details about this flower the best he could. As he kept going on about how God was so amazing for creating this, I told him he should smell it. He smelled it and cursed (Some habits die hard!) and said, “Wow! It smells amazing! Paulus, smell this!” Then they both sat there smelling it, talking about how beautiful it was and praising God for it! I am pretty sure this is the first time that a conversation like this has ever taken place in Kora. Maybe not, but I have never seen anything like this until now. God has opened their eyes and they are seeing the wonders of his creation! Thanks for praying for these guys and rejoicing for them as well! Keep praying for them as God continues to open their eyes and reveal himself and his wonders to them!”

There you have it! I love this story so much because it shows us how thoroughly changed a heart can become when it’s in a right relationship with God and because it shows us how good God is to us, just through Creation, let alone the myriad other ways He demonstrates that love.

Filed Under: Ministry Tagged With: Ethnos360, New Tribes Mission

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The Potters…

are missionaries helping every people group around the world have the chance to understand the gospel and have access to a thriving church. We are serving with the International Ministries Office as it assists Ethnos360 and its Global Partners.

joeldpotter

Late last week, we shared a "Can we be candid..." Late last week, we shared a "Can we be candid..." update, this time about a BIG ministry change. Many of you read that and wrote your sweet prayers back to us. For some of you, email is not your thing and so we don't want you to miss out. So, there's a link to the full post on our blog in my profile link or you can read the brief overview of update if you just want the basics.

Shortly after we returned from our trip to Missouri in June we had some realizations that led us to conclude, with the counsel of others, that our time serving with the Equip Asia team was coming to an end. The Lord had already been putting desires on my (Joel’s) heart to pursue a role that would allow me to serve our wider global missions community in the area of media and communications and we knew that with Kate starting to hybrid homeschool, she was going to need much more support as a homeschooled student. We also realized that Bethany needed to pursue some side-jobs and employment to supplement our very tight financial state.

So, for now, I’ve had my new ministry role approved and am making strides at getting an audio and video studio setup here in Sanford as well as beginning to make many plans for upcoming projects both here and abroad. I’ll be able to use both the experience I gained working with the Communications team for 8 years as well as the newfound skills in videography and media production to serve many different teams in what we call the “Global Partners” family (all related to Ethnos360).

Bethany is also off to the races, so to speak, helping to homeschool Owen and Kate, working several small jobs on the side, all while keeping our incredibly busy household sane and well organized. It’s a different scene for sure after the last three years, but there are some blessings that come from it.

Again, there’s more detail at the post you can get to in my profile link. 
______
#thepottermission @ethnos360
After learning of this book, I had to read it. Not After learning of this book, I had to read it. Not reading a lot of books, I used every renewal cycle that the local library allowed (it is due tomorrow) to finish this one and boy am I glad I finished it. 

@andrewpetersonmusic wrote a book about trees (and SO much more) and moved me at a time when I needed moving and reminding of how the God who created me and knows me intimately, is carefully tending the garden of my own being. 

There were moments when I gasped as I read his words and his realizations which I found paralleled some of my own. 

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I commend this book highly and again, pass my thanks to Andrew Peterson for it. 
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#andrewpeterson #thegodofthegarden
#plantmoretrees 
@bhpub 
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The tree in this photo is the pride and joy of our backyard, a Chinese or lacebark Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)and was planted by us not long after we moved to this house and provides lush shade to the eastern side of our backyard and filters the early morning sunrise light beautifully!
After running for a long time, like since 2002, I After running for a long time, like since 2002, I finally found a partner to train with, someone who although they live states away, knows the value of partnership and how to push another person to do better. I’m pretty excited about what’s to come as he and I work towards a goal that will be a lifetime highlight when we achieve it. Until then, here’s some highlight runs of the last month. 
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#runwithstrava #floridarunner @strava @altrarunning
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