Caution: God Working

By Lee B. Mulder

If you've ever wondered if God is at work in the world, if God answers prayers, if there is value in going out into the world with a missions team, come with me on a journey through this book. The author came to understand of faith late in life, as he says, he lived the first 47 years of his life in the dark. But it was stepping out with a team of people to help the victims of flood that opened his eyes. He became a missions mobilizer and, for the next 15 years, worked with people throughout the world to be God's hands and heart. Some of these stories are his own. Some are from people he worked with or met in the field. All these stories are inspiring works of art, reflecting the results of people stepping out to do the work of God. But, he warns, if you are inspired to go, by all means do so but know that inspiration is God is working in your life. Definitely go but you will be forever changed when you return.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee B. Mulder
• Release date: Apr 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310267703

Lee B. Mulder

There are two things that drive this author. He needs to be in motion - traveling, moving, progressing. And he needs to feel productive. That last bit is the motivation for his wide variety of writing. Lee B. Mulder graduated with a Journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison at a time when the school was the epicenter for anti-Vietnam war protests. Reporting there led to a short newspaper career, then as a magazine staffer, then as a promotion writer, ad agency and public relations writer. Along the way he wrote columns for newspapers, stories for small magazines and novels. His first book "Toddler Tales: An Older Dad Survives the Raising of Small Children in Modern America" was published in 2006. A non-fiction book "They Call Me Mzee: One Man's Safari into Brightest Africa" was published in 2011 along with his novel, "The Missionary." As a ePub author, Mulder will release in 2014 a volume of poetry, several short stories with collections and maybe a novel. Raised in Chicago, Mulder now lives near a strong wifi connection. 2014 will be a breakthrough year for this author as he finally gets on Twitter. He loves to hear from his fans: email is [e-mail]

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Caution: God Working

Lee B. Mulder

Smashwords Edition, copyright 2014

Copyright 2014 Lee B. Mulder

OSC Publishing, Inc.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

CONTENTS

Introduction

The Portraitist

Gunfire in Chicago

Missionary? Not Me!

Breakfast Prayer

Nuts and Boltz in Bettendorf

The Last Passenger on Flight 1163

Teacher, Come to Our Village

I Want To Give Things to the Children

The God-Sized Goal

The Pump

Sunday at Anchor

Meeting Sohail

Lessons in Chinese

The Machine

Angels of The Flood

Under the Gum Tree

Pablito’s Treasure

Visions in Kuwait

A Steeple for Macaichu

The Coffee Man of Ollataytambo

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

Anyone who has experienced God at work is forever changed.

There are the obvious traces of His work: the beautiful sunset, the newborn baby, the snow-capped mountains, the look on your dog’s face when you walk in the door.

But God works on an infinite number of levels in an infinite number of lives. And those who venture out intending to follow Jesus’ commands to love our neighbor, to take care of widows and orphans, to be God’s hands in the world… see God working in personal, intimate ways. It is obvious. It is clear. There is no wondering. God is at work here.

I spent the first 47 years of my life in the dark.

I went to church with my mom as a youngster and went to Young Life meetings as a teen, but I did not place God at the center of my life and I most certainly didn’t need a Savior. This set a pattern as I was married, worked through jobs, started a business, became divorced and remarried, had children and houses and money in the bank. By all measures of modern American society, I was successful. Yet, inside, I was empty. It was very much like living inside a large, dark cave, alive but surrounded by only the unknown, the intangible, and whatever might be lurking out there, with no sign that there was a path to safety or a door to a better place. Fear lives in such places as does depression, anxiety and self-doubt.

In the early 1990s, my wife and I began attending a Presbyterian church. And so it was, when the Mississippi River flooded in 1993, wiping out entire towns in four states and a call went out for volunteer workers. A man I barely knew turned to me and said, Let’s go. Thus, four of us from our little church answered the call and traveled to Bettendorf, Iowa to work in the Salvation Army warehouse for a day. Donated materials – clothing, food, building supplies, water – were streaming into the facility every day. Volunteers were needed to sort through it all, to load and unload trucks. It was a long day. A good day. I felt useful for the first time in years.

Then, responding to a call from Presbyterians in Niota, IL, our church adopted one displaced family and pledged to rebuild their home. In Angels of the Flood you’ll read about the moment of epiphany I had on that project. I believe rays of light began to penetrate my soul after that experience. I went to the Bible to look up references to light, and found, of course, Jesus’ words I am the light and the way, but also those of Isaiah 9:2, The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

Not long after returning home, one of my team mates from Niota called to suggest I should join the missions committee of the church. Always reluctant to join anything, I said no, but then, for some reason, called to change my mind. After a year on the committee, I became chairman and, with a team of dedicated people, began a campaign in the church to get people out the pews and into the world. My personal experience – using the church as a home base and going out to help people in need – had been so powerful, the phrase love thy neighbor took on new meaning. Mobilizing people, leveraging the talent and energy in the pews, stepping out to assist others without hesitation… my committee members and I encouraged people to go into the local community, to venture to the Indian reservations, fly off to other countries – wherever their hearts led them. Ten years later, long after my time on the committee was over, the church that sent few every year sent hundreds each year to work eagerly and with joy. The going became infectious.

Looking back on my life it is clear God took my willing heart and molded it for His purposes. It didn’t take doctrine or diocese or denomination. It took one man inviting another man who was willing to work with other people to simply make life better for someone in need. The more I looked around, the more I found others who had been driven in the same direction.

These stories were written just as they were told to me by the people who lived them or as I experienced them myself. Day after day, I continue to be amazed at what God does with people who are willing to take that first step out of their comfort zone in His name. Individually, none of us may be able to solve the big problems in life, but we can help alleviate the problems someone is experiencing in their life. And I have no doubt that, in God’s time, with continued fervent prayer and people willing to put their hands and minds into His service, virtually all of the problems of the world – AIDS, war, climate change, power-hungry politicians will be resolved according to His plan.

You are about to begin a journey into the mission field so I must offer this caution: if you are driven to read this book, God is at work in your life. Those who step out at His call never return quite the same. Believe me, I know.

THE PORTRAITIST

Well off the main road in Columbia, somewhere south of the Panama border in a tiny jungle town called Esperanza, a lanky, middle-aged American woman sits on a blanket, leaning against her backpack, sketching portraits of the local people who sit patiently, waiting for her to finish. As she draws, she converses with her subject in quiet, lilting, near-native Spanish. You have such beautiful eyes. Did you get them from your mother? she says. Do you always wear your hair that way? How many children do you have? Were you born in this town? The people often laugh self-consciously when she asks such questions; it is almost too intimate, but they are secretly flattered that someone would care to notice and they feel free to ask the visitor equally personal questions.

The local people are fascinated with her drawings. How, they wonder, can a person cause a face to emerge from a blank piece of paper with only a pencil? And it is a face they recognize. Everybody in town wants one. She promises to send them copies.

She has come to this town as part of a team from Justicia y Paz, a missions organization concerned with human rights, simply to be helpful. The sending organization is anxious to minister people in the Humanitarian Zone, which is a legal area where paramilitary activity is forbidden. This American teaches English in the school, works with the children, many of whom are war orphans, and leads Bible studies at local church services. It has been a long time since she was in the mission field outside of the United States. As a child of missionary parents, she grew up in the Latin American culture of Bolivia. She went to the U.S. for college, earned her degree and worked for Christian organizations for many of years, but all the while, secretly yearned to be back with what she called her people. As a child, she had plenty of time on her hands and so she learned to draw, often wondering if it were possible to be a drawing missionary. Part of her motivation to join this trip to Colombia was to find the answer to that question.

Why do you leave the safety and comfort of the United States to come here, her subject, a teenager named Octavio, asks.

Because I wanted to meet you, she replies, smiling coyly. Really, I wanted to see if my friends and I could be of help to you… and also, she hesitated, as if it were a secret, I wanted to practice my drawing.

But aren’t you afraid of the soldiers?

We hear there are soldiers around, but I haven’t seen any, have you?

No, but I know people who have been killed just because they wouldn’t join the rebel army, the young man says.

I am not afraid. Would you like to know why? The young man, who clearly has been living with this fear, nods. Because I believe Jesus is with me all the time. Maybe he asked me to come here to meet you. He will protect me. She sketches broad strokes now, curving the hair around the back of the head. "If you ask Him, I’ll bet He will protect you too.

You know, ‘Tavio, I often think that drawing people is like watching them grow strong in their faith. We start out as blank, empty people and then, as we come to know Jesus, we read God’s word, and we put faith into practice by loving our neighbors, our face becomes clearer to God. He loves watching us evolve. In time, as we work through the trials and the painful parts of our lives, that face takes on character with lines and crinkles around the eyes and maybe saggy chins and droopy lips. But if that emerging person has lived a life of faith, there is also a beautiful smile that makes the face come alive. There, she says, turning the tablet around. What do you think of that?

The young man cannot believe