Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter Unpackaged

Today is Easter Monday! The Lord is alive ... he HAS risen! No more morbid visits to tombs of religious leaders. No more queueing in long queues to see the body of a famous leader in a white coffin. No need for expensive holy pilgrimages to far away places where a 'god' lived or died! Jesus Christ has CONQUERED death, DEFEATED the grave and has the KEYS of life. Wow! This is the most incredible news!

What are my thoughts this Easter? No, not the amazing chocolate eggs that you get in UK (save some for us folks ... pick them up next week! Coming to think about it, my two kids have never seen a huge chocolate egg!) Hint Hint! Not Easter Bunnies or painting and rolling eggs down a hill. I actually have had a little bit of time to reflect a little on Easter. Here are a few thoughts:

THE TRAGEDY OF A DYING SON
To be honest, I don't really fully appreciate or understand this. I love my own two kids and I would do anything for them. I want to be there for them always. I want to provide for them and never reject them in any way. This is my desire and my promise. I cannot comprehend the phrase in Isaiah 53:10, "But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief." (NLT)

But for Jesus ... at the point of His life when He needed His father the most - when suffering indescribable agony of spirit, horrific pain in his body and battles of his mind - His father turned his back on him. His father chose to ignore and refused to help. His father know that He must suffer the agony of seeing His son suffer for a moment in order to save mankind forever. The only way was a way of rejection. This was a time of terrible pain for both father and son. Unbelievable. The eternal destiny of you, me and the whole of mankind could be lost or found in those few hours.

A few weeks ago I watched a father watch his 6 year old son die. I watched a father hold and kiss his unconscious son as he fought for his life. And I watched the agony of the father as he said goodbye. Through those terrible situation Gio's dad has found the real father! The pain of the cross meant that 2000 years later Gio's dad can still find true reconciliation with the father. Gio's dad said to me, "I am now going to live for the Lord. I am going to serve Him always. If ever give up, the life and death of my son is wasted. For I know the death of Gio has drawn me to the Lord." Isaiah also says about the Lord, "When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied."

THE DESPERATION OF A DYING MAN
The thief on the cross looked at Jesus and cried out in desperation, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." We don't know his name, only his crime; a thief. He had been caught stealing something, somewhere from someone. And his punishment - incredible to us 2000 later - was to die a horrific death on a cross. He had endured the mocking, spitting and beatings. He had blood flowing everywhere and pain in every part of his body. He was finding it hard to believe as his lungs filled up, preparing for his last few breaths. For sure, he was fighting for his life and was in the last dark moments of probably a tragic life. He was not famous; would not be remembered for anything he had done; he was an embarrassment to his family and a mere statistic to the Romans; he was a disgrace and laughing stock to the Jews and a failure in the eyes of everyone .. bar none.

Bar one, actually. There was one who loved him and gave him hope. And there He was ... dying next to him. When the thief looked over at Jesus, his spirit realised, "This man IS the Son of the Living God. He IS my only hope." And in true desperation and with every fabric of faith, he cried out his dying request, "Remember me..."

Remember: Jesus was also in absolute torment of soul, body of and spirit. YET, he looked at the condition and faith of this man and chose to forgive him! He chose to remember him. He saw past the sin and saw a sinner who needed a Saviour. He chose to hear the man's cry and respond with the most beautiful words this man had ever heard, "I tell you the truth ... today, you will be with me in paradise." Now, like Simeon, this unnamed robber could face death with hope and confidence. For he had seen the King. He had experienced the love of the Son of God. His sins, though many and very public, were forgiven ...

...and his last painful inhaling breaths on earth were followed immediately by his first wonderful exhaling breaths on heaven! No more pain, no more sickness, no more sin, no more "I'm sorry", no more darkness, no more mistakes, no more stealing, no more tears. Because he cried out in faith the rewards and blessings of heaven were his.

And, no matter who we are, where we have been and what we have done ... we also can look to the Lord and find this hope! He still forgives broken lives.

THE HOPE OF A DYING WORLD
Hope. What a word. Everyone needs hope. You can take away dignity and possessions form a man and he will still have the will to survive and live. But if you take away hope there is absolutely nothing to live for. Without hope our minds warp, our body withers and our spirit begins to break. But if a man has hope he can endure great pain, suffering and times of testing. It's all about hope.

And the great thing about Easter is that now there is hope for the world. Yup, the whole world. Hope for today, tomorrow and eternity. Hope for our children. Hope for our lives. Hope for heaven. Hope that, no whatever pain we go through, there is always a brighter tomorrow.

And my ministry, as well as yours. is to simply share hope. Not hope in a product, a system, a person an idea, ideal or theory; hope in a person who has conquered everything that we fear - sickness, sin, fear of dying and death itself! Our hope is in the one who CANNOT be defeated and CANNOT be overthrown .. all because of a loving father, an obedient son and a defeated enemy.

This is Easter. We have no excuse if we do not live lives full of hope and purpose. Because now the way for God-filled-joy-filled-purpose-filled lives has been opened up because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

Forget yesterday. Examine your heart and life today. Make changes and plan for a better tomorrow. It's yours ... because of Easter!



Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Plans & Dreams

Hi Folks, I'm back again! Here in the Philippines we are in Pacquio fever ... the one and only Manny Pacquio has done it again! This fantastic little Filipino boxer really is the pride of the nation. On Sunday he beat Marquez and truly is one of the best boxers in the world! Well done wee man!

We had a great week last week. On Friday we had the Graduation at KMGLC ... our Lydia graduated! She had cap, gown .. the lot! I will do a blog about this later this week. Wee Josiah sang his heart out and has now done one years nursery. We are so proud of them. On Saturday Matthew & Claire had a Birthday/Dedication for their youngest daughter Ariella. What a special time we had together. Sefton family is a wonderful family!

Apart from that, life goes on here at Sefton Village. Mary and Claire are working like Trojans (whatever that means!) getting the new school plans done. The enrollment for the Kinder and Elementary schools are finished already! Parents queued for hours just to get their kids into our school. May the Lord reward their commitment to their children! Here in the Philippines, the most wonderful gift parents can ever give their child is a good education.


Still no sign if my laptop. I emailed every Apple Mac reseller today with details of my stolen prized possession, but I feel I will never see it again! Never mind ...


This year is going to be a busy old year for us Ritchie's. What has happened to January, February and half of March? Seriously, no jokes. Where did it go? Seems like a few days ago we were watching the New Years Eve fire works! But there's been a lot of water under the bridge in these last few months.

Really really enjoyed John Andrews and the Mattersey bunch being here. What a fantastic missions team. I know by the emails they have sent that they have been deeply impacted by their time in the Philippines. They have made a Group Page in Facebook called 'Philippines 2008 - The Best Missions Trip Ever!' Certainly was up there!


So now we are waiting for a team from Aberdeen AoG to arrive. There are 19 of them - including 4 children - and they are a mixture of builders, business men, teachers, doctors, nurses, students, housewives .. you name it! We have tried to make a programme that will stretch them and show the many new experiences and challenges. Pray for them - and us - as we believe God for a great time of blessing. The first group arrive on Saturday night with the rest arriving next Monday.

When they go home on the 3rd April ... so do we! We will be going back to Scotland to visit our families and have a rest. One of the main reasons why we come home every 1.5 years is so Mary's mum & dad can see & spend time with Lydia and Josiah (and us!). I think that 3 years not seeing your grandkids is a bit too hard for any loving granny & granda! We really miss our families but last year I was so blessed when a heap of my folks ventured out to Santiago!

We come back in May 6th and it is all go from then to get the new school ready. Initially we will have to meet in the Fire Centre or Bible School, but hopefully by October we will be able to use the new school. We have started the school in faith, believing that the Lord will touch the hearts of His people to give to this amazing project. We start in faith ... that the Lord is with us and He will finish His work.

In July I will attend the Cornerstone Pastors Summit in Singapore and in September 8-12 I will take a team of our Bible School teachers to the tri-annual APTA Conference (Asian Pacific Theological Association). From there I will fly to UK for a 3.5 week visit. I am planning to take some Filipino pastors with me - Marlou, Winston, James A and maybe August. It would be a great opportunity for me to bring these great young guys with me because Mary will stay in the Philippines with the kids. Pray that they will get their UK visas and that I can find two more sponsors for James & Winston.

The main reason for coming over to UK in September is that John Andrews has asked me to speak at their missions conference in Rotherham from Oct 2-5. When he was over I did ask him again if he was sure it was this Mark Ritchie that he wanted to speak and not one of the other two ... but he assured me it was me! It is a great honour to be asked and I know that it is going to be amazing! This week God has already been showing me some stuff to share. Look out for details and if you can get there ... I'll see you there!

My mum is going to come to the Philippines to help Mary for the 3.5 weeks I am away from home. My mum is amazing. She is absolutely fantastic. She has just retired ... but she is pushing the boat out so much to help us. Than you mum. you are our hero! My dad will come back with me and we will have a few weeks here in the Philippines all together.


In November we are all going as a family to the AoG World Ministries Action Asia Conference. It is a conference/retreat for all Missionaries in S-E Asia. We have only been to one, but it was great! So brill to catch up with everyone and meet new friends.
Tough life.

In between all this we will be having missions teams, starting a new school, staring a new Bible School year, planting two churches, planning a 10th Anniversary conference for the Bible School etc etc. Life is never dull!


So, before we know it we will be in 2009!


But hey, but let 2008 be YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!



Thursday, March 13, 2008

Back Again!


Weyeh ... back again! Miss me? Go on, be honest. I know you have been checkin' out every few days to see if there was anything new. Well, to be honest the old Internet has been off for ages. And we have been so busy these last few weeks that I have not been able to phone the phone company every day!

So many things have happened since I blogged way back in Feb 24th! We had the funeral of wee Gio ... such a sad occasion. I had to go to Manila but Mary and Anne made it to the funeral. They said that it was hear breaking to see the wee coffin being carried to the cemetery.

On Sunday 1st Winston & I went down to Manila to pick up a team of 12 people from the AoG Bible School at Mattersey. The team was headed by an amazing guy called Dr. John Andrews who comes from Northern Ireland. He was at Mattersey just before me (way back in teh 80's!) and he pastored a church at the great old age of 19! He is now the Senior Pastor of Rotherham New Life and we know John and his family very well now. He is a fantastic & inspirational speaker and is now Director of Training at Mattersey.

One of the things John has brought to Mattersey is that every student has to do an overseas missions trip every year! Wow! We felt blessed if we went to Scunthorpe for the weekend. How things have changed .... not jealous or anything ... ahem! Anyway, we were so chuffed when John chose to come here! he has been here twice before in 1994 & 1996 and so it was good fro him to see what the Lord has been doing at Sefton with his own eyes.

The team arrived and were ruched from the airport straight up to Santiago. They arrived at 7:30am and took the Cornerstone United service at 9am! In at the deep end! It was all go from there - Feeding Programmes, up river to the villages, preaching at SBTC, cultural challenges, hospital ministry, student ministry, playing with kids in orphanage, taking classes at school, preaching to the parents, jail ministry, Powerhouse Kids ministry, Youth services, preaching in our Cornerstone churches etc. etc. Phew, I am tired just typing out that stuff!


One of the things we did was run a Leadership Conference for 2nights-1 day. John Andrews was the speaker and he was brilliant. The theme was "Servanthood - the Pathway to Greatness." Spot on! I believe so many were touched and challenged by the Lord at our conference.

We took them to Banaue on Sunday afternoon and drove down to Manila on Monday. By the time you read this they should be touching down in the UK. If any of the Mattersey team are reading this ... could a couple of you write a wee 'Guest Blog' so you can share your experiences with us all! Thanks in advance.

The devil loves it when God is moving. He is delighted when people's lives are transformed. He will do anything to encourage and inspire us .... doesn't he? Em, no. I felt last Monday that there was a big discouragement coming and that God was saying, "Don't focus on it, focus on what I am doing." Sure enough, whilst wonderful things were going on during the week, someone walked into my home and stole my Apple Mac laptop. Worst thing was hat I had just bought a 100 pounds new battery for it and had opened the box to check the battery was OK. So I was left with a battery I didn't need and could not return and a laptop I no longer possessed! I decided not to dwell on it ... but now that I have a bit more time I have to say I am a teeny weeny bit 'scunnered' (doric for 'fed-up!)

Never mind, I'm sure the Apostle Paul lost a few laptops on his missionary journeys! And after speaking to Gio's dad again yesterday I realise once again that everything can be replaced in life except life.

Don't focus on temporal things that can be destroyed - or stolen - at any moment. Set your heart on building for eternity and these temporary 'scunners' will mean nothing.


Bless ya ... hope to blog tomorrow. Promise!