Category Archives: Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual Warfare, Suffering

House Fire

On Monday morning, January 20, I woke up early as usual. Around 5:30am I went from the little house (an ADU in the backyard), to the living room in the main house to spend time reading my Bible. We were supposed to have returned to home in Belize, where we are missionaries, the Wednesday before, but had Influenza A and an airport fiasco that prevented us from leaving–which you can read about here. So we decided to extend our home ministry assignment in southern California until we could reschedule our trip home to Belize.

A little after 7am, I returned to the little house so that Ray and I could pray together. Not long after, our twenty-three year old daughter ran in our room saying there was a fire in the main house. We ran in and saw smoke billowing down the stove vent from the attic. The kids were already out and AnnaGrace was putting the harness and leash on my sister’s dog. My parents, who are in the back part of the house, gathered their medicines and car keys. Our kids, who had been sleeping in the main house right under where the fire began, were outside barefoot and without sweaters with weather in the 40s fahrenheit. So I went in our little house, which was completely unaffected, to get my socks, shoes and sweaters to share. By the time I got outside, the firefighters were already on the property and setting up. They later said they arrived just 4 minutes after Ray made the 911 call.

It was sad and surreal to see flames jumping out of the attic of the house my parents have owned since 1979. Several neighbors came out to help–one entered the smoky house to make sure everyone was out. He later said there was already smoke up to his neck. Others brought chairs for my parents to sit in, blankets against the cold, snacks for our kids, and warm coffee and tea. It didn’t take long before the fire was out and we were giving statements to the fire chief, debriefing with the Red Cross, figuring out where to stay for the night, and cleaning up the huge collection of our belongings that the firemen rescued from the house.

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Prayer, Spiritual Warfare

Prayer: the Secret Weapon in Church Planting

Everyone has an opinion about why any given church may not be growing. You may hear that they need to get a worship band that plays modern choruses. Or you may hear that they need a pastor that can preach dynamic sermons. But what about prayer? What if the reality is that the church is in decline because of the faithless, prayerless hearts of the people?


I remember when I was in high school the church I grew up in began meeting for daily early morning prayer meetings. They didn’t always have high attendance but there was always a faithful few. It continued a few years later when I was church secretary and I could attend very conveniently before beginning work. That church even all these years later is a growing, thriving church. Sadly, sometimes people look at the churches that are growing and try to copy what they do well, but without really understanding what was happening behind the scenes. It is our prayer for the Presbyterian Church in Belize is that it would be a praying church. We would love to see our prayer meetings full of people. But I believe that God will answer the regular, committed and passionate prayer even of a small group. Our churches here are in need of a revival. There is often low attendance at Sunday worship and so many of the adult children of believers are no longer in the church. A group of just 5 pastors minister among the 15 churches. Would you be willing to pray for the small country of Belize, that God would do a great work here? That He would call more pastors, and that our members would be passionate and comitted to Sunday worship? We long to see lives transformed by the Good News and know we need a supernatural work of God’s Spirit.


Missions, Settling In, Spiritual Warfare, Team

teammates

John and Karen Stodghill

Teams are important. As the old expression goes: “No man is an island.” In many arenas of life, we find that working with others is not only a necessity but is part of who we are as social beings and is healthy not only for us as individuals, but also for the greater promotion of the work that we set out to do together. From organizing social events to working together in business to ruling and governing nations – teamwork is important.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him– a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

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