This is the song that we could not get out of our heads the whole time that we were in the Cayman Islands and we will definitely never forget it! We learned this song from the Caymanian people and seeing how they sing it with so much joy, made it irresistible to us.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-qTsP2tV5U&feature=youtu.be 400x300]
"[CHORUS]
Bigger than all of my problems,
Bigger than all my fears.
God is bigger than any mountain
That I can or cannot see.
Bigger than all my questions,
Bigger than anything.
God is bigger than any mountain
That I can or cannot see.
[VERSE 1]
Bigger than all the shadows that fall across my path
God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see
Bigger than my confusion, Bigger than anything
God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.
[VERSE 2]
Bigger than all the giants, fear and unbelief
God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see
Bigger than all my hang-ups, Bigger than anything
God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see."
Miss Erna Jane Ebanks is the lady who's house we stayed in. She let us rent the house for $400 or R4000 for two weeks. This was a huge bargain considering how much other accomdation in Cayman Costs, so we were very thankful. In the end when we wanted to pay Miss Erna, she refused to accept the money, because she said that we need it more than she does and that she trusts that we will use it wisely on our journey ahead. She had become like a mother to us. We are staying in contact with her and we have to let her know where we are when and if we arrived safely everywhere, because she is praying for us on the rest of our journey.
She is so sweet and she is the perfect example of what a person who serves the Lord wholeheartedly looks like. She would always come to the house after work and just have fellowship with us. She shared her wisdom on so what she has learned and she blessed us with so much food. She connected us with her church and with so many people in the church who blessed us even more. She also organized all the ministry points for us and even fun things like giving us a tour around the whole Island in one day. It was definitely God who led us to Miss Erna.
One of the places that we went to while in Cayman was Hell. No not real hell, but a place called hell. We walked there on a road called hell and as we were saying we are on our way to hell, we spoke about how thankful we are that we know that we are not really on our way to the real hell. It is only by grace that we know the narrow way that leads to the narrow gate through which only few will enter.
Matthew 7:13-14 – "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the roas that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Many people realize that there is a narrow gate, but few seem to realize that there is a narrow WAY that leads to that narrow gate. So many people are on the broad way that leads to hell, because they don't compare the narrow way to God's standards but to their own. If you follow God on your own terms you are not waling on the narrow way! The only narrow way is when you follow God on His terms. If you are not sure about what God's terms are, don't look at the person next to you and how they live their life, just because that person claims to be a Christian. Go to the word of God and ask God to reveal His terms to you. Stop justifying yourself. Stop avoiding the truth and rather make sure that you truly know the Way, the Truth and the Life, because you cannot get to the Father without Jesus. So make sure that you are not on your way to hell, just because you are to busy to search for truth.
God will change your life completely and you will love it! God will come like a Hurricane and destroy all the things that is not from God and all that will remain is what He had planned for you all along. Following God on His terms is great! His plans for us are so much better than the simple lives that we plan for ourselves. So have you really bee changed by the Hurricane of God's love and grace? Has anything changed since you accepted the Hurricane, through faith, to come into your life? Remember nothing that is hit by a Hurricane remains unchanged and so you cannot remain unchanged after the fullness of God, His Son Jesus and His Holy Spirit has filled your life.
Speaking about hurricanes... The Cayman Islands are at high risk for hurricanes and when a hurricane hits, it causes a lot of damage. The reason for this is because the whole island is at sea level and everything is close to the water because the Island is so small.
In 2004 Hurricane Ivan hit the Cayman Islands and destroyed almost everything on the Island. We helped Miss Fadey, a lady who's house was badly damaged during the hurricane, to clear some of the things out of her house and to break out some damaged cupboards, so that she can start restoring her house after 8 years. To us it was no trouble at all, but she appreciated it so much that she blessed us by taking us to a restaurant for lunch. Can you imagine knowing that, at any moment a natural disaster can come and destroy all the earthly possessions that you own? Kind of makes this following verse more of a reality:
Matthew 6:19-21 - "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
We always sing the song: "You give and take away... my heart will choose to say: Lord blessed be Your Name", but do we really mean it? The people in the Cayman Islands definitely proved that they mean it.
nWe had so many great ministry opportunities, like attending the assembly of a High School and a Primary School, where we could do drama skits for the kids and preach to them.
We also had the great opportunity of presenting an entire Easter Sunday evening program. The man who organized it (Mr. Darwin), put a lot of effort into advertising the night. He took a photo of us and printed out fliers to promote it, and He organized for us to go and talk on the radio for a whole hour. That was really cool! Afterwards we met complete strangers and they said that they listened to us on the radio.
For that evening program we wanted to make the whole message about everything that we understand about the Gospel. We all sat down as a team and first spoke about the fullness of the Gospel and how we all understand it. Then we started planning how we would portray that in the most effective and impactful way. We worked out a new drama and a dance and preached in between and then we wrapped our whole message up with a rap on the end. It was really cool and we enjoyed it a lot.
One of the main things that we explained about the Gospel is how your life should look after you have accepted Christ. We explained it by drawing the picture of a tree and saying that the only way to bear good fruit is by having the foundational roots of the tree in Christ. People can only see what goes on above the tree and it is possible to show fruit without having the right rooting system (meaning that you are doing good deeds out of the flesh and thus practicing law), but if anyone would taste that fruit, they would find that it is not as nutritious and juicy as it should be. If you have the right rooting system (meaning living in and through Christ), then bearing fruit comes naturally and that fruit is juicy and nutritious to other people.
Overall we had an amazing time in the Cayman Islands and we all learned a lot of valuable lessons. Most importantly, we learned that the Caymanian people sets a wonderful example of how hospitable the Church of God (meaning us as Christians) should be and they really prove that when you trust in the Lord, you will be like a tree planted by the water...
nJeremiah 17:7-8 – "But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
Support
Thank you to everyone who has been supporting us through prayer. The power of prayer is really so much stronger than we think. If we really understood how powerful prayer is, then we would pray without ceasing. Please don't stop praying for us! Pray for our protection against sickness or disease and against any accidents or unfortunate events. Pray for strength and energy so that we will be able to serve God wholeheartedly all the time!
We also need you to please pray for our finances, so that God will provide the money that we need for our journey ahead.
If you would like to contribute and help us by giving some financial support, we would really appreciate it. Here are the banking account details:
Account name: GCX-One Year 9206958383
ABSA
Branch: 31 Da Gamma road, Jeffreys Bay, 6330, South Africa
Branch code: 334515
Reference: DISTANT ISLANDS
Swift Code (for international payments): ABSAZAJJ
Thank you for reading... We will soon have another update on what we are doing in Jamaica.
Love and peace to you
Distant Islands Team