I met a man; a warm and grandfatherly figure, of 62 years. His name is Cors Ephraim and his wife is named Coby. They live in Holland. He and his wife are passionately committed to following Jesus. Cors believes that the Holy Spirit is the source of creative inspiration. He credits God for his successful family practice of medicine in which he prays with and ministers to his patients. From these relationships he has planted a community church, which he and his wife pastor. In response to his patients’ needs he experienced the Holy Spirit’s direction in inventing a device to safely clean the wax from the ear canal. He calls it the “ear scratcher” but in Anglo Saxon part of the world where he is now marketing the device, he calls it the “Ear Pal.” He has already sold hundreds of thousands of these devices. He sends them out from his home. He has not yet developed contacts to market the device in the States. (I need one of these.)
Cors’ heart is to follow the Spirit in all areas of his life. He is now part of a developing network of pastors in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. My son, Vaughn, and his wife Ilona, are a founding part of this pastors’ network. Ruth and I traveled from Brussels to Ghent to the home of Arwie Koops, a Belgium pastor, who with his wife, Marleem, hosted the Sunday evening of prayer and discernment for the pastors network. Ruth and I were invited to share with this group our experiences in participating in the development of networks of pastors and churches. I emphasized the importance of covenant whereby we commit to seek one another’s welfare and wellbeing even at our own expense. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
The evening concluded with intense prayer for Karl one of Vaughn’s close friends, a 35 year old businessman/ pastor member of the network who is critically ill in an intensive care unit with an acute infectious lung disorder.
The Holy Spirit is a genius. He has an answer for every situation if we but ask Him. And He is always connecting us with our inheritance in the Body of Christ. I thank God for this divine connection with this European pastors’ network. (Actually Cors has been to the States to learn from the ministry of Alejandro Colendres who ministered with us at LifeGate, our home church, just two weeks ago. What a connector is the Holy Spirit! )
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