November 16, 2008

May I introduce you to some friends? This is a little group of us who gathered Saturday evening in London to have dinner together. I'm a little jetlagged right now so I'll be honest in telling you that I have no real eloquence flowing at the moment. It wouldn't matter because I'm speechless either way. Craig, Helena and the fam drove over two hours to get there. Names from the forums took on faces and smiles and hearts.

Are you getting this? We are all over the world! This iCommunity that we have is everywhere. Let's go ahead and pat ourselves on the back for a sec. When we started everyone said there is no such thing as authentic virtual community. Some even said that was a dangerous concept. As for my part I wasn't trying to make anything happen that wasn't just occuring organically all by itself. Three years later and I'm positive virtual community exists, is healthy and beneficial.

Look at these faces. They are your brothers and sisters. Look at these faces closely. Do you know why they are here on this page? Do you know why this page exists? The Word of God. It's alive and powerfully relevant. It draws people together who have never met. Throughout it's history it's never been afraid to smash stereotypes and challenge the status quo. This is what it does every day among us. I don't have a lot more to say this week. The saying tells us that, "A picture paints a thousand words," These are much better words than I can create. Everyone here has an intersecting life in this community because the Bible is spoken every day and allowed to do what it does. What it does is supernatural and beyond our intellect alone. Who would have ever thought of something like this? Not me. But where else would Jesus show up in this day and age other than what has quickly become the new mission field of cyberscpace? We're all fortunate to be here. Never take it for granted.

China and I have arrived in India. Don't even get me started. I haven't been here 12 hours and it's all coming back to me. The smell, the feel, the faces. I can't wait for it to all unfold. I can't wait to share what God is doing through the efforts of this community. I try so hard to carefully craft my words so that they don't come off like a sales pitch or tired cliche' ridden rhetoric. There are times when that becomes difficult. With that caveat let me say that what we are doing together is continually breaking new ground. DAB Hindi is about to go live in a few weeks. This would have never happened without you first of all being here and second of all believing in the gift of the spoken Word of God to the Hindi speaking world that we are giving them. They thank you in advance. These efforts will bring people into the Kingdom of God who would have never been exposed to the Scriptures any other way.

Alright friends. I realize this is a pretty hodgepodged entry. One hour of sleep and a world away is my excuse. Thank you for your prayers. I love you very much.

Onward Comrades,
Brian


Brian Hardin, 11/16/2008