FCOP depends upon our rice production to feed the 2500 orphans and widows under our care. It never floods in early June in SE Asia, Right? Ha! Except this year! We went from this (top) to this (bottom) in 3 days from May 30 to June 2. The pictures were taken in approximately the same area about two weeks apart. We have lost about 1/2 of our crop, about 330 acres, and we have now replanted again.

When do we give up? After four years of rice crop failure you’d think we’d learn, after all, Albert Einstein defined insanity as: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Well, we keep making changes, and to quote Thomas Edison: “I haven’t failed, I’ve Just found about 10,000 ways this won’t work!”

Jesus spoke a parable to His followers that men always ought to pray and never give up in Luke 18:1-8. Many people make the mistake of believing that the Judge in the parable is God, he’s not! He’s the devil. He’s unjust; he opposes a widow, does not fear God, and finally caves in under relentless pressure. It says, God avenges his elect, so how can God avenge Himself against Himself. A big problem in Christendom is blaming God for the devil’s work! His question for us is: “When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on earth?” Giving up too early has had momentous affects on history. Here’s an example:

One hundred-fifty-three-years ago, on July 2, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg, in the American Civil War, entered its second day. The Southern General Robert E. Lee attacked the Northern forces. They were fresh off a victory on the first day of the battle, and due to a Northern Army general’s blunder the Northern flank was exposed. Had the Sothern forces arrived two hours earlier they would have captured the high ground and likely have won the battle. But, a Northern seminary professor, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, took up a position on Little Round Top. After an hour of intense fighting, Chamberlain’s 300-plus men had exhausted their 15,000 rounds of ammunition. He ordered a countercharge. The surprised Southern Army fell back mistakenly convinced they were outnumbered, and probably lost the battle, which raged for two more days with a total of about 50,000 casualties.