Archives by: Gary Hoag

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

“Humble folk often believe that walking with God is above their heads, or that they may “lose a good time” if they share all their joys with God. What tragic misunderstanding, to regard Him as a killer of happiness! A growing chorus of joyous voices round the world fairly sing that spending their hours with God is the most thrilling joy ever known, and that beside it a baseball game or a horse race is stupid.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “It is for Anybody.”

The biggest thing I learned yesterday from the indigenous people, humble folk, with whom we will do Palmful of Coffee is this. They work like ants. Remember Proverbs 6:6-11?

They don’t work loudly or draw attention to themselves. They have much to teach us because their work in picking coffee and turning it into amazing beverages for us is not easy.

I am also learning that I often care more about things like baseball games than the things of God or what humble folk can teach me. God is stretching me in Colombia.

We will roll out something big by learning from each other and focusing on the things God cares about. In so doing, we will unleash rich generosity. This is what I am learning in real time.

And humble folks who are unashamed to say they work like ants are teaching this to me.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3

“The notion that religion is dull, stupid and sleepy is abhorrent to God, for He has created infinite variety and He loves to surprise us. If you are weary of some sleepy form of devotion, probably God is as weary of it as you are. Shake out of it, and approach Him in one of the countless fresh directions. When our minds lose the edge of their zest, let us shift to another form of fellowship as we turn the dial of the radio. Every tree, every cloud, every bird, every orchestra, every child, every city, every soap bubble is alive with God to those who know his language.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Infinite Variety.”

God is doing something new in Colombia. It’s official. 14 people made a bold step yesterday to activate Palmful of Coffee Colombia. To learn more about the coffee community of Colombia we toured a coffee farm.

I shot the header photo of the Andes mountains from the top of the hill after learning the challenging task of picking coffee cherries. I will appreciate each sip of coffee more the rest of my life.

It’s work. They pick every bean by hand here. Some 2.5 million people work in the coffee farms of some 50 million people in Colombia. That’s our target audience. It’s the fresh work a team will pursue to engage in mission.

To learn more of the visions that have inspired us, click to watch the Handful of Rice and Palmful of Maize videos. Through the COMIBAM network we will activate this starting in 2025. Praise the LORD.

Is God calling you to something fresh? Is it time to get out of your comfort zone, turn the dial, and see what God might have for you? Shake off the sleepy form of devotion. Do it today.

However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love Him – 1 Corinthians 2:9

“It is obvious that this is unlike other games in many respects. One difference is that we all win. We may not win all or even half of our minutes but we do win a richer life, which is all that really matters. There are no losers excepting those who quit. Let us consider some of those prizes:

1. Doubts vanish, we are more sure of Him being with us than of anybody else. This warm, ardent friendship ripens rapidly until people see its glory shining in our eyes—and it keeps on growing richer and more radiant every month.

2. We have daily evidence that God helps our work, piling one proof upon another until we are sure of God, not from books or preachers, but from our own experience.

3. When we are playing this game our minds are pure as a mountain stream every moment.

4. We begin to understand their bliss for we share it with them.

5. “When Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere.”

6. It becomes easy to tell others about Christ because our minds are flooded with Him. “Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

7. Grudges, jealousies, hatred, and prejudices melt away. Little hells turn into little heavens. Communities have been transformed where this game was introduced. Love rises like a kindly sea and at last drowns all the demons of malice and selfishness. Then we see that the only hope for this insane world is to persuade people to “practice the presence of God.”

8. “Genius is ninety per cent concentration.” This game, like all concentration upon one objective, eventually results in flashes of new brilliant thought which astonish us, and keep us tiptoe with expectancy for the next vision which God will give us.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “The Prizes We Win.”

I have arrived safely in Medillín, Colombia, with Travis Shelton (GTP Palmful of Coffee Catalyst) a long-time friend and dear brother from Iowa, Paula Mendoza (GTP Global Administrator) and Carla Archila (GTP Spanish Translator) from Guatemala.

Medillín sits at the heart of the Coffee Triangle in the central part of Colombia. The evil one has given this nation a global reputation for corruption. We aim to write a new story linked to credibility and generosity instead.

It’s only possible by multiplying surrendered people. That’s the game here. And the prize will be a nation. If you look on a map, our travels will take us from Medillín, south to Cali, then north to Cartagena, and we finish in Bogotá.

Yesterday I told you that Palmful of Coffee was inspired by Handful of Rice and Palmful of Maize, but I did not share any statistics. Today consider that after more than a century, Handful of Rice led the entire region of Mizoram, India to Jesus.

In only three years, Palmful of Maize directly engaged 96,743 children in Malawi and indirectly touched another 886,342 children in the villages where the movement spread. That’s about one-third of the children of Malawi.

It has brought revival to the church. I mention this because as I speak this morning on Mark 6:30-44 and engage with a dozen influential Christians from the Coffee Triangle, I pray they play the Game with Minutes with me.

If we give ourselves to the Lord with the game, and teach people to give God what they have, it can transform a nation. That’s our goal here. God help our minds be “pure as a mountain stream” and give us strength to win these prizes for those around us, for nations.

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them He said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Luke 14:25-33

“The first price is pressure of our wills, gentle but constant. What game is ever won without effort and concentration?

The second price is perseverance. A low score at the outset is not the least reason for discouragement; everybody gets a low score for a long while. Each week grows better and requires less strain.

The third price is perfect surrender. We lose Christ the moment our wills rebel. If we try to keep even a remote corner of life for self or evil, and refuse to let God rule us wholly, that small worm will spoil the entire fruit. We must be utterly sincere.

The fourth price is tell others. When anybody complains that he is losing the game, we flash this question back at him: “Are you telling your friends about it?” For you cannot keep Christ unless you give Him away.

The fifth price is to be in a group. We need the stimulus of a few intimate friends who exchange their experiences with us.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Some Prices We Must Pay To Win This Game.”

Laubach links the cost of discipleship with prices to pay in the Game with Minutes. He reminds us that we cannot keep Christ unless you give Him away. Yesterday I had a low score.

I wrote about troubles and then had a day filled with them. Things did not go as I hoped or expected. Most of the time, the troubles threw off my minutes. I found myself pouting how my last day at home before a trip went.

Perhaps you can relate? Let me give an example. At the end of my day the eye doctor told me that they would leave a set of contact lenses for me outside their office door. Though they closed, they said the building would be open. It wasn’t.

I drove there for nothing, and left empty-handed and disappointed. In the car on the way home I was reminded by my Lord Jesus that he too was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” That touched me in a deep way.

Anyway, the best part about the Game with minutes is that today is a new day. So that my service in Colombia is as fruitful as possible, I want to lean into paying these five prices. On more thing about this trip.

It’s complex. Four cities: Medillín, Cartagena, Cali, and Bogotá. Activating Orden, the peer accountability group like ECFA in USA, and Palmful of Coffee to foster generosity with accountability among the coffee community, largely invisible indigenous people, to facilitate their participation in Christian mission.

Palmful of Coffee is inspired by Handful of Rice (India) and Palmful of Maize (Malawi).

It’s been about two years in the planning, since my last visit in August 2023. It starts with a vision retreat with about a dozen influential Christian workers from across the Coffee Triangle. Best part, my mate Travis Shelton will join me and help activate this vision through the generosity of his network.

More later. For now, I appreciate your prayers for safe travel and fruitful service through 30 May 2025. And pray for many good days of the Game with Minutes. Thanks. I pray that for each of you too.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“Troubles and pain come to those who practice God’s presence, as they came to Jesus, but these seem trivial as compared to their new joyous experience. If we have spent our days with Him, we find that when earthquakes, fires, famines or other catastrophes threaten us, we are not terrified any more than Paul was in time of shipwreck. “Perfect love casteth
out fear.”

This booklet on the Game with Minutes is good for people suffering from illness at home or in hospitals. Nurses remind us that the thoughts of people turn toward God when sick as at no other time. Patients who are convalescing have many idle hours when their minds reach up toward God. Playing this game produces a perfect mental state for rapid
recovery.

Those who are seeking to be aware of God constantly have found that their former horror at death has vanished. We may have a new mystic intimacy with our departed loved ones, for though unseen to us, they are with Christ and since He is with us they are with us as well.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Troubles.”

When the apostle Paul starts his second letter to the Corinthians, the year is around A.D. 57. The persecution against the Christians had heated up. By this time he been driven out of Ephesus. He could have felt discouraged.

Instead, he starts the letter with praise. God had been generous to him. God provided compassion and comfort. God wants to do the same for us, so that our generosity can bless people experiencing troubles.

Today Laubach instructs us on how to link the Game with Minutes to tough times. Brilliant. Life is full of hard times. Imagine the uncommon impact we can have when we do this.

Let me state some hypothetical examples. We might experience long lines that cause unfortunate delays in our schedule. Whilst others complain in the lines, we can play the Game with Minutes and pray for all those around us.

Or we might have a surgery coming up that will require rehab. We can complain or use that time to play the Game with Minutes and consider it not time wasted but time spent inviting God into our rehab experience.

Or we could have an unusually challenging schedule which requires extra burdens on us. Like doing more household chores or dog walks or anything. The Game with Minuts says to exchange murmuring with inviting God into those activities.

Imagine the uncommon generosity people will experience from us as a result. Let’s do this.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 2 Peter 1:5-7

“Sweethearts who have been wise enough to share their love with God have found it incomparably more wonderful. Since “God is Love” He is in deepest sympathy with every fond whisper and look. Husbands and wives, too, give rapturous testimony of homes transformed by praying silently when together. In some cases where they had begun to give each other “nerves,” they have found, after playing this game when they are alone together by day or by night, that their love grew strangely fresh, rich, beautiful, “like a new honeymoon.” God is the maker of all true marriages, and He gives His highest joy to a man and wife who share their love for each other with Him, who pray inwardly each for the other when they are together looking into one another’s eyes. Married love becomes infinitely more wonderful when Christ is the bond every minute and it grows sweeter as the years go by to the very last day. Imagine, too, what this does for the children!”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “God and Love.”

I want to start by thanking my wife, Jenni, for directing me to this book. She has helped me understanding the “game of minutes” which she plays as good as anyone.

If you are reading this and you have not read recent posts you might be wondering what the “game of minutes” is. When we fix our thoughts on Christ every minute, we invite Him into every aspect of our lives.

When we see others and pray for them, it changes our interaction with others. When we do different activities, we do them with Christ. It changes both us and the outcome of the activity. Some moments I succeed and others I fail, but I am learning.

Here Laubach invites us to bring this game into our home. Of course it should start at home and spread from there. Think about it. Giving each other love is better than giving each other nerves.

Imagine if we all had a testimony of this! What does Christ want for our marriages? I am convinced this is the kind of activity Peter had on his mind when he wrote today’s Scripture passage.

When the LORD takes pleasure in anyone’s way, He causes their enemies to make peace with them. Proverbs 16:7

“God is interested in our fun as much as we are. Many of us talk to Him during our games. Some of the famous football players long ago discovered that they played better if they prayed all during the game. Some of the famous runners pray during races. If a thing brings health and joy and friendship and a fresh mind, God is keenly interested, because He is interested in us. While on the playground, do not ask to win, but whisper: “God, get Thy will done exactly. Help us all to do our best. Give us
what is far more important than defeating our opponents — make us clean sportsmen and make us good friends.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “During Play Hours.”

When we bring God into every area of our lives, He lavishes more generosity in unexpected ways. For example, He can make our enemies at peace with us. I am praying that for so many countries at war today.

Furthermore, when we bring God even into our recreational lives, rather than allowing competition to divide us and tempt us to cut corners, we become clean sportsmen who make good friends on and off the field.

Someone asked me recently what sports I follow. I really don’t have much time to follow any sports but if I do, it’s for sure, Major League Baseball. The person quickly quivered as the Colorado Rockies are, by far, the worst team in baseball.

I surprised them by saying that I am a fan of the game. I don’t have just cheer for one team. At first it bothered him. Then after explaining that I enjoy fantasy baseball with long time friends and have players from around the league, he got it.

What if you bring God into your summer fun. He cares about gardening, corn hole, dog walks, fly fishing, hiking, and so much more. He will teach us things when we do that make us better people.

We in turn become more generous people. Want that for your summer (in the northern hemisphere)? If so, bring God into your fun and watch Him give you blessings that are more important than you could ever imagine.

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:19-20

“A very powerful way to pray is for a group of friends to join hands, while seated in the shape of a horseshoe. Some of us have an altar at the open end of the horseshoe, with a cross or a picture of Jesus, or a Bible, or a globe of the world. The horseshoe opens toward the cities, countries, and people most in need or prayer. This horseshoe of prayer reminds us of the great magnets which can lift a locomotive when the electric power is turned on. We are seeking to be used by the inpouring Holy Spirit to lift the world, and to draw all men to Christ.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Praying Horseshoes.”

You probably thought it was a typo when you read “praying horseshoes” thinking it should have been “playing horshoes.” Read it again and don’t miss the power of this tool greater than a magnet that can lift a locomotive.

I have a busy week, but I spend most of my afternoon and evening praying. I am watching my son’s dogs. There is a great trail by his home. The weather was perfect (see photo). I felt God’s presence with me and did the one mile hike twice to pray.

Then, for an hour last night I met on zoom to pray with GTP workers from Pakistan, Nepal, Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, and Australia. I did it because I am realizing that prayer is the most important and generous service I can offer.

And Laubach offers a word picture to illustrate it with this horseshoe magnet. What if you practiced this with your prayer group? What if you prayed horseshoes? God wants us to lift the world and invites us to tap His strength.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

“Countless thousands of men keep God in mind while engaged in all types of work, mental or manual, and find that they are happier and get better results. Those who endure the most intolerable ordeals gain new strength when they; realize that their Unseen Comrade is by their side.

To be sure, no man whose business is harmful or whose methods are dishonest, can expect God’s partnership. But if an enterprise is useful, God eagerly shares in its real progress. The carpenter can do better work if he talks quietly to God about each task, as Jesus certainly did when He was a carpenter.

Many of us have found that we can compose a letter or write a book better when we say “God, think Thy thoughts in my mind. What dost Thou desire written? Here is my hand; use it. Pour Thy wisdom through my hand.” Our thoughts flow faster, and what we write is better. God loves to be a coauthor!

A merchant who waits on his customers and prays for them at the same time, wins their affection and their business. A salesman who prays for those with whom he is dealing has far more likelihood of making a sale. A bookkeeper or banker can whisper to God about every column of figures and be certain that God is even more interested in the figures than he is.”

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “Men At Work and Merchants And Bankers.”

As I write this on a Monday, many of you will return to the rhythms of work. I pray God opens your eyes to the unseen comrade who wants to work with you, help you, and empower you.

He wants your faithful work to produce fruit more than you do. Ask His advice. Seek His wisdom. Discern His ways. Do this because He wants you to contribute in ways that bring Him glory.

How might you position your work today for Him to do “immeasurably more” than you could ever ask or imagine? How could you demonstrate dependence on Him so that your deeds bring Him glory.

I don’t know the answers to these questions. Only you can discern them with Him. But if you do, you just might make unimaginably generous contributions through your work.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

“Suppose when you reach home you find a group of friends engaged in ordinary conversation. Can you remember God at least once every minute?

This is hard, but we have found that we can be successful if we employ some reminders. Here are aids which have proven useful:

1. Have a picture of Christ in front of you where you can glance at it frequently.

2. Have an empty chair beside you and imagine that your unseen Master is sitting in it; if possible reach your hand and touch that chair, as though holding His hand. He is there, for He said: ‘Lo, I am with you always.’

3. Keep humming to your self a favorite prayer hymn—for example, ‘Have Thine Own Way, Lord, Have Thine Own Way.’

4. Silently pray for each person in the circle.

5. Keep whispering inside: ‘Lord, put Thy thoughts in my mind. Tell me what to say.’

6. Best of all, tell your companions about the ‘Game with Minutes.’ If they are interested, you will have no more trouble. You cannot keep God unless you give Him to others.

Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970) in Letters By A Modern Mystic (Feedbooks: 2009) letter entitled, “While In Conversation.”

I hope you are appreciating these posts as much as I am. Laubach seeks to change how we interface with people, bringing Christ into every minute of every conversation.

I normally think of making disciples as passing on information to them. He’s stretching me to understand that how to form surrendered souls.

Surrender has become central to my faith with “The Surrender Novena” as my centering prayer, prayed often through the day. But now I am seeing how to multiply surrendered souls.

And notice how it shapes our generosity. “You cannot keep God unless you give Him to others.” You cannot impart what you don’t possess.

Possess him for minutes to share Him for minutes. God help us become so full of you through this game that give you away to someone else today.