Writing is not so hard...

Dear anyone who is still reading this dusty old thing,

I am going to try to start writing here again at least once every 2 weeks.  I might write more... but we're going to start small and manageable.  I am going to try to keep my posts between 5-250 words so that they aren't overwhelming for me (yet still are long enough to say something).

So, there's the first blog post of hopefully many to come.  Feel free to keep me accountable to this.  I know of one friend who most certainly will and does.  I don't have a half a doubt that she knows who shes...

Sincerely,
Carolyn

A Ministry for This Year

Please forgive the extremely long break in posting.  I expect that this post will be sufficiently long to make up for the wait though...  :-)

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Another factor that gave me more peace about staying in Mexico was that my potential ministry options for this year were really developing while on the other hand, I didn't have any definite stateside plans.

Here is a glimpse of what my ministry looks like for this year:

Discipleship groups-- One of my main ministries this year will be working with evangelism and descipleship on Mexico's "UNAM" university campus.  The organization I will be working with is called "Compa" (companerismo estudiantil) and it is the Mexican counterpart of InterVarsity in the US. (http://www.intervarsity.org/)  I am looking forward to developing relationships through this group and by God's grace, having the opportunity to strengthen them in their faith and get them connected with the local church where I am serving as well.
Please pray that God would guide me in my involvement here so that I can come as a learner and aide, not eclipse the work that Christian students are doing already.

My church is called "La Fuente" and in addition to my involvement on Sundays, I am also attending a Thursday-night "Alpha" course.  It focuses on the basics of the Christian faith and is geared towards new believers and seekers.  Many people in this group got involved because of student outreaches on the campus!  :-)  One such outreach is another ministry I am involved in: an English conversation group on Friday afternoons at the university.  This is a very enjoyable ministry as it gives me a chance to put my English to good use!  :-)  Just being on such an enormous campus is exciting in and of itself, but to be a small part of the work that God is doing here is even more thrilling!

Please pray that God would bring more people to Himself as a result of this outreach and that I would be an encouragement to this wonderful church!

Outside of my college ministry involvement, my time is mostly consumed with being a leader for this year's YearOut team.  It has been so exciting to get to walk with them through a process I have recently experienced!  I loved being a facilitator this summer and am really looking forward to the opportunity to do the same thing in this upcoming year.  It is certainly proving to be a lot of work, but God is sustaining me and teaching me so many new things!
Please pray that God would develop in my the leadership skills that this role requires... and that I would be a blessing to others as a facilitator.

A surprise when I arrived in Mexico a few weeks ago is that I have been chosen to be a leader for this year's Honduras trip.  We had our first meeting this past Saturday and it is exciting and slightly overwhelming looking ahead to this upcoming year.
Please pray that God would assemble the team He wants to have in Honduras and that we would also be able to make plans with the Honduran pastors we will be serving alongside.

I am NOT a nudist!!

I couldn't resist that title, after a conversation that I had with a friend about what my life was like in Mexico.  I was saying how my life wasn't as glamorous, new and exciting as people would like to make missionary life out to be.  I still do mundane things: I eat meals, I travel from one place to another on public transportation and I sleep.  I would say that although the setting of my life may make things, ehem, interesting at times, I really am a normal person and do the same kind of daily activities that you do.  Oh, and I also go through the boring routine of dressing myself daily.  Hence the blog title offered by my friend: I am not a nudist.  ;-)

P.S.  I am still going to continue my series of blog posts recording my decision to stay in Mexico next year.  This was just a tangent.

Let the Nations Be Glad

As I was reading through the Bible during this time of seeking God's will for next year, I kept on encountering lots of references to "going to the nations" or "all the earth worshiping the Lord" all throughout.

To quote from John Piper's book Let the Nations Be Glad, "Missions exists because worship doesn't." One need only read the Bible for a short time to discover that the purpose of missions is to spread God's worship to all corners of the earth.

Now, this doesn't mean that I will necessarily be on the field for the rest of my life, but it did seem meaningful that I kept encountering these passages as I was in the process of seeking what God might have me do for next year.

This is an idea of some of the passages I encountered just in a few books of the Old Testament:

Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.

-2 Sam. 22:50

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

-1 Chron. 16:24

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”

-1 Chron. 16:31

Here is a sampling from the Psalms alone:

Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done.

-Ps. 9:11

Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name. --Ps. 18:49

All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

--Ps. 22:27-28

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

--Ps. 46:10

Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.

--Ps. 47:1

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.

--Ps. 57:9

May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.

--Ps. 67:4

All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name.

--Ps. 86:9

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

--Ps. 96:3

Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

--Ps. 96:7

The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

--Ps. 102:15

Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

--Ps. 105:1

I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.

--Ps. 108:3

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Staying for a second year will allow me to be part of spreading the Lord's fame so that He might be exalted among the nations.

What is a "Good" Missionary?

One real struggle I had in the decision to stay another year was that I didn't feel like I really had the "missionary call." I might call it more the "missionary fall": I just "fell" into being a missionary. I really liked Spanish and Mexican culture and I love God and had enjoyed my two month summer experience in 2009. Especially with an eye towards immigrant ministry in the future, I figured that spending a year in Mexico would be a good move.

It wasn't until I began considering the possibility of staying a second year that I found that I really needed to wrestle with some misconceptions that I had in my own life. One of the biggest ones was that somehow missionaries were spiritual superstars. On a lot of levels I didn't feel "worthy" or "a good missionary." I still struggled with putting others needs above my own. Sometimes I slept late and didn't have a quiet time... or at best I rushed it. I was nervous speaking in churches or praying aloud in Spanish. So how could I possibly have a missionary call? I felt like I didn't even have the basics.

Here are some things that God has shown me during this time of processing my "inadequacies."

I don't have to have a huge internationally renown ministry to be effective. My responsibility is to be faithful with what God has given me. Like with the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30), the key factor wasn't how many "talents" the master had given each servant, but what they did with them. God doesn't expect perfection; He wants faithfulness and then He will work in and through us. As one of my friends always said, "God doesn't choose the equipped, He equips those He chooses."

Second, and closely related to the first, God showed me that if He is calling me, He has plans for me and will use me. God's work in me is only "limited" to the extent that I limit myself. 2 Cor. 12:9 points out that God's power is "made perfect in weakness" so we can rest in that promise that He will make His name great even if we don't feel up to the task or have the first idea what we're getting ourselves into.

I was reading about the life of Moses during this decision process and was struck by his excuses to not serve. He focused on his inadequacies: how he was slow of speech and thought that therefore it couldn't be God's plan to use Him (not to mention he had run away from Egypt after killing a man and then being rejected by his own people... not exactly a good start to cultural relevancy). However, even after God gave him Aaron to help him, the responsibility was still on Moses.

Studying that story and God's response made me realize how hollow my excuses were; if the Lord really wanted me to be a missionary, we would do the necessary work in me! I reflected on what God had taught me just in the past year and realized that I will never be the "perfect missionary" or the "perfect Christian" even! And that's not the goal; faithfulness and a willing spirit are what God is looking for and He will do the rest.

God's thoughts are higher than my thoughts... and that means that sometimes I won't understand them!

The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” Ex. 4:11-12

Thoughts on Home

God had to really work on my heart for a couple months to make me okay with staying in Mexico, because I was longing for home.

During that time, He lead me to verses such as these:

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. Matt. 19:29 (echoed in Mark 10:28-30 and Luke 18:28-30 as well)

Matt. 10:37-38 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Heb. 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

He also showed me that if i want to work with immigrants or refugees in the future, part of my preparations for making them feel welcome is to rely on the hospitality of others far away from home for another year.

Some of the questions I really wrestled through during this time were: What is home? What makes home, home? Is it the people? Or is it the memories? How much is timeless and how much is subject to change? To what lengths ought one to go to avoid change and maintain the status quo?

And is the ultimate good in life just to stay within my comfort zone? Just to live at home all my life? As I worked through these ideas, I realized that having a wonderful, loving home prepared me for ministry, but that I couldn't just hoard all of the treasures that He has designed to be shared with others (see the song at the end of this post). I'm not a child anymore, so the dynamic that I remember so fondly won't be the same. Nostalgia colors things and it can be pleasant to look back on the "good old days" but I can miss a lot of what God has planned for my present and future by living in the past and trying to recreate it. I need to concentrate on healthy ways that the past can be incorporated into my present situation to which God is calling me.

This song really summarizes a lot of my thoughts throughout this whole process of following God into the unknown of next year out of gratitude for what He has done for me, and a trust in who He is. I hope that it is an encouragement to you as well:

No Sacrifice, by Jason Upton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxw3z-oD7ZE

Spearhead Year Two

As promised in my last update letter, here is a bit of a glimpse into the path that God has brought me on as He lead me to stay in Mexico for another year.

If you had asked me at the beginning of this year whether I planned on staying any longer in Mexico, I would have politely replied that I just saw myself "doing a year in Mexico and then continuing on with my life in the states." That's essentially what I told my assistant director and mentor in January when she asked me what I thought about staying another year.

From there, though, God began to put the thought more and more on my mind and heart as I began to pray about whether or not I should stay another year. For most of the Spring I would say I was about 50-50, seeing good reasons to go home and good reasons to stay in Mexico. After a talk with my parents, I would be looking at plane flights home; after a talk with my directors here, I would be looking at ministry opportunities for a second year. Then, slowly but steadily, God began to turn my heart towards staying in Mexico.

Here are a list of areas that God addressed over the course of a couple months that lead me to the decision to stay for Spearhead Year Two:

Thoughts on home

Wrestling with the issue of what makes "a good missionary"

God's heart for the nations all throughout the Bible

Ministry opportunities for the fall

A peace in staying

I will explain these in further detail in subsequent blog posts.

Honduras Follow-up: Praises and Continued Prayer

Financial Provision: One of the huge praises from the trip was even before we left just seeing how God has provided money for the team again this year. I will be honest that there were times I really was asking myself, "Where is this money going to come from?" Our fundraisers were bringing in an average of $30 or $40 a day, which then had to be divided among 4 people. And each participant needed about $900. Things seemed to be desperate... just the kind of circumstance that allows God's providence to shine! He provided enough money for us, and even more, allowing our ($40 USD/person) visas to be covered through the general fund rather than individually. We left for the trip already greatly strengthened in our faith at seeing God's hand at work.

Safety on the trip. Although we had many changes in our flight plans, God brought us safety to where we needed to be and sleep was all that really suffered. We didn't miss any of our ministry activities. Also, other than being really tired most of the week, no one got sick as far as I know! Praise God! We are still taking our nasty malaria pills as a precaution.

Wonderful relationships with the Honduran believers that we met. Our team especially had an incredible pastor and wife who were sold out to the Lord. They were also among the most humble and loving people I have met in my whole life. It was a blessing to serve alongside them and challenging to be served by the very people we supposedly came to serve! It was also so beautiful to live with Honduran believers and to be able to share life with them for a week.

Team unity Our team really bonded, both among the 30 and especially among the 10. We joked that we were the "reject" group, since the other teams were formed before ours... but really we know that God chose us all by hand, guided us sovereignly to go on the trip and then flourished our friendships while there. Please pray that the relationships formed on the trip will continue.

God's Leading God spoke to many people on the trip, confirming gifts and callings. For many it was their first missions trip and it was thrilling for me to be able to witness their reactions to what God was doing and to observe as their vision of the worldwide church expanded. The people that I had come to serve were now serving alongside me! What an honor to be able to see God's work coming full circle and to be able to be just a small part of that!

Ministry Throughout the week we were able to participate in a lot of ministry projects in the community of La Ceiba called Bella Oriente. The pastor lives there and our presence was able to strengthen both his witness and connections in the community as well as to strengthen the church that he pastors and present to them the challenge of the great commission. Please pray that although we weren't able to be there for a long time that there will be lasting fruit as a result of the time that we spent there.

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If you have read through both my update e-mail and this blog post then I will assume that you are actually interested in my trip and I will welcome any further questions you have personally. :-) Just e-mail me!

The Good News

This Friday in our Bible club I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with the kids. So, here is the Easter story-- the good news-- as expressed to kids in Mexico:

As I have heard people say before, I need to explain first why the "Good News" is good. What's the bad news, first? The bad news: Even though God created us to be perfect and to be best friends with Him, we were separated from Him because of our sin, which is anything that we do that God doesn't like. (He tells us in the Bible, the book He wrote, what He does and doesn't like. He clearly tells us in the Bible how He wants us to live.)

God's team is perfection, life, everything that is good. He is there with the other people who are also God along with Him: Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That's the team where the first man and first woman (Adam and Eve) were when God created the world and them. But then they sinned and that put them on the devil's team. He has death and sin and sinners on his team. It doesn't matter if you're a rapist, murderer (sadly, the kids I work with at Amextra understand these terms better than I do) or just a kid that disobeys his parents-- if you're a sinner, you start out on Satan's team.

So, if sin is how you get from God's team to Satan's team, what do you need to do to get from Satan's team to God's team?

That's where the cross comes in. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to the world to give us a chance to be back on His team. There was no way that we could get back there by ourselves because we were sinners, not just because of what we do that is sin, but also because of who we are! Just as you look like your parents on the outside, you look like them on the inside, too. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned at the beginning of the world, every other person who has ever lived has been a sinner.

You know that Jesus Christ died on he cross, right? Why did he do that if He never did anything bad in His whole life? Well, He was killed by sinners because bad people hate good people... and Jesus Christ was perfect. While that is true, it's not the whole reason that Jesus died. He died because the punishment for sin, big or small is death. So, God knew that if He didn't send His perfect Son (who didn't deserve any punishment) to suffer in our place, we would be condemned to always be on Satan's team and eventually die not only a physical death, but also a spiritual death of separation from God forever.

So, since Jesus took the punishment for our sin and died, does that mean that Satan's team beat Him? No, because Jesus Christ then came back to life! God is stronger than the devil and Life is stronger than death.

Now, what we need to do is admit to Him that we are sinners and are on Satan's team, but tell God that we don't want to be anymore. We can thank Him for putting His own Son on earth to die instead of us. We tell Him that we accept His gift of life and that we want to follow Him with the rest of our lives, totally turning our back on anything that has to do with the way that Satan and His followers live.

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It was such a cool experience for me to teach this lesson when I did because in a sense I was preaching to myself and I felt the truth of this "old, old story" sink deeper into my heart and penetrate anew every fiber of my being from my emotions to my convictions to my actions. A vivid consciousness of the unfathomable love and sacrifice of Christ makes the celebration of Easter so much sweeter. Reflecting on His death that brought life makes the temporary parting that we experience with other believers so much more bearable. And as I reflect that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life," I am so much more energized to take that truth to Honduras!

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P.S. If I was incorrect, incomplete, or unclear on any of these points, please correct me! This is too important of a message to be telling wrong!

If

By: Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Honduras Trip Q and A

What: A mostly-Mexican missions trip to Honduras. We will be broken into three teams at three different church sites. Those sites will be ministering in everything from encouraging the church to grow in discipleship, presenting a missions conference, evangelism and children's Bible clubs.

Who:

This short-term trip will give people from 7 different countries and 14 different churches the opportunity to band together get a taste of what missions is like and hopefully encourage them to pursue it further. Our age range is from 18 to 49 and we are quite the motley crew. Our native languages are Spanish, English and Portuguese. However, it is awesome to see how Christ unites us and we are eagerly awaiting what He will do through us!

When: We will be there over Holy Week. We fly out the 15th, participate in our projects from the 16th to the 25 and then fly back on the 26th.

Where: 3 church and ministry locations in La Ceiba, Honduras.

Why:

--The purpose of the trip is to encourage Mexicans to reach out in missions. The prevailing mindset for years has been that the United States sends missionaries and Mexico is always on the receiving end. A major goal of this trip is to challenge Mexican youth to realize the potential that they have to serve and the call that they have from God to go and make disciples of all nations.

--We also pray that this trip would be an encouragement to the Honduran churches that we are going to support.

--Obviously we also pray that through this trip we would have an opportunity to share the reason for the hope that we have within us.

How:

-->In short, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

How (expanded):

--Our main preparation for these ministries has been practicing skits (both for the church and as an outreach), songs, testimonies and devotionals. We realize that unforeseen changes in plans are par for the course in missions work, but our aim is to be as prepared as possible for any situation.

--This past Saturday in our meeting one of our leaders gave us a brief evangelism training in which she addressed the importance of listening to the other person, asking lots of open questions,

--We are also enthusiastic to meet Honduran brothers and sisters in Christ and be able to share our lives and testimonies with them. (1 Thess. 2:8) We pray that the church there will be blessed and strengthened by our time there, albeit brief.

Please be praying that God would give us unity as we are a group diverse in nationalities, denominations and interests. This could be a point of extreme effectiveness as we use all of our different gifts... or it could be a nightmare with a lot of misunderstandings. Please pray that the first would be the case that we would be able to glorify God and that others would know that we are Christians by our love. (John 13:35)

The Love of God

God is love

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:7-10

God loves us even when we are un-loveable!!

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8

God loves us so much that He did not spare even His own Son to ransom us:

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

Rom. 8:32

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."

Eph. 2:3-5

"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."

Titus 3:3-7

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

1 John 3:1

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom. 8:35-39

As I was finding these references, I was reminded that the whole Bible is the story of God's love for us. I mostly focused on His love demonstrated towards humanity in His redemption, but there are so many aspects of God's goodness throughout the Bible, more of which I hope to highlight later. That being said, I pray that the few passages I highlighted were a good reminder for you of the unfathomable love of God.

What is Love?

^{Matt. 5:43-48} “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

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Put another way:

You might be showing love when you rock your precious clean sleeping child to sleep.

-->But the real test of love is if you will reach out to the bully in the garbage dump and care for him... especially when he is biting, scratching and swearing at you to leave him alone.

You might be showing love when you buy your girlfriend roses.

-->But the real test of love is if you would surprise your mom by weeding around her roses.

You might feel like you're "in love" when you daydream about that special someone all day, reliving great conversations you've had or the way he smiles

--> But the real test of love comes when your mind is flooded with memories of how someone has hurt you, down to the very words, tone and facial expressions... and you still choose to care for them and put their interests above your own.

You might be acting in love when you clear the day to spend time with your best friend from out of town.

--> But the real test of love is when you give that clingy person your undivided attention and care, knowing that they are a "black hole" of need that is just going to keep sucking more from you.

You might be showing love when you help a sweet little old lady cross the street.

--> But the real test of love is when you choose to respect your grouchy old neighbor.

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When you work in a desperate, thankless situation just because you love God and you love His people, you will be rewarded and you will be like Christ!!

Just Say "Yes!"

Ella Enchanted and Yes Man are both intriguing movies because they present the idea of two people who can do nothing but obey requests given to them. I am so thankful that God has given us the opportunity to make decisions, not having to say yes to every opportunity that comes down the pike. That being said, I must confess that God has been showing me some areas in which I need to say “yes” more often for His glory, regardless of what I’m feeling. Here are some examples of areas in which I have committed to say “yes” to God this year:

-In areas where I feel inadequate or exposed. (As in verbal and social actions) Lately this has taken the form of sharing in front of large groups of people, with varying factors that add to the nervousness, such as a very formal setting, a long sharing time, or the language barrier of doing it all in Spanish! I have also been intimidated by having to pray in Spanish for assorted reasons, and have had to remind myself that I am doing it for the glory of God and the edification of others… how I look, or what people think of my language skills is not what matters! So I might mess up on a verb tense or two… but what’s the alternative? Leaving someone stranded in a desperate situation with no Christian support? Refusing to obey God’s prompting in my heart? Clearly, stepping out in faith and messing up a verb tense or two is the preferable route!

- Pushing on in God’s strength when I feel tired or inadequate (physical actions). God has been showing me that in ministry settings sometimes I put Him in a box when I put myself in a box, saying that I am too tired or need a rest when it is obvious that He is calling me to take steps of action. Note: I am not saying that rest is unimportant... I'm just saying that it is not the most important thing! When I know that God is calling me to act, I cannot hide behind the excuse of being too tired. Rather I need to step out in faith and allow Him to be my strength. I have been noticing this in the very concrete setting of my quiet times with God. He has been making it undeniably clear that the most important thing I can do in my life or in my ministry is to spend time sitting at His feet. To do that with my schedule, though, tends to mean getting up early before the ceaseless stream of daily activities leaves me with no time to think. Most mornings the thought crosses my mind that "Oh, I'm so tired. Just another half an hour of sleep and I'll be so much more productive." However, that was not Christ's mindset at all! He was busy from dawn till dusk too, but He chose to wake up before dawn to spend time with His father (Mark 1:35). The night before He was crucified, He stayed awake communing with God, rather than "resting up" for the grueling day that He knew lay ahead of Him. Since Jesus was fully human as well as fully God, I know that it is humanly possible to follow His lead on this and that the important thing is that I respond to God's leading.

Thank God that He didn't make us robots without a choice in whether or not we would obey His will. Still, I believe that there will always be areas in which we need to exert some willpower and say "yes" when we would rather say "no." I would encourage you to examine your lives and see if there is anything in your life that you are saying "no" to God in because of feelings of inadequacy, complacency or fatigue. If it is something that God is clearly calling you to, something that would bring Him glory, edify the church or otherwise accomplish His will, I have three words for you: Just Say Yes!

Tomorrow's Saturday

I don't know whether to call this a messed up poem, poetic prose, stream of consciousness, or a drug trip. However, here are some thoughts on the night life in Mexico City. :-)

Tomorrow’s Saturday

The lights from houses on an opposing hillside

Twinkle through the polluted city air like fireflies

Gaudy strings of Christmas bulbs

Also try to mimic lightning bugs

But the busy, blaring colors of the former

Can’t hold a candle to the gentle pulsing glow of the latter

The city—a clanging cacophony by day—

Hums an improvised urban lullaby at night

It’s almost midnight, but the neighbors are still awake

In vacation mode after a month of holiday

And besides, tomorrow’s a Saturday

The churning sea of people that daily floods the city streets

Has been channeled into individual homes

Where everyone has a face, a name, and a joke

What contrast these lively dwellings now create

Against the deserted streets where a chilly night breeze blows

Dogs are barking from every rooftop,

Perhaps offended to be excluded from the merrymaking

Perhaps telling some jokes of their own—

It’s hard to say for sure.

As if in response, each nucleus turns up their music some,

Creating another layer of separation between them and the work-a-day outside world

And adding to the general joy of their own little kingdom

The TV is on like always

But like always it is only background noise

Dirty dishes are stacked on the counter with care

In the knowledge that tomorrow soon will be there

It’s 2:30 and only now are people starting to drift off to sleep,

Likely to wake up late

“But who cares,” they think, with a shrug and a grin,

“And next week we’ll surely do it again

“Tonight was worth it,” they sleepily say,

“And besides tomorrow’s Saturday.”

WHAT'S SNEW?

An old pun runs something like:

Punster: Is it snewing much where you live?

Friend: Huh? What's snew!

Punster: What's new? Not much. What's new with you! :-)

I would like to fill you in a bit on what's snew in my life lately. And there's a lot that's snew. :-)

On December 13th I returned home to spend Christmas vacation with my family and be in my best friends wedding. The wedding was the 18th and was entirely beautiful! Such a lovely picture of human love and a testimony to God's love.

The following weekend was a merry and white Christmas, followed by presenting about Mexico in church. Being involved in an incarnational* ministry in Mexico makes the wonder of God's coming to earth as a baby entirely astounding to me, so both the 25th and the 26th were very meaningful for me.

A week later I put the Pennsylvania snow (not to be confused with snew) behind me and found myself basking in the warmth of Florida, where we witnessed another wedding (one of our family friends from our church down there) and had a long overdue visit with my grandmother. Both were lovely... and in the meantime I enjoyed the gorgeous weather, long walks down memory lane and lightning fast roadtrips with my family.

Under 24 hours from the time our wheels hit the driveway of my PA home, they rolled out again for the airport. At 4:30 AM I arrived at the Pittsburgh airport and by 2:00 I was in the Mexico City one. That was yesterday.