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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Morgan Freeman as God


My wife and I watched the movie EVAN ALMIGHTY the other night. I absolutely love how God was portrayed in this flick.
  • He was serious and "on mission" and had a great sense of humor. Just like God.
  • He didn't do his work through "religious" people. He chose available people who, eventually, became willing and obedient. Just like the 12 Jesus chose.
  • He was loving and allowed a time of suffering to get people where they needed to go (Read about guys like Moses and David and Joseph).
  • He responded to simple, quirky, honest prayers. Like kids would pray ( and maybe how you and I should too?)
  • He didn't choose to work through "a" church. He chose "the" church; a "regular Joe" so to speak (sorry Joe)
  • He came to earth in human form and "prodded" people to do what He wanted but never messed with free will.
A great scene from EVAN ALMIGHTY:

Evan's wife has taken their three kids and left him. She is having a conversation with a waiter in a restaurant, who turns out to be "God". Check out Morgan Freeman's name tag as the waiter in this scene ( Al Mighty ). They start talking about prayer and "God" tells her something like "do you think God gives people patience when they ask for it, or an opportunity to be patient? Do you think He gives them courage when they ask for it, or an opportunity to be courageous?
And my favorite scene is toward the end when Evan is walking through a meadow with his family. He sees "God" standing under a solitary tree and goes over to talk. "God" tells Evan he did a good job (that would be cool in and of itself ? ) and then they dance a little jig together.

A little glimpse of heaven I think.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

La Ventanas (The Windows)

A somewhat humorous story from Peru.

Tuesday, January 14, 2008 5:15AM

This was to be my final day in Peru on this trip. I usually wake up early on my own, but not that early. I awoke to the sound of clanking outside my window at the hostal I was staying at (Ola Grande). Our bus was parked right outside of our room and in fact about 5 feet away from my roommate Larry's head. Our window was open and so I thought maybe our bus driver, Edgar, was doing some early morning cleaning or maintenance. I drifted off to sleep but awoke a few minutes later to the same sounds.

I thought it was strange so I woke Larry and said to him "let's look out the window." Much to our surprise we see all the windows gone from the side of the bus facing us and two guys busy stealing one from the other side! After Larry said "hey what are you guys doing?" they took off, jumped in their car and sped away. We were both laughing and dumbfounded at the same time! Not only did this happen right under our noses but what are they going to do with bus windows?!? But in a country where 54% of the population is poor, everything is valuable.

So Larry and I go out in our sandals and shorts to investigate. And we both notice la policia sitting in a car not 200 yards away so Larry whistles them over (Larry can whistle in Spanish). Since I speak the most Spanish I walk toward the police car as it approaches thinking about how I might be able to explain to them what just happened and try to describe the get away vehicle. As the police car stops and the one in the passenger side gets out with a rifle that looks six feet long I start to wonder what this guy might be thinking as he looks at two gringos in sandals and shorts in Peru at five in the morning! I also notice that it's hard to remember what little Spanish I know looking at a rifle.

I do my best to tell them there were "dos personas en un blanco coche con una luz" ( that was supposed to mean there were two people in a white car and there was only one tail light ).
Larry and I laugh like......ummmm........heck for a bit and then he goes back to sleep! I'm up for the duration and that's the end of the story.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Organism or Organization?

I read the parable of the sower in Matthew 13: 1-23 the other day and it made me wonder if my life looks like the seed sown among thorns more often than not.

The seed sown among thorns is "the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." (NIV - emphasis mine ) That seems way too true for me. How about you? I'm also afraid it most accurately describes where much of the church in North America is.

Some interesting information from a book by Joel Vestel titled Dangerous Faith: Growing in God and Service to the World:

- the average donation by adults who attend U.S. Protestant churches is only about seventeen
dollars a week

- eighty percent of the world's evangelical wealth is in North America

- there is an estimated 850 billion dollars per year of disposable income among evangelicals in the United States

If the church, just in North America, followed God's heart on giving would that alone possibly be enough to fund the Great Commission?

I fear that the church in North America ( you and I ) looks less like the organism that Jesus expects to storm the gates of hell and more like an organization providing services to club members.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Saying "no"

Another story from Peru.

I sat in on a meeting last Friday the 11th with some ChildReach Ministries staff and a man named Ulysses. Ulysses wandered into Hannah's Home toward the end of our work day asking to meet with us. Ulysses was blind from diabetes but ChildReach recently helped pay for an operation to restore some of his sight. He was thanking us and asking for more help. He showed us how gangrene is eating away his foot and said he needs an operation soon to save it.

ChildReach does not have the funds right now to do this and explained that to him, also noting that we try to help as many people as possible.

We told Ulysses "no".

And I felt fine with that. We prayed for his healing and he kept thanking us and told us of his faith in God.

But over the last few days I have thought of him often. Especially this morning in church. Our sermon was about how we are blessed to be a blessing to others, specifically financially. And right now I feel like a hypocrite. I feel like I've done the very thing that James wrote about in chapter 2 verses 15 and 16: "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?" (NIV)

What good is it indeed?

I wonder what Ulysses is thinking right now. I wonder if he thinks I'm as big a hypocrite as I feel like. Isn't faith without action hollow? James goes on to state that it's dead.

So I'm on a quest to figure out how to help Ulysses.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

It's good to be home

Left Lima, Peru about 1:00 am Wednesday morning and arrived in Cleveland at 1:30 pm. A long day of travel. It was right back to my day job today and I'm really tired tonight. It's catching up with this 40 something.

It's good to be home. I missed:

- my wife
- ice ( been drinking warm water for the last 17 days )
- my bed
- my dogs
- my wife
- flushing toilet paper ( in Peru if it doesn't come out of your body it doesn't go in the potty)
- driving a car
- celebrating New Year's Eve with my wife
- salad (we can't eat anything washed in the water)
- corn fed beef ( meat is usually from Argentina and it tastes a lot different )
- breakfast on Thursday's with my friend Steve
- my wife

Another story or two about Peru in the days to come.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

A bus ride, church and a sunset

We left our hostal this morning at 7:30AM and drove 2-1/2 hours south to Chincha. We decided to surprise Pastor Roldopho and attend his church today. La Iglesia Evangelica de Peruano Adonai. He and his family were happy to see us. It was a great service. We were outside (their church was destroyed by the earthquake) in the same covered alley where the teams that worked there the last weeks ate lunch. That was cool. Church where you are and with what you have seemed very real to me. There were about 50 total attenders.

A great example of this warm culture here in South America: every single Peruvian greeted each one of us both when they arrived and when they left. They did that with each other too.

We had lunch and then went to Pastor Dezi's church where Terry had a meeting to set up a couple of work crews from ChildReach to help out there. Meanwhile my friend Dave Bargerstock met with the child he sponsors through Compassion International. Her name is Emily.

I was able to watch a beautiful sunset tonight. At about 6:00 PM, as the weekend beach goers are leaving, the sun starts its descent. The beach is nearly silent as I watch the sun sink. The very hot day has given way to the cool of the evening. Typical here near the equator. As the sun sinks even lower I think of the kids I played with today at Dezi's church: Anna Patricia, Alejandro, Marco, Fernando, Marli and others. The sun rose and set on us knowing each other on earth in one hour. I hope we can play again in heaven.

It's not raining but there is a rainbow behind me. And tonight is definitely the best sunset yet this trip. God made a nice one. As its light dances on the clouds He makes oranges, purples, pinks, blues and greys I wish I could draw. Even a photo doesn't do it justice.

There is a straight line of clouds way out in the Pacific. They look like a wall. The sun has hidden behind it.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

A day of traveling.....

From Punta Negra to Chilca to Lima to Villa El Salvador and back to Lima, Mira Flores, and then Chilca and finally to the hostal in Punta Negra.

My friend Dave connected with a young guy in the Chilca neighborhood when Hannah's Home is located a couple of years ago. Dave now supports his young friend Gabriel, who is fourteen, by giving his mother money for his schooling. A few days ago we were concerned that Gabriel had tuberculosis. He was coughing up blood so Dave took him to the hospital. We were told yesterday he did not have TB but further testing was necessary. So today I went with Dave, our translator Diana, Gabriel, his mother Lucia, and our bus driver Edgar to do that.

We first went to the public hospital in Lima to get the original x-rays. We took them to the private hospital in Villa El Salvador where we saw a great doctor. He wanted a CT Scan so after we paid his bill ( less than $3.00 US Dollars! ) we traveled back to Lima. We were able to get an appointment for the afternoon but the results would not be available for three hours. So after we paid that bill ( $65.00 US Dollars ) we went to Mira Flores for lunch at Chilis Restaurant. Gabriel and his mom had never seen anything like it and the joy on their faces was worth the drive.

Oh and at one point we drove past the US Embassy. I didn't take pictures because it is embarassingly large. Your hard earned taxed dollars at waste, I mean, work. And it was actually the ambassadors residence, not the embassy.

CT Scan results: probably not TB but their are definitely lesions on both of his lungs. Gabriel will go back to the doctor in Villa El Salvador on Friday for his read of the it and further directions. We asked Gabriel how he might have gotten a tear on his lung and he said he was beat up about four months ago...........because of the soccer team he was rooting for.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Pastor Rodolpho and Family

Pastor Rodolpho's "church" is where we worked last week in Chincha, Peru. I say "church" because there is no building right now due to the earthquake last year. This is his earthquake faith story.

Pastor Roldopho told us that after the earthquake hit he had his family and nothing else. His house was gone. His church was leveled. His family had no food or clothing or shelter. For many nights his family lived in a tent provided by the government. Many in Chincha still do. He said he thought his ministry was over because his denomination had no money to rebuild his church. He was prepared to leave Chincha.

Three days later his extended family arrived from Lima with supplies. But they also came to take he and his family back to Lima to live. They already had an apartment arranged for him and told him there was even a church next door that needed to hire a pastor. It sounded perfect.

Enter God. The one who knows the plans he has for us. Pastor told us that the night before he was set to leave, God woke him up in the middle of the night (just like God I am learning).............and told him to stay.........in Chincha. God gave him 2 Corinthians 4:7 to chew on: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (NIV) As I read on the next verses seem to fit too: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." (NIV)

Pastor Rodolpho said the treasure in the jar is life. That it was his life and he was thankful he had it. God told him to stay and God would rebuild his church and ministry.

That is happening.

He plans for church construction to be done for his congregation of about 70 this February. From the all-surpassing power of God and not man.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Chinca, Peru


On Wednesday I left our main mission site at Hannah's Hope orphange and took a small group of students to Chincha, Peru. We took public transportation in a double decker bus. Our ride was about 2 hours.

This photo was taken on the street where we were working. The tents you see in the photo are where people are living due to the destruction from the Earthquake. If you enlarge the photo above you can get a feel for how dusty those living conditions are.

The team did demolition work at a local church that was completely destroyed. We worked pretty hard for 2-1/2 days and even got to do some home visits. At right is Pablo and his family. He has one room left of his home. The rest of the rooms are gone.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Here

After a long day of travel and meeting the team at the airport we walked outside to watch fireworks over Lima and wished each other "Feliz Ano". By the time we loaded all the stuff and people on the bus and got to Punta Negra, unpacked and got to bed it was 3:00AM. So we are here and we are tired.

But when we get to the worksite and meet a few kids I'm sure that will all disappear. We will be immersed in what we came to do. And I expect we will experience way more than we ever dreamed in the next two weeks. We came to build an orphange. But we will leave amazed.

Tomorrow I am leading a small group down to the earthquake area of Chinca to work on a Compassion International project. Compassion had about 9 projects closed down due to the earthquake. I will not have internet access but should be back on Saturday to update.