Slow Down and Enjoy the Ride

On my drive home from the church office, I turn left into our neighborhood on a street that has a gas station on the corner. I must admit that this has become a traumatic event every day. As I wait for the light to change, I stare at the gas price sign in disbelief, mentally calculating what my next fill-up is going to cost. This morning, however, I read some interesting information that sparked a way that might help deal with this. American Airlines is saving $4 million by having their planes taxi with only one engine on. Southwest slowed its flights by one to three minutes and is saving $42 million. Con-Way Freight shaved 3 mph off the top speed of their trucks and saved $13.3 million and are only adding 20-30 minutes to shipments.

Maybe, instead of getting depressed at my now un-favorite left turn, I need to think about ways of working with the gas price situation. Slow down, put more air in my tires, start off slower from a standing start, starting slowing down sooner at stop lights, pump my gas early in the morning when it is more dense and get more that way, and the list can go on and on. There is really nothing I can do as an individual about the price of oil. But I can change the way I deal with it. So I've decided that I'm going to take the American Airlines, Southwest and Con-Way Frieght approach. I'm going to do something myself about the situation. I'm going to slow down and enjoy the ride... If I believe that God can take care of my family and me, and He has never let us down, then now is no different. So later today, I'll be at that left turn into our neighborhood and I may be so distracted by the goodness of God that I'll forget to glance at the gas price sign. Plus, I may be reacting to the person behind me blowing his horn because I started off so slow...to save gas, of course.

Tapping Your Natural Weirdness

I just finished reading In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. Mark is the founding pastor of a very creative church in Washington D.C. In chapter 8 he cites an interesting study on divergent thinking, thinking outside the box. The study found that 98% of children between the ages of 3 & 5 core in the genius category for divergent thinking. Between the ages of 8 & 10, that number drops to 32%. By their teenage age years it drops to 10% and only 2% of those over 25 scored in the genius category for divergent thinking. According to John Putzier, who cites the study in his book Get Weird, the solution to this intellectual conformity and creative atrophy is "tapping your natural weirdness." Mark Batterson writes "tapping into our natural weirdness isn't just one key to divergent thinking, it is a key to divergent spirituality."

The Bible is full of weird and wacky stuff, talking donkeys, prophets who are instructed to do strange things, speaking in tongues on the Day of Pentecost, etc. Mark says "God love variety. He speaks and acts in divergent ways." I really believe that where our culture is today, Christians must tap into our natural weirdness in order to get the attention of people who are flying by without direction or purpose. Cookie cutter churches and cookie cutter Christians are simply not relating the wonderful truth that lives in them to the people around us. Our very familiar customs, programs, and ways of doing things do not relate anymore. Maybe it's time for some weirdness... Join me in reaching into the childlike parts of our being and let's try and awaken some of the out-of-the-box thinking that we were much more accustomed to as children. Maybe, just maybe, a creative idea for touching the lives of soon-to-be-Christians will emerge.

Alone On A Team

Robert Copeland, Ph.D., is the Head of Enzymology & Mechanistic Pharmacology at GlaxoSmithKline and an adjunct professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He said, "To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent." I would expect that from someone who probably has to work through a lot of committees, boards, trustees, etc., in the course of his work. There are many times when I feel that same way. At the beginning of 2007 I decided to document the activities of my working day. I bought a blank page journal and began keeping my to-do-list, completed tasks and activities for each working day. It was amazing to me to see all the entries for some days. I quickly discovered that I needed to figure out a way to carry items over from one day to the next. Some items had to be carried over and over and over again. When I scan the pages and look at those items that had to be carried over, I see that most of these are things that other people have input into, or in some way affect the final outcome. You probably have similar situations. If you scan minutes of meetings, particularly the items carried over from meeting to meeting, you can begin to find a pattern. I think we're all tempted to say at times, "leave me alone and I'll get it done." The flip side of this is the idea of a team, and teamwork. Is it possible to work as a team, together, and actually get some things accomplished? We see good examples around us. Baseball teams aren't called "teams" for nothing. When the 9 players take the field, 4 of them can't go to first base and have an effective defense. Each one must play the area of the field they were assigned, to make sure that the team plays together effectively. However, even polished professional teams break down. One or more players makes an error and the other team takes advantage of them. A great team can accomplish a lot more than a group of individuals working independently. It takes a lot of effort to be a good team member. Sometimes you take a step back so someone can step forward. Sometimes your great suggestion needs to give way to an even better suggestion, from another team member. Sometimes the temptation to "do it yourself" needs to give way to the team doing it, and growing together because of the effort. Where is this all going... I'll write more on this again. Go team!

A Special Missions Convention

Last Sunday we completed our Missions Convention. I have been involved in many missions conventions in several of the churches that we have served. This one, however, was very special because our son, Josh, and his wife, Kelly, were part of the missionary team. Kelly served a year in Luxembourg as a missionary assistant, and Josh has been on a Book of Hope distribution team to Russia as well as on a church building team in Mexico. They have both been exposed to missions all their lives in the churches where they have attended. I think it is great, and scary, that they both have the same passion for foreign missionary service. Great, because they are working together for their immediate goal of spending two years with Book of Hope as Response Team leaders. Scary, because world travel and safety is always an issue, to say nothing about them being half-way around the world instead of living 5 minutes away like they do now. From the very beginning, Kathy and I determined that we would never try to manipulate our children into full-time ministry, but we wouldn't deliberately discourage it either. As it turns out, all three of our grown children are in full-time ministry. On one hand, I'm excited for them because Christian ministry is a wonderful way to spend your life. On the other hand, I get anxious for them because I know how difficult ministry can be at times. It stretches your ability to work with people, stretches your finances and stretches the time with your spouse and family. However, if I had it to do all over again, I would do the same thing. Back to Josh and Kelly, it was wonderful to hear them speak, sharing the vision of their ministry and to watch people respond to them. They are going to be good at this...it shows! God is good and it will be fun to watch His blessing on Josh and Kelly.

Crazy for God Part 2

I finished reading Frank Schaeffer's book Crazy for God. Near the end of the book he writes, "When I left evangelicalism, it certainly was not because I was disillusioned with the faith of my early childhood. I have sweet (if somewhat nutty) memories of all those days of prayer, fasting, and 'wresting with principalities and powers.' We might have been deluded, but we weren't unhappy." Later he goes on to talk about converting to the Greek Orthodox Church. He writes, "Genie and I like the fact that in our community, half the congregation comes to church late, so we can wander in at any time and still feel like we participated. And I don't have to go to church more often than I can stand. When it starts to feel like religion again, I just drop out for a few months, then wander back."

Schaeffer's book really got me thinking about my own faith, the work I do as a minister, the love and care that I express, or don't express because I get so busy, to my family, the routine of ministry versus my relationship with God. My relationship, the one I am responsible for. In many ways Frank Schaeffer blames his parents, their ministry, their beliefs, his environment, etc., for what he became and now has rejected. I think the same thing has happened to a lot of Christians who were unable to process their growing up years and all the things that happened to them in the "name of Christ." I remember the things that I was not allowed to do, and the standard answer for the question, "why not?" - "it's against your religion." Today, some of those experiences still trouble me because of the way they bend and warp my view of God and my relationship with Him. I'm thankful that I've been able to work through much of this. I'm still working on it, however. I don't think the process ever stops.

Crazy for God

Crazy for God, subtitled How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back, is the title of a recent book by Frank Schaeffer. Frank is the son of Francis & Edith Schaeffer. The Schaeffers founded L'Abri, an intellectual and spiritual community in Switzerland and were bestselling authors and worldwide speakers and lecturers. Sadly, Frank has completely rejected his faith and soundly criticizes his parent's work and legacy. In the prologue to the book he writes, "My life has been one of all-consuming faith-not my faith, but the faith of others that I seem to have caught like a disease and been almost obliterated by. What does God want? I am still trying to find out. And having once been a 'professional Christian,' my vision is muddied by the baggage I carry."

During my college days and beyond, I read everything that Francis Schaeffer wrote. I still have most of his books on my bookshelf. His 35 page booklet, "The Mark of the Christian", had a tremendous impact on my life and some of that teaching is forever embedded in the way I am trying to live my life. Reading Frank's book shows another side of people that I respected because I saw them at the very top of the evangelical leadership group. I must admit disappointment with some of the things I have read that were allowed to happen in and around the Schaeffer's lives. It reminded me of the harsh realities that I discovered during our time as employees of the PTL Television Network. I met and got to know Christian television personalities that had a "television life" and an "off camera life". Disappointing, but real.

The bottom line for me... I will not judge anyone else, I can't. I, alone, am responsible to God for my relationship with Him. I can't blame anyone else or any one's hypocrisy for not taking full responsibility for my life in Christ. I must continue to accept God's forgiveness and consistently live in my relationship with God. I'll write more on this later when I've had time to absorb more of Frank Schaeffer's writing.

I Hate Poison Ivy, And It Hates Me

Two weekends ago I spent part of my Saturday morning getting IVs of a steroid and something else in my arm to reduce the swelling around my left eye. The previous Tuesday I had worked in my backyard, pulling weeds, and I must have pulled some poison ivy roots. Later, I probably brushed some sweat off my forehead and spread the poison ivy to my eye, forehead, and cheek. I also got it on my neck, chest and unfortunately, I used the restroom...no more details. I usually get one really bad incident of PI every year. I always get it on my face, and I'm miserable for two weeks while it heals. This time, it was very early in the growing season and I didn't even see any of the leaves that I have come to be able to identify and dread. So it must have been just the roots. One of these years I'm finally going to get it so bad that I'll immediately go condo hunting. No more yard work, or at least pulling weeds.

Isn't it amazing how something you can't even really see could affect you so badly. Sometimes that's the way it is with things we should stay away from, but don't. We can't see their long term effects, so it seems okay to dabble in them. Later, when you can't change the outcome, you wished you had done something very different. With PI, it doesn't start to itch until a couple of days after the contact. By then, it is too late to do much. Oh Lord, help us to see through Your eyes the things that seem so harmless, yet can be so harmful. Protect us from ourselves, as we try to live lives fully devoted to You.

It's Raining....again

This has been a very wet winter and spring in St. Louis. For weeks now, I have tried to get work done in my yard to prepare it for the growing season. My normal day off is Tuesday, and Saturdays are free if nothing is going on at the church. Incredibly, it has rained, or snowed, almost every Tuesday and Saturday this spring. Yesterday was a wonderful day. It was sunny and 80 degrees. Of course, Monday is a work day, and we had a leadership meeting until 6:45 PM. I thought I might get some work in before dark, but there wasn't enough light left by the time I was ready to go. I got up this morning full of expectation, because, even though the forecast was for scattered thunder storms, maybe they would scatter other places around St. Louis.

I'm writing this at 9:37 AM central time and all I got done outside before the rain started was to put gas in my lawn mower. I can't even believe it...

I've been reading a through-the-Bible-in-a-year called The Daily Message. Yesterday's reading was from James where the Message says, "And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, 'Today--at the latest, tomorrow--we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money.' You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, 'If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that.' Maybe my "plan A" for today was not God's. After all, my yard will always need work, and I know it won't rain every Tuesday and Saturday. It's still early, so this "wisp of fog" will try and figure out what God wants me to do today, and I know it will be the right thing.

Checking Out Houses In the Promised Land

A couple of nights ago Kathy and I went on a walk after dinner. There are some new homes being built near us and we wanted to see what they were like. We peered through windows, tried door knobs and garage doors and did our best to see inside these $500,000.-900,000. homes. I think we used the phrase "my goodness" several times as we gawked at some of the accouterments inside these palatial homes. As we walked away from the sub-division, realizing that our "little cottage" (which we love, by the way) would fit nicely several times in some of those huge houses, I was telling her about my daily Bible reading. I'm at the place where Moses is instructing the children of Israel just before he dies and they enter the Promised Land. He tells them what to do with the people, animals and plunder when they get there. I said to Kathy, "wouldn't it have been an interesting experience to have entered a city after all the inhabitants had been cleared out. It might be like walking on this street, picking out a house to live in. Going in, finding it fully furnished, someones precious belongings still in the dresser doors and closets, animals in the back, food in the pantry... You didn't have to do anything except possess it, with God's blessing."

I wonder sometimes if we miss the "possessing God's blessings today" because we're looking down a future road, hoping for something different. As we turned the corner on our street, it was a comfortable and secure feeling. Trees are blooming and leafing out, flowers are blooming, grass is getting green and our cottage is ours. (well, actually ours and the bank's) Thank you, O God, for your blessings, today.

Life's High and Lows

Missouri had some severe flooding in March. Our son and daughter-in-law live in Springfield and had 24 inches of water in their basement. We drove down last weekend to help where we could and to help estimate what it is going to cost to repair the damage. There is a lot of sheet rock work to be done, carpet to be laid, and a host of details to make the basement livable again. Talk about low...

On the same weekend, he gave us a tour of Evangel University, where he will start this fall as a full time college professor in the Music Department. His mom and I were incredibly proud as we walked around his alma mater, realizing that he was returning to the campus where he knew as a 9th grader that God was sending him to. Talk about a high... At one point I had to walk away from a conversation that Kathy (my wife) and Jenny (our daughter-in-law) were having because I couldn't contain the tears of joy that welled up. I took a moment to thank God for his incredible faithfulness. Jason (our son) received the news of his new teaching assignment on one of the toughest days of the basement flooding. Wow, what a contrast in emotions.

As we walked around their house and tried to determine why so much water had come into the basement, we fixed some things and made a list of other things to do. There will be a lot of work, but it's doable, and between his dad, brother and willing friends, we'll get it all done. Sometime this summer, we'll walk into the basement and it will be new again. We'll all say something like, "glad that's over, I hope we never have to do this again". Jason and Jenny will probably even laugh about some of their experiences. God has been good to them throughout this very difficult ordeal. They have received some very unexpected help. After we've looked around the basement and laughed about some of the funny stuff, we'll all pile into one of our mini-vans and head for the office supply store. Jason needs some "office stuff" for his new office. After all, new professors should at least look like they know what they're doing. God is so good!!

New Buzz Words?

There are a couple of new buzz words to describe churches showing up in blogs, new books and magazine articles. They are "attractional" and "missional". The online dictionary I use does not have any listings for the word "attactional" and all 3 entries for "missional" related to traditional missions definitions. Are we really so far ahead that the dictionary will have to catch up? Or are we still so far behind that the dictionary really doesn't care? :)

One definition for an attractional church is "one that, through its presence, programming and marketing--everything to four-color brochures to word-of-mouth, seeks to attract people to its services." Unfortunately, fewer people are "attracted" to most churches every year. We may be spinning our wheels by spending a lot of time trying to figure out what will bring people to our open doors. In fact, most of our effort is aimed at the people we already have.

One definition of a missional church is; "a missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our community and service is as important as what we say." A resounding theme in some of George Barna's research on what people are looking for in a spiritual experience is a church that lives and demonstrates the gospel.

Sometimes I wonder if our church buildings get in the way of truly demonstrating God's love for a hurting world. It reminds me at times of the childhood game of hide-n-seek. A tree or playhouse was the "safe base". You always tried to get back to the safe base before the person who was "it" found you. Is the church building our safe base? Is it too safe, so safe that we aren't willing to risk sharing God in "word and deed" away from it? I don't really have any answers, but I do know, I am desperate to be involved in what God wants to do in people's lives who do not know Him yet.

Exciting and Frustrating

Our church, West County Assembly of God, will be holding a Missions Convention in a few weeks. As far as I can tell, this is the first one in which just this church will try and excite, inspire, cajol and motivate our folks to look beyond our walls. Through the years, the traditional way of being involved in missions was to send money to missionaries around the world and here in the U.S. to do the work of ministry. Sending our money around the world really worked! Today, in the Assemblies of God family, there are 57 million members and adherents with more than 295,000 churches and preaching points. However, paying people and building buildings hasn't been too successful here in the U.S. Overall church attendance is down, and sinking every year. Our churches lose most of their high school graduates when they either leave to go to college or join the workforce. It isn't that there is less interest in spiritual things, it's just that young people today are exploring the almost unlimited religions, plans and personalities that are all competing for their young lives. Somehow, we haven't helped them grow in their relationship with Christ to the point of not getting restless or feeling the need to explore other forms of spiritual interaction.

Today, I'm excited about the thousands and thousands of people around the world coming to Christ. Today, I'm frustrated because we can't seem to get our act together in this country. Oh God, help us listen to your heart...and join with Your creativity as you help us reach across the street.

Viewing the Bible Through the Eyes Of a Leader

One of the blogs that I read is written by Tony Morgan. Tony is a pastor and author. I first met Tony through his book Simply Strategic Stuff. Here are some thoughts from Tony's blog on leadership and the Bible. Good stuff...

"I'm in the process of going back through the Bible viewing it through the eyes of a leader. Here are my thoughts from the first seven chapters of Matthew:

-Leaders make mistakes. God can redeem leaders. (1:6)
-It's all about obedience. Joseph "did what the angel of the Lord had commanded Him. When was the last time you heard from God and did what he told you to do? (1:24)
-I may have positional power, but God is always more powerful. (3:11)
-The way I live my life is dictated by the amount of time I spend in the Word of God. It is my sustenance. (4:4)
-Time is running out. I need to embrace the urgency. (4:17)
-Part of my responsibility is to look for the ministry potential in others. (4:19-20)
-My leadership should produce peace. (5:9)
-My actions will speak louder than my words. (5:16)
-God doesn't like it when there's division and anger between leaders. (5:22)
-I need to follow through with my commitments. (5:37)
-People will persecute me. I need to pray for them. That's difficult for me. (5:44)
-God wants me to be me. He wants us to be real--not fake. (6:5)
-There are some actions people don't see, but God still does. (6:18)
-What I do with my money will impact my heart. Interesting that God didn't say it the other way around. Makes me think disciplines with time and money impact the condition of my heart. (6:21)
-As a leader, I need to prefer for tomorrow, but I shouldn't worry about tomorrow. (6:34)
-If I'm a good leader, my ministry will bear good fruit. The measure of my success is not the input but the outcome. (7:17)
-The win isn't for people to hear the message--the win is life application. (7:24)"

Your Ear Gets Cut Off and Your Life Is Saved

One of the most interesting stories surrounding the events of Holy Week is the account of the High Priest's servant. Unfortunately the Biblical narrative is very brief, but I began to think about the implications of what happened. Malchus, the High Priest's servant, was probably the equivalent of a modern day executive assistant. The High Priest sent him with the group to arrest Jesus. In fact, he may have been the leader of the group. The High Priest couldn't go because it wouldn't have politically expedient, and he was going to be one of main prosecutors. When the group arrives to make the arrest, one of Jesus' disciples pulls out a sword and off comes Malchus' ear. Can you imagine the pain, and the screaming that took place. Undoubtedly, many other swords came out and it could have gotten ugly right away. Jesus steps up, takes the severed ear and puts it back in place. I wish there would have been a way to capture the astonishment on Malchus' face. I'm sure in Christ's complete and perfect way of doing things, there was not a scar, line or any other evidence that the ear had ever been anything less than perfect. I don't think Jesus cleaned him up. All the blood was still there, and perhaps dirt and leaves and other debris from rolling around on the ground in pain.

Can you imagine the encounter when Malchus went back to report to the High Priest. The HP probably didn't even ask about the arrest at first, he would have wanted to know how Malchus had gotten so dirty, and bloody. Can you imagine the servant trying to explain that his ear had been cut off, and yet when the High Priest explored his ear and scalp, he could see that nothing was wrong with the ear.

I can't help but think that throughout the afternoon, as Jesus hung on the cross, from a distance away Malchus observed all that went on. Every few minutes his hand would slip up to his ear, a finger would run around the spot where it had been severed, and Malchus' heart hurt a little more. Along with the centurion, he may have whispered the words, "truly, He was the son of God." I think Malchus lost an ear (not really) and gained his life...

Life At the Foot Of the Cross

Life has a way of creeping up on you, bringing surprises that you never expected. For pastors, special times in the life of church are busy. Easter is one of those times of the year when you want to make sure that everything you do produces the opportunity for people to encounter Christ as we remember His sacrifice for us on the cross and celebrate His resurrection. Many times the busyness gets in the way of our personal opportunties to experience our own encounter with Jesus. This year is no exception...it's busy. Two days ago, our oldest son called from Springfield, MO to tell us that his basement was totally flooded. After we hung up, the "dad" in me wanted to drop everything and go down to help. Yesterday, after talking a couple of times, he told me that his insurance policy didn't cover the kind of flooding that had occured. Now I was really torn. After several calls, trying to dispense fatherly advice, a lot of 1 and 2 sentence prayers for help and wisdom, it looks like things are going to be okay. There is a lot of work ahead, but it appears that there may be many helpers as well.

Today is the day before Good Friday, and I'm trying to find the time to be quiet and experience an encounter with Christ in this most wonderful season of the church. Once again I'm reminded how vunerable we are, how helpless, and totally dependent on God. This week we've had rehearsals, planning sessions, technical preparation and a host of other details. Then, there is the normal part of helping to run a church and nuture a church family. Add to that being a frustrated dad trying to figure out how to help my kids 215 miles away in the biggest crisis of their young lives. The best thing I can do, right now, for everyone's sake, particularly mine, is to rest at the foot of the cross. I need to thank God that I don't have to do it all, or be all. I just need to recognize what Christ has done for me, and to accept His sacrifice, once again, for my sin and separation from Him. There will be plenty of work ahead...but it will all get done, in His time, because of my time at the foot of the cross.

Abraham LIncoln and reading

I am an avid reader. I was 14 years old before we had a television in our home. My parents encouraged us to read and provided books on many subjects. We had hundreds of volumes to choose from. As an adult, I have continued to read a lot of books, on many subjects. Since Kathy, my wife, is also an avid reader, our collection of books is quite large. While one of my regrets as an adult is that I was unable to continue graduate education, books and reading have provided a wonderful source of knowledge, inspiration and enlarging my imagination. I am currently reading a book about Abraham Lincoln titled Team of Rivals by Pulitzer Prize winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin. The team of rivals is his presidential cabinet. Lincoln chose 3 men for his cabinet who were his rivals for the Republican nomination for president. The other 3 were former Democrats who were political rivals. One story about his early life really impressed me. He did not have access to many books. Reading was his primary source of education so he had to read books where ever he could find them. On this occasion he borrowed Parson Weem's Life of George Washington. He read it at night in the loft where he slept by candlelight. One night after he had put the book between the rafters of the loft, a severe rainstorm soaked the book, soiling the pages and warping the cover. He went to the home of the owner and volunteered to work to pay for the cost of replacing the book. The owner calculated the cost and had Lincoln work for 2 full days pulling corn. Lincoln thought this was quite unfair and excessive, but he did the work anyway. We live in a good age, sip a latte at Barnes and Noble while you look through thousands of books, pay with a coupon and a debit card...

Some other books I have read in 2008 are Never Call Retreat by Newt Gingrich and William Forstche, the third historical novel in a triology about the Civil War, Stone Cold by David Baldacci, The Appeal, John Grisham's new novel and Simply Strategic Stuff: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church by Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan, a book with many reference topics for my work at our church. I like to read the Bible through every year and this year I am reading a new version titled The Daily Message by Eugene Peterson, the writer of the Message version of the Bible. Reading is a wonderful way to relax, and learn.

Mexico's Mother Teresa (part 2)

I looked at some pictures today from another team member that was on our recent Mexico Mission. Mark Mulberry, from Wisconsin, took a lot of pictures at the orphanage we visited. He took this one.

We had worked all morning at the job site and in the afternoon we took all of our teenagers to visit the orphanage while a group of men set roof beams and began sheeting the roof. Since this is potentially dangerous work, particularly if it is windy, we felt like our teenagers would be safer away from the job site. This picture was taken during the time that I spent talking with Sister Josephina, the director of the orphanage. Because I was the only spanish speaking person there that day, I had her all to myself. Read my first post to find out some of the things we talked about. Later, after reflecting on our conversation, it amazed me how much she has accomplished without all of the "things" that we think we need for ministry. She doesn't have an office, computer, high speed internet connection, PDA, latest cell phone, or anything else. As we toured the facilities just after arriving there, she did point out a room that she said would make a great office. I passed that request on to several people that could help make it come to pass. As we were leaving, a funny thing happened. In this picture you can see my rosy cheeks and sunburned arms. A boy of about 6 or 7 saw the bandana around my neck and asked me in spanish if he could have it. Some of our team had given their bandanas away and were tying them on the children's heads. He wanted the same thing. I took it off and carefully tied it on his head. He looked up at me and asked, "are you Santa Claus?". Rosy cheeks, white beard, old man compared to him... I wish I had more to give. We'll work on it. Even a lot of small gifts and useful items would go a long way to blessing these children and their "mother Teresa". I had one other "life changing event" many years ago in Mexico, at an orphanage in Ensenada. This may have been my second Mexico epiphany.

A 2 Week Miracle (Part B)

The picture from the last post shows the building in Juarez, Mexico after a small crew had worked on it for one day. This picture shows the building 5 days later towards the end of the day. All of the block walls are up and most of the roof system is in place. Later in this day, half of the roof insulation and metal was put on and the roof was finished on Friday morning. Quite a miracle!

On Thursday morning I went with one of the welders to purchase more of the steel beams for the roof. My expertise is in knowing Spanish, not in building skills. After we made the purchase of 24 very heavy 20' beams, we strapped them to the top of a van with a rack on it. We didn't realize that one of the beams was standing on end, rather than flat, and it prevented the strap from fully securing the beams. We set out on a busy (3 lanes each way) street, back to the building site. At the first stop light my partner noticed the beams on his side of van started sliding forward, he yelled "we better stop" and by the time I tried to stop slowly, it was like a slow motion replay, all of the beams slid off the roof rack and landed in front of the van. So here we are in the middle lane of this very busy street. Buses and cars are whizzing by on both sides and we have no idea what to do. Fortunately, a Mexican man (duh, we're in Mexico) came out of his business, climbed on top of the van and helped us slide the beams back on the rack. We were able to stop traffic and back into a parking lot and re-secure our load. It wasn't too funny then, now we can laugh about it. I think we really experienced God's protection, and help. And the miracle continued...

A 2 Week Miracle

Last week I was part of a 2 week miracle. Each year our church builds a complete building for a church in Mexico. This year we built a 50' by 100' block building with a metal roof. In week one we started with a flat, cement slab, built 12' block side walls, peaked front and back walls, added an interior office and 2 bathrooms. We also poured several walkways, graded some of the property, added 200 amp electrical service and upgraded the plumbing. The 2nd week crew finished all the interior electrical work, put in sinks and toilets, put in windows and doors and painted a lot of the metal and block surfaces. They also finished the platform area of the sanctuary that the 1st week crew started. By the end of the 2nd week, the congregation of Iglesia Paz Nueva, (Church of New Peace) will be meeting in their new sanctuary. I asked the pastor how long it would have taken them to fund and build a building like this. Pastor Armando said "40 years", in other words, never. Over and over again he said, "it's a miracle." It is so much fun to be part of a miracle! In my next post I'll show you the nearly completed building and share a couple of funny stories...on the way to the miracle.

Mexico's Mother Teresa

I met Mexico's Mother Teresa last week. Her name is Sister Josephina. The term "sister" demonstrates Christian respect. She is the director of an orphanage in Juarez, Mexico. She currently has 103 children that range in age from 8 months to older teens.

As I sat with her last Thursday, (Feb. 21), and listened to her talk in Spanish, I felt like I was in the presence of a saint. She told me about children and events from the 19 years that she has directed the orphanage. As she spoke, humbly and without boasting, I kept thinking that angels would reveal themselves at any moment or least bright light would begin to shine around her. Her entire life, 24/7, is consumed by raising these children. While she has both volunteer and paid staff, she is the "mama". She was affectionately called "Mama Josephina" by the children during the time we were there. Life in Mexico is much more difficult than it is in St. Louis. Donors in that country are not as wealthy nor as generous as they are in the U.S. She must pray in and trust God for everything they need to exist. Her positive outlook and vision casting didn't reflect her meager surroundings, only the great things that God was going to help her accomplish.

I was disappointed when it was time to go, there was so much more I wanted to ask her. It isn't very often that I get to spend time with a saint...

(we have some great pictures of many of the children, and I would love for you to see them, but we need to protect their privacy)