Hey everyone!
I kind of doubt that anyone is going to read this....BUT, I just wanted to say that I am excited about another year of good food and fellowship and spiritual growth!!!
Eric and I (now married! ;) have been blessed with a wonderful and very large apartment (for the two of us, that is), and would LOVE to host our Friday nights again for this coming year.
(of course, as always, if others would like to host, they are MOST welcome!!! just let everyone know when and where!)
I know that some of you are going to be coming back to Chi-town sooner than when classes start (aka...Cat...? ;) and some of you already ARE here, because we live in Chicago... So we plan on starting most likely the week of classes, unless there seems to be a general interest in getting together sooner. ;)
This summer has been so great! Hope it has been equally satisfying to the rest of you!
Blessings and Peace,
Beth
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Monday, May 05, 2008
Who Knew????!!!!
Ok, guys. I know this doesn't really have anything to do with anything spiritual... but I just thought I would let you know that I was doing a little art research this morning and found out the truth.
Yes, friends, the infamous shiny BEAN downtown is really NOT called "The Bean." In all actuality, it was designed by an Indian Sculptor whose name is Anish Kapoor, who titled it, as it was being built, "Cloud Gate."
"What I wanted to do in Millennium Park is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline…so that one will see the clouds kind of floating in, with those very tall buildings reflected in the work. And then, since it is in the form of a gate, the participant, the viewer, will be able to enter into this very deep chamber that does, in a way, the same thing to one's reflection as the exterior of the piece is doing to the reflection of the city around."
-Anish Kapoor
So, correct yourself and your friends...because while our beloved bean has been so dubbed by the Chicago public, in the art world, it is NOT a bean. It's a gate. A cloud gate, in fact.
Needless to say, calling it "The Bean" is way cooler.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Yes, friends, the infamous shiny BEAN downtown is really NOT called "The Bean." In all actuality, it was designed by an Indian Sculptor whose name is Anish Kapoor, who titled it, as it was being built, "Cloud Gate."
"What I wanted to do in Millennium Park is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline…so that one will see the clouds kind of floating in, with those very tall buildings reflected in the work. And then, since it is in the form of a gate, the participant, the viewer, will be able to enter into this very deep chamber that does, in a way, the same thing to one's reflection as the exterior of the piece is doing to the reflection of the city around."
-Anish Kapoor
So, correct yourself and your friends...because while our beloved bean has been so dubbed by the Chicago public, in the art world, it is NOT a bean. It's a gate. A cloud gate, in fact.
Needless to say, calling it "The Bean" is way cooler.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Help Lord....
"Help Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception." Ps 12:1-2
I haven't posted in a while but I just spent 45 minutes ranting to Amanda about how I really feel about christianity. The sad part is that in other christian circles I feel as though I might almost be excommunicated for speaking about such feelings, but thank God that is not the case with this community.
For some time now I have read over this verse and said, "yep, aint that the truth!" I would say it in my heart as though I was sitting from this throne looking down on society and thinking about how godless everything is. "Oh God come and save me from these unbelievers," I would cry. But for the first time tonight I have the conviction of this verse slammed upon my own heart. I have this terrifying image of standing at the gate of heaven, listing off all the things I "accomplished" for the kingdom and having God tell me, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers."(Mt. 7:22)
The truth is, I'm wondering right now what the heck we're doing. Am I really Godly? Am I really the one who would say that I would go to the ends of the earth to find God even if I were the only one left? Or am I just doing the right thing... checking off marks on the christianity check list and and making sure I uphold the classic American christian template? I'm just so burdened with this idea of getting to heaven and hearing God say, "I NEVER KNEW YOU." "But God... I lead youth groups and prayer meetings. I... I made a difference for your kingdom." "But I NEVER KNEW YOU," he might say.
What if in reading this verse from David, it's really me and my peers it's aimed at? What if we're the ones that aren't Godly and "lies to his neighbor." "How ya doing this fine sunday morning Jim?" "Oh great Brian... good to see ya!(insert church smile here)" Meanwhile, there's arguments with the wife, troubles with finances and no intamacy with Christ whatsoever, but dang it, he's there volunteering his time for the kingdom! Have you been there? I sure have! Why are we so afraid to talk about the real issues facing the church today and instead choose to focus on just getting everyone out to the next church event? Was the body of believers not intended to be a place of openess and encouragement in the first place?
Church never saved anyone... JESUS did! I so long for a heart like David's that had next to no interaction with a body of believers(since he was a shepherd and spent a vast majority of his time alone on the hillsides) but instead cultivated a hunger for Christ based on first hand encounter and a family who brought him up right. I'm just so tired of being bound by what the status quo says I ought to look like if I want to be a dedicated christian. And the silly part is that I buy into it. I don't know how to cope without being committed to a cause. I want to KNOW Christ... not meet all the requirements, play by the rules and look like super-christian!
Please pray for our youth at Radiant Church here in the springs. Pray that they would see leaders that ooze Jesus, not just leaders who want see healings just so they can tell everyone about it. Pray that they would not just see leaders who want make them feel good about themselves for giving to the newest outreach event. Pray that they would long to be alone with God as a bride longs to be alone with her groom. Pray that they would see Jesus... not religion, not social interaction.... JESUS!
I haven't posted in a while but I just spent 45 minutes ranting to Amanda about how I really feel about christianity. The sad part is that in other christian circles I feel as though I might almost be excommunicated for speaking about such feelings, but thank God that is not the case with this community.
For some time now I have read over this verse and said, "yep, aint that the truth!" I would say it in my heart as though I was sitting from this throne looking down on society and thinking about how godless everything is. "Oh God come and save me from these unbelievers," I would cry. But for the first time tonight I have the conviction of this verse slammed upon my own heart. I have this terrifying image of standing at the gate of heaven, listing off all the things I "accomplished" for the kingdom and having God tell me, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers."(Mt. 7:22)
The truth is, I'm wondering right now what the heck we're doing. Am I really Godly? Am I really the one who would say that I would go to the ends of the earth to find God even if I were the only one left? Or am I just doing the right thing... checking off marks on the christianity check list and and making sure I uphold the classic American christian template? I'm just so burdened with this idea of getting to heaven and hearing God say, "I NEVER KNEW YOU." "But God... I lead youth groups and prayer meetings. I... I made a difference for your kingdom." "But I NEVER KNEW YOU," he might say.
What if in reading this verse from David, it's really me and my peers it's aimed at? What if we're the ones that aren't Godly and "lies to his neighbor." "How ya doing this fine sunday morning Jim?" "Oh great Brian... good to see ya!(insert church smile here)" Meanwhile, there's arguments with the wife, troubles with finances and no intamacy with Christ whatsoever, but dang it, he's there volunteering his time for the kingdom! Have you been there? I sure have! Why are we so afraid to talk about the real issues facing the church today and instead choose to focus on just getting everyone out to the next church event? Was the body of believers not intended to be a place of openess and encouragement in the first place?
Church never saved anyone... JESUS did! I so long for a heart like David's that had next to no interaction with a body of believers(since he was a shepherd and spent a vast majority of his time alone on the hillsides) but instead cultivated a hunger for Christ based on first hand encounter and a family who brought him up right. I'm just so tired of being bound by what the status quo says I ought to look like if I want to be a dedicated christian. And the silly part is that I buy into it. I don't know how to cope without being committed to a cause. I want to KNOW Christ... not meet all the requirements, play by the rules and look like super-christian!
Please pray for our youth at Radiant Church here in the springs. Pray that they would see leaders that ooze Jesus, not just leaders who want see healings just so they can tell everyone about it. Pray that they would not just see leaders who want make them feel good about themselves for giving to the newest outreach event. Pray that they would long to be alone with God as a bride longs to be alone with her groom. Pray that they would see Jesus... not religion, not social interaction.... JESUS!
Friday, April 18, 2008
Silence- where God gets to be your justifier
The past couple of weeks I have been learning what it means to be silent. Over the past several months I have been struggling with this particular male friend whose friendship I had to bring to an end. We went for several months without speaking and just a few weeks ago he contacted me again in an attempt to reestablish our relationship. After a series of e-mails I decided that I still could not be friends with him and when I chose and path he hoped I wouldn't he ended by saying some nasty things.
Anyway, the point being, I sat at my computer reading what he wrote and fuming, wanting nothing more than to refute everything he had said. I knew full well that he didn't believe the things he said but that he wanted to provoke me into continuing the conversation. I wanted to defend myself, to insist that he was wrong and put him in his place. I went to talk to Pastor Judy in hopes of gaining a little perspective and she gave me some very wise advice. She told me to remain silent because it is in silence that we do not have to justify ourselves. She said, "[solitude] is a place where we go, a place where we let go of our need to be validated by the world, where we let go of our need to justify ourselves to it." How freeing is that, to simply let God be your justifier?
It's our speech that gets us into trouble all the time. James tells us to control our tongues, something that I find so very difficult. However when I changed my perspective and started viewing it as using silence and solitude to let God justify if suddenly seemed easier. It's still a difficult thing and I occasionaly find myself wanting to go back and respond to that e-mail or to stand up and yell at this boy when I see him on campus, but I remember Judy's words and keep my big mouth shut.
And the results have been exactly what I have been looking for all along. Throughout our entire e-mail conversation I kept trying to end each e-mail in a way that would imply no response was necessary, but it never worked. Our words just kept coming and things kept escalating. But when I simply replied that I didn't care to carry on the discussion anymore and refused to try and justify myself, the e-mails stopped. Silence is a very powerful thing, my friends, and I think it's something we should all be attempting to use in a Godly way.
Anyway, the point being, I sat at my computer reading what he wrote and fuming, wanting nothing more than to refute everything he had said. I knew full well that he didn't believe the things he said but that he wanted to provoke me into continuing the conversation. I wanted to defend myself, to insist that he was wrong and put him in his place. I went to talk to Pastor Judy in hopes of gaining a little perspective and she gave me some very wise advice. She told me to remain silent because it is in silence that we do not have to justify ourselves. She said, "[solitude] is a place where we go, a place where we let go of our need to be validated by the world, where we let go of our need to justify ourselves to it." How freeing is that, to simply let God be your justifier?
It's our speech that gets us into trouble all the time. James tells us to control our tongues, something that I find so very difficult. However when I changed my perspective and started viewing it as using silence and solitude to let God justify if suddenly seemed easier. It's still a difficult thing and I occasionaly find myself wanting to go back and respond to that e-mail or to stand up and yell at this boy when I see him on campus, but I remember Judy's words and keep my big mouth shut.
And the results have been exactly what I have been looking for all along. Throughout our entire e-mail conversation I kept trying to end each e-mail in a way that would imply no response was necessary, but it never worked. Our words just kept coming and things kept escalating. But when I simply replied that I didn't care to carry on the discussion anymore and refused to try and justify myself, the e-mails stopped. Silence is a very powerful thing, my friends, and I think it's something we should all be attempting to use in a Godly way.
Encouragement from Chris
Hey everyone - I got a little behind in Chris DaVignon's monthly updates, and just read his March newsletter a couple minutes ago. I am posting it on here for you guys to read. What an encouragment and incredible testimony!!! If you have a chance, call or drop Chris a line sometime... he is still pressing on in San Jose, Costa Rica and would love to hear from all of us!
Reflections from my heart
Dear Sisters and Brothers
I am not a pastor , I am not a youth pastor , I don’t have a lot of bible training and I don’t know a lot about the world I live in and three years ago what I know about the world was limited as I had never left the borders of the United States. At the age of 18 I did not have a good relationship with my parents and well not many 18 year olds do so maybe my family was normal but, on the other hand my family fit into the normal American family my parents never got along and they separated when I was young and then a few years later made it final. Now at age 23 I look back on the past and in spite of all the crap of which some of it I was the cause can say that they did an ok job with me and I am thankful for that. My mother although she was not a big part of my life taught me one thing and that was how I did not want to live and how I did not want to bring up children. However, my father who I love dearly was my saver and he saved me from the abuse of my mother most of which was emotional. I am thankful that he was able to
see through her problems and save me from them in light of his own issues he was the dad that I think most kids dream of. Over the years the history of my family I have tried to forget and I have also tried to forgive my mother for all the things she did to me but, I just can’t seem to do that until this past summer.
As many of you know I worked in Mexico this summer on a church planting team and had the
opportunity to meet some awesome people and shear the love of Christ with a number of people through community development. One day droning the summer all the staff and all the interns where given the day of a day to rest and spend time with God droning that time I found pace with many of the issues from my past that had been on my heart and it was a good time of giving stuff to him. It may seem strange to some but, I am no stranger in the area of family issues as I have been through a number of them. It away it’s funny because when I asked God into my life back in 2000 at a Christ youth conference I thought life would get better because Jesus would fix it. It did not take long to find out not much changed but, something was different I just was to young in my faith to understand the complexity of what was to flow
over the next few years and for a number of years the dynamics of my family changed a number of times and many of the changes where healthy but, no one could have imaged that within a few short years life would hit me and my farther fast and we would find ourselves back in the old days when it was just me and him. However, this time was a little different with me looking at universities. Without God I don’t know where I would be today and without the love and support of my wonderful farther here on this awesome plaint which we call earth a lot of what happened would have never happened. I tell some people the stories of my past and they say that I would have fit into the group of at risk youth if that group was a groping when I was younger. There are times in our lives that our not always easy but over time we
learn what is right and what is wrong and somewhere along the line we learn what we can do about it.
Many people have taught me a number of things some good and some not so good but, overall we learn from doing as the most important things will never be found in a text book.
As members of a global community do we know what is going on around us?
In too many cases we can’t always see what is happing behind closed doors and what we see is
not always the truth. If we only see the world through the world that we know then what we can see is limited to only what we know and therefore we won’t be able to see anything that is outside what we know. As a child I had many people tell me that I would never go anywhere or become much of anything and that the disabilities that I had would prevent me from having a normal job and so on and so on…
As you can see I sucked at listing and I am thankful for reading tutors and other people who could see past what everyone around me was saying about me. I am not saying that everything has been easy as I have been down many bad roods but, over time I have learned to deal with what I have and I believe that God blessed me with a disability as I am able to understand a wonderful group of people who many will never get to know. Each of us has been given some kind of gift from God and this is what makes each of us a special member of the body. As each member has a job in the body and when a part of the body is broken it is the job of other member to help the hearting part.
“The work is plateful and the works are few”
In a country like the United States there is a church almost everywhere and people have access to God’s word and they also have access to learn about him and his wonderful gift of salvation. Over the past two year I have come to learn about the third world and lands where the name of Jesus is not know by many and if they know his name they don’t want anything to do with religion. At first I was confused way so many people did not want to hear anything about Jesus or God and over time I came to learn that people didn’t want anything to do with religion because in many case they had been hurt by the church or in some cases they where scared that there family would not be very happy with them if they said Christ was there Lord and Saver. After they learn about the love God has for them and his gift of salvation thy start to see that God has nothing to do with religion. There are a lot of good church’s out there but, I have
yet to find a church that sol focus is own living as a community and have Christ at the center.
We are not all called into full time ministry and we weren’t all created to sever our God and king
that way but, no matter what we do for a living we are in a small way severing our Lord and King.
If you’re a teacher your teaching the kids of today to be ready for tomorrow and if you’re a doctor yourdoing your part too and the list goes on and one. Ministry comes in many shapes and sizes and one size douse not fit all some of us work in our homeland and server in a verity of different ways and others go from there homeland and join up with locals to help them with their needs. I have meet a number of people who’s don’t understand missions and have little or no idea of what they need to do and as North Americans many of us have this “Fix it now” mentality which is as unhealthy as eating only fried food.
As missionaries we most ask a number of question before we try to help anyone and first off we most spend all of our time learning the history of the local people then as we are learning the history we must learn to speak the local language then over time as we get to know the local people and we gain an understand of who they are and what their needs are then and only then can we start to help them identify the needs of the area then ounces this has been accomplished then we can move into the next steps of working with the local people to utilize any local resources which might be able to help with the issues and needs that have been identify. At no time can we go into a community and tell the community what needs to changes and who they most changes as this method will not work and would you like someone coming from a unknown land coming into your community and telling you what you have been doing wrong for 100 plus years. I think not and over time as we work with the local people we teach them how
to teach others and as we are working with the locals on the needs of the community the opportunity to teach them about the Love of God and his gift of salvation will arise and then the teach moves to a new leave and in a short time the seeds we plaint well grow and then we move on and let locals teach locals.
I was online looking a few nights back looking for some information on the church and came
across a website for a church and my eye was drawn to this line “Youth Group membership at an all time low down 13.6 % from January 2007 but, Church membership up 20% this month as we have reach our goal of 2,000 plus.” This church has needs to take a good look at ask themselves where God is? Reading the line sounds like something I would see on the NY stock exchange website not on a website for a church. What happened to the church, what about the body of Christ? , what about living in community?
I am not trying to say that the church is a bad thing all I am saying is let us ask ourselves and see where God is and if he is not at the center then we need to check to see if we are rely working for him or have we become a part of the world that we are only visitors in?
This past week has been a time of rest and I am thankful for the time that I have been given to reflect on a number of things that over the past 8 months or so God has been teaching me. There are a number of question that need to be asked when it comes to ministry.
1. What are the needs of the local people according to the local people?
2. How can I/we help the local people come up with a plain to address their needs?
3. What recourse is available to that local community that can be used to address some or all
of the needs identified ?
4. How can we use this recourse?
5. What are two needs need to be address imminently?
6. What outside help is need to aid in addressing the needs of the community , what outside
aid do the local people think would be helpful
a. Job Training
b. Community development
c. Communication
7. What douse the community want to see happen over the next 6 months, 1 year , 2 years … ?
8. How is the community going to take ownership of their needs
It’s not easy being a member of the global community but, it is very important that we learn from each other to addresses each other’s needs. Some needs may seem obvious where other needs may be hidden from the view of the human eye. Needs such as conflict revaluation may not be as obvious as the need for access to clean water but, what every the needs of the community our it’s not our job to tell the community what their needs our it’s our job to help the local people see what their needs our and help them see what they can do to address their own needs. We are here to help each other , we are not send to another land to tell people what they our doing wrong for who are we to say what they’re doing in not wrong. It may not be how it is done in the states but, we have to remember that we are not in the states. I am reminded time and time again that God has been in a place for many years before I
even get there so it’s not my job to play God but, rather it’s my job to shear his love with the local people and he will do the rest.
As I move from place to place shearing the love of Jesus and his message of salvation with some of the youngest member of the kingdom and I add each place to where I am from as each place I live because a part of who I am, it douse not matter where I am or where I am going one thing will never change. I fit into the body of Christ and I fit among the member of the global church.
As I move from country to country I add it to where I am from as the people and their language becomes a part of who I am and my understand of the world changes as who I am changes. There are a lot of things I do not know and cannot answer but, I do know this I am a child of God and I am a member of a global community and I have a reasonability to work with my sisters and brothers in Christ to make the global community a better place.
How are you being part of the body of Christ as a member of a global community?
God’s already there before we arrive.
What have we let God do for us? What douse God want us to do? Where douse God want us to go?
Today I am studying Spanish in San Jose Costa Rica preparing to share the fathers love in the Spanish speaking world and to work with my Spanish speaking brothers and sisters make the world a better place. In the past year I have lived in Mexico and Costa Rica, I have also worked in a number of churches with inner-city youth and children as well as urban children and youth in Mexico. I have also been to three other countries on short term trips and have developed a view of the world that not many hold. I live in the third world and am a member of a global community. If you don’t agree with what I have to say I’m ok with that as what I am saying comes from my expenses from working on a global level. In addition I am struggling with a number of money issues and the money in my bank account keep going down and the bills don’t go away. I have been blessed up to this point and I have yet to be late on a payment so places pray that my money problems will not get out of hand. Also over the past few weeks I
have felt a need to stay in Central America maybe here in Costa Rica or to make a move to another part of the region. I have a number of ides I would like to try out and I would like to start experimenting with a few of them in La Carpio. My first idea which is not rely my idea but, comes from working in Mexico this past summer is a oven that uses the sun. They are cheap to make and they can save money as they use the sun and that’s free. For about 6-7 USD there also cheap to make. I have places to make them but, they have not gotten of the ground as of yet. Places pray for God to guide me as I work on trying to build on myself and convert the plans. Place pray that this solar over will become a ministry tool.
Blessings
Tu hermano
Chris
Reflections from my heart
Dear Sisters and Brothers
I am not a pastor , I am not a youth pastor , I don’t have a lot of bible training and I don’t know a lot about the world I live in and three years ago what I know about the world was limited as I had never left the borders of the United States. At the age of 18 I did not have a good relationship with my parents and well not many 18 year olds do so maybe my family was normal but, on the other hand my family fit into the normal American family my parents never got along and they separated when I was young and then a few years later made it final. Now at age 23 I look back on the past and in spite of all the crap of which some of it I was the cause can say that they did an ok job with me and I am thankful for that. My mother although she was not a big part of my life taught me one thing and that was how I did not want to live and how I did not want to bring up children. However, my father who I love dearly was my saver and he saved me from the abuse of my mother most of which was emotional. I am thankful that he was able to
see through her problems and save me from them in light of his own issues he was the dad that I think most kids dream of. Over the years the history of my family I have tried to forget and I have also tried to forgive my mother for all the things she did to me but, I just can’t seem to do that until this past summer.
As many of you know I worked in Mexico this summer on a church planting team and had the
opportunity to meet some awesome people and shear the love of Christ with a number of people through community development. One day droning the summer all the staff and all the interns where given the day of a day to rest and spend time with God droning that time I found pace with many of the issues from my past that had been on my heart and it was a good time of giving stuff to him. It may seem strange to some but, I am no stranger in the area of family issues as I have been through a number of them. It away it’s funny because when I asked God into my life back in 2000 at a Christ youth conference I thought life would get better because Jesus would fix it. It did not take long to find out not much changed but, something was different I just was to young in my faith to understand the complexity of what was to flow
over the next few years and for a number of years the dynamics of my family changed a number of times and many of the changes where healthy but, no one could have imaged that within a few short years life would hit me and my farther fast and we would find ourselves back in the old days when it was just me and him. However, this time was a little different with me looking at universities. Without God I don’t know where I would be today and without the love and support of my wonderful farther here on this awesome plaint which we call earth a lot of what happened would have never happened. I tell some people the stories of my past and they say that I would have fit into the group of at risk youth if that group was a groping when I was younger. There are times in our lives that our not always easy but over time we
learn what is right and what is wrong and somewhere along the line we learn what we can do about it.
Many people have taught me a number of things some good and some not so good but, overall we learn from doing as the most important things will never be found in a text book.
As members of a global community do we know what is going on around us?
In too many cases we can’t always see what is happing behind closed doors and what we see is
not always the truth. If we only see the world through the world that we know then what we can see is limited to only what we know and therefore we won’t be able to see anything that is outside what we know. As a child I had many people tell me that I would never go anywhere or become much of anything and that the disabilities that I had would prevent me from having a normal job and so on and so on…
As you can see I sucked at listing and I am thankful for reading tutors and other people who could see past what everyone around me was saying about me. I am not saying that everything has been easy as I have been down many bad roods but, over time I have learned to deal with what I have and I believe that God blessed me with a disability as I am able to understand a wonderful group of people who many will never get to know. Each of us has been given some kind of gift from God and this is what makes each of us a special member of the body. As each member has a job in the body and when a part of the body is broken it is the job of other member to help the hearting part.
“The work is plateful and the works are few”
In a country like the United States there is a church almost everywhere and people have access to God’s word and they also have access to learn about him and his wonderful gift of salvation. Over the past two year I have come to learn about the third world and lands where the name of Jesus is not know by many and if they know his name they don’t want anything to do with religion. At first I was confused way so many people did not want to hear anything about Jesus or God and over time I came to learn that people didn’t want anything to do with religion because in many case they had been hurt by the church or in some cases they where scared that there family would not be very happy with them if they said Christ was there Lord and Saver. After they learn about the love God has for them and his gift of salvation thy start to see that God has nothing to do with religion. There are a lot of good church’s out there but, I have
yet to find a church that sol focus is own living as a community and have Christ at the center.
We are not all called into full time ministry and we weren’t all created to sever our God and king
that way but, no matter what we do for a living we are in a small way severing our Lord and King.
If you’re a teacher your teaching the kids of today to be ready for tomorrow and if you’re a doctor yourdoing your part too and the list goes on and one. Ministry comes in many shapes and sizes and one size douse not fit all some of us work in our homeland and server in a verity of different ways and others go from there homeland and join up with locals to help them with their needs. I have meet a number of people who’s don’t understand missions and have little or no idea of what they need to do and as North Americans many of us have this “Fix it now” mentality which is as unhealthy as eating only fried food.
As missionaries we most ask a number of question before we try to help anyone and first off we most spend all of our time learning the history of the local people then as we are learning the history we must learn to speak the local language then over time as we get to know the local people and we gain an understand of who they are and what their needs are then and only then can we start to help them identify the needs of the area then ounces this has been accomplished then we can move into the next steps of working with the local people to utilize any local resources which might be able to help with the issues and needs that have been identify. At no time can we go into a community and tell the community what needs to changes and who they most changes as this method will not work and would you like someone coming from a unknown land coming into your community and telling you what you have been doing wrong for 100 plus years. I think not and over time as we work with the local people we teach them how
to teach others and as we are working with the locals on the needs of the community the opportunity to teach them about the Love of God and his gift of salvation will arise and then the teach moves to a new leave and in a short time the seeds we plaint well grow and then we move on and let locals teach locals.
I was online looking a few nights back looking for some information on the church and came
across a website for a church and my eye was drawn to this line “Youth Group membership at an all time low down 13.6 % from January 2007 but, Church membership up 20% this month as we have reach our goal of 2,000 plus.” This church has needs to take a good look at ask themselves where God is? Reading the line sounds like something I would see on the NY stock exchange website not on a website for a church. What happened to the church, what about the body of Christ? , what about living in community?
I am not trying to say that the church is a bad thing all I am saying is let us ask ourselves and see where God is and if he is not at the center then we need to check to see if we are rely working for him or have we become a part of the world that we are only visitors in?
This past week has been a time of rest and I am thankful for the time that I have been given to reflect on a number of things that over the past 8 months or so God has been teaching me. There are a number of question that need to be asked when it comes to ministry.
1. What are the needs of the local people according to the local people?
2. How can I/we help the local people come up with a plain to address their needs?
3. What recourse is available to that local community that can be used to address some or all
of the needs identified ?
4. How can we use this recourse?
5. What are two needs need to be address imminently?
6. What outside help is need to aid in addressing the needs of the community , what outside
aid do the local people think would be helpful
a. Job Training
b. Community development
c. Communication
7. What douse the community want to see happen over the next 6 months, 1 year , 2 years … ?
8. How is the community going to take ownership of their needs
It’s not easy being a member of the global community but, it is very important that we learn from each other to addresses each other’s needs. Some needs may seem obvious where other needs may be hidden from the view of the human eye. Needs such as conflict revaluation may not be as obvious as the need for access to clean water but, what every the needs of the community our it’s not our job to tell the community what their needs our it’s our job to help the local people see what their needs our and help them see what they can do to address their own needs. We are here to help each other , we are not send to another land to tell people what they our doing wrong for who are we to say what they’re doing in not wrong. It may not be how it is done in the states but, we have to remember that we are not in the states. I am reminded time and time again that God has been in a place for many years before I
even get there so it’s not my job to play God but, rather it’s my job to shear his love with the local people and he will do the rest.
As I move from place to place shearing the love of Jesus and his message of salvation with some of the youngest member of the kingdom and I add each place to where I am from as each place I live because a part of who I am, it douse not matter where I am or where I am going one thing will never change. I fit into the body of Christ and I fit among the member of the global church.
As I move from country to country I add it to where I am from as the people and their language becomes a part of who I am and my understand of the world changes as who I am changes. There are a lot of things I do not know and cannot answer but, I do know this I am a child of God and I am a member of a global community and I have a reasonability to work with my sisters and brothers in Christ to make the global community a better place.
How are you being part of the body of Christ as a member of a global community?
God’s already there before we arrive.
What have we let God do for us? What douse God want us to do? Where douse God want us to go?
Today I am studying Spanish in San Jose Costa Rica preparing to share the fathers love in the Spanish speaking world and to work with my Spanish speaking brothers and sisters make the world a better place. In the past year I have lived in Mexico and Costa Rica, I have also worked in a number of churches with inner-city youth and children as well as urban children and youth in Mexico. I have also been to three other countries on short term trips and have developed a view of the world that not many hold. I live in the third world and am a member of a global community. If you don’t agree with what I have to say I’m ok with that as what I am saying comes from my expenses from working on a global level. In addition I am struggling with a number of money issues and the money in my bank account keep going down and the bills don’t go away. I have been blessed up to this point and I have yet to be late on a payment so places pray that my money problems will not get out of hand. Also over the past few weeks I
have felt a need to stay in Central America maybe here in Costa Rica or to make a move to another part of the region. I have a number of ides I would like to try out and I would like to start experimenting with a few of them in La Carpio. My first idea which is not rely my idea but, comes from working in Mexico this past summer is a oven that uses the sun. They are cheap to make and they can save money as they use the sun and that’s free. For about 6-7 USD there also cheap to make. I have places to make them but, they have not gotten of the ground as of yet. Places pray for God to guide me as I work on trying to build on myself and convert the plans. Place pray that this solar over will become a ministry tool.
Blessings
Tu hermano
Chris
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
My poor dad - his aunt is not doing so well. She, my grandpa's sister, has had a series of mini strokes for about a month/month and a half now. She would fall down, but recover quickly and be just fine... doctors still don't really know what's happening, and she's losing will to move or find out what's wrong, from what I could tell in the email dad sent my family today.
This aunt was to him what Aunt Jo is for me - giving and caring for him all through life, lending him a car till he could afford one, and being very supportive and important in his life.
pray for my dad, I know he has a lot on his mind.
Monday, April 14, 2008
For the Seniors...
For all of you Seniors who are about to tackle your Comprehensive exams.....
Just breathe and smile. It will be over soon.... :)
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