Category: Faith

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Choose Love…

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Sometimes this world seems just a little too difficult.

The things we see and witness, the pressures of family, finances and friendships, the differences in world views that are literally trying to rip us apart as a society are all constantly playing in out in our lives like a looped video. As a result, we often feel powerless, hopeless, frustrated and sad when we think of the days that are ahead of us. That feeling of “I can’t do anything about it” is the worst feeling we can have and it is the one thing we can’t allow ourselves to believe! We CAN do something! We ALL can do something! What can we do? We can choose to love!

We can choose to love those we don’t understand. We can choose to love those we don’t agree with. We can choose to love those that have wronged us or we fear will wrong us. We can choose to love those that have different beliefs. We can choose to love those that have different life experiences and expectations out of life. We can choose to love those that are struggling and those that boast. We can also choose to love those that may never know we love them. All of this is within our power…

There are many people here in Antigua that are struggling for one reason or the other and as a result, they sit on the sidewalks and beg for handouts. These people have become “invisible” to most of the tourists and even mission teams that visit the city. They are routinely walked around, looked over and avoided at all cost. But the funny thing is…they have become “my peeps.”

Luis

Over the past few months here in Antigua, I have developed what is now becoming a little “street ministry.” Each day I’m in Spanish class from about 9am to 3pm. Then I hit the streets to get my workout in. (10,000 steps/day…thanks to the ever present reporting of fit-bit.) During my walk, I’ll go by and see “my peeps.” They are usually located at certain places in and around the city. Some are in the park, some sit on a sidewalk on a certain street. Some are on a street corner and some are just wandering around.

Once I find them I’ll just sit down with them and talk. Sometimes we’ll pray together, sometimes we’ll just talk about their day or their family or life, and sometimes… we’ll just sit. But the important thing is…they are no longer “invisible.” They are seen and we are friends. I truly love these people! Nothing makes me smile more than the time we get to spend together each day. They are a gift to me.

So I guess my point is this…there are people in our daily lives right now that deserve our attention…they deserve our time and they deserve our love. But they are not the easiest to love. Choosing love empowers us and puts life back into proper perspective. Sometimes it is not easy. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable and it can sometimes be inconvenient…but it’s one of our only…and I believe our best option. It also provides a healing that this world most desperately needs…

We all can do something. We can all do this… Choose to love.

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Being lost vs. Feeling lost…

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I spent last weekend with Oscar, Amy and Diego at their home in the mountains of Las Anonas, Guatemala. Their home is located within a beautiful compound and just behind their home are beautiful mountains, trees, and fields.

Late in the afternoon on Saturday, Diego and I decided to hike in the mountains behind their home. He had done it many times and called it a “small walk.” So we took off on a “small walk.” We climbed over and under several barbed wire fences and eventually found ourselves in the most beautiful pasture land and rolling hills that I have seen.

As we took a moment to take in the beautiful scenery, he pointed out to me where he had previously hiked. He pointed up to a mountain where there happened to be smoke about two-thirds of the way up the mountain and he said that once he had almost climbed that high. So we headed off in that direction.

Now the terrain was a mix of trees, open pasture and then a large section of brush. We hiked up navigating over dry stream beds, climbed over rocks, and danced around all types of thorned bushes. But through it all…it was straight up…like steep up!

Both of us realized just how bad we were out of shape as our hearts raced and we were gasping for our next breath. All the while continuing up and continuing to push our way through brush, thorns, and no visible path.

We finally reached a point to where Diego said, “Wow, I’ve never been up this far before!” So we took a moment to take in the view and then tried to decide our next move.

  1. Do we go down the same way we came up? That answer was no. We were not going to forge our way through all of that brush again.
  2. Do we make our way to the treeline and hope we can go down with less effort? We tried that and were soon faced with a large deep washout that was surrounded by brush.
  3. Do we continue to go up and then try to find a road or another way down? That sounded like a plan and so we continued up.

We finally reached and open field on the side of the mountain where people were working the soil planting corn. This is where the smoke was coming from that we had seen from the bottom of the mountain. We continued up to the top of the mountain. The view was spectacular, but it also proved to us that we were very far from where we had begun our hike.

We took a moment to consult Google Maps to get a look at where we were and the easiest way to get “home.” The sun was beginning to set behind the mountain, and soon it would be getting dark. I began to feel the tightening in my chest of the oncoming of some anxiety as I realized that our options to get home before dark were going to be limited to:

  1. Going back the way we came. Yuk.
  2. Hiking towards another mountain, thinking we would hit a road that would then take us back to Las Anonas.

I stood on top of this mountain and just looked at my options…none of them felt right. Then I did something random and completely by mistake…I walked about 10 feet to another area on the mountain…

What I saw in this new location was a clearing that led down the mountain to a treeline that would take us in the right direction…towards home. So that’s what we did. We took that path.

The clearing was an easy downhill walk to the treeline. I picked up a beautiful trail under the trees that led us down the mountain and dumped us back into the pasture where we had started our uphill climb.

10 feet…I just moved 10 feet…and everything changed.

I thought about the “life lesson” I experienced on this hike. Sometimes we find ourselves in a “proverbial pickle.” A situation that seems hopeless or filled with anxiety and risk. Our options at this point may seem limited. But what I learned to do was to change my perspective. Do something. Not big or drastic. Just do something I haven’t done yet…like walk 10 feet to get a new perspective.

How this might look in real life could be doing things like taking a drive, going a new way to work, getting up an hour earlier, journaling, working out, calling an old friend, taking a class…something…anything new and different.

We all get lost from time to time…but we don’t have to feel lost. We have a way home, and we may simply need to move a mere 10 feet to see it.

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How do we deal with the tragedies of life?

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When I was a kid growing up, I never questioned my parent’s decisions.

For instance, when I was six years old, I would have never thought to walk into my parent’s room and demand for them to tell me how they filled out their tax forms for the year and question the deductions they did or didn’t take. I would have never challenged my Dad on his choice of routes that he was going to drive on our annual vacation. I would have never demanded an explanation for decisions that he made at work. Because, as a six-year-old, I had my hands full with my own stuff.

My job was to play nice with my friends. To take a nap each day and to eat everything on my plate. My job was to pick up my toys when I was through playing with them. My job was to say “please and thank you” and to hold my parent’s hand when we crossed the street. Life was simple as long as I focused on my stuff…

So in the wake of the recent mudslides in Guatemala, the shootings in Oregon, the floods in the Carolinas, the craziness of Syria and Isis…I often hear people questioning the goodness of God. They wonder…why God would “allow” such events to take place…and in some cases, they demand an explanation!

The problem I have with such thinking is that by demanding an explanation…they are willfully distancing themselves from God…the very thing they NEED when struggling with such a question. By them failing to get an answer…they walk away…from Him and from the very thing they need the most during this time…unconditional love despite the ever-present storms of life.

The act of questioning and challenging God is not a new thing. It is a pattern of human behavior going back to the dawn of man. I read in the Bible about Job having it out with God and demanding answers for his tragedy. I think he is the only person that ever got an explanation from God and in reading God’s response…I learned not to question God…just go with it!

So what do we as humans do when the storms of tragedy fall down upon us and disrupt our lives, tear at our hearts and consume those we deem as innocent victims…what do we do?

We should do what may seem “unnatural” for many of us…we should run towards God. That is the best place to be. As the saying goes, the safest place in a hurricane is the center of the storm. Once there, feel free to share what is in YOUR heart. Share your fears, your pains, and your uncertainties… He shares all you feel. Then when you’re out of words…just reach up and grab his hand… and don’t let go. Trust me…you’ll be fine.

I know it may sound simple…but it worked when I was six.

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Frozen Dinner Christianity

In the Bible, Jesus spoke in parables to highlight a message that we could understand and apply to our lives. I believe He still is doing that today. 

 Being a new Christian, I am hungry for knowledge of how He wants me to live and act and think. When I read the Bible, it is almost like food. It fills me in ways unlike anything else I have ever experienced. It’s so simple…all one has to do is read the directions…just like a TV dinner. 

Look at the package of a TV Dinner. 

  1.  It’s an image of perfection. Everything is in its compartment – in perfect order. 
  2. It tells you how good it is for you. 
  3. It gives you rules or directions to make it as the maker intended. 
  4. It has been inspected – so you know you can trust that it is safe. 
  5. It gives you details of everything that went into making it. 
  6. It tells you how long it is good for. 
  7. It tells you what to do if you have questions.

 Pretty exciting huh! Now let’s open the box and see how perfect we look! 

The first thing we notice is the transparency layer that separates the food from the box. 

You must wonder why the maker wanted us to see how ugly the food was! 

The reality is… 

  1. It’s cold and hard. 
  2. It looks nothing like the perfect package did! 
  3. Things aren’t in order like the photo 
  4. It’s not appealing at all 
  5. It almost looks sinful – it’s hardly what the photo looks like. 

Our first response is… “I want the package! I want to be like that!”  

If I saw this frozen lump in the market, would I have bought it? Probably not… I needed the box to show me what it COULD look like if I follow the directions. 

I needed the box, I needed the directions. 

If I just leave it alone to thaw out will it taste good? Probably not… I need the HEAT! 

The directions tell us to first vent the transparency layer. In some cases, it requires us to remove the transparency layer completely! Won’t it burn? 

The makers know that when the heat is applied to the cold, pressure builds because the steam that previously kept the food frozen must escape. As more heat is applied to the dinner, it slowly becomes more and more like the photo. 

The promises that were made on the package have been kept. However… is it as perfect looking as the photo? 

No – but it still gives us the nutrition that it promised and it fills us like we needed. 

And even after it has served to fill our stomachs – it provides a sweet dessert for us to enjoy! 

How sweet THAT is!

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A cure for the Christmas flu…

 ‘Tis the season for some of us to come down with a touch of the “Christmas flu”. That sickly feeling of expectations exceeding current plans, desires, and checking accounts. Don’t let it get you down. It’s not about “doing”…it’s about “being”.

Saturday, I volunteered at the Christmas Store. It is an event that is sponsored by the church that I’ve been attending similar to many events held during this season. This event allowed people to come to the church and pick out 2 gifts for each child at a cost of $5.00 per toy regardless of the toy. Then we took all the toys selected by the parents and wrapped them and put the kid’s names on the gifts and then packaged them together in large trash bags while the parents got to sit and eat cookies and listen to Christmas music played by a live band. The reason behind allowing them to pay for the toys was one of trying to preserve a parent’s sense of dignity by allowing them to pay something… and from what I witnessed…it did all that and more.

It snowed all day on Saturday… and my job was to carry all the packages out to their cars or in some cases…walk them down to the bus stop. What a wonderful blessing the day was! Each time I walked back to the church…I looked up as the snow fell on my face and I thanked God for blessing me so much.

As the day was drawing to an end, I saw a black woman probably in her mid 60’s leaving the Christmas event. She was carrying a small gift in a bag as she walked down the sidewalk by herself. I ran to catch up with her and offered to carry her bag to wherever she was going. She said she was going to the bus stop…to catch the #15 bus! So me, being a “public transportation veteran now” knew exactly what to do and where to take her. So as we were walking, she shared that she was going home to an empty house with no sign of Christmas in the house and she was depressed. I asked why and she shared that several years ago at this time, her only son was taken out of school by a man that pretended to be a family relative. The boy was then raped and killed. She has never gotten over the tragedy. We continued to talk and she said she should probably just go home and end her life so she could be with her son again… I told her not to do that. I told her that she was “supposed” to live and that the reason she was living was that God had something left that she was supposed to do. I didn’t know what it was…and maybe she didn’t either…but God did… and He would see to it that she completed her responsibility. She said that the only thing she liked to do was listen to the Christmas music that we played. I asked her if she ever heard the Christmas song called, O come, O come Emmanuel…she said “O yes, I love that one”. I told her it was one of my favorites as well…but until recently I never knew that Emmanuel actually meant “God with us”. I said that singing that song in church reminds me that Christmas is the celebration that on that night…God came down from Heaven to be with us and he will never leave us again.

We finally reached her bus stop and I told her that I loved her and gave her a hug. As I walked away, I heard her shout my name, as I turned around she yelled, “What time does church start tomorrow”? I shouted back and said, “10:00” and smiled…and she said… “I’ll see you there!”

Christmas “can” be a very wonderful and special time for all of us. We just have to remember what it’s all about and why it is celebrated. If you do…you’ll receive a gift no store can stock on its shelves… one that has been completely and permanently paid for…all we have to do is accept it. Try “being” in the Holiday spirit. Let your heartfelt love for people be your gift…on the bus, at work, and everywhere in between. That might be the greatest gift someone might get this year!