Monday, June 11, 2007

Lessons in Faith

My son, James, eleven years old asked me if it was taking advantage of God to pray for something when you knew He was going to answer!

My neighbor, Nati, who has known the Lord now for two and a half years was telling me about her days.  She said, "sometimes I wake up grouchy.  Then, I think why am I angry?  And I pray to God to touch my heart and then I forget why I was angry and I'm happy."  Then she said she has a pain in her side, but when it hurts she just gets up and works and praises God.  Then it feels better.  Her joy in believing is  infectious.

Then I listen to my other neighbor, Dani, also a Christian for about two and a half years.  She says, " I know it's only by faith that we can have anything.  I know because I used to try to change myself before and it never worked.  Then I just gave up and didn't worry about it anymore and now I'm changed.  It was God who did it all!"

These expressions of faith teach and humble me.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God..."
Rom.5:1

Kelly


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Monday, February 12, 2007

The Sheep Worm

I grabbed my ringing cellphone and stepped outside to get a better signal. I took my usually "good signal place" under a tree in our front yard and began to chat. And then it hit.

An intense pain in the sole of my foot. I thought I had stepped on a bee, but the pain became more and more intense, and I had to hang up the phone. I searched the ground for what had stung me, and there it was... a sheep worm.

These babies are highly poisonous caterpillars that live in trees, but some times fall to the ground as the wind knocks them loose. They are called sheep worms because of their deceptively furry covering, which are actually thousands of little hypodermic needles poised and waiting for their next victim.

I told Denny to bring me an onion and a knife as quick as he could. I cut the onion and smeared it on the sting area, this brought some relief. Kelly went next door to get some help from a neighbor. He brought over a feather, some paper, some matches, a lemon, and a bottle of some black substance.

First he cut the lemon and rubbed it on the wound, this (like the onion) denatures the poison somewhat. He then lit the paper and waved it very close to the sting area. This singes off the minute hairlike stingers that get left behind by the caterpillar. Then he took the feather and dipped it into the bottle of black stuff, which turned out to be diluted creosote, and serves as a disinfectant. He smeared this on the affected area. Treatment complete.

By this time the poison had spread to my lymph nodes in my groin, where I was having cramp like pain. An hour later this pain subsided, but the pain in my foot continued for another 24 hours and then was numb for another 24 after that.

Such a little thing, that caused such lasting pain. I think words can be like that.

Monday, January 22, 2007

The Cost To Follow Jesus

Dani, our next door neighbor and a new believer had promised to give her testimony at our next monthly get together, yet three times in a row our "Encuentro" was cancelled because of rain. She told Kelly that God was giving her a few more weeks with her friends before she would loose them all, because of her public stand for Christ.

I asked Dalmiro another new believer if he was afraid of that people would think if he got baptised. He answered and said, "If I was afraid of what people thought, believe me, we would not be having this Bible study at my house!"

Nati, Dalmiro's wife said she was more afraid of what God would think, than what people thought.

I constantly under estimate two things down here in Paraguay. One: how much it is costing these people to truly follow after Jesus. And Two: How the Holy Spirit can so empower people to live for Christ when they know persecution awaits them.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Thought The Fool

Is it better be thought a fool or to be accused of being unfriendly? Many times out here in the rural areas, people come to ask for help or to sell something in order to get a little cash. One particular day a man came wanting to sell some pork from a pig that he was going to be killing the next day. I told him that I would like a certain cut of meat that runs along the spine of the hog. He said he would sell that to me and I waited for the meat to come the next day.


When he brought the meat, it wasn't meat at all, but just the backbone with a few dangling pieces of meat. This wasn't what I asked for. He also charged me for a prime cut of meat rather than for soup bones. What should my reaction be?


I could have demanded my rights and told the man that he was not being fair with me, but I did not. Such a reaction would have been justified, but also looked upon as very unfriendly. The man would probably have told his friends about the transaction and in the telling of the story my character would be described more strongly as angry and hard to get along with.


As it stands now, I just seem foolish in the eyes of this man, and as he recounts the story to his friends, my character will be described as naive and easy to be taken advantage of. Now, I do not relish this second stereotype, it does however, leave the door open to talk with this man and his friends in the future.


One of the hardest things for me to lay aside as a Christian are what I perceive are my personal rights, yet this is what I see the "God become man" doing all the time. It is not about my reputation it is about His. And He was accustomed to being thought the fool.


To be sure, unless the Lord directly shows me differently, I will not be buying things from this man in the future, but I do hope to have a
continued relationship with him.