Our First Mens Bible Study This Year

 

The dreaded "sheep worm" (yso ovecha)

 

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.

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.

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.

On Money

I've been wanting to write about our philosophy on finances and support for awhile. The things I will share are the personal convictions of Kelly and I. SIM as an organization, and other missionaries within SIM all hold some differing convictions in this area, yet all of us hold to the conviction that God is our provider and ultimately we trust Him alone for our finances and wellbeing, thus giving Him all the glory.

Our family has made the following declaration. "If God was to take everything away from us, yet leave us Jesus Christ, He would be enough." This means that, if God was to take my family, if God was to take my wife, if God was to take my sight, hearing or speech, if God were to take my health, still Jesus would be enough.

This is a daring declaration and yet we see this type of contentment reflected in many of the Apostle Paul's statements.

With regards to financial support the Apostle Paul says:
> I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and
> every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment,
> whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing. I am able
> to do all things through the one who strengthens me. Phi 4:12-13)

With regards to his present suffering he says:
> We are .... as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying and yet (see!)
> we continue to live; as those who are scourged and yet not
> executed; as sorrowful,but always rejoicing, as poor, but making
> many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (2Co
> 6:9-10)

Paul expands on this "everything" in these verses:
> God is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who
> became for us wisdom from Him, and righteousness and sanctification
> and redemption,
> (1Co 1:30)
> Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
> blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in
> Christ. For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world
> that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love.
> (Eph 1:3-4)

And finally with regards to his past Paul says:
> More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the
> far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have
> suffered the loss of all things ( indeed, I regard them as dung! )
> that I may gain Christ,
> (Phi 3:8)

As Christ has become more and more to Kelly and I we find our selves wanting fewer and fewer things. We find that the more we treasure Him, the less we treasure the things, the comforts and the conveniences of the world. We find ourselves striving more to know Christ and less to please ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice air conditioned room and a big scoop of ice cream as much as the next guy, but we are not striving for these things.

As Christ has become more and more to us, we find ourselves needing fewer and fewer things. Whenever I am asked if we need something here on the mission field, I always find it difficult to give an answer. God has promised us food and shelter and I guess that's about all we "need". It is true that there are somethings that would make ministry and life easier, but that does not always constitute a need. We needed a way to sort through what was truly a need and what was just something that would make things easier.

This is where prayer and dependence on the Lord comes in. When we think we have a need, we just begin praying about it. We are confident that if it is a need that the Lord wants us to have, then He will provide the opportunity or funds to provide for that need. We are confident that He will prompt others to give towards our needs even though we have not asked them. So when we see the Lord's provision we are left without a doubt that this was something we needed in order for us to do God's will in our life and ministry.

Dr James H Taylor, great grandson of Hudson Taylor gives several guiding principles in the preface of the book "When God Provides" that sum up what I have been saying,

1. "God is dependable"
2. We are willing to, but "we do not need to talk to man about our needs"
3. Prayer is key
4. We choose to live simply
5. "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply"

May we all grow in our dependence on God and our satisfaction in
knowing Christ.

Still Learning

While walking into town one day I had this conversation with a gentleman:

ME: Good Morning
MAN: Good Morning
ME: How are you this morning
MAN: Fine. And You?
ME: Great
MAN: When can you come by my house and visit me?
ME: Oh, about a month ago.
MAN: That's nice, but when can you come by and visit me?
ME: Oh sorry, about a year and a half?
MAN: Yes, but when can you come by and see me?
ME: I get it. About four years and then we go back for another stay
MAN: [Looks at me with great sympathy the way one might look upon a wounded animal]
ME: I'm sorry I'm still not understanding your question. Could you repeat it slowly?
MAN: When Can You Come By My House And Visit Me ?
ME: I'm so sorry. I'm still working on my Guarani. I'll be by your house next week.
MAN: Great! We'll see each other later
ME: Yes. We'll talk later

I am so glad that grace abounds to me both on the part of Our Loving
Father and on the part of my Paraguayan friends.

Unscathed

We have arrived unscathed here in Paraguay and have spent the past week and a half in Asuncion. We have had the opportunity to meet many of the new missionaries that had arrived on the field since we went on furlough. We have also renewed many old friendships.

We are ready to tuck ourselves away in our little corner of the world here in Paraguay and will take what is supposed to be a five hour bus ride into the interior to the city of Yuty. In Yuty we will stay the night with our friends and co-workers the Reichs. Then on Wednesday we will make the short trip to our home.

Sitting in a Hotel Room

We can't believe it. I'm sitting in a hotel room in Charlotte NC, and in just a few days we will be flying to our home in Paraguay. It has been a blessed furlough and we have seen God's continued powerful hand in our lives. We have seen Kelly healed of cancer through the skillful hands of surgeons and the wisdom of our oncologists.

We have seen God provide us with jobs, houses, cars, and funds beyond what we could have ever imagined. We have seen God provide peace and joy to our boys as they went through their first experience in public school.

We cannot express enough thanks to the people whom God had used to make this one of the best furloughs we have ever had.

We do have one complaint though. Our furlough was TOO LONG! We can't wait to get back to Paraguay. So pray through the following requests with the expectation of seeing God move as He always does when we look to Him as his children.

2004 Soup Kitchen

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so a video must be worth about a million.
Click on the link below and see a video of the soup kitchen ministry that we had in 2004.

2oo4 Soup Kitchen

You will need:
Something better than a "dial-up" connection.
Windows media player

Christ Alone

I've been thinking about what it means to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.(Matt. 6:33) What does it mean for Jesus to be truly first in our lives; what does this look like?

Oswald Chambers wrote it this way in describing Paul, "he never again allowed anything to attract and hold the attention of his mind and soul except the face of Jesus Christ." Do we love Jesus like this? Does He dominate our affections to the exclusion of every other passion in our
lives?

The parable of the sower compares the types of soil with the condition of our hearts. One soil filled with thorns was described by Jesus as the heart of people who hear the word but then the "worries and riches and pleasures of this life" cause it to not bear fruit to maturity. Doesn't that sound like a heart that has not yet decided on Jesus' supremacy? Seeking first His kingdom, not letting other cares crowd our hearts --this is what true discipleship is made of.

Is there anything in your life right now that God is asking you to walk away from that causes you more pain than it should? When you contemplate putting Jesus first is there something that always makes you shrink back from such an abandonment of surrender? Pray about that thing. Take it to the Lord until there is nothing you have as your treasure except Jesus alone.

It is not enough that we know these truths, but for them to be life and freedom to us we must put them into practice. I examine my own heart and I pray "Lord, remove the thorns and change my heart into a "good soil" heart. Will you pray this prayer with me? Will you pray His
kingdom come, His will be done in my life as it is in heaven?

The Great Escape

This story took place back in December 2004, but I wanted to get it in writing so I wouldn't forget.

It was still raining as it had been most the night when I put the neighbor's plastic table cloth around my shoulders and began the walk toward town. The mud slipped beneath my feet and oozed between my toes and I soon found there was more sure footing in the small rivulets that flowed down the middle of the road, than on the high ground.

I was on my way to a meeting in Guatemala, but first I had to get out of our village so I could be driven to the airport. The normally small stream that separates Ita Angu'a from Yuty had overflowed and flooded the only road leading to town. My friend Dan Reich was to meet me on the other side of the flooded area and then drive me the rest of the way into town and then on to Asuncion.

As I stumbled along, one of our neighbor's boys came riding up on a horse and relieved me of my suitcase and walked with me to the flooded area. As we came over a rise, there was Dan with some Paraguayan friends of ours walking up the hill toward me. Our friends continued on their way to their homes in the villages I had left behind, and Dan and I turned around and headed back to his car.

The Paraguayans had shown Dan that the best way to get through the flooded area was to walk perpendicularly to the road out into the marsh land where the water became much more shallow and then walk parallel with the road until the flooded area had been passed.

The only way to walk in the marsh was by stepping on top of the clumps of grass that were just above water level. Between the clumps of grass flowed two and a half feet of slow draining muddy water. More than once we lost our footing and slipped thigh deep in to the black goo.

Finally totally soaked and covered in mud, we made it back to Dan's car. After a quick shower and change of clothes at Dan's house, we were on our way to Asuncion.

The following day I was on a jet eating preprepared meals wrapped in cellophane and little wedges of cheese wrapped in foil from somewhere in Europe. And for the next three days I would be sitting in a classroom watching powerpoint presentations and listening to mission leaders from Latin America share their vision for the future of missions. After this
brief visit it was back to Ita Angu'a and the mud.

Often the life of a missionary is full of seeming dichotomies, where we find ourselves in simple conditions one moment and then in more modern ones the next. I say "seeming dichotomy" because there really is no dichotomy in a Christian's life. Everything we do has the same purpose no matter where or what the circumstances: It is to glorify Him.

What's important?

My supervisor is one of the greatest managers of people I know. He has the ability to handle people with such diverse personalities and varying levels of maturity in a fair and straight forward manner. He has the ability to see what issues are important to address and which issues are better left alone. I value his opinion greatly, and so one day we were talking about some of the different men that work under him. I wanted to know what he thought about the men on our crew who called themselves "Christians"

There are some guys at work that go to church on a regular basis, yet their language is pretty heavily seasoned with "four letter words" and other obscenities. I ask my self, "How can they call themselves Christians and be talking like that?" I think about what a poor testimony they are having in front of people like my supervisor. Yet as I talk with my supervisor, he is not bothered in the least by the vocabulary of these men. In his mind there is no great dichotomy in a man who calls himself a Christian and uses the "four letter word" on a regular basis, rather he is offended by the poor work ethic of men who say they follow Christ. It has made me think much more about what is important to those around me , those I would like to reach with the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Yes, I may watch my tongue, but am I a "company man", and a "team player". Am I some one who shows up on time for work and actually takes only 30 minutes for lunch. Do I work as hard as I can, in the most efficient way, and do it for Christ, that His name might be glorified through me? I want to better see myself the way the world sees me and then let Christ change me in ways that will most effectively impact the lives of the men with whom I work.

Board Room to Red Boots

Last Sunday I flew "red eye" to Charlotte, NC to serve for the last time on the SIM Board of Directors. I had been invited to serve as a missionary on home assigment for the past year. Wenedsday morning at 1:00 I was back in Bakersfield. By 4:30 am I was in my truck on my way to work, where I spray weeds with a solution of various chemicals and a red marker dye. It's impossible to work without dying your boots a pinkish red.

This Friday I will join James, our youngest son, and my dad on a trip to th "La Purisma" mission along the California Camino Real. Then Saturday, I will go snake hunting with my son Denny and some snake collectors looking for Rosey Boas and a certain species of California King Snake.

Besides these exciting events I will be continuing on the more mundane task of reformating some Guarani Bible Study materials, practicing Guarani, and spraying weeds.

Kelly has finished her chemo!!

About a month ago Kelly had her last chemo treatment
and last month her bone scans, mamigrams and blood work
showed no cancer. She is now taking a drug to control
the way the cancer responds to her hormones.

More of Kelly's Thoughts

As I walk through this cancer and the multiple
chemo treatments, God has given me great peace
in surrender to His will. I rest in His capable
hands and I marvel at how something I dreaded so
much has been virtually easy. The understanding
is that each treatment will bring on harder and
more difficult side effects. Yet, this has not
been the case with me.

Psalm 138:1-3

"I will give Thee thanks with all my heart; I
will sing praises to Thee before the gods. I
will bow down toward Thy holy temple, and give
thanks to Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and
Thy truth; For Thou hast magnified Thy word
according to all Thy name. On the day I called
Thou didst answer me; Thou didst make me bold
with strength in my soul."

Thank you all for your prayers.

Kelly

Kelly's Thoughts

For a time, I'm going to use this space to let
Kelly personally share with you what the Lord is
showing her though this time of dealing with
cancer.

As I face this new challenge of cancer and the
ongoing treatments of Chemotherapy I have one
desire: that I might respond to all of it in a
way that is pleasing to God and brings glory to
His name.

My last few months in Paraguay God led me to
pray a prayer of surrender. I prayed and told
Him--"You choose everything, Lord, who I will or
won't work with, where I will or won't live, what
type of ministry I will or won't have. You
choose, Lord. I no longer want to decide what is
best for me, You choose."

Now upon arriving in the U.S. I am hit with
cancer. I feel as though I am being tested.
Are you sure you want God to choose? And my
answer is yes! I will take whatever He brings me
and I will embrace it. The only thing I ask is
that I might be faithful to Him in the midst of
this trial. This is my heart.

Thank you all for your wonderful support.
I know that God is sustaining me through
your prayers.

Newspaper

My mind feels like a newspaper printing press, with the words and pictures rolling by so quickily they are unintelligible.  So I don't think I can give you a story this month. 

God's Provision

It has been over two months here and no rain.
It is a hard time for the subsistent farmer, for
my friends down in Ita Angu'a. The cotton's
growth stunted by lack of water forced bolls to
open too soon and too small. Soy beans dried in
the fields before they could even bloom, let
alone bear fruit. A tired despair of sweat and
dust marks the faces of the men who wait... and
wait.

This is the season for what would have been the
cash crops, the crops that would have put a
little money in the pockets of the poor. Money
to buy paint, fencing posts and wire, money to
buy a new pig or something special for the kids
and the wife. Money that would pay for needed
medicines and funerals in the comming year. But
now nothing.

Our Wednesday Bible study was subdued. Only
stars in the early morning sky, no sign of rain
and another day to wait. As I prayed with the
couples and they shared with me the way things
were, I said sometimes it's hard to understand
what God is doing, how a growing season that
seemed so hopeful could end so miserably.

They said, "Not at all!. God allowed our corn
and manioc root to survive and we will have
plenty to eat until the next harvest. And the
money for taking care of the family...God will
just have to provide some other way." Tired
smiles and nods of agreement that express both
faith and hardship were passed among us.

Rain has come, but it came too late. Pray for
these hard times.

Ernesto's Baptism

Ernesto Mesa is a 65 year old man with Rheumatoid
Arthritis who suffers from internal bleeding
from a stomach operation that never healed
properly. He has a hunched back and now is
unable to walk. He was nearly killed by a
severe bout with the flu.

He also loves the Lord and has rejoiced daily
for many years in knowing his Saviour. Up until a
few months ago, before the flu, he would hobble
around Ita Angu'a with his cane in hand, telling
anyone who would listen about the love of Jesus
and their need to repent and come to Him.

One day before we moved to Villarrica Ernesto
was baptised.

Carried in his bed down a foot trail that his
boys had widened with machetes for this very
trip, lifted over a barbed wire fence and
maneuvered through a small forest, and finally
placed by a small stream where his friends and
family were waiting, Ernesto, half grimacing
from the pain of his arthritis and half smiling
for joy, sat as two Paraguayan pastors and
myself sang songs and preached on baptism.

After one more song we lifted him from his bed
and carried him into the water where, in a
whisper of weakness and pain, he gave his
confession of faith and was baptised.

We returned him to his bed where he sat with
dignity, knowing that in this too, he had obeyed
the Lord.