“He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers [that] water the earth.” Ps 72:6
It’s night in the jungle. My leg muscles are burning after a half a day of moving lumber and an afternoon standing on tiptoe to reach the washboard in the creek, now in flood stage after all the rain. I sleep, but without rest: delirious, tossing to and fro in a sea of interesting but incoherent dreams.
It is the 6th hour of the morning when I am awakened by a gentle rain. I spring out of my restless, troubled bed. The pain is gone from my legs, and in the east the sun is bursting out to make the day, shining all golden glorious behind the gentle showers. There is so much to be done today. Campus must be cleared of the encroaching jungle. It only took two months of neglect for a nearly complete takeover.
My first work is to hone both edges of my rust-crusted machete. An unused blade does not stay sharp long in these parts, but it still cuts, as my hand can attest. With my weapon spiffed up, I sally forth to do battle with the brush. After merely ten minutes I’m sweating profusely and need a rest. Apparently two months have done me the same as my machete and the advantage is with the jungle. As I pause for a breather I reflect on the encroaching vegetation. Funny how green has always been my favorite color. Today I think I’m beginning to feel a bit differently about it as I look upon choking vines and thickets where once were ordered rows. Some plants have survived, but are nearly destitute of fruit. I salvage three somewhat shriveled red peppers. A few bright pumpkins also catch my eye, but when I grab them my fingers sink into rotten bottoms. I lament the garden that could have been.
In the afternoon, cloudy columns billow upward on the horizon, promising a downpour. The distant rumble of thunder ensures that this is the real thing. I can soon hear the rain coming, drumming on the jungle canopy a drum-roll that swells to a deafening roar. That’s when it hits me. There is still a chance for beautiful fruit and a bountiful bumper crop! But it’s time to swing that machete, break up the ground, plant the seed, and work like crazy. Because when the rain ends, that’s it.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
UPDATE
Greetings all. We’re back in Bolivia after a whirlwind trip to Mexico to get married, Houston to GYC (Generation of Youth for Christ Conference), and afterward home to see the family. The Lord has been so gracious to us, testing our faith, providing our every need and answering prayer. As usual I have too much to tell and too little time to tell it in a satisfactory manner. I will be teaching social studies, language arts, and religion to the juniors and seniors for starters. Also will be in charge of the garden and serve as school chaplain organizing worships, service day, and weeks of prayer etc. The rest of the volunteers are equally loaded. But God gives more strength!
I know it’s been a long time since I wrote last. Way too long. While I was home I was able to share with some of you the miracle God did for us with our passports. I’m working on a written version for those of you who didn’t get a chance to hear it. GYC was power-packed, encouraging and challenging as usual. I definitely recommend that you go online to audioverse.com and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to the message you most need to hear.
We’re well into 2012, and God has rolled up His sleeves my friends! Psalms 119:126 is the prayer of the hour. “It is time, O Lord, for thee to work, for they have made void thy law.” Personally, I feel my greatest need is true humility, repentance, and a deep, consistent seeking after God. (2 Chronicles 7:14). Do I ever need Jesus and His Holy Spirit in my life! Check out the following. This just stirs my soul! May it get under your skin too…
“The man who loves God does not measure his work by the eight-hour system. He works at all hours and is never off duty. As he has opportunity he does good. Everywhere, at all times and in all places, he finds opportunity to work for God. He carries fragrance with him wherever he goes. A wholesome atmosphere surrounds his soul. The beauty of his well-ordered life and godly conversation inspires in others faith and hope and courage.” {PM 261.3}
“No earthly ties, no earthly considerations, should weigh one moment in the scale against duty to the cause and work of God. Jesus severed his connection from everything to save a lost world; and he requires of us a full and entire consecration. There are sacrifices to be made for the interests of God's cause. The sacrifice of feeling is the most keen that is required of us; yet, after all, it is a small sacrifice.” (GW92 248.2 emphasis mine)
“It is heart missionaries that are needed. Spasmodic efforts will do little good. We must arrest the attention. We must be deeply in earnest.”--9T 45. {PM 261.4}
“In a divided, halfhearted life, you will find doubt and darkness. You cannot enjoy the consolations of religion, neither the peace which the world gives. Do not sit down in Satan's easy chair of do-little, but arise, and aim at the elevated standard which it is your privilege to attain. It is a blessed privilege to give up all for Christ. Look not at the lives of others and imitate them and rise no higher. You have only one true, unerring Pattern. It is safe to follow Jesus only. Determine that if others act on the principle of the spiritual sluggard you will leave them and march forward toward the elevation of Christian character. Form a character for heaven. Sleep not at your post. Deal faithfully and truly with your own soul.” {1T 241.1}
“There are many in the church who at heart belong to the world, but God calls upon those who claim to believe the advanced truth, to rise above the present attitude of the popular churches of today. Where is the self-denial, where is the cross-bearing that Christ has said should characterize His followers? The reason we have had so little influence upon unbelieving relatives and associates is that we have manifested little decided difference in our practices from those of the world. Parents need to awake, and purify their souls by practicing the truth in their home life. When we reach the standard that the Lord would have us reach, worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, strait-laced extremists. "We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." {FE 289.1}
I don’t know about you, but after reading all that I start to wonder where I’ve been all my life! LET’S WAKE UP FOLKS! EZEKIEL 36:23 is a PROMISE and a PROPHECY. GOD IS GOOD FOR HIS WORD! LET’S LET HIM PROVE IT!
“And I WILL sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which YE HAVE PROFANED in the midst of them; and the heathen SHALL KNOW that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified IN YOU before their eyes.” Ezek 36:23 (emphasis mine).
April 18, 2011
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” Galations 6:9
There have been many moments this year when I’ve felt as though Paul penned those words just for me. God is so good, every now and then He gives us encouraging glimpses that show us that all the blood sweat and tears we pour into this school is not all in vain. This week during an outing to town Ruth came and asked me for some literature so she could share it with the friends she had made in the market. Later I heard comments from some surprised townspeople: “Where are you from? There just aren’t many kids like you these days that are excited about spiritual things! They’re just all caught up in themselves, in fashion and music!”
But what really made me smile was the comment from the pastor’s wife: “I saw some of your kids in the market today. I’d never seen them before, but I knew where they were from! They just look different! They’re so happy and helpful!”
All I could say was “Praise the Lord! He’s doing something in spite of our selves!”
************************
Just by way of context, the following installment reports on our month-long excursion into the interior of the department of Pando from the last week of June to the last week of July. Twenty-eight students and staff chose to spend our mid-year break traveling in a 2.5 by 12 meter wooden schooner powered by a 13-horse diesel engine. We stopped at a total of ten different communities where we visited the sick, distributed literature, did community service, kids programs, and gave Bible studies. Following are a few of the promised stories.
Ravenous. Rio Horton, 4th day.
“Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly [is] great, but the labourers [are] few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2).
It’s relaxing to be out on the water in what feels like the middle of nowhere. Here, distance is measured by turns in the river, and the days by the beaches we’ve camped on, while the hours are marked by mealtimes. My appetite seems insatiable. I'm still hungry after two plates of rice and salad, a grapefruit, and cookies, and rather shocked at my own voracity.
Every two bends it seems we see another caiman, or a turtle, and once or twice we even see an anaconda. The birds are ubiquitous: kingfishers, egrets, and. This is an ornithologist’s paradise. We see a herd of capybara clambering up the riverbank, and a troop of monkeys swinging in the trees along the shore. I feel like I’m in the middle of a National Geograpic documentary on the Amazon, only without the “millions of years.” Contrary to what the scenery would suggest however, we’re really not that far from civilization. At least once a day we come upon a river community and stop to visit the sick and hand out activity books to the kids, and books and literature to the adults.
We stop at Humaita to load on more fuel and water, and distribute some literature while we’re at it. One family told us they would like us to do a full-blown prophecy seminar preached in the town hall. Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate that request at this time.
Ingavi is probably the most developed town on the river aside from Humaita. They have a daily flight that arrives from Riberalta. When we entered the mayor’s office I was surprise to see our literature precedes us… a copy of the Great Controversy was already on his desk. Turns out he had been in Humaita the day we stopped and one of the kids gave him the book. He welcomed us to the village and said we were welcome to use the town hall for children's meetings or Bible studies.
There is not a single Adventist church along this entire river. We did find one backslidden Adventist at Ingavi. Her evangelical husband was quite a chatterbox. Their son, a young lad by the name of Henri has a nasty wound where a piranha tried to snap off his finger. It looks rather infected. His mom blames it on the fact that he’s been out in the sun too much! We do a simple treatment and encourage him to keep the wound clean.
I can’t believe how many people we have met who want to study the Bible. But they don't want to hear just about the Christ of Calvary, they want to hear about the Christ of the heavenly sanctuary, the Christ of prophecy, judgment, and the Second Advent! They want to know what the Bible really teaches about the antichrist, and what to expect at the end of the world.
The community of San Luis wants a school like the one here near Guayara to serve all the communities along the river. The people accompanied us to the riverbank to wave us off.
In nearly every village we visited I had people ask me when we can come back. There is so much work to be done here.
7-3-2011
Wow, it’s the eve of Independence Day, and I didn’t even realize it!.It seems apropos because tonight one young person found true liberty in Christ. There are no noisy rockets here, but the sky is alive with the fireworks of God. Pleiades, Ursa Major, Orion, the Southern Cross, a dome of wide-open, stretched-out freedom: light years of it. It’s not some cheap, ephemeral sparkle of man-made freedom, but the power of God shining down into this little speck of life in the middle of the Amazon jungle.
We just finished a prayer meeting like very few I’ve ever been a part of. A call came on the radio earlier this evening with the news that Rodolfo, a former student who left us in the middle of the first trimester, was hit by a truck Sabbath night while taking his sister to the disco. She suffered only a broken leg, but he took a blow to the head and was pronounced clinically dead at the scene. They rushed him to the hospital where they shocked him twice and his heart restarted. Though alive again, he remained unresponsive, and the myelin sheath, the membrane that protects the brain, was compromised, causing severe hemorrhaging.
I thought of Rodolfo’s attitude when he left the school. Ruan had seen him at the port in Riberalta the day that we embarked. He turned his back on us without returning our greeting.
Dave, a young man who grew up not believing in God came with us on this trip. He is from the states. I met his uncle when speaking in California. A couple of months ago the uncle sent me an email and asked if his nephew Dave could come visit the school. God worked it all out and Dave arrived just in time to come on this trip. He seems to be enjoying the adventure, and despite the double culture shock of Bolivia and Seventh-Day Adventist, he seems to be enjoying the trip. As we all gathered to pray for Rodolfo, Dave joined us and said a prayer for, as I understand it, the first time in his life. He doesn’t even know who Rodolfo is, but something drew him to stay and pray with us around the campfire.
“Rodolfo, I know you’re out there bud...” he began. "I'm praying that God will make you better."
As we knelt in that circle under the stars and prayed fervently for Rodolfo I was suddenly struck with by the gravity of my own condition and the inconsistency of our petitions. We’re as near death as Rodolfo, and yet we are just as oblivious! How would it be otherwise possible to gather together in such fervent prayer for life and healing when there is an immediate physical threat, but we seem incapable of uniting to plead with the same earnestness for our own spiritual life and healing? How sad that it took a tragedy like this to bring us together in such intense prayer… we’re in a spiritual coma and there is no prognosis of recovery without direct divine intervention. We need some shock treatment to WAKE US UP!
7-6-2011
Today was the second time we took a group of kids 20 minutes upriver from Las Amalias to the community of La Paz. About 18 families. A few of us first went to ask what we could do to help the community and if they were interested in anything. We ended up cutting back the brush around the village, and in the end two families wanted to study the bible. They are hungry for the Word! They go 15 minutes up river at least 3 to 4 times a week to attend the evangelical church. Their names are Alcides and Rosa Suarez and Ayzer and Miriam. The two women are sisters. Ayzer is president of the town council. They all bring their Bibles look up all the texts and ask questions. Ayzer went to get a pencil so he could mark the verses. Today we realized that we have been meeting during their typical lunch hour of about 2:30 pm. You have to understand the sacredness of the lunch siesta here in eastern Bolivian culture to really appreciate this. It is extremely rare to get people out to do anything between the hours of 12:30 and 3:00. I have been totally ignored by shop keepers during this afternoon rest period when their store front is open and the wares are within arms-reach, but they are completely absorbed in their lunch and the television set. Not even the prospect of making a sale will stir some of them. Not so in this case.
“Why are there so many different religions and sects when the Bible says there is one Lord and one faith and one baptism?”
“What about the second coming?” Many theologians and church leaders in their study claim to have discovered the time of the Lord’s appearing. What do you believe about that?" I felt like they were testing me on something they'd already decided!
7-7-2011
Today we studied Daniel nine, and I realized I need a better handle on this before I can explain it well. Franz, the school teacher canceled his classes so he could attend the Bible study today and seemed to be completely absorbed in the study. He was sincerely impressed that the scripture predicted the anointing of Christ
7-9-2011
I’m up before the breakfast crew this morning, and as I say my morning prayers, I decide to stoke last night’s fire. It strikes me that the glory of the coals glows from the inside out. Coals are wood possessed by fire… it dances on the inside. As I watch the fire this morning I’m thinking of the Holy Spirit, and it strikes me how much the physical teaches us of the spiritual. The seen of the unseen. The cloven tongues lie as of fire representing the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-4 are not haphazardly chosen symbol. To get the fire going there has to be plenty of oxygen… blowing breath, or wind or both (John 3:8). Prayer is called the breath of the soul… but this is not just any breath, but a specifically directed, purposeful, forceful exhalation that longs for light and heat to dispel the dark and cold. That breath combines with the invisible natural currents of the air. The wind is so subtle that at times we cannot even feel it, let alone know where it it comes from, yet is there working (John 3:8). And at last springs forth the flame. But how slow the wood is to respond! The larger the log, the longer it must be enveloped in fire before it lights up. So we look for smaller sticks. We must be little in our own eyes before we can receive they Holy Spirit. The cracked, knotted, pitchy, and dry… the ugliest and most unlikely to all appearances is the most readily used. The arrangement of the wood in respect to each other is also key to success. When the wood comes together, leaning on one another, the fire shoots up between them. As the fire continues to burn, the wood is undergoing a chemical and compositional transformation. A jet of gas escapes from the end of one log. It must be part steam, because it only lights sporadically. As the wood heats, liquid within is converted into gas, which then leaks out through the wood’s expanding pores and combusts on exit, causing the wood to burn hotter. As we are cleansed of self and the impurities within by the work of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to have a lukewarm experience. At this point, the size of the flame is no true indication of its quality or heat. We cannot and should not pass judgment on someone elses spiritual experience based only on the apparent size of their flame. At last, dead wood has been converted in living coals, vessels of fire, natural little lamps.
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back at the school....
FIRE and RAIN… 8-18 to 8-29-2011
“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye [even] to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
We’re three months into dry season and the rain forest has become a fire forest on a slow burn. It smolders all through the night and often ignites, the flare spots betraying where the wind gusts are. I imagine shifting constellations: fallen galaxies scorch the land into their own version of the heavens. In the morning the smoke hangs around, a malevolent fog that stings the eyes and constricts the throat, like creosote in a chimney. If we were under the circumstances, singing God’s praises would be pretty difficult right about now. Thankfully, God’s promises are above all that… higher than heaven, what cans’t thou know?
Last week the kids burned a hornet nest behind the dorm, and somehow a fallen ember escaped their notice and we had our typical dry-season burn. It really gets going wild, but thank God it’s a quick and easy out with many hands and a little water. Unfortunately the fire burned the same section of waterline that burned last year, still left uncovered from last year… that’s what happens when one leaves things half done. Diligence and perseverance are such important and yet difficult qualities to develop.
The chacos are dust bowls and all the banana plants are yellow and invest their energy in survival, not in producing fruit. I see a lot of myself and a lot of my church in those dry withered plants. And if all we do is sit and cry about it, although it's better than being apathetic, we’ll just end up dryer than we were to begin with. It's time to prepare for rain (Joel 2:11-32, Hosea 6:3, Zechariah 10:1).
Broken Pipes
1. “In one moment, by a hasty, unguarded act, we may place ourselves in the power of evil; but it requires more than a moment to break the fetters and attain to a holier life. The purpose may be formed, the work begun; but its accomplishment will require toil, time, perseverance, patience, and sacrifice.” {Testimonies for the Church, vol 8. 313.1}
So Ruan’s dad has been here putting in an irrigation system for us to water those bananas. I’m digging at the valve junction at the corner of the girl’s dorm. I told Mr. Deon I think this spot has been cursed. We had it repaired and tested to satisfaction and asked one of the boys to back-fill the hole. The next time we turned on the pump, a geyser shot up in that spot and quickly converted the freshly turned dirt into a slime pit. When we dug out the muck, we found a big chunk of cement and brick that had been carelessly tossed directly on top of the pipe joint! All the pipe had to be unscrewed back to the bad joint which had to be re-threaded and taped and then the whole section had to be pieced back together. One small, careless error cost hours of labor to repair!
2. “And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?” Luke 16:12
The apathy and negligence here just slays me sometimes! Someone on a motorcycle drove over, not just one, but nearly a dozen lines of pipe that were stretched across the path to Enrique’s house, cracking each one wide open. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!! At some point we have to learn to take care of the things God has given us! We cry for more things, but we must be stewards before we can be owners!
3. “For [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
Of course we still use that cracked pipe. We just cut out the broken part and splice it together with a union. Mr. Deon told me to cut it back 12 inches. But as I inspected the crack in the pipe, it only extended about three or four inches. Cutting off a whole foot seemed like an unnecessary waste, so I made my cut just a few inches back from where the crack ended. Then I threaded and taped the pipe, ready for assembly. While cutting the next pipe, I happened to glance inside. And hey, look at that! Mr. Deon knew whereof he spoke! The crack on the inside ran over twice the distance of what it showed on the surface! Now isn’t that just like us!
I know it’s been a long time since I wrote last. Way too long. While I was home I was able to share with some of you the miracle God did for us with our passports. I’m working on a written version for those of you who didn’t get a chance to hear it. GYC was power-packed, encouraging and challenging as usual. I definitely recommend that you go online to audioverse.com and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to the message you most need to hear.
We’re well into 2012, and God has rolled up His sleeves my friends! Psalms 119:126 is the prayer of the hour. “It is time, O Lord, for thee to work, for they have made void thy law.” Personally, I feel my greatest need is true humility, repentance, and a deep, consistent seeking after God. (2 Chronicles 7:14). Do I ever need Jesus and His Holy Spirit in my life! Check out the following. This just stirs my soul! May it get under your skin too…
“The man who loves God does not measure his work by the eight-hour system. He works at all hours and is never off duty. As he has opportunity he does good. Everywhere, at all times and in all places, he finds opportunity to work for God. He carries fragrance with him wherever he goes. A wholesome atmosphere surrounds his soul. The beauty of his well-ordered life and godly conversation inspires in others faith and hope and courage.” {PM 261.3}
“No earthly ties, no earthly considerations, should weigh one moment in the scale against duty to the cause and work of God. Jesus severed his connection from everything to save a lost world; and he requires of us a full and entire consecration. There are sacrifices to be made for the interests of God's cause. The sacrifice of feeling is the most keen that is required of us; yet, after all, it is a small sacrifice.” (GW92 248.2 emphasis mine)
“It is heart missionaries that are needed. Spasmodic efforts will do little good. We must arrest the attention. We must be deeply in earnest.”--9T 45. {PM 261.4}
“In a divided, halfhearted life, you will find doubt and darkness. You cannot enjoy the consolations of religion, neither the peace which the world gives. Do not sit down in Satan's easy chair of do-little, but arise, and aim at the elevated standard which it is your privilege to attain. It is a blessed privilege to give up all for Christ. Look not at the lives of others and imitate them and rise no higher. You have only one true, unerring Pattern. It is safe to follow Jesus only. Determine that if others act on the principle of the spiritual sluggard you will leave them and march forward toward the elevation of Christian character. Form a character for heaven. Sleep not at your post. Deal faithfully and truly with your own soul.” {1T 241.1}
“There are many in the church who at heart belong to the world, but God calls upon those who claim to believe the advanced truth, to rise above the present attitude of the popular churches of today. Where is the self-denial, where is the cross-bearing that Christ has said should characterize His followers? The reason we have had so little influence upon unbelieving relatives and associates is that we have manifested little decided difference in our practices from those of the world. Parents need to awake, and purify their souls by practicing the truth in their home life. When we reach the standard that the Lord would have us reach, worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, strait-laced extremists. "We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." {FE 289.1}
I don’t know about you, but after reading all that I start to wonder where I’ve been all my life! LET’S WAKE UP FOLKS! EZEKIEL 36:23 is a PROMISE and a PROPHECY. GOD IS GOOD FOR HIS WORD! LET’S LET HIM PROVE IT!
“And I WILL sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which YE HAVE PROFANED in the midst of them; and the heathen SHALL KNOW that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified IN YOU before their eyes.” Ezek 36:23 (emphasis mine).
April 18, 2011
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” Galations 6:9
There have been many moments this year when I’ve felt as though Paul penned those words just for me. God is so good, every now and then He gives us encouraging glimpses that show us that all the blood sweat and tears we pour into this school is not all in vain. This week during an outing to town Ruth came and asked me for some literature so she could share it with the friends she had made in the market. Later I heard comments from some surprised townspeople: “Where are you from? There just aren’t many kids like you these days that are excited about spiritual things! They’re just all caught up in themselves, in fashion and music!”
But what really made me smile was the comment from the pastor’s wife: “I saw some of your kids in the market today. I’d never seen them before, but I knew where they were from! They just look different! They’re so happy and helpful!”
All I could say was “Praise the Lord! He’s doing something in spite of our selves!”
************************
Just by way of context, the following installment reports on our month-long excursion into the interior of the department of Pando from the last week of June to the last week of July. Twenty-eight students and staff chose to spend our mid-year break traveling in a 2.5 by 12 meter wooden schooner powered by a 13-horse diesel engine. We stopped at a total of ten different communities where we visited the sick, distributed literature, did community service, kids programs, and gave Bible studies. Following are a few of the promised stories.
Ravenous. Rio Horton, 4th day.
“Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly [is] great, but the labourers [are] few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2).
It’s relaxing to be out on the water in what feels like the middle of nowhere. Here, distance is measured by turns in the river, and the days by the beaches we’ve camped on, while the hours are marked by mealtimes. My appetite seems insatiable. I'm still hungry after two plates of rice and salad, a grapefruit, and cookies, and rather shocked at my own voracity.
Every two bends it seems we see another caiman, or a turtle, and once or twice we even see an anaconda. The birds are ubiquitous: kingfishers, egrets, and. This is an ornithologist’s paradise. We see a herd of capybara clambering up the riverbank, and a troop of monkeys swinging in the trees along the shore. I feel like I’m in the middle of a National Geograpic documentary on the Amazon, only without the “millions of years.” Contrary to what the scenery would suggest however, we’re really not that far from civilization. At least once a day we come upon a river community and stop to visit the sick and hand out activity books to the kids, and books and literature to the adults.
We stop at Humaita to load on more fuel and water, and distribute some literature while we’re at it. One family told us they would like us to do a full-blown prophecy seminar preached in the town hall. Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate that request at this time.
Ingavi is probably the most developed town on the river aside from Humaita. They have a daily flight that arrives from Riberalta. When we entered the mayor’s office I was surprise to see our literature precedes us… a copy of the Great Controversy was already on his desk. Turns out he had been in Humaita the day we stopped and one of the kids gave him the book. He welcomed us to the village and said we were welcome to use the town hall for children's meetings or Bible studies.
There is not a single Adventist church along this entire river. We did find one backslidden Adventist at Ingavi. Her evangelical husband was quite a chatterbox. Their son, a young lad by the name of Henri has a nasty wound where a piranha tried to snap off his finger. It looks rather infected. His mom blames it on the fact that he’s been out in the sun too much! We do a simple treatment and encourage him to keep the wound clean.
I can’t believe how many people we have met who want to study the Bible. But they don't want to hear just about the Christ of Calvary, they want to hear about the Christ of the heavenly sanctuary, the Christ of prophecy, judgment, and the Second Advent! They want to know what the Bible really teaches about the antichrist, and what to expect at the end of the world.
The community of San Luis wants a school like the one here near Guayara to serve all the communities along the river. The people accompanied us to the riverbank to wave us off.
In nearly every village we visited I had people ask me when we can come back. There is so much work to be done here.
7-3-2011
Wow, it’s the eve of Independence Day, and I didn’t even realize it!.It seems apropos because tonight one young person found true liberty in Christ. There are no noisy rockets here, but the sky is alive with the fireworks of God. Pleiades, Ursa Major, Orion, the Southern Cross, a dome of wide-open, stretched-out freedom: light years of it. It’s not some cheap, ephemeral sparkle of man-made freedom, but the power of God shining down into this little speck of life in the middle of the Amazon jungle.
We just finished a prayer meeting like very few I’ve ever been a part of. A call came on the radio earlier this evening with the news that Rodolfo, a former student who left us in the middle of the first trimester, was hit by a truck Sabbath night while taking his sister to the disco. She suffered only a broken leg, but he took a blow to the head and was pronounced clinically dead at the scene. They rushed him to the hospital where they shocked him twice and his heart restarted. Though alive again, he remained unresponsive, and the myelin sheath, the membrane that protects the brain, was compromised, causing severe hemorrhaging.
I thought of Rodolfo’s attitude when he left the school. Ruan had seen him at the port in Riberalta the day that we embarked. He turned his back on us without returning our greeting.
Dave, a young man who grew up not believing in God came with us on this trip. He is from the states. I met his uncle when speaking in California. A couple of months ago the uncle sent me an email and asked if his nephew Dave could come visit the school. God worked it all out and Dave arrived just in time to come on this trip. He seems to be enjoying the adventure, and despite the double culture shock of Bolivia and Seventh-Day Adventist, he seems to be enjoying the trip. As we all gathered to pray for Rodolfo, Dave joined us and said a prayer for, as I understand it, the first time in his life. He doesn’t even know who Rodolfo is, but something drew him to stay and pray with us around the campfire.
“Rodolfo, I know you’re out there bud...” he began. "I'm praying that God will make you better."
As we knelt in that circle under the stars and prayed fervently for Rodolfo I was suddenly struck with by the gravity of my own condition and the inconsistency of our petitions. We’re as near death as Rodolfo, and yet we are just as oblivious! How would it be otherwise possible to gather together in such fervent prayer for life and healing when there is an immediate physical threat, but we seem incapable of uniting to plead with the same earnestness for our own spiritual life and healing? How sad that it took a tragedy like this to bring us together in such intense prayer… we’re in a spiritual coma and there is no prognosis of recovery without direct divine intervention. We need some shock treatment to WAKE US UP!
7-6-2011
Today was the second time we took a group of kids 20 minutes upriver from Las Amalias to the community of La Paz. About 18 families. A few of us first went to ask what we could do to help the community and if they were interested in anything. We ended up cutting back the brush around the village, and in the end two families wanted to study the bible. They are hungry for the Word! They go 15 minutes up river at least 3 to 4 times a week to attend the evangelical church. Their names are Alcides and Rosa Suarez and Ayzer and Miriam. The two women are sisters. Ayzer is president of the town council. They all bring their Bibles look up all the texts and ask questions. Ayzer went to get a pencil so he could mark the verses. Today we realized that we have been meeting during their typical lunch hour of about 2:30 pm. You have to understand the sacredness of the lunch siesta here in eastern Bolivian culture to really appreciate this. It is extremely rare to get people out to do anything between the hours of 12:30 and 3:00. I have been totally ignored by shop keepers during this afternoon rest period when their store front is open and the wares are within arms-reach, but they are completely absorbed in their lunch and the television set. Not even the prospect of making a sale will stir some of them. Not so in this case.
“Why are there so many different religions and sects when the Bible says there is one Lord and one faith and one baptism?”
“What about the second coming?” Many theologians and church leaders in their study claim to have discovered the time of the Lord’s appearing. What do you believe about that?" I felt like they were testing me on something they'd already decided!
7-7-2011
Today we studied Daniel nine, and I realized I need a better handle on this before I can explain it well. Franz, the school teacher canceled his classes so he could attend the Bible study today and seemed to be completely absorbed in the study. He was sincerely impressed that the scripture predicted the anointing of Christ
7-9-2011
I’m up before the breakfast crew this morning, and as I say my morning prayers, I decide to stoke last night’s fire. It strikes me that the glory of the coals glows from the inside out. Coals are wood possessed by fire… it dances on the inside. As I watch the fire this morning I’m thinking of the Holy Spirit, and it strikes me how much the physical teaches us of the spiritual. The seen of the unseen. The cloven tongues lie as of fire representing the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-4 are not haphazardly chosen symbol. To get the fire going there has to be plenty of oxygen… blowing breath, or wind or both (John 3:8). Prayer is called the breath of the soul… but this is not just any breath, but a specifically directed, purposeful, forceful exhalation that longs for light and heat to dispel the dark and cold. That breath combines with the invisible natural currents of the air. The wind is so subtle that at times we cannot even feel it, let alone know where it it comes from, yet is there working (John 3:8). And at last springs forth the flame. But how slow the wood is to respond! The larger the log, the longer it must be enveloped in fire before it lights up. So we look for smaller sticks. We must be little in our own eyes before we can receive they Holy Spirit. The cracked, knotted, pitchy, and dry… the ugliest and most unlikely to all appearances is the most readily used. The arrangement of the wood in respect to each other is also key to success. When the wood comes together, leaning on one another, the fire shoots up between them. As the fire continues to burn, the wood is undergoing a chemical and compositional transformation. A jet of gas escapes from the end of one log. It must be part steam, because it only lights sporadically. As the wood heats, liquid within is converted into gas, which then leaks out through the wood’s expanding pores and combusts on exit, causing the wood to burn hotter. As we are cleansed of self and the impurities within by the work of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to have a lukewarm experience. At this point, the size of the flame is no true indication of its quality or heat. We cannot and should not pass judgment on someone elses spiritual experience based only on the apparent size of their flame. At last, dead wood has been converted in living coals, vessels of fire, natural little lamps.
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back at the school....
FIRE and RAIN… 8-18 to 8-29-2011
“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye [even] to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
We’re three months into dry season and the rain forest has become a fire forest on a slow burn. It smolders all through the night and often ignites, the flare spots betraying where the wind gusts are. I imagine shifting constellations: fallen galaxies scorch the land into their own version of the heavens. In the morning the smoke hangs around, a malevolent fog that stings the eyes and constricts the throat, like creosote in a chimney. If we were under the circumstances, singing God’s praises would be pretty difficult right about now. Thankfully, God’s promises are above all that… higher than heaven, what cans’t thou know?
Last week the kids burned a hornet nest behind the dorm, and somehow a fallen ember escaped their notice and we had our typical dry-season burn. It really gets going wild, but thank God it’s a quick and easy out with many hands and a little water. Unfortunately the fire burned the same section of waterline that burned last year, still left uncovered from last year… that’s what happens when one leaves things half done. Diligence and perseverance are such important and yet difficult qualities to develop.
The chacos are dust bowls and all the banana plants are yellow and invest their energy in survival, not in producing fruit. I see a lot of myself and a lot of my church in those dry withered plants. And if all we do is sit and cry about it, although it's better than being apathetic, we’ll just end up dryer than we were to begin with. It's time to prepare for rain (Joel 2:11-32, Hosea 6:3, Zechariah 10:1).
Broken Pipes
1. “In one moment, by a hasty, unguarded act, we may place ourselves in the power of evil; but it requires more than a moment to break the fetters and attain to a holier life. The purpose may be formed, the work begun; but its accomplishment will require toil, time, perseverance, patience, and sacrifice.” {Testimonies for the Church, vol 8. 313.1}
So Ruan’s dad has been here putting in an irrigation system for us to water those bananas. I’m digging at the valve junction at the corner of the girl’s dorm. I told Mr. Deon I think this spot has been cursed. We had it repaired and tested to satisfaction and asked one of the boys to back-fill the hole. The next time we turned on the pump, a geyser shot up in that spot and quickly converted the freshly turned dirt into a slime pit. When we dug out the muck, we found a big chunk of cement and brick that had been carelessly tossed directly on top of the pipe joint! All the pipe had to be unscrewed back to the bad joint which had to be re-threaded and taped and then the whole section had to be pieced back together. One small, careless error cost hours of labor to repair!
2. “And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?” Luke 16:12
The apathy and negligence here just slays me sometimes! Someone on a motorcycle drove over, not just one, but nearly a dozen lines of pipe that were stretched across the path to Enrique’s house, cracking each one wide open. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!! At some point we have to learn to take care of the things God has given us! We cry for more things, but we must be stewards before we can be owners!
3. “For [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
Of course we still use that cracked pipe. We just cut out the broken part and splice it together with a union. Mr. Deon told me to cut it back 12 inches. But as I inspected the crack in the pipe, it only extended about three or four inches. Cutting off a whole foot seemed like an unnecessary waste, so I made my cut just a few inches back from where the crack ended. Then I threaded and taped the pipe, ready for assembly. While cutting the next pipe, I happened to glance inside. And hey, look at that! Mr. Deon knew whereof he spoke! The crack on the inside ran over twice the distance of what it showed on the surface! Now isn’t that just like us!
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