“He wakeneth me morning by morning, he wakeneth my ear
to hear as the learned”
Isaiah 50:4b
God will always wake you up if you ask him to. That has
proved true for me anyway. In his mercy he will even wake you up when you don’t
ask him to: at least in the spiritual sense. What He won’t do is make you get
out of bed!
Matthew 25 tells us that even Christ’s people who await his return
fall asleep. So with even the Christians asleep, who will awaken the world?
The world will have its wake up call. Already the alarm has
begun, and sometimes it rings rather brutal. My wife and I are back in Bolivia,
and all the news here is inundated with reports of severe flooding. In certain
regions the grasslands are so full of water that the cattle are drowning. Over
half of our boarding students are unable to come to school because the roads
are impassible. In San Joaquin the army has commandeered the use of the local
ferries, so river travel is also out of the question even if one wished to
brave the high waters. In Rurrenebaque, conditions have reached a state of
national emergency. After three weeks of
non-stop rain, the streets have become canals. There have been mud slides, over
a score of people have died, and thousands are without power and drinking
water.
Some of you may remember that our sister school, Familia
Feliz, is just outside the town of Rurrenebaque. The school is on high ground,
however, and they have a miracle well that God provided just two months ago! It
is now the only source of potable water in the region, and has been for about
the last three weeks. The staff and students have been busy pumping and hauling
drinking water to the hospital, army base, and thirsty neighbors. They have also
been working directly with the army and navy in relief and rescue efforts and
the doors have opened to do evangelism in the navy base like they did in the
army since last summer! (See previous post.) They have made friends with the
mayor and other important city officials as well. The formerly churlish
Minister of Education that previously delighted in causing them grief has
suddenly become most amiable. See the
pictures and read the inspiring full account of the miracles recently transpiring
in Familia Feliz, at Miguel Tello’s blog: http://psalms27ten.blogspot.com/
The Almighty still sits on his throne, and he is still the
same as he has ever been. He is a God of justice, but he delights in mercy.
When we wonder why he makes use of such drastic measures to get our attention
it is often because we have become desensitized to the horrendous nature of
sin. We forget that the enemy and his rebellion have brought this. God shields
us more than we deserve, but if a beating is what it takes to awaken us I’ll
warrant that it’s a much better alternative to dying in bed. The seriousness of
the coming judgment demands a warning more urgent than this world has ever yet
seen!
(You
can see a video of the flooding and the relief work that Familia Feliz is doing
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDi9cVlyPak
)
2. “Relax, my God ’as got this!”
“Not by might, now by power, but by my Spirit saith
the Lord of hosts.” Zachariah 4:6
This is the beginning of my fifth full year at the school
here in Bolivia, and I think I’ve cleaned the same little section of ground now
for about the fifth time. The good news is that this year it only took me about
fifteen minutes. What was once a gnarly untamed patch of vines and brush and
later thick cow-grass is now nearly all lawn. Positive change comes slowly,
unlike it’s counterpart. This I can see too in my own character. Sometimes I
think I’ll never really be like Jesus. How can it surprise me then that many of
my students, even after four years with us, still seem to struggle with the
same old character problems?
As usual, we are short of teachers
this year. We don’t have an academic director, secretary, or school accountant.
The paperwork we must turn in to the district of education proliferates like
the jungle itself. There are innumerable challenges to face and unending work
to be done. But it helps to step back a moment and look at the big picture
before plunging again into the details. God is in control, He is working, and
as long as I keep cooperating with Him I can bank on success!
