Wednesdays Word....Verse

I always find it a bit odd when I come up with my blog post ideas because 1. they generally happen last minute and 2. they are usually totally random but this time I am on the ball and typing this up several days in advance because things just so happened to happen in a nice and fashionable order, which is a first. It took a couple days but it all started piecing together while bringing my daughter home from preschool while listening to sports radio. Totally random because the only things I was hearing in the car was "Are you bringing me home or Grandpa" and then "Oh man I want Grandpa to bring me home" and "can I walk home home? I want mom". This is usually the extent of the 1 sided 10 minute conversations that I have with my daughter on our drives home so I usually listen to sports radio to kill the time but my mind wandered to Bible Verses; more specifically what people consider to be their own personal "Life Verse". Now if you don't have one don't run out all willy nilly and try to find one because they are something you can't force upon yourself and they tend to actually find you.  

Now you might be wondering what is a Life Verse? I'd describe it as that 1 verse in the Bible that you have committed to memory and to your heart. The one that you can cling too in moments of need and live your life by for others to see. You have your gimmes like Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and Psalms 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it to John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now don't get me wrong these are 3 very powerful and beautiful messages in the Bible but they are almost a cop out and are extremely over used because everyone knows them....or at least should know them. I will apologize now if all 3 of these are your favorite verses or a single one is "your" verse. 

But in thinking this over I came to the conclusion these "Life Verses" fall into 4 categories.....Salvation, Hope, Advice and just random randomness.

Salvation  
You have the above mentioned John 3:16 but there are many powerful messages that people the world over have been brought to Christ through the hearing of and understanding with their hearts these simple truths. Many of these great writings can be found in Romans but none can describe it better than Romans 8:38-39  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. One of the most concise and to the point purposes of Jesus can be found in Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely (or forever) those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. These are just a couple that come to mind and there are plenty more and most likely better ones but I am by no means a Bible verse trivia champion. 

Hope 
I'm going to lump a few things in here with Hope and that would be Grace, Love, Faith and Mercy. Each one of these could very well be a category in their own right but then this post would just get too long and you wouldn't read it and then I'd get a complex and it's just not worth it in the long run. In a roundabout way love, grace and mercy all give us hope so that's why I categorized these under hope. But then again you could make a case of rearranging these to lead them back to one another. So to give each category their due, I will pick a verse relating to each of them.  
Ephesians 2:8-10   For it is by grace you have been saved, through  faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Now you could probably toss this one into the salvation pot but since it specifically mentions grace I'm going that route. To narrow love down to one verse is nearly impossible. There are different types of love mentioned in the Bible because the Greek broke love down into several different levels but we pretty much use love pretty loosely in the English language. The shortest summation of love can be found in 1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us. I didn't understand this until I truly accepted God's grace and I honestly feel I didn't know love until I understood His love for me. Faith gets mentioned differently in the Bible too. Sometimes it's correlated to someone being healed or being granted favor in God's eyes but usually faith is mentioned along the lines of being saved as you see in the above Ephesians passage. But it all comes back to that individual persons faith or lack there of. Hebrews 11 is about faith in action. Nearly every verse starts off with By Faith but 11:1 puts it best....  Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Like I pointed out earlier these subtopics relate to each other very well and each one could be the main reference. Mercy can be God's greatest gift if we've experienced the need to give it or receive it and one of the best explanations is found in Titus 3:4-7  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Again the repeating theme of love & grace can be found within a passage about mercy which further leads me to believe we need grace, love, faith and mercy to have hope. Each of these verses should give us hope. Many of the Psalms are David crying out to God or songs of glory giving his people hope. Psalm 62 talks of being attacked and I don't think of it as necessarily in a physical sense but also spiritually; as David talks about his soul finding rest in God but also knowing where their hope comes from. Psalm 62:5-8 Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge. Hope can be that one thing we have left when we feel like we've lost everything else. The song In Christ Alone may be one of the best songs ever written but the 1st verse states it best:
In Christ alone my hope is found He is my light, my strength, my song This Cornerstone, this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are stilled, when strivings cease My Comforter, my All in All Here in the love of Christ I stand.
And it looks like I just found my next blog post.

 Advice 
Biblical advice can come in many forms for many different topics. You can find the wisdom of Jesus through his parables and teachings that are just as relevant today as nearly 2000 years ago. Though many times I think people try to read too much into Jesus's words for some hidden meaning forgetting that many of the people he was preaching to were simple every day people and he was teaching them in a way they were used to since much of their culture and history was passed down within the family orally so they knew stories and when he could relate it to them in a fashion they could understand it's meaning wasn't lost. You could probably argue the best advice is given to Moses in the 10 commandments but many words of wisdom can be found throughout the Old Testament but the book of Proverbs is littered with advice on nearly every topic you could think of in nice short bits. But here's some advice on advice. Proverbs 13:10 Pride only leads to arguments,but those who take advice are wise. 

My favorite Bible verse some may classify as odd or strange because to some people it doesn't make a lot of sense; but in the situation it was used to the people it was said to it was the right words at the right time. We covered this verse in youth group the other night so it was already on the top of my mind when everything else started popping into my head. My verse is Matthew 4:19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Now remember Jesus said this to Peter and Andrew 2 brothers who were fishermen...it was the family business. The next verse states they left at once and followed him. Why? Even though the fisherman in me totally gets what Jesus has asked them to do I still wonder how those 11 words could convince someone to leave their life and their families to follow someone they didn't know. That's where the random comes in; not just because this seems like a weird verse to be your favorite or an odd event in the Bible but the fact that it is a very significant event in the Bible and can be the most important event in our own lives. I'm talking about that moment when you listen to God's call and then act upon it knowing it'll change your life despite not knowing where He will lead you. I'm not talking about becoming a missionary or deciding to go to seminary; I'm talking about the little things that can become huge things to the lives you may touch. It could be the first step in the life saving acceptance of Jesus Christ as your savior or just the simple gesture of praying for someone when you feel that nudge. Even becoming a Sunday school teacher or youth leader where you will help build that solid foundation for the kids you will come in contact with because you can affect generations of families by just taking the time to first listen and then setting aside the time to do God's work here on earth.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not advocating a need for a Life Verse but it's always a good thing to have a few in your back pocket for various situations because you never know when you'll need them. Which is why I'm glad our church puts a verse on a card for us each week to take with us and place it where we need it...in our hearts and our memory.

Well this became much longer than I originally planned but one last thing......if your favorite verse comes from Deuteronomy then I think we need to have a sit down because some of that stuff just makes me wince; trust me if you're a guy you will cringe too.

Wednesdays Word....Realist

Now that the election is over I will post this one time incite into my head but this isn't going to just be about politics so please continue to read.

Working in city government and especially leading up to election "season" I get surprisingly get the question about my party affiliation. So I then in turn give them this following 5 minute dissertation which either leaves them thinking about things or guarantees I'll never have to worry about them talking to me again.

You see when I get asked if I'm a Democrat or Republican I let them know that I'm a Realist. After a slightly bewildered stare I explain this to them........I minored in history during college topped off by the fact that I took way too many economics, government, political science, business law and statistics classes that lead to the fact that I understand far too well how the system works....it doesn't because it's broke. The elected officials aren't in charge; the lobbyists and Super PACs funneling money into these politicians pockets are. Also remember that each party will extrapolate a sliver of data to fit their current need to spin things either in their favor or against the other party and it will look legit and pass the sniff test but always be wary of statistical data and remember the simple fact that jobs will be created and lost all by themselves without anyone's help and the economists will give you the historical and future data to show you that the politicians making jobs promises really are not trying too hard and are just coat-tailing the cyclical economic swings.
But I also remember a time when people were raised to not only respect the office of the President but also the POTUS themselves. To top it off I'm an independent and can think on my own and I have never straight-party voted (if you do....shame on you) so I am both party's nightmare because they know that if people begin thinking on their own their reign of 2 party power will be over. Usually by now I can tell if they are going to want to hear that I do my own research on the candidates and that I actually don't rely on Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or Al Sharpton for my news or views.

Which leads me to this.....many people are affiliated with a certain political party because that's what their parents were just like many of us are religious, not religious or of a certain faith.....because that's what are parents are/were. But unless you are totally of the like mind and through your own process of discovery have found out that you are totally in agreement with them and an exact copy then you will most likely follow in their footsteps. But everyone should self evaluate and see where you are in your life, in your relationships, in your journey and where you stand with God. Many people grow up a certain way and then as soon as they are out of the house they become the polar opposite of who they were just to spite their parents or to test the waters. While a radical change may not always be the smartest route sometimes it's the only route. You'll know what I mean if you've accepted or rededicated your life to Jesus Christ at a later point in your life because you truly do become a new person and there is no other way to describe it. I for one was "raised" Catholic; so I feared God, was ashamed of my sins and kept one eye on Sister Erna and her yard stick. Once I hit confirmation I wasn't back in church unless there was a wedding or a funeral. But things happen you begin to question things for the right reasons and look for answers on your own until you realize the only answer is the one you've been avoiding. But now I have a trust in God and a growing relationship with Jesus because I personally made the decision to do so.

What you have to be careful of though is the coattail factor. Many people just ride their parent's coattails; whether that has to do with career path, political preference, college choice or religious affiliation and they never find themselves. This gets really dangerous as we get older and we begin to have our own children but also when it comes to faith. I know many people who just assume they've got a free ride to Heaven because of everything their parents have done and believe in.  

So as we go forward just remember not all Democrats are baby killers and not all Republicans are fully automatic weapon toting war mongers. And if you try and boil every election down to 1 or both of these topics it will never go well and all you do is continue the divide between the hardcore supporters. Are the topics of abortion and gun rights really the most important ones we face as a nation? We all have to remember that while we do have freedom of speech we do not have freedom of consequences. On one hand you can not decry the government for perceived socialistic endeavors along with the plans and policies they implemented to help the the lower classes but with the other hand you sure better not be taking every government handout and subsidy available. Not only must you walk the walk if you talk the talk as a Christian you must also do so if you are so vehemently against a President, a party or a particular group in general.  

So just remember while yes everyone has an opinion; not everyone wants yours whipped out and waved in front of their face. We have a few years before we have to hide certain people so we don't have to see their Facebook posts or block their tweets; so in the mean time get involved in your community, in your local government, in your church. Be a positive role model and a good citizen and attempt to make the community you live in a better place for everyone.  

Mexico Mission Trip Day 5 Wednesdays Word - Listen

Well since this last week Wednesday would have been my normal installment of my Wednesday's Word I figured I'd tie that in to what happened that day last week. Don't be confused today is actually Friday and not Wednesday but I'm just trying to get some things down while everything is still fresh in my mind. I can hardly believe it's already been a week since we left for the airport to begin our journey home. I'm ready to go back....just not next week since it looks like a hurricane is coming.

Today started off like all the others with the early morning musical car wake up but little did I know that today would not end up like any other day I've ever had.....and not just because I got to shower. We knew the roof projects and painting of pastor's house were completed so we were waiting for our next set of instructions when an impromptu ukulele lesson/concert broke out.

Vashty (pastor's wife) practicing a new instrument

We found out that some of the roofing crew was going to help work on a bathroom and replace a sink, some would help with VBS while others would help the painting crew paint the kitchen and the pastor's office there at the church. But 1st we had to move everything out of the office and this is when we discovered a bigger problem; there was mold along the ceiling and considering everything was made out of cinder block and cement this had to have been going on for some time. So I had them find us some bleach so we could at least clean it up before painting.

Not sure what got more paint...Joe or the ceiling

Then it was outside to try and find the source. I shimmied up the gate onto the 2 foot ledge that extended out over the sidewalk and this is where the source of the problem.  Even the sun had been on this area for hours and it didn't rain the night before there was standing water along the edge and holes in the wall where the water was going into the ceiling and where there was some electrical conduit ran down into the wall you could tell water was following it. I remember thinking how our city building inspector would be having a coronary with all the exposed rebar and exposed water pipes running every which way. Now the best solution would have been getting some cement to patch the holes and all of the mortar that was missing between the bricks but sometimes we have to use the tools we've already been supplied with.

My office for part of the day

So while I was gathering up small rocks up on the ledge I had them find me some larger ones down on the ground so I could attempt to fill in the holes and then use the thick paint sealer to cover them up and hoping it would stay in place with that bit of rock as something to stick to. Luckily it did with several coats but while it would dry in between I didn't have much else to do but think and I kept remembering the bible verse about building your house on a solid foundation and not sand and about Jesus being the cornerstone to build upon. But sadly I can't remember where I put my car keys 10 minutes let alone remember what chapters these came from. So I had all these ideas running through my head in conjunction with our work projects and those 2 verses and little did I know at the time but my "hearing" was being tested to see if I was listening.

Not much room to work but plenty of space to think

Getting this patched up went smoother than I expected and I kept ducking into the shade of the trees in the courtyard while paint was drying to watch the VBS stuff going on and the kids playing in the courtyard. This was a great vantage point because most people didn't know I was perched up on the ledge just enjoying watching them interact.

I think I'm done

Courtyard soccer

After coming down from my perch and attempting to wash all the paint of my hands & arms it was finally time for lunch. It did take days though to get all the paint out of my fingernails. Before it was time to check out the shops April one of the PPM leaders called a team leader meeting to let us know the plans for the rest of the day and the evening church service. This is where God decided to be funny and really see if I was really listening. April let us know the kids would be giving testimonies during the service and that they wanted a couple from each group. Then she said something about somebody giving the message and we all assumed she meant Burt but she was like no one of you all needs to do it so just figure it out. I got up and started to walk away but turned around and said I'd do it. Joe looked at me kinda funny and said are you sure man and i said yeah I've been working on it all morning up on that ledge. I couldn't believe what I'd just agreed to do; I really am not all that comfortable talking to people. I'm pretty much what you'd call an introvert and I just agreed to preach that night. I know it wasn't my idea to do this; it was God's plan and I knew I had to do it.

Luckily we still had some soccer to play to get my mind off of it. Today at the sports complex we got a real treat and we asked the team practicing if we could use 1/2 of the field and play a game with the kids and they said yes. So we went out on the artificial turf and had some fun.

That is a boxing arena in the background

I don't know if it was the black rubber pellets that made it so hot out there but it was toasty that afternoon so we retreated to the shade when the team was getting ready to scrimmage. There was basketball going on, people jump roping and some type of knock out game where everyone stands in a circle and you get people out by rolling the ball through their legs. It was a lot of fun watching everyone play.

The finals

While we were at the park I started to ask who were the bible scholars because I needed to track down a couple of verses. And I found what I was looking for and so much more.
Matthew 7 24-27 was what I was originally looking for......

The Wise and Foolish Builders

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

But what I found next was not what I expected. I knew the Jesus is our cornerstone verse but the verses that surround it were extremely fitting considering we were strangers in a foreign land and it helped me tie my sermon together. Now I just had to get it on paper and not screw it up. 

Ephesians 2:17-22

¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Luckily I snagged one of Luke's notebooks before we left home so I found a quiet spot in the back of the church and began deciphering everything that had been running through my head that morning. Now granted the quiet here next to a busy street is a different quiet than what we're all used to but what happened next was extremely cool. I don't know who organized it (but I have a hunch) but kids and leaders from all three of the groups asked if they could pray for me. I'm assuming I must looked like I needed help and really must have been sweating but we all were; plus I still hadn't showered. 


My sermon came together quickly using our work projects as a basis. Here's the gist of it: I correlated how we had found the mold in the pastor's office and how we could have easily just painted over it and covered it up like we do with so many problems in our life and that if we don't take the time to fix the problem it will grow and spread and not only will we have the original problem we'd now have the new ones. Eventually the combined problems will destroy the house and our body is that house. Just like we sought out the problem and fixed it on the roof, even though we found new problems, we need to be deliberate in fixing the problems in our lives before they grown and begin affecting every moment of every day. It will begin affecting our relationships with others but more importantly our one with God. I urged them to not waste another moment regardless of how small you may think it is because all those little things are their own water leak and eventually they will combine into a big one. And to remember it's not just about you it's about everyone you come in contact with and that you need to go to Jesus and rebuild that trust, repair any broken relationships and most importantly to forgive others so you too can be forgiven. 


I figured I had enough time and I think people were starting to complain so I showered. I figured I'd be a little more comfortable not realizing you start sweating the moment you dry off. 

Well come time for the church service and we have some great worship songs played by Ryan on the keyboards and Stephen on the guitar. Then we were all amazed by everyone's testimonies. What was supposed to be 6 turned into 10. They were all very touching, personal and emotional. Many of the things I planned on touching on in my sermon were all brought up in one way or another by different youth; which was all the more confirming to me that this was His plan all along. But I did make a new rule before I started and that was if I'm going to speak in church I go first because everyone blows me away. I realized the best way to give a sermon is to do it when it needs translated because then you have time to gather your thoughts as it's being translated. But all in all it couldn't have went smoother even though I ended up remembering things I wanted to say when we were on one of our nightly trips to the little store on the corner. It was definitely a powerful and amazing day. 

I was truly blessed to have the chance to preach at Filadelfia

 


 

Mexico Mission Trip Day 4 Tuesday the work continues

Like clockwork our friend in the car came by blaring his music laden ad which was the cue for the crazy people...I mean runners in our group to go down to the soccer stadium to get their morning run in. I told them every day don't run for fun but I don't think they listened. I think we all slept better through the night and we didn't have any major rain while we slept so that may have been part of it. I know Cole slept better since I grabbed him a blow up pool mattress at Walmart but it was still strange waking up in a foreign land to strange sounds and smells knowing I'd have to choke down some warm instant coffee.

Today's routine was going to be much like the day before with breakfast, work projects and VBS, lunch and siesta time, our sports ministry time at the park being back in time for dinner and group time. In our walks up and down the streets faces are starting to look familiar and the people are acknowledging us as we walk by.

This sealer paint was some thick stuff

This morning the heat didn't seam nearly as oppressive but it was probably just because we started getting used to it but the bit of cloud cover didn't hurt either. One of the nice things about working on projects with other people is just the chance to get to talk and catch up or get to know someone. Because even though I've taught Sunday school with Dale and we've been in choir together for years I had never had the opportunity to share some of things with him that I did. We either worked too hard the day before or too efficiently this day because we completed our part of the roof early. Great thing about that was just getting to sit back and watch everyone involved with the kids and the VBS. We had guys doing just about anything to get the kids to laugh and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be doing them back home with their friends watching.

 

VBS with the kids

One of the biggest hits though during VBS time was the little girls getting their fingernails painted and them in turn painting our kids fingernails...some of the guys did partake; I won't name names but there is plenty of photo evidence.

The little girls were very thorough in their painting 

We really didn't get much siestaing done today partially because all us guy's stuff had to be packed away to make room for VBS in the church but also because the girls overran our space and were being chatty. But being that I am a guy and an adult I got volunteered to make trips to the stores with others just to be on the safe side.

Today's trip to the sports park was a lot of fun because that night there was an actual game in the stadium so there were tents set up all round the block with things for sale. So with all the extra people around it meant a lot more kids came out to play. 3 little guys stuck out to me playing today....1 played on the other team and his name was Juan (on the left in the picture) and he was my nemesis. Kevin is holding the ball and Messi is on the right. We never knew his real name but he was wearing a Messi jersey and even his friends called him that. We had fun celebrating their goals in all sorts of wacky soccer ways.

one of my favorite pictures from the trip

Many years ago I ran across a blog post about Mission Balls. These are soccer balls with various scripture verses on them and come in various languages. Ever since then I've wanted to bring soccer balls on a mission trip. We left the bag of balls and a couple of pumps and several needles with the pastor so he could keep the balls inflated. Cole showed him how to change the needles and hopefully someday we'll bring him some more.

Mission balls are a great tool

After our afternoon of soccer and games came to a close we took the time to check out the various tents to see what goods they had for sale. If anyone would like a recording of Brave in 3D in Spanish with Chinese subtitles let me know I can hook you up. We finally had the chance to check out the soccer jersey store because we were there late enough.....some of the stores close during siesta time and don't reopen until the evening. On the way back to the church we stopped at the little convenience store and discovered the world's greatest pop....Lift. It is apple flavored and amazingly amazing.

Cole enjoying a Lift

As it turns out we couldn't trust anyone on the trip and you had to keep an eye on everyone and constantly be checking yourself for clothes pins. Why clothes pins you ask.....because if you got stuck with one of them and it was on your person at the start of the evening meeting then you got to treat everyone with a musical interlude of your choice. Now by the end of the trip some of the guys were purposely getting stuck with them so they could show off their repertoire of songs. This culminated into the trio of David, Austin and Jacob dropping a little Miley Cyrus Party in the USA on us; much to the chagrin of Cole. 

Lizzy assumed I was taking her picture but it was really of the clothes pin

We would end each night with group worship songs and we always seemed to want to do one more because it was so great. But tonight we ended on the roof with an Iowa team meeting, another song and a circle prayer with our friends from Michigan. Once we were done it was group hug time and I reminded the girls I still hadn't showered and wasn't planning to either until we made it to the ocean. It technically wasn't by choice anymore because the water situation was still sketchy at best. 

Evening view from the rooftop

Mexico Mission Trip Day 3 Monday...the work begins

Well it turns out we never had to set an alarm because there was a tiny little car with giant speakers on top playing some sort of music that I think was an ad for some local resort. And just in case you didn't wake up the 1st time he went by he made sure you did on the 3rd or 4th time. This was also the morning I learned that  you don't make instant coffee in your water bottle and shake it to mix it because it turns into foam....it all turns into foam. After that I found out where the cups were kept and then I'd just use my water bottle straw as a stirrer so I could chug my 3 cups of room temperature coffee every morning. This morning also brought us breakfast burritos.

We then broke off into 3 different groups; 1 to work on the roofs, another to paint the pastor's house and 1 to prepare for VBS with the local kids. I purposely avoided being in the same group as Cole so that way he could do some things on his own with not only others from our church but also the other 2 churches. He chose to help prepare VBS cards and go door to door to invite kids to come which I'm glad because that is not up my alley by any means. So I chose to work with Dale on the roof above the church itself sealing the seams of the step shaped roof while the other roof crew worked above the rooms where the girls were staying because they had leaked the night before when it rained.

roof clean up and sealing

I don't know if it was because we weren't used to the heat...even though it was cooler than at home but working on that roof felt like the hottest day ever. I had constant sweat and sunscreen dripping into my sunglasses and it looked like I'd peed my pants but at least I was chugging warm water to try and keep up. Above the church we had to scrape the down and rough up cement patches along the seams of the stair step shaped roof and clean it up so we could put down this super thick red paint type sealer. The one good thing about sweating so much while painting is that the paint never dries on you it just seems to spread and eventually you couldn't tell if you were tanning or covered in mix of sweaty deep red paint.

The VBS crew 

Lunch time and siesta seemed like the greatest thing ever because even though we only worked on our projects for a few hours it seemed like the entire day. 

siesta time

The afternoons at the sports complex became some of my favorite memories. I had asked our soccer club if they had any old balls that we could take with us and they gave us a few and Cole found a bunch of our old ones to go with them so we had a large bag full of balls by the time I got them re-inflated. Each day we'd take basketballs, soccer balls, colors, jump ropes, fingernail polish and water with us to the soccer field. Luckily one of the basketball courts was shaded so most everyone spent their time there. But some of us braved the sun and played some street soccer on one of the basketball courts. We did lose the ball over the fence and on a roof a few times but we always got it back some how. 

the all important selecting of the teams 

We quickly learned all the names of the kids which wasn't easy because we were still trying to learn every one's name from the Michigan and Florida groups but we also caught on to a few important soccer terms in Spanish so we could all communicate. But the best communication was the smiles on the each and everyone of the kid's faces. Some of you may know but in case not I am a youth soccer coach not only for the introductory courses through our city's park and rec department for 3-5 year olds in the winter and summer but also for our soccer club where I coach 2 different teams and at last count I think I've coached 43 different teams over the years between spring, fall and tournaments so this was a dream come true. I hadn't told anyone but I'd always wanted to bring soccer balls on a mission trip and distribute them to the kids. 

We found out the sun and humidity are brutal and that these little kids are good. One of the guys said the highlight of his day was finally beating one of these kids after that kid had schooled him 5 or 6 times. This was coming from someone who had played soccer for 13 years and the kid he was talking about was probably 8 or 9. Futbol is just a way of life here. While we were playing each day there was a minor league soccer team that was practicing on the turf field next to us and a lot of the kids were just there to watch them. Several didn't have shoes so they'd have to take quick breaks in the shade of the wall to cool their feet down because the cement was so hot. Eventually I had to call "No Mas" but not until after I had scored on a header and nearly killed myself running around with kids 1/2 my age. After that it was off to make sweat angels in the shaded basketball court and just watch all the games going on and the interactions between our group and the kids. I could have stayed here all day but sadly we had to leave but as a bonus we went further down our road to an ice cream shop (that we would frequent quite a bit) and had some of the best home made ice cream ever.

Tonight much to our surprise we had pizza and cold pop (soda for you non-Iowans) for supper. I seriously had to cut myself off it was so good. I kept going back to ones I've never tried or seen before and the cold pop became a great treat. We would actually buy the little store on the corner out of Coke in glass bottles and Powerade.

Pizza from your favorite pizzeria....the box doesn't lie

In the evening we spent time in the courtyard getting to know each other a little better and sharing our God sightings and experiences of the day. Afterwards we had some free time so a few ventured out to investigate the various food vendors but a few of us joined Burton & April (PPM staffers) and went to experience the cultural phenomenon known as Wal-mart. This was a pretty crazy time. To start you had to go down into the parking garage under the store in order to take the people/cart mover up into the store. The odd thing about the conveyor type belt was that the wheels on the carts were metal and the conveyor belt was magnetized so it just pulled the cart uphill for you. We learned Burt will do anything to make someone laugh and that campismo is a funny word when said in odd ways. But I also found out I can't pick the right checkout line regardless of what country I'm in. All the lines were ridiculously long (they don't open another register when people are standing in line) but we chose the one that the lady was buying 20 of everything and paying every so often with gift cards. If I was working I would have let her keep the hangers it was painful to watch. We even changed lines once but still went back to it.

So we had some funny stories to share when we got back to the church while we set up our sleeping quarters. The rain came earlier in the night than the night before so many of the guys took showers in the brief rain despite it being past lights out (they did get in a wee bit of trouble). They did this because the girls were using all the water and leaving us with none.....that's my story and I'm sticking too it. But to this point I had still avoided showering and I was planning on waiting to bathe until the ocean on Thursday. But it was time to attempt to sleep again despite everything going on around us.

Mexico Mission Trip...Day 2 traveling to Playa del Carmen

Considering our drive to Chicago was longer than our flight will be to Cancun this should be a piece of cake right? We had a short drive to the airport then it was the all important question....who was going to remember where we parked and then after checking if I had my passport for the 10th time I finally stopped worrying about it.

Chicago skyline from the plane 

Luckily we got to watch a movie on the flight I wanted to see so I can cross Wrath of the Titans of my list. Beyond that it was an uneventful flight which is always a good thing.

Coming into Cancun

Well after a slight delay in finding the other groups we were meeting up with we did finally find our Praying Pelican Missions leaders and we headed out to get some food. So where else do you go when you are in a foreign country for the 1st time? McDonalds that's where. I at least got something called a McTasty (not) that you can't get here in the US. After that it was a 45 minute drive south of Cancun to Playa del Carmen. We went past megaresort after megaresort all with high walls and trees to block the view across the street of the shanties and abandoned buildings.

Never be the 1st to fall asleep 

We stayed just a few blocks off of Mexico hwy 307 at the north end of 30th Ave North about 10 blocks west of the ocean at the Filadelfia Baptist Church. But in order to get to the public beach you'd have to hop the bus for about a 1/2 hour and go south and then walk the rest of the way. But on the way to where we were staying we began to realize the neighborhood we were going to was not necessarily one we'd ever considering going to back home.....if we even have anything remotely like it.

The open courtyard at Filadelfia.

Rooftop view from the church 

We didn't have time to settle in after the long day of travels because we had to get ready for an evening church service at a different church after we had an authentic meal.

After our meal we changed (we'd already sweat through our 1st set of clothes) and began the trek to the church we would be attending. Walking down the sidewalk, many times single file because the sidewalk was barely wide enough for 1 1/2 people, we had our 1st chance to experience life and culture of this community. You can see in the picture above how there were usually 5-6 shops on each block which we would be about the size of a single car garage which was pretty much what these were and then converted to some type of shop. There were various food places, Internet cafes, hair dressers, convenience stores and shops selling backpacks, clothes, sandals and then they'd repeat on the next block. The real treat though was the homemade ice cream shop several blocks south of the church. The real eye opener started when we walked along the park that was packed with food carts, men playing soccer, kids playing on the playground and people selling things on the curb. But it didn't stop there once we got a block or so past you could begin to notice the extreme poverty this area is stricken with. From the dead rats in the gutters, the smells to the tiny houses with garbage spilling out into the street we weren't in Iowa any more Toto. A boy we met, Emanuel, told us he only made 15 pesos a day working 8 hours at the laundry mat....that's barely more than 1 US dollar.  

But we soon forgot all that as we shook some hands and entered the open air church that was filled with mariachi type music. We got to partake in the service and clapped along even though not all of us understood the words but we did have a translator along who helped us during the sermon parts. The highlight of the night was that our Praying Pelicans leader brought a couple of his old band members up from Belize and played a bunch of songs for everyone in attendance alternating between English and Spanish songs. After the service I tracked down the guitar player for the church's band and told him in my broken Spanish how much I enjoyed his playing.

The walk back to our church after the 3 hour service made me realize how much of a night time culture this part of the world has. We didn't make it in time to notice how everything shuts down during siesta but the streets were even busier now than before. We still had to set up our sleeping area on the floor of the sanctuary in the church but man it was still hot out. Some of the guys opted to sleep on the roof of the church for the extra air flow....little did they know we'd get a bit of rain in the night and even those of us sleeping close to the courtyard side of the church would get a bit wet too. I am thankful my wife packed some earplugs considering we were sleeping a mere 20 feet from what felt like the busiest road in the world every night while we were trying to sleep. I'm not going to lie that 1st night was rough sleeping with all the cars, buses, police lights flashing every few minutes, people walking by and food smells coming from all the shops on top of worrying about my son next too me that he was doing ok and and that he was safe.

Night time from the roof 

Mexico Mission Trip Day 1. Trip before the trip

I would have liked to do some blog post updates while we were in Playa del Carmen but data roaming charges did not permit me to do so plus the Blogger ap is junk. So I thought I'd share some pictures, thoughts and memories from each day of this amazing week.

Our 1st day involved last minute packing and a 6 hour drive to Chicago. Luckily I was driving so I got to control the Pandora station. But we 1st had to figure out how 14 of us plus all our luggage was all going to fit in 2 vans.

The car topper was a huge help though it became noisy from the wind. Turns out there was tons of room in the other van because we had 2 less bags in ours on the drive home. 

Here is our group

Not a lot of excitement or things to see between Des Moines and Chicago other than the world's largest truck stop so we made it a point to eat and gas up there. After that it was straight to Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin to meet up with our Worship Leader's parents to church it up with them before spending the night at their house before heading to the airport the next day. 

We got to enjoy some pretty good worship music and hear a great message on forgiveness from Bryan Loritts an author and pastor from Memphis and is a brother to one of the church's members. 

After church we made our way to the Dahm's and had pizza for what we thought would be the last time for at least a week. Then we relaxed, stretched our legs and gathered black mail to use on Josh (our worship leader) when we got back. 

thankfully no one was injured in the tree house or on the swing

After that it was pretty much time to crash since we had a little drive to O'Hare to catch our flight in the  morning.

Wednesdays Word....Follow-through

Have you ever taken the time and looked back on certain situations and realized how things "just happen" when you listen to God and follow-through with something He is asking to do. Sometimes they are simple things like praying for someone or just picking up the phone and calling someone even if you don't know what to say or why you should. Or they could be out of your comfort zone things like joining choir, teaching Sunday school or giving your testimony. You never know you may even end up going on a mission trip. There are countless other things you could list here but these are just some of things I have done because I was finally paying attention.

The one I want to focus on today is the last one...the mission trip. You see back on February 1st I published this blog post Wednesday's Word - Available . The focus of it was making yourself physically, mentally and spiritually available to God's call. For weeks I had this message running around in my head and I couldn't shake it so I knew it wasn't my own made up thoughts and that I needed to get it out and so I figured blogging about it would get the job done and I could go on to the next thing...but it didn't exactly work the way I planned and a lot of crazy things started happening moments after I hit the publish button.

First off I got a forwarded email from my wife that said our youth from church had an opportunity to go to Mexico on a mission trip. I replied it would be a great opportunity for our oldest son. The reply I got back wasn't exactly what I was expecting; my wife said they'll be getting the chance to play soccer with the kids down there. Now some of you may know that this is what I do on the side......I coach youth soccer; from running the 3-5 yr old introductory clinics in the wintertime and our city's park & rec summertime programs to coaching a couple of my son's teams in our soccer club's league in the spring and fall for the last 8 years along with various tournaments. So without hesitation I said I was in. But this goes back even further than this email....about 6 years ago I had just gotten a promotion which brought me up to 6 weeks of vacation and a person can only fish so much; well without getting trouble with their spouse so I told the youth pastor of our church that I was available to go on any trips that may need adult chaperons. I had also just begun teaching Sunday school. But as things would have it I was laid off later that year after 10 + years with the company. So I put any mission trips out of mind and had never told anyone that I really had wanted to distribute soccer balls to kids while on a mission trip. So I asked our soccer club if they had any balls they could donate and they did so I will be getting to cross that off my list of things to do. Funny thing is several of the youth going on this trip are from that same class of kids I had when I first started teaching Sunday school along with the guy I taught with.

I thought this would have been enough to "get God off my case" for a while but I couldn't shake it so I sent an email to some of the staff at church asking if I could talk on a few points and encourage people to come to our up coming revival with Rick Bonfim. So I asked if I could touch on these 4 things.
1. Make yourself physically available...show up and don't go through the motions.
2. Make yourself spiritually available. Saying that simple prayer that you're ready to go where ever God leads and needs you.
3. Listen to that still small voice regardless of where or how you receive it. If you're not sure it's God it'll be confirmed through those around you; just pay attention.
4. Once you know what you're supposed to do...Just Do It...act on what you've been told. If you don't God will do 2 things....either stop talking to you or get out the 2X4 to get your attention and in both cases it's generally not a pleasant experience.
Well as it turned out one of our friends was already giving her testimony that weekend so they couldn't fit me in but she touched on every single one of the points I had going through my mind for weeks almost to the word....well other than the 2X4 part which I think God only uses on guys when they don't listen. I talked with her between services and showed her the email I had sent and we both knew what we were saying was directly from God. Then between our interim pastor & Rick they touched on these 4 points as well. With all of this confirmation I think it was just a matter of God checking if I would follow-through on something he had put upon my heart because I am not exactly fond of speaking in front of people and do just about anything to avoid it.

These things all come together this weekend as our group travels to Mexico to work on some service projects, lead VBS, attend church services and play some futbol with the local kids. So if you could please keep our group in your thoughts and prayers throughout our travels and endeavors this next week it would be greatly appreciated.

Wednesdays Word.....Thorn

I've been sitting on this "word" thorn for a few weeks now but I just haven't been able to tie it all together in a nice neat coherent package as things usually just randomly bounce around inside my head until it drives me crazy and I have to force myself to display it here hoping I can regain my normal train of thoughts.

A few weeks ago we had a speaker at church (thanks Rose) who mentioned Paul and his thorn so I quickly started emailing myself some random thoughts on the subject of the thorn so I wouldn't lose them. When I had enough basic points I handed my phone to my oldest son to see what he thought. 1st thing he said was "you didn't use proper punctuation". He's lucky we were in church but for good or for bad that is my son's "thorn". He's a perfectionist. At times this is a blessing but in some circumstances it is a detriment.

We all have that thorn and unfortunately it's usually the thing we tend to focus on the most which can lead us to overlooking all the blessings we have; some of which maybe a direct result of our thorn.
We learn in 2 Corinthians 12:7 that Paul had a thorn that kept him humble but he believed it kept him from being an even greater messenger of God. We don't know the specifics other than it was brought on by Satan himself like Job and it could have been physical along the lines of poor eyesight, speech impediment or something like Parkinson's that gave him the shakes or something mental like an overwhelming temptation. And being that Paul was the author of the majority of the New Testament the physical problems would have made it difficult for him to write or even dictate to a scribe the Words he'd been given. These things could have hindered him in speaking to people making him appear weak and unworthy but we all know the weak will lead the strong.

That being said we are a society that praises other people's abilities and natural gifts but when it comes to ourselves we tend to focus on the negatives and our weaknesses. Is this our thorn being so negatively focused that we overlook the entire picture. Just like the thorn on a rose bush is part of a greater beauty that we don't focus on until we are wounded by it; our own thorn can lead to greater things. But far too often it becomes our defense mechanism; our quiet place...the thing we hide behind and use as our excuse and our crutch. We instead need to seek refuge in the peace that is found with in the grace of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is then that we can finally step back & refocus and see the good that becomes of our weakness; the bloom that comes from our thorn.

My thorns are too many to list here but I do know they are small in comparison to the greater good that has come from them as I've been able to look back and see how they are all intertwined with in the plans that God has for me.

   

Wednesdays Word.......More

Today I want to share with you one of my favorite songs and some inspiration from the lead singer Mike Donehey. If you've followed me for a while or paid attention on Twitter or Facebook then you've seen me post video snippets of these guys before. The group is Tenth Avenue North and I could blog about each of their songs because each one of them are powerful and have a deep meaning....we just have to pay attention when we hear the "words" speaking to us. 


The song today is You Are More. We all struggle with self worth because we doubt ourselves at every chance we are given. But why? Part of it is guilt from our past decisions but I think a bigger part of it is that we care too much of what we think others think of us regardless of what they really do think. Being the parent of a teenager and the coach of a team of preteens I see how fragile egos are and how easy it is for confidence to be broken by others let alone by the pressure we put on ourselves. The good news is; we are not defined by the choices we make but by the choice that was made for us. It all boils down to God's perfect love and forgiveness. We just have to forgive ourselves for building such a wall between us and God and accept His grace and mercy. In the video Mike had a great line. "We can't learn to live for God until we learn to live because of God".  And remember....it's not who we are but whose we are.




Here's the official video of the song....enjoy

There's a girl in the corner With tear stains on her eyes 
From the places she's wandered And the shame she can't hide 

She says, "How did I get here? I'm not who I once was. 
And I'm crippled by the fear That I've fallen too far to love" 

But don't you know who you are, What's been done for you? Yeah don't you know who you are? 

You are more than the choices that you've made, You are more than the sum of your past mistakes You are more than the problems you create, You've been remade. 

Well she tries to believe it That she's been given new life 
But she can't shake the feeling That it's not true tonight 

She knows all the answers And she's rehearsed all the lines 
And so she'll try to do better But then she's too weak to try 

But don't you know who you are? 

You are more than the choices that you've made, You are more than the sum of your past mistakes You are more than the problems you create, You've been remade. 

You are more than the choices that you've made, You are more than the sum of your past mistakes You are more than the problems you create, You've been remade. 

'Cause this is not about what you've done, But what's been done for you. 
This is not about where you've been, But where your brokenness brings you to 

This is not about what you feel, But what He felt to forgive you, 
And what He felt to make you loved. 

You are more than the choices that you've made, You are more than the sum of your past mistakes You are more than the problems you create, You've been remade. 

You are more than the choices that you've made, You are more than the sum of your past mistakes You are more than the problems you create, You've been remade. 

You've been remade 
You've been remade. 
You've been remade. 
You've been remade.