Thursday, March 13
I have always heard how sports are a good way to do cross cultural and cross language missions, but I had never really seen it in action until this trip.
What I mean by see it in action is how just going out and kicking a ball around can draw a crowd of about 12 kids in 5 minutes who are a receptive audience to the witness of Jesus Christ.
Sports are one of the few things that transcends all cultures, languages and people groups and it is simply amazing to see how each different culture, though seemingly irreconciable, can be brought together by kicking or throwing a ball.
The use of sports as a missions tool was very prevalent on this trip in that we would routinely look for opportunities to pull out our Evange-Ball soccer balls or a baseball and bat and engage these kids and show them our love for the Gospel through our love of sports.
And that is one thing about the Gospel that makes it so powerful - if you have a passion for a particular activity, you can find a way to mesh the Gospel into that activity to better share with others.
Say you have a passion for scrapbooking (I for one don't, but there are those out there who do). Through a passion for scrapbooking a person can build relationships with other scrapbookers and show them the Gospel through the way in which they lead their life.
I say all this to make this point - we shouldn't view the Gospel as a part of our life that we have to fit in with everything else. We should view the Gospel as an avenue through which our passions are fed, which allows us to better engage the people around us with the beauty and joy of the Gospel.
I will be the first to admit it, I have at times not lived my life in such a way that puts the Gospel before all else, but I know that through the acknowledgment of this shortcoming, I can learn to work on it in the future.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Lessons From God
Wednesday, March 12
I find that sometime, even when things seem to not be going as it seems they should, it is in those moments when God shows you or has you experience something new and unique that in the long run furthers your growth as a person of faith.
Now let me point out that some of these are in fact about personal comforts, but for me and others it is definitely important to overcome a worry about physical comforts in order to further the word of God around the world.
Take this trip that I am on as an example. While the weather has been agreeable for the most part, on most days it is hot. It has been really hot. I mean like North Carolina summer hot. And as most people know, I am not a huge fan of the heat. We have a pretty spotty history in the past.
However, every day, despite being hot out. I have found myself pushing on as I do the Lord's work of sharing the Gospel with the people around me.
A second example that has occurred on this trip is another example of God showing me the ability to overcome a further physical inconvenience. When we got to the hotel on the third day in a town called Laguna Blanca, we "drew straws" with leafs to determine who slept on a mattress on a floor.
Guess who was the lucky short (or in our case long) straw...
So I have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor of our hotel room for the past two nights and have one more night to go. While at first I considered this a bad situation, I now consider it a blessing for I have come to learn on this mattress that serving God is always rewarding, not always comfortable.
And I know that this is a complaint that is rather superficial, but the last area is where I have grown the most.
The last area that I have personally grown in on this trip through God's grace has been my ability to share my faith with others. And in share my faith I didn't simply mean the casual "Yeah I'm a Christian." I mean being intentional in telling others about the beauty of the Gospel and how it works in my life.
For example, today my group had a prearranged visit with a woman, Laura, who had come to our event with her son the night before. When we first sat down, she engaged us in the usual small talk, seemingly trying to avoid the topic that she had asked us to come for.
However, after 30 minutes of chit chat, we were able to steer the conversation to the matter of the Gospel. And for the first time in the entire week, I took the lead in evangelising to an individual. This was big for me in that, as I said before, I have never had any true experiences evangelising.
So while the act alone was a big step for me, the bigger thing that I took from this experience involved a fear that I have had about me and missions in the past: that I will be ineffective. And this was confronted in this experience as after all our sharing, Laura did not feel the urge to start a relationship with Christ at that time.
At first this was rather upsetting, for I had just given two hours of my trip with this woman and she still seemed hesitant about faith. However, upon reflection, I have realized that while it is important to lead people to Christ, something that is just as important is planting the seed of faith that others can build on.
So in just these instances this trip has taught me much, about both myself and about the Gospel. It never ceases to amaze me how people in different cultures all over the world have faith and praise through worship our great and powerful God. To see that even while they may have little on this world, they take heart in the rewards that are to come through faith.
I just wish we were all that way.
I find that sometime, even when things seem to not be going as it seems they should, it is in those moments when God shows you or has you experience something new and unique that in the long run furthers your growth as a person of faith.
Now let me point out that some of these are in fact about personal comforts, but for me and others it is definitely important to overcome a worry about physical comforts in order to further the word of God around the world.
Take this trip that I am on as an example. While the weather has been agreeable for the most part, on most days it is hot. It has been really hot. I mean like North Carolina summer hot. And as most people know, I am not a huge fan of the heat. We have a pretty spotty history in the past.
However, every day, despite being hot out. I have found myself pushing on as I do the Lord's work of sharing the Gospel with the people around me.
A second example that has occurred on this trip is another example of God showing me the ability to overcome a further physical inconvenience. When we got to the hotel on the third day in a town called Laguna Blanca, we "drew straws" with leafs to determine who slept on a mattress on a floor.
Guess who was the lucky short (or in our case long) straw...
So I have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor of our hotel room for the past two nights and have one more night to go. While at first I considered this a bad situation, I now consider it a blessing for I have come to learn on this mattress that serving God is always rewarding, not always comfortable.
And I know that this is a complaint that is rather superficial, but the last area is where I have grown the most.
The last area that I have personally grown in on this trip through God's grace has been my ability to share my faith with others. And in share my faith I didn't simply mean the casual "Yeah I'm a Christian." I mean being intentional in telling others about the beauty of the Gospel and how it works in my life.
For example, today my group had a prearranged visit with a woman, Laura, who had come to our event with her son the night before. When we first sat down, she engaged us in the usual small talk, seemingly trying to avoid the topic that she had asked us to come for.
However, after 30 minutes of chit chat, we were able to steer the conversation to the matter of the Gospel. And for the first time in the entire week, I took the lead in evangelising to an individual. This was big for me in that, as I said before, I have never had any true experiences evangelising.
So while the act alone was a big step for me, the bigger thing that I took from this experience involved a fear that I have had about me and missions in the past: that I will be ineffective. And this was confronted in this experience as after all our sharing, Laura did not feel the urge to start a relationship with Christ at that time.
At first this was rather upsetting, for I had just given two hours of my trip with this woman and she still seemed hesitant about faith. However, upon reflection, I have realized that while it is important to lead people to Christ, something that is just as important is planting the seed of faith that others can build on.
So in just these instances this trip has taught me much, about both myself and about the Gospel. It never ceases to amaze me how people in different cultures all over the world have faith and praise through worship our great and powerful God. To see that even while they may have little on this world, they take heart in the rewards that are to come through faith.
I just wish we were all that way.
Monday, March 10, 2008
God's Providence
I continue to be amazed at the providence that can be found in God's presence. Even in times when you are more stressed out than imaginable, God provides.
This was displayed to me today especially, when we attempted to undertake a craft that was much more complicated that we had first imagined. The plan was to take pictures of the children that we were working with and have them build frames to put the pictures in.
Everything was running smoothly while myself and another girl took the pictures, and even making the frames went off without a hitch. It was returning the pictures and the frames to the kids that was the nightmare.
The first couple of kids can in and out without a hitch, but it was when the kids cam in and we couldn't find their pictures or their frames that the stress levels started to climb. Seeing these kids, we WE had PROMISED a framed picture, walk away with heads down or worse in tears was absolutely heart wrenching.
But this was where God came through (as He always does) and worked His magic. It was through his help that we were able to find a pack of pictures that we had forgotten about and were able to better match frames and pictures with children.
Another beautiful thing about this day occurred earlier when a friend of mine and I went out into the barrio to go door to door and share the Gospel with the people. Here, through our broken Spanish and the help of a translator, we were able to share the love of the Gospel with the people.
I could see God's providence and good grace at work here as it pertained to me exclusively (I think), because I have never truly had any evangelism experience in the past, so needless to say I was rather stressed.
But through this feeling of apprehension, I feel that the best in me came out. I was able to actively interact with the people (through translator of course, with some Spanish from me) as well as share my story of faith to demonstrate the love of God. I loved it.
It was through these stressful situations that God worked His best. He saw it fit that we should be effective, and as a result it was so.
This was displayed to me today especially, when we attempted to undertake a craft that was much more complicated that we had first imagined. The plan was to take pictures of the children that we were working with and have them build frames to put the pictures in.
Everything was running smoothly while myself and another girl took the pictures, and even making the frames went off without a hitch. It was returning the pictures and the frames to the kids that was the nightmare.
The first couple of kids can in and out without a hitch, but it was when the kids cam in and we couldn't find their pictures or their frames that the stress levels started to climb. Seeing these kids, we WE had PROMISED a framed picture, walk away with heads down or worse in tears was absolutely heart wrenching.
But this was where God came through (as He always does) and worked His magic. It was through his help that we were able to find a pack of pictures that we had forgotten about and were able to better match frames and pictures with children.
Another beautiful thing about this day occurred earlier when a friend of mine and I went out into the barrio to go door to door and share the Gospel with the people. Here, through our broken Spanish and the help of a translator, we were able to share the love of the Gospel with the people.
I could see God's providence and good grace at work here as it pertained to me exclusively (I think), because I have never truly had any evangelism experience in the past, so needless to say I was rather stressed.
But through this feeling of apprehension, I feel that the best in me came out. I was able to actively interact with the people (through translator of course, with some Spanish from me) as well as share my story of faith to demonstrate the love of God. I loved it.
It was through these stressful situations that God worked His best. He saw it fit that we should be effective, and as a result it was so.
All Encompassing Power of the Gospel
I find it amazingly humbling just how the Gospel is able to reach out to all corners of the world and touch the hearts of so many people. And the most amazing thing is seeing the Gospel at work with people who have so much less than we do, people who we would call "less fortunate than us."
Seeing the Gospel at work here in the city of Clorinda, Argentina, is simply amazing because of the situations from which many of the people that we are working with are coming from. These people have nothing. If you have heard me describe the favellas in Sao Paulo, the poverty is similar to that except in more of a suburban layout.
And in this place it is evident that the Gospel is moving. Today I went out into the city with three others, one a student, one an American translator, and one a local, and with the three of them we went around and shared the love and beauty of the Gospel. And in this, I used my story in faith to show the ability of God to have an effect in my life, which is then applied to their life.
It is simply awe inspiring! To see others who love God with all their hearts, or in some cases they may have never heard of the Gospel, and through my experiences I am able to show these people the beauty of the Gospel and how it applies to them.
And that is the beauty of the Gospel and the Great Commission which we are called to follow. That we are able to go into the world and bring the good news of the Gospel to people who have never heard it before it something that is simply amazing and brings joy to anyone who is able to go out and do it.
You hear that?
Do it.
Seeing the Gospel at work here in the city of Clorinda, Argentina, is simply amazing because of the situations from which many of the people that we are working with are coming from. These people have nothing. If you have heard me describe the favellas in Sao Paulo, the poverty is similar to that except in more of a suburban layout.
And in this place it is evident that the Gospel is moving. Today I went out into the city with three others, one a student, one an American translator, and one a local, and with the three of them we went around and shared the love and beauty of the Gospel. And in this, I used my story in faith to show the ability of God to have an effect in my life, which is then applied to their life.
It is simply awe inspiring! To see others who love God with all their hearts, or in some cases they may have never heard of the Gospel, and through my experiences I am able to show these people the beauty of the Gospel and how it applies to them.
And that is the beauty of the Gospel and the Great Commission which we are called to follow. That we are able to go into the world and bring the good news of the Gospel to people who have never heard it before it something that is simply amazing and brings joy to anyone who is able to go out and do it.
You hear that?
Do it.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Have You Ever Truly Suffered?
So, I know how in the past I have talked about suffering and how we all may think that we have gone through a time of suffering.
Well, something that I listened to put that into perspective for me. I listened to a sermon given by my pastor, JD Greear that was titled "The Silence of God." At first glance at this title, I was taken aback at the thought that God could be silent, but then it became clear what the sermon was about.
In this sermon, JD talked about how in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ was praying to God and suffered a fate that no other living person has ever experienced, and that was a true separation from God.
The thing about this is that this distressed Christ in such a way that He almost died. Think about that.
This man suffered in such a way that He was sweating blood! A condition called hematridrosis, to sweat blood is such a rare event that it is only brought about by extreme bouts of stress, such as when a person is facing his or her own death.
Now obviously, Christ knew what He was about to endure. In fact, He pleaded with God that He might not have to undergo what he was about to have to suffer. But that is the amazing thing about Christ's death, in that He had the ability to prevent His death but did nothing to stop it.
And that shows A) how much God loves us and B) how amazing it is that God chooses to bless us with His presence.
This shows how much God loves us in that while people may turn their back on God, He will in turn never turn his back on us. No matter what we may be going through at the time, no matter how much we may have suffered, God is always going to be with us. The only way in which we will not have God with us is if we reject Him in life, leading to an eternity separated from His presence. And if just a momentary separation from God almost killed Christ, I believe that the pain and suffering that we would endure for eternity would be unimaginable.
The second point, that God chooses to bless us with His presence is evident in the fact that He allows the Sun to rise in the morning and that He allows us to awaken to see this event. God blesses us with His presence so that we might be better able to do what we were created to do, and that is to give Him honor and praise all of our days.
Well, something that I listened to put that into perspective for me. I listened to a sermon given by my pastor, JD Greear that was titled "The Silence of God." At first glance at this title, I was taken aback at the thought that God could be silent, but then it became clear what the sermon was about.
In this sermon, JD talked about how in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ was praying to God and suffered a fate that no other living person has ever experienced, and that was a true separation from God.
The thing about this is that this distressed Christ in such a way that He almost died. Think about that.
This man suffered in such a way that He was sweating blood! A condition called hematridrosis, to sweat blood is such a rare event that it is only brought about by extreme bouts of stress, such as when a person is facing his or her own death.
Now obviously, Christ knew what He was about to endure. In fact, He pleaded with God that He might not have to undergo what he was about to have to suffer. But that is the amazing thing about Christ's death, in that He had the ability to prevent His death but did nothing to stop it.
And that shows A) how much God loves us and B) how amazing it is that God chooses to bless us with His presence.
This shows how much God loves us in that while people may turn their back on God, He will in turn never turn his back on us. No matter what we may be going through at the time, no matter how much we may have suffered, God is always going to be with us. The only way in which we will not have God with us is if we reject Him in life, leading to an eternity separated from His presence. And if just a momentary separation from God almost killed Christ, I believe that the pain and suffering that we would endure for eternity would be unimaginable.
The second point, that God chooses to bless us with His presence is evident in the fact that He allows the Sun to rise in the morning and that He allows us to awaken to see this event. God blesses us with His presence so that we might be better able to do what we were created to do, and that is to give Him honor and praise all of our days.
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