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Next week, Foundation For His Ministry’s Home For Needy Children in Oaxaca, Mexico, will celebrate twenty years of existence. Twenty years of helping the poorest of the poor. Two decades of making disciples, of meeting the physical, emotional and educational needs of children who have been abandoned, abused and neglected. Casa Hogar (as it is called in Spanish) has been following God’s call and God’s example of making beauty, sharing truth and doing good.
Twenty years ago this 14 acre plot of land in the Tlacolula Valley was nothing but a half finished building and a lot of big thorn bushes. Now it is a place of beauty, with many gardens and wonderful architecture.
Twenty years ago leaders of Foundation For His Ministry began sharing truth with people of the region. The indigenous people like the Zapotecs, Mixes, Mixtecs, as well as native Mexicans heard the Good News that God loves them and wants them to be happy; that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life; that through Jesus they can have peace with God and live an abundant, eternal life. Oaxacans from pre-school age to old age heard the truth about life and death; good and bad; heaven and hell. Pastors and missionaries went into area prisons and remote mountain villages preaching hope, restoration and renewal to those who felt hopeless, helpless and lost. Children from the Home learned and continue to be taught the truth of God and his Word in morning devotions, Sunday School, church services and youth conferences. They learn the truth of God’s World in our primary school called Oasis. They also hear and apply truths at special events like swim camps and at mountain retreats.
Twenty years ago, missionaries from FFHM came to Oaxaca with a vision of doing good. A vision of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick and taking in the stranger. For two decades servants of Christ have been cooperating with God, FFHM, local and regional authorities to make a difference in the Kingdom of God and Oaxaca’s seven regions. Doing good by meeting felt needs, and more importantly, meeting the deep spiritual needs of people in southern Mexico who are walking in darkness. FFHM has been bringing the Light of Life to thousands of lost souls for these last twenty years, and, God willing, for the next 20 years and more.
Sometimes I wonder if people read accounts like this and think that we must be some sort of Super Hero Christian Saints. We are not super hero Christian saints. We are just ordinary people doing ordinary things following an extraordinary God as best we can. God has opened our eyes to certain needs and we clumsily walk along the path that God has put before us to travel. We are sinners who have been forgiven. We are beggars who have found some bread and share with other beggars. We do the best we can to love God with all our being and love our neighbors as ourselves, and we fail mightily everyday. We hope to find God’s strength in our weakness. We pray for grace in our times of need, which are often. We could all easily pray the prayer of Saint Thomas A Kempis in his classic book The Imitation of Christ –
O God,
Deal with us according to your loving-kindness,
not according to our wickedness and iniquity.
We offer unto you all our goodness,
though it is exceedingly little and imperfect,
that you may mend and sanctify it,
that you may make it well pleasing and acceptable in your sight,
and ever draw it on towards perfection;
and furthermore bring us safely,
slothful and useless poor creatures that we are,
to a happy and blessed end.
May we feel ourselves assisted by your grace, enriched by consolation,
protected from dangers, freed from pains;
and that being delivered from all evils
we may joyfully give you exceeding thanks.
Pardon our sins and mutual offenses.
Take away, O Lord, from our hearts all suspicion,
indignation, anger, and contention,
and whatsoever is able to injure charity and diminish brotherly love.
Give grace to the needy,
and make us such that we may be worthy to enjoy your grace,
and go forward to the life eternal.
Amen.
Orientation is important. Perhaps the most important part of life. Here are some definitions:
Noun – the determination of the relative position of something or someone (especially oneself)
The relative physical position or direction of something
The adjustment or alignment of oneself or one’s ideas to surrounding or circumstances
In high school and college I went to freshman orientations. These were intended to help new students orient themselves with the geography of the school. I learned where the library, cafeteria and different classrooms were. After orientation I always knew where these places were, no matter where I was. That was important. To this day I have bad dreams that I am in some large school and I am disoriented and can’t find my class, or worse yet, the bathroom, and I really need to go!
Orientation is important for everyone. Orientation is not just knowing where we are spatially, but also knowing where we are mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Many people’s lives are oriented around the wrong things. For example, some people orient their lives around money and the accumulation of wealth. Acquiring wealth makes them happy, at least for awhile. With money they have a house, a car, a savings account. They can have nice clothes and eat at the best restaurants. With wealth they have security and status. They know where they are by how much money they have.
Other people orient themselves around sex or drugs or power or education or family or work or politics. There are countless things we can orient ourselves around. Good things and bad things. I am reminded of Mary and Martha in Luke 10. Verse 40 tells us that Martha was oriented around all the preparations that had to be made. Her orientation led her to be “worried and upset about many things.”
Mary on the other hand, sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he
said. Her orientation was Jesus. Jesus told Martha that “few
things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen
what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
May
I suggest that we choose to orient our lives around Jesus? I recently
read about a comedian whose life was oriented around being a comic.
He couldn’t imagine his life oriented around anything else. Then he
heard about Jesus, and how he would live a happier, more complete,
more contented life, if his life was oriented around this God/Man. He
didn’t believe it. He fought against it. But he couldn’t get Him out
of his mind. Finally he gave in. In his words, he began to orient
his life around God, and discovered, quite to his surprise, he was
happier, more complete and more content.
I like that he used
the word “orient”. Some Christians use the words Saved,
Born Again, Converted, Redeemed or Rescued. Those words indicate
important aspects of what it means to be a God Follower, but not the
entire package. I think the the concept behind the phrase “to
orient myself around God” encapsulates the entirety of what it
means to be a Christian. When I orient myself to God, my whole life,
every moment becomes related to God who loves me and gave himself for
me.
There are many Bible verses that refer to this kind of
orientation:
Seek first the kingdom of the heavenly Father and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5,6)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. (Matthew 22:37,38)
Rejoice always, pray continually give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
My life is oriented around God at a mission that helps needy children in Oaxaca, Mexico; a mission run by FFHM. Our mission statement states that we exist to make disciples of Christ. A disciple is one whose life is oriented around the teachings and practices of a person or organization. We aim to orient the poorest of the poor in Mexico to lives centered on Jesus. This ministry takes in children whose lives have been oriented around abuse and poverty, neglect and rejection. Showing them the love of God by meeting their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs enables them to reorient themselves toward a better life. Once they see themselves as dearly loved children of God and orient their lives around that truth, they are able to live happy, fulfilled lives.
We all want to be happy. God created us in his image; he created us to be happy. We can all be incredibly happy. It just takes the right orientation.
To Enjoy God 