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I cooperate with God in a home for needy children in Oaxaca, Mexico. We currently care for about sixty 
children. Most of them come to us from desperate situations. Many have suffered abuse of one kind or another. Others come from dire economic situations. Some have no parents or one or both of the parents are in prison. They are all needy in one respect or another.
The staff members at the Home For Needy Children are there primarily because they recognize the need of the children and want to help meet their needs. Therefore we have house parents, cooks, a pastor, an accountant, maintenance workers, administrators, school teachers and even a gardener (me).
Occasionally someone comes to help, but in the long run it becomes apparent that he or she needs as much help as some of the kids at the home. Some are asked to leave. One former administrator spoke at our morning devotions and felt the need to remind the adults that this was a home for needy children, not a home for needy missionaries. It was a clever line and spoke to the reason why one missionary family had recently left.
That event occurred many years ago. I have occasionally thought about it and the idea of “needy missionaries”, chuckled and continued my job.
In the last couple weeks I have given more thought to the concept of needyness and what it really means and whether or not there is room for “needy missionaries” at a home for needy children. One reason I have been having second thoughts about this is the Lord’s prayer. Jesus wanted people to learn how to pray correctly; to really understand what prayer was all about, and what some of the important characteristics of communicating with God are. The main emphasis Jesus put on prayer was that we are all very needy. In fact this short prayer is all about our needs. Jesus introduces the prayer by saying that the Father knows our needs before we pray about them, and then proceeds to tell his disciples to pray for the Heavenly Father, to meet those needs. He knows the extent of our needs, though many times we do not.
What are our needs according to the Lord’s prayer? Holiness on earth as it is in heaven. His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. What we have here is a recipe for true happiness, because, after all, God loves us and wants us to be happy. When we talk about needs, what we are talking about is the need to be happy. If we are not happy it is because some real or perceived need is not being met.
Those first three needs are God oriented. We need to be holy as God is holy. We need God’s kingdom on earth. We need to do God’s will.
The next four needs that Jesus mentions are directed more towards the Community of Faith and to individuals. We need daily bread, which is symbolic of how need God to meet our physical needs, such as food, water and air to breath. If God doesn’t meet these needs we die. By the way, when was the last time you asked God for food, water and air? I think generally we take those things for granted. Jesus seems to be saying that is a big mistake.
The next need Jesus mentions is our need for forgiveness. Just as important is our need to forgive others. Of all of our needs, this need to forgive and then be forgiven is the only need Jesus repeats as important to his listeners she he finishes the example prayer.
Jesus follows forgiveness with our great need for deliverance and “salvation”. He says we should pray, in the modern versions, for “deliverance from the Evil One” and that the Father “saves us from the time of trial.” Satan is the Evil One who prowls around like a hungry lion, seeking to devour us, destroy us and wreak general havoc upon us and the Community of Faith. If God doesn’t deliver us than we are dead meat.
Jesus also instructs us pray that we are saved from the time of trial. None of us like pain, suffering, disappointments or emotional distress. Job suffered all those things in spades! Why? Because God took away his “hedge of protection”. Basically we are praying for God to maintain that hedge of protection, so that we don’t suffer, especially like Job did.
So there it is. Jesus points out the fact that we are all needy, weak, vulnerable people. We need God’s intervention in our lives everyday. All of us are desperately in need of God’s mercy and grace, every moment of everyday. We are all needy – children and adults alike. Poor abused kids, and missionaries.
In other parts of scripture we learn that our greatest need that needs to be met for us to be supremely happy, is to love God with all our being, and to love our neighbor as our self. One way missionaries meet these needs is to help the poorest of the poor in places all over the world. In this sense, the Home For Needy Children where I and many others cooperate with God, is indeed, a home for needy Missionaries.
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This year Foundation For His Ministry celebrates fifty years of ministry to the poorest of the poor in
Charla Pereau
Mexico. My first close encounter of this fine organization took place in 1987. I was working with a youth group in a small church in Healdsburg, California. I had just moved there from Missouri, where I attended a church that went to Mexico every year to build church buildings for congregations that had no buildings. I went on three of these excursions and got hooked on Mexico.
Living in California, I was looking for a way to get back to Mexico and expose the youth in the little church to the poverty in Mexico and show them how they could be a part of helping those much less fortunate than they were. I remembered a couple from my Missouri church who mentioned one time that they had gone to a home for needy children in Mexico. I contacted them and found out about FFHM and their work in the Baja of Mexico, and how to make arrangements to volunteer for a week. I got a hold of FFHM and told them we wanted to help. After awhile the details were ironed out, and we found ourselves in Vicente Guerrero, Baja, in the summer of 1987.
Two people I remember. Max, the administrator, a great guy from Canada, and Jorge, a little baby that had recently come to live at the children’s home. We went on a tour of the place and I fell in love with it, and the organization behind it. I had recently graduated from Bible college with a degree in Missions, having wanted to be a missionary since I was 14 years old. After graduating, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be one anymore. To be a missionary in the denomination I belonged to, you had to spend at least a year going all over the U.S. of A raising thousands of dollars in support, and then go minister in a foreign country for four years, and then go home and get more money for another four years of service. That wasn’t for me. I wanted to go to another country, preferably Mexico, and just live there and serve and not worry about money. So I thought that maybe I wasn’t cut out for the mission field if that was what it took.
I was excited to learn that Charla, who started the home for needy children, and the board of FFHM, had a different approach to missions. They believed that any Christian who had a desire to help the poorest of the poor, could fill out an application and if accepted, could just come and serve. They provided a place to stay and food to eat and gave people a few dollars as well. What could be better? Nothing that I could think of! I hoped that one day I would be a permanent part of this fine organization that not only took care of the physical, educational and spiritual needs of about 80 children, but also reached out to thousands of migrant workers who lived in camps that surrounded the mission, with food, clothes and most importantly, the Gospel, the good news of a great God who loved them and wanted them to be happy. FFHM also provided medical services in a medical clinic on the property, with expertly trained doctors and nurses. They also had a dental clinic and tended to many patients everyday. This place was incredible!
I returned almost every year, for the next 15 years, to spend a week helping out in whatever way I could, like so many countless volunteers have done over the fifty years of FFHM’s existence. I have always loved gardening and looked forward to working in the experimental orchard or the macadamia nut grove when I was there. But, as often as not, I would be put to work cleaning shelves in the pantry, pouring concrete or painting buildings. It didn’t really matter what I did. I just loved cooperating with God and making a difference in the Kingdom.
One year the mission was raising pigs and I met a super guy in charge of the project named Mario. I raised pigs for 4-H when I was a kid and loved it. I thought Mario had the best job in the whole place, and hoped that someday, when I joined FFHM permanently, that I would get to be the hog farmer! Mario went on to be the administrator of the Baja mission for decades.
I always wanted to meet Charla, to see this incredible woman in the flesh, and per chance, to talk to her and tell her how much I admired her and the work she was doing on behalf of the poor in Mexico. Every year as I made my trek to the Mecca of ministry in the Baja, I would think that maybe this would be the year that I would encounter Charla. One of the highlights for me at the mission was the first morning when all the visitors would be given a tour of the grounds. I always called it the miracle tour because at every location, the guide would tell us how God miraculously provided something or someone that was desperately needed in order to make that aspect of the ministry to function at its peak level.
The tour always began with the miraculous story of how Chuck and Charla arrived at the place in the dead of night, out of gas, not knowing where they were, where they would sleep or how they would get home. Nevertheless they trusted God completely and he provided miraculously. The high point in the story was how Charla arose early the next morning, went for a little walk, and heard children laughing. She looked for the children, but never found them. She did find God speaking to her heart, telling her that one day this desolate, run down place, would be the home of countless laughing children, and that she would have a big part to play in making that happen.
I never ceased to smile and be encouraged at hearing that story and then reading about it Charla’s book Charla’s Children, and watching a show about it on the 700 Club. Finally the day came when I met her. I was at the mission with my friend Bruce, who was a relatively new Christian and was making one of his first mission trips (he, like so many others, would never be the same after visiting the children’s home in the Baja. He is now a leader in his church and has gone all over the world evangelizing and leading pastors conferences). We were eating lunch in the cafeteria and Charla and a friend sat across from us. She was friendly and we all had a nice conversation. Bruce used to be a mail carrier in San Clemente, the headquarters of FFHM, so they had something in common to talk about. I’ll never forget that day. Over the years I have had the great privilege to get to know Charla, and listen to her speak on many occasions. She is a gifted speaker and I always end up laughing one minute at some humerous story, and then tears are running uncontrollably down my face the next as she recounts how some wrecked and hopeless child was saved, changed and loved because of how God used Charla and FFHM.
FFHM sends out a newsletter every month, and in the early years of the new century, they began writing about a new vision and new ministry. A conference/training center in Oaxaca, Mexico for graduates of the Bible Institute that they had in the Baja. Most of the migrant workers in the camps surrounding the mission were from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Many came to know Christ through the outreach programs. Some felt a call to ministry and studied at the Institute, and then went back to their hometowns and villages in Oaxaca to spread the Good News to their family and friends that God loved them and wanted them to be happy, and had provided a glorious way for them to enter into this happiness. This proved to be difficult work and often very dangerous to the people from the Baja Mission who returned to their homeland to people who were hostile to new approaches to relating to God.
FFHM wanted to offer a place for these new ministers of the Gospel to go where they could be encouraged, refreshed and equipped in their work. So it came about that miraculously (of course) that FFHM purchased a piece of property that had a little building on it, from another ministry. This would become the Oaxaca base for graduates of the Bible Institute and further outreach to the many unreached people groups of Oaxaca.
Charla came down to check out the property and sign on the dotted line. Oaxaca had a special place in her heart because many years before, her and Chuck had adopted a baby boy that was born to a young lady in difficult circumstances in this southern state of Mexico. As Charla traveled around Oaxaca she encountered another home for needy children that was in dire straits. They asked her and FFHM to take over the home. In a couple of talks that I heard Charla give, she recounted this story and told the people in charge, “No thanks. Been there, done that.”
Later on she heard the still, small voice of God speaking to her heart, telling her to care for these poor children. Always careful to follow the prompting of her gracious Lord and Savior, she returned the following day and told the leader of the children’s home that FFHM would take over the ministry and care for the “least of these”, God’s precious, neglected children.
So began a new phase of FFHM, another children’s home in one of the poorest states of Mexico. Many people from the U.S. and Canada responded to the new outreach with large donations and even larger hearts, to go where the need was greatest. After a few years a brand new facility was built on the newly purchased property. The call went out for Believers to come and help with this new endeavor and make a difference in the Kingdom of God.
I was at a point in my life where I was free to heed the call and go to Oaxaca, finally fulfilling my dream of being a permanent part of FFHM and their incredible ministry. I arrived at the Oaxaca mission on March first, 2005. It was still a construction site without kids. I went to work helping put tile on floors, electrical wires in the ceilings and paint on the walls. In my free time I began planting gardens, as that was one of my jobs in Santa Rosa, California.
In August of that year, the children made the move from the squalid confines of their old place across the city, to the brand new digs of Casa Hogar, set in the beautiful countryside of the Tlacolula valley. The work continued. It seemed more meaningful now with happy kids running all over the place. We could see the fruits of our labors in the smiling faces of all the boys and girls. We painted the last walls, put the finishing touches on the modern kitchen and I continued to plant gardens, including the grassy courtyard where the children would eventually play tag, catch and have picnics.
My jobs eventually entailed teaching English and other classes, doing prison ministry, driving kids to and from school and occasionally going on service and evangelistic outreaches, as well as preaching and maintaining the gardens and planting an orchard full of a variety of fruit trees.
I met my future wife, Anita, a beautiful and extremely talented cook, at the mission. We have two fabulous little girls, Sally and Kelly. I will have spent eleven years cooperating with God and FFHM come March. The best eleven years of my life. I daily pray for Charla, FFHM leaders, the staff and children at Casa Hogar, and thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for allowing me to be a small part of such a great ministry. I remember Charla saying one time that God doesn’t want our ability so much as our availability. I have thought about that a lot. My ability isn’t so great, but I thank God that he took my availability and is able to use it in some small way to make a difference in the lives of “the least of these” in Oaxaca, Mexico.
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When most of us get up in the morning we have a good idea of what we need to, or want to do that day.
We have To Do lists or check a daily planner that we check. Sometimes our day actually goes the way we hoped it would go. Many times it does not. What is our reaction when things don’t go our way? Frustration? Anger? Depression? Anxiety? Usually our reaction depends on the extent to which we are inconvenienced or the magnitude of the interruption of our plans, or whether we perceive the change of plans as positive or negative.
A few days ago I went out to the soccer field at the home for needy children where I cooperate with God in blessing poor children. I am the gardener and one of my jobs is to water the soccer field every morning. It’s usually a simple, mundane task. I go into the room that houses the water pump, push the power lever up, the pump goes on and the playing field is irrigated.
On this particular day, I found the door locked. I never lock it. Evidently someone, probably one of the kids, was fooling around and inadvertently closed the door and locked it. I had to walk back to my house, find the key and unlock it. My plans for the day had already been thrown off kilter, although mildly. With key in hand I trudged back to the pump house, unlocked the door, and threw the power switch. The 5h.p. pumped roared to life, but no water came out of the sprinkler.
The pump had lost its prime, which happens occasionally. I keep a water bucket handy just in case. Normally the water bucket actually has water in it, or I can dip it into the 10,000 liter cistern to fill it up. That day the bucket was dry and the cistern too low to get any water. I had to take the bucket to a faucet, fill it up, and carry it back to prime the pump. A bumpy start to my well planned day. I had an uneasy feeling that this was not going to be my day. Fortunately, when I turned on the power, water shot out of the sprinkler, and I was back to my regularly scheduled day.
I tell this story to illustrate a point. When something interrupts my plans or expectations, I think negatively. In the account above, I blamed irresponsible kids for locking the door. When I had to go for water, I figured it was going to be “one of those days!” Maybe your the same way. It’s what the old positive thinker, Zig Zigler called “stinking thinking”. What if we considered every interruption of our plans, an interruption by a God who loves us and wants us to be happy?
A verse that I have been thinking about a lot lately is 1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” One reason that I have been thinking about this verse is that I listened to a teaching on YouTube from Dallas Willard. He mentioned that when he goes to teach or preach, that he prepares thoroughly, but that he also hopes and expects that when he is teaching, something unexpected will happen. He wants something that he has not prepared for to happen. Why? Because of 1Corinthians 2:9. He loves God and hopes that God has prepared something for him that he has not conceived of.
What a great attitude. I want that attitude. I want to constantly have the mindset that when something I have not prepared for happens, that it is a gift from God who loves me and wants me to be happy. A God who knows everything and who knows me better than I know myself. He created me and knows what makes me tick, therefore he throws things in my path from time to time that I have not prepared for or conceived of.
I think that we have all been going about our day and out of the blue we find some money. Maybe a ten dollar bill in the gutter, or a couple of bucks in the washing machine. How do we feel? Great. It’s a pleasant surprise to find money. It’s something unexpected that we didn’t prepare for. I think we should have the same attitude toward whatever unexpected event happens in our lives. Even if on the surface it appears bad or negative. As Christians we know that ALL THINGS work together for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). We also know that IN EVERYTHING we should give thanks, for this is God’s will (1 Thes. 5).
The greatest, unexpected thing happened over two thousand years ago in a stable in the small town of Bethlehem. God became flesh and dwelt among us. No one saw that coming. No one had ever conceived of such a thing. A savior, Our Savior was born! Who would have thought? Who could have known? Nobody. But God did it because he loves us and wants us to be happy.
So how about, the next time that we are having one of those days, and nothing seems to be going right, we pause for a minute and thank God for intervening in our well planned, well organized day, because He has prepared something better for us.
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He that believes that everything that happens to him is for the best, cannot possibly complain for the want of something better. From A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
Generally we all have ideas of what is right or wrong, good or bad, helpful or
damaging. We all have ideas of what we need to do to grow the good and slay the bad. The Bible sometimes shocks our sensibilities and surprises us with connections between right thinking, correct behavior and the way to make good flourish and bad to die on the vine.
Some examples. I was reading the book of Hebrews and came across this verse in chapter 3. “Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness”. When we think about being hardened by sins deceitfulness, we usually don’t connect that with encouraging people everyday. But that is what the author of Hebrews says.
Another example. We, as Christians all strive to be perfect or mature before the face of God. We want to have control over our bodies. What is the best way to accomplish that? Read the Bible a lot? Pray an hour or two a day? Attend church a couple times a week? What does James say in chapter 3 of his letter that we need to do to be perfect? He says that the person who is never at fault in what they say is perfect. It’s just that easy – control the tongue.
“We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.” James 1:2.
Both of these verses refer to goals every Christian should have, and they both refer to our speech, the words that come out of our mouths. These verses remind me of what Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up…” (4:29)
Chapter four of Ephesians is primarily about the unity and maturity of the church, and how to make it strong and keep it strong. A critical aspect of reaching and experiencing unity, maturity, and strength in the community of faith is being careful about our words. Unfortunately, many Christians think little or nothing about the words that come their of our mouths. We as North Americans are rooted and grounded in the idea of free speech and free expression, and feel justified in saying whatever is on our minds, and if people don’t like it, well, they just need to deal with it. It’s their problem. That is true if we are citizens of Canada, the U.S. or Mexico. But the Bible tells us Christians that we are first and foremost citizens of heaven, of the Kingdom of God, and that we owe our allegiance to King Jesus. Instead of encouraging free speech and free expression, the Bible places many limitations and restrictions on our speech, as seen in Ephesians. “Do NOT LET ANY wholesome talk come out of your mouths.” Big restriction! “BUT ONLY what is helpful for building others up.” Big limitation! So much for free speech.
As we consider the admonitions from Paul, James and the author of Hebrews, let us strive put put a holy filter over our mouths and think before we speak, so that we build up the body of Christ. Let us realize we fail God daily in this regard, and be quick to confess the sins of our speech, and reach out to our Savior for the help and guidance that only He can supply, to make sure our words are encouraging and are building others up. God loves us and wants us to be happy, and controlling our tongue goes a long way towards living a life of peace and contentment with our King and our fellow man.
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Someone is upset because he didn’t get his way.
Someone is angry and yelling at another.
Someone is full of rage and wants to kill someone.
Who is he?
Someone bad.
Bad Like me.
Someone is jealous because of a guy.
Someone is envious of another’s wealth.
Someone is coveting a diamond ring.
Who is she?
Someone bad.
Bad Like me.
Someone is cheating on a test.
Someone is lying about what happened last night.
Someone is trying to get away with something.
Who is that boy?
Someone bad.
Bad Like me.
Someone is pulling a girl’s ponytail.
Someone is making fun of another.
Someone is leaving her sister behind.
Who is that girl?
Someone bad.
Bad Like me.
Someone is sluffing off.
Someone is sleeping on the job.
Someone is not doing their fair share.
Who is he?
Someone bad.
Bad like me.
Someone is gossiping about the boss.
Someone is slandering a neighbor.
Someone is running down his spouse.
Who is that man?
Someone bad.
Bad Like me.
Someone is grumbling about the food.
Someone is complaining about the pastor.
Someone is denigrating the president.
Who is that?
Someone bad.
Bad like me.
Someone is pilfering office supplies.
Someone is shoplifting in the store.
Someone is robbing a bank.
Who is that person?
Someone bad.
Bad like me.
Someone is looking at pornography.
Someone is committing adultery.
Someone is abusing a child.
Who is it?
Someone bad.
Bad like me.
Someone drunk ran over a kid.
Someone with a gun killed a man.
Someone murdered a woman.
Who was it?
Someone bad.
Bad like me.
Someone doesn’t like black people.
Someone is practicing genocide.
Someone is trying to kill off another race.
Who is that person?
Someone bad.
Bad like me.
Someone is awfully proud of himself.
Someone is acting self-righteous.
Someone thinks he’s better than others.
Who could it be?
Someone bad.
Bad Like me.
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The Apostle Paul said, towards the end of his life, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom, I am the worst. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience, as an example for those who would believe in him and have eternal life.” 1 Timothy 1:16
Last week, Janelle, the administer of Foundation For His Ministry, came to the Home For Needy
Janelle
Children in Oaxaca Mexico. She always brings words of encouragement for each of the staff members, individually and corporately. She gave a wonderful devotion which she called Aim High and Stay low. It was a great balance for the life of a Christian. Especially for Christians living in community.
The “aim high” part came from the words of Jesus where he told his followers that when He departed from the earth, that they would not only do the things He did, but even greater things. With the empowerment of the same Holy Spirit that empowered Christ, the disciples of Christ would do incredible things to grow the kingdom of God. But this only happens when Christians know what Christ did, and then aim high, to do the same things He did, and greater.
That’s what Charla Pereau, the founder of Foundation For His Ministry did over forty years ago when
Charla Pereau
she started a little home for needy children in Baja . Looking at her then she just seemed like an ordinary, everyday housewife. But, filled with the Holy Spirit, she began to Aim High. She prayed. She took food and clothes to the poorest of the poor children in Mexico. She went to garbage dumps and brought children who were living off rotten scraps of cast off food, and brought them to a place where they ate three squares a day, received clothes to replace the filthy, soiled, rags that passed for their old clothes. With a humble heart filled with the same compassion Jesus had, she made a difference in this cold, dark world. She initially brought light and love to a handful of needy children. After almost half a century, her and the ministry of Foundation For His Ministry have touched and transformed thousand of poor Mexicans. That’s what I call Aiming High.
But during her years of leadership she always stayed low. Janelle defined “staying low” as always regarding oneself as a humble servant. She echoed the Apostle Paul’s words that we should always think of those around us as better than ourselves. She frankly told the staff of the Oaxaca mission, that if you think you are better than anyone else at the mission that you should leave the mission. That this is not a place for people with big egos who think that they are better. This is not a place for gossiping and bad-mouthing other people, but for edifying, encouraging, and building others up. It’s not a place for focusing on yourself, but on others. This reminded me of what C.S. Lewis said about humility, “Don’t think less of yourself, but think of yourself less.”
Charles epitomizes the idea of staying low. She has never received a salary for her years of faithful service and leadership. That meant more money and resources for the poor. Whenever she came to the Oaxaca mission and people tried to heap praise on her, she would immediately deflect it and point to heaven, letting everyone know that it was by the grace and power of God that she was able to accomplish anything. I believe she receives her richest reward with children’s smiles lives that have been changed for eternity. The greatest compliment she can have is when she stands face to face with Jesus and he says to her, “Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest.”
It’s a profound message for all Christians, Aim High and Stay Low. With the power of the Holy Spirit and examples like that of Charla Pereau, we can all cooperate with God in spreading the good news that God loves us and wants us to be happy, and make this world a better place.
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The last two Saturdays of my life could not have been more different. Two Saturdays ago my family
attended a quinceañera, a grand celebration in Latin America of the 15th birthday of a young lady. Last Saturday our family went to a.funeral of my wife’s grandfather, a sad affair because he wasted most of his life on alcohol, and nobody is sure where his eternal soul abides.
We were invited to the quinceañera by a dedicated Christian woman who spent some years helping out at the home for needy children where my wife and I serve. Now her lovely Christian daughter was celebrating her 15th birthday in a big way, with a beautiful new dress, six handsome young men decked out with tuxedos, super decorations, delicious food and great music. What could be better? A good time was had by all.
On Friday, my wife Anitas grandfather died in a freak accident, perhaps caused by drinking, even though it was only 11a.m. He was sitting on a rock ledge. He leaned back and tumbled onto a concrete floor where he cracked open his skull. He was 83 years old.
The next day the funeral and burial took place. His estranged wife of many years was there. His two daughters and three grandchildren were there. He lived with and was cared for and loved by his family in Mitla, Mexico. He had lived in Mexico city with some family until they found it extremely difficult to deal with him due to his drinking problem. They basically just dropped him off in Mitla for his daughter and her family to try and manage. They seemed to be saying “He is your problem now.”
Anita’s younger brother is in his twenties. He has Down Syndrome. He was the only person who cried at the burial. He cried with all his heart. When he prays and sings he does it with all his heart. He seems to be in touch with God on a higher plane than most of us. Some people feel sorry for the poor kid with Down Syndrome. Sometimes I think that we should feel sorry for ourselves that we are not in touch with God like he seems to be. I think he was mourning for more than his dead, alcoholic grandpa cold in the grave. Maybe he was mourning for a weak, troubled spirit who couldn’t overcome his problem; a man, created in God’s image who never experienced the joy and peace that comes from living in right relationship with God. That is most tragic thing in the world, and maybe everyone present at the grave site should have been crying with all their heart.
Anita’s older brother is pastor of a little church in Mitla, and is also owner/operator of a Christian radio station. At the funeral he talked about how his grandfather had made some poor choices in life, and then talked about how we have all made some poor choices in our lives. How we have all fallen short of God’s glory, how we have all sinned. The cure for poor life decisions is found at the foot of the cross, in the forgiveness found in trusting our lives to Jesus of Nazareth. “Confess your sins to God, and he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” These were the words he used to end the service. A great encouragement to those of us who could look at everyday of our lives and realize that we have fallen short of God’s holy expectations of us. A great appeal to those who have never trusted in the precious blood of Christ to change bad life decisions into a new Life.
A grave side burial in Oaxaca Mexico is unlike any I ever experienced in the U.S. The word that comes to mind is Raw. It is not “pretty”. It’s not ugly either. It’s just real, maybe like it was in the U.S. 100 years ago. There is a big hole in the ground with a big pile of dirt beside it. Family members and friends of the deceased put a couple of ropes under the casket, and lift it up and lower it into the hole. Sally and Kelly were very interested in the whole affair and care had to be taken that they didn’t fall in. Once the casket is in, a bag of clothes belonging to the dead person comes out, and one by one the clothes are dropped in. In this case, Anita s younger brother did the honor, dropping in some pants, a couple of shirts and a couple of sweaters, his tears falling in along with the clothes. After the clothes, some flowers are added and then the dirt begins to fly. Again, family members and friends are the ones shoveling the dirt, filling the grave.
When the shoveling is done, there is a mound of dirt at least two feet high over the casket. On this mound of dirt was placed flowers in five gallon buckets, along with candles and a cup of soda pop. Finally everyone goes home. My Saturday experience was finished.
Ecclesiastes 7:2 Says it is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.
Death is the destiny of everyone. Physical death, that is. Praise God that He has made a way for people to live eternally, and that eternal life begins the second a person has faith in Jesus and in his work on the cross. Thank God we can look forward to that day we will be seated at the heavenly banquet, the celestial quinceañera, but instead of honoring a 15 year old lady, we will be adoring our Lord and Savior.
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The divisions of the gatekeepers. The lot for the East Gate fell to Shemaliah.
The lot for the East Gate fell to Obed-Edom. The lot for the South Gate fell to Shuppim.
1 Chronicles 26
This is what I read the other morning in my personal devotion time. After reading the Bible I try and meditate on what I have just read and try to find a spiritual application for my life. I must admit that while studying Chronicles I have often not found a spiritual application to help me through my day. This morning was no exception. CHRONICLES – So many lists, so many names, so little time.
I am the gardener at Foundation For His Ministry’s Home For Needy Children in Oaxaca Mexico. Mowing a large field full of weeds was on my To Do list. Mowing a large field with push mower gives me a lot of time to think. I began thinking of the Christian Doctrine class I started teaching to high school students in the city of Oaxaca. We are studying the inspiration of scripture. The Bible is inspired by God and every word is truth. We hear and read many words everyday. Probably thousands of words. The only words that we can be sure are true and directly from God are the words we find in Holy Scripture. It is a great practice to begin each day with the Word of God, and let that Word influence our day. This is what I wanted to say to my class.
But what about the parts of the Bible like Leviticus and Numbers and Chronicles, where we find lots of lists and numbers and geneologies? What about lists of gatekeepers? How can that possibly have any bearing on my life?
I asked God that same question and I believe he gave me an answer. I thought about the city of Jerusalem and its gates and the gatekeepers were in charge of. Anyone who wanted to harm the inhabitants of Jerusalem or do the city mischief would have to pass through those gates. So the gatekeepers had an important job keeping bad people out. I thought of the women’s prison across the street from the mission where I go every week to teach English. There are four gates or check points that I must pass through to get to my class. The first two are operated by the state police who are armed with large machine guns. They want to see my identification and want to know why I am going there. I gladly show and tell rather than face the business end of their big guns. When I finally get to the prison, I knock on the large metal door, and a guard opens a little peephole door to see who is there, and he also wants to see I.D. and know my purpose. When he lets me in I must hand over my I.D. and sign in. Then my bag is searched and I am given a pat down. I proceed to my final check point where another guard writes down my name and purpose for being there, and I am finally allowed in with the inmates. All of these checks make it safe for the inmates, the guards and for the visitors like me. The gatekeepers for Jerusalem and for the prison have a very important job.
So what about the spiritual application? Well, God seemed to be saying to me that there are areas of my spiritual life that need gatekeepers. My mind. My heart. My lips. The gatekeepers? The Bible. The Holy Spirit. Other Christians.
The Bible talks a lot about our minds and the way we think and what we think about. The Bible, in Paul’s letter to the Romans says we need to have our minds transformed; renewed. How is this accomplished? Philippians tells us to think on things that are true, honest, pure, noble and good. In a sense that is a family of gatekeepers, similar to a family of gatekeepers that were assigned as gatekeepers for one of the gates in Jerusalem. We need to seek and depend on the Holy Spirit to think on the good things and not allow bad, worldly, enemy things to enter. The enemies that want to infiltrate our minds, hearts and lips are the World, the Flesh and the Devil. When I think of other Christians who are the gatekeepers of my mind, I think of writers like C.S. Lewis and R.C. Sproul, who speak to my intellect and help me think right thoughts.
We not only need gatekeepers for our mind, but also our hearts. By “heart”, the Bible normally means our desires and what motivates those desires. Everyone is motivated by the desire to be happy. How one seeks happiness is important to consider. Our enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, give us a hundred ideas per day on how we can be happy. We need the gatekeeper of the Holy Spirit and the Bible to reveal to us the true path to happiness: The real things like forgiveness of our sins as we forgive others. A righteousness that is revealed from heaven through Christ that brings true joy as we live in right relationship with God. The Puritans address heart issues, and they have becomeone of the gatekeepers of my heart through some of their prayers as recorded in the book The Valley of Vision.
The last part of our being that needs gatekeepers is our lips. Jesus said that out of the abundance of our heart the mouth speaks. There is a direct connection to what is in our minds, to what is in our hearts to what comes out of our lips. If we start the day filling our minds with scripture, that affects our desires and motivation for the day, which guards what comes out our mouths. Paul said in Ephesians 4:29 that we should not let any wholesome talk come out of our mouths, but only those words that are helpful in building up fellow Christians according to their needs. Proverbs 10:19 says that he who controls his lips is wise, and 13:3 tells us that he who guards his mouth keeps his life, he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
We must also lean heavily on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to control our lips and gaurd our mouths. Two Christian writers that have helped me to accomplish this are Dietrich Bonhoffer and Henri Nouwen.
So there it is. Who would have thought that an obscure passage from 1 Chronicles could have such an impact on our spiritual lives. I don’t have Shelemiah, Obed-Edom or Shuppim as the gatekeepers of my mind, heart and lips, but I do have the Bible, the Holy Spirit and other Christians to protect me from my enemies, and that makes me happy!
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In June, a group came from Chicago to help out at the home for needy children where my wife and I 
serve. The leader of the group is Jim Hardman. He has brought a group down every year for the last ten years or so, and we have become friends over that time. Him and his group always bring gifts for the missionaries at the mission. He told me about this little Puritan Prayer book that he had discovered, and that encouraged him in his personal devotion time. He said he brought a copy in Spanish for our pastor. It sounded like a book that I would quite enjoy and was somewhat disappointed that he did not have a copy for me.
Two weeks later my family and I were in Colorado, visiting my parents and my sister and her family. I like reading about the Civil War and my sister had a few Civil War books for me. She gave me another little book that she said her and her husband have been enjoying as well. She had a brand new copy of The Valley of Vision for me. The very same book that Jim Hardman had been talking about. I started reading it and I love it. I love the old language, but more than that I love the perspective of the Puritan writers. Every prayer focuses not only on the goodness of God, but on the wretched, vile, state of humans, which makes the goodness of God to humans seem all the sweeter.
I like these prayers so much that I want to include excerpts of them in this blog about enjoying God. Below is one entitled God Enjoyed.
Known, but beyond knowledge, revealed, but undervalued, my wants and welfare draw me to thee, for thou hast never said, “Seek he me in vain.”
To thee I come in my difficulties, necessities, distresses; possess me with thyself, with a spirit of grace and supplication, with a prayerful attitude of mind, with access into warmth and fellowship, so that in the ordinary concerns of life my thoughts and desires may rise up to thee.
Continue the gentleness of thy goodness towards me, and whether I wake or sleep, let thy presence go with me, thy blessing attend me.
Thy vows are ever upon me, and I praise thee, O God.
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Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late sixteenth century. Under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the third and fourth decades of the seventeenth century to the northern English colonies in the New World–a migration that laid the foundation for the religious, intellectual, and social order of New England. Puritanism, however, was not only a historically specific phenomenon coincident with the founding of New England; it was also a way of being in the world–a style of response to lived experience–that has reverberated through American life ever since.
On our recent family vacation to the U.S., we spent a lot of time in Colorado visiting my parents and my
sister and her family. They both live on little farms right next to each other. We stayed in a RV trailer between them, about 30 yards from each of their houses. It was not connected to a sewer system, so we normally used the bathroom at one of their houses. My sister’s house has two bathrooms, one upstairs and the other downstairs. When I used her upstairs bathroom, I noticed she had printed up and framed a Bible verse, Romans 2:4. Quick, can anyone quote that verse? Although I have read Romans many times, and even taught a class on that epistle of Paul, I couldn’t remember that verse which talks about God’s kindness, tolerance or forbearance, and patience. Later I used the downstairs bathroom, and there was that verse again, located strategically in TWO places!
So here was a wonderful but somewhat obscure verse printed and displayed for all bathroom users to see and read in both her bathrooms. Not your usual restroom reading material. Needless to say I spent a lot of time thinking about Romans 2:4.
“Do you take lightly the kindness, tolerance and patience of God, not realizing that His kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
That is Romans 2:4 in whatever version of the Bible my younger sibling was using (NASB).
Every time I walked into her bathroom I felt like Paul was there personally asking me about how seriously I took God’s kindness, tolerance and patience. How often did I think about those attributes of God? How often did I give thanks for those characteristics of the Almighty? Sometimes I felt like saying, “Hey Paul, a little privacy!”
The words that jumped out at me were “Do you take lightly”. I looked at this verse in my trusty NIV and the question was “Do you show contempt?” I think most Christians would say of course I don’t show contempt for God’s kindness, forbearance (NIV) and patience, and go onto the next verse. We forget about it. But how about taking those things lightly? To me that’s another question entirely.
When we dig deeper into Romans one and two, we see that Paul is making the argument that all have sinned and have fallen short of God’s high and holy expectations for humanity, which culminates in chapter three. In chapter one Paul shows how the gentiles have come up short, and all the Jews in the audience are thinking, “Yeah, what do expect from a bunch of stinking gentiles?”
In chapter two, Paul turns his argument against the Jews. He tells them that they are even worse than those pagan gentiles because they have the law of God which forbids the things the gentiles do, and yet the Jews do the same things, while condemning the gentiles. In Romans 2:4, Paul is exclaiming to the Jews that God has shown them great kindness, tolerance and patience through the ages, and they seem to take it lightly as is seen by their propensity to judge their gentile neighbors. The greatest act of kindness, tolerance and patience God showed the Jews was sending Jesus the Messiah to them, and they killed him. Now who are the bad guys?
Jesus said in Luke six that God shows kindness to the wicked and ungrateful. Paul says in a speech to the pagans in Acts. 14, that in ages past God has been kind to all peoples, giving you rain from heaven and crops in their season; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.
But now that they know about the one, true God, a time of reckoning has come. He asks those heathen, he asks the Jews, and he asks you and me, “Do you take lightly God’s kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that His kindness is intended to bring you to repentance?” Good question.
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To Enjoy God 