Celebration

Sorry about the length of time between posts, my friends. Maybe before I start this blog I should explain how I go about writing these and when. Most of the time I will write a blog whenever something happens in my life or to our team down here, to update y´all on the things that are passing here. Other times I will write a blog whenever I feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit to do so; take the last one for example, and at least one of my entries from a while ago. This blog will mostly be the latter, but I will also throw in some of the things that are happening down here since it´s been a while since you have had much news.
The last few days have officially been Carnaval here in Bolivia. I say officially because for pretty much the last month, the youth have been celebrating it in one way or another (usually involving water thrown at someone). The celebrations I have seen the last few days are incredible compared to anything I have seen in the States: people dancing and singing in the streets with a band following them everywhere (traffic doesn´t matter to these people), families standing on their balconies with water balloons, water guns, and buckets filled with, yes, water waiting for the unsuspecting passer-by, and the all-out water balloon wars in the main plaza between the youth. It seems everyone gets caught up in the celebration of this holiday here: children dress up in costumes, young people enjoy their water, and even the parents and grandparents have been spotted throwing the occasional water balloon, and then playing it off like they are innocent! I have a confession to make… even I, the serious, hard-working Jeff :P, have been caught up in the celebration the last few days. I have no idea when this came to be, all I know is that I now find myself laughing trying to dodge water balloons and shaving cream (and even an egg once) aimed at this poor gringo while I am trying to pass through the plaza and streets downtown. A week ago I couldn´t stand the celebration but something in the air, something electric, almost palatable, has transformed me into someone who enjoys getting water balloons thrown at him!
This has led me to think about life back in the States: the mostly monotonous routine we live day-to-day, with a little variation on the weekends perhaps. We, as children of the Most High, as followers of the King, as citizens of the Eternal Kingdom, might be going through life with no celebration whatsoever—minus our singing on Sundays—that others can see. People notice no difference between the followers of Christ and other people with regards to joyfulness. In fact, some may say they notice that we are shockingly less joyful than others; the ¨typical Christian kill-joy.¨ How can that be?? How can we, who have the promise of eternal life, be any less joyful, celebrate any less than those we label ¨non-Christian¨ in this life we have?? Yes, we know this world is not for us; Jesus said as much (John 17:14). But that doesn´t mean that we aren´t allowed to be joyful! On the contrary my brothers and sisters; we are supposed to be the most joyful of all people because of our relationship with the Father through the Son! The Psalms are filled with expressions of the joy we should feel; 4:6, 5:11, 13:5, 21:6, 30:6, 92:5, 95:1, 100:1, 118:24. The Gospels preach joy from start to finish, from the angel visiting Mary in Luke 2:10 to Jesus himself speaking on it in John 15 and 16 to the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene in Matthew 28:8. The Apostles´ letters are also filled with joy: Romans 15:13, Philippians 2:2 and 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 2:20 and 5:16, James 1:2, 1 Peter 1:6, and 1 John 1:4. We should be exuding joy so that it becomes contagious, and the people around us are caused to wonder how and why we are so joyful. Joy is a vital, prevalent part of the Christian walk. Our situation should have no affect whatsoever on our joy, in fact we are advised to ¨rejoice¨ and to ¨have joy¨ when we do suffer! This wonderful oxymoron that we are called to follow is just one of many that the world says makes no sense, but we know the truth. ¨More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God´s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.¨ Romans 5:3-5. This is one of my favorite passages from the book of Romans; it is just so powerful and inspiring to me. My challenge to us as the body of Christ is one that may be hard for some. I challenge all of us to rediscover the true joy we have in Christ through His sacrifice on the cross for each and every one of us. Let your co-workers wonder and marvel at this joy you have, and when they ask about it curiously, you have the perfect opening to share the wellspring of your joy.
Right now, and actually for the last few months, I have shifted in the type of work I am doing for our team here in South America. I have moved from being a ¨front-line, mountain walking missionary¨ and have become the administrator of our team. My job has involved many different aspects of things in relation for our team: from producing promotional materials for our Latinos and for the churches in the States, to coordinating several features of our annual team meeting next month, to pretty much anything in between as my boss sees fit to assign me. Our Bolivia team is doing well; Roberto and I are here in Sucre after a month in Cochabamba for Roberto´s Quechua classes, Efrain and Javier are in Cochabamba right now taking Quechua classes, and Trent, Kay, and Jack are getting back from a three week trip into the communities tomorrow. Please be praying for all the travel that will be taking place next month from all over South America to Lima, Peru for our annual meeting. Thank all of you so much for all of your support and prayer thus far in my journey here; as of today I am sitting at my one year and four month anniversary and only eight months to go.

A Fatal Flaw of the Traditional Church

Seeing how about 90-95% of my readers are currently in a traditional church setting, I´m betting the title does one of two things: it either makes you uncomfortable, or you´re already deciding to ignore this blog as a rave against the traditional church. Let me assure you, I love the traditional church and I plan on attending my home church once I return to the States. In fact, last night I hardly slept at all thinking about this blog and how I could write it lovingly. I really feel led to write this and even asked the counsel of one of my team members about doing it.
Last night, my mind began racing with thoughts about my home church as I tried to go to sleep. Recently, as most of you know by now (I´d be surprised if you hadn´t heard... but that´s another blog), the senior pastor of my home church has decided to follow God´s direction for his life and that direction is leading him away from my church. It really got me thinking about the traditional church culture as a whole. I was reminiscing about the past when our former senior pastor left and ¨coincidentally¨ a surprising amount of members left as well. I wonder if that will happen this time too. Of course, those people will use a plethora of different excuses as to why their leaving coincides with the pastor leaving, but the truth is, everyone knows. ¨For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.¨ 2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV Wow, that sounds remarkably familiar... Research shows that about 15% of the church members leave whenever an able pastor leaves that church (Weese & Crabtree, Elephant in the Boardroom).
This research alarms me because it points to a fatal flaw of the traditional church. I recently read something that struck me profoundly as true, ¨Members of the traditional church often mistake a leader´s charismatic personality for His Spirit.¨ So, when that charismatic pastor leaves, people feel free to leave as well. The flaw is that the vast majority of Christians in the traditional setting attend ¨their¨ church for one reason or another that has nothing Biblical about it... For example, ¨I go to so-and-so Church because I like the pastor (or the music, or the people, etc).¨ Fill in the blank with whatever the fad is at this current moment. It´s the ¨I/Me¨ focus that pains me; the point of church has become to please the attendee (i.e. hip music, impressive buildings, fancy stages and the ¨performances¨ of the worship leaders) and we have lost the point that church is to worship and praise our Creator. It doesn´t matter how we ¨feel¨ about it, but American culture has permeated and warped the meaning of the church from Him to ¨me.¨
So the point of this blog is to issue a challenge to all of my readers to examine, critically, the reason one attends your church. Please ask yourselves these questions, ¨Why do I go to ______ Church?¨¨Is it because I like the pastor, or the music pleases me, or the fancy stage presence?¨¨Or do I go because I can honestly feel a connection to the almighty presence of God while I´m there?¨ I earnestly pray that you can take the time to look deep inside yourself and, most importantly, ask God to show you the reasons you attend.
One disclaimer before I end this blog: this blog is not advocating that if you are unhappy with your church, you are free to ¨shop¨ other churches for one that fits you. Yet again, the focus of that kind of thought process is back to ¨me.¨ This blog is only asking that you find the right reasons for attending your church.

An Organic Appetite

The following entry was an article in a magazine I read this morning as part of my quiet time. When I read it, I identified with everything the author said… I just felt like sharing it with y´all since it affected me so much. It was written by Margaret Feinberg, and is taken from her book, The Organic God. Enjoy.
¨All too often I find myself tempted to live a distracted life. You know the kind—the one where within the busyness of life you still manage to perform the stand-up, sit-down, clap, clap, clap of regular church attendance, hope for a new nugget of knowledge or insight from the weekly sermon and check off a random, albeit short, list of acts of kindness.
That´s when the hunger appears in my belly and overtakes my soul, grumbling that there must be more. More of God not only to understand but to discover.
Deep down inside, I still hunger for a true, pure relationship with the Organic God—the One True God.
While organic is usually associated with food grown without chemical-based fertilizers or pesticides, organic is also used to describe a lifestyle: simple, healthful, and close to nature. Those are all things I desire in my relationship with God. I hunger for simplicity. I want to approach God in childlike faith, wonder, and awe. I long for more than just spiritual life but spiritual health—whereby my soul is not just renewed and restored, but it becomes a source of refreshment for others.
I want to discover God again, anew, in a fresh way. I want my love for Him to come alive so that my heart dances at the very thought of Him. I want a real relationship with Him—a relationship that isn´t altered by perfumes, additives, chemicals, or artificial flavors that promise to make it sweeter, sourer, or tastier than it really is. I want to know a God who in all His fullness would allow me to know Him. I want a relationship that is real, authentic, and life-giving even when it hurts. I want to know God striped of as many false perceptions as possible. Such a journey risks exposure, honesty, and even pain, but I´m hungry and desperate enough to go there.
In some regards, the journey to know God isn´t too different from a first encounter with someone you´ve never met. I want to know what God looks like and what His interests are. I want to know His likes and dislikes. I want to know what makes Him tick and also what ticks Him off. I want to fall in love all over again. I want to know God.
I want to know the Organic God.¨

The Desolate Places

Yesterday morning while I was having my quiet time, I came across a verse in Mark that really struck me. I stopped reading, and just had to try to wrap my mind around what the verse was saying… It is amazing what the Lord uses to speak to us because I am sure that I had read that same verse many, many times before without giving it a thought, but this time it hit me. The verse is as follows: ¨But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every corner (emphasis mine).¨ Mark 1:45 ESV
This phrase just made me stop and think for a while. It´s not a very striking verse, though. What I mean is that this verse hadn´t jumped out at me before yesterday; I would read it and just keep on going, but yesterday was different for some reason. I came to the conclusion that there was a reason Jesus was out in the `desolate places´ at that time. His fame had begun to spread as one who could heal people with a touch and cast out demons with a single word. I think he went to the desolate places because there, only the most desperate and believing people would come find him to be healed. Think about it: if Jesus were in the city, anyone with a cold or something slightly inconvenient could confront Jesus to be healed, and I´m sure He would (as time consuming as it would be). But if He´s out in the middle of nowhere, then people will think twice about going to see Him to be healed. The people with no hope (lepers, the blind, the lame, etc) would seek Him out no matter His location. I believe this is a test of their faith in His power to heal them. And the verse says that still people were coming to Him; I can picture the most broken and hopeless people being the ones to go to Him in that desolate place.
Many of us find ourselves in `desolate places´ at least once in our lives. It seems like nothing is going our way, we´re struck with a hopeless situation, everyone seems to desert us at a moment´s notice, or we just feel at our wit´s end. It is there that I believe that Jesus is waiting for us. He wants to help us at all times, but in those desolate places of our lives it seems to me that He jumps at the opportunity to comfort us with His presence. We sometimes forget that Jesus´ main goal while He was here on the earth was not to heal the physical infirmities He confronted, nor was it to cast out the demons He came across in His travels, and today it is not to make His church´s life easier; far from it. His main goal is to bring the lost and broken into His family, no matter the cost (His painful death being the ultimate one).
We, as followers of Christ, should be going to the `desolate places´ of others to reach them in the name of our Lord. All that this requires is our ability to be transparent with others and to be able to recognize when someone has reached that desolate place. It will take us looking beyond our own lives, and actively trying to empathize with our neighbors around us (neighbors being everyone…). My prayer is that I, for one, can look beyond my own selfish pity and be able to help a hurting human being out of their desolate place, or at the very least point them on the path to the One who can heal them of their woes.

A Reflection of Things Thankful For

Thanksgiving has always been a time of remembering the things we are thankful for. This year was my second year away from my family during this holiday. Thankfully (no pun intended), I was able to spend yesterday with a part of my team here in Bolivia: Trent, his wife Kay, and Cristian, a Costa Rican who recently joined our team. Kay really went all out yesterday to make it feel like a real Thanksgiving for us (to everyone else down here it was just a normal day, and it felt kind of strange). We had an oven cooked turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, creamed corn, homemade biscuits, homemade gravy, deviled eggs, and a fruit salad. Oh yeah, and to finish it off we had homemade apple pie with ice cream! We even decorated their fake Christmas tree after dinner. It was a great day! I’m still full as I write this blog this morning, the next day…
I guess yesterday was a time of reflection for me of the things I’m thankful for. I came to a realization as well; what I’m thankful for this year is for far simpler things than in the past. I don’t possess the earthy things that I would usually say I’m thankful to have. No car (donkeys don´t count), no house/apartment of my own, no latest gadgets-like a washing machine. What I am thankful for is my health (which has been varying recently), my family (even though they are thousands of miles away, they always make sure I know they love me), my friends here who have become like family, and for my LORD, who has provided for me so many different times while I was in the communities and now that it’s difficult to remember all of them. One of the biggest realizations I came to was that our God could take all of those away, and I would still be thankful for Him.
I will end this with three quotes from a man I admire greatly, Jim Elliot:
“To the soul which has tasted of Christ, the jaunty laugh, the tempting music of mingled voices, the haunting appeal of smiling eyes-all these lack flavor. And I would drink deeply of Him.”
“In fact, those loves which we regard as closest, He told us must become as hate in comparison with our desires to uphold His cause. Grieve not, then, if your sons seem to desert you, but rejoice, rather, seeing the will of God done gladly…. Surely those who know the great, passionate heart of Jehovah must deny their own loves to share in the expression of His.”
“Job is a lesson in acceptance, not of blind resignation, but of believing acceptance, that what God does is well done.”
But a quick update before you leave! I´m currently in Cochabamba, Bolivia with Cristian so he can study Quechua at a school here. He has two more weeks of classes and then we´ll head back to Sucre for Christmas. I´ve been keeping somewhat busy doing various things for the bosses for the time being so that´s been good. Thanks for your prayers, and please keep Graham and Efrain in mind as they continue telling stories in Quchumi.

Unforseeable Happening

This is way sooner I was expecting to write a blog to all of you. I´ll start at the beginning and work my way up to this point in time; how does that sound? :)
We left Monday morning as planned in a taxi for Pocoata. It was on that ride that for some reason my muscle started acting up and was bothering me (for those that don´t know, I tore my pelvic muscle during training in February and returned to the States to get it diagnosed and rehabbed). I didn´t think too much of it then as I was looking forward to our five week trip into the communities. But by the time Wednesday rolled around, it was hurting me just to walk with my backpack. We found a small village called Turwiriya to stay in until my muscle got better (like it usually does) but by Friday it was still hurting just as much as Wednesday. By this time I was worried about re-tearing it and being out of action for the months it would take to heal all over again. Our boss, Trent, told us to return to Sucre so I could start strengthening it again before it tore out there in the communities. So here I am…
Even though this was my shortest trip thus far, I believe I learned the most during/from it. I had some very bleak days mentally as a result of this injury, much to my partner´s, Javier, chagrin. Hehe I had even brought up the possibility of a transfer because it seemed I couldn´t do the minimal physical work required for our team. Dark times indeed… I felt so betrayed by my body breaking down on me (in the middle of a trip nonetheless) that a couple of times all I could do was cry. After quickly tiring of that, I turned to God to comfort me. And comfort me He did. I won´t go into all the details but He showed me that even though I was `broken´ in my eyes He still loved me (for all of me, brokenness included) and wanted to use me. Also as a result of having to stay in that village, we made some great Christian contacts who are ready and eager to help us with our work in the area in the future.
I guess my biggest prayer request right now is my health once again. Please pray for a speedy recovery so I can get back out there. Also pray for our team as well (Javier and me); this injury coming back to affect me changes pretty much all of the plans we had. Pray that we have patience and wisdom during the coming weeks. Please keep in your thoughts and prayers Graham and Efraín as they have had a little difficulty reaching their village with the stories. Pray that hearts will be opened and people see the glory and love of our Lord.

Third Trip!

Good evening everyone. It has been a couple of weeks since I last updated my blog but as nothing has been going on that would warrant much attention, I figured that I would save all of you from reading another droll update. But as of this morning, we have great news! Trent, our boss, gave us the green light to head back out to the communities; thanks for all of y´alls prayers! We are leaving on Monday, the 20th, pretty early at 8am straight for Pocoata. On Tuesday, we will start our trek back into the villages to continue looking for a man of peace who will share his house and food with us for over a month this time. We are planning to stay out until the end of November, around the 28th, when I will head to Peru to meet my family for a small vacation.
This morning my partner and I had virtual missions to practice encountering a Quechua man on the hike. It was very fun because we used a Quechua that we are good friends with and the requirement was we could only speak Quechua during this simulation. I was a little nervous because Trent was filming it as well so we could go over and critique our performance afterwards. During take one, Javier dominated the conversation but on take two I was able to do the majority of the talking to Simón, our friend. Afterwards, we went to town to buy ponchos for the cold and to blend in more with the Quechua and we also got a haircut :( haha… It was necessary said our Quechua contact.
Please be praying for us to encounter a man of peace on this trip as it is our third and we still have yet to find one. It has been getting a little discouraging to be honest. But I have high hopes and faith that the Lord will guide us to someone eager to hear about His glory. We will also need your help with prayers for us to understand and learn Quechua some more while we are in the village. We are going to share the creation and the fall of man stories (Javier has creation and I am sharing the fall) during our time there so please pray for the people to be receptive to them, and enthusiastic to hear more. Finally pray for our other team as well, Graham and Efraín. They are in Quchumi with a vice president of the IMB, Ed Cox, for a couple of weeks. Ed is returning to the States at the end of October, and then the team is heading back to Quchumi for a while longer. Thanks to all of you for your support and prayers. I can´t wait to share all that God did on our trip when we get back!