(This is a blog that I wrote yesterday but I couldn’t post it. It’s been raining for a couple of days and there was no internet connection at Carolyn & Brad’s due to the weather. Sooooo frustrating. Please pray that this whole internet thing gets worked out soon before I hurt somebody! Anyway, here’s yesterday’s blog)
Today I was thinking about my country. The United States of America. The reason I was thinking about it is because we were at a school in a local town today talking about the USA and sharing the Gospel. It was a good day.
The Federal Police contacted Brad and Carolyn a few weeks ago and asked them if we’d like to come speak at the school in Campina Grande do Sul to a group of 4th graders. This group of 4th graders was a little different too. They were kids whose parents have given up on them and were labeled “troubled kids.” The Federal Police work with these students in an effort to teach them discipline and try to give them some type of structure. They wanted us to give a presentation about the U.S. and said we could share the Gospel too. So, we brought both families (all 24 of us!) and went and ministered together to these kids. We didn’t have a vehicle big enough for all of us so the Federal Police sent 2 police cars to help transport us to the school, which was about 20 miles away. We followed one police car, that had it’s lights on, as the other one drove behind us... it was like we had a police escort. Pretty cool, huh?
Most of us rode in the Atkinson’s van but they took 4 of our kids in one car and 4 in another. (Hopefully that’ll be the only time my kids are in the back of a police car... but I better keep my fingers crossed for a couple of them, haha). When we arrived at the school we quickly set-up and then started the presentation with a little bit of video stuff we put together. The kids loved it. Then we spoke about the US and where it was located, the flag, the national anthem (which we sang), the President (against our better judgement, lol! jk. come on... it was just a joke), where the capitol is, then we spoke about our 3 major sports (football, baseball and basketball), we passed around U.S. currency and coins, then we quizzed them on things the U.S. is famous for... like Coke, McDonald’s, and Hollywood. Then we talked about famous people like Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber (during the whole presentation there was either video highlights or pictures up on the screen that correlated with what was being said). Then, after that, we told them we wanted to tell them about the most famous person that’s ever lived... Jesus. And then we shared the Gospel with them.
And that’s what made me think about my country the most. Sure, I got kinda misty eyed singing the National Anthem, I got nostalgic watching the video highlights of the 3 major sports in the U.S. and it made me proud to know that all of these great things (like Coke, McDonald’s and Justin Bieber... well, maybe not Bieber. lol) came from my home country. But the thing that made me think about my country the most was this... here I was with my entire family, openly sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in a public school in another country and it was not only accepted but they asked us to! That wouldn’t and couldn’t happen at home in the U.S. because it’s not politically correct. It’s crazy. Our country was founded on the Bible and even had the motto “In God We Trust.” And our founding fathers weren’t just great men, they were believers as well. I don’t think that any of them would have a problem with what we were doing in that school in Brazil yesterday because it’s what made us great. God has blessed the U.S.A. and we need to remember why we’re the great nation we are and fall on our faces and beg God to forgive us, turn from our sin and ask Him to heal our country (II Chron. 7:14). That way we can continue to be the great country that God made us to be.
And as far as the kids in the school... they were beautiful as usual. It never gets old being with the students here. Please pray that God will continue to open up doors for us like this. There’s a lot of kids here who need to hear the good news of the Gospel and we’d love the opportunity to be the ones to tell them: )
Praying for America,
Jim
No comments:
Post a Comment