Got Stones?

It says, "God is always faithful" in Portuguese.

We did something (as a family) several weeks ago. And, even though it may seem weird to you, I know that it was something that we just had to do. But rather than just telling you what we did, let me tell you how it all went down.

It was early December and we’d just come through a very difficult year and a half. But, in spite of all the difficulties, we’d seen God do some pretty amazing things in our life. And everything we’d experienced was a direct result of listening and responding to what God had asked us to do. We’d already adopted 5 kids from another country (2 years earlier), we’d left a great job on the pastoral staff at a church we loved (and had been at for almost 10 years), we sold/gave away a majority of our material possessions and moved to a foreign country to be missionaries (where we didn’t speak the language). And, to top it all off, we did the whole “missionary thing” without the backing of any mission organization and without a lot of promised financial support. But we knew that we heard from God.

In addition to that, we’ve had to press through a solid year chocked-full of spiritual issues, physical issues, emotional issues, issues with the government, issues with family, transportation issues... you name it, and chances are we were wrestling with problems in that area at some point. And I’m not just talking about minor issues either. I’m talking about major league issues! But we knew we were doing what God had called us to do.

The problem with going through “stuff” is that when you’re in the midst of it all- you tend to forget about all the great things that God’s done in the past. It’s just part of our fallen human nature. We all suffer from it. It’s like we have the attitude of “what have you done for me lately, God” rather than just being thankful for what He’s already done and remembering how He brought us through the last ________. 

So that brings me back to December. It was the end of the year and we were exhausted. And, not only were we exhausted, we were so fatigued that we felt like we weren’t doing anything for God and that we were just wasting our time being here in Brazil. Just “living” where we were was taking everything we could muster just to survive. And then one day ‘it’ happened. I sat down to put together an end of the year video for our supporters, and there it was. As I looked through hundreds of photos and video footage of the past year, I began to remember. I remembered all the kids, I remembered all the teenagers, I remembered every camp, I remembered every event that we put together to further the Gospel. And, as I remembered, I was immediately encouraged. Even though I was still feeling fatigued. Even though none of the spiritual, physical or emotional issues that I was facing had changed, I somehow felt a new energy that was invigorating... and it was all because I remembered. There’s power in remembering.

And then for some reason I “just so happened” to read Joshua 3 & 4 (obviously it was by God’s design because I’m not that smart). It’s where God was finally, after all those years, bringing the Children of Israel into the promised land. And, as He was bringing them through the Jordan, He told Joshua something powerful. He told him to take 12 stones from the midst of the Jordan (one stone for each tribe) and build a memorial that everyone could see to remember what He (God) was about to do. Not just his (Joshua’s) generation, but the generations to come as well. And if you read the story they did just that. Actually Joshua (throughout the whole book of Joshua) built 7 different stone memorials. Some were to remember God’s faithfulness and some were to remember how they had failed God. He built memorials that gave not only his generation something tangible to point back to (so they could remember), but also something for the generations to come. 

You see, God knew that even though He was doing something amazing for His people (because of their fallen sinful nature) they were gonna be tempted to forget His faithfulness. So they needed something of substance to remember and be encouraged by... a memorial. 

So, as I was sitting there going through all the media from the past year, it made me think about how God had just brought our family through the entire year and we only made it because of His supernatural provision. He not only provided (through our generous supporters) all the finances we needed to minister to hundreds upon hundreds of children and teenagers, but He also provided all the finances we needed to complete several building projects. He provided everything we needed to maintain the  camp and every building on the property. He provided enough finances for us so that almost half of the camps we held were FREE so that orphans and kids from the local favelas (slums) could experience Jesus. And every time our vehicle broke down, we had the money to fix it. And we never missed a meal. And we were always able to pay our utility bills on time. And we made it through every single attack that the enemy threw our way. It doesn’t matter what he (the enemy) tried to destroy us with, God delivered us. Every poisonous snake we faced, we killed. Every poisonous spider we encountered, we smashed. Every bug bite, every sprain, every bump, every bruise, every pain- He healed us from. God was so faithful to us. And in the midst of Him being faithful we were able to accomplish so much for the Kingdom of God. I had remembered. 

And then I knew what we had to do. We needed to build our own monument. We needed to build something to remember God’s faithfulness by. So we sat around and I told the family about the story in Joshua and how it related to us. Then, as a family, each one of us took a stone and mortared it into place around a rock that says (in Portuguese), “God is always faithful.” And we built it in front of our house so that everyone who pulls up sees it. And now, any time we’re feeling discouraged, we have something to point to and help us remember how “God has been so faithful to us.”

So what about you? Are you going through a difficult time where you feel like God’s abandoned (or forgotten) you? I guarantee, that if you take the time to remember some of the things that He’s done in the past, you’ll find the strength that you’re looking for. And once you remember, you may want to build a memorial too. Maybe not of stone and mortar, but just something that will help you never forget how good He is: )

Remembering God’s Faithfulness,

Jim and MJ

Holidays? What Holidays?

This past holiday season we really struggled with feeling... hmmm. How can I say this?... “we were... well... we were feeling sorry for ourselves.” There, I said it. Now I know that you probably have no idea what I’m talking about, right? Because nobody else ever struggles with that, I’m sure. But we were. It was the holidays and what was usually one of the funnest and one of the busiest times of the year for our family had been reduced down to something that felt like just another day in the life of American Missionaries in Brazil. (The fact that it was 1000 degrees and that we were literally being eaten alive by insects didn’t help either. Happy Birthday Jesus!) Anyway,for us, (who were used to being on a pastoral staff at a local church) “The Holidays” usually meant two things:

Number One- Extra Ministry Stuff

This was one of the busiest times of the year for us “ministry wise.” Besides all the normal pastoral duties we were responsible for, we were also over all of our church’s outreach ministry. And, for years, we got to organize “The Thanksgiving Outreach” where we gave out 500-600 meals on Thanksgiving Day. We had over 200 volunteers show up on Thanksgiving morning to prepare and deliver food to low income and destitute people who desperately needed Jesus. This was actually one of my favorite things to do each year (Hope and Life, you guys rock). 

And in December we had something we called the “Angel Tree.”  This is where we gave gifts to needy children and put on a small Christmas program in their neighborhood where we handed out the gifts. This was always fun. 

Then, on Christmas Eve, we held multiple Christmas Candlelight Services (that MJ and I had to organize and set-up for each year) which kept us hoppin’ on Christmas Eve. So, all these things were going on, on top of an already slam-packed schedule. So we were always busy. You get the idea, right?

Number Two- Parties

We were invited to soooo many Christmas parties each year that we had to make the rule that “we can only go to the first 5 parties that we’re invited to” because there was no way we could go to everything we were invited to. We loved visiting with friends and family and even though we felt overwhelmed with all the busyness of the holiday season, we loved it.

But, here in Brazil, neither of those two things are a part of our lives. There’s no Thanksgiving Outreach, well... because there’s no Thanksgiving! This is Brazil, not America and that’s an American holiday, duh. : ) And it doesn’t seem like Christmas gets “the love” (here in Brazil) that it gets in the States, so getting invited to Christmas parties? Ha! Either Christmas parties aren’t popular here or we’re not popular here. I have a sneaky suspicion that it’s the latter. lol! Then add all that to the fact that this was our first Christmas without our oldest son (Michael) and it made it the perfect storm for “holiday- feeling-sorry-for-yourself-blues. So, basically, we weren’t feeling the holiday spirit at all this year (cue the violin music here).

But here’s the question that we needed to keep asking ourselves (so that we could maintain our sanity), “are we where God wants us to be and are we doing what He wants us to do?” Because as nice as it would’ve been to be with our son., and as awesome as it would’ve been to be doing all the holiday ministry stuff we were use to, and as much as we missed all our friends and the parties... “we know that God has us here doing what He wants us to do.” 

So, we’ll just have to be cool with missing everything and everybody and just press-in to the fact that following Jesus isn’t always about what we like the best and what makes us the most comfortable. Now don’t get me wrong. If He led us back to the States so that we could enjoy the holidays like we use to, well, lets just say that “there’d be a dust trail so fast down the mountain that people wouldn’t know what just happened!” But until then? Well, we’re gonna have to just walk where He says walk and do what He says do.  

What about you? Are you doing something that you'd really prefer that you weren't doing? But here's the question you need to ask yourself... is it what God said to do? Because if it is (doing what He said to do) then really we have no other choice (if we’re really following Him) but to just walk through it, right? And (for us) in spite of all the negative feelings and emotions that bombard us on a daily basis, knowing that we’re exactly where He wants us to be and doing what He wants us to do is comforting and encouraging. 

So if you’re like us (doing something you’d prefer not to be doing) just keep following Jesus. Because having Him is worth every single struggle. And besides, “the grass is never greener somewhere else, it just looks like it.”

Happy New Year, 

Jim

Happy New Year: Say What!?

The skies here in the evenings have been amazing lately.  Here's a shot of the skies the other night.

It’s a NewYear and here’s the first blog of 2013, so let’s do this thing: )

OK. In case you didn’t know, not only does one of MJ’s sisters (Carolyn) live here in Brazil with her husband (Brad) and their 10 kids, but (until March) her oldest sister (Sarah) along with her husband (Steve) and 6 of their 12 children are here as well. Add in Me, MJ and our herd along with my Father-in-law and Mother-in-law... that’s a lot of people when we all get together. And what sticks out the most is how many kids there are. They all range from ages 3 to 16. Any way you look at it, it’s a lot of kids. Well, New Year’s Eve we all got together at Brad and Carolyn’s house for a cookout/end-of-the-year-party. The food was good, the fellowship was relaxing and all the kids got along great (which is a miracle). It was really a very mellow kinda night, which was refreshing. 

It got to be around 10:00pm and everyone assembled on the outdoor patio for a time of worship and reflection on 2012 (as a new year approached). All the adults and a most of the teenagers sat in cushioned patio chairs around the perimeter of the patio facing inward, while almost all of the younger kids (except for the ones who were already sitting on their parents laps) sat at 2 picnic tables in the middle of the patio floor. It’s not a real big area (probably 15‘x 20’ at the most) especially when that many people are packed into it: )

The ceremonies kicked-off with all of us singing a few older worship songs (by the way, I think the Bible says to “sing a new song to the Lord” for a reason...1982 called and they want their songs back. lol!) and then Brad made the announcement that we were all gonna take turns and say what we were the most grateful for in 2012. The first thing that came to mind was, “didn’t we just do this for Thanksgiving?” That’s definitely a Thanksgiving tradition for our family. But then, while everyone was deciding who would go first, it made sense to me. 2012 was one of the most difficult years that our family (collectively) has ever had to walk through, so giving thanks to the Lord for bringing us through it was a great idea. 

After everyone dodged having to go first, MJ went ahead and volunteered to start. Then it moved counter clockwise (which was good because I was sitting next to her on the left and now I wouldn’t have to go for at least 27 more people!). Everyone had really good things to say as everyone went in turn. Then it got to the point where the 2 tables in the center (which was home to most of the younger kids) started their turn. It got almost all the way through both tables (I think there were only 3 kids left) and all the kids were doing so good. Then it came to Robert (our youngest, he’s 7). It was silent as everyone waited, and waited, and waited. He was embarrassed, you could tell. But it was still very peaceful and serene. Then all of the sudden Diogo (our 10 year old and Robert’s older sibling) said, “go Robert!” That’s when it happened. Robert immediately says in a firm voice (accompanied by a furrowed brow), “shut your mouth Diogo.” Actually he said, “shut your mouf Diogo.” He’s missing a tooth in the front and can’t pronounce his ‘th’ sounds very well. But it didn’t stop there... he then proceeded to say, “and if you don’t shut it-I’ll shut it for you!” And he said it as he jumped-up out of his seat with his fists clinched and his chest all bowed-up as he faced-down his older brother! 

It all happened so fast. What was once a very peaceful, joyous and celebratory time (only moments ago) quickly turned into something you’d expect to see in a schoolyard right before a big brawl broke out. As I looked around the patio (everything seemed like it was in slow motion) everyone just sat there silently with their mouths open, shocked at what just occurred. I grabbed Robert as fast as I could and sat him next to me. It was just so surreal. And I know this sounds bad but it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. Here was one of the smallest kids in the whole family basically threatening to knock out his older brother (in front of a pretty large crowd) if he didn’t shut his mouth. lol! 

I know this sounds horrible (because we were all giving thanks to God during this solemn family time), but I thought it was funny, nonetheless. The only problem, was that nobody else found the humor in it- at all! Now don’t get me wrong, we don’t allow our kids to punch each other and we don’t condone threatening to punch each other in the face either (although I do appreciate a little trash talking now and then) but it was just so “out of nowhere.” And because things were going so well all night it just struck me as funny. I almost started laughing out loud but when I saw that nobody else was even smiling, I quickly acted like I was appalled at what had just taken place... you know, being the great spiritual leader and awesome dad that I am : )

But here’s the thing that stuck-out to me the most. In the past, if that would’ve happened, I would’ve been soooo angry and frustrated. Not because my kid did something wrong, no. I would’ve been so angry because he was the only one out of 25 other kids that did something wrong and it embarrassed “me.”  Because that’s a reflection on “me.” And nobody else’s kids were acting out so that means that “I” must be a horrible parent compared to everyone else. And “I” must not be doing something right. And “I”... “me”... you get it, right? But here’s where I can see growth in myself as a parent. I love my kids, I’m pointing them to Jesus the best that I can and I’m not perfect either. So I’m not gonna get all bent out of shape when they do something wrong publicly. I just need to discipline them, show them what’s right and love them. That’s my responsibility. My responsibility isn’t to make sure that everyone thinks my kids are perfect and “rep me” well publicly. Because how crazy is that? That’s just prideful. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not gonna put up with my kids acting any way they want publicly and I’m not afraid to spank a few butts (even here in Brazil where it’s frowned upon) when the opportunity arises. But I’m just not gonna take it as a personal blow to “me” when they do something wrong. It’s not all about me.

Have your kids ever done anything publicly that embarrassed you? Did you take it personally or did you just look at it as an opportunity to show them what’s right? Just a thought.

World’s Greatest Dad (haha),

Jim