Being Weak

Bats... gotta love em.' Well, maybe not.
Here's another one of those nasty little things that love flying around inside our house.
Of course it's dead because "the only good bat is a dead bat" (at least in our book).

Have you ever read that scripture in II Corinthians 12:9-10 where it says, 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness... and when I am weak, then I am strong”... have you ever read that? 

It’s one of those verses that actually sounds good enough for a coffee cup, t-shirt or a bumper sticker. But when push comes to shove we usually try and go the opposite way, don't we? Sometimes when we’re facing difficult situations and feeling weak- we’re like, “thanks God, but I got this... I’d rather do this in my own strength because that way I’ll have more control.” Of course we’d probably never say that out loud but sometimes we live that way, right? I mean who wants to be weak? Not me. 

We’re suppose to be strong. We’re told about self confidence, self esteem and believing in ourselves from a young age and we live in a world where pride, power and strength are looked at as good things, right? I’ve never looked at anyone’s bio or resume’ and read (under their list of qualities), “I’m a weak person.” And if I was hiring someone or looking to partner with someone in ministry and they listed “weakness” as one of their attributes I’d probably be a little leery of joining forces with them. But in God’s economy “weakness” is a positive thing. And that’s what makes trials, persecution, infirmities, problems, tragedy, turmoil and any other negative adjective you want to use, all good things. It’s when we’re weak and at the end of ourselves that God’s really able to show-up big in our lives. It’s when we don’t know what to do next and we’re at the end of our rope that God is able to work on our behalf the best. 

So does that mean that we should we seek out tough situations so that we can be totally depleted of everything that is 'us?' Uuuuh, No! They’ll find us (tough situations). But when they do find us, what do we do? Do we hide from them? Do we insulate ourselves against them (through hobbies, drugs, alcohol, food, shopping, sex, TV, etc.) or do we go to God and allow Him to help us. Do we press so far into Him, that as we do (next to Him), our problems seem insignificant and minuscule? That’s what God wants from us... a total reliance on Him and His power. 

But I don’t know about you, but I tend to try and handle things on my own first, then after I become fatigued I run to Him. Why am I so slow on the uptake? Why not just run to Him first and save some time?

The reason I’m writing this today is because we’ve faced some enormous adversity here in Brazil. Our marriage, our kids, our bodies, our ministry, our finances, our vehicle, even our pets!... every area of our lives has been attacked at one point or another. And the one thing that’s changed (from what it was in the US) is that we’ve had to run to God for EVERYTHING just to make it. When we were back in the States we relied on God too, but it was only after we tried to do it on our own. I didn’t want to bother Him with all my “small stuff” because He’s pretty busy, right? But all along He was there just waiting for me “to come to the end of me” so that He could show Himself strong on my behalf. Because He wants to be involved with every aspect of my life... even the small stuff. 

What about you? When you face adversity and tough stuff, do you immediately run to Him or is there something else that you typically try first? Do you look at not being in total control of a situation as a negative thing? If so, then it sounds like we’re just alike. But here’s the thing... He’s ALWAYS there for us. And He’s not only able, but He’s willing to help us. 

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

                                                                               Ephesians 3:20-21

Trying to Totally Rely On Jesus (even for the small stuff),

Jim

We Finally Got Him: )

Here's the snake in question... It's over 5' long now (or was, haha)

This year we’ve killed so many snakes that it’s not even funny. For some reason even though we keep more of the property maintained (i.e., weed-eated and manicured not ‘jungley’... not a word, I know) we’ve seen and killed more this year than in previous years. 

There are a lot of different snakes here (mostly poisonous, of course), and we’ve killed several different kinds, but there are 2 kinds that we seem to see the most. One is called a Jararaca (a pit viper) and the other is a green snake (not sure of the name) that’s pretty much invisible when it’s in the trees.

Even though the Jararaca are extremely dangerous (and one of the most deadly in the world) they pretty much leave you alone unless you mess with them. But the green ones- they’re a different story. They’re bold and they’re aggressive. If you remember, in an earlier blog a couple of years ago (click HERE), our kids were held hostage by one of these ‘green snakes’ as it jumped out of a tree, stood almost upright, reared back, hissed at them and blocked the path so that they couldn’t pass. It was a literal stand-off for a few minutes as the snake just guarded this particular path out in the jungle.

Last year MJ was sweeping our front porch one quite afternoon and I was sitting there reading. All of a sudden she jumped backwards (startled) and said in a high pitched voice, “ooooh”- all at the same time. One of those long green snakes (about 4’ long) slithered from under the couch and right over the top of her foot (oh yeah, she was wearing flip flops too!) and right across our porch and into our side yard! I ran and tried to hit it with something (can’t remember what it was... I think it was a rake or something) but I missed it because it was too fast.

Then, within a few days of that occurrence, Matthew and Papa were working on something at the shop right next to the house and they looked down and the same long green snake was slithering boldly beneath their feet right where they were working! It’s like it was thumbing it’s nose at them or something (metaphorically, that is... FYI- snakes don’t have thumbs) and saying, “I could care less if you see me or if you’re working here- I’m coming through whether you like it or not. So jump back before I bite you”

It got away before any of us could kill it. 

Over the past year or so, this particular snake has made an occasional appearance at the house just to let us know that it’s still here and to keep us on our toes. It’s really smart too. It’s like it’ll hang around long enough to mock you but then as soon as someone brings a machete’ out (or any other weapon) it’s gone! But the tide has officially turned: )

I was trying to finish a small project when out of nowhere Gabriel came running up to me and was saying, “the snake is trying to get into our bedroom! The snake is trying to get into our bedroom!” I didn’t have a machete’ with me and there were no other weapons handy so I grabbed the closest thing I could find on such quick notice... a piece of lumber I was working with.

So off we ran to stop the snake from going into his bedroom and hopefully kill it. When we got there it was, of course, gone. So we looked and looked and then out of the corner of our eye there it was- outside MJ’s kitchen window crawling up the hill! I threw the board (about 20’) and missed it. It was flying now (not literally snakes don’t have wings, duh) and I ran up the hill to try to kill it again. By this time it was slithering speedily down the steps and toward the fence. I threw the board again and this time I hit it but it was only stunned and continued through the fence and onto the other side. It started climbing a tree and I yelled for Matthew. He came and jumped over the fence with another board and, whack! He got it: ) It was still alive so he inflicted a few more blows to make sure that it was, shall we say, “expired.” And it was.

So why am I writing about a snake? I mean, we’ve killed so many of them so what’s the big deal? Well, the big deal is this- this thing has been a nuisance to us for a couple of years now and it’s finally gone. It’s something that we could never get rid of because it was so cunning and it always eluded us. And the fact the we don’t have to deal with it anymore is awesome and something to be celebrated.

I wasn’t planning on trying to turn this into a spiritual illustration, but as I’m sitting here writing, it kind of reminds me of the devil. He’s very cunning and he seems to like to poke his head into our lives and even sometimes mock us to our faces every now and again. But the day is coming when Jesus returns and he’ll be done! If you read Revelation 20 but his future is pretty bleak: ) There'll be no more slithering into our lives and tormenting us with all his junk because Jesus is going to change everything once and for all.  Even more than me celebrating the end of a snake at our house- that’ll be a day we all can truly celebrate forever.

On a different note, Maryssa was at school on Friday and she asked the teacher for a cup to go and get some water. (They don’t have water fountains at her school and they use disposable cups.)

Her teacher told her that there was a cup already there (at the place they get water). So Maryssa went out to the hall and much to her surprise there was a cup there! It was one that was ‘wired’ to the faucet so that nobody walked off with it. Hahaha!!!!! Things that make you go “Hmmmmm.”

Water anyone? And they do mean 'anyone.'

At least there's 2, right?

 And no, she didn’t use it. For some reason she thought that in a school with over 1,000 students it might not be sanitary. lol!

Have a Great Week,

JIm

Inconvenience

The boys are really growing-up! Gabriel, Robert and Diogo at a camp we had a few weeks ago.

Inconvenience. To me, it’s one of the words that best describes our life. Our life is full of “inconveniences.”  To have something, then to not have it is worse than never having it at all (in my opinion). We don’t have soooo many of the things that we took for granted in the States. And they’re things that I’d call major inconveniences too. Here, let me just rattle some off the top of my head:

Things like fast internet (or any internet at all), A/C and heat in our house or car, fast food (or actually fast anything!), the ability to go to the store and buy what I need when I need it 24hrs a day. Being able to make a phone call from our house rather than having to drive 30 minutes to use my magic jack at a friends house (thanks Victor!). Watching TV every once in a while rather than the same DVD’s we own (and have already watched over and over a million times). Being able to flush our toilet paper rather than taking it out to the burn pile. Being able to take our trash to the street so that the sanitation department can take it away rather than sorting through it and burning it. We miss a steady paycheck. We miss being able to buy insecticide that will “nuke” all the insects rather than having to be eaten alive everyday (even though we spray ourselves 2-3 times a day with insecticide). We miss having hot water in the house to wash dishes with or even being able to shave with hot water on demand would be nice. Using a napkin that actually worked (you have to be here to understand what I’m talking about). Being able to pay all our bills on line, rather than having to go stand “in line” at the lottery place for 20 minutes after driving 30 minutes to get there (and there’s no such thing as mailing a check either).  Being able to live and drive on paved roads. Actually, we miss MJ being able to drive at all (she can’t drive stick shift and that’s all we have). I especially miss being able to put my shoes on without checking in them for deadly snakes or spiders first. I miss living at an altitude that doesn’t consistently make me congested and tired all rolled into one. I miss living in a house where mold doesn’t grow on all the walls, decorations, clothes, shoes, actually on everything (another byproduct of the altitude combined with the fact that we live in the jungle). I could literally sit here for another hour listing out more of the inconveniences, but that would be futile. 

And to think that we gave up all of the conveniences of our former life to do what we’re doing now is pretty frustrating sometimes. But as I sit here feeling sorry for myself (don’t judge me- you do it sometimes too) there’s a scripture that comes to mind that brings it all back into perspective. If you’re like me you’ve probably read it a thousand times before too. But it’s something that if we read it, think about it and apply it to our lives- it makes it impossible to feel sorry for ourselves because of any inconvenience we could ever encounter in this life (as a result of following Jesus, that is).

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

                       Philippians 2:5-8

So, for me to ever think that I’ve given up a lot to follow God’s plan for my life- it’s actually laughable and pales in comparison to what Jesus gave up (and moved away from) to follow God’s plan. I didn’t leave Heaven- because as nice as the US is... it ain’t Heaven, right? And even though I left behind some of my rights as an American that don’t transfer to me here in Brazil- I didn’t give up my rights as “God.” And even though I’m driving on roads riddled with potholes (even on the highway) rather than the nice paved roads of the US- I didn’t leave a place where the streets were actually paved with gold! He gave up more than I could ever give up. And if He did it for me as an example.

This life is fleeting. This life is a vapor, This life is so short in light of eternity. So if following His plan for our life is a little (or even a lot, lol!) inconvenient... then so be it. His promises are true and He’s worth it. This life here on this planet is just temporary- but life with Him but eternal and will never end: )

Feeling Encouraged Today,

Jim