Getting Ready for the Big Day

A Huge Brazilian flag hangs outside IBB in Curitiba as "The Cup" is not only in the country- but also in town: )

On Tuesday October 30, 2007- FIFA awarded Brazil with the 2014’ World Cup. And, from that day forward, preparations for one of the biggest events in the world began. The people of Brazil began building, spending their money, preparing and strategizing for how they would accommodate the massive amounts of people who would convene upon their country for this ‘one-month-long-event’ that was promised to take place.

As an American I never realized what a big deal The World Cup really was until we moved here to Brazil. I know that over the last 10 years or so soccer has caught some traction in the US (as far as being more popular) but it still pales in comparison to football, basketball and baseball- as far as popularity goes. But, outside the US, soccer (the other football, haha) is a BIG deal, for sure. I mean, people are serious about it. And the World Cup?... from a worldwide perspective- it’s even more of a big deal than the Super Bowl! 

MJ and I drove to town to buy groceries the other day (one week before the first ‘official’ World Cup match) and as we were trying to make our way into the store we could barely get in because of the huge bottle-neck of people at the entrance. But it wasn’t difficult getting in because everyone was trying to buy groceries- it was crowded because they had decided to set-up a projector/screen right inside the front door so that shoppers could watch some kind of pre-World Cup game. And that day there was some type of ‘friendly game’ going on and Brazil was playing. So everyone was standing there watching. 

It was an awesome idea if you wanted to see the game but a horrible idea if you were actually wanting to get inside and buy groceries. And, as the owner of the grocery store,  if you were trying to make it easy for customers to get into your establishment and spend money- you couldn’t have picked a worse spot to show the game. But that’s just my American thinking kicking in. Everything is suppose to be efficient and easy for the consumer, right? But here in Brazil it’s different. And right now it’s all about the World Cup.

After we left the grocery store we stopped at the drugstore to buy a few things before heading back to the mountain. And, as we walked in, we could hear the same game that  was showing at the grocery store blaring from a small television there inside the drugstore as well. And all the pharmacists were wearing these sequined covered fedoras (Brazil colors, of course) and there were Brazil colored streamers hanging everywhere. It was a literal party atmosphere at the pharmacy. Haha! This is World Cup thing is serious: )

Weeks before the first game it seemed like everywhere you looked there were Brazil flags flying. In the stores, on houses, on cars, even at the little open-air bar here on the mountain you could see dozens of Brazilian flags draped along the outside of the building as everyone was waiting in anxious anticipation for the big day.

Brazilian colors flying proudly at "Paulo's Bar" here in the jungles of Brazil. 

We’re into the second week of games now and things are definitely different. Here in Brazil, whenever the Brazilian Team plays everything shuts down. Schools are closed, businesses close, employers let their employees off work 2 hours before the game and then it’s like a national holiday as everyone goes somewhere to watch the game. It’s something that, if you’re a Brazilian, you’ve got to see. You’ve got to be a part of it. I was driving through Curitiba during rush hour this past Tuesday afternoon during the Brazil game and it was eerily quiet. There was literally no traffic, no people, no movement anywhere. It’s like the rapture had taken place and I had been left behind! lol!

Hundreds of people gathering at Igreja Batista do Bacacheri to watch the games
on the big screens in the sanctuary last Tuesday afternoon 

At 4:45pm these roads are typically bumper-to-bumper with traffic but when
Brazil is playing it's a virtual ghost town. Crazy, huh?

And as I sit here thinking about all that I’ve witnessed over the last couple of years (as everyone was getting ready for the World Cup)- everything from stadiums being built- to host cities making preparations for hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world- to restaurants, hotels and businesses making adjustments to prices and upgrading accommodations- there’s one thing sticks out in my mind and it’s a question that I think I need to ask myself... “what would it look like if, as a christian, I had the same eager anticipation for the return of Christ as the brazilian people have had for the World Cup?” No, seriously. I’m not trying to be hyper-spiritual (and I apologize for the ‘Jesus Juke’) but really... what would happen if I was that excited, invested, focused, intentional, anticipative and zeroed-in on ‘that day’ as brazilians (and people from other countries as well) have been for a month long soccer event? It’s definitely something to think about.

Because if I’m really anticipating something as big as the return of Christ- my life should reflect it. How I plan, how I invest, how I spend my money... my level of anticipation should be so high that it’s all I desire and long for, right? Or at least it should be.

But the problem is that I get so caught up in the minutia of life that I tend to forget. Even though I’m busy serving Him and doing what He’s called me to do I lose sight of the fact that He could return at any time. So am I ready? Am I busy preparing for ‘that day’ or am I just treading water trying to survive today?... Lord, please help me remember and help me remain in eager anticipation of ‘that day.’

What about you? Have you forgotten that He is returning? Are you busy preparing for that day or have you lost focus? His promises are true He promised us that one day He will return. So get ready: )

“... be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you don’t expect.”

                     Matthew 24:44

Looking for His Return,

Jim

Faith or Frustration

Here's a picture of our car when I let a friend drive it on our road back in December.
And yes, it's stuck. Rookie: )

OK. When I got up this morning it was 53 degrees... in my kitchen!!!! What’s up with that?! It’s only the beginning of Winter here in Brazil and we’re already miserable. It’s been raining off and on for a couple of weeks and it’s been cold too (40’s-50’s). You may be saying, “Jim- you’re just being a bit overdramatic aren’t you? Because 50 degrees isn’t that cold.” Well my response to you is... well, I won’t tell you my initial response was because I’m a Christ follower on the mission field and all that good stuff, haha. But you’re right, 40-50 degrees isn’t that bad- ‘when you have heat!’ We have no heat in our house or in our car. So when it’s that cold outside- it’s that cold inside as well. 

Not good: (

But it gets even better. After I got over the initial shock of the cold morning, I went outside to rinse the car off before I drove to church (it had a ton of mud on it from the roads) when I noticed that my front bumper was hanging off. It was yet another part of my car that had fallen prey to the bumpy roads (that resemble the surface of the moon) here on the mountain. Now, not only do I still have my front headlight taped on (it had fallen off last year because of the bumpy roads), I also have my bumper wired onto the front of my car. I mean, seriously? Talk about having every ounce of pride stripped away from your life. I was already driving something that I’ve had in the shop at least 20 times in the last year and a half. I’ve had the engine rebuilt once, I’ve been driving it without a 3rd gear for the last couple of months, it has no heat, no defroster, no horn, no radio, every door handle is broken, it has a cracked windshield, the gas gauge doesn’t work, the headlights are so dim that it’s dangerous to drive at night. When I had it in the shop last week they told me it needs a new clutch... and now I’m rigging the bumper back onto the front of the car with a piece of electrical wire?! Give me a break, Lord!

To say that I was frustrated would be an understatement. Then that’s when I started thinking about how it wasn’t fair. I started thinking about how, here I was... giving my entire life to Jesus by living here in a foreign country with minimal or no comfort at all. Everything is inconvenient and difficult and it seems like there’s always something negative happening. And things keep getting more inconvenient by the day. 

So, seeing how my frustration level had reached an all time high- I just decided to throw a party. That’s right a party... a pity party, that is. And, as I drove the 4km down the bumpy road that leads to the highway, I just kept thinking about how unfair that it really was. This isn’t what I signed-up for. And God just let me stew in my pity for a few minutes and then it happened. He reminded me of a scripture. Don’t you love it when that happens? And no it wasn’t one about being thankful or one about being able to do all things through Christ (although they could’ve also applied). He reminded me of the people in Hebrews 11. 

This is a chapter in the bible that some call ‘the heroes of faith’ or the ‘hall of fame of faith’ or something to that effect. But when the Lord brought it to my memory, it wasn’t the first part of the chapter that He reminded me of- it was the latter part. You see, when we think about Hebrews 11 we always think about the first part. That’s the part that talks about how “by faith” Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and a whole bunch of others accomplished all these amazing things- ‘by faith.” But, if you read through to the end of the chapter, you’ll also read about some other people who did some stuff “by faith.” They also accomplished some things by the same thing that all of the people in the front of the chapter did- “by faith.” 

Before I tell you what these people (in the latter part of chapter 11) did, let me ask you a question. What does it mean to do something ‘by faith?’ Faith, by definition, is simply ‘belief and trust.’ So doing something ‘by faith’ is simply doing or believing something because of what God has told/promised you. It’s having the assurance that God has given you a specific promise/instruction and you’re going to fulfill it no matter what the outcome. And even though there are some amazing things that happen in our lives ‘by faith’ there are also some not-so-amazing things that will happen in our lives ‘by faith.’

If you read the latter part of Hebrews chapter 11 you’ll see what I mean. The first 34 verses of the chapter lists out all these amazing things that people did ‘by faith.’ They conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were mighty in war, put armies to flight, women received back their dead by resurrection... but then in the last part of verse 35 it all changes. 

In the last part of verse 35 it starts to list out other things that people did ‘by faith.’ They were tortured, suffered mocking and flogging, they were in chains and imprisonment, they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword, they went about in animal skins- destitute, afflicted, mistreated, homeless... and all by the same thing that the people listed at the beginning of the chapter did things by- ‘by faith.’ And it says that they were all commended for ‘their faith’ the same way as all the people in the first part of the chapter were. Whether the outcome of what they did was amazingly awesome or whether it was amazingly painful and in the natural- looked like a fail. They were all commended for ‘their faith.’

Wow. So that means that I can be commended by God for freezing my butt off and driving a crappy car- just as much as I would if I was raising the dead or conquering a mighty army as long as I’m doing it ‘by faith’ (i.e., because I’m only doing it because God asked me to)? Hmmm. Then that kind of changes things. Even though it may not take away the pain of some of the things that we have to endure, it does give me hope that it’s not all for nothing. It shows me that as long as we’re doing what we’re doing solely based on our obedience and faith in God- it’s all good and it’s all commended by God as equally as if we were evangelizing the entire country of Brazil. If you don’t believe me, go and read it for yourself. The people who were destitute and afflicted ‘by faith’ got the same props as Abraham did for offering up Isaac ‘by faith’ and the same recognition that Moses did for leading the people ‘by faith’ through the Red Sea. Interesting, huh?...

And it’s the same for you. If what you’re going through is difficult, unpleasant, painful, frustrating and hard... but you know that God has you right there in the middle of it- then just keep doing it ‘by faith.’ Fully trusting Him and knowing that you’re being commended by Him just as if you were doing something else that you think could better serve Him: )

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith...”   

                                                                                                                      Hebrews 12:1-2

Feeling Frigid ‘by Faith,’

Jim