Now That’s Funny!

Something funny happened the other day. Carolyn (my sister-in-law) and I were meeting with the 2 directors of the elementary school so that we could begin planning for next school year (how we could best help them and minister the Gospel to the kids, all at the same time). And as we were proposing our ideas to them, they began to ask us about actually teaching more English classes (Brad is already teaching every Tuesday) and then they said something that was so funny that it was hard for me to keep a straight face. They said, “they wanted Me and Brad to think about teaching P.E. to the kids!” Now in case you don’t know what that is, P.E. stands for “Physical Education.” Now, the last time I looked at myself in the mirror, I didn’t look and think, “hmmmm... I should be a P.E. teacher. My body is such a finely tuned instrument of physical fitness that I need to pass on all of my knowledge concerning being fit to the next generation!” As a matter of fact I’m literally sitting here eating a handful of cookies as I’m writing this very blog, so seriously? P.E.? Yeah, right! Ha! There’s nothing physical (or fit) about me.

We played softball with all the kids (and some kids from the mountain) a couple of Saturday’s ago and I pulled a stomach muscle swinging the bat! I didn’t even know I had stomach muscles! Then, at the end of that day, MJ informed me that I had stick legs on a potato body. Really? That’s how you’re gonna do the man you’ve been married to for over 22 years? Thanks. My self esteem shot to an all-time high at that point.

But the more I think about it, I think we should do the whole P.E. thing. What an awesome opportunity to leverage the Gospel in that school and to use P.E. as the door that it comes through... that’s actually brilliant if you think about it. It’s like God was sitting in Heaven one day and thought, “hmmm, how could I get the Gospel to those kids in Terra Boa in a way that nobody else could get the glory for it other than me? Hmmmmm. I know... I’ll get this overweight white guy from America, that can’t speak Portuguese, with no physical abilities at all and I’ll use him to teach P.E.! Not only will I (God) get the glory, but I’ll get a good laugh, all at the same time.” And then He probably looked at Jesus and they both laughed uncontrollably.

Seriously though... please pray for us. This could be a really good thing. To have an open invitation to be with the kids on a consistent basis... that’s awesome. And to be able to live the Gospel out in front of the students each week would be great. But we only want to do exactly what God wants us to do. So pray for us, because if this is something He wants us to do (even if it’s outside my skill set), I’m all in. Spirit, Soul and Body: )

Sore Already,

Jim

PS - The pics are just some random shots of this past week. One is of Robert and a huge beetle he caught, then there's one of me and the baby horse (colt?... I don't know, I'm a city boy) that was born a few weeks ago at Brad's house, the one of all the muddy kids is my kids and Brad's after they played in the mud and then one of the giant lizard is one that my nephew trapped in his back yard... it was eating all his duck's eggs! Awesome, huh?