Porcupines 3 Dogs 0

Koty had over 230 quills stuck in his face and on the inside his mouth

Well, it happened again. Our dogs found out that porcupines are nothing to mess with.

Last Friday afternoon I was sitting at the dining room table trying to study when MJ came in and said, “you’re gonna want to kill yourself.” Obviously she was only being sarcastic but, in light of the week we were already having (storms, power outages, snakes in the house, etc.), she thought that what she was about to tell me could quite possibly put me over the edge.

You see over the last couple of years some of our dogs have had run-in’s with porcupines. The problem with that is that “they always lose!” And the result is that they end up with porcupine quills stuck in their bodies (mostly in their faces) and they have to be removed only after sedating them (because it’s too painful to remove them while their awake).

The porcupine quill has tiny barbs all over the ends of each quill that makes
it difficult to pull out once it enters it's victim

The porcupine quill is like a long needle with tiny barbs on the end. So once it pierces into you it’s difficult to just pull it out because all of the tiny little barbs are grabbing hold of the tissue not wanting to let go (kinda like fish hooks). 

And seeing how the most sensitive part on a dog is his nose (and, of course that’s where a majority of the quills are) the dog has to be sedated or it’s too painful to remove them.

Anyway, some of our rescue dogs (yes, we rescue dogs too- like we didn't have enough things to do, right?) found a family of porcupines up near the pavilion and rather than just leaving them alone they decided to try and attack them. And as a result they received 1138 porcupine quills to remind them of the battle! That’s right- 1138 quills! That’s how many had to be removed from their bodies: (

Scruffy was the winner with 238 quills stuck in her face, mouth and head. She even had 2 in her eye!

Thank God we have a friend on the mountain that’s a veterinarian who helps us with our dogs. He came over right away and (after 5 1/2 hours) was able to remove all the quills for us. 

Our friend Michel removing quills from one of our dogs.
It took 5 1/2 hours for him to remove all of the quills from all of the dogs: (

This was the 3rd time that we’ve had porcupine encounters in the last 2 years and each time the dogs have lost. It’s like- “why can't you guys learn!” I mean, it’s painful. It never goes well for you. The outcome is never in your favor so why do you insist on doing the same thing over and over???? 

1138 was the final total of all the quills! Crazy!!!

But if you think about it sometimes we do the same thing, right? We know that there are things that God keeps trying to show us that are harmful to us (spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, relationally, etc.) that we keep going back to and exposing ourselves to. It’s crazy! Why don't we learn? It’s the same thing as our dogs insisting on trying to battle porcupines- it will ALWAYS be a losing battle.

Well, have a great rest-of-the-week and remember- "Leave the porcupines in your life alone dummy!"

Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

        Proverbs 26:11

Love You Guys!

JIm

It’s Therapeutic an It's Something We Can Reflect Back On Later

Yes, I know that I already posted a blog this week but, as with some of our blogs, the purpose of writing is so that we have a record later on in life to look back on. Because (and I know I’ve said this before) so many things happen to us here that it'd be easy to forget a lot of this stuff. And, besides that, this is very therapeutic for me to be able to write some of these things out so that I know I’m not going crazy- so please bear with me.

Wednesday I woke up and drank my coffee just like every other morning. Then I grabbed my towel and started to make my way to the shower when, all of the sudden, I heard Maryssa yelling for me from outside. She said there was a snake on the porch at the orange bunk house and I needed to come kill it! Well, I ran and threw my clothes back on (I was in my underwear and that’s not appropriate snake-killing-attire) grabbed my machete and headed to the bunkhouse. We’ve had an unusually large amount of snakes already this season (it’s late Spring here in Brazil right now).

Sure enough, when I arrived up at the orange bunkhouse there was a tree snake just sitting there looking at me and taunting me (they’re the boldest of the snakes we have here) daring me to mess with him. So I chopped his head off and then I chucked him out into the jungle. Botta-bing botta-boom. Just another day at the office: )

This isn't the one I killed for Maryssa but it was the first one that I got with my new machete a few weeks ago.
This is a snake that was in the kids bunkhouse.

Then I went back to the main house to get a shower. I turned the shower on, got it to the right temperature and then I jumped in. As soon as I got in and started bathing- Bam! The electricity went off. That may not sound like that big of a deal to you, but when you have an electric shower head- it’s huge because now I’m taking a shower in ice cold mountain water that literally takes your breath away! But this is pretty much just the way our life is so I just sucked it up and bathed myself one limb at a time (there’s no way to put your whole body under all at once- it’s way too cold).

After I got out of the shower I got ready and kissed MJ goodbye as I headed-in to church. Matthew was weed eating, Maryssa was taking care of the animals and MJ was going to do some gardening while all the little kids were at school (that’s her therapy). The electricity was still off but it was sunny and everybody had things to do outside so ‘no harm no foul.'

After working at the office all day I headed home. When I arrived home everyone was outside and I could tell something was wrong. The electricity was still off (we’re without electricity a lot here!) and I could tell Maryssa was mad. She explained that she wasn't going in the house and that I better do something! 

It appears that there had been a snake invasion while I was away: )

While I was at church Matthew had killed a couple snakes while he was weed eating (that’s normal), MJ almost got bit by another snake in her flower bed (not normal- Matthew killed it for her) and Maryssa said there was a snake in the house (definitely not normal and totally unacceptable for her and MJ, lol!)!

What happened was this:

When MJ finished working outside she came inside and laid across the bed in our room. As she was laying there she looked up and right above our bedroom window was a freakin’ snake inside the mosquito netting of our soffits (aka- inside the house!). She called Matthew and they tried killing it but it got away by heading into the second story of our house. This is where Maryssa and Matthew’s rooms are: ) So, to say the least- Maryssa isn't very happy at this point and is insisting I do something, haha! What am I gonna do? It’s nowhere to be seen. So I just convinced her that it must of slithered/climbed back out when we weren't looking and everything is OK. What else can you do, right? : )

This is what MJ saw as she laid in our bed and glanced up

By this point everyone is pretty stressed-out because of all the snake activity at the house. The electricity is still off and now there’s a storm brewing outside. That’s right, out of nowhere what was 90 degrees and sunny has now turned into a torrential downpour that causes flash flooding! Seriously? After everything else today? Oh well…So we just rode out the storm and sat in the darkness since our electricity was still out. 

The rain was pouring down and flooded our front porch unless than 5 minutes

This isn't a stream or a waterfall- it's the grass slope that leads up to the pavilion.
Massive amounts of water fell within minutes.

After being without power all day and after sitting in the darkness most of the night our electricity was finally restored at around 10:00pm. It turns out that ours was the only house on the entire mountain without electricity all day. Seriously- just our house. Lucky us, huh? But it’s back on now and for that we’re thankful.

The power company came out and restored our electricity around 10:00pm

We’ve already killed so many snakes this Spring (more than in previous years), seen more spiders than any other year (they're everywhere- in the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, running across the roads), we’ve been without power more days than any other year and here’s the thing- it really hasn't mattered much. In previous years I would get so frustrated with the power outages. I would get so irritated with all the snakes and spiders. And all the storms would just wear me out. But for some reason it’s not affecting me the same way this year. I guess a person can get use to just about anything when they're constantly exposed to it (this would be a perfect place to turn this into sermon illustration- but not today). I just told MJ last night that I still can’t believe that we live in the jungle in another country. And if you would've told me that I would be experiencing all these things here on the mission field I wouldn't have believed you. I’m just a city boy and this isn't who I am or what I do- or is it? lol! 

Love Ya,

Jim

Do You Even Know What the Gospel Is?

I’ve been able to actually see some of the stuff that’s been going on in the world here lately which isn’t the norm. It seems like over the last 4 years we’ve been living in a bubble, here in Brazil, unaware of almost all current events because of our lack of internet and the absence of television here in the jungle. 

Sure, we see some stuff posted on Facebook every now and then (when we have signal). But it seems like a lot of that information is just a certain person/group’s personal opinion and not necessarily accurate news reporting. Not that any of the news is accurate anyway, right? 

Everything from the whole 'same sex marriage thing’ to ISIS and the slaughter of fellow Christians to the Ashley Madison scandal and even the ridiculous social media buzz surrounding the Starbucks Christmas cups (really, is that all we have to spend our time thinking and complaining about?). Then there’s the numerous problems in the Middle East and all the extreme racial tension back in the States. And there’s all the negative things happening in the American Government, all the natural disasters that've been happening- there are LOT of major things going on in our world right now.

As disturbing as these things are, it should make us realize that the end is definitely closer. I mean, look at all the signs. But, it shouldn't surprise us because it’s exactly like Jesus said it would happen in Matthew 24. And it’s really got me thinking about things here lately and it’s caused me to be very contemplative. Because, if you read Matthew 24:3-14, and analyse everything on the list (that Jesus gives as signs of the end)- they're all happening right now! And, just like labor pains, the closer we get the more intense the contractions (i.e., catastrophic events, wars, turmoils, etc.) will be.

But there’s one thing (and it’s actually the last thing on the list) that hasn't happened yet. One solitary thing- and that’s it. And it’s “the Gospel being proclaimed to the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (v14). That’s the only thing left before the return of Christ, the tribulation and the end of things as we all know it. I realize that only The Father knows the exact time (Matt. 24:36) but we were given these other signs that the end would be right around the corner when we saw all the things in Matthew 24 happening. 

So what does that mean for us? What should we do since the end is so near? It’s simple- we proclaim the Gospel. But I think that for most ‘christians' that will probably never happen because most people who call themselves christians don’t understand what the Gospel even is.

But if I were to ask you what the Gospel was- you could tell me, right? I mean it wouldn't be a verbatim recitation of what I would say but hopefully it would be a variation of the same thing. 

As followers of Jesus it’s imperative that we actually know what the Gospel is. The word ‘Gospel' is used approximately 90 times in the New Testament (depending on which version of the Bible you read). So it’s an important word to us and it’s paramount that we understand what it is and what it does.

We were doing a camp a couple of years ago for about 40 kids from an orphanage in Curitiba. And as usual we did all the ‘camp stuff’ with them and we brought in a band and then I had someone speak to the kids. I use to do all the preaching but I started using other people who could speak portuguese (without a translator) because I think it’s more effective presenting the Gospel when you can speak without having to translate everything.

So, I asked this youth pastor from a church in town if he’d like to minister for me. He said, “yes” and asked what I wanted him to speak about. I told him "just present a simple Gospel message that points the kids toward Jesus.”

So, it’s the first night of the camp. We cooked out hotdogs over the fire, we did some up-front games, we had some really good worship with the band- and then this youth pastor got up to speak. Now, at that time, I didn’t understand a lot of portuguese but I could understand him enough to know that what he was talking about wasn't the Gospel.   

I was sitting there trying to understand him the best I could and I was getting more frustrated with each passing minute. I wanted to hurt somebody! He was talking to them about drugs and school and, get this- obeying your parents! What!? Obeying your parents? Dude, these are orphans you dummy! They don’t have parents.

And it happened again at another camp a few months later. I asked this guy who’s kind of like an evangelist (I thought) to speak for us at a camp we were doing for a group of people from the community (that didn't go to church) that we were trying to reach with the Gospel. He got up, had them laughing and engaged but his whole point was that they needed to be better spouses, better parents and… you get the point, right?

Doesn't anyone know what the Gospel is? It’s not moral conformity. It’s not trying to be a better you! Actually, that’s the whole point of the Gospel. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you do/don’t do certain things- you'll never be good enough for a Holy God.

That’s what makes the Gospel so amazing. He chooses us in spite of us and it’s Jesus who makes us right with God. And it’s the Gospel that keeps us right with God. It all depends on Jesus and the work He did on the cross. It’s not about us and our good works (which will always accompany true conversion) it’s about trusting in the substitutionary sacrifice that Jesus made for us and our sins. That’s the good news of the Gospel: )

Anyway, needless to say, I’m a little bit fired-up about this subject right now. It’s even caused me to take a hard look at my own life. Because even though we’re missionaries in another country, and even though we’re pastoring a growing church- the question still remains, “are we proclaiming the Gospel and are we actually making disciples?” 

Because if the proclamation of the Gospel to all nations is the only thing holding back the return of Jesus- then, as a follower of Jesus, am I doing my part to make that happen? Am I staying focused on the assignment given by Jesus to all of us who are followers of Him? 

And are we doing the best we can to make sure that the Gospel is being proclaimed to all nations (wether it’s praying/sending/supporting/equipping/going) so that everyone has an opportunity to hear the good news of the Gospel? Or are we just having church and thinking about the people who’re in my particular group and that’s it? It’s definitely something to think about: )

Love Ya,

Jim