"Come over"..."and help us."

I am sitting in my office, late on a Tuesday, working on paperwork as my mind wanders to Trujillo, Peru.

Nearly nine years ago, I had my first mission experience. I was invited by a Christian woman, a nurse, to join her on a trip to northern coastal Peru, for a short-term medical mission trip. Short-term trip, with long-term changes for my life.

The trip was in support of two men, Juan and Carlos Angulo, brothers. They each pastored their own churches, and these small churches each supported even smaller mission churches. Carlos had been working on an orphanage and school on a small plot of land in a squatter neighborhood outside Trujillo, and our medical and dental team was to be the Grand Opening.

Well, I'm on my way back. Wendi and I are planning to join MacMed on a medical mission trip to Trujillo.

"God helps those...

...who help themselves." We've all heard that Bible verse, right?

Well, it may surprise some of us to learn that this common saying is not from the Bible. In a quick Google search, I see one source saying that it is a quote from Benjamin Franklin. I like this page best, where we learn that the saying is from Hezekiah 6:1 - quick, look that up in your Bible. Oh, yeah; there is no book of Hezekiah. ""Yeah! That's from the book of Hezekiah, isn't it?" is the code-word for these kinds of phantom texts."

In fact, I would agree that the saying isn't even Biblical - the Bible teaches that God has a different plan for those who need help.

As the women prepare to return home, I'm wondering how Wendi will have been changed by the experience. Mission work certainly changed my life in many ongoing ways. And after each of my trips, I remember a certain amount of frustration and sense of futility after returning to my country after such a short time working in Latin America. Who will help these people now?

Isaiah 25:4 says of God:

"You have been a place of safety for the poor and needy in times of trouble."
- Contemporary English Version

So, the Bible tells us that God helps those who need Him, those who are weak and can't help themselves.

And, we learn more about those who need help from the acts of the new church, in Acts 4:33-35:

"In a powerful way the apostles told everyone that the Lord Jesus was now alive. God greatly blessed his followers, and no one went in need of anything. Everyone who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles. Then they would give the money to anyone who needed it."
- Contemporary English Version

So, in this we see that first God helped us - "God blessed his followers". And then, we see that the early church members helped each other.

This is made even more clear in Galatians 6:2:

"You obey the law of Christ when you offer each other a helping hand."
- Contemporary English Version

This is one of the guiding principles for a movement called Medi-Share. These believers have put this into practice by sharing each other's burdens for the increasingly onerous costs of medical care, a concept that I see lived out each day in my work. But, that's an entry for another blog...

Lord, thank you for the opportunity to know compassion, to care for one another. We know that You care for us, even though we are sure we don't deserve the attention of the God of the universe. Thank you for the success of this trip done in Your name, for the transformation that you have started and continue in the Women of Purpose, in the workers from World Concern, and for those who the team has encountered in Bolivia. And, Lord, help each of us to keep a soft heart toward those around us in need, that we may do Your work each day, that we may know that "mission" includes our families, our congregation, our neighbors.

Amen

Hope...

As Phill and I heard from Karen and Wendi last night, it sounded as though the team was busy and productive. But, each of them spoke about the work being sad, about the difficult struggle of the women and families they were meeting. While we didn't have time to discuss this further, it sounded as though the work was vital, to encourage these women and families, to experience the hope that comes from Christ.

The trip was planned as a way to assist with the "village banking" microfinance program. As the team packed up last week, they took some toys for the children, some Bibles for the women, but, clearly, the real product that is being delivered is HOPE. It is hope that traveled so far, packed not in the luggage but in the hearts of the team members. And it is hope that comes from faith in our Lord that has the ability to transform lives.

Proverbs 15:28 says:

"The heart of the righteous studies to answer..."
- New King James version

And Peter tells us:

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

- New International Version

Lord, we know that You are the source of all things that are good. And we take hope from knowing You, and from the promises You have given us in Your word. I pray for that hope to be vibrant and bright, such that I cannot hide it, and such that others will want to know You because of that hope they see in me. Be with the Women, who are weary and tired, so that Your hope will sustain and nourish them in Your work.

Amen

Thinking Back

As I read the “Our Daily Bread” for May 5th, I wonder when the women were just starting to meet did they think of Isaiah 6:8

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”

And then we read Isaiah’s ready response: “Here am I! Send me”

We have heard from the women that the people of Bolivia do not have much. It appears they lack hope and joy. Through their actions and words, I pray that the women are able to convey the Love of Christ to these folks in Bolivia. Hopeful these Bolivians will hear and understand the joy of Christ that is told to us by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:10

As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Long Day...

It's been a long day, back here at home.

And I wonder how the Women of Purpose are doing today. Was it a long day? How was the work? Who did God place in their path?

I recall some of the people I've met, especially during my trips to Peru and Honduras. The people that were most memorable were the children. I remember the beggar children on the streets of Lima, selling candy, or just wanting payment for a smile as I took a photograph. I remember the shy girl who was alone at the school we worked at in the shanty suburbs of Trujillo. I remember the little boy, with the plastic bag full of Inca Cola in the dirt town of Chao, Peru.

Mostly, though, I remember two boys in a school on the far side of La Isla de Tigre. (My thanks to "the tiny american" for the photos. And, I found this nice travel story at: http://www.marrder.com/htw/aug96/travel.htm) Tiger Island is off the Pacific coast of Honduras. We had traveled there in the days following Hurricane Mitch, 1998, a medical mission team of five, working with World Vision. The mountainside near our makeshift clinic had been washed away, in big ribbons of brown that looked like the work of bulldozers. We were meeting many people who had been touched by the hurricane, losing family, friends and possessions. It was a typical clinic setting for us, as we traveled from village to village. We were in a small, dark, concrete room, hot with sweat, serving as best we could. As usual, little kids pushed up against the windows to peer inside, to get a look at "the blue-eyed doctor". (For those who know me, you know I have brown eyes, but as a white guy from EEUU, I had earned this nickname.)

As I worked, I looked over to see Steve, our interpreter, kneeling with a couple of boys, about ten years old. (Steve is a great servant of our Lord, working as a full-time missionary in Mexico. He grew up in Poulsbo. His ministry blog is found here: www.thesilbermans.blogspot.com) Steve was listening intently to a small voice. And, then, above the noise of the room, I heard Steve say, "Jesus, ayuda me." - "Jesus, help me." He was praying with these young boys.

It was later that Steve told me the rest of the story. These boys were afraid to go to sleep. They heard the rumbling of the mountainside falling down toward the sea. And, they were afraid that if they went to sleep, it would happen again.

Steve, with the compassion put in his heart by our Lord, shared a quiet prayer with these young boys. It was worth the whole trip to have done only this.

The work of the Women of Purpose is aimed at strengthening families, and helping mothers protect their children from th evil one. I know this compassion comes from Him...

Matthew 18

The Greatest in the Kingdom

1 About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2 Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. 3 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

5 “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf[a] is welcoming me. 6 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. ...

10 ... “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.

- New Living Translation

Lord, I thank you for the compassion that you have impressed upon the hearts of this team, for the children of Bolivia. Be with the Women of Purpose as they encounter your little ones, that they will see You in them.

Amen

Thinking of You

As I look over the women’s agenda for today, I wonder what they were thinking. Were they concerned that 8:00 a.m. was too early or too late to start the day? Did they wonder what they should read in their personal devotion, or did they wonder how God would use them today for His Glory? Did they go swimming?

I can not wait to hear all the stories that Karen will tell me, especially how God used them to help others. For me, I helped Brad move today and I worked…or I should say…Sparkie (Karen’s dog) and I worked on Karen’s car. Sparkie and I are doing a lot of thing together since Karen left.

Preparation...

As I read through the mission trip agenda for the next day or two, the theme appears to be ongoing preparation. The team has been preparing for some weeks; there were meetings to get to know one another and work on the message and drama for the women's retreat they will be putting on later in the week; there has been ongoing devotional and bible studies. And, of course, the work that has gone into fundraising to support the trip and the microloans

There is much to reflect upon the teachings of the Bible about preparation. I'm reminded of Noah, and his tireless work to prepare for the flood. And, of course, there is the work of John the Baptist, who was to prepare the way for the Lord. But, I'm thinking today about the preparation of the woman at Jesus's feet, with the bottle of perfume.

In the story related in John 12:1-8, we learn about the act of Mary, Lazarus's sister, kneeling at the Lord's feet,

..."Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance."

- New Living Translation

In the book "Jesus: A Novel" by Walter Wangerin, here, the author writes about this incident from the perspective of the thoughts of those around Jesus. (I have highly enjoyed both "The Book of God" and "Jesus", which present these stories in the form of a novel, giving us the author's insights about what those around the stories we've read so many times might have been experiencing.) Mary was criticized for "wasting" this expensive bottle of perfume, but she knew that there was nothing more valuable than the service of the Lord. There was no need to "save" this worldly possession; it could come to no greater purpose than to anoint the feet of the Lord.

Jesus provides an explanation for this act: Mary, unkowningly, is preparing Jesus's body, as was done for burial. She was anointing him with oil, in preparation for his coming death. She was part of His work on earth.

Lord, let me be ready to meet you, just Mary was ready. Let me spare nothing to serve you. Be with the Women of Purpose as they prepare to do Your work this week.