Races & Teams

The other day was too hot to go outside so we stayed in and watched TV. But the only thing worth watching was the Tour de France. You know, the Super Bowl of professional bicycle racing that a guy named Lance something or other won a bunch of times? 

While I do admit that it is pretty fascinating to watch the brightly colored clump of riders turn into a long ribbon of rainbow as they pass through narrow streets and around tight curves only to bunch back up again once the obstacle is passed; I have never had any particular interest in watching the race beyond the highlights shown in the evening news.

So, needless to say I knew next to nothing about the race. I mean what’s there to know? A bunch of insanely well conditioned athletes don eye searingly bright skin suits and helmets to take a bike ride through the French countryside as fast as they can. The one to reach the predetermined finish line is the winner, right? Wrong.

Out of curiosity, Randall went online to look up information about the race. After all such knowledge might give one an edge in the next game of Trivial Pursuit or home Jeopardy. Anyway what he found was a real eye opener.

Did you know that even though everyone racing in the Tour de France are exceptional world-class athletes, not everyone in the race is there to win the race for themselves? It’s true. Every cyclist rides in a carefully selected team. One person from that team is selected to try to win. So, what do the other people on the team do? That’s where it gets really interesting.

Danger increases substantially the further back in the pack a “Rider” is, so the team protects their “Rider” by creating a wall around him so that he will not be wrecked by other riders or passing traffic. The team also forms a wedge to push to the front of the pack in order to place him into the best position to win. Another thing they do is allow him to “draft” off of them, this helps him to conserve energy until time for the final push. Then they open a way for the “Rider” to push through and drive for the lead. Without his team to support him the “Rider” would have no chance of crossing the finish line. So even though it is the individual “Rider” in the spotlight, it is actually his whole team that wins.

Of course there are many other aspects of the Race that you can look up but I got to thinking about this one. 

Each and everyone of you are on our team. Your prayers help to protect us. Your financial support helps to move us forward so that we are in the best possible position to join the team in Brazil and then to push on to accomplish the work of the Lord. Your encouraging words help to strengthen us en we feel like giving up. We could never do this without you. Thank you so much for selecting us to be your “Riders”. When the race is done we will all share in the victory together.

Returning to Brazil, thoughts on Leaving - by Paula

Well the container is loaded and on its way to the port. Our suitcases are mostly packed, just a few let over odds and ends that need to be stuffed in somewhere or left behind. It's a weird feeling saying good bye to everything I've ever known. 

We have waited over six years for this day. Worked toward it,  sweated over it, wondered if it would ever come and now it's here. Where did the time go? I'm not sure I'm ready for this and yet I've been ready for years.

I know I'm not the only one to ever leave my home country to live in another country but I never realized it'd be so hard. We all have seen pictures and read stories of immigrants, I even know several expats myself. This is something no one ever talks much about.

I could leave easier in the winter I think because I don't enjoy the cold weather much after December. Maybe. But I find myself getting sentimental about every little thing. How sunlight gives off tiny rainbow flashes when it touches the dew laden grass or the joyful chorus of birds as they give thanks for another day. It's like I'll never see or hear these things again, each moment is precious and I try to lock them in my memory forever. 

Yet I know that the country that will be my new home is incredibly beautiful. I've been there and fallen in love with it. There will be new sights to see and new birds to listen to. Winters are not as harsh there and I have important work to do there. I'm excited and scared. What if I can't learn the language? What if people don't like me? What if I become wildly successful in the work I am called to do? What if...a gazillion other what ifs swirl around in my head. The unknown can be so intimidating. 

I don't want to make mistakes, even though I know I will. Somehow, making mistake in my own culture seems less awful than making mistakes in a culture that I don't know. I guess because in  my home culture I can figure out how to make amends but in another culture I may end up making things worse just out of pure ignorance. If I was a child it would be easier because people cut children some slack. They're expected to make mistakes but adults aren't given that grace. We're expected to know how to act and what to say even when we don't. 

But the really hard part is saying good bye to the people who are a part of my life. I said goodbye to my best friend and her family. We almost teared up but managed to put on brave smiles for each other. Then I said good bye to my only son. He's grown now but my mind went back to his first day of kindergarten when he looked up at me with his big blue eyes and asked in all seriousness," Mommy, who'll take care of you while I'm gone?" Geez, I managed not to cry when we parted ways but now I can't stop the tears and I still have to say good bye to my daughter and parents.

I'll be glad when we're finally on the plane and flying over the Amazon. Then I can stop saying good bye and start saying hello to new friends and my new life.

Root Bound

-Paula

I’ve been helping my friend with a landscaping project this week. This has been a bit more involved than just putting in a few flowers here and there around the yard. We actually removed four large shrubs of unknown variety and replaced them with azaleas, gardenia and some perennial flowers. We also created two new flower beds as well as planted her herb garden. So we’ve been busy. 

Of course, all of this activity necessitated a few trips to the local garden center, to pick out plants. We took our time, carefully choosing the healthiest looking  plants with just the right color. After all, we wanted the newly landscaped yard to look amazing. Once our choices were made we could hardly wait to get the plants home and put into the ground.

I won’t go into detail about preparing the flowerbeds at this time but suffice it to say that my friend’s yard is a potter’s dream. Once the holes were dug we began to carefully slide the precious plants out of their plastic pots. And that’s when we saw the roots. Some of the roots were loose and easily arranged in the hole. These plants took right off and began growing, with no visible sign of distress.

But other plant’s roots were tightly twisted in upon themselves and impossibly bound in a knot that refused to come loose. Even though we wanted to disturb the roots as little as possible, we had to pull these roots apart in order to give the plants a chance to live. This made me think.

God takes His time carefully choosing us for His purposes. He lovingly prepares a place for us to serve Him. I imagine the joy it gives Him thinking of how beautiful our lives will be once He places us in the spot He has chosen for us. Some people slip right into the “ground” with no problem and thrive.

Others however only look good on the surface. But when God tries to move them to the place He wants them to be, He finds that they cling so stubbornly to the way things have always been that He has to forcibly pry them out of their pew. Then instead of thriving they hang their heads, complain and refuse to grow. Some even shrivel up and die. 

I don’t want to be like that. I want to be like the mint we pulled up and threw on the compost heap…it’s already starting to grow a new patch.

We’re going? … We’re GOING!!!!

While chasing a dream, have you ever settled for less? Have you ever second-guessed your goals? I am reminded of a scene from “Sahara” where the hero, Dirk Pitt and his sidekick, Al Giordino are riding camels through the desert...

Al: Well, we're in the desert, looking for the source of a river pollutant, using as our map a cave drawing of a Civil War gunship, which is also in the desert. So I was just wondering when we're gonna have to sit down and re-evaluate our decision-making paradigm?
Dirk: [coming up on the fortress seen in the cave painting] I don't know - it seems to be working so far. 

Some of the best advice I’ve ever received concerning our pursuit of mission work, is to “Hold it loosely,…” meaning we ought to be flexible in what we perceive our calling is, in respect to what God may ultimately be calling us to do. 

Most recently, as the approval for our visa’s dragged on and on, Paula and I believed our vision of serving in Brazil was fading. After five months volunteering at the JAARS Center in North Carolina, we had all but resigned ourselves to the idea that maybe we were actually called to work here. I literally prayed one day.. “Lord, if THIS is where you want us to be, I will accept that and only ask that you open the doors to make it possible.” Within a week of praying that prayer, Paula and I received word that our visas to Brazil were approved and in trusted hands (my parent’s). 

Repeatedly I am reminded that while God wants each of us to enthusiastically join in His work, He is more desirous that we chase after HIM enthusiastically. Even though the work is important, it is secondary to our worship of Him.

Are you chasing His work? or are you chasing HIM?

God’s Lesson Notes:

Student: Randall York
Subject: Trusting Me
Current Grade: C




Randall is an excellent student. Even though we are less than half-way through his life lesson of "Trusting Me," he has shown some remarkable strengths and made progress far beyond many of his contemporaries, and yet he seems to revert to old patterns of self-reliance and doubt near the conclusion of each lesson.

Undoubtedly, this is one of the most demanding subjects I offer. By it's very nature each lesson pushes and stretches the student to limits they’ve not experienced and it may be the reason many students just stop attending the course. I have to note that those who continue in the study often excel to the bewilderment of those around them. My objective here has been recorded in James, Chapter 1 verse 12: Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Randall shows good promise at the beginning of each lesson, he communicates his situation with me and his brothers and sisters, he readily confesses and believes I will remedy the issue and he continues on in his work. Part of the lesson is simply allowing the situation to continue, not worsening or bettering, in order to examine how the heart of the student changes. While externally, Randall works to maintain a positive outlook and professes continued belief in my care; internally I see a veil slowly clouding his belief. He tends to react similarly as our disciple Peter did after he stepped out of the boat to meet us on the Sea of Galilee. (Matt 14:25-31)

I know that I am the reason for their thinking pattern. After all, I am the one who granted free will and choice to mankind. Ultimately, everyone will know that all I desired for them was a good life (Matt 7:9-11), and all I desired FROM them is worship and praise (Mark 12:30). I will not demand it, for a freely given offering is purer than gold refined in fire.

I will continue to refine Randall, for I have plans for him to use all I have given him in the furtherance of my kingdom. I will bless him as long as he follows my leading in his life (Jer 29:11) He just needs to know that it is always for his benefit that he should stand strong during these times (James 1:2-4)

Randall is passing the course right now, but he has the capability to excel at it. After all, my promise is right there in Matthew 6:25- 34 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

A Simple Necessity

(Paula)
I just realized this weekend; as I sat in my yard, behind several tables of my worldly possessions hoping someone would come and take it all away, that having yard sales is a Biblical principle. In the New Testament it tells how first century Christians sold their possessions and gave to the poor and the Church. Even today the occasional story of some radical young Christian getting rid of everything they own is told to the astonishment and head shaking of more seasoned believers. I mean, you have to be really super spiritual or nuts to feel called to do something like that. Right? It's hard to wrap your mind around the thought of anyone doing such a thing, isn't it?

I'll admit I'd probably be right beside the "Rich Young Man" who couldn't part with his stuff when Jesus told him to give it all away and follow Him. It's hard to go through the things that I've accumulated over the years. A lot of my stuff has sentimental value to me. So I can relate to the guy. Often in sermons the poor fellow is condemned for his unwillingness to obey and love of worldly pleasures and possessions. He's made out to be a terrible wicked evil person. After all, this was JESUS, God of the Universe Incarnate Himself talking to him. Duh, no-brainer. Right? I don't think so. How many times have we heard a word from God and not been willing to do what He told us to do? But even though the young man failed miserably that day because he wasn't at a point in his life where he could recognize God's voice, I'd like to think that maybe later in his life he sought forgiveness and was able to obey that command. It gives me hope.

Back onto the subject: There I was this weekend smiling and telling people as they asked for my prices that the way my yard sale worked was that if they wanted it, to take it and if they felt like leaving a donation of any amount, I'd appreciate it but they really didn't have to, just please take the item. The reactions varied from skepticism, laughter and amazement to one guy actually becoming disgusted and angry that I wasn't demanding a price. Come to think about it, there's some correlation to how people react to the gift of salvation in that. Hmmm.

Once I got the stuff out of the house and into the yard, I no longer cared about it as much and it was rather liberating and fun to get rid of it. And that's when it struck me; those early Christians were just average people like me holding big yard sales. Man, I would have loved to have gone to their yard sales. (Can you imagine how valuable their junk would be now? What deals! But I digress.) They were getting rid of their junk so that they could be freed up to do what the Lord wanted them to do. I'm trying to get rid of stuff because I don't need the baggage to do what the Lord wants me to do in Brazil. Giving away or selling your possessions is not as super spiritual as it sounds, it's just a simple necessity. Who knew that Christians are called to hold amazing yard sales?

Movin' Right Along...

Well it's hard to believe that we've been back from Brazil for almost a month already. Notice that I didn't say we'd been home that long because we haven't. It's been a whirlwind. We'd only been home a week and a half before it was up to Toledo for our church conference. It was good to make new friends and touch base with old ones as well as putting faces to some of the names I've heard over the years. But the really exciting thing was being notified that two slots had opened up for the Tropical Agriculture Class at ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) in Fort Myer, FL the next week.

Those of you on our regular mailing list will remember that we had wanted to go to this training course and that the Lord had marvelously provided the means for us to go but that the May class was already full when we went to register for it and we had to be put on a waiting list. Well, as soon as we got home from Toledo, it was pack the bags and hit the road again. Isn't it funny how it sometimes seems like God isn't doing anything with you for so long that it just about drives you crazy and the next thing you know, you're running your legs off trying to catch up with everything He's doing?

So I can hear you asking, "What is ECHO?" and "What was it like?" Echo is a Christian organization whose mission is to teach missionaries and other overseas aid workers how to fight global hunger by showing them how to help improve local farming practices by using readily available resources. They also run a World Seedbank. Check out their website or better yet if you find yourself in Florida go for a tour. (http://www.echonet.org)

It was way cool. They had set up several areas to simulate various tropical farming conditions: Arid, semi-arid, etc; they had even built a "mountain" to demonstrate temperate zone farming. It was all very beautiful and all of the plants were edible or otherwise useful. I think one of the most interesting set-ups was the "Urban Area". There they demonstrated how to do roof top gardening using recycled tires, pop cans, old carpet and packing peanuts just to list a few of the more unexpected gardening materials utilized. There were even a couple trees growing in tires there! The only soil used was what was on the plant's root ball when they transplanted it. It just blew my mind that plants could thrive without dirt.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the way the instructors never made a distinction between teaching about agriculture and sharing God's Word. One instructor likened composting to when a person is saved; both processes regenerates "waste" in order to bring about new life. I had never thought about agriculture as a way to illustrate God's Truth before. How awesome is that?

Appropriate Technologies was a fun exploration of ways to use what you have to make the things you need. This was recycling to the nth degree. Did you know you can actually run power tools with a bicycle or purify water with sunlight or sand? We learned to make an oven with a cardboard box and foam rubber!
By the time the course was over I couldn't wait to come back home and start trying out some of the techniques I had learned.

We can see how much of what we learned is applicable to use on the field, but are not quite sure yet what we will implement in our work at Belo Horizonte or in the Amazon. We are praying for clarity.

The need now is to prepare for our return. We must decide what we'll keep/take, keep/store and how to get rid of the rest. Our house needs a new owner, shipping needs arranged and a multitude of other concerns. Pray that we stay focused and pressing forward!