Facing the Giants

"We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there." But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it."

Numbers 13:32-33

Difficulties in our lives are allowed by God. What we do in response will either make us give up and turn away from Him, or draw us to Him into closer fellowship, drawing strength from Him to get through those difficulties.

On this note, I would like to recommend this movie "Facing the Giants." It is a wholly Christian-produced film with overtly Christian content. Unfortunately, it's not playing in any theaters in all of New England, but for my readers elsewhere, if you can find a theater playing this movie, by all means go see it!

Mexico: Part 11

Half a year since going to Mexico, and I'm not quite done with the account!

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Friday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day)

Another perfectly beautiful day. We were scheduled to travel to Lagos de Moreno and enjoy the day at a swim park, so Marshall and I had to get to the Landrums' house promptly today. Despite Nancy's gracious offering to cook us a hot breakfast, we had to bow out and opt for cold cereal. I felt bad having to turn down her offer, but if we didn't we would be late!

Nancy said she would do what Josue did Tuesday——skip work and join us at the swim park. I thought she was joking, especially if she meant to arrive late to work and would be locked out! Josue got permission to skip school today and all three of us took la oruga again to the Landrums'. Marshall and I insisted on paying Josue's fare, since earlier in the week he paid ours.
When we turned down the Landrums' street, we saw some well-equipped police searching a man and his car. I have no idea what the situation was, but, well, take a look at the picture (sorry for the purple haze—a minor problem with the camera).In addition to all us gringos at the their house, there were also Oscar and Alberto, and from Ken's host family Alejandra (mother) and her boys Alejandro (11) and Fernando (7). She had driven Ken, Ryan, and Willie over.

Scott produced a huge sombrero which he had bought at some point, and we all got some laughs out of it, especially when Marshall put the hat on Fernandito, who was clearly dwarfed by it!

While we were waiting for a few of the others to arrive, I got to play a Mexican guitar duet with Alberto. That was very much fun.

Once everyone had arrived, Craig announced that we could drive to Lagos instead of taking a bus, since enough people had cars. I went with Marshall, Scott, Ryan, and Josue in Oscar's van.

Mexican countryside

Admission to the water park was only 40 pesos, about 4 dollars. The grounds were well-kept and the flora tropical. We had our team time there under a thatched pavilion, and again sang some songs in English and Spanish. The few Mexicans with us wanted to hear us sing Maravillas in English, which we were happy to do.

I don't remember what the devotional was.

After team time, some believers from Lagos de Moreno showed up, among whom was Memo, a young man who had attended Emmaus Bible College, and knew several of the American students.

Meanwhile, I was in the pool with Alberto, Josue, Willie, Emily, Amy, and Ryan, playing two-team keep-away with a frisbee.

There were two of water slides in this park as well, which were fun. Actually only the one was fun, because the other was too shallow and slow. The small pool at the ends of these slides was as warm as a bath, since it was fed by hot springs!

Just on a side note, it was interesting that immodesty in public swimming situations is not as much a problem in Mexico as in the U.S. Many men and women were wearing shirts and shorts, which I was grateful to see.

In the early afternoon, several people from the East Leon church showed up with a lot of food for lunch. Among those were Nancy, who, true to her word, had taken off from work, and Edit with her two children (Edit and her husband Beto were hosting Amy and Emily for the week).

Eventually it came time to change and pack up and leave. I rode in Oscar's van again, and I don't remember who all else, but I remember Ryan was taking a nap on the floor of the van as we arrived at the Landrums' house.

Ken took a picture of the mesa on the way back

While still at the Landrums' we saw several of the host families again as they were saying goodbye to the students. Luis and Yola left us his e-mail address so we could sent him information on origami. Alberto also left us a business card with his e-mail address on it.
There were many tearful hugs as everyone said goodbye.

Edit, Beto, daughter, and son Betito (little Beto) with Amy and Emily on the last evening

I remember very well when Oscar said to me and Ken, "No me olvides," "Don't forget me." How could we ever forget Oscar, Alberto, Fernando, our beloved hosts and all the brothers and sisters we met in Mexico!

The flight for all the Emmaus students was to leave the next morning very early, so they were all going to sleep at the Landrum's house that night, while Ken and I would go back to Nancy and Cuco's, since our flight was to leave a little later.

It was sad to be leaving everybody, knowing this might very well be the last time I would ever see them this side of heaven, for in a week we had gone from not knowing a thing about each other, to working together and knowing each other fairly well. What a comfort it is to know that we have that Eternal Hope of salvation in common and the promise we shall all be in the presence of the Lord someday. And certainly since God has given us this love for one another here on earth, we shall also enjoy one another in the ages to come.

As we left we said hasta luego (see you later), instead of adios!

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It was so late that the buses weren't running, so Josue hailed a taxi, and he, Ken and I got to his house that way. I had told Nancy and Cuco I wanted to take them out to dinner some evening, and it just so happened that this night worked. While we were getting ready to go, Nancy was talking on the phone with her brother Miguel, and she invited him and his family along! He was going to drive over in his little Jeep Liberty or something and pick us all up. In true Mexican style, Josue and his dad squeezed into the rear cargo area while Ken, Nancy, and I sat in the back seat, with Miguel's wife in the front holding their toddler son. Thus we drove to their favorite taco place for supper (of course it was about 9:00 at night).

The restaurant, like so many, was on a small, gravel lot, covered by a large tent like we might use in the U.S. for outdoor event or "tent revival" meeting. It was about 20 x 40 feet. The furnishings were plastic tables and chairs. There were only a couple of people there, and the atmosphere wasn't really like Tacos Don Luis, but the food was just as good! Miguel knew some English, andproceededd to tell us a joke, first in Spanish, then in English, just to make sure we got it:

A Mexican, a Guatemalan, and a Honduran were all traveling towards the border in a Ford Explorer. Who was driving?

Miguel explained that a Mexican who heard the joke would pridefully expect the Mexican to be driving, the Guatamalan would expect a Guatamalan driver, etc. But who was driving? The American border patrol officer! (i.e. to deport them. ...Or so we Americans hope!)

When dinner was over, I offered to pay for everyone, but because of Miguel's insistence, he and I ended up splitting the cost.

We drove back to the house, and thanked Miguel and his family for coming (and for driving) and said goodbye. Then we got ready for bed and the next day's trip home.

The Ministry of the Interior

There is one day's entry in Oswald Chambers' book My Utmost for His Highest that has been especially meaningful to me that I would like to share with you.


June 21st
THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR

But ye are... a royal priesthood." 1 Peter 2:9

By what right do we become "a royal priesthood"? By the right of the Atonement. Are we prepared to leave ourselves resolutely alone and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual grubbing on the inside to see whether we are what we ought to be generates a self-centred, morbid type of Christianity, not the robust, simple life of the child of God. Until we get into a right relationship to God, it is a case for hanging on by the skin of our teeth, and we say, "What a wonderful victory I have got!" There is nothing indicative of the miracle of Redemption in that. Launch out in reckless belief that the Redemption is complete, and then bother no more about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ said—pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints, pray for all men. Pray on the realization that you are only perfect in Christ Jesus, not on his plea—"O Lord, I have done my best, please hear me."

How long is it going to take God to free us from the morbid habit of thinking about ourselves? We must get sick unto death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God can tell us about ourselves. We cannot touch the depths of meanness in ourselves. There is only one place where we are right, and that is in Christ Jesus. When we are there, then we have to pour out for all we are worth in this ministry of the interior.

Review of a Favorite Book: Preparing Sons

I recently finished reading an EXCELLENT book by Steven Maxwell: Preparing Sons to Provide for a Single-Income Family. We were blessed to have the Maxwells visit the TEACH homeschooling convention in Connecticut this past June, and I purchased this book at their booth.

Especially written to fathers, this book provides a practical overview of implementing Biblical, principles in training sons. As I read this book, I could identify things in my own life that ideally would have been trained out of me at a young age, and I must say this book not only concerns itself with the training of sons to provide for a single-income family, but training them for life itself!

I strongly recommend this book to every Christian father of sons!

(On a side note, I must say I hold nothing against my parents at all for the way they raised me. God rescued them from some depressing family behavior patterns that they grew up with in unsaved and broken families. By His grace, I was raised according to the light and wisdom given to them. Now I have a charge entrusted to me to raise my children even better. My parents grew up with no personal knowledge of God. As they were raising me and my brother, they were learning more and more about the Lord and His Word, and they taught these things to us. Whenever Ken and I may start families in the future, we are starting from a point with more understanding of the Lord than our parents did, so we can pour this into the next generation, and even more as we learn more about the Lord. Each generation ought to become more godly with the Lord's help!)

Earning Potential
In this book, Mr. Maxwell first discusses typical factors that affect a son's earning potential—vocation, education, and skill level—but introduces the idea that there are more foundational preparations to be made. He provides some alternative factors: view of work, character, eagerness to learn, God's blessing, and God's discipline. Each of these are illustrated with real-life examples, to bring the ideas down to earth.

Next, he discusses things that affect what determines "making ends meet":

• Living according to needs
  versus wants; you can't live a life of luxury on a small income.
• Size of family and residence location
  Some states have higher costs of living than others, and that cost is also affected by the number of blessings from the Lord you receive!
• Character
  Laziness, faintheartedness, procrastination, faithlessness, and impatience will all negatively affect spending habits.
• Bad appetites
  May be as simple as a hobby that takes too much time or money, or something like alcohol. More on this later.
• God's hand of discipline
  For example, extra expenses may increase because he may not be giving money to the Lord's work.
• Spouse
  Not to put undue blame on the wife, but if the wife has shortcomings of desiring to spend too much money, it will hamper their ability to make ends meet.

Parents must influence these things long before they become problems in their son's life.

Parental Influence
Mr. Maxwell delves deeper into the parents', and especially the father's, responsibility with the three pillars of training sons: the father's training, example, and prayer. As fathers know better than I, sons will imitate their fathers (that reminds me of this cute post). That's why it's important to watch your own behavior for anything that could negatively impact your children. I am very encouraged also by the repetitive emphasis Mr. Maxwell places on prayer. It is the most effective tool in bringing up godly sons.

Some necessary foundations are then enumerated, first of all, salvation. There is little to be gained in training a son to provide effectively for his family if he loses his own soul (like Matthew 16:26). Secondly, a personal quiet time with the Lord every day is essential. How else but through study of the Bible and prayer will the son ever know what is God's will for his life? And Jesus said "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:31). Further, Mr. Maxwell points out the greatest hindrance to a quality, daily quiet time is pride. He also stresses the importance of memorizing and meditating on scripture, making it your delight all the day long. Such treasures in the Word can be so discovered!

He then goes on to talk in more detail about the practicalities and impact of proper stewardship, godly character, and a son's view of work.

Appetites
Next, the convicting chapter "Appetites." The first heading within the chapter is "What could be wrong with that?" A challenging question, indeed. This will make any father find something that he could change about his life so as not to negatively influence his son, as well as a keener sense of how innocent-looking activities can be a detriment to a godly son. This is not done in a legalistic way, however, and it is so refreshing! Always the emphasis is on seeking God's direction so as to be pleasing and glorifying to Him, with the goal that your son will do the same.

Some issues addressed in a non-legalistic and loving way are entertainment and recreation, movies and TV, watching sports and playing organized sports, hunting and fishing, recreational vehicles, eating, and any sin. Many of these "harmless" activities certainly become harmful when too much time or money is invested in them. "There is nothing inherently wrong with these types of outdoor sports—unless they take a dad away from his family. If they do, I think a man would have a hard time justifying such activities Scripturally...However, like anything, seeking the Lord's direction and self-control are necessary" (p.97).

After this list, he presents some postitive examples of appetites: evangelism, seeking a closer walk with the Lord, studying the Bible, serving the needs of others, desire to be a man of God, always pleasing Him.

Practicalities
The next four chapters cover ages 3-6, 7-12, 13-graduation, and post high school, regarding what things would be good to train your sons in and where their attitudes should be in the following areas: spiritual life, serving, work, school, play, computers, character, leadership, gaining useful work experience, higher education. There is so much wisdom in these chapters—not only "know-how" but "do-how," as Mr. Maxwell has sought to implement these same things in his own family, and uses examples from his experience. One thing that amazes me is when their son Joseph was ten, he began learning computer programming! Talk about useful computer time instead of video games...!

All along, he stresses the importance of prayer and seeking God's leading in your sons' lives. You really have to read this book!

The final chapter gives final encouragement to the parents who can't train sons on their own, but only with the help of the Heavenly Father!

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It was a wonderful, inspiring read for me, looking forward to someday when God may bless me with sons, but there also are some things I know I want to work on in my life, with God's power, that I may be a more prepared father in the future.

I encourage the parents of every boy to get this book!

Mexico: Part 10

Thursday, March 16

Today on our agenda was going to the capital of the state, Guanajuato, Guanajuato (like New York, NY!), which was about an hour's drive to the east of Leon. Since Nancy had taken us to the Landrums' house yesterday via oruga, we now knew how to get there; so we went alone.

Just before the team time started, Oscar showed up. He was supposed to have come yesterday to help out with the tract distribution, but got the day mixed up, and so here he was! Once he understood he arrived on the wrong day, he decided he could go with us to Guanajuato since he had the day free anyway.

I fail to remember who brought the devotional today. Perhaps it was Marshall. Oscar understood English fairly well, so we didn't feel bad about speaking in English the whole time! When it came time for singing, we sang some songs in Spanish and some in English, including Maravillas (God of Wonders), Señor Tu Nombre Exaltaré and it's counterpart Lord I Lift Your Name on High. Then we sang a unique song in 5/4 timing: How Deep the Father's Love for Us. Wonderful, deep words in that hymn!

Ryan, Celina, Emily, Beth, Amy, Willie, me, Marshall, Caleb

Willie said he didn't know most of these modern "praise songs" very well and was happy to hand his twelve-string guitar over to me to accompany the singing, since I had gotten familiar with them while I was in college.

Oscar volunteered to help drive us to Guanajuato, so Amy, Beth, Marshall, Emily, Celina, Scott, and I all traveled with him in his Mercury van. The middle bench seat was taken out so Emily, Celina, and I all sat on the floor. For an hour drive. Mexico is such fun!

Amy, Beth, and Marshall

Some typical scenery outside

First glimpse of Guanajuato nestled in the mountains

The road into the city wound around tightly as we made our way up a mountain where there is a good view of Guanajuato. The government pays the people to paint the houses and buildings vivid colors so they look good for the tourists!

Right next to the lookout was a statue of El Pípila, a historic figure who stormed the fortress in Guanajuato some centuries ago. I didn't learn the story.

We browsed some souvenier shops, and some of the others bought shirts or mugs. Then we took another group photo.

Oscar, Willie, Ken, me, Scott, Emily, Caleb, Ryan, Marshall

Beth, Celina, Amy

While Craig and Oscar parked the cars in a lot, the rest of us walked down from the overlook through narrow alleys and stone steps, finally reaching the streets. They were all cobblestone and only one car-width wide. It's quite an old city, not built for cars. We met up with Craig and Oscar at a tree-covered plaza, where Willie continually distributed tracts.

There we also met Atsushi, a Japanese graduate of Emmaus Bible College and friend of many of the students. He was living in Guanajuato, teaching at the University. Interestingly, his Spanish was better than his English, so he would talk to Craig and Brenda in Spanish. I had learned from Caleb previously that Japanese and Spanish basically have the same pronunciation, so it makes sense that Atsushi could pick up Spanish easier. He took us around showing us some of the sights of the city.

Us at the top steps of the University. Inside an opulently decorated church building.

A pretty veiw outside the church building

Now I must digress a little at this point to fill in some detail from earlier. It may have been a day or two earlier that this was brought up after our team time ended: Ryan and Caleb and Scott mentioned something about a group of men at Emmaus (perhaps that one or more of them are part of) that decided to be gentlemanly—opening doors for ladies, standing when a lady enters the room, pulling out her chair when she sits at the table. We had all affirmed those are good practices, the young ladies said that they appreciate them and that they make them smile, and the young men said as long as they smile when they do such things for them, they will continue to do such things! ;)

Back to the point: as we headed back to the green plaza from our tour, Ryan spotted a little stand selling all kinds of beautiful flowers, and went over to it as we passed by. The rest of us continued on, and he soon he caught up with the group, carrying four red carnations, which he then gave to each of the young ladies. This was another evidence of that "gentlemen's club," and a touching reminder to us all that we appreciate godly young ladies. Caleb made a point of complimenting Ryan for that gesture, and I know the ladies must have all felt special.

Once we got back to the plaza, we met a missionary family based in the city—Joel and Amy Hernandez, and Ivan and Sarah their children. Ivan was attending university and was practicing his very good English with us as we ate lunch (late in the afternoon of course). We were eating in a nice restaurant next to the plaza, where there was a jazz pianist playing lots of American big band/jazz on a keyboard with its accompaniment styles. My brother, Ken, who is a piano tuner, remarked that was the closest he came to seeing a piano all week!

Sadly, Marshall wasn't feeling well in the stomach, and only had a glass of water before heading out to rest on a bench in the plaza.

After lunch we said goodbye to the Hernandezes and Atsushi, and went to the market. The Market was huge—a big building with hundreds of little shops selling shirts, leather products, food, sunglasses... I don't even know what all. Here's a view from the second level:

I was not going to buy anything unless it was useful to me, so as not to waste money. Not far inside the building I saw a shop selling leather belts. I knew I had been in need of one, so I bought a genuine leather belt for about $8.50. Good deal.

As we headed back to the cars, we stoped at the Teatro Cervantes where there was a large statue of Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho.

Beth, me, Amy, Emily, Scott, Caleb offering Don Quixote a tract, Willie

Atsushi and Ryan

Scott
Ryan, Atsushi, and Marshall

Atsushi, Craig, and Brenda

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During the trip back to Leon it got dark (because it was late), and we began to see some thunderstorms.Ooh! I thought excitedly, we finally get to experience some weather other than sun! Ha! The rain lasted a couple of minutes at the most. It was a sprinkling of large raindrops. I guess March isn't the rainy season, right? Anyway, Scott got a couple of good photos of lightning with his camera, so he was happy.

We drove directly to the kinder on the east side of Leon for the Thursday night church meeting. It was pure joy to see the believers once again, assembling in the name of Christ. Normally this mid-week meeting consists of a testimony time, sharing prayer requests, and praying, but since we were there, Craig recommended that six testimonies be shared, alternating Mexican and American, with Craig translating.

Craig joked that they didn't know what to call us. Americanos? No, Mexico is part of North America. (The USA is usually called Estados Unidos in Mexico) Are we estadounidenses? No; technically Mexico is the United States of Mexico (Estados Unidos de Mexico). So what's left? Gringos? That's a derogatory term in the USA, so let's not use that. Now what? Gueros! Yes, let's use that! When Marshall and I were playing dominoes with Nancy and Cuco, I learned that guera is the term for the blank/white tiles. So the Mexicans joked that we should be called the same thing, since we are so light-skinned! It was hilarious!

The testimony from a man named Josue (introduced on Sunday) was especially moving. As he recounted how he came to belive in Christ as his Savior, he could not hold back tears. He came from a violent, alcoholic home, and followed in his parents' footsteps. He became a boxer and a champion in the state, but nothing satisfied him. Finally the gospel was preached to him and the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to the truth and he was saved. He had only been saved about a year and two months at that time, but he obviously loves the Lord and is growing daily, though his parents and siblings are still un saved. Thankfully his wife Lupita is also saved.

That testimony time was such good fellowship, and enabled us to get to know one another a more on a deeper level. We ran out of time for prayer, unfortunately. Afterward I gave Josue a hug and said "Voy a orar por tu familia" (I will pray for your family). With tears still in his eyes he thanked me.

We had some refreshments afterwards—Coke of course—and some more fellowship. Eventually someone got us visitors together for a group photo...which quickly turned into a visitors-and-instant-brothers-and-sisters photo as some dear Mexicans joined us!

Back: Fernando (the guitarist), Ken, Scott, Caleb, Ryan, Marshall, and Josue (who shared his testimony)
Middle: Fernando's sister, Samuel (who preached in the street) holding Betito (whom you will see later), me, Amy, Emily, Beth, Celina, and Alberto
Front: Willie, Josue, and Oscar

There was setting on a table in the room a can for collections to help fund Fernando's trip to Turkey, coming up soon. He was going to visit the Landrums' oldest daughter, Sarah, and her husband Jerry who are missionaries there. He is burdened for the Turks and may become a missionary. I was happy to contribute some to his trip. Fernando also had a handful of leather souvenier bracelets he gave to each of us as a reminder of him and our trip to Mexico. I'm not a bracelet-wearing man, but I couldn't say no. It was a gift from a beloved friend!

When it came time to say good-bye, we knew we would see some people the next day when we would go to Lagos de Moreno to a swim park, but for those we wouldn't see, it was sad. Might we return next year? I don't know, but the common bond in Christ ties our hearts together forever. We shall see each other again some day, even if it's in heaven.