Luke and I think it would be fun to teach our kids a second language early on (i.e. Spanish). The mastery of a second language would open plenty of doors to them in the future. But according to I Love Lucy, we need to have a better grasp of English before we even consider passing on a second language.
Prisoners of Hope
If you know of the blog Heavenward by Scotty Smith, then you know of a treasure.
I only recently found this site and have been greatly refreshed and encouraged by Scotty’s prayers. Take the time to go over and subscribe to his feed.
Here is a prayer of his that I would like to share with you on this Palm Sunday:
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. Zechariah 9:9-12
Dear Lord Jesus, I’ll exhaust the wonder of this passage, as soon as I drink Niagara Falls dry… as soon as I memorize the names of every star you’ve launched into the heavens… as soon as I finish climbing every Alp in Switzerland, Italy, Germany and France. Which means never ever…
On this Palm Sunday morning, once again I’m overwhelmed with your humility… your sovereignty…and your generosity. What other king could conquer war-horses and warriors, riding the foal of a donkey? What other king could break the battle bow and the backbone of all warfare, by the brokenness of the cross? What other king could ever replace all politics of tyranny and power with a dominion and reign of peace… everywhere and forever?
What other king would offer his own life and death for the redemption and restoration of rebels, fools and idolaters, just like me? What other king could possibly make prisoners of sin, death and “waterless pits” into prisoners of hope?
Lord Jesus, these are the most redemptively rhetorical questions I can possibly muster, for they all assume and celebrate that you are that king. There is no other such king. Who is the king of glory? It is you, Lord Jesus, and only you. Who is the king of grace? It is you, Lord Jesus, and only you. Who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords? It is you, Lord Jesus, and only you.
I join my brothers and sisters today in rejoicing greatly, for you have come to us righteous and having salvation. Our hosannas are filled with the sobering and gladdening news of the whole of Holy Week. Lead us each day this week into a more profound surveying of your cross and a much clearer vision of your kingdom.
May your cross and your crown continue to free us from all other imprisonments, that we may live as prisoners of hope and agents of redemption. So very Amen, we pray, in your peerless and priceless name.
Free to serve
To serve is to be free.
Service is unique to God’s image bearers. God has blessed with the common grace of serving and being served. It is a treat to get it and to give it.
One of the greatest joys we have here is a freedom to serve. Since we largely dictate or schedule we are free to choose to drop everything and place others before ourselves.
Today, for instance, was a wonderful opportunity of just that.
Two friends, a couple, came to us teary-eyed this morning. They came to us right in the middle of our study time. The surprise we had at their appearance was small compared to the surprise we felt at their reason for being here. Their employer had received some bad reports about them, that they were leading an immoral life only pretending to be married. We have talked with this couple quite a bit about their marriage since their anniversary is only two days after our own.
The false reports stemmed from the fact that they did not have enough money to purchase wedding rings. Their naked fingers lead to harsh gossip and that poisonous speech reached the ears of their boss. And the demand from the top: prove today that you are married.
The couple, having no gas and in need of traveling about 40 minutes to the municipal building that kept the official documents, turned to us. Fuel is more expensive here in Honduras (just under $4 a gallon) and more importantly, the couple had to get the deed done today. Therefore the bus was an uncertain option.
Our Good Shepherd provided us with another opportunity to shed some of our pride and self-idolatry by leaving off some of our own plans to put this sweet couple first. And we had a blast.
Are you asking God for opportunities to show His greatness by counting others more precious than yourself. Adopt the Christ-like mindset of Philippians 2 and humbly serve others for the greater glory of our Servant Lord.
You are not of the world… therefore the world hates you.
March 8 is not a day that Chris Broadbent will soon forget. The preceding weekend, gendarmes entered the Village of Hope, a Christian-run orphanage in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains where Broadbent, a New Zealand native, worked as a human resources manager, and began questioning children and staff. At first, he and the other foreign workers were assured that the interrogation was routine. But as it dragged on, the questions turned to subjects like ‘How do you pray?’ and the police began searching homes on the compound for children’s Bibles. On Monday morning, after being held in a separate room from the orphanage’s 33 children, Broadbent and his 15 colleagues were summarily deported from Morocco, accused of illegally proselytizing for their faith.
By now, many of you have heard of the deportation of Christian workers from an orphanage in Morocco. You may be interested to know that Time magazine has picked up this story, you can read the rest of the article here.
Please pray for this issue in particular and for the protection of missionary efforts across the world in general (especially in Honduras).
And now for something else completely different
And much better
From Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 4:720
“Just as the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, as carbon is converted into diamond, as the grain of wheat upon dying in the ground produces other grains of wheat, as all of nature revives in the spring and dresses up in celebrative clothing, as the believing community is formed out of Adam’s fallen race, as the resurrection body is raised from the body that is dead and buried in the earth, so too, by the re-creating power of Christ, the new heaven and the new earth will one day emerge from the fire-purged elements of this world, radiant in enduring glory and forever set free from the ‘bondage to decay.’”
And now for something completely different
Well, I’m sure this will be unexpected.
This is a video of Chook, a Lyrebird at the Adelaide Zoo in Southern Australia. Lyrebirds have the uncanny ability to imitate almost any sound they hear. Give it a listen and see if you can guess what Chook has been hearing lately. Let’s just say I’m pretty sure the Zoo has been doing some remodeling recently.
Strangers in the night
Going out to shop is almost always an adventure. Last night was no exception.
A group of Koreans arrived yesterday from New York and Nelly, whom you may remember from our first tortilla lessons, is in charge of having their food prepared for the duration of their trip. Well, the team’s arrival sort of caught Nelly off guard. Which meant that we were taking a trip to the store.
Our chariot was the large, white, 15-passenger Dodge van that Lynn and I sporadically drive. Picture a bleached-out Twinkie on wheels. We shambled our way to the supermercado, got a parking place, and evacuated the vessel. But as I was rounding the South bend of it I noticed the rear of the van was blocking half a lane. So, as Lynn, Nelly and her two kids kept walking, I retook my spot in the driver’s seat and turned the key. To my utter shock, nothing happened.
I quickly had the girls go on ahead and keep shopping. I’d figure something out. My plan… ask for help.
Now let’s speed up the story. I approached one of the parking lot security guards, impressively adorned in full battle regalia, and said, “Disculpe, Señor…” After explaining the situation and asking for jumper cables, he didn’t have any, I wasn’t sure what to do next. I had a mind to go inside and buy some when the guard, whom I now know is Adrian, took off through the parking lot. Searching for a vehicle holding people that were willing and able to help out the gringo with the bad-battery.
The first truck he went up to held a woman and her father who made the night even better. They promptly drove over to the van and began to help. The jump didn’t do anything for the battery, so Mr. Aguilar (the father) began to Frankenstein the fix. And, eventually, the van was running.
In all it probably took around 40 minutes from the time I realized the battery was dead to get the van running. Forty minutes of time that none of those people had to give me. But, they served us nonetheless. As I thought about the experience my mind landed on a few things. First, I have been warned, and rightly so, to be on my defense here. But that mindset can quickly become an insular paranoid outlook which sees everybody against Lynn and I. Last night was great medicine for battling that poisonous frame of mind.
Second, and more important, it reminded me of the Gospel. I didn’t do anything. Well, I found out the battery wasn’t working. And then I asked for help. But that was it. It was all done for me by people, up to that point, I had not even known existed. Like I said, though, it only reminded me of the Gospel. The real good news says that Jesus did everything for people spiritually dead and viciously hateful of Him. He provides the new eyes, new heart, and new hope.
Still, though, my run in with those three strangers last night was quite the blessing.
Thank God for Unforeseen Opportunities
This afternoon Mandin (aka Geraldo) asked me if I was willing to help him out tonight. Sure, of course I can help.
I didn’t know what we were in store for.
The neighboring town of Guaymitas (which is able to be seen on Google Earth if anyone wants to search for our location) is having a festival to celebrate the anniversary of its founding. Tonight was the inauguration of that festival. To help kick-off the festivities Mandin brought a group of youth to do some dramas, Master Yu put on a Tae Kwon Do demonstration with the help of his two sons, and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with several hundred people in the middle of a soccer field. My text was Romans 5:6-8 and the topic was the startling love of Jesus for those who hate Him.
This morning I had no idea that these things would happen this evening. But God knew. He had them planned and waiting. So, Lord, thank you for unforeseen opportunities to relish Your providence and spread Your Word.
The wonders of Creation
Though we miss many people, places, and things while here in Honduras there are many gifts from the Lord which we would not have the ability to enjoy were we not here.
A number of those gifts natural. And the best example of this we have seen thus far is Pulhapanzak Waterfall.
Here is a slideshow of pictures from our first visit to the falls. If you want to know what it is like to see these in person talk to one of the team members from the Persevering Saints mission team.
If you want to see it in big HD click through to view it on YouTube.
Warm Hosts
Hospitality is an art form few are adept at.
During much of yesterday and today you would not have found us here in El Castaño. We were with new friends, the Patterson family, in Siguatepeque, Honduras. Siguatepeque, Sigua for short, is located two and a half hours South of us in the Central mountainous region of Honduras.
Click for a larger image
Please allow me to introduce this fine family. First is the husband, Mark and his wife, Christy. Then there are their 7 wonderful children who I’ll list from oldest to youngest: Josiah, Caleb, Noah, Levi, Iris, Isaiah, and Elijah. Iris may look a bit different than the rest of the clan. That’s because the Patterson’s are in the process of adopting her into their family. As an aside, please be praying that this process is smooth and quick.
The Patterson’s work primarily at an institution named Ministerios Evangélicos de las Américas, otherwise known as MEDA. MEDA runs a full-blown seminary and conference schedule aimed at equipping pastors for ministry. MEDA is a part of The Master’s Academy International (TMAI). TMAI is a collection of schools approved and supported by John MacArthur’s ministry.
There at MEDA the Patterson’s oversee the facilities and aid in the ongoing work of that place passing on the truth of God’s Word to His shepherds. Additionally, the Patterson’s routinely visit villages in order to serve and evangelize local people.
We visited the Patterson’s to learn more about MEDA and how we might be able to serve them in the future. We are so thankful that an institution like MEDA exists for the edification of pastors, the sanctification of God’s people, and ultimately the greater glory of our Lord.
They were amazing hosts from which we can learn much. Noah even showed us a great recipe for crepes that I intend on trying out tomorrow. If you would like to keep up with the Patterson’s you can follow their blog, The Patterson Post.
Luke
Lynn
