Lost in Translation

Did you know that libraries are flourishing in Bogotá? I didn't either, but I'm pleased (How could I live without a good library nearby?). You can read about it in an article by The Wichita Eagle:

Libraries lure residents out of the slums of Bogota

I began rummaging through one of my "memory boxes" last week. You know the kind . . . stuffed with things you just couldn't throw away from high school. I found things like the placemat that we used at my senior year swimming team banquet. It had clippings from the Hibbing paper about our swim team. As I looked at them, I remembered how I felt upon reading about myself (or seeing my time) in the paper. At one invitational I placed 15th in the 100 yard butterfly, which put me behind two other Hibbing swimmers. I felt bad about that. But at the regional meet, I took 5th place, and I had the best time from my team. That felt pretty good! I remember how I was mildly disappointed to have fallen short of my career goal of breaking one minute in the 100 yard fly. I swam a 1.00.37! Aarghh! I missed my career goal by .37 seconds.

I also looked at my handbook on Nintendo games. We had a club that was dedicated to them. I had drawn pictures, listed passwords, named all the games I'd "conquered," etc.

I also looked at some old pictures from years gone by. My brother as a little kid with his shirt off hoeing in the garden. A picture of my legs as I soared through the air to slam dunk a basketball (Okay, I'm only 5'7" now, but I was using a trampoline), taken by my sister who was lying on the ground.

Looking back causes various emotions to swell. Some happy. Some not so happy. But what I really think about much of those things is -- who cares? In view of eternity, the only things that matter are things of eternal significance.

And I wish I could go back to high school to live it for eternal purposes. Whether I broke one minute in the fly won't matter in heaven. But the chances I missed to share about Jesus Christ will matter. Those friends who never heard that Jesus Christ has opened the way for us to receive salvation through faith in Him . . . what about them?

Lord, help me to center my life around You. Help me to beat down that which squanders my energy for You with a consuming passion for Your glory.

Have you ever tried moving to another country? Hmmm . . . neither have I. I'm amazed at how many things I could forget to do before we leave. Actually I'm amazed at how many things I don't even understand yet about what I should do. For example, I'm still not totally sure how important mail will be handled. Rest assured, ABWE's Field Prep. Seminar in November will answer many of these questions.

I've been reading Missionary Methods; St. Paul or Ours? by Roland Allen, a classic missions book originally published in the early 20th Century. Here is one helpful quote from the book:

"Slavery is not the best training for liberty. It is only by exercise that powers grow. To do things for people does not train them to do them for themselves. We are learning more and more in things educational that the first duty of the teacher is not to solve all difficulties for the pupil, and to present him with the ready-made answer, but to awaken a spirit, to teach the pupil to realize his own powers, by setting before him difficulties, and showing him how to approach and overcome them" (p. 145).

So true! Allen strongly urges a trust in the Holy Spirit's work in the nationals' lives. "But they won't get it right!" we protest. Perhaps true, but we must allow them to make some mistakes. They have the same Bible we have. They have the same Holy Spirit we have.

You who teach Sunday School know the feeling. You sit down to prepare for your lesson (or write a new one), and you sit. You tussle your papers. You fumble through your Bible. You write a page, then crumple it up. You feel utterly exhausted by the prospect of grasping God's Word, translating it into our culture, and then teaching it to others.

We've all been there. Simply put, teaching God's Word is tiring work. When we routinely deal with matters of eternal destiny, it can be draining. Maybe that's one reason Paul speaks of ministry as "striving" (Col. 1:29).

In contrast to my description above, I just wrote a Sunday School lesson for teens in less than two hours. I guess it went easy because it's an "overflow" lesson. Flowing from the overflow of God's Word in my life, I could easily write a lesson on prayer today. Not that it would be easy tomorrow, but today it was.

In my ministry, I need to focus on not becoming lazy. When things don't go quickly, I shouldn't give up. Also, as Paul did, I need to strive "according to His working which works in me mightily" (Col. 1:29). In God's limitless strength, I find strength.

Holly has done it again. She just updated the kids' pages with some great commentary and pictures. If you like seeing cute kids, visit the two pages devoted to Lucas (Lucas' Playground) and Eliana (Eliana's Meadow).

I also posted our September prayer letter online: September Prayer Letter

I tried to produce a better looking prayer letter on our site, but alas, it looks a wee bit pedestrian. I'll try to do better next time.

I didn't add any new content to Jon's Workshop, but I changed the format a little (e.g. changed "Notable Links" to "Sites of Interest"), especially revamping the look of the Sites of Interest. I'm trying to get our whole site in good shape before we get to Costa Rica, since I probably won't have as much time while we're down there.

Speaking of language school, I sent in our application today. We've starting talking to Lucas about being in the "Rayitos del Sol" preschool. The preschool is all in Spanish, so the kids will learn it while I do. Holly will be taking advanced grammar and composition classes.

In about an hour, we'll hit the road on our way to Pana, IL. It's about a 6-7 hour trip. The pastor at the church we're visiting wanted me to prepare a sermon that would prepare the congregation for the communion service. That will be a new experience for me.

I've been mulling over the idea of a communion service lately. Should our communion services always be the same? Or should we vary them, so that people are drawn to reflecting on a new facet of what Christ did for us? As you can tell from my question, I gravitate towards the latter approach.

Christ's death for us is something we can't fully grasp, yet we must try to more fully grasp it. Like Paul prayed that the Ephesians "may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge" (3:18-19).

With these thoughts in mind, I'll be preaching from Colossians 1:15-20, trying to draw people's attention to the supremacy of Christ. Oh, that passage also teaches that through Christ's death the entire universe will be reconciled to God (v. 20).

We shared an update at Campus Baptist on Sunday night, explaining that we lacked $104 per month support.

After the service, a couple came up to us and said, "We wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry about that last amount of support. We want to finish it off for you."

What a blessing! Thank you for your faithful prayers.

We had Pastor Joe Humrichous speak at our church on Sunday evening. He shared his paradigm for ministry, which is summed up in the words, "Christ obviously present and actively in charge." If Christ is those things in your church, you are on your way to having a church that pleases God. He also talked about how that starting point for ministry is the platform upon which any problem can be solved.

He offered some encouragements to prayer, especially from Rev. 3:20, which best applies to a local church. Here are a few of his encouragements: 1) Christ wants us to pray and fellowship with Him, 2) He already knows all our works, 3) We don't have to do all of the talking because our fellowship with Christ is not one-sided.

Pastor Humrichous works with the Bible Prayer Fellowship. You can visit their website for some helpful resources on prayer: Pray With Christ.

I've been doing a little reading on-line about the G12 Movement, which was started by Cesar Castellano in Bogota. G12 stands for Government of the 12. One person is supposed to gather twelve disciples, training them to gather twelve of their own, and so on.

If you haven't heard of G12, you probably will, as it's spreading through the rest of the world. According to Castellano, God revealed the G12 method directly to him. This is another example of Third Wave heresy. I joked with Holly that when you enter the G12 website there really should be "Mission Impossible" music playing in the background. You'll see what I mean if you look at there site.

For the G12 website from Bogota, visit G12 Movement.

For a brief critique of the movement, visit Glancing at the G12 Movement.

A few of you have wondered about the language school we will be going to. It's called the "Spanish Language Institute" and is located in San Jose, Costa Rica.

If you want to look at their website for yourself, here's the link: The Spanish Institute.

We anticipate arriving in Costa Rica in time for the semester that starts on January 5, 2005.