Final day in Baja

Friday was a great way to end our time in Baja with a little sightseeing, shopping and learning about an incredible ministry for orphans at The Mission. Here is a beautiful painting on a wall at the orphanage

I was honored with the opportunity to then visit a family for the afternoon and they made us a wonderful Queso tamale meal. They are so grateful for their home that was built a couple of years ago that they wanted to provide us this wonderful hospitality. Here is the sign on their house with gorgeous bleeding hearts flowers

After an incredible dinner back at IDT, I mean incredible, probably top 3 meals of my lifetime, we headed out to the beach for a communion service. The sunset was incredible...

Right before the service a pelican literally buzzed our group, landed and then visited with us. It was crazy!

Eventually our veterinarian, and wonderful and generous friend, Dr. Dan saved the day as the pelican seemed to not be acting right so he did what a vet would do...

picked him up and released him into the air where he flew away. Amazing!

What an incredible trip of relationship building, house building and service. It was a privilege to be an ambassador for Christ!!

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God" (Revelation 21:3, ESV).

All done!

Thursday was a long day of final projects and odds and ends but we finished the house and they were thrilled!! During the dedication service 

there were many tears of joy and thanksgiving. We each had a chance to share some thoughts with the family and I focused on John 1:14,

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Just as Jesus dwelt among us here on earth with his incarnation my prayer was that He would dwell in their house and in their hearts as well. 

Here is the shower house

And the outhouse

And the living room/kitchen. Behind the yellow "T" wall are two bedrooms. 

Today we are off to the orphanage, to the market for some shopping and to the ocean. Thanks for praying for us!!

Day 2 & 3

We are having a GREAT time here and the opportunity is such a blessing!! The Lord has blessed us with an amazing build team that works so well together. Even better, our family is SO excited and grateful for the house and they have been working hard with us each day. Their smiles are infectious and you can see in their eyes what this means to them. They are definitely taking an active role for sure as both the husband and wife actively pound nails, paint, and do whatever they can to lend a hand. Their two sons help too when they are not in the strawberry fields picking.  It is a blessing to see our family now and their excitement and gratitude; then at night it is such a joy to meet past families and to see the incredible impact the build team, and the gift of a house, has had on them. Tonight we visited 4 families and what a joy to meet them and to see their lives!! God is so good and these families are SO thankful and they absolutely love to see people from their build team come back to visit!!

The walls going up. 

Francisco nailing away on the corner of the roof. 

Becky talking with Francisco and Buenaventura about the plans. 

Installing the "whirlybird" on the roof for ventilation. 

Visiting Christina's family last night

Day 1 recap

-This is the Peacock that greets us each morning, nice and early

-Max and the "before" picture of the worksite. 

-"Look Cari, I can use a power saw!"

-What a way to celebrate! Here is one of our team members giving a hug after singing Feliz Cumpleanos (Happy Birthday) to the mother of the family we are building for, Buenaventura. 

-Visiting families from previous build-years and playing with the ninos. 

Off to devotions and then back to the work site!

In that day you will say: "Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world" (Isaiah 12:4-5)..

Baja, Mexico - Day 1

Buen Dia de Vincente Guierro!

After a lonnnnggg travel day including cancelled flights and an overnight stay in Newark and then a beautiful 5+ hour drive down the Baja coast we have arrived and are preparing for our first day of work.  

I was again reminded by our DWB reading this morning that no matter where we are, whether Waynesboro or Baja Mexico, that God is ALWAYS "Immanuel, God is with us" (Isaiah 7:14).

As we prepare for our first day of service I was challenged this morning by Isaiah's recognition of his sinfulness in front of a holy God and therefore the need to be cleansed (Isaiah 6). Our team of 40+ have been called here to serve and my prayer for us is that we would "think about The Lord" and "notice what he is doing" (Isa. 5:12) as we build these homes. That our eyes would be open to how we can be his ambassadors (2 Cor 5) and that we would "look to God's instructions and teachings" (Isa. 8:20) as we serve. Please join me in this prayer!

Vaya con Dios!

Ecclesiastes and our Anniversary

If you are a morning-Bible-reader, I hope you enjoyed your foray into the book of Ecclesiastes!! And if you are a night reader then beware, it can be a little pessimistic reading at first. Either way, Solomon (or Qoheleth, aka the Teacher) is full with wisdom and he has a realistic look at the frailty and brevity of all things related to our lives here "under the Sun."

In honor of our 9th anniversary today, which Cari and I are celebrating, I share with you all one of the passages that we had read at our ceremony...

⁹ Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. ¹⁰ If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. ¹¹ Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? ¹² A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. (Eccles. 4:9-12)

What a wonderful and blessed day July 10th, 2004 was! Thank you Lord!! My nine years with Cari have been anything but meaningless!!

If this is your first time reading the book of Ecclesiastes it can seem depressing, especially since the phrase “everything is meaningless” (1:2) is a key theme that is found 24 times in the book. Even though wisdom (1:17), pleasure (2:1), projects and achievements (2:11), and money (5:10) are all considered meaningless Solomon still gives a reason for living. This reason is another key theme of the book and is repeated throughout, “a man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God” (2:25; 3:13, 22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7). Solomon believes that the enjoyment of life is a gift from God; at the same time he realizes a person must “remember the days of darkness” (11:8, death) is around the corner and that “for all these things (that you do in life) God will bring you to judgment” (11:9). Therefore he exhorts his readers to “remember your Creator in the days of your youth” (12:1). In other words, God will hold us accountable for our actions so Solomon is not encouraging a life of hedonism, nor promoting a life of legalism. There is a balance to be found through fearing God and keeping his commandments (12:13).

God bless you all as you continue your Daily Walk Bible reading!

Our Range of Emotions as Acceptable to the Lord - The Book of Psalms

As I was reading the "My Daily Walk" gray sidebar I praised God for how many different ways his Word through the Psalms had spoken to me over the past month. As you know, this has been quite a challenging Spring and beginning of summer for many of us, Cari and I included. We have spanned the spectrum of feelings and emotions and what a relief to know that our Psalmist did as well. Isn't it encouraging that God's Word speaks to all areas of our lives!? It wasn't cleansed of its raw emotions. It wasn't edited for the shocking and harsh statements that were made. All ranges of expression were allowable and encouraged by the Psalmist's very own example. And if these things are ALL allowed in God's Word then certainly God understands when we go through all these feelings and thoughts as well.

Just two of many examples from the last two days of reading:

"In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies and destroy all my foes for I am your servant" (Ps. 143:12).

Yep, I've been there, I've felt that ... and I wasn't chastised for it either. (Though I would be disciplined by God, and rightly so, if I continued to stay in that angry place and to harbor those bitter feelings.) The words of scripture weren't sanitized to fit perfectly into a politically correct box. The prayers of Israel expressed real sentiment and they still speak to us today as well. Praise the Lord!

From the pits of anger and despair to the heights of praise and adoration...

"Let every created thing give praise to the LORD, for he issued his command, and they came into being" (Ps. 148:5).

As Gen 1-2 remind us, we are created in God's image and He gave us our very existence. Paul reminds us in Acts 17:28 that "we live and move and have our being." What a comfort for me to know that all the range of emotions and feelings that I have experienced over the past month are things I don't have to be embarrassed by because God is big enough, He can handle them. After all...

"He counts the stars and calls them all by name" (Ps. 147:4).

I hope you have been blessed as you spent time in Israel's prayerbook; and many blessings to you all as you embark on our new journey into Proverbs! (See summary below)

God bless and much love, Seth

Proverbs: Taken from the opening chapter, Solomon states that the purpose of Proverbs is “for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young” (1:2-4). The young are a clear intended audience of Proverbs by the sheer fact that the phrase “my son” is used at least 23 times; and because parents are depicted as grieved or overjoyed in how their son chooses to live (either wisely or foolishly, 10:1; 15:20; 17:25; 23:24). Another central focus of the book is that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7). The beginning of knowledge is listening to Lady Wisdom (8:22-31) as opposed to the Wayward Wife (ch. 7). Wisdom comes at a great cost (4:7) and if it is not adhered to death via the adulteress (ch. 5) or wicked men (2:12-16; 5:23) could be the end result. In summary, Proverbs uses the Deuteronomic framework and language to show the contrast between the fool and the wise and the resulting death or life that comes from whether or not the reader keeps God’s Law as personalized in Proverbs.