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.

Remind Me Who I Am...

With my recent resignation from our church, and the subsequent church split, I've had a lot more time to read, reflect and journal which has been super helpful, healthy and healing. (Can you tell that I am a Pastor in recovery with my need to use alliteration? :))

Today was like many others from the last month and a half. I met with a good friend for breakfast, and I talked with friends on the phone or via text who are helping me process and work through my anger, frustration, disappointment and identity confusion as I ride this roller-coaster of the vocational search process. Recently I've heard myself say many times, "I feel like I am having a mid-life identity crisis...but 17 years early!"

One blog that has been helpful these last few months is a blog written by our friend, Ruth Graham. Today she had this insight that opened my eyes to the blessing that God has given to all of us, especially to me over these last 8 weeks, and that gift is shock and numbness. Within the context of writing about the horrible tragedies of Oklahoma she had this to say,

Fortunately, God gives the grace of shock. Being in shock grants a numbness which allows time so we can slowly absorb what has taken place. It is a mercy. If we had to absorb it all suddenly, it would be much too overwhelming. So God in His mercy gives us "shock absorbers". Like the dawn that arrives slowly so that we can adjust to the brightness of the sun, we are given time to adjust to what has happened.

In many ways these last 8 weeks have been a "shock absorber" for me. Thanks to the generosity of the Body of Christ here in our town, and especially the generous people at the Waynesboro Mission Church, I've been afforded the blessing to not rush back into life and work but rather to rest and reflect. What a gift!

There have been, and probably will continue to be, many days when I feel in shock. But rather than seeing it as a bad thing, or something to endure, or something to hurry through as soon as possible, I now can see it as God's grace, a traveling mercy, a gift. In this moment in time I am reminded of something my former Pastor and friend would say, in his classic Argentinean smooth and soothing style, "grief is a process, not an event." Indeed!

As I process, God has given me other fellow travelers who are also pastors in recovery (I seem to be meeting a lot of them recently which is scary but also comforting). Through our pain & anger and shared yet different experiences, we've been able to encourage and pray with and for each other. One of these dear saints, a friend from college and seminary, recently reminded me of two songs that have been helpful for him and now whenever I hear them on the radio I think of and pray for him...

and for myself.

For I realize that I am also a "child of the One True King" and that I need to preach that to myself every day. Every minute!

And as I do "I am reminded of who I am." This last line, from Jason Gray's song "Remind Me Who I Am" is a powerful song that I desperately need to hear over and over and over again. (And this video brought tears to my eyes...)

"When I lose my way, and I forget my name, remind me who I am. In the mirror all I see, is who I don't want to be, remind me who I am. In the loneliest places, when I can't remember what grace is. Tell me, once again, who I am to You..."

"If I'm your beloved, can you help me believe it..."

If you had a cardboard sign, what would your sign say? 

The Discipleship of Knowledge or the Discipleship of Obedience? Both!

For the last few months I have been challenged by the words, teaching, exhortation and example of a few godly men in our church who have been impressing into me the idea of the Western Church's need for obedience to DO God's Word. For far too long we have been stuffing our brains with more and more knowledge of the Bible but we aren't applying that knowledge in our lives. For example, these men constantly come back to our need to evangelize so to make disciples thereby living out, and obeying, Christ's Great Commission as seen in Mt. 28:18-20.

"Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, GO and MAKE disciples of all the nations, BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. TEACH these new disciples to OBEY all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (NLT, emphasis mine).

As I was doing our Daily Walk Bible reading for today, Walk #124 Ezra 7-8, I was impressed by how many times the scriptures mentioned that God's "gracious hand" was upon Ezra (7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 31). And as I focused on this truth my eyes also kept coming back to how focused Ezra was on God's Law, God's Word. Now granted, Ezra was a scribe and thus that was his job. But still, it was clear that God's Word was part of his very fabric, his very core being, and it wasn't just his "job." God's Word made him who he was! 

We see this core truth shine brilliantly in 7:10: "This was because Ezra had determined to STUDY and OBEY the Law of the Lord and to TEACH those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel" (NLT, emphasis added). Clearly, there was a discipleship of knowledge going on here because "Ezra had determined to study...the Law of the Lord." He ate the Word, he drank the Word, he learned the Word by osmosis as he slept (or, at least, I wish that could happen!) A discipleship of knowledge can only happen when we make the effort to become "well versed in the Law" (7:6) as we continually keep God's law close at hand (7:14) and in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).

But a discipleship of knowledge is only part of what Ezra had "determined" to do. He also determined to "obey the Law of the Lord and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people..." thus a "discipleship of obedience" as well. I have often found it a funny excuse when people say "I can't teach Sunday School, I don't know enough." The reality is, when you have to teach a group of people you study, and when you study, you learn, and when you learn and then teach what you have learned you are more likely to obey. For far too long, myself included, we have steeped ourselves in a discipleship of knowledge but we have not engaged in a discipleship of obedience. Thus, we fail to be like Ezra and, more importantly, we fail to become Christ-like.

In his commentary on Ezra, Presbyterian pastor Dr. Mark Roberts said this, "study, no matter how important, is not sufficient alone; it must lead to obedience...Jesus made it clear: "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and DO IT" (Luke 8:21, emphasis added).

Are you longing for God's gracious hand to be upon you? I am! Are you longing to be called a "brother" of  Christ? I am! (Though, if we have already accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior we know we are adopted into His eternal family and are called "children of God." See John 1:12-13, Romans 8:14-17, Galatians 3:26, 1 John 3:1-10.)

"But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it" (James 1:22-25, NLT).