Random Thoughts

We went to church yesterday with Mark (director of ops. and chaplain of Casa de Fe). Every other sunday they have an English translated service, so we did understand a bit of the service. The service was about 2 hrs 45min and went by very fast other than my seat was very sore by the end! Was a different experience but a great time in fellowship with other believers! The pastor's Mother's Day message was one of children honoring their parents and the breakdown of the family. It was funny he used "Little House on the Prairie" as and example of a wholesome tv show to watch when he was a child. The funny part of this is that it was not an Ecuadorian television show but an American show that was his example. The whole world knows Hollywood, and the whole world watches what we watch and does what we do. It listens to our music, follows our professional sports, watches our movies and copies our religion. This to me doesn't seem to be far from the meaning of Matthew 6:18 (But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drownned in the bepth of the sea.) Shame on us as americans that by these things we are "harming the children" because we hold to the false notion that any kind of entertainment is "art" and should therefore never be censored or tamed and that we need not be a Christian example, rather one that exemplifies self and all things worldly. Do you believe that the US could change the world if it changed what it looked upon as entertainment?

I met a man who helps the indiginous folks of the jungle obtain clean water while speading the gospel. His wife does many things and also volunteers at Casa de Fe. He has an incredibly interesting story about how his family ended up in Ecuador. God definately placed his family here!! While we were visiting he told me a story of how he landed an ultralight plane in some water and while he was not going very fast, the plane still flipped over the front and was floating upside-down in the water with him strapped into the seatbelt upside down. Next thing he remembers he was sitting on top of the upside-down plane. As he told me this story it reminded me of my accident on I-25 when I ran off the road, then hit the guard rail on the opposite side and flipped backwards end over end a couple times and landed upside-down. I remember being upside-down in the car but not getting out. And I was out before the wheels stopped spinning even though there was not room for me to get out because the top of the truck was smashed nearly flat. I never really thought about that but it really does have significance. Just as God wanted him to stick around he also wanted me to stick around too. Has there been a time God chose to keep you on Earth for a purpose and you missed it like I did?

Common to the missionaries I have met has been their ability to sever ties with all they have had to start off on a completely new tradjectory. No more cars, houses, boats or American lives. They don't mourn not having their previouse life because they know this is where God wants them and they rejoce in that. This thoiught today reminded me of the definition of repentance. To go in a different direction from sin and to not turn back. I then think of my own life. I am ok being in Ecuador for a couple months because I know that I am leaving, and when I get home I will still have all the stuff that makes me happy; family, my house, my motorcycle, my dogs. All of my idols located in one single place, and while not with me, they are still my idols as I have not need to let go of them. Further thought of my life as it pertains to sin brings me to a parallel conclusion and the question that needs to be answered. Do I truly repent and "turn away" from sin in my life or do I still hang on to it in the back of my mind, knowing I can always come back to it???

It seems some "missionaries" don't claim a denomination. Will be interesting to see if there is a common reasoning behind this. I have gathered a few different ones thus far. One gentleman got away from the "Americanized" church and realized that "denominations" do more harm than good on the mission field. Does a baptist missionary do harm or good when he argues to re-baptize a fellow who accepted Christ through a pentacostal missionary? Another said he is not here to spread a denominational agenda. He is here to spread the gospel that many will be saved. Yet another told a story about how a man who translated bibles into the local language would not allow a missionary to distribute his bibles because the missionarie's doctrinal beliefs did not exactly match that of the fellow who translated the bibles. But some claim a denomination when it comes to generating support, as it is far easier to put on the face to raise suppport amongst "ones own" than to try to generate support through family and friends and other organizations. What does this say about us as "Christians"? Hmmmmm.