Last week missionary Timothy Jones mentioned in conversation the brilliant poetry of Larry Norman. He is right. Larry was a leader in the Jesus Movement in the 1970s. His passion for evangelism and social justice sometimes created discomfort in the community of believers. He had personal flaws in the same way we see the flaws and paradox in the people featured in the gospels. I often wonder if Larry's views would be more acceptable and embraced by society these days. Thanks for the memory, Timothy. I hope you enjoy this video and have a fantastic Monday.
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February 28, 2011
February 25, 2011
Friday in Costa Rica
Hello. I'm back. It was great to go and it is great to be home. I'll tell you about my trip in a paragraph or two.
You may remember that last September Denine and I traveled to Kenya to see the Hope Partnership where our daughter, Bethany, is working as an associate missionary with the urban poor in Nairobi. It was an amazing adventure. You can read about the work at this link and Beth is listed at the bottom of the page with a link to her blog (hint: you should check out her writing). For some time after that trip I featured blog posts about our Kenya experience on Fridays so that readers could hear about what we did if they were interested, but would not hear about it for days on end.
I thought it would be good now to reserve some Fridays for the recent experience that I had in Costa Rica. On Feb 16 I left with 9 other men for San Jose, CR and returned home early this morning. From San Jose we drove a fair number of hours to a rural area close to the border of Panama. It is a place where the pavement gives way to dirt roads and large banana plantations. Beyond the plantations the jungle has been pushed back for small subsistence farms where the livestock graze as children roll by on bicycles coming and going to the local schools. It is a place where life is lived simply. We were checked out for a week with no cell phone or internet coverage. We too were simplifying.
Our work was in the jungle near the dirt road, but also near the trail head that treks into the mountains were the indigenous Cabécar Indians live. We were here to build a house so that one of the families from mountains could live within a 4 to 5 hour walk from their home community, but close enough civilization for the father to work with missionary Timothy Jones on translation efforts to produce the bible in the native Cabécar language.
With the help of our new friend Eddy and his sons as well as Seth, a young Indian man, we framed up a stilt house made from trees from the woods were we were working. The trees were felled, milled by chainsaw, hauled by our men to the job site, planed smooth, and made into a house. By the end of week it was framed up and the rafters were completed. It was ready for the tin roof and the wood siding which we had made, but did not get to hang. Still, the amount of work we completed was amazing and satisfying.
Even more satisfying was the community built by the men on the trip. Our ages ran from 22 to 71 years old. We all fell into a pattern of working in large and small teams as needed and everyone contributed. It was a pleasure being with men who were interested in helping each other every step of the way. We worked, laughed, and enjoyed our time together. Most evenings after showers and the dinner meal served by the Jones family and Eddy's wife, Maria, the conversations become deeper and we talked about many of the questions of life that men often do not discuss. It was good and right. It made me grateful to have spent this time with these men and to have met the Jones family along with the people who crossed our path along the way.
More next week. Have a great weekend.
February 16, 2011
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for this message.
Hello friends. I am heading out this morning for Costa Rica and will not likely have internet access to post until I return on Feb 25. It will be a bonus if I do get a chance to update, but in any case I'll be back soon.
Peace, Love, and Godspeed - Zig
February 15, 2011
On a winter's day...
Boy, oh, boy are we getting some fine winter weather here in our corner of The South. The last week has featured Carolina blue skies and 60 degrees or better every day. I'm not rubbing it in with our friends Up North, but it is quite nice. The current forecast looks about the same for the foreseeable future.
On Sunday we had a perfect afternoon relaxing out on the back porch in the sunshine while we watched the lake. I wandered out to the dock and briefly considered dropping the boat for a spin while I thought that it will not be long before we will be swimming on afternoons like this one.
Yesterday a friend called and teased me for not getting out a wake board and wetsuit. If I had been these guys in the photo maybe I would have hit the water. In Russia this would be a heat wave. Here it is just simply a fine winter day.
February 14, 2011
February 11, 2011
February 10, 2011
Snow this morning
The other day one of my buddies Up North sent a photo showing the snow piled up about six feet on both sides of the side walk in front of his house. He has now spent many hours bonding with his snow blower (I'll put a link here showing what one looks like for my southern friends). You do have to feel sorry for folks Up North who have been pounded with snow with what seems like about every three days.
But, before we get carried away how about a little love for us suffering through winter here in The South? Just take a look at what I faced this morning leaving our community! It could take at least until noon time for this stuff to melt. I'm sure glad we are trucking towards spring.
February 08, 2011
Thin
So our pastor has been teaching a series called "Relationships 'A Mess Worth Making". To tell you about the whole deal would be about as complex as describing most actual relationships, but in short I will say the series encourages us to engage with others while pointing out how self-centered we are so often in our thinking.
I think it must be these messages, but I am not exactly sure, that got me thinking about how we handle the thin places in our friendships. What I mean is "For Better or Worst" is saved for marriage whereas "Through Thick and Thin" is more often saved for our friendships. To explain what I mean, let me describe Thick first.
Thick is what it looks like when you are with friends and everything is good. Really good. Thick is when everything is funny and everyone is enjoying the laughter. Thick is when your friends are successful at work and all is good at home. Thick is when you share a meal and everything about the food and conversation seems exactly right. Do you know what I mean? Are you getting the vibe?
Thin is when something happens and the relationship is now strained or you simply have started losing touch. Thin is when a friend tells you they have work or marriage problems and suddenly their life seems less like yours even it if is almost exactly like your life. Thin is when a friend indicates their kids have gone wild and you don't have any good words to say or are unable to utter encouragement beyond some lame saying. And Thin is when a friend falls on hard times and you don't bother to call much less help because you are so busy, but really you just feel awkward about the whole thing. Thin is when you grab a benefit or attention for yourself while ignoring your brother or sister because you believe you earned it. Thin is Thin.
So here are a couple of things to consider. I am convinced that Jesus had the disciples living together for those three years of his ministry so they could learn to do life together. You certainly do not think every moment was Thick do you? I mean they even had a petty argument over who would get to sit next to Jesus in heaven (check out Matthew 20:20-28). I'm sure the Thick times were pretty great and the Thin times were not so great. Just like our lives.
So the end part of the Matthew 20-28 goes on to speak about serving in this manner:
He said, "You've observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It's not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage." (The Message)
I guess Bob Dylan was right when he penned "Gotta Serve Somebody". I've began praying that I do a better job serving my friends. I've begun thinking about keeping this on my mind especially in the Thin places. I had a chance to discuss this today with a friend who is facing a tough time and it was pretty cool to tell him I wanted to help in anyway because of my deep care for him and his family. How can I call myself a friend if I only serve myself?
Friends through Thick and Thin. You can be. I can be. If we try.
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody - Bob Dylan