Just One Step

The desert before you stretches for miles.

You already feel like you are drowning in sand.

Exhausted, suffocating, you struggle for air.

Panic sets in as you sink into the depths below.

"Help!" you cry. "Save me!"

A hand reaches out and takes yours.

A grip so firm, yet so gentle.

"My child, you drown in fear--it's your own imagination.

Don't worry about getting across.

Just take one step."

When I was 14

This is a picture of the sunrise from Matamoros, Mexico. Sorry for the poor quality--it was taken with a disposable camera. I am standing beside our bunk--a small building with six beds and no air conditioning. Behind me are the showers which require a not-so-reliable generator to work. When the generator isn't cooperating, there are buckets. In the meeting hall (separating the guys side from the girls side), we got to eat authentic Mexican food. The owner of the camp, though he may not have had the "best" of resources available to him, was very hospitable and our whole group was very grateful for him.

Dancing at the worksite. It is such a joy to serve. The shack in the background--that is a home. That was the home of the family that we are building a new house for. A new house that is still less than your average American would settle for.

This is just one of the families that we met as we walked through Matamoros. Before we came they didn't have a Bible. Now they have one and have begun reading it.

There  are so many stories--sadly, I don’t remember them all. But I wrote little tidbits down before leaving Mexico, and I want to share some of that with you:

Never forget the train that never moves, the girl threatened by her neighbor, the lady who was scared by Satan from going to church, the girl with unspoken family problems, the man without job or food, the man eager to read the Word, the family who shared their photos, the lady with the miracle baby...the lady who gave us water, the fifteen-year old single mom with a week-old baby, and all the wonderful playful children. Never forget the man who followed the bus to ask for prayer, and never forget the joy despite poverty of the children…
 

This area is in the dumps. It's where this boy lives and plays.

A lot of our work was simply playing with the children.

It's been a long way since 14. But this is a year I will never forget.

Book Review: The Screwtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters
C. S. Lewis

So, for the last two weeks I've been reading a series of letters from Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood about how to best tempt his human. Screwtape covers a wide range of topics including: misdirecting prayer, sowing seeds of dischord in a courtship, keeping the human involved with bad company, and making him overly spiritual. Oh...Screwtape and Wormwood are, uh, demons. I know, I know, what good could possibly come from reading correspondence between demons? A lot, actually, when it's written by Christian author C. S. Lewis.

C. S. Lewis has got to be one of my favorite authors. He has a knack for packing his books full of spiritual wisdom and he certainly does not fail here. He shows through Screwtape's letters many of the ways in which we humans can be deceived--and some of the ways to overcoming that deception. One of the biggest lessons I learned (or was reminded of) in this book is the importance of living day by day, hour by hour. Screwtape writes about how the future is a great way to distract humans simply because it is so uncertain. It is so easy to tie ourselves into a know about something that may not even affect us when we get there. Rather we must trust God for our daily bread.

The Screwtape Letters is not simply a dull book of proverbs either. C. S. Lewis creatively describes the workings of the enemy, full of cruelty and bureaucracy. They even have an "intelligence" department in charge of figuring out the supposed secret behind God's love for man. Apparently, they've been at it a few thousand years with still no results.

Before closing this review out, I must give a note of caution: Not all of the issues dealt in this book are appropriate for young children. That being said, I would definitely put this book high on my list of recommended books. Oh, and this book is very quotable (as my Facebook friends can attest to).

Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys. -- The Screwtape Letters (C. S. Lewis)

Birth of an Atheist

A chariot is prepared for light to make its course
A path is lined out across space
Darkness breaks as the first rays of dawn call forth
A thousand voices answer in praise
Numberless stars answer to our King
They speak of glory all through the night
But one has been given the duty to bring
Light to our world and reveal what is right

An alarm clock rings, the snooze button pressed
Late for work again today
Put on some shades and buy a coffee express
Crank up the music, drown out the blue jay

With dirt covered hands, a seed is sown
It's joy in death brings life
Day after day it strives all alone

With patience it grows to new heights
Every branch becomes a place to rest
Every fruit pleasant to eat
Every flower clothed in only the best
Existing only to express His beauty

A homemade sandwich with factory made meat
He scarfs it down forgetting to bless
With so much work to do he's feeling the heat
Can't stop to think lest he see his regress

The clouds roll through, darkness covers the streets
Fire strikes down from heaven
Healing rain comes down like a sheet
Giving grace to all men and women
God rolls out His justice, bringing kings to their knees
But on the humble He has compassion
He blots out a record that was our disease
Closes the gap that was a great chasm

He gets down on his knees cause he feels guilty
Prays the sinners pray to make things right
Gets on with life without so much as a blink
As if God owed him this life

What If Today Really Does Matter?

There seems to be an idea or more of an assumption throughout the church that when we get to the Kingdom, we will all be made perfect and alike as if nothing we did on this earth mattered. It is this idea that getting into heaven is all that really matters--as long as I make it in, everything else will be all hunky-dory. Sure, we talk about storing up treasure in heaven and such...but I don't think pictures of gold and silver really drives the point home. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on the future Kingdom. I honestly have no idea what it will be like. But I would like to give you something to chew on...not as a new understanding of the Kingdom, but as a different way of looking at life here on earth:

What if our actions today actually have an impact on eternity--more than just who's in and who's out? What if the wounds we do not tend to, the sins we do not repent of, the wrongs we do not forgive--what if these showed up as scars in the Kingdom? What if the love that we give, the joy that we share, the people we embrace--what if these are the things that make our new bodies beautiful? What if our new bodies are a reflection of our spiritual growth while here on earth?

What if this was what Yeshua was talking about when He said "Store up your treasures in heaven" and "Seek first the Kingdom of God"?