The possibility has arisen in which I might be visiting the States in April for my cousin’s wedding. There is still a lot that needs to happen, but my Paraguayans and I (and certainly others) are praying for a certain amount of money to come my way as well as someone to take my classes while I’m gone for around a week. My boss said family time is important, so we’re going to let God show us a way through which I might be able to experience this event.

I think it’s sort of ironic that when I told Becky if she got married while I was down here I wouldn’t be able to come.

-j

Ben gave me this book to read about making congregational Worship better without dumbing it down. It’s a fascinating read by a woman of a very liturgical persuasion who is all for adapting worship to the times. She and I see a lot of things eye to eye.

One thing she said with the help of some outside references, hits the nail on the head. Back in the day, product ads were about the products: why you should have the product, what it can do for you, why it’s the best, etc. These days, it’s all about image. The reason is that people don’t care about the product…they pay attention to how they’re told the product will make them feel. If you smoke Marlboros, you’ll be like a rough and ruggedly handsome cowboy. Gatorade makes you play sports like a machine and sweat colorful droplets. Sometimes you don’t even know what the product is until the very end (Mentos freshness, full of life).

A lot of worship is changing like that too.

How many times do you hear a song on the radio, on a Christian station, and you’re not sure if it’s a love song or an adoration of God? How many songs do we sing at Praise and Worship at Eastern Camp just because they’re “fun” and get the kids excited? How many songs we sing say things like “I will”, “I am”, “I love”?

Commercials aren’t based on the product, but on the intended market. They target what people want to feel, but not what the product does. Is our worship based on the God about whom we sing or on making us, the singers, feel good? A danger is that if we sing every song with “I” as the subject, we might lose sight of the fact that God is doing the work in the first place. She says in her book that if we cater to our crowd instead of our King, “worship becomes pseudo-therapy and not the healing revelation of God.”

I totally love that. Worship isn’t to make me feel better. Sometimes it might even remind me of sin, making me feel “worse”. But that’s when Jesus steps in and reminds me He’s already paid the price for my sin, which then brings me to a joyful worship that actually does make me feel better. Songs these days can be so empty of any spiritual depth, but we like them because they sound nice. So many kids these days don’t know how amazing the traditional hymns are. They’re just old and boring, no one cares about them anymore. But they’re so full of spiritual depth! I try to make it a point, actually, to get a hymn in nearly every time I lead singing here in Paraguay. My hope – my prayer – is that the folks who don’t sing them as much will realize how great they are and develop a love for them. At least as much as they love Hillsong. I’m anxious to finish the book to find out what else she says that I like. Maybe it will revolutionize my ability to lead worship.

-j

My camera has been stolen, but thanks to the ol’ MacBook, I can still take some (not great) videos. But I like how this turned out in the end.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10

I am often bothered by what seems to me petty arguments and eventually what boils down to a non-Biblical view a Christian has of other Christians. The Bible says to be of one mind, so some Believers feel that means everyone has to believe the same things. Romans 14 says something else, and that verse from Romans 12 is the underlying one in my mind.

We all know that there are people who have different “convictions” (as we like to call them because it makes us feel more spiritual) on different topics. It so happened that the church in Romans had disagreements over whether or not meat dedicated to idols could be consumed by Christians. The reality is that idols are false and have no power, so there really isn’t a difference between that meat and another meat. Or is there? Why would I want to “pollute” my body with something that was intended to blaspheme God? I can totally see the problem. In Romans 14 Paul lets us know that there really *is* no problem, it totally depends on the person.

Just as an example from experience, I’m “dealing” with something similar right now (actually something specifically mentioned in the Bible). To the church here, alcohol is taboo. It’s destroyed too many lives and there are people who had a problem with alcohol before they were Christians. I’ve decided to stay away from it (even though it’s on every corner and madly cheap) while I’m here because I don’t want to give rise to someone’s stumbling or give anyone a reason to speak badly of me (v16).

I think the Bible gives me license to think that drinking an alcoholic beverage – as long as I’m not getting drunk – is OK. I know plenty people who do not believe there’s any good reason on earth to touch alcohol to your lips, and I respect them. Romans 14 allows for that as well. The difference is how we handle ourselves together. If I decide that my liberty to drink a beer means I can drink one in front of an alcoholic, I am “no longer walking in love” (v15).

I’m using alcohol as an example, but there are plenty more things. Music, clothing, adornments, etc. I’m currently in a church that is different in some ways than I’m used to. I find myself not getting caught up in those things, but rather realizing that it’s not about those things, but about “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Chapter 14 is an amazing chapter and I recommend everyone read it. It’s my prayer that we can pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. (v19)

-j

A few of you “knew” I was “moving”. That was the plan. The (shameful?) truth was while I was thankful that Jason made it easy to find a place to live, I was still looking for a better place. It wasn’t necessarily that this place is bad, just that I specifically knew of a better place. My friends Ben and Vivi live in a place where there are like 8 apartments, and I was waiting for one to empty out. I even told Jason’s landlord that I planned on moving and I would let him know when. That was December.

The landlord at the other place told me there would be a space available in January when he was set to kick out someone who lived there. It was on the correct side of the building – the side with an awesome cross breeze and two balconies, one of which was going to be my own, attached to my room – and it was on the top floor, so it would be really quiet and really private. I was in love.

At the end of December, I talked with the landlord, and the guy who was being evicted showed up randomly also. I told both of them I had to be out of my place by January 4th, and the guy said he was going on vacation for Christmas and would come back on the 2nd to get his stuff out. On the 4th I went over to see what was up and start cleaning. I was told the kid never came back from vacations. Even his mom didn’t know where he was. I ended up having to rent my place for another month in the meanwhile, though I expected only to need a week or two. You can do that here. It’s a pretty chill rental market.

A couple weeks later I went to the landlord again to see what was up. He hadn’t yet heard from the guy, but he said after the 20th, when he could legally start removing the guy’s stuff, he would empty it out for me. I said fine, I wouldn’t bug him again until I heard from him. The 20th came and went with no word. I went to Argentina expecting to hear from him because Ben said he would talk to him. I forgot to take into consideration that my phone might not work in Argentina. I never got the call that was made.

I got back from Argentina on February 1st and decided to stay where I was. I was miffed that I never heard anything from the other guy and I couldn’t keep going month to month with my present landlord. On the 2nd I verbally agreed to stay in the apt, and on the 4th he came and I signed the contract. On the 3rd I got a call from the other landlord saying the apartment was empty and ready to view. I had to tell him I had already committed to stay where I was. All he could say was “Oh.”

Here’s the thing: I think God did this. Between the time I was waiting for the guy (who we actually had assumed had died on vacation), my heart started being more content where I was. It’s not a bad place. I had just started to make friends with my neighbors. One thing I was glad for with the other apartment was that I could tell the hordes of boys that come to sleep every Saturday night nearly without fail that they couldn’t come anymore. I felt like they take advantage of the proximity and my food and space without contributing to anything. It was while I was lamenting that when I felt the Spirit say to me “perhaps this is one of the things I want you to do while you’re here.”

So it’s gotta be God’s doing that my dream apartment that had every reason to be mine during January doesn’t become available until the day after I make a contract to stay where I am. I still need God to change my heart about the boys, but it’s coming. Maybe we need to establish some boundaries; maybe that’s one of the things God wants me to do – teach them how to be gracious guests or maybe just be a good example of a Godly man. Pray for us.

-j

Since they’re short, I’ve got two references to expound upon this time. These are things the Spirit put in my heart as I read the Word.

Matthew 6:25-34, with a focus on v. 33
At least among my experiences in the church, Matthew 6:33 is quoted many times to people who aren’t Christians who the person quoting believes they should.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Mark 4:26-29
This might be a little more selfish than edifying, but we’ll see. I’m the kind of person who likes to see the results of my work. If I do something and I don’t know how it turned out, it drives me crazy. I’m really excited when I see something I had a part in succeed. This is especially pertinent to people with whom I’ve come in contact and in some way or another was able to share the Gospel with them. Sometimes I think about it and really wish I could know if they’ve turned to God yet. So far in my life it’s happened twice that I know of, and I was really humbled and joyed to know that I was even a small part of them coming to know the Lord.

Verse 27 reminded me that I don’t need to worry about it. This type of things happen all the time. Farmers plant crops in the season, and they have no idea what’s going on underneath the dirt, but they don’t worry about it. They do what they need to do to make sure the plant grows, and at the end of the season they find out how their work went.

This verse could also edify someone who feels like they keep trying and trying to lead a person to Christ but never feel like they’re getting anywhere. The seed’s been planted. Let it grow.

-j