I arrived in Panama late at night, then a two-hour bus ride to Cristal’s hometown.  The next morning, I got up and got a haircut, and then we were in the car for a five-hour drive to where the wedding was going to be .  Once we got to Boquete, I realized all the things I forgot to bring.  Like…. T-shirts.  Those two belts I set out to bring, yep, they were still sitting on my bed when I got back a week later.  So, I was really ashamed, I had gone all that way, and forgotten some very important things.  Now, it wasn’t a huge deal because clothing in Panama is really cheap.  But things in Panama work differently, it is a completely different culture.  Now I didn’t really want to tell Cristal’s parents (especially her dad) that I had forgotten such key things.  So I told Cristal, who’s first instinct was to tell her parents.  But she told her mom, and her mom knows that I don’t like to make a big fuss over things, and all I wanted was to be dropped off at a local store and buy a belt, but that isn’t how the culture really works, nor how Cristal’s family works.  If you have a problem, they want to help you fix at whatever cost.  So, Cristal’s father finds out, and we are driving into the city to go to a clothing store, we get there I find a nice leather belt for $4.00, and think perfect, the shirts were more American priced shirts, so I figured, well I have enough dress shirts, and Cristal’s family dress more nicely, so it is fine to go without t-shirts until I get to Cristal’s hometown where shirts are $1 each.  Perfect, right?  No, this is more of an American mindset.  Cristal’s parents take the belt from my hand and force me to pick out a shirt, and inform me that they will be paying for the belt and t-shirts, and there would be no arguing the fact.  They said that I was their invited guest and that they would take care of it, and that when they come to the U.S. I could repay them, but not while I was in Panama.
I told them, “Well I better start saving up for that day.”  We all laughed, but that is how it is.  Every time I have been there, I’m not allowed to pay for anything.  Now that might sound like a dream to some, but for me it is a little uncomfortable, because I grew up in Minnesota culture where it is more polite to refuse something offered to you, and then if the person persists in offering, then it is ok.  Kind of like a, I can do it myself attitude.  But in Panama, along with almost the rest of Latin America, it is rude to refuse.
So as I think and reflect back on it, I laugh at the fact that I forgot so much, and am admired at the love and hospitality shown me by Cristal’s family, and how good they take care of me, a little embarrassed at the whole situation, but also realizing that my statement about when her parents come here is pretty true….
I better start saving.

I can now here my teacher Mr. Miles voice ringing in my ear, as he would quote Exodus 20:8-11 
 ”Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
He would say, “I can remember back when I was a kid growing up in rural Nebraska, and if you wanted to go somewhere on Sunday, you would have to make sure your car was filled up with gas on Saturday, because the gas stations were closed on Sunday.  If you wanted to eat on Sunday, you better have went to the store on Saturday, because it was closed on Sunday.”  He would then continue on about explaining how our bodies cannot function going seven days a week, and that we need to rest, or it brings health problems and emotional problems.  He would say that God did, and we are to be imitators of God, so to live the holy lifestyle is also to live a lifestyle that rests when it should.

Sunday after church seems like the best time to get all those little projects and things I need to get done before the week starts, but then the work weeks starts and I feel like I didn’t have any time off, and am just constantly doing something, never-resting, getting a little more tired every week, and the more tired I am the lest motivation I have to push on in my work, to write, to stay in touch with people I should, until I just find myself cacooning up in my room.  Surviving, definitely not thriving.

So, I’m going to be taking this commandment a little more seriously from now on.  Because it is like my mother and father always told me when I was cranky or irritable, “Looks like someone needs some rest and should go to bed early…”  I would harshly deny it, but it is true.  If I plan to do this long-term, I need to start right now making it a practice and a discipline to take my Sabbath, or I will truly burn out.   And it isn’t going to mean one day of the week I just spend all day in my pj’s and never get out of bed, no, because as I hear and am responding to this call to take the Sabbath, it is not just a call to be quiet and rest my body, but a time to rest my soul in the presence of my Heavenly Father, and to spend time with Him.  To honor Him. 

Now, I’m going to start doing this, but it is definitely baby steps to this, because I’m not going to be going the route of the Jews and having a set number of steps I can take in one day, or miles I can drive, no, that doesn’t sound like rest, I’m gonna start by spending time with God, and see where my Sabbath goes from there.  Sounds pretty fun, eh?

Blessings!

It is amazing how God uses us, even when we least expect it.  But I know this, for such a time as this, I’m in Ecuador.

My feet straddling the equator

I went to bed at 12:30 A.M. early Thursday morning, and my alarm went off at 3:00 A.M. to get me up to get ready to leave. I live about an hour away from the airport and in order to get to the airport the suggested two hours before the flight, I needed to leave at 3:30 A.M.   Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one doing this. I had two other YWAMers, Cristal and Lucio, going with me to Ecuador, and another friend who volunteered to take us to the airport. So this is how the adventure started…. early.

This adventure has a name, it is called Mission Adventures. Mission Adventures is a program that YWAM runs that it’s goal is to train and bring youth groups, or any group, on short-term mission trips. This program gives youth an exciting opportunity to serve God, grow deeper in their relationship with Him, and also to experience what missions is. So, we came down to Ecuador five days before the team of 37 arrived.  So, let me continue the story….

Upon arrival at the ticketing agent Thursday morning, the agent looked at our luggage. We were bringing four Carvin speakers to use for our drama presentations, and we had just bought new plastic cases for them. Each of us also had our own personal bag. We were planning on paying for one extra bag. She then politely informed us, “Uhm, I’m sorry you can’t check any extra bags or take anything in boxes, crates, coolers, or plastic boxes.” We were shocked. We had no idea of any of this. She then explained from June 5th every year till the end of August, Ecuador puts an embargo on all flights coming into Ecuador that they cannot bring any boxes, only personal bags. So, because the airlines are prepared for people to not be aware of this embargo, like we were, they have overpriced duffel bags for sale at the ticketing counter. So, after taking a minute to think, we bought four, one for each of the speakers. But we were still one bag to many. So, Lucio and I started thinking about how maybe we might have to share a bag and leave one of ours behind. I then, asked the lady, if any of our bags could pass as a carry on, and she looked at our three and she said if I took some stuff out of mine so that it wouldn’t be as full mine could pass. Now just so you know, my bag is one of the larger style of backpacks, it is made to fit up to 70 lbs. It is a big bag. So I was surprised to find out that I could get it through as a carry on, but we figured out a solution to our problem and the only things we had to leave behind were the plastic crates the speakers were in and our friend who dropped us off would pick them up. YEAH!!

Now we are in Ecuador, we have been running around like crazy. We arrived at the Quito airport around 8:30, and probably around 9:30 we met up with our friends who would drive us the 2 1/2 hours to Ambato. We are safely and happily in Ecuador now. We arrive a little after midnight to the hotel where we will stay. It is about 30 minutes outside of Ambato. It is a beautiful place. It will be wonderful for the team. The next morning, we get up, watch the Mexico vs. South Africa soccer game, and then start running around looking at all the places we are going to bring the team, and then talking with all the people who are helping coordinate this trip, and that have some part in it. This took us late into the night. Saturday’s schedule is similar to that of Friday, running around. Buying some stuff for the trip, trying to arrange transportation for the team when they arrive on Tuesday, and finally end up on renting two buses two bring us from the airport in Quito to the Hotel Tuesday night. We ended our time of preparation by going up to the mountain village of Cachilbana, where we would be bring the team to do a VBS in the school. The pastor also informed us that one of us would preach, so guess which one of us that would be….. yep, you guessed right, me. So I preached that night about taking our place as beloved children of God, and that in order to be imitators of God, we must walk out of the place of being a beloved child. Which was kind of cool, because there was also a baby dedication that night. Now after the service comes the interesting part….

Ecuadorians are some of the most hospitible people I know, and since we were guests, we were invited to partake in celebration of the baby dedication. These people really though are extremely poor, and yet for this, they throw a feast for the church, and as guests, it is pretty much obligatory culturally that we attend. And I see the Pastor who is coordinating everything with us facial expressions as one of the brothers and pastor from the church whisper in his ear the invitation to come. Because he knows, that if we attend, we run the risk of eating things we won’t like, and worse, getting sick from the food, and poor hygiene of the people. But culturally, it would be offensive to say no. So we go, and the pastor tells me, we are invited to go, he gives me a face that says, “Well, here we go….”

So we arrive in this small dirt floor shack, where the whole church is huddled together, one for lack of space, and two for how cold it is. In this part of the Andes, once nightfall hits, the temperatures drop to the low 40′s. And so the brother sits us down, and as visiting missionaries and pastors, we are treated as the honored guests. We receive our food an hour before the rest, and we eat something different then all the rest. We eat the food that is considered the best delicacy in this region…. Guinea Pig. This is not the first time I have had guinea pig. No, but it is a dish that for me to like, needs to be cooked a certain way, and it was not. My friend, Lucio, had never tried guinea pig, and so he was excited when he started, but then at a certain point when the electricity went out, he quickly, without being seen, left his plate half full sitting on a table and went outside to talk with some more of the people.

It is a wierd feeling one has when someone gives you something so precious to them, and then you have 30 people watching you take it and eat it, to see if it is as precious to you as it is to them. I did my best to eat what I was given, but it was just the cooked skin of the belly of the guinea pig, not very appetizing.

By the time we were finished, it was late and we still had more planning of the trip to be done, and so Pastor Franklin, who is coordinating the trip for us, gave us the signal that we would leave, and we said our good-byes, and loaded up the car proceeded to leave to go back to the hotel. Then at the hotel we stayed up another two hours to finish going through the schedule and the planning process of the trip, and that didn’t end till nearly 1:00 A.M. We had church Sunday morning, and then after church we left for Quito. We took a bus two and half hours north, and had my friend pick us up, and we went and spent the night in downtown Quito, and then returned to his house to spend the night.

The next day was an important day for me. June 14th, 2010, I spent my birthday in Quito, Ecuador. I got to go to La Mitad del Mundo (the monument for the equator) and traverse all over Quito, and then ended it with a birthday dinner at the mother’s house of one of my friends. It was a good day, spent with good friends, and it was the first time that my girlfriend Cristal got to spend a birthday with me, because we are both normally away on trips over my birthday.  It was a very good day.

We then went to the Teleferico, which is a gondola that takes you up the Pinchincha mountain, and you reach an elevation of 4,100 meters. It was great, it took my breath away, literally, we hiked a little and it was really nice to come back to the cafe that is up there for a nice refreshing tea of coca, the perfect remedy for anything dealing with altitudes. We then met up with my friend after she got out of work, and at in downtown Quito, and then walked a little more, and then it was off to the airport to pick up the team.

So, everything up to this point has gone well. The team arrived safely, they are going through their acclimatizing stage, and then tomorrow starts the mad dash that we have for the next 14 days! Please pray for strength and health, as working in altitudes is very tiring on my body. Please pray also for the unity of us as we work with this team, they are a great team that comes prepared to do ministry, but they can also be demanding of our attention. Please also pray God’s work here is done. We have come, now we are just waiting to see what God going to do through us. Blessings!

So… forward.  At first when I found out what the theme was for this year, I was not really sure what to make of it.  I might have actually thought that the people who come up with the themes had just pulled a random word out of the dictionary, but my friends assured me they didn’t and that this was going to be a quality theme.  So normally they also pick out a theme verse or chapter for the theme (Example, Trek Micah 6:8, React Isaiah 61:1-3).  So this year they decided to kind of have to theme Scriptures.  The entire book of Joshua (ok if you want to narrow it down it could be narrowed down to Joshua 1:9, but it really is about the entire story of Joshua), and Philippians 3:12-14.  So I decided that if I’m going to be sharing about this theme, I better dive into it myself and embrace it and learn what God wants to share with me personally about this theme of Forward.  So I read the book of Joshua, and the book of Philippians, and I meditated on them, and I have decided to share some of what God is sharing with me.

Forward, first of it is not about a final destination, but the journey of getting there.  Because basically that is the Christian life, right?  I mean, this is the thing in both the passage in Philippians and the story of Joshua, the final destination was somewhat known, but there is this unknown journey in which we are exhorted to partake.  In Joshua, it is the takin of the land, but the book of Joshua starts right after the death of Moses.  Joshua was Moses’ aid, his right hand man.  Joshua was with Moses all the time.  Joshua saw and heard God speak to Moses, he diligently served God and Moses faithfully, and when Moses was barred from entering the promise land, it was obvious of who God would choose to lead the people of Israel into the promise land, Joshua.  But the thing that I am noticing is this, it looked completely different than what Moses did.  When Moses lead the Israelites, at night there was the pillar of flame that was always before them leading and gaurding them, during the day, a pillar of clouds leading them and gaurding them.  Pretty cool.  And when Moses was leading them in the wilderness they were on one side of the Jordan, ready waiting for the command of the LORD to cross to the other side of the Jordan, and then he dies.  
Their commander-in-chief died, and God says there is nothing to do, but go forward. 
But this is the thing it looks completely different when Joshua leads them. 
The people are still the same,
God is the still the same,
but the way they do it is completely different.

On one side of the Jordan Moses leads, the other side the torch is passed to Joshua.
On one side a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud physically guides them, and on the other those disappear and it is just the voice of God and Joshua that lead.
On one side God physically sustains them, their clothes and shoes never wear out, He supplies them with manna to eat every morning, and sometimes even splits open a rock to provide water for them, and now on the other side it is a land flowing with milk and honey and they partake of the land, and the manna ceases, and they work the land for food.
It is a completely different scenerio.
Joshua, the new leader, has the same goal as Moses was given, bring God’s people to the promise land and take it, but the scenerio is completely different.
It is a whole new game for Joshua then what Moses had.  So the book of Joshua begins with this:
“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:  “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.  I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.  Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west.  No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

It is the same goal as Moses’, but as I read and meditate on this and the changs that come and are to come I can’t help but hear Joshua’s head thinking, “Yeah, sure God, You say that now, but Moses is dead, things are completely different, how is this going to work, how are You with me just as You were with me Moses?”  And then after saying I will be with you as I was with Moses, and I will never forsake you, God charges him with this:

  “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”  (Joshua 1:6-9 NIV)

It is like God does hear this question that is running through Joshua’s head (my own interpretaions though) and says, “Listen, it’s different.  But be strong.  Be courageous.  Obey me.  You will see me bring this plan to completion. Don’t get discouraged because it is different, do be scared, trust Me.  I will be with you through it all, no matter where you are.”  And then the story goes on, and Joshua does just that, and God is faithful to His word.  But as I read it, I realize it is starts with this call to go forward, and then the rest of it is the story of it, and even at the end of the book, the destination of completely inhabiting the promise land and kicking out all other nations from it has not been reached, and sadly it never did get accomplished.  But I am not making a point about the fact that Israel failed at the goal, but as you read it and see God’s intereaction with Israel and Joshua, I see that He isn’t just worried about getting to the destination, but the emphasis, is on the journey, on the how the journey is being walked out, and also the story is open about how they failed to go forward at times as well, and what the reprecussions were for that.
Now then that is only the first part of the theme, the second is the passage of Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)

^“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

For me, at first I just saw this superficial connectedness between the story of Joshua and this passage in Philippians, mainly just because Paul plainly uses the term forward.  But as I look at it more, I see something deeper.  I see this idea of the journey.  That the Christian life is really the story of people journeying forward till they are with their God, and Lord and Savior, completely new creatures as they were intended to be.  And our journey there is what Paul is talking about.  Paul says, “Not that I have already obtained it or been made perfect.”  He isn’t saying using the word perfect as we use it today.  He isn’t directly saying he still has some flaws.  The word in the original lage that we translate perfect has to do with wholeness, completeness, maturity.  To be completely what it was intended to be.  He is talking about completely dying to oneself and completely living in the new man for God, and eventually to be in the glorified body that God will give.  It is like this idea recipie that has been perfected, it has exactly everything it needs it be what it was intended to be.  Paul is saying, I’m not there yet, I still lack from being the man created in God’s image that he intended me to be.  Paul is saying, no I haven’t attained this glorified state of being one with Christ or having my glorified body, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Why did Jesus take hold of Paul?  Simply, but profoundly put, because of His love.  Paul talks about his mission in other places as being like a crazy person who is compelled by the love of Christ.  So what does Paul do with this? He turns it around and runs with it and says, I press on, to completely grasp hold of Christ’s love…. His love for me, His love for the Jew, His love for the Gentile, His love for the Roman, His love for the Greek.  It this passionate forward motion of Paul’s journey that is so well portraied in the words “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Because it is this image, of if I’m still on this journey moving forward, I’m gonna be sharing Christ love, and continuously pursuing it, and if I die, my journey is complete.  But of course Paul later goes on to describe this thought a little more about how he longs to continue in this pursuit of which Christ took hold of Him, but he passionately loves Christ, that if death comes He know the joy that will await him as he will be with His Lord and Savior, and God.

So, I hope my wandering thoughts have not lost you quite yet, because as I am diving into this myself, this idea of forward is a challenge to me.  It is a challenge to press forward, to blaze the trail, to continue on the journey toward my Savior. At first I have this image of it being this race in which that I need to press forward.  Which is true, but my mind so often takes it to the extreem.  It takes it to the place where I need to press forward to reach this place, and if I mess up one step, I’m a gonner, and will lose.  But as I sit here and here God speak to me about this, I hear Him telling me that it’s not quite like that.  The image I have is that it is this kid running into his Daddy’s arms with all the joy that comes in finally reaching that long awaited embrace.  But there is more to it than this.  God doesn’t just stay out there with His hands open and make us run to Him, no!  He runs to us.  I see this image in my hand of a father who has his arms wide open and this little kid who can barely walk, is so happy to see his father that starts out running and gets going faster than his legs can take him, and ends up falling down, doing a face plant.  But God, our Father, does not just sit there waiting for us to get up and dust ourselves of until we are clean again and then start the process over of running to Him over.  No we have images of Him running to us.  Of Him coming to us, and picking us up, kissing our boo boos, and then staring smiling at us and telling us how fast we ran.  Maybe, I’m realing now as God is speaking to my heart, the truth about this pressing forward, is the cosmic, heavenly pursuit of a child for the arms of His Father.  Now my heart tells me that this is the case, but how did I get here from Joshua and Paul?  (…pause for regropuing my train of thought…)
 Because this is a true picture of what moving forward is, a pursuit of father and child.  This image is a lets run this race, lets press forward till the day that we are at the side of our Abba Father and He just pulls us to His side and says, “Son, you ran so good, you went so fast.  Yeah, you fell down a couple of times, but here you are, in my arms and no one can take you from me.”  We experience this here on the earth through God’s Holy Spirit.  But the push forward is because there will come a day, where faith becomes sight.  Where the Holy Spirit’s embrace of the Father, actually becomes His physical arms.  The sense of God’s love, will be a physical embrace of Him pulling our heads close to His chest and saying “Well done My son.”
But until that day, let us press on.  Let us not focus on “foward to where?” But, let us know only press on and be compelled by and into Christ’s love. Let us be strong and courageous.  That is our eternal destination.  A story, a journey, a passionate pursuit forward to the fulness of the love of God.  Yes, it is going to look different for us and it isn’t always going to be the same as our parents, granparents, brothers/sisters, pastor, mentor’s story, but the destination is.  Let us throw off everything that so easily besets us.  Let us throw of f the hinderances, the sins that entangle us.  Let us run to the arms of God.  Let us run deeper and deeper forward into the love of God, that we may grasp the width, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ Jesus which is a love that surpasses all knowledge.

So, I don’t know.  I hope you were able to follow my thoughts as I was going through this time of processing this.  These are just the ideas I had of this years Mission Adventure program that are coming to my mind as I have come to this theme of “Forward”.  So, I guess, come, lets move forward into His love my Brothers and Sisters.

Blessings,

Luke