May 22, 2010

When I look at people's wedding pictures, I prefer to be the one holding the album. In this way, I control the pace. I find that when a newly wedded couple is entrusted with the responsibility of flipping the pages, each picture becomes a story, and the album, in turn, a Russian novel. On this side of marriage, I understand the sentimentality of the images that capture this event and a couple's desire to share this. Still, I will allow you to peruse these few pictures at your own pace.

As for married life, at a month and a half in, I think we've got it down. However, it will take me another month to finish the book that I'm writing on the subject I'm right, I win, Just Listen. Seriously though, we are really enjoying our life together. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that we enjoyed our lives even before we met. This doesn't mean that we delighted in those solitary Saturday nights of scanning the Blockbuster aisles. I remember quite vividly returning to REAME's gates at night, knowing that no one was waiting for up for me. So, I won't belittle the struggles of my single friends by saying this glibly. I just feel it necessary to affirm the hope of a Saviour who doesn't always employ marriage or loving parents or wealth to communicate His severe love for us.

Baby, Baby, Baby, Ohh.

Paulo Ricardo was the first guy in the house to like Justin Bieber. He made us all sit down and watch the video “Baby” on Youtube. That was a Tuesday. Before the week was out, Claudinho’s ringtone had changed, Adilio was repeating the chorus ad nauseam and Anderson was singing his own interpretation of the song (one that desperately needed subtitles). The fact that these guys are Bieber fans cannot be attributed solely to his musical ability. I think they like him in part because they would like to be him. After all, he housesits for Usher, hangs with Ludacris and his videos clog the Favorites page for half of the girls in the States (their ages notwithstanding). But for all of his success, I cannot help but feel sorry for Justin Bieber. When I look at him, I cannot shake images of Macaulay Culkin, Lindsay Lohan or the Olsen twins – kids that are stars one day and social pariahs the next. It’s only a matter of time before the media starts tanking the affable character that they have created, and he starts sporting a moustache.

Claudinho’s story is on a completely different trajectory than that of Justin Bieber’s. Girls don’t line up to talk to him, his videos on Youtube don’t have more than 20 views (15 of them his) and, up until a month ago, he was making about 70 cents an hour. But, the cool thing about Claudinho’s story is how it seems to embody the truth “he who is faithful with little will be entrusted with much.” In life, Claudinho just plods along, doing what he’s supposed to. That could mean arriving early at church to clean up or opting to go to bed over watching a late night soccer match because he has to work in the morning. But, I trust that that steady plodding will pay off, just as it did when he recently landed a job with a great company where there is room for growth. There was nothing miraculous about the way he got the job. A guy from church recognized Claudinho’s faithfulness and recommended him for an open position. But, I am amazed with the way that God cares for this 19 year old man, using life’s seemingly normal circumstances to shape within him a character and perseverance that is anything but normal.

Surprises (Jason)

I never thought that I would be so happy to see excrement as when Jacob went “poopy on the potty” a few days ago. There are lots of unexpected surprises with parenthood. In a way we are not only parents to Jacob, but also to our boys in the Sombra Road House. For this reason I was surprised to discover that on Thursday night, after I left our Bible study, Claudinho, Paulo, Anderson and Adilio had made dinner for Dalton. On Thursday nights, we do a Bible study for the youth group at church, half of which consists of the four aforementioned boys that live in the House. So, why should I be so pleased by the fact that they made dinner for someone? The fact that four teenage boys were considerate enough to feed any mouth but their own is sufficient. However, once I describe Dalton you should be all the more impressed.

The Sombra Road House, as much as it is a shelter for these boys is an experiment in community. Our aim is that our core group, comprised of both staff and students, would so express the love of Christ to one another that outsiders would themselves be drawn to Christ. However, once you open yourself up to outsiders you never know whom you will attract. Dalton is one of these people - he is a unique fellow who is difficult to love. He is the guy whom you would try to go unnoticed by if you saw him in the grocery store so as to avoid a conversational assault. We all know the type. He is a Christian who has bounced around from church to church looking for acceptance. There is much to be said about Dalton, but the point here is that Claudinho, Paulo, Anderson and Adilio made themselves servants to him. Their act of making dinner for Dalton is an example of the type of service to which Jesus calls us also.

Please pray that these four guys would continue to grow in their love for Christ and that that love would manifest itself in acts like making dinner for Dalton.

She's Back! (Kristin)

In January, I wrote about Taiza (pictured on the right), one of the girls I do Bible study with in the favela. Basically, Taiza "disappeared" after the start of my Bible study with these two girls. You can read the post here. Well, I'm very excited to share that she is back and has been faithfully attending Bible study for several weeks now.

Her first week back, I took Maria and Taiza to the mall for Bible study and pizza to celebrate her return. I asked her why she hadn't come back sooner and she replied that she was embarrassed. I told her that she should never be embarrassed to come back to people that love her. She had tears in her eyes as we talked about God's grace and His work of salvation on the cross.

I can see her growing in her understanding of the Gospel. She has professed her faith in Christ, but has much to learn. Every week, she prays that God would give her the strength to stay on the right path, to continue Bible study and to surround herself with people who want her best. She lives in a very dark world.

Please continue to pray with us: 1) that God would continue to open her eyes to his Truth, 2) that the power of the Gospel would continue to break the bonds of sin in her life, and 3) that God would keep her safe in the shadow of His wings as she grows.

Dona Ana (Jeremy)

In my last post, I made reference to Dona Ana (the director of the community center) and to the pain that she has been experiencing in her legs. Her doctor placed her on some medication which was intended to treat this problem. However, these drugs really messed with her stomach - creating a lot of pain in her stomach and destroying her appetite. About two weeks ago, she went to get this checked out and discovered that she has stomach cancer. We still know so little, as she is waiting to receive back the results of her exam. But, I wanted to ask those of you who follow the blog to be praying for her. I can see her fighting to maintain her characteristic optimism through all of this - attempting to assuage others' fears by masking her own. However, this is an extremely difficult fight, as she doesn't even know the extent of the problem. I know that this lady, who has prayed for so many people over the years, just needs some people to do the same for her right now. I hope that we can be that for her. As we find out more, we'll keep you posted.

Holy Land Honeymoon! (Jason)

I heard a commercial on the radio the other day advertising trips to the Holy Land, "Terra Santa". The ad had an inverse effect. I don’t want to vilify religious experience trips. It is just that this ad, with its cheesy music, was oriented to religious individuals hoping to capitalize on their religious feelings. I would rather stay put than give my money to someone who is so obviously capitalizing on religious experience. So, I decided that it would be the perfect place for Jeremy and Carol to spend their honeymoon (insert sarcasm). I decided I would call this particular travel agency, posing as Jeremy, and ask to be sent more information, all the information that they could send; the more the better. Beyond this, I would ask if they could call my fiancé and convince her that such a trip would be a great way to spend our honeymoon. So, the following day I Googled the name of the travel agency, found the phone number and, in my deviance, called. When the woman one the other side of the phone answered, I was so busy scrolling through my cell phone to find Carol’s number that I did not hear how she introduced herself. Immediately I told her that I was interested in a trip to Israel. “Excuse me?”, she responded. I repeated, verbatim, “I would like more information about a trip to Israel.” To Israel?, she responded. “Yes, the Holy Land”, I said. This type of exchange is very common to me being a foreigner and all. “Sir”, she said, “Do you realize that you have called a taxi company?"

More than tell the story of a particular kid or a moral lesson, the point of this blog entry is to ask you to pray for us. Start with me. I do things like this all too frequently bringing embarrassment on myself and all other foreigners. Then pray for Sombra Road as we adapt (or fail to adapt) to the difficulties of living in a foreign country. Finally, pray for the foreigner down the street from you or at church or work; and invite him over for dinner.

Grace. Sometimes people just don't get it. (Kristin)

There are constant mini-wars between the police and the drug traffickers (banditos) in the favelas. The police typically come in the favelas to search for drugs, weapons and/or specific people. These events are heralded with shooting from both parties, which eventually stops as the banditos hide among the houses and the police do their business. The police use a large, bullet-proof vehicle dubbed the Caveirao ("Big Skull") to enter the favelas. It's massive and has small holes for the police on the inside to shoot out of. Terrible things can happen in the belly of the Caveirao to the apprehended banditos...most are sent to jail, but we've heard that some don't come out alive.

Last week a similar scenario took place in the favela where we work, we could hear the shooting from our apartment as we had our weekly meeting. The next morning, at Friday morning prayer, we listened in amazement at the story that Dona Ana told us.

The Caveirao entered Morro dos Macacos with guns blazing, but on its exodus from the favela, it stopped right in front of the community center...something that has never happened before. A policeman exited the vehicle, dragging an 18 year old boy that had been apprehended into the community center. Bleeding and smelling terribly of the bodily excrements that were filling his pants, he was released to Dona Ana. The policeman explained, "I feel like an angel told me to drop this kid off here." Then he left.

This young man had been handed two immeasurable gifts...his freedom and his life. Like Jonah, he had been graciously spit out of the belly of the whale. The difference between Jonah and this young man lies in their response: Jonah responded in repentance and obedience to God's call, the young man responded, "will you ask them to give me my hat back." You heard correctly. He had the nerve to ask Dona Ana to go after the police in the enormous death tank to give him his hat back. Didn't he realize his life had just been sparred?

We listened to this story with mouths agape; knowing the grace that was given this man to be freed from the Caveirao and aghast that his only apparent concern was for a hat. He had obviously been afraid for his life at some point...I mean, he did numbers 1 and 2 in his pants for crying out loud. How can he not realize what had been done for him? Where was his repentance?

God has offered all of us a similar grace...life and freedom through his Son, Jesus Christ, and yet it breaks my heart to think of all the people that respond the same way this young man responded, completely blind to it, ignorantly saying "I want my hat."

Lord, please make the blind see and the deaf hear! And let me not be blind to your grace in my own life.